There is a special breed of player who's not content to level from 1 to 70 in the ordinary manner. Instead, they choose to place hindrances on themselves to create a more challenging experience. Gutrot of the European Aerie Peak realm is one example. He finally attained level 70 a few weeks ago after months of questing and killing creatures naked, with no weapons or visible armor aside from his trusty loincloth. His feat has made him a minor Wow celebrity and there was a huge party when he finally hit the level cap. Other players have placed different limitations on themselves, seemingly inspired by Gutrot. For instance, Gweryc and Kakita are both melee-only hunters while Noor is a pacifist, trying to reach the level cap without killing anything.

I've always been intrigued by this sort of idea, and have even made a character or two myself that had such limitations placed upon them. Recently, during the long dark night between patches, I got bored with my mindless and aimless farming and decided to create a new alt. I decided that this character would be a Draenei warrior, but that he would only fight unarmed, with a staff or with a throwing weapon. I also decided that he could only wear cloth or leather items. I suppose my idea was based somewhat on a sketchy notion of some kind of fighting monk.

Every week, V'Ming - who thinks that gnome warlocks are travesties of nature and need to be KOSed - shares thoughts and ideas on becoming deadlier at the Arenas.

Ah, the Arenas! Where heart-pumping battles are fast and hard-hitting. Losers take a dirt nap and victors are that much closer to honor, glory and ... 'welfare epics'. (That's the subject of another debate; I personally love how my shoulders looks, welfare or not.)

In this article, we'll look at some critical things to consider when building and running a team to participate, compete and have fun. For where to go and how to form Arena teams, check out the official Building Your Team guide.

We have looked at 1v1 combat and recognized that some classes do perform better in certain formats than others. This is a result of the classes' innate asymmetry - to cater for a better MMORPG, some say PvE, experience - rather than faulty PvP design.

Without resorting to histrionics in the WoW forums, thinking PvPers exploit current game design to compete effectively within the rules and environment - playing the metagame, so to speak.

As many of you know, WoW Insider has been on Myspace for quite some time, and we decided it was time to invade Facebook as well. Be among the first to sign up to our group, or add my profile page for WoW Insider-related news!

We're always on the lookout for reader-submitted content, and now you can post your ideas, screenshots, videos, and fan stuff to the group. It may even appear on the site! Here is a brief, non-inclusive list of what we'd be happy to see:

• Photos of your WoW space! If you think you have an interesting or unique WoW space, describe it in the group's discussion, or send us an e-mail submission.
• Photos of your unique user interface! Chat in the group, upload photos, and more.
• We're always willing to try out, and discuss, new addons. If you've made any, use any, love them or hate them, you can discuss them in the group (or as always, e-mail us!).
• Snap your own unique screenshots and upload them for everyone.
• We'd love to answer questions for WoW Insider, whether they are related to a specific column, or whether they are more generic.
  
• Post your poetry or artwork; we want to feature more of it.
• Chat about how much you adore us and everything we write.

Join our group and express your creativity, ask questions, tell stories, and share your opinions, artwork, and more! I promise, we are not as harsh as moderator kitteh.

Last week, Matthew wrote about Uther Lightbringer, a good man who abhorred vengeance in all its forms and worked relentlessly for justice and peace. Screw that! Today, we'll be covering someone who adored vengeance in all its forms and worked relentlessly to throw someone in jail for several thousand years. Meet Maiev Shadowsong, Illidan's original creepy fangirl stalker.

Who: Maiev Shadowsong.

What: Rather tall night elf.

History: Maiev and her brother, Jarod Shadowsong, both fought in the resistance against the Burning Legion during the War of the Ancients. She bore a grudge against Tyrande Whisperwind for being elected homecoming queen High Priestess instead of her. When Tyrande disappeared, Maiev took over the office and served well. After Tyrande helped Malfurion Stormrage destroy the Well of Eternity and lead the elves to Kalimdor, she returned as High Priestess and chose Maiev as her second-in-command. Of COURSE having a second-in-command who hates you is a wonderful idea!

