Over the last few weeks, Crygil has been posting updates on Blizzard's efforts to reconfigure and optimize its infrastructure to help ease the instance creations issues seen by players on numerous servers. Well, Crygil is "pleased to announce that the process is now complete on all North American realms."

As always, Crygil says the situation will continue to be monitored in case further changes are needed. Have you seen an improvement in instance performance on North American servers lately? Do you feel these optimization efforts have been a success?

With GamesCom and BlizzCon providing gamers with all sorts of news last month, MMOsite is asking its readers to pick which MMO reigned supreme in August. Here's the choices: Cataclysm, the next World of Warcraft expansion; Aion; Final Fantasy XIV; Dragon Ball Online; Guild Wars 2; C9; Star Wars: The Old Republic; TERA; Champions Online; and Call of Chaos. You can also choose "other" if none of these games pique your interest.

MMOsite gave ratings to some of the games based on gameplay, graphics and popularity. World of Wacraft got a perfect 10, followed by Aion with a 9.8 and Final Fantasy XIV with a 9.3. As far as the votes of readers are concerned, Aion is currently leading the pack with 148, followed by Final Fantasy XIV with 59 and Guild Wars 2 with 58. WoW is currently in seventh place with only 37 votes. Which MMO do you think was the lord of August?

With the new class/race changes coming in Cataclysm, Blizzard needs to keep track of numerous details, both big and small, to make sure the classes and races fit together. For example, it was stated at the open Q&A at BlizzCon that Troll and Worgen druids will be getting unique bear and cat forms. But what about the totems for Dwarf shamans? It wouldn't make sense for them to drag around Draenei totems, would it?

It looks like World Designer Kisirani agrees with that logic. WoW.com noticed she stated in a thread on the official forums that "You'll see what we have up our sleeves for Shaman in the expansion. ;) After all, I think Tauren are getting tired of sharing theirs, too." So it looks like all members of the shaman class can look forward to changes in their totem designs. Kisirani does confirm, however, that the Dwarven totems aren't kegs, "but they fit the dwarven shaman theme very well."

So shamans, what do you want your totems to look like?

According to the official Warcraft twitter account and a post on the forums Faction Change has gone live. Seems it costs $30 and allows you to switch factions to an appropriate race that has the same class available. You can find the original tweet here or the post here.

The cast of "The Guild" Web series was at BlizzCon to talk with fans, host a Q&A panel and premiere the first episode of season three, all while showing off the popular "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" music video. We got the chance to speak with Felicia Day, the show's creator and writer who plays Codex, at the packed Guild booth on the BlizzCon floor. We discussed her thoughts on the Cataclysm expansion and the amount of work that goes into creating the hit low-budget show. She even gave us some details on the Guild comic she's writing for Dark Horse, which will feature the cast both in-game and in the real world.

Keep reading after the jump for our full interview. Be warned that it contains a major spoiler from the first episode of season three, so you may want to watch it first if you want the ending to be a surprise.

The cast of "The Guild" Web series held a panel at BlizzCon to answer questions from viewers and discussed everything from favorite behind-the-scenes moments to what it's like having such dedicated fans. Felicia Day, who plays Codex, on top of being the show's creator and writer, kicked off the panel by showing the popular "Do You Want to Date My Avatar" music video, which was the top music video on iTunes in the world at the time. Audience members then got to enjoy the world premiere of the first episode of season three, which was just released on MSN Video. Day also showed a trailer for season three, which you can view here.

Keep reading after the jump for the casts' responses to questions from members of the audience. If you haven't seen the first episode of season three yet, there's one major spoiler mentioned in the Q&A session, so you may want to watch it first if you don't want to ruin the surprise. Also, check out our interview with Day for even more information on the show and upcoming Guild comic book.

We've already listed a number of MMOs that will be features at the sold out Penny Arcade Expo this weekend, but now you can add Blizzard's set of games to the mix. Gamers who attend PAX this year will get to try out demos of Cataclysm, the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, and the recently announced monk class in Diablo III. A StarCraft II demo will be available as well.

All of these playable demos were available at BlizzCon, but now PAX attendees will also be able to get a first-hand glimpse of the future of the Blizzard franchises. In addition, community managers will be at the convention to discuss the games with fans.

Arena Season 7 has officially started, so you can now start working toward your Relentless Gladiator sets. According to Bornakk, Blizzard has "reset all Arena team ratings, Arena points, and personal ratings though players retain their honor points and matchmaking rating going into the season."

Players who were on the top teams at the end of season 6 should be getting their end-of-season rewards today, such as titles and a Furious Gladiator’s Frostwyrm for combatants who reached the gladiator rank. Check out the list of some PvP items that will be available in season 7 after the jump.

Bornakk just announced on the World of Warcraft official forums that "Koralon the Flame Watcher will be activated in the western wing of Wintergrasp Fortress and awaiting the controlling faction" to coincide with the launch of Arena Season 7.

According to the post, "Koralon will drop loot for slots similar to Emalon, which includes both raiding tier items and PvP gear." Emblems of Triumph will drop in both 10- and 25-player versions.

According to a post by Bornakk, the World of Warcraft team doesn't have plans to make the currently available heirloom items auto-update to level 85 in Cataclysm. Throughout the thread, Bornakk explains that "heirloom items specifically state that they go from levels 1 to 80" so you get a lot of mileage out of using them for the first 80 levels. Bornakk does say the team has "thought of providing new heirloom items that must be earned at level 85," although nothing is set in stone at this time.

As for the experience bonus from some heirloom pieces, Bornakk said, "I think it makes sense that we won't want players to get a 20% exp bonus when leveling to 85." In response to a question regarding giving heirloom items to Goblin and Worgen alts, Bornakk said it seems highly unlikely they'd take that option away from players.

With the Cataclysm release date targeted for 2010, it's important to remember that plans can always change regarding heirloom items (and everything else for that matter). Still, what do you think about Bornakk's comments?