Patch 3.0.8, and all of its unabashed Arcane Mage love, is just around the power leveling proverbial corner. If you missed Arcane Brilliance's coverage of the changes, you can find it here, still preserved in its original state. We have other business to attend to this week, though. Last week, we finally rounded out our series of leveling guides by going from level 70 all the way to 80. Now comes the age-old problem: what to do once you've hit the cap?

As it has ever been, hitting the current level cap--much like graduating from high school or college--only serves to show us how far behind the curve we really are. We go from the top of one ladder to the very bottom of another. No self-respecting raid-leader is going to invite a Mage to Naxxramas who is still sporting the mismatched greens and blue quest-rewards he had on when he dinged 80 somewhere in the middle of Zul'Drak. The good news in Wrath of the Lich King, however, is that the power gap now isn't as difficult to bridge as it has been in previous incarnations of the end-game.

By way of organization, we're going to take this slot-by-slot, starting at the top and moving down. In order to stick somewhere in the rough vicinity of the 1,000 words this column is supposed to consist of (but somehow never does), we won't be indulging in too much commentary about each piece, and the list won't include every single option out there. The main idea here is simply to give those of you who need to fill a specific slot a few ideas about where to go and what to do.