In Kalimdor, the night elf leaders formed a party to explore the new land of Mount Hyjal. On a mountaintop, they discovered a new Well of Eternity, with Illidan Stormrage standing beside it saying "Dude, I don't know how that got there. I was just fishing for Deviates!" The elven leadership hurried to capture Illidan for creating the new well, but he figured he might as well resist arrest, since a life sentence for immortal beings is like fifty billion years long. Illidan's counterattack killed many of the night elves and put Maiev's brother Jarod in a coma, along with Dath'remar Sunstrider (the ancestor of Illidan's future Best Pal Ever Kael'Thas Sunstrider.) The elves managed to capture Illidan, and Malfurion sentenced him to imprisonment in a barrow den underneath the earth. Malfurion also decided that Maiev needed a new job besides hating his girlfriend, and made her the head of the Watchers and Illidan's personal jailor.

As it turns out, there's a whole heap of great items out there for leveling mages. There's so very much available that sometimes it's hard to pick and choose what to look for at any given level. That's where we come in. The last couple of weeks we've been doing the research so you don't have to, coming up with suggestions for items that will help you in your quest for magey world domination.

As the levels get higher, the situation with mage gear gets more complicated. While on the one hand more options are open to you, selecting between those options becomes more important, as this is gear you will wear longer. Simply put, since it takes longer to level between levels 40 and 60 than it does to level between 20 and 40, the gear matters more.

It's at this point in the game that you want to start looking into getting some lower level enchants on your gear to give you the best possible performance out of your armor. If you happen to have trained in enchanting along with your tailoring, then you're ahead of the game.

Addons; they can do everything from seemingly changing nothing at all to creating what would appear to many to be total chaos. They can enhance the gaming experience so greatly that to be without them can seem downright apocalyptic. I know that I bond with my addons, and when I finally find "the one" that will do that thing I've been wishing the game would do for months, I feel renewed excitement for playing.

At the same time, I understand all too well the hesitation that many harbor about delving into the user customization world. Worries that they'll be difficult to install, require a doctorate to use, and give you a migraine, are all very valid concerns. This week is dedicated to those who are timid or reluctant about using addons, as well as those who have had bad experiences with them. No matter what your playstyle or your level of l33t UI sophistication, I guarantee that there are addons out there that you'll love.

It is Saturday, and that means that not only did I get to sleep in until noon, but also that it's time once again to spotlight for you all the great work our weekly columnists are doing here on WoW Insider. Here's all of our weekly features from the past seven days, wrapped up like a California roll in one big post.

Arcane Brilliance: Gears of war, part 2
What else to wear while heading into battle.

All the World's a Stage: Drawing the line on ERP
David tackles the tough subject of ERP head on.

Azeroth Interrupted: Reader mail-- overcoming fears of raiding
Not sure you should be raiding? Nonsense! It's fun and good for you. Robin tells you how to get started. Also, a program note: this is her last column for Azeroth Interrupted. It's moving to Massively, where it will be known as Gamer Interrupted. So check Robin's great work out there from now on.

Officers' Quarters: Sweet victory
You've followed all of Scott's officer advice, and now you've succeeded as a guild? Scott's got you covered there, too.

Reader WoWspace of the Week: Chedder
I keep meaning to send my WoWspace in, as, I have to say, I think I have a pretty nice setup. But Chedder's desk is definitely nicer than mine.

/silly: Where everybody knows your name
"So a Draenei and a Dwarf walk into a bar..."

Shifting Perspectives: That special versatility, part 2 - Synergy in action
Because being a Druid in just one form isn't nearly as fun as being a Druid in all forms.

Build Shop: Rogue 16/3/42
Chris lays out a great Rogue Subtlety build. Because if you're not sneaking around and backstabbing, you're not really a Rogue.

Guildwatch: A thing of beauty
Sometimes the drama bombers just go above and beyond the call of duty.

Totem Talk: The endangered Shaman
Please, help the rare Shaman keep from becoming extinct. Invite them into your raids, and give them tons of epix. Kthx bye.

Insider Trader: Death of a Salesman
Are dailies killing crafting?

WoW, Casually: Of Arathi Basin, the Faire, and Patch 2.3
Only got an hour to play WoW? Robin tells you what to do (and this column isn't going anywhere).

The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Our name is legion, for we are many
Warriors are at the top of the heap right now, in numbers and stature.

Ask WoW Insider: Does anybody really play just one class?
Don't you think it's weird that everyone has a Hunter alt, but almost everyone also calls Hunters noobs?

Phat Loot Phriday: Amani Divining Staff
A brand new staff from Zul'Aman for you to drool over.

Something seems a little off in this Ironforge screenshot Perry from Kil'jaeden (EU) sent us. Something I can't quite put my finger on... By way of explanation, however, Perry offers this poem:

From whence they came, the fighters retreated
for dawn followed midnight with indecent haste.

