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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWoTLK Friends and Family Alpha Patch Notes leaked
by Daniel Whitcomb 
May 17th 2008 at 5:50PM
MMO-Champion has just posted what appears to be the patch notes for the WoTLK Friends and Family Alpha. This is an unconfirmed leak, but everything on them would appear to check out as legitimate. They're pretty barebones, but there's some intriguing information to be found:
- Death Knights are playable, although the starting quests and talents are not complete.
- Spells and Talents past 70 are available for the Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior classes
- You can head to Northrend via Menethil Harbor and Theramore for the Alliance, or Undercity and Ogrimmar for the Horde
- The Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Grizzly Hills, and Dragonblight are the zones currently open for testing.
- Utgarde Keep, Utgarde Pinnacle, The Nexus, and Drak'tharon Keep are currently available for testing.
If they already have talents for quite a few classes past 70, it would seem to suggest that they are further along on the expansion then we think. Hopefully, if these patch notes ring true, we'll hear about those talents soon. You can read the full Patch notes behind the jump.
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- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King: Friends and Family Alpha
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Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Friends and Family Alpha. The list below contains information on the current available content available for testing and general information. This information is subject to change.
General
- The continent of Northrend is now available! To travel there, visit one of four transportation masters in either Orgrimmar, Undercity, Theramore,or Menethil Harbor.
- Transportation between Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra can be found at the Tuskarr villages in those zones.
- NPC Transportation Locations
Horde:
Undercity to Vengeance Landing (Howling Fjord)
Orgrimmar to Warsong Hold (Borean Tundra)
Alliance:
Menethil Harbor to Valgarde (Holwing Fjord)
Theramore Valiance Keep (Borean Tundra)
World Environment Zones
- The following zones are available for testing: Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, and Grizzly Hills
Dungeons
- The following dungeons are available for testing:
Howling Fjord: Utgarde Keep (70-72)
Howling Fjord: Utgarde Pinnacle (80)
Borean Tundra: The Nexus (70-72)
Grizzly Hills: Drak'Tharon Keep (74-76)
Classes
- All Classes are available for play. Spells and talents will be available for testing past 70 for the following classes: Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
- The Death Knight Hero class is now available for play.
Creating a new Death Knight will start you at level 55 in Eastern Plaguelands.
No starting quests are implemented though Death Knight abilities will be available for testing.
Several Death Knight talents, although they will appear on the talent pane, are not yet implemented.
Professions
- The following tradeskills are available to train up to 450: First Aid, Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning.
Filed under: Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, Patches, News items, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Fauche May 17th 2008 6:36PM
Sorry, that's the second page. All the stuff is on the first. Check it out.
Hestonx May 17th 2008 6:06PM
Doesnt make sense...
I want my beta invite!
Tumnus May 17th 2008 6:16PM
Well now the port to Theramore in 2.4.2 makes more sense.
Zarzuur May 18th 2008 6:23AM
I will want to experience the v.cool Valliance Keep first .. now I know where to queue my alts to get there!!
Matt May 17th 2008 6:16PM
yay! bring on the end of wow!!! when everyone can see all the asme content and instantly become bored...the game will destroy itself! whoo hooo!
Koskun May 17th 2008 7:08PM
Learn what it is you are talking about before you speak you silly comment troll.
Saying something as ludicrous as you did, on a WoW site no less, yea, stupid is the beginning.
As to what I believe you are trying to say with your comments. Getting and keeping a guild together that has 40+ raiders, all balanced is not an easy task by any means. The jump from 5-man to 10, to 25 was a somewhat hard adjustment for Guilds. Same as the adjustment from 40-man to 10 man right at the start.
With the new dungeons seemingly being open to the large guilds, by TBC standards, it allows the guilds who have problems fielding 25 people now an opportunity to see the new content and participate, but with 10 and 25 man options having separate loot tables it still has a reason to see the same dungeon, but with 25 people the dynamics change.
Markymark May 18th 2008 9:06PM
Yea If thats how you feel about WoW and WoTLK and you haven't even played it yet then WAR and Conan is thata way==>
my2cents May 17th 2008 6:25PM
Instead of Menethil Harbor being our second port to Northrend, why not the IF airport right next to it???? WHY! >.< Sorry, just that for Blizz to miss a golden opportunity like that would seem to be a huge mistake. At the very least, that area should be implemented in one way or another in the xpac.
my2cents May 17th 2008 6:26PM
I should've pointed out though that this is only alpha, and this info may not even be real =P
Fobok May 17th 2008 9:24PM
Totally agreed. I was really hoping that airport would be used when I heard about the Gnome airport in Northrend.
Retro May 17th 2008 8:05PM
I have to wonder if the reason Rogue, Hunter, and Paladin talents aren't visible is because Blizz has not yet gotten them to a point where they are playable.
The optimist inside me says that Blizz is holding these details back until they are just right, and polished enough to bring redemption to the Paladin class and avoid the inevitable "Hunters and Rogues win again" rants.
The pessimist inside me says that Blizz just has no clue on how to deal with Retribution and Holy paladins post-70 and is putting them off until the last second.
Suzaku May 17th 2008 10:07PM
It sounds like the same thing with before BC. They work on implementing talents a few classes at a time, not all at once. The BC talents were in development for a really long time, and towards the end they were only being patched in like one class a month.
Baluki May 17th 2008 7:39PM
Hrrrrgh! I want to see the new shaman spells and talents! I know there's a NDA in effect, but...gah!
Urthona May 17th 2008 7:55PM
I need someone with Alpha to TRY to get to IoQD. I have a feeling the entire place will be eliminated with Wrath.
Charlie May 17th 2008 8:34PM
why? There would be no reason to restrict that entire area.
Now they may eliminate the daily quests, but the dungeons will still be there.
Minnow May 18th 2008 5:13AM
The daily quests would still be there for those who do not wish to purchase WotLK though that wouldn't be a lot of people.
Faux May 17th 2008 9:16PM
A new cap at 450? With how hellish Engineering was to level to 375 I shudder to think what 376 to 450 is going to be.
G May 17th 2008 9:37PM
Heh.. Try Blacksmithing or Leatherworking. My engineer had a cake walk compared to those, especially the smithing (crazy mats, ftw!).
I'm actually looking forward to some new engi recipes beyond 375 besides the Purple Fireworks and Cluster Launchers which keep popping up on the AH for dumb prices.
Faux May 17th 2008 10:16PM
@G
I've got a few 70s and am preparing for my future Death Knight main. I, for a time, considered taking him Blacksmithing/Swordsmith. Then I ran the numbers for all of the materials to go 1-375. I nearly had a stroke. Why Blizzard would make the material cost for Blacksmithing so disproportionate to the items you can craft is beyond me. Suffice it to say, the DK is going Inscription/Herbalism.
And, now that I think about it, Engineering was only really bad to level because of all the gorram Khorium you needed. If there's a new super rare super high tier metal in Wrath I can only hope Blizzard doesn't make Engineers whore themselves out for it. :/
boadie May 17th 2008 9:44PM
sounds like they're still a looooong way from beta...