One of my guild's officers has taken up the dubious practice of "farming for Wrath of the Lich King." He has epic mounts for all his 70s, all the recipes he could ever want, and enough spare cash to pay alt support for an army of gnomes, but he's convinced there'll be some big, 20K or so gold sink in the new expansion.

The gold sinks for WoW have always been epic mounts: the epic ground mount in vanilla WoW, and the epic flyer in BC. I'm not sure what it could be for WotLK. I can't see that many people would spend a ton of money on PvP structures, which leaves a couple of options. There could be extremely expensive forms of character customization, such as tattoos, wings, or other adornments. There could be guild housing (finally.) My guildmates suggested that it will be submarines shaped like "sharks with frickin' lazer beams" and underpants "with rockets on the front", further confirming that my guild's sense of humor is stuck in 1997.

What do you think the gold sink will be when WotLK finally emerges from its cocoon?

Via the always wonderful Blessing of Kings, Sussemilch of Moon Guard has made a list of life lessons she learned in Karazhan. Among the highlights are:

• "Netherspite taught us that sometimes you should just run away."
• "Prince taught us that sometimes bad things happen to good people."
• "Curator taught us that there's a time for everything."

Moving beyond Kara, I can add some of the lessons I've learned from my time in 40-mans and 25-mans:

• Chromaggus taught me that sometimes it's best to follow the crowd ... but Gruul taught me not to follow TOO closely.
• Alterac Valley taught me to never find a land war in Asia.
• The General Rajaxx event taught me that there is some content you should not stealth past, even if someone in the group pays you 20 gold.
• Princess Huhuran taught me that all Raids cannot kill bugs.
• Vael taught me that it is possible to feel sorry for a 50-foot dragon that is trying to eat you.
• Baron Geddon taught me the importance of not making enemies in your guild.
• The Emps-C'thun trash AQ40 taught me that sometimes it's best to pretend your internet connection is going down and pull the plug on your computer.

What have you learned from raiding?

The worst part of guild membership is, by far, watching a guild die. I've seen guilds die from poor recruiting practices, internal drama, and, in one memorable case, a disgruntled member with /gkick privileges. But the most painful death I ever saw was that of a large casual raiding guild in which I was an officer. We weren't very good, and we never progressed far, mostly because anyone decent in our guild was immediately recruited away by one of the high-end guilds on our server. We kept it together for several months, but in the end, ten of our best players (including our two tanks and the best healer) were poached away by another guild. Eventually, the guild leader and I left too.

Judging by his post on the EU General forums, Aires, GM of Flames of the Phoenix on EU-Terenas, is having the same problem. His small Kara guild is being eaten away by larger guilds who whisper his members, invite them to come to 25-mans, and then ask them if they'd like to join. Admirably, Aires does not cry about it or name names, but asks a general question: Is it ethically right to poach members from smaller guilds who don't approach you first?

Opinions seem to be divided. On one hand, few people will argue that it's "nice" to cannibalize a smaller guild, and many SSC/TK guilds who do this to "loser guilds" would scream bloody murder if a BT/Hyjal guild did the same to them. But every server also has a limited supply of players who don't suck, and new recruits do have to come from somewhere. Plus, there's no real way to steal a player who doesn't want to be stolen in the first place.

The thread also contains a rare personal opinion from a Blizzard employee. CM Vaneras says that your answer to the question basically depends on why you play the game. If you play for what Vaneras terms "shiny epics", you probably won't see anything wrong with poaching, while those who play for "the cameraderie and accomplishments of a guild" will hate it.

What do you think about guild poaching?

A couple of days ago, I did something that I never, ever do in WoW. I ran past someone fighting a mob and took a ore deposit. Why did I commit this evil deed? Because the other player was a female troll hunter with a letter-salad name and a pet named "Cat" -- in other words, someone I strongly suspected of being a gold farmer.

After she said "lol" and ran away, I got to thinking about gold farmers. (Edited to add: After the lol, I asked if she was going for the ore and she said no. Armory also provided that her only prof was skinning. I'm not quite as evil as you may believe.) This led to today's two-part breakfast topic: How do you tell a gold farmer, and what do you do about them when you find them?

I have a sort of mental checklist for suspected gold farmers:

• Hunter
• Female
• Blood elf/night elf/troll
• Cat named "Cat"/Boar named "Boar"
• Beast Mastery in the Armory
• Only profession is skinning
• Inappropriate gear/Appropriate gear that is all BOEs
• Random name
• Will never go away when you attack and will never beat you in a fight

I usually don't do anything about them unless they're farming the stuff I need, in which case I'll report them. I'll also grab mines and other nodes from beneath their feet. How do you tell a gold farmer apart, and what do you do when you find one?

