- Today is the big day. Patch 4.0.1 is going live in World of Warcraft. This is part two out of three in the run up to the next expansion, Cataclysm. Where the first part introduced the campaigns to take back the Echo Isles and Gnomeregan and part three will actually see the cataclysm occur, patch 4.0.1 is focused solely on the the mechanics of the expansion.
- I always find this part of the expansion process fun. Playing through older content with new mechanics is always interesting. It's nice to have the time to learn how your characters play differently ahead of time so that you can just enjoy the new content when it launches. But there is also that window of time when weird imbalances occur that weren't seen on the beta servers. I remember when paladins became wildly overpowered before Wrath of the Lich King. Fun times!
- I'm hoping the new mechanics either help or at least not hinder my perma-TBC paladin. In the past, expansion updates have helped me more easily overpower lower level content because they are balanced around the new high end. But there is always the chance that they break something and I won't be able to solo low level dungeons anymore.
- If you're wondering whether or not now is the time to jump back in the game, I would suggest holding off a little while longer. Unless you really want to play with the new class mechanics, you're probably better off waiting until the week before patch 4.0.3 hits. That way you have one last look at the world before the big event occurs.
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I'm most interested in how these changes affect the lower levels. I'm firing up another ten day trial to see the new Hunter mechanics and what happens when a Feral Druid or Enhancement Shaman hits level 10. It seems to me that level 10 characters will see a significant power boost. Since I can actually see those changes with a trial account, I may as well do so and save myself $15 just for looking around. Ditto for the new racial intros when those happen.
ReplyDelete@ Tesh - That is an excellent, and elegent, plan and I think anyone curious about the low level changes should follow your lead. Bravo, Tesh.
ReplyDeleteI was looking up some of the changes that this patch will bring, and it makes WoW look almost like a whole new game. The UI changes and the class changes are pretty big and I can't wait to log in and see the hilarity that will ensue in the chat today.
ReplyDelete@ Jayedub - Blizzard seem to be doing a great job updating the game. I know that I will be rolling a few new alts when the expansion hits just so that I can explore the low level zones fresh. Maybe I'll finally get a hunter to stick.
ReplyDeleteTo me the most interesting change in the patch is reforging. I haven't seen comments on it anywhere, I was genuinely surprised when I read the patch notes. It seems like a great idea, crafted items especially often have very screwy secondary stats.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, I can't believe the patch went live while I was away, now I have to add "relearning to play WoW" to the list of things I need to do! It looks interesting though, I don't even know what's in the new patch. Might do me good to put aside a whole night just to review it, or even play around with each of my level 80s and see the changes for myself.
ReplyDelete@ Yeebo - I haven't even looked into reforging yet. So much to do!
ReplyDelete@ GeeCee - Good luck with everything. There is lots (and lots) new to discover.