The best of WoW.com: December 30 - January 5, 2010

Between Blizzard lending a helping hand in a drug bust and the WoW-playing cougar meeting her teenage soulmate, World of Warcraft spent a not insignificant amount of time in the news this past week. In the game itself, players continue to ride the waves of last month's release of patch 3.3 and Blizzard tries its hardest to bribe players into running one of Wrath of the Lich King's worst dungeons.

Continue reading to see the best that WoW.com had to offer in the kick off of 2010.

News

• Run Oculus, win fabulous prize
  Players loathe the Oculus, the dungeon regarded as one of WoW's worst. Over the last week, Blizzard has gutted the dungeon's difficulty and added a variety of extra loot to try and encourage players to weather the storm.
• Blizzard helps authorities track fugitive
  Blizzard helped an Indiana sheriff track an allegedly drug-dealing, WoW-playing fugitive to Canada. Sheriff's Deputy Matt Roberson, who used to play World of Warcraft, discovered that Alfred Hightower aka Rastlynn, was an avid player. So he contacted Blizzard with a request for help in locating his quarry.
• Teen runs away to meet older WoW soulmate
  A Texan woman travels to Canada to meet her soulmate, a 16 year old boy, who runs away from home to be with her. Shortly after, the woman returns home to the USA where she does, indeed, face harsh consequences.

Features

• The Moviewatch 2009 highlight reel
  WoW.com looks back on the best World of Warcraft machinima of 2009.
• The Best of WoW.com: 2009
  Some of the top posts of the past week on WoW.com are, interestingly enough, a look back at the top stories of the entire year of 2009. Players finding developer exclusive items in their mailbox, the resolution of the legal battle over the botting program Glider, Blizzard's foray into the world of microtransacations, and the official announcement of Cataclysm, the game's next expansion. All of that and more awaits you.
• Officers' Quarters: Oil and water
  Is it possible to turn a roleplaying guild into a casual raiding guild? Can the two groups mingle in the same community, or is it like mixing oil and water?