Patch 3.3 PTR: Why are Northshire wolves getting sick
by Eddie Carrington 
Oct 26th 2009 at 2:00PM
Okay, maybe changing this isn't the most earth shattering news. Seeing Blizzard change quests or even add new animal skins is something we normally expect with each patch. But this one is different. Going back to the starting areas and changing the quests and mobs there isn't something we see as every day. As such, it begs the question as to why now? Or maybe more intriguingly, what does it mean?
In the current Wolves Across the Border quest, you're asked to go get 8 pieces of Tough Wolf Meat for Eagan Peltskinner. We've now seen that this has changed on the Patch 3.3 PTR. Now it looks like Eagan's favorite meal is being threatened. Instead of killing those healthy, howling, wolves for their meat, Eagan is talking about some mysterious disease.
Disease? What disease?
As far as I know there hasn't been any sign of the undead plague around Stormwind. Do you think it was those nasty death knights? It would make sense with death knights exploding corpses and willy-nilly pulling ghouls out of the ground everywhere. So maybe it's not really that surprising.
Then again, could it point to something more dire and menacing on the horizon? While trying to find if anything has been revealed for the reason behind this change, I stumbled on a post by Mania (of Petopia fame) over on Mania's Arcania.
In her post Mania poses the possibility of this change hinting at Cataclysm related event. Maybe even that this change is hinting the removal of felpaw wolves from Felwood.
I'd hate to disagree with the Dame of All Things Pets, so I'll just blame the druids and say this is what happens when the D.H.E.T.A. gets too much influence. I just hope Blizzard hurries up with the hunter form for druids. That way we can keep them under control with a "Tame Druid" skill.
Yes, folks that is an attempt at sarcasm. We all know that druids won't get the hunter form until possibly Patch 4.2 at the earliest, right?
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items, Rumors
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Dreamstorm Oct 26th 2009 2:08PM
D.E.H.T.A.
no doubt. :P
Rhen Oct 26th 2009 2:09PM
Maybe an effect of a Forsaken experiment for a new plague for Wolven?
Mahmoud Darwish Oct 27th 2009 2:34AM
don't tell me you didn't read the preview of the upcoming book Stormrage ;)
rcenik Oct 27th 2009 11:06AM
I was hoping they would have a variety of skins like this for Forsaken hunters when Cataclysm drops. If you can't have undead pets, why roll one?
(cutaia) Oct 26th 2009 2:13PM
This is actually pretty cool. I can't wait for the pre-4.0 world event...whatever it ends up being.
tasty_wheat Oct 26th 2009 2:27PM
I think you're right, this is a change leading up to the Big Stuff in the expansion. Wow...
You know, it's kind of funny but reading about this upcoming change has really made the incontrovertible and unavoidable truth of Cataclysm's world- (game-)altering changes a reality in my brain. Everything is changing! All of it! Permanently! Not like the Scourge Invasion, which was fun but temporary (in terms of how it affected the gameplay experience for your average character running through, say, Elwynn Forest), but REALLY changing.
It's an epistemological wonder. A paradigm shift.
As Keanu Reeves as Neo would say, "Whoa." Or maybe I'm thinking of "They had really good noodles", but the point is this: we're really going to say goodbye to old Azeroth. Even those regions which are relatively unaffected by the cataclysm of Deathwing's return directly will at least experience some change of quests and NPCs.
Is it hitting anyone else this way? Or have you already made your peace with the fact that your virtual living place of choice is being so heavily changed? It's sort of thrilling.
Rhabella Oct 26th 2009 2:52PM
Maybe it’s not for 4.0 at all, but a 3.4 if you will. 3.3 feels amazingly close and an expansion just announced at Blizzcon seems a considerable distance away. Disease isn’t Deathwings calling card (at least I don’t think), but it is the calling card of the current antagonist, the Lich King.
Why would it be so farfetched to believe we have a 3.4 in store. Even if Arthas is killed, which I think Blizzard is going to pull a George Lucas on us and try and save his vile soul, there could be hints of the plague left over and the fall of the Lich King might release these pockets of “spores” which he has planted throughout the world.
I just don’t think the timeline of 3.3 to 4.0 syncs up with the development time and believe this may be a hint to the Sunwell of Wrath patch headed our way.
Deathgodryuk Oct 26th 2009 3:33PM
Blizzard has already said that 3.3 will be the last major patch of this expansion. That is why the 3.4 theory is flawed.
Rhabella Oct 26th 2009 3:49PM
@Deathgodryuk
Was 2.4 in the original timeline? What about PVE to PVP transfers, what was Blizzards stance on those? What about faction transfers?
