The Queue: Common patch 4.1 questions
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 2nd 2011 at 11:00AM
We've been seeing the same questions about patch 4.1 repeated fairly frequently over the last few days, so I'll be trying to tackle a small batch of those today.
Everyone in the entire world asked:
What will happen to our valor points in patch 4.1?
Since Blizzard is not adding a new tier of points, your valor point tally the day patch 4.1 launches will be rolled down into your justice points. I know that for certain. I'm pretty sure that if you end up over the cap of 4,000 justice points when your valors are rolled down, you will be able to go over the cap. But you won't accrue any more justice points until you've spent some.
Erevan asked:
It was announced in the PTR patch notes that the revamped 5-man versions of ZG and ZA will have an ilevel requirement of 346 and drop 353 epics (fantastic approach, IMO, to allowing better 5 man drops without immediately invalidating current raid equipment).
Here's my question: do the above ilevel numbers reflect the regular or heroic versions of ZG and ZA, and what gear requirements/loot drops can we expect from whichever one it isn't?
I don't believe there will be a normal version of these instances -- they're heroic only. What Blizzard is doing with these new 5-mans is providing a method of advancement for players who don't raid. They expect you to run the 5-man dungeons that were in at launch until you can do them on their heroic difficulty. Once you've conquered those and reached an ilevel of 346, you can step up and do Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub heroics. Essentially, heroics are becoming tiered content, just like raids. Tier 1 is all of the heroics that were in at launch. Tier 2 is Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub. Tier three will be whatever comes in patch 4.2 (or patch 4.3).
Personally, I think it's a great step for people who can't raid. Zul'Aman will even have a timed run again, which should add yet another layer of challenge to the instance. I like it.
Steve asked:
How confident should we be that new raid content will be included in 4.1? Thus far, and unless I've missed something, any mention of new raids has been excluded from the patch notes. We know that Firelands and the new Caverns of Time raids are coming, and we've seen some new tier 12 trinkets, so clearly something is in the works. But is it possible that they would limit the new content to the new 5-mans in 4.1 and hold off on new raids until 4.2?
It's entirely possible that Blizzard is going to change up its way of doing content patches. It might break up raid content and non-raid content into their own patches. But I wouldn't assume that's what's happening yet. Patch 4.1 went up on the PTR fairly bare-boned. There was a lot to datamine but not much actually available for play. Only an early iteration of Zul'Gurub and its associated quests were available the night the PTR went live. No Zul'Aman, no gear, not much of anything. I fully expect that Blizzard rushed this one out onto the PTR and it's going to be there for a long time -- long enough to add in some of that raid content.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 12)
fallemwarrior Mar 2nd 2011 11:04AM
Ive noticed alot of these interesting areas with mobs that do nothing on cliffs and stuff and heres my question?
We all obviously know they are here now but were they before cata? they seam outa reach without a flying mount soo i guess there might be no info on them
Elleyna Mar 2nd 2011 11:12AM
Some of those areas were visible to players while taking flight paths. Blizz wanted it to seem like there was stuff going on even in places you couldn't technically get to but could still see.
Drakkenfyre Mar 2nd 2011 11:48AM
IF Airport had a group of Dwarves and Ice Trolls fighting non-stop. The Dwarves would charge, the Trolls would come out of the hills, they would fight, some would die, then they all respawned and did it all over again.
You weren't meant to see it from the ground, but if you got up there, you could fight the Trolls. They were low-level, so they didn't drop anything good, the most you got out of them were a couple of copper, maybe a piece of cloth, or a low level green, but it was fun AOE'ing swarms of them.
Plenty of areas have NPC's doing nothing. The FP from Menethil Harbor to SW had a Dwarf patrolling a crashed airplane. Like Elleyna said, they were for FP decoration.
Qot Mar 2nd 2011 12:43PM
Same with the Rogue Black Drake, which you see a bunch of dwarves fighting when you take a flight between Stormwind and the Burning Steepes.