Nope, I'm still lost.

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world!

Timekeeper on WoW LJ had to say goodbye to a friend recently. After 70 levels, countless instances, gear upgrades, and raids, circumstances lead him to decide that his mage should no longer exist, and so he typed "DELETE," and sent her to the big graveyard in the sky.

I can't bear to do it, myself-- I think I've deleted maybe one or two characters for space ever, and even then, though they were only level 5 or so (about 20 minutes of leveling, probably), I still cleaned out their bags and sold off and mailed away their gear. Like most people, I couldn't imagine deleting one of my 70s on purpose-- even if I don't ever play them again, I couldn't be the one to wipe out all of those accomplishments (virtual as they are) forever.

Have you ever killed a character past level 60 before? Did you just delete them, gear and all (like a bandaid), or did you strip them down and send the parts to your other toons? And do you regret it at all? We should all keep in mind that these are just characters in a game, of course, but having your progress wiped in anything you do is always a loss that can be felt.

Lozpvp5.wmv I came across this video over on the official Rogue forums. As the author, Loz, clearly states -- this isn't meant to showcase PvP skill, only large crits, so don't expect to find anything but one-sided fights. He's well geared, he's got a mean dagger, and I found the video extremely entertaining. The video also makes me more anxious than ever to try out Shadowstep again in Patch 2.3.

But, if you enjoy watching lesser opponents getting their faces melted in 1.6 seconds, this is the movie for you.


Previously on Moviewatch...

A while back, WoW Insider covered a story about selling Arena titles. Blizzard has acknowledged the little loophole in the Arena system which has been used and abused, which led to the implementation of a few changes such as personal ratings and a rating requirement for Arena item purchases. While a lot of teams have openly admitted to selling ratings and titles, a recent post on the Stormscale forums indicated a price tag on the Armored Nether Drake, pegging it at 3,000g. The buyer, a dwarf Paladin named Madawk, admitted that he only wanted the 310% flying mount, and would never wear the Gladiator title. His guildmates quickly jump to his defense, saying that the mount was pretty much the only thing he couldn't farm and compared the cost to the Cenarion War Hippogryph.

What do you guys think? Is the Merciless Nether Drake worth the three grand? Does the buyer make things right by vowing to never display the Gladiator title?

Zach Yonzon writes the weekly PvP column The Art of War(craft). When he isn't working or playing, Zach is busy trying to master the secret of The Thousand Buddha Palm.

In the 6th century BC, Chinese general Sun Tzu began his seminal treatise on war with the words, "The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road to either safety or ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected."

Wiser words were never spoken, which leads me to the real preface of this column: It's time to PvP, baby! Just like Blood Sport author V'Ming Chew, I sent in an application with the presumable hordes of WoW Insider readers and, when the dust settled, we must have landed the proverbial most Killing Blows. While Vims will focus more on Arena combat, my column will deal with more general aspects of PvP and I'll occasionally try to apply the precepts of Sun Tzu's (and other military strategists ) work to PvP in the World of Warcraft. It was somewhat ironic that a blog site dedicated to game called Warcraft had very little by way of PvP-centric content. WoW Insider is making up for it in a big way by giving you not one, but two PvP columns every week! How's that for customer satisfaction?

One of my favorite things about the World of Warcraft is that there's something for pretty much everybody. My wife, for example, enjoys fishing, making shirts, and amassing gold. I, on the other hand, have simpler tastes: I enjoy PvP. Even before Battlegrounds were implemented, I enjoyed the old school carnage in Tarren Mill and Crossroads. I immersed myself in the Honor grind, and now I enjoy Arena PvP. PvP interaction is a huge part of the game, even on normal servers. Blizzard is keen on playing up the conflict between the factions, and encourages world PvP by implementing zonewide benefits and has announced a non-instanced Battleground zone in Wrath of the Lich King. The introduction of Arenas has had a major impact on the game itself, leading to class nerfs and buffs based greatly on class representation and desirability in the format. PvP is integral to the game, and there are two major reasons why people PvP:

Dvons of WoW Ladies brought up an interesting point the other day. For those who play on PvP servers, Dustwallow Marsh is looking to be the new gank-a-palooza zone after Patch 2.3. Players in their 30s will now have a second quest hub to work through, although I don't know how much different a swamp really is from a jungle in terms of terrain. Less trolls perhaps, but still a lot of water, a lot of trees, and a lot of crocolisks.