Two weeks ago, I discussed how enchanters can make your shiny new level 70 rogue gear sparkle even more. But post-BC, enchanters aren't the only gear-enhancers in the game.

Leatherworkers can make armor kits and leg armor that can "enchant" gear that could previously only be enhanced by those stupid ZG enchants that drove everyone nuts. The Aldors and the Scryers are engaged in a constant war over what you put on your shoulders, and many places are offering relatively inexpensive head glyphs. And, of course, the jewelcrafters have a multitude of lovely gems to socket your stuff.

So rogues, if you're ready to squeeze the most out of your gear, head onward to glory! Edited to make it clearer that these are rogue suggestions as part of the class column.

General

• Heavy Knothide Armor Kit: This 10 stam "enchant" is new in patch 2.3, and can also go on heads, shoulders, chests, legs and feet. If you need to stack stamina for PVP, give it a whirl -- it shouldn't cost you too much. 5/10 PVE, 7/10 PVP.

Head

• Glyph of Ferocity: This 100g, Cenarion Expedition-revered head enhancement is really your only choice here, unless you have a burning desire to shepherd a group through Zul'Gurub a bunch of times. Luckily, at 34 AP and 16 hit, it's totally worth it. 10/10 PVE, 8/10 PVP.

It's Thanksgiving, and after the turkey is eaten, football is watched, and devastating family arguments are resolved with steely silence and long-term grudges, it's time to get prepared for The Holiday Season's relentless assault. For the next month, every other conversation is going to involve Christmas/New Year's/general shopping. And why should Azeroth be any different?

So for this KYL, we're going to find out what Azeroth's most famous denizens are doing for Thanksgiving, Winter Veil and New Year's Eve. Where will they be traveling? Who are they getting presents for? And who will they be waiting for under the mistletoe? Read onward, and all your questions will be answered. (Well, not really, because I made this up. But read on anyway. There's candy at the end.) Edited for minor errors on 11/23.

Tyrande Whisperwind: I'll be spending another Winter Veil alone, of course. My husband is away on business, although by now I'm beginning to suspect that "The Nightmare" is actually some blonde Sin'dorei warlock in Black Mageweave. Anyway, me and Shandris are taking a trip together to a resort in Silithus. We're going to see whether it's true what they say about gnome men. Two can play that game, Furion!

M'uru: I'm going to use my godlike powers to manufacture some LSD and put it into the stuff that the blood elves are draining from me. It's my Winter Veil gift to myself.

Thrall: Grandma invited me and my ... a friend to come spend some time in Nagrand for Thanksgiving. I've got some work to do, but I figure I can update the treaty with the Alliance in Outland just as well as on Azeroth, right? I have a lot to give thanks for this year -- I found my true home, the Horde has a ton of new territories on Draenor, and the Theramore guards are still too dense to find the teleportation device Jaina and I set up. Set up for ... diplomacy.

A lot of people want a high-level paladin to heal, tank, or (as of 2.3) smash faces, but aren't sure how to get up to the point where it becomes fun. Does it get beyond Seal of Righteousness, Judge, Seal of Righteousness, Judge, heal? How can I make the same content I've done five times interesting? When are people going to stop laughing at my blood elf? Read on, as The Light and How to Swing It takes you and your paladin to level 20.

First off, you should know what to roll. Four races -- human, dwarf, draenei and blood elf -- can be pallies. If you're Horde, your choice is limited to one. Alliance have more choices, so you need to look at the racials of the classes and what races you've already played. If you haven't made a draenei yet, I would recommend them, as the 1-20 content will be new to you. Plus, the 1% hit aura is pretty nice. The human Diplomacy racial is killer if you're planning on doing heroics, and both Sword and Mace specialization come in handy if you're going Ret. As for dwarves ... well, dwarves have Stoneform, which is nice for PvP. There aren't a whole lot of benefits to being a dwarf paladin, but they are kind of cool-looking, especially female dwarves.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist the terrible visual pun.)

One of the most common criticisms of fantasy games, besides "LOL games are for the nerds go outside", is that they perpetuate unrealistic stereotypes of female bodies. The typical fantasy girl, or so they say, is wearing about two pounds of chainmail, has a 20-inch waist and a DD-cup, and somehow manages to swing a sword that is taller than she is without messing up her hair.