Come on man, the theory maybe flawed, but you have to acknowledge that just because Blizzard says so doesn't make it cannon, unless we are talking about the Draenei...oh wait
The hints of human hunter are pretty valid IMO, but again, the timeline for Cataclysm development seems out of whack with 3.3 unless people believe Cataclysm is closer to ship than we once thought. We will be in Icecrown for about 8-11 months if you believe any of the speculation on Cataclysm ship. That's a long time for Blizzard to sit around and hope their player base doesn't get hooked on something new.
Deathgodryuk Oct 26th 2009 3:51PM
We'll see Cataclysm by May, you can quote me on that.
Carver Oct 26th 2009 4:43PM
@Deathgodryuk
Blizzard has already said their will never be flying mounts in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms.
Carver Oct 26th 2009 4:44PM
*there
Link Oct 26th 2009 6:30PM
@Deathgodryuk
Blizzard has already stated that the pre-Cataclysm event will be an entire content patch. It may be that 3.3 is the last major content patch of THIS expansion, but 3.4 will be the last content patch before Cataclysm.
As for your idea that Cataclysm will hit by May, it means that we need to see about 4-6 months of 3.3 (that means like March-May) and then at least a month (I would say longer though) of 3.4 before we see Cataclysm. This would put Cataclysm at a late-Summer, possibly even mid-Fall, release schedule (which is pretty common).
Deathgodryuk Oct 26th 2009 5:36PM
@Carver & Rhabella
Those kinds of changes are different. They've said very recently that there will not be a major content patch after 3.3 in this expansion so I think it would be safe to say that they know their own production schedule. It just doesn't make any sense to divert work away from the expansion, which is closer than many people assume, to create another major content patch. When Wrath was announced we didn't have screenshots of fully developed content and we didn't have playable zones at that blizzcon. The expansion was far off. With the announcement of Cataclysm there is much more to go along with that announcement which tells me that it won't take nearly as long to get here. Perhaps I'm wrong and Blizzard is purposely lying to us to throw us off. That just sounds very conspiracy theoryish to me.
Perhaps 2.4 wasn't in the original timeline for BC, I don't know. It appeared to me that it was because it very much seemed to end the whole Blood Elf story arc that brought them into the game. I've been wrong before though. Once Arthas is dead there really isn't much of anywhere to go with the Wrath storyline. The Scourge have been defeated, Malygos is dead and the threat of having magic-users being wiped off the face of the planet seems to be dead along with him, the threat of Yogg-Saron has been quelled. I don't see anything left. After Illidan was dead there was at least the question of "yeah but what about the demons who were controlling him?" and that was answered with Sunwell. As it stands now I'm not seeing any huge questions like that in Wrath.
For those reasons I stand by my judgment that we'll see Cataclysm in the first half of next year and we won't have another patch in Wrath. There's just a complete absence of evidence to the contrary.
Zhero Oct 26th 2009 6:04PM
@Carver
Blizzard never said never to flying mounts in old Azeroth.
traptinacivicsi Oct 26th 2009 9:11PM
I was waiting for someone to bring this up.
On the 3.3 PTR map of VoA there was an extra wing added, but the map made it look like there's one more spot for a boss still not opened, opposite of the newest one.
With VoA being in the Wotlk expansion, it's not too far off to expect a final (3.4 if you will) patch for some final content, a wing of VoA, and some other last touched to this expansion.
juusu Oct 26th 2009 10:07PM
There's going to be content between 3.3 and 3.4. Blizzard is setting themselves up for a situation where the players are bored with killing Arthas and they get to say "We felt so bad for you guys we're adding THIS! Look how great we are to you guys."
A little more logically is the fact that any stagnation in content is going to give players less reason to play, and Blizzard would sure love to bring in as much money as they could before Cat ships. You could argue that people will gear up alts and PvP, and it is true that many will, but casual players aren't so much into that. On top of that fact is whether players will continue bringing characters through the same raid content when they know that come Cataclysm their gear will be subpar to some greens and many blues of the new ilvls.
The person above me is correct about teh VoA map, and even the lead dungeon dev recently hinted that we could see the rest of the Aspect chambers in Wyrmrest open. That makes total sense. The dragonflights' presences in Northrend is a little too strong for them to not play a more central role. Also, it very coincidental that the content of the upcoming expansion isfocused on the dragonflights.
Riltia Oct 27th 2009 1:48PM
Why would they go 3.3 (Icecrown) > 3.4 (Filler stuff) > 4.0 (Cataclysm)?
Why not simply go 3.3 (Icecrown) > 4.0 (Cataclysm + Filler)? I'm sure that's how WotLK was done!
Unknown Oct 26th 2009 2:15PM
the simplest answer is often the right one- once cataclysm comes along, it won't make sense for worgen to go on wolf killing quests. I wouldn't be shocked if most of the wolf killing quests change.
Majorfalcon Oct 26th 2009 2:19PM
As a blood elf I've killed plenty of elves and as a Tauren I've killed plenty of Tauren, and as an Undead I've killed plenty of Undead. Why is it that Worgen won't be allowed to kill wolves?