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The latest patch 5.4 newsThe 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 4 of 12)
wowinsider Mar 2nd 2011 11:48AM
Cool. The first video I watched from Tankspot, Valiona and Theralion, had straight-to-the-point information and didn't have any distracting (or crappy) background music. I guess I had always assumed that the site would have videos focused on the tank perspective, but it looked useful for all roles. That's what I get for assuming, I guess.
Sky Mar 2nd 2011 12:22PM
OMFGCata on youtube also have some videos that are not as detailed as tank spot but is easier to understand and is not as serious as tankspot. Videos are usually not as long and just tell you a 'cliffnotes' version of the fight.
threesixteen Mar 2nd 2011 5:00PM
yogscast has some really fun, entertaining and informative videos that they made primarily i think of "first look" cata encounters from the PTR. even tho they are early videos, they do a fabulous job of conveying the mechanics and outlining early strats in a way that isn't overwhelming and is eminently enjoyable to watch.
For the nuts and bolts of encounters (ie: move here, do this) i find that www.25man.com is pretty concise.
yogscast is: http://yogpod.libsyn.com/
(they have lots of hilarious minecraft stuff too)
and the youtube link is: http://www.youtube.com/user/BlueXephos#grid/user/C80AB79060523A87
Taitle Mar 2nd 2011 5:07PM
I'll recommend learntoraid.com. I like the way Kina lays out the bosses' abilities and explains the strats.
sporkwind Mar 2nd 2011 11:11AM
Tier 1 is lvl 85 Normals
Tier 2 is heroics
Tier 3 is ZA, ZG
Just wish they'd give ZA/ZG normals to let the people stuck on tier 1 run more than 3 instances >.
Radar Mar 2nd 2011 11:32AM
This. Every heroic should have a normal version as well. Otherwise, it's not heroic, it's, well, normal!
(cutaia) Mar 2nd 2011 12:16PM
"Tier 1 is lvl 85 Normals
Tier 2 is heroics
Tier 3 is ZA, ZG"
Blizzard disagrees because on the PTR ZG and ZA are marked as "Random Cataclysm Heroic Tier 2."
sporkwind Mar 2nd 2011 12:45PM
Not gonna argue semantics.
Tier 0, Normals, whatever you want to call it, sucks right now. Blizz wants you to build up for heroics by running normals and that means running 3 dungeons over and over again.
SamLowry Mar 2nd 2011 1:06PM
"They expect you to run the 5-man dungeons that were in at launch until you can do them on their heroic difficulty."
So how does this work for the new Deadmines? I've been in there a grand total of 5 minutes so far, and that includes 2 wipes, so you can imagine why the group broke up.
It's kinda hard to know what you're supposed to do if there's no "easy" mode to practice on.
Kurash Mar 2nd 2011 1:07PM
You can also gear up through faction reputation items, a couple of Uldum / Twilight Highlands quest rewards, justice points, crafted gear, etc. All of those are options for preparing you for heroics.
With that in mind, having only a few normal dungeons for characters at the level cap makes more sense, I think.
Natsumi Mar 2nd 2011 2:03PM
@sam
The easy mode is lvl 20ish, you should be able to figure that one out at lvl 85 XD
SamLowry Mar 2nd 2011 2:38PM
So there a harvester you can climb inside in the original version of Deadmines? Umm...don't think so, and that was where I was invited in. After they told me to use the harvester then pointed me down the ramp and said it'd be "Easy peasy", I knew I was in trouble.
Yep, definitely in trouble. I kept blasting things yet they still managed to make it up the ramp. Wipe. Try again. Wipe. Group disintegration.
Panteleone Mar 2nd 2011 11:12AM
I'm just wondering if this isn't a little soon to be pushing out a new raid tier. Have all that many guilds cleared the current tier? I consider my raiding guild to be about average and we're roughly halfway through the current content.
fallemwarrior Mar 2nd 2011 11:17AM
Ill admit i was hopping to see this sorta thing a bit latter into the expansion but it wont push out the raids, they offer 352 epics while raids offer 359 so its not as good, its probably gonna be statwise equvelent to the current blue pvp gear, soo id say look to that to see its stats (replacing the res of course)
WaterRouge Mar 2nd 2011 11:22AM
Before I start let me say I am not anything more than a casual raider.
In my opinion I think Blizzard released ToC too quickly while people were still working on Ulduar. Yet while ToC was out, Ulduar was still considered, at least in my circle, "harder" content because it was much longer and the fights were more complicated. Even though the gear level was lower it felt more prestigious to kill Yogg-Saron and Agalon than to kill Anoobarak a second time.
So, again my opinion, no it isn't "too soon" to release a new raid even if it is a higher tier level because people will still being doing the raids that are out right now in patch 4.1. Especially since you can't jump into the newest raid like you could in Wrath, there's a still a progression one has to follow with gear.
It would be too soon though if patch 4.2 is Deathwing's raid. But then again, maybe if that were true we'd believe Blizzard when they said they wanted to release an expansion every year.
Sir Broose Mar 2nd 2011 11:24AM
This PTR could very well last for many weeks before it goes live.
Epius Mar 2nd 2011 11:25AM
The reason it was rushed is because rift came out. Like the article said, it will be there for a while (it being the patch on ptr).
While people may disagree with my reasoning, I have fount that when a new MMO with some hype is about to come put they always release information on a new patch with these little goodies.
With all that said, I will keep waiting for the next article to come out on wow insider (and I will be enjoying rift too).
P.s. I already know you are going to downvote me but I don't care. Any mention of another game on here seems to be merged with seething hatred for the person. Well, here is to hoping.
P.s.s. Minecraft is awesome
N-train Mar 2nd 2011 11:31AM
Like Alex said, the PTR is basically a very small handful of unfinished content right now, meaning there is still a lot to be released and tested. We haven't even gotten any actual, solid, official information on the new raids yet, let alone them being up and testable on the PTR.
Full patches spend a couple weeks on the PTR at least, this one isn't even near complete yet, so I'm guessing you will still have at least a month, I'd expect to see this go live sometime in mid-late April.
razion Mar 2nd 2011 11:48AM
@Epius
I will disagree with that reasoning and suggest that WoW isn't worried about RIFT in the slightest. If there's a game WoW is worried about, it would be the new Star Wars MMO.
Nina Katarina Mar 2nd 2011 11:56AM
I still see LFM spam for ICC raids pretty much every Friday and Saturday night. I have no doubt that some people will be only just venturing into BWD the moment the new raid tier comes out. Some groups like less challenge to their instances, and that's OK.