But while messing around with the WoW character creation screen, I realized that WoW really doesn't hold up to that stereotype. The human and gnome females are average size (well, as close as a gnome can be) and curvy. Night elves, trolls and draenei are thin but toned, easily able to sling around a Thunderfury. Warcraft dwarves, orcs and trolls would probably be considered overweight by most societal standards, but their bodies are proportional and they're extremely muscular. In fact, the only two really skinny models are the undead and blood elf females, both of which are repeatedly referenced as being unhealthy in the game. The blood elves are thin because of their magic addiction, and the undead are thin because of ... uh, being dead.

In comparison, I took a look at the body types of the men. Human, dwarf, night elf, draenei, orc and tauren men are all ridiculously muscular, to the point where it looks like they've stuffed cantaloupes under the skin of their arms. Blood elf males are thin but toned, gnome males look about average (again, for a gnome), and undead and trolls are thin and hunchbacked. It seems that the men of WoW are the ones that suffer from an unrealistic standard of beauty.

So I ask you -- would you like the ability for your avatars to have different body types? Do you think that the men and womeny things of WoW are unrealistic, or do you feel that you have enough options?

So your rogue has finally hit 70, you've gotten some decent blue gear, and you're preparing to raid, PVP, or do whatever else your little heart desires. Then one day, your guild leader, class leader, or some random jerk on the forums calls you out. Sure, you've got nice gear, but you've done nothing to improve it! No expensive enchants, no gems, no leg armor, no shiny little items from various professions.

Making the mental shift from quickly-discarded quest gear to long-term end-game gear can be tough -- and it can be just as difficult figuring out what enhancements to use. Is it time to spring for the big-name enchantments and such, or should I stick to what's cheap and easy? To help you out, today we'll cover what your friendly neighborhood enchanter can do for your gear. In two weeks or so, we'll revisit the topic to look at glyphs, armor kits, gems, and other such non-enchanty enchants.

Cloak

• Dodge: Dodge is nice for rogues, but this is really more of a tanking enchant. Plus, the pre-BC mats are probably too expensive for the mere 12 dodge rating. Twinks only! 2/10 PVE, 5/10 PVP.
• Greater Agility: 12 agi is worth a lot for rogues, as a major infusion of our best all-around stat. And with only one Primal Air and a minimum of enchanting mats, this is a serious bargain for serious PVE and PVP rogues. 9/10 PVE, 8/10 PVP.
• Major Resistance: To gain a mediocre 7 resist to all schools of magic, expect to spend upwards of 300g on this sixteen Primal enchant. Pass! PVE 1/10, PVP 2/10.
• Stealth: This interesting enchant effectively gives you an extra level of stealth, giving you an advantage in battlegrounds and world PVP. However, unless you're farming chests, it does little good in PVE. 3/10 PVP, 6/10 PVP.
• Subtlety: By far the most desired cloak enchant for most DPS classes, rogues shouldn't need the 2% decrease in threat from this moderately expensive enchant. Get it if you keep pulling aggro, or if your Vanish button is broken. PVE 6/10, PVP 0/10.

Michigan plays Ohio State this week in one of the most storied football rivalries of all time. This got me thinking about WoW rivalries. Sure, we only have two teams, the Horde and Alliance -- but we have tons of classes that hate each other, particularly on the forums.

Every class seems to have a rival or two. The rogues don't get along with the hunters, the paladins and priests are constantly fighting over healing, the warriors and druids argue about tanking, and none of the clothies like each other. Everyone seems to dislike a class that shares their role, whether it be DPS, healing or tanking.

But the current epic class rivalry is probably mage/warlock. The mages feel their spot as top caster DPS has been taken unfairly by the locks. The locks feel like everyone hates them and are causing their nerfs. Throw in that both classes compete for the same items and you've got quite a brouhaha.

What do you think is the best class rivalry in WoW?

You probably forgot about it in all the shaman-loving, melee-hating, troll-centric patch fever, but World of Warcraft #1 came out in comic book stores Wednesday. For those of you without access to the book -- or maybe those who want to know the story without carrying around a giant GEEK! GEEK! sign -- I've summarized the plot and characters here. Spoilers follow beyond the cut, so beware!

We've seen the live patch notes, pleasant patch surprises and the changes between PTR and live in 2.3. Now, the good citizens of Azeroth present the undocumented Patch 2.3 changes on WoWWiki and World of Raids. All the little changes are listed on the pages, so we've chosen to highlight the biggest undocumented changes. These may not apply to everyone, but have been noticed by people in the community.

