WoW Rookie: A rookie's outlook on patch 4.2
by Michael Gray 
May 26th 2011 at 3:00PM
Like a freaky Weeping Angel cat who gets nearer and nearer whenever you're not watching it very closely, patch 4.2 is drawing ever closer. We obviously don't know exactly when the patch will drop, but we can be relatively certain it's ... soon. I'd be surprised if we saw the end of June before we're rocking out in the Firelands.
The upcoming patch is a content patch, which means that there will be new raids, new quests, and new stuff. The patch has class adjustments, nerfs, and balance changes to characters; you should definitely check out your class columns on WoW Insider to get a clue of how your character-based gameplay will change.
That being said, the upcoming patch promises plenty of huge quality-of-life changes for rookie and casual players alike.
Encounter Journal: In-game strategies
One of the biggest changes to WoW for more casual players will be the debut of the Encounter Journal. Using this feature, you can look up the basic mechanics of each dungeon's boss fights. It won't tell you the strategy for overcoming the encounter, but the journal will tell you what abilities you should expect.
This resource will be huge for the "just play" crowd. It's annoying when you're forced to tab out of the game to look up a boss on third-party websites. The journal will let you keep playing the game while in the game, without investing so much real-life time memorizing stats and powers on the internet.
Fresh, new daily quests
Patch 4.2 will bring players a whole new series of daily quests. This is content you can enjoy solo at your own pace, without being forced to group up with 24 of your closest friends.
As you work to reclaim and help regrow Mount Hyjal, you will slowly gain access to even more content. This progression is tied to your character, so you won't miss out on the experience while everyone else on your realm is blazing through the content as fast as possible.
The rewards for these quests look promising and helpful, providing a nice method for gear progression that isn't tied to raiding or heroic dungeons.
Okay, this is a touchy subject, so I'm going to try and be delicate. The current normal mode raids -- stuff like Bastion of Twilight and Blackwing Descent -- are being rebalanced to make them even more accessible. Much of the standard raiding playerbase is frustrated with these changes, but I'm focused on the idea that even more players will be able to get into the raids, do the content, and then progress to the Firelands.
While raiding nowadays is much more attainable than it was in the early days of WoW, the current raids have a lot of "do it right or you all die" mechanics. That's awesome for srs-bsns raiders, since it provides a lot of space for decision-making, skill tests, and interesting strategies.
Not to mention, there are a lot of raids right now. There are four raids, if you include the one-boss Baradin Hold. You can do each raid in an evening if you're blowing up the content and probably double up BH and Throne of the Four Winds in a single night, but that's still three nights of raiding a week. That's three nights of raiding to down all the content, if you're fully progressed and having no challenges. Any struggle at all in the instances, and it becomes a much longer raiding week.
For folks who are balancing trying to get in to see content with family lives, work, and other concerns, this can make raiding a little frustrating. I'm much more excited about having a manageable list of bosses each week than the 7-nights-a-week raid-fest we have right now.
More developments to come
There are more changes to come that will impact casual and newer players. Many of those details will become more obvious as the patch actually drops, but we can hope to see people relax a little more during heroics, maybe a little more gear put into circulation, and the prices on the auction house dropping significantly.
Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from how to control your character and camera angles when you're just starting out, to learning how to tank, getting up to speed for heroics and even how to win Tol Barad.Filed under: WoW Rookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Eirik May 26th 2011 3:12PM
Stalking Cat... is also a reference to the Doctor Who episode "Blink"...
You don't know what I'm talking about? Look it up on wikipedia. Then look it up on Youtube or somewhere. Watch it.
And don't ever, ever, look away. Don't even blink.
Thomas Higgins May 27th 2011 1:08AM
No you didn't. You didn't do that. Oh hell, you did. You brought up Blink. And the Weeping Angels. Oh godsdamitalltohell, the Weeping Angels.
BooMsx May 26th 2011 3:21PM
"Much of the standard raiding playerbase is frustrated with these changes, but I'm focused on the idea that even more players will be able to get into the raids, do the content, and then progress to the Firelands."
I don't think so, they'll rush through the normal modes of old raids ant then all hyped up will get their faces scraped off in firelands IMO.
Amanda A. May 26th 2011 3:38PM
Easy raid>hard raid you need better gear for is still a better progression than hard raid>hard raid you need better gear for. People get better through practice, after all, and this gives them somewhere to practice at. It's like saying you should never put training wheels on a kid's bike, because they'll fall when they're removed and get their kneels scraped up. Sure, they will, but they'll have more coordination because they learned to steer and brake when they didn't have to balance at the same time.
