Today in 'News that isn't a headline from The Onion', Maine State Senate candidate Colleen Lachowicz has come under fire by the Maine Republican Party for playing World of Warcraft.

It's not often I get to type a sentence like that. 

If the above image isn't hilarious enough, the website Colleen's World ("Paid for and authorized by the Maine Republican Party"), where the above image originates from, is full of more such treasures. Such as Lachowicz scandalously declaring 'she isn't normal,' or the campaign-destroying moment where she said 'I spent my day leveling an undead warlock.' Truly, Colleen Lachowicz is unfit to serve on Congress, with her whole 'being a normal person who plays video games.'

She has released a statement effectively dismissing the whole thing, citing ESRB gamer profiles and pointing out how the likes of Vin Diesel and Jodie Foster join her in being huge nerds. And more power to her - she's taking this just as seriously as she should.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

After all the talk from analysts in the last week about how well Mists of Pandaria sold, we have the final word from Blizzard themselves. A press release this week states that the expansion sold 2.7 million copies in the first week, including all of the digital sales. In addition the global subscription count for World of Warcraft has once again passed the 10 million mark.

It's been a week since Mists of Pandaria came out. You've leveled your main to 90, decked them out in heroic gear, and enchanted all your stuff in preparation of raiding. With Mogu'Shan Vaults now open, are you and your guild ready for the challenges that lie within? Wowhead's got a preview guide up on the new raid to answer any questions you might have, like "What attacks does this boss use?" or the more important "Does he drop anything for my spec?"

Happens every time - Blizzard has released a hotfix for Mists of Pandaria -- as outlined by Perculia over on Wowhead -- removing the Golden Lotus faction requirement to purchase Justice gear. The idea, Blizzard said, is to let people gain item level 450 gear more easily, so the Dungeon Finder Heroic dungeons are easier to get to. 

To get Justice gear, Rushin the Fox in Shando-Pan Garrison and Lo Pin in Niuzao Temple have them in Townlong Steppes, the Sages in Horde or Alliance Shrines, Jaluu the Generous outside of Mogu'Shan Palace, or Ambersmith Zikk in Klaxxivess. Depending on your faction, you will need to visit any one of these.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

How is Mists of Pandaria for you?

Most of the folks I speak to -- I haven't had chance to play it myself yet, that will change shortly -- are quite positive about World of Warcraft's latest expansion.

However, as reported by Venture Beat, one analyst believes that MoP is not going to perform as well as previous releases.

It's been a couple days since Mists of Pandaria launched and the realms are starting to see more and more level 90 characters popping up. Soon there'll be enough to start filling up raids and working on that progression, but in the meantime while you're waiting for your guild to catch up, there's always Challenge Modes -- as outlined in the great article over on Wowhead.

Getting a Gold medal in each is just the beginning. You want to really show your realm who's boss? Get to the top of the boards and prove it!

Blizzard's president and co-founder, Mike Morhaime, is currently leading his company on the release of their newest expansion, and Games Industry has snagged an interview that sheds a bit of light on MoP's aim, for both hardcore and casuals.

Q: One of the issues with Cataclysm was you said that people went through the content faster than you expected. Do you anticipate players taking longer with Mists of Pandaria?

Mike Morhaime: One of the things with Cataclysm that I don't think we got right was the difficulty curve. A lot of people hit a wall and found it frustrating. We made some adjustments over time but probably not quickly enough. There's a lot more variety of things to do with Mists of Pandaria. We spent a lot of our development time in Cataclysm overhauling the old world of the game and a lot of people didn't even experience some of the changes we made going right to the end game.

We've seen some of this with MoP's Lorewalkers faction, for example, so I think Blizzard got this one right. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Mists of Pandaria's world is open to you. So what do you do? You go to Wowhead, of course! Perculia just opened the newest post, with a full preview breakdown of all of the zones, including the quests, drops, and monsters therein. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

With Mists of Pandaria now open for business, Lore just about remembered to get this week's edition of PST to answer your questions.

With all the changes to the talent system, is dual spec as useful as it once was? With the shared talents one of Lore's viewers ponders whether people will need to switch between roles as much as they did in the past.

It's time.

Mists of Pandaria is here, and there's things you have to know. What do you do? Grab a Strategy Guide? What do you think this is? 1996?

We're here to help you, and the Wowhead team have assembled a comprehensive, expansive, complete content guide. They have an interactive map, a pet battle guide, and the database has been updated with everything you'll need.

Don't panic! We're here to help.

Julian "Mirai" Williams