Weool Ok… the servers aren’t up yet (as I write this) but the patch is finally here. Rumor has it that this is the biggest patch Bliz has ever provided.
Naturally there will be a few bugs coming along with the patch, and no, they’re not the ones you’ll kill to earn XP. As an aside, it’s be kinda interesting to be able to code a hack that fixes a game bug and get Bliz to pay you for it.
Anyway, the full patch notes are in the usual place so check them out. Here are my remarks on miscellaneous points:
General Notes
Mounts can now swim.
Trainers, having decided that their trainees can’t read, have done away with the course requirements for books and will now teach those skills directly.
Dual Talents – Now you can have two builds to switch between. For example, one for raiding and one for PvP. The only downside is that it costs 1,000 gold to get the ability.
Glyphs – A bunch of new glyphs are being introduced and a bunch of old glyphs have been changed. You no longer need to be near a lexicon of power to install glyphs.
And the most important, game-changing, change of all: New music can be heard at the Argent Tournament grounds and in Ulduar.
Class Notes
All classes get a couple of pages of changes, except Warriors and Warlocks, who get a few lines each. Guess that means that Warriors and Rogues are nearly perfect. Looks like there are more than a few buffs in the list of changes. A few nerfs, too. I’m looking forward to Rogues now being in demand for raids. Oh, Ok, I’m awake now… what was I saying?
Enough changes have been made to talents and spells that everyone (except Rogues and Warriors?) will get a free respec and should visit the trainer the get new spells.
Armor Penetration has been buffed. All classes now get 25% more effect from it. The main visible change of this will be to drop PvP survivability in the BGs (at level 80) from 1 second to 0.9 seconds.
The Fear mongers on the house have had a bit of a nerf. The fear (and related abilities) break sooner now.
DKs, Pallies, and Droods, the classes most in need of a buff, now receive 30% more haste from Haste Rating.
Profession Notes
Alchemy – Several Flask changes, introduction of Northrend Mixtures, and secret Alchemist loot caches (from the Bosses) in Uldar.
Blacksmithing – New recipes from Uldar and an upgrade to some recipes in the 1-300 range to make them useful.
Cooking – I’ll pass these on to my wife and she’ll update our cookbooks (Tauren Chef and Wrath of the Kitchen King) appropriately.
Enchanting and Engineering: have some updates and tweaks.
Fishing – You can now catch a mount! It’s pretty rare, though. Also, you can now fish anywhere.
Gathering skills – For some time low-level twinks have been able to get to 450 mining and skinning (for the crit and stam buffs.) No longer, there’s now a level requirement for those skills.
Inscription – More recipes and quite a number of Glyph changes.
Uldar bosses – will, rarely, be dropping recipes for several professions.
Misc Notes
There’s a bunch of interface tweaks
Lots of little item changes, but if you use Glyphs (you are, aren’t you?) you will want to check it out. There have been some significant changes.
Lots of little bug fixes.
So all in all there’s a lot there. Something for everyone and all that.