General

• Boats and zeppelins which carry players now have NPC crews, including vendors.
• There is a new neutral flight path outside of Zul'Aman, which means you can now fly out from Silvermoon City.
• Whoever in a group has loot rights to a corpse will appear on the minimap (LOOT THE DOG!)
• There is now a log in the guild information tab that allows you to see promotions, kicks, joins and leaves.
• Mousing over the mail icon will show you the name of the mail sender.
• Track Humanoids distinguishes between friendly and hostile targets.

Professions

• Interactive items such as herbs now have a glow around them, making them easier to find.
• Primal Fire and Earth, and motes thereof, can be put in mining bags. Primal Water, Life, and Mana can be put in enchanting bags. Primal Life can be put in herbalism bags. All primals and motes can go in Engineering bags.
• The cooldown on Nexus Transformation has been eliminated.

Yes, we're stepping once again into the steaming hot gumbo of WoW gender relations -- this time with the delightfully spicy flavor of the Guild Relations forum.

Altaan is a female player and the GM of a casual raiding guild with about 80 players. She describes herself as a laid-back leader who lets the raid leaders take over the instances while maintaining a fun environment for her guild members. However, she's recently had problems with a few female members, and is wondering whether to kick them out or let them stay.

"They undercut my authority in subtle, almost underhanded ways that I'm having a hard time pinpointing to my male officers, who love the fact that there are women in the guild ... especially ones who will flirt with them," Altaan writes. "One of these women recently asked the men to attempt to procure my picture, purportedly because she is concerned with being the "hottest girl in the guild." The other has announced several times that the Raid Leaders "belong" to her and she is only allowing me to "borrow" them. Both women routinely use guild chat and Ventrilo to stake claims on the male players ("this is my paladin"; "my druid"; etc.)"

I've seen this phenomenon a few times in my WoW history, and it's recently been popularized on AFK Gamer. A small minority of female WoW players do not play well with others. They generally tend to mention their gender at any opportunity and flirt casually with anyone in a position of power. The label of girl gamer is important to them, as it makes them seem like a rare breed in a male-dominated virtual world -- the "guild diva." When another female comes along -- especially one who's an officer or guild leader and not flirty -- they feel that their territory is being threatened and lash out.

Altaan understands this, but is unsure of how to proceed. If she keeps the players, they will continue being nuisances and hindering her raids by flirting with the raid leaders and taking spots from better players. If she kicks them, she may be seen as catty herself, and she may lose one of her raid leaders. There's a debate on the forum, but most people seem to think that she should kick them for challenging her authority and being drama queens.

What do you think Altaan should do? Female officers and GMs, have you had any problems with divas in your guild? Is this about gender at all, or merely a more subtle display of power struggles?

One thing I love about patches is the ridiculous bugs that come along -- and this one is a doozy. The shaman Tier 6 vendor in Mount Hyjal is now selling the restoration Tier 6, Skyshatter Raiment, for the low, low price of 0 tokens and 0 gold.

Of course, you have to be attuned to Mount Hyjal to take advantage of this deal, which requires you to be a fairly progressed raider already -- but enough people have been picking them up to necessitate an immediate Blizzard response. Drysc warned shammies last night that they would be going to "great lengths" to track down the Tier 6, and would destroy any enchants or gems on the ill-gotten gear.

Of course, the thread turns into shamans complaining about their class, but there are some good questions: what about people who buy and re-buy the sets and disenchant them into Void Crystals for the AH? Will this ruin the enchanting economy? What about guilds that can suddenly progress due to an infusion of incredibly well-geared shamans? Is this the literal definition of welfare epics?

Some people are asking Blizzard to bring the servers down until this is fixed, but that seems unlikely. What do you think Blizzard should do about this?

If there's one thing I learned from my last breakfast topic, it's that people like to talk about their servers. We have another server- and faction-specific question today, coming from a forum thread: Who is the best known player on your server? Morrath of Daggerspine further elaborates his question: "Whether they are a hero or a villain, there are certain people that make our servers what they are ... on every server there is a player that stands out from the rest, a person who everyone on that server knows one way or another."

Magtheridon has one WoW-wide celebrity: multiboxer extraordinaire Xzin. But we also have duelists Joho and Madmaxo, forum trolls Sarkasmos and Rohnaj, drama survivors Avelin and Lexipie -- and that's only Hordeside. Occasionally, someone sets up a quiz in the forums about e-famous Mag players: "What were the two guilds that blockaded Booty Bay? Who created the catchphrase 'doesn't go to u'? Who was the first Mag player to tell a reroller to go ____ themself?" It's nice to be on a server that has culture and history.

Who's the best known player on your server, and what are they known for?