MrJackSauce May 26th 2011 3:41PM
IMO the reason Blizzard are (i shudder visibly when I use this word) "nerfing" the t11 dungeons is so that people have it slightly easier to gear up and move on to Firelands.
I'm sure Blizzard want players to see current content (or as close as they can get without having the hardouts spazz out on the forums). There's plenty much of bosses to do in the Firelands raids so it's not like casuals being able to join in the fun is ruining hardcore progression guilds.
wutsconflag May 26th 2011 3:58PM
You'll be rated down for sharing a counter-casual view (like my comment will be), but I completely agree.
How many people still did Naxxramas seriously after Ulduar was released? Ulduar after TOC? TOC after ICC?
Here's a hint, it wasn't many, and they weren't going to learn or gear up for the current content. When the next tier of raiding drops, that's where the playerbase will be bashing their heads against a wall, and no amount of "it's okay, go back and do (previous tier) for gear until you can beat (current tier)" will stop them from screaming for nerfs from Blizzard.
Search your hearts, potential commenters ... You know this to be true. /Vader
John May 26th 2011 4:28PM
The people having trouble clearing T11 will probably slowly get a few bosses into Firelands and will use that gear to help finish T11 and maybe do some T11 hard modes.
This is similar to when the attunement for SSC/TK were dropped, and then people who hadn't killed Magtheridon went back & farmed him using a few pieces from Lurker & Loot Reaver. Or when attunement to BT/Hyjal was dropped and people used some T6 item level gear to go back and kill Vashj & KaelThas.
And yes, people who hadn't yet taken out Vezax and/or Mimiron used gear from ToC to go back & finish Ulduar.
Perhaps that is not "serious" enough for you, but it did happen.
zweitblom May 26th 2011 4:47PM
"You'll be rated down for sharing a counter-casual view (like my comment will be), but I completely agree."
And far be it from me to frustrate your expectations (although I would have expected from a raider to be less passive-agressive about opposing views, but there you go.)
Choline May 27th 2011 4:57PM
@ Wutsconflag:
I did. I got an entire set of Tier 7 while Ulduar was the new hotness. Completing Naxxramas, even a tier or two behind, is one of the things I am proud of the most in WoW.
SamLowry May 29th 2011 12:08AM
"so it's not like casuals being able to join in the fun is ruining hardcore progression guilds"
Which casuals are able to get into raids? The casual raid pugs which were all over the place in Wrath no longer exist, and since you have to join a megaguild if you ever want to see the inside of a Cata raid you could hardly be considered "casual" anymore.
alieria May 26th 2011 3:52PM
"7-nights-a-week raid-fest we have right now"
Huh? 3 night/week guilds have cleared the content (yes, all of it). 9 hours a week is sufficient to be 9/13. This is the type of hyperbole that gets people into trouble.
wutsconflag May 26th 2011 4:00PM
"... I'm focused on the idea that even more players will be able to get into the raids, do the content, and then progress to the Firelands."
Could WoWhead writers which share this tidbit please back up a statement like this with actual numbers?
How many guilds were still seriously running Ulduar when TOC came out?
Long gone are the days where you had to do Raid A to gear for Raid B to gear for Raid C. Blizzard doesn't work that way anymore, and they haven't for a long time.
John May 26th 2011 4:42PM
People will run both T11 and T12 at the same time.
Maybe not progression people who already have 4/5 T11 gear and BiS heroic T11 gear, but a lot of other people will.
T11 raids will be run less, but less is not zero. Over time, they will certainly go to zero, but not for a while. Even when Valor Points can buy T13 gear, there will be groups going back for achievements, mounts, certain trinkets, etc.
Here's some data from GuildOx:
Heroic: Sinestra, Achievement rate: World 539, 10m 179, 25m 359.
Heroic: Cho'gall, Achievement rate: World 1016, 10m 541, 25m 471
and so on.
The population of people who've "finished" T11 is small.
John May 26th 2011 4:45PM
People will run both T11 and T12 at the same time.
Maybe not progression people who already have 4/5 T11 gear and BiS heroic T11 gear, but a lot of other people will.
T11 raids will be run less, but less is not zero. Over time, they will certainly go to zero, but not for a while. Even when Valor Points can buy T13 gear, there will be groups going back for achievements, mounts, certain trinkets, etc.
Here's some data from GuildOx:
Heroic: Sinestra, Achievement rate: World 539, 10m 179, 25m 359.
Heroic: Cho'gall, Achievement rate: World 1016, 10m 541, 25m 471
and so on.
