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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlizzard announces Pre-Wrath content patch
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Aug 25th 2008 at 9:05PM
Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen. In a sign that Wrath of the Lich King is quickly moving toward release, Eyonix officially announced today that we will see a new content patch "in the coming weeks."
This patch will introduce a good portion of the old world Wrath-related content and UI improvements, and will probably start the pre-Wrath opening event (If you don't mind spoilers, you can get some info on what that event may entail from us). Check out Eyonix's list of what is being implemented and what it may mean after the break.
- New class spells and talents
- Stormwind Harbor
- Barbershops in capital cities
- Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
- Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
- Guild calendar
- Hunter pet skill revamp
- New profession: Inscription
It's actually rather interesting to me that inscription was included in this list. Jewelcrafting has been solidly restricted to owners of the Burning Crusade expansion, with the only trainers for the profession in expansion-only cities. It seems that Blizzard is not taking that same tack with inscription but instead allowing all subscribers to learn it. This may be simply because it provides some long needed support to enchanting, or it may be we'll see jewelcrafting trainers show up in Stormwind and Undercity as well.
Two things that haven't shown up: Death Knights and Dance Studios.
There were rumors a while back that Blizzard would add Death Knights before Wrath to give people a chance to get familiar with the character and to hit 70 so they could level with their friends through Northrend. If that's still in the cards, Blizzard's keeping that hand close to the chest.
Dance studios, which would allow you to change your character's /dance emote, have been a promised feature of Wrath for some time. However, we're deep into the Beta process and there's not a single mention of them, nor has Blizzard indicated that they are delaying or canceling the feature. My guess is that they're holding off for a BlizzCon unveiling. By guess, I mean hope, because Saturday Night Fever just doesn't seem very Death Knightish to me, you know?
Other than that, this seems to follow the pattern of the pre-BC content patch to a tee, and it should be nice to play around with all the new class talents (and use them to farm up that last bit of gold) before the expansion hits. Stay tuned to WoW Insider, as we'll be sure to tell you everything there is to know about this patch as soon as more news drops.
Hungry for Wrath of the Lich King news? WoW insider has you covered. Check out our constantly updated Wrath of the Lich King directory page, or browse all of our articles in the Wrath of the Lich King category. You might also be interested in our new Death Knight column, Lichborne, or our previews of the new class glyphs and other inscription goodies.Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Events, Blizzard, News items, PvP, Expansions, Classes, Talents, Buffs, Wrath of the Lich King, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 6)
Bloodletter Aug 25th 2008 10:12PM
How many times am I going to have to say/leak this info...?
WoTLK is coming out on the 17th of October in the US and 20th October in Europe. I work at a shipping/importation of electronics and media goods company for a few local stores... this isn't a hoax, trust me!
Nick S Aug 26th 2008 1:22AM
@Bloodletter
Screenshot or... you know the rest.
slimj091 Aug 26th 2008 1:47AM
"I don't think wrath is in a state yet for that soon of a release, so either we'll have longer to play the patch or the patch won't drop until more than 4 weeks from now. I'm surprised they announced this - they must feel good about the state of the beta"
and what's your involvement in the development of the expansion to support that assumption? seen a few video's? looked at a handful of screenshots? read some posts on a forum?
I think blizzard is a little bit more qualified than you in judging what the state of their expansion is in.
besides. this is only a pre-release of finished old-world content. no where have blizzard said that WotLK will be released exactly one month after the patch goes live.
Ceeci Aug 26th 2008 5:14AM
@ Bloodletter
I've been arguing with a friend over this for a few days now, he says that the store he works for has a release date of Nov. 3rd. IMO these dates are just an estimate of when its going to come out, to give the stores a bit of time to prepare. There is no actual release date set yet, or we would know about it..
DrunkenIdiot Aug 25th 2008 9:59PM
@25
I'm not too sure it would be a bright idea to release the patch the same day as major MMO release. Of course, it could be a good way to sway people from going to play another MMO(possible midnight sales), but Blizzard could possibly recieve a bad reception for doing something like that.
Then again, marketwise it could be a good idea.