When I got a chance to hop on in to the PTR and try the new marsh on for size, I was delighted. Once again, I feel like I have been given a zone back. Not only will we finally get a chance to continue quest lines that have dropped by the wayside, there are entire new ones that absolutely rock. I won't tell you much, but there's a certain large fish, and some cannons, and suddenly Nat Pagle is asking you to do completely wrong things with fish bait.

Dustwallow is no longer "that zone I travel through on my way to the Barrens." It only makes sense that the place will be flooded with people trying to get their quests done. I personally don't play on a PvP server, unless you count that belf mage I made on a whim, but I imagine that the craziness in the next couple of weeks will eventually die down as people speed through the levels toward 60. Or perhaps the marsh will become everyone's favorite contested zone. Either way, bring extra socks. That's what they always say when you're preparing for battle in the swamps.

Today was an interesting day for me in the game.

First off, I respecced to protection and tanked a Mechanar run just to help out a dude advertising in general. I didn't know him, don't know him now (don't even remember his character's name) and when I saw the group makeup - rogue, paladin, enhancement shaman, feral druid and myself - I cringed for a moment about the lack of CC and then I figured, what the heck and flew to Tempest Keep.

Quite frankly, the run went nearly flawlessly. We had one wipe on Pathaleon and that was it. I tanked, the paladin healer marked the pulls, the rogue sapped the mobs that he could, and otherwise we just dealt with it. I held aggro, we didn't die, I got a new toy to tide me over until Despair or Gorehowl finally drop or Season 3 comes out, whichever comes first. Buoyed from this experience (it was really fun to tank for complete strangers without the usual CC and just hold aggro the old fashioned way) I then went about my day.

Later, my guildmates asked me if I wanted to come along to SV. We ended up in a group with two warriors (myself, respecced back to arms/fury, and a tank), a rogue, a feral druid and a priest. One CC again, and no ranged DPS at all, just melee. This run went even better, so much so that we went back and did it again just to get some folks to revered before the patch hits. You'd think having a tank and three melee DPS on Thespia might be problematic, but it wasn't. People just ran out of the AoE without even being told.

This got me to thinking about unconventional groups. Often, people resist doing a run unless they have exactly the 'right' makeup, but I've done all of Shadow Labs witth a group consisting of a warrior tank (me) a warrior DPSing, a rogue DPSing and CCing, a priest DPSing and a feral druid healing and we did fine. Or the infamous Shattered Halls run with a warrior tanking, paladin offtanking, warrior DPSing, another paladin DPSing and a paladin healing. We called it the plate run, and no, no plate dropped.

Now, I've also done runs like these and wiped. The 'all-shaman Ramps' run did not work at all. And let us never speak again of the shaman, hunter, rogue, rogue, rogue attempt at the Botanica.

Have you ever thrown caution to the winds, ignored the common wisdom on class balance, and run a dungeon with a group of unusual composition?

Romn, a warrior over in Europe, had this great idea to put a "QQ&A" on the official WoW forums over there, which debunks a lot of the mistaken assumptions people have about new gear purchasable with heroic badges in Patch 2.3. The format basically poses the "QQ" question ("QQ" is somehow shorthand for "Cry a lot"), followed by the no-nonsense answer showing the reasoning behind the way things are.

His basic premise is that the new heroic trade-ins are not at all the same T5 raiding gear. Instead, they're just different, and depending on what stats you need most, you'll probably find that the raiding gear from Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep is still better. He says the new heroic sets certainly don't break the game or make raiding useless -- they just open the door to pretty good gear for people who can't get into those raids. Other people in the thread go back and forth with him for a bit, noting that for certain classes and talent specs, the new gear actually is the best gear in the entire game. The posters in that thread take the discussion even farther, and they present their ideas well.

Certainly there's a lot to discuss on this topic, but what I love about this post is the "QQ&A" format. There are a lot of reasonable complaints people can make about game issues, of course, but more often than not, even these reasonable complaints can get blown way out of proportion. I'd love to see more QQ&As about other topics on the forums as a way of helping players to reestablish their understanding of what's really going on in the game, and not get distracted by those who use smoke and mirror arguments to make light drizzles seem like hurricanes. It's only when you take away the over-simplified and over-hyped "QQing" than you can discuss a problem with a practical understanding of what's going on.