The population of people who've "finished" T11 is small.
wutsconflag May 26th 2011 4:53PM
@John:
I'll give you that. There ARE some people who will. However, statements such as the one the author made (and sentiments which are apparently shared amongst a rather large audience) don't seem to correlate with personal experience over the past few years. The number of people who'll continue doing T11 is decidedly small. People who want to go to T12 will just do that (and farm heroics for VP to afford whatever gear is being put on those vendors).
To me, the nerfs to T11 will simply mean people get to see the T11 content. I don't think any of that will actually prepare people for T12. Saying the nerfs to T11 will somehow help people do T12 seems disingenuous to me, based on my own anecdotal evidence. Maybe Blizzard has seen something I haven't, though.
Groth May 26th 2011 7:51PM
So many points to make...
Wow Insider, not Wow Head to begin with.
T11 raids being made easier will help entice new raiders into 10 or 25 man content. During Wrath, I helped a guild of people completely new to MMOs get into raiding. We did that by running Naxx, Ulduar and ToC, before we set foot inside ICC (even with the buff). Having content which you outgear gives far more room for mistakes. Not having to worry about anything really other than your sanity levels and which mob you're on for Yogg really helped the new people learn about how to work together as a raid, without a single mistake causing a wipe. And wipe we did.
I don't think the nerfed t11 raids will prepare new players for firelands. I sincerely hope there won't be tactics on vent of "think Ascendant Council with more fire". I think it will give people who are stalled on heroic content (for whatever reason,) the opportunity to get into raids without needing a well co-ordinated guild or pug.
To respond to another of your comments, slightly further down the page, there are many people for whom raiding is not a viable option given the business of their lives. That isn't to say you need no life to succeed in wow. Having no life WILL help you though. It's harder to balance wow and your alt (RL) if your time is being taken up by working late, nightschool, taking the kids to judo/ballet/origami lessons. Spending time with a significant other reduces game time massively if you don't play together. None of these things actively stop you succeeding in wow- but they do reduce the amount of time you are able to invest in your own personal progression, and that slows the success rate, unless you find a way to compensate (making lots of gold on the AH remotely, being Greg Street's brother-in-law, or something else).
Personally, I doubt I'll do t11 raids after firelands, but I know alot of people who are really looking forward to the nerfs, as it'll give their guilds a chance to go have a poke at cho'gall.
Noyou May 26th 2011 4:09PM
Let's take this in 2 parts "are being rebalanced to make them even more accessible."
Key word being "rebalanced". Since the majority of players don't get to go on the PTR or beta the encounters are not balanced for the majority of the users. It's always looked at as a nerf and I guess that's fine to look at it that way. There's always going to be the 10% of the playerbase that thinks they are the hot shizz. Which brings me to the next part-
"Much of the standard raiding playerbase is frustrated with these changes" I don't know why the "standard raiding playerbase" gives a flying [fandango] about how or what content others are doing. The only thing I can think of is from a pugging standpoint. I guess I never will understand that one.
Playtowin May 26th 2011 4:14PM
You know what would be nice, having a toggle switch to accept the nerf or not accept it for the current raids. For guilds that are just now getting into the raiding content or currently trying to down the existing content, it'd be nice to get that same satisfaction of having done it at the original level of difficulty.
If you are in a guild where you are hampered by not being able to get to it as quickly, maybe don't have as skilled a player base, or you care more about the fun of seeing the content than the challenge of it, you could accept the nerf.
That would be awesome. So for smaller guilds with good players that can't get to raid content due to real life stuff we could do it pre-nerf style without the stigma of not seeing the fight that everyone else has downed. For those that don't care, they could enjoy stomping it with the nerfs.
Edge May 26th 2011 8:38PM
These nerfs were probably for people like me who basically never sees raid content except the few times he can join an old raid for fun. That being said, I don't see why Blizzard can't do exactly this. It's not like there is no precedent for it. This is what was done in Icecrown Citadel, and I thought that was the point of that whole experiment. While personally I look forward to maybe, possibly finding the time to do T11 on easy mode, I do not like taking something away from the game that has doesn't need to be. Seems like Blizzard is just being lazy on this one in order to push everyone forward.
TL:DR Blizzard you gave people choice before in IC, and it worked, and worked well at that, why not do it again?
joshua.l.miles May 26th 2011 4:14PM
I am shocked that the comments aren't already full of the usual "Blizzard sucks for giving people with lives outside of WoW a chance to see the raids we "worked" so hard to get done once we have all but forgotten they exist" crowd...they are usually pretty quick to point how much better they are than the rest of us and how we have no right to see raids since we don't devote all of our time outside of work to gearing up and studying you tube raid videos with a notepad and pen.