WoW Rookie: What the hell is going on today?
by Allison Robert 
Mar 25th 2008 at 2:20PM
We heard from a few people either new or returning to WoW that the amount of information overload on our front page was reaching critical mass, so it occurred to us that it might not be obvious why the fabled Patch Day is such a ("Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria! Details at 10!") big deal in these here parts. Here's an older WoW Rookie on "What is a patch?" from Amanda Dean if you're new to the business of how Blizzard updates its content.For the uninitiated, Patch 2.4 is what is known as a "content patch," which is a sanitized version of saying "A ton of stuff gets added to the game and all hell breaks loose." This particular patch doesn't contain a lot of new content for people still leveling their first character, so you're unlikely to notice any differences unless you have a fairly high-level toon being affected by the class changes coming in or one who was beginning Karazhan attunement, which is no longer required. Apart from that, a rare new-5 man is being added (Magister's Terrace), a new endgame 25-man raid (Sunwell Plateau), and a host of new quests and a rep grind if you've got a toon at nearing 70.
The official patch notes are here, and WoW Insider has full coverage on the changes if you want a more in-depth look. Enjoy Patch Day!
Filed under: Guides, WoW Rookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kaion Mar 25th 2008 2:26PM
yeah Ghostbusters
Matthew Mar 25th 2008 2:45PM
You guys have had 27 stories and counting in the last six hours or so. I'm not one to complain about content, but man, try spreading it out a bit.
Allison Robert Mar 25th 2008 6:44PM
Ayep; the problem with patch days is that there's an ongoing struggle to get as much information out as possible before the realms go live, and it does tend to be frenetic.
Dave Mar 25th 2008 2:53PM
Lots of great content on the 2.4 patch so far -- but you still haven't talked much about Magtherion and his buffed loot and nerfed encounter. What has changed about the fight to make it easier? More loot details please.
Allison Robert Mar 25th 2008 6:43PM
There's been talk in my guild about hitting Mag at some point soon, so with any luck I'll have an "up close and personal" article about Big Blue in the next few days. Unfortunately, none of us got to see him on the PTR.
In a nutshell, the number of infernals summoned by the warlock adds has been nerfed, I believe the warlocks' damage has also been reduced, and the single biggest change is that the Mind Exhaustion debuff (the one preventing cube clickers from doing it twice in a row) has either been chopped out completely or greatly reduced. Mind Exhaustion is what made it necessary to rotate two teams of cube clickers (which was itself a nerf; it used to be three!) and from what I understand, it's only necessary to slap five people on the cubes now and you're ready to go.
Also, we do have a post about Mag's buffed loot here if you're interested: http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/02/25/patch-2-4s-magtheridon-the-new-onyxia/
Wolftech Mar 25th 2008 2:55PM
Damn... I hate patch day... all my addons are broke again.. and then good luck getting to Curse or WoWInterface to get them updated (at least WowAce Updater was working, such as the few addons that still worked in 2.4)
Milktub Mar 25th 2008 3:00PM
Ahh ... patch day.
First I'll finish work. Then I'll have happy hour.
Then, I want to see some new content.
And yes, I'm sad that this all happened before my pre-patch goals were met: Sun Eater, Exalted with Thrallmar.
mcclary Mar 25th 2008 3:09PM
I hear ya Milktub. Work, happyhour, wow. I didnt complete my goal either. I wanted my shammy to be 70 so he could immediately take advantage of the new PVP gears. Only made it to 66.5 sadly =\
SpaceLady Mar 25th 2008 3:16PM
nice repost
Stormtamer Mar 25th 2008 3:43PM
One thing i might point out, that wasnt in the post that may effect rookies is the UI changes.
Not seen them myself, but the UI options can be difficult to get around when your new, so adding new stuff that could be helpful, but confusing to implement to a rookie might of come up.