I remember when I first started playing that it was one of the most awesome things to watch. You'd just get a glimpse of an major fight going on between high level dwarves and a skull (well, level 50, but a skull at the time) dragon. I always wanted to jump off and help, even though I'd get one shotted. Ah, memories...
BRB, killing dragon.
ZMES_Matt Mar 2nd 2011 1:13PM
My favorite out of reach area I'm fairly sure was not in the game prior to cata, which is a field/cliff west of Thunder Bluff that's filled with rabbits and prarie dogs with tiny swords and helmets having an epic dual of the critters...occasinally with some rat casualties. :D
Sorcha Mar 2nd 2011 1:57PM
@Qot: guess what the first thing I did when Cataclysm came out was? ;)
Qot Mar 2nd 2011 3:11PM
@Sorcha - I'm actually a little sad it took me so long to remember about that guy. Still, better late than never, I suppose...
http://i.imgur.com/aI9eH.jpg
Jeffro Mar 2nd 2011 6:53PM
Best one by far I have found after getting to fly through the old areas, is one of the human homes between SW and Burning Steppes, there are a bunch of sheep outside and a gnome inside that cons red but not attackable. When you aoe all the sheep, he runs out yelling and punts you. First time I did this I almost fell out of my chair laughing so hard.
Mike Mar 2nd 2011 7:56PM
He didn't punt you. One of the sheep is mechanical and explodes, hence why he runs out upset; you destroyed his creation!
JustinScott Mar 2nd 2011 8:00PM
Sorry to steal your thread, but there's so many comments :P
Question for the Queue: Did Blizzard change the drop rate for old-world cooking recipe's, such as http://www.wowhead.com/item=6661 ? I know that used to be a very, very rare recipe in the Barrens, and sold for quite a good amount of gold. I have had this drop TWICE for me in the last two days while leveling alts. I can't fathom how many hours I spent farming this recipe back in the day.
fallemwarrior Mar 2nd 2011 11:07AM
I know its a longshot but seeing zg and za come back, it might be possible to see a new troll raid?
Geiss Mar 2nd 2011 11:19AM
I Saw on one of the linked blue posts from MMO-Champ that Blizz is HINTING at a new troll something... be it raid, city, troll "faction". The short and skinny is that the Trolls are coming back.
MattKrotzer Mar 2nd 2011 11:23AM
Because we really need more trolls dungeons/raids.
Kaphik Mar 2nd 2011 11:26AM
I'm so tired of troll raids,troll instances, troll everything. I know they are important to the lore and all, but enough already!
So here's my Queue question: with all this information and speculation about Old Ironforge that's trickling out recently, what are the chances we see a raid involving the Dark Iron dwarves in this expansion?
fallemwarrior Mar 2nd 2011 11:28AM
We need more Trolls(Troll Trolls
Less trolls (griefers)
more Trolls!
We had a good thing going till wrath screwed it all up with no Troll raid!
Mofogo Mar 2nd 2011 11:42AM
From the latest blue post:
"We'll have more information to share on the return of Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub soon. But for now I'll say this: there is a center of troll civilization yet to be seen in World of Warcraft. There was once an ancient empire of troll tribes united. Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub becoming key points of interest in Cataclysm plays into this. Perhaps something has happened to once again call for the unity of the disaffected tribes. Perhaps a certain tribe with allegiances elsewhere sees this as a very bad thing. "
Amaxe Mar 2nd 2011 11:53AM
The ultimate troll raid is coming: Zul'zul
;-)
fallemwarrior Mar 2nd 2011 11:58AM
http://www.wowhead.com/item=19943
We be need'in more mojo mon
MattKrotzer Mar 2nd 2011 11:59AM
Zuul.
http://capperwiki.com/wiki/images/3/3a/Zuul.jpg
(cutaia) Mar 2nd 2011 12:24PM
It's interesting how Trolls are the only race who seem to get their own genre of dungeon.
I'd personally love to see more Gnome and Tauren bosses.