Join us every weekday evening as Today in WoW runs down all the WoW news that you could possibly want. From comments from Blizzard's blues to the latest datamining info -- we've got you covered.

Don't forget to check out The Daily Quest and our Weekly Podcast Roundup to find out what else is going on in the WoW community. And if you have a news tip, feel free to drop us a line and let us know.

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Filed under: Today in WoW

When we last left our heroes, Throgg was complaining about Garrosh, essentially proving his membership in the Horde ... or, alternatively, proving his membership in the Alliance. Hatred of Garrosh is a unifying force in Azeroth, similar to love of Legos in the real world.

The four rode into Tirisfal without much fanfare. Lolegolas was careful to guide the party away from the dirt road, staying out of sight from the undead guards who stalked the kingdom's highway. Throgg grew increasingly quiet.

"I've not smelled Abercrombie," the Gilnean said quietly. "Not a whiff of a food court, Hot Topic, or Cinnabon within miles."

Miranda stared at the druid hard for a moment. "You stealing my gig, Spot?"

"My name is not Spot," the Gilnean replied absently. "We'll have to go into Undercity beneath Lordaeron." He frowned, and his jaw clenched. "Hate that place."

Lolegolas clapped the Gilnean on the shoulder, speaking quietly. "If it helps at all, we do, too. No one likes reminders of bad days."

"This is very touching, but let's keep to business. We'll need to take the sewer exit in," Miranda said. "We could maybe hitch a ride with one of the inevitable Alliance raids, but I think we're better off sneaking in. Ride flying mounts to stick near to the ceiling, maybe, until we get close to Sylvanas."

"And then we all die horribly?" Lolegolas said. "We can accomplish that plan anywhere, we don't have to go into Undercity to do it."

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Filed under: Phat Loot Phriday

Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as: WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!

Don't sit there sad and alone on yet another Friday night. Come on, give us a call and find out what the hottest WoW Insider writers are playing this weekend. Alex Ziebart, Adam Holisky, and more ... just waiting after the jump.

WRUP is $4.99 per minute. Please be 18 or older, or have your parents' permission. Or don't get your parents' permission. We'd actually prefer you don't, cause they'll probably just say no.

This week's bonus question: Do you still participate in in-game holidays? And do you participate in the Lunar Festival, in particular?

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Filed under: WoW Insider Business

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Filed under: Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

I still remember how great the news was when, in the run-up to Wrath of the Lich King, we were told that some of our Blessing spells were going to be converted to a whole new tier of temporary buffs that could be used situationally. This was something that the paladin community had been clamoring for for a very long time. There were just so many Blessings, and it didn't make sense for all the various offerings to be in the same tier.

Then, over time, our hard-fought victory was forgotten, as well as the whole idea of proactively lending a Hand -- sorry, there are going to be a lot of hand puns -- to your groupmates or fellow raiders. Where it used to be a common facet of paladin-ing (in any flavor) to use your then-Blessings as actively as possible, in the last few years, it's more become a characteristic of the min-maxers and the obsessive.

Your Hands aren't like Turn Evil. They actually can serve a vital purpose, even making the difference between a wipe or a kill in some cases. Indeed, I would posit that one of the dividing lines between good paladins and great paladins (regardless of spec) is how intelligently they use their Hands.

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Filed under: Paladin, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It

It's very hard to imagine a Cataclysm without legendary items. Despite the fact that it wasn't introduced until six months into the game's existence, Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest has become a staple item in every progression raiding guild's repetoire. The Fangs of the Father, Golad and Tiriosh, have only recently started to actually appear in game, but every week from now on will see more and more being finished.

Coming hand in hand with these legendary items are the issues of imbalance that they cause. In PvE, terminology has started to crop up that puts legendary and non-legendary DPS into two separate categories of competitiveness. Concepts exist such as "enhancement shaman are currently one of the top non-legendary DPS specs..." -- a category that encompasses only 10 of the 22 DPS classes in the game. In PvP, concerns about burst damage have arisen, which was a big factor in the nerf to DTR that came in 4.3.

The issues with legendaries

Legendaries cause a balance problem, and that's a problem that's been exacerbated by two things in Cataclysm: a horrifically wide spread of specs that can use them, with 12 specs or five classes in total having access to legendary weapons right now, and incredible ease of access to legendaries (for the heroic raider).

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm

The WoW Insider Weekly News Update is your source for all the biggest stories from the past week wrapped up in a neat little video package. Mathew McCurley hosts your quick look at this week's biggest news.

If you haven't already subscribed to the WoW Insider YouTube channel, you should!

News this week:

• BlizzCon 2012 cancelled, Battle.net championships to be held in Asia.
• Nerfs coming to Dragon Soul on January 31, 5% buff to players.
• The Lunar Festival is going on now.
• Limited edition WoW cups coming to ampm stores:
• Optional boss modes/difficulty returning for Mists of Pandaria?

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Filed under: Podcasts, Podcasting, WoW Insider Show

Brand advertising has already been done in the MMO sphere. Anarchy Online's Free Play program has been showing users in-game advertisements for real-world products on in-game billboards since World of Warcraft launched in 2004. MMOs have survived since. Case closed.

Oh, you wanted more discussion. I see. It's been done before! Finally, we have some real precedent to talk about. Oh FunCom, you've finally managed to not disappoint me. Advertising models were one of the first types of campaigns to be applied to free-to-play versions of massively multiplayers that didn't hit perfection under a subscription model. In 2004, there were a tremendous number of MMOs to play, and people usually just stayed loyal to one. The fight for your subscription dollars was on.

Anarchy Online's Free Play program debuted in December 2004, just after the launch of the unknown but best-selling indie hit World of Warcraft, giving players a chance to play the game and its first expansion pack free of charge. Players subscribed to the Free Play game client would see advertisments in cities, towns, and other highly populated places in game for real-life goods, services, and companies. Advertising dollars paid for the game, as well as subscribers' choosing to pay and see fictional ads instead.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The World of Warcraft artists are second to none in the industry, masterfully turning concepts into game reality. What happens, sadly, when your awesome weapon graphics are overshadowed by the overzealous weapon enchant you are practically required to have? Blizzard is still looking into a way to deal with displaying weapon enchants, either through a toggle, some other interface switch, or some unannounced feature yet to be determined.

While I agree with Blizzard that iconic and recognizable looks are a great way to pinpoint what items are capable of how much damage and power, as we have seen with transmogrification, the general scope of iconic looks has changed drastically. If it's possible and feasible, Blizzard will allow us to toggle our enchants, especially after the success of transmogrification.

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Filed under: Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria

I don't think it's any secret than I'm a child of the '80s. OK, technically, a child of the '70s. But my formative years of music preference were filled with plenty of LL Cool J. It's no surprise that Nananea's Mama Said Freeze You Out is a favorite of mine. Listening to the song is like sinking into a warm, fluffy blanket of my teenage music, just with Nananea instead of LL Cool J.

Of course, even better than just a parody of the original song, Mama Said Freeze You Out is one of those rare, rare videos in which the Alliance PvPs the ever-loving snot out of the Horde. You don't get a lot of that. Most of the "I'm so awesome, Imma blow up your dog with my mad epic daggers" videos tend to be Horde-flavored. I guess that makes sense, since there was a time when the Horde racials were vastly superior for PvP, but it still makes treats like this video that much more delicious.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Filed under: WoW Moviewatch