Sithlrd Aug 25th 2008 10:01PM
Druids should get Inscription: Panda.
That is all
annerjb Aug 25th 2008 10:09PM
the interesting part about this is that i would like to see people raid sunwell/bt/hyjal with the new spec and talents and spells and see how it changes the difficulty of events ie how people do illidan with a increased cooldown on shieldblock and avoiding the shear ability.
Ahoni Aug 25th 2008 10:23PM
"In the coming weeks" is just as vague as "when its ready." Ok, so blue confirmed that there will be a content patch before the expansion hits stores that gives us the new talents and spells and some new content. We knew that.
My magic 8-ball says 6-8 weeks before the patch. In my opinion, there are still too many talent trees that need to be reworked. Some (hunter/mage) have been polished up nicely, while others (warlock/druid) still need some work. So, its not "ready."
Mainstay Aug 25th 2008 10:32PM
Inscription isn't even done on the beta yet though D:
They planning to add it without having it even tested? *shrugs*
Defpon Aug 25th 2008 10:40PM
Bad.
Last time we got talents and skills that werent intended for us yet many of them caused imbalances and had to be tweaked.
Many were hurt suffered for a long time.
twh Aug 25th 2008 10:46PM
Good to know they're taking the time to properly balance and test out all the new things and especially important things like fixing the paladin class.... oh wait!
Xhaiden Aug 25th 2008 10:52PM
According to Amazon.com (and this is of course speculation on their part) but they see WOTLK shipping on Nov. 4. correct me if i'm wrong
Xhaiden Aug 25th 2008 10:53PM
I am wrong, Nov. 3
Liel Aug 25th 2008 11:00PM
Last time they did this it was because the BC expansion got delayed so it gave people something to do.
ObiChad Aug 25th 2008 11:03PM
Hmm 6.5 weeks away from blizzcon. Assuming 3.0 goes to the PTR to test a bit is it possible they are trying to release that around the same time as the con? If there is an invasion event of sorts, they could tie it into the con somehow? Or do they thing Wrath is close enough to release right after the con? That part seems aggressive to me.
Matt Aug 25th 2008 11:50PM
Having actively participated in the beta, I can say DK's are shaping up nicely and with a little number crunching they will feel pretty complete (really just need to reduce the dmg output of a few abilities and make some changes they have already stated were coming). They have also been covering 1-2 classes a week in revamps to talent trees and assuming about a 4-6 week time frame before this patch were to go live, I would say it could probably be completed.
I will say I can't see a downside to releasing dk's early as it won't spoil that portion of Wrath since really it will only lvl the playing field for advancement once wrath hits. I know I have been trying to determine about how long it would take me to get a DK to 68 so I could lvl with my friends in northrend.
They could technically release DK's with the stipulations that exist now(character over 55) and simply lock them out if a Wrath cd key is not entered in association with your account within...say a week.
All in all I look forward to this patch live because those who haven't experienced beta will most likely be pleased with what is to come for your class.
Onatel Aug 26th 2008 12:24AM
It may not need to go to PTR, since the Beta acts as a test realm of sorts, just without the public part. Though I'm not sure if Blizzard had the "Before the Storm" patch on a PTR or not.
darian Aug 26th 2008 2:24AM
The Before the Storm patch did hit the PTR, and with good reason.
There's a lot that can go wrong in trying to take a "complete" portion of an incomplete project and port it in a stable form to a preexisting infrastructure. All sorts of bugs can creep in, and they certainly did in the 2.0 PTR testing.
The testing was relatively short, but you can expect the see the same for 3.0.
jay Aug 25th 2008 11:14PM
Meh, I'm gonna take a wait and see stance, Blizz are funny when it comes to releasing something such as a patch, almost cryptic sometimes.
deviationer Aug 25th 2008 11:22PM
why the fack does a shat ton of people think warhammer is going to make a big huge massive difference to WoW?
who cares......not blizzard.
Do you really think a game with 11 million players is going to loose soooooooooooo many to warhammer that they are going to push stuff through just to compete and keep people?