Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsPatch 4.1 hotfixes for June 1
by Matthew Rossi 
Jun 2nd 2011 at 12:05AM
Don't make the mistake of thinking that because the patch 4.2 PTR is up that patch 4.1 won't see any changes, because today's round of hotfixes will teach you otherwise. Once again, Blizzard's Zarhym brings us a grocery bag of class, raid, and other fixes, including the following.
- Warlocks will no longer be able to give people the increased buff from Improved Demonic Tactics when they switch specs or otherwise lose the talent, and their Glyph of Imp will now not affect all warlock pets.
- Maloriak in BWD is now going to prefer to cast his Flash Freeze on ranged players and won't cast it on a player specced to tank. Tanks can still have it chained onto them, however.
- Bountiful Bags guild perk will no longer create more keystone items from archaeology finds.
- The goblin racial Best Deal Anywhere will now only work with vendors you have reputation with and won't stack with exalted guild reputation dealing with guild vendors.
June 1
Classes
Warlocks
Dungeons & Raids
Blackwing Descent
Throne of the Tides
Professions
Archaeology
PVP
Arenas
Battlegrounds
Races
Quests & Creatures
Gilneas
Genn Greymane should now always correctly enter The Battle for Gilneas City, ensuring the event won't sometimes stall during the final phase.
Classes
- Stationary ground effects should no longer move with the casting character if he or she moves (or is moved) from his or her current location.
Warlocks
- It is no longer possible under specific circumstances for players to keep the buff from the now-defunct Improved Demonic Tactics talent.
- Glyph of Imp should not be increasing the spell damage of all warlock pets by 20%.
Dungeons & Raids
Blackwing Descent
- Maloriak now prefers to cast Flash Freeze on caster targets more than 15 yards away. Tank-specialized characters are not targeted, but Flash Freeze can chain onto them. If all the characters in the raid stack up within 15 yards of the boss, they can be hit by Flash Freeze.
Throne of the Tides
- Unstable Corruptions now award much less experience when killed on normal difficulty.
- Shadows of Hakkar can no longer be reflected or deflected.
Professions
Archaeology
- The Bountiful Bags guild perk should no longer sometimes incorrectly reward Archaeologists with multiple keystones from dig sites.
- Players can no longer continue gaining Skinning skill points using low-level creatures below the intended skill threshold.
PVP
Arenas
- It should no longer be possible under specific conditions for the Matchmaking Value shown at the end of an Arena match to be incorrect.
Battlegrounds
- Several changes have been made to Battleground queuing to improve the flow for those who queue for random Battlegrounds versus those who queue for specific ones.
- The ability for players to retain a second queue for a Battleground after they've already entered one has been removed. Previously, players were able to queue for two Battlegrounds, have one queue pop and retain their second queue while they decided if they wanted to join the one that was ready. This is no longer the case. When a Battleground queue pops players will automatically be removed from all other active queues. To queue for a different Battleground it will be necessary to finish the match and queue again. This solves a design issue in that the old system gave players an opening to abandon their teammates if things weren't going as well as they'd hoped; and it also solves some queue system inconsistencies that were being caused as a side effect of how the old system functioned.
Races
- The goblin racial Best Deals Anywhere should now only be applying to vendors with associated reputations. It no longer incorrectly applies to vendors with no attached reputations, nor does it apply to flight path costs. (Note: the displayed costs for flight paths require a client-side patch to update and are not currently reflecting this racial change). In addition, it is no longer possible for goblin characters exalted with their guild to receive an extra discount on top of the exalted faction discount from guild vendors.
Quests & Creatures
Gilneas
Genn Greymane should now always correctly enter The Battle for Gilneas City, ensuring the event won't sometimes stall during the final phase.
WoW Patch 4.1 is live, and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from guides of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm, Hotfixes
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Eirik Jun 2nd 2011 2:23PM
In the first few months of Wrath, when there were folks still flush with cash from Daily Quest Island and eager to spend it, you could sell the bikes for a profit. But that's been some good time ago. While I've made several for friends, or even for "tip", I've not once thought that I could sell one on the AH (or hawking it in trade chat) for anything like the profit I would want, compared to the fixed expenses.
Glad you had a profit cow there, and sorry it got slaughtered, but it just wasn't ever on my horizon.
Hirumared Jun 2nd 2011 3:11PM
The mecho-hogs do sell, and for an amazing profit, just not fast. I sell at least 1 hog a month for a nice 7k profit (less now with the nerf to the vendor prices). Just because it hasn't sold in a couple of days, even weeks doesn't mean it won't sell. of course this is also dependent on your server, economy ect. ect.
Amaxe Jun 2nd 2011 1:27AM
"Players can no longer continue gaining Skinning skill points using low-level creatures below the intended skill threshold."
I was wondering why I was getting some skill ups from grey mobs.
Necromann Jun 2nd 2011 1:38AM
I thought that the lvl ranges for skillups increased, but Blizz forgot to change the color to signify it. Again, guess not.
Shawcrest Jun 2nd 2011 1:40AM
Same here! I thought it was odd I got to 525 on my druid in Sholazar Basin a couple weeks ago.
Amaxe Jun 2nd 2011 1:42AM
Yeah, that was my thought. Guess I was wrong.
I was powerleveling Skinning on my druid, following an online guide and was getting skillups way past what i thought was normal.
Ah well. I'm maxed now, so it doesn't matter.
Abbadon Jun 2nd 2011 1:49AM
I noticed this when doing the bacon cooking daily outside Org skinning the lv 8 pigs and getting skillups although I was almost maxed out... I stopped out of paranoia of getting banned for an exploit and logged a ticket to report it.
Crowqueen Jun 2nd 2011 3:31AM
My gobbo rogue just forked out 4 gold for artisan skinner - at level 29. Wondered why I was getting that far that fast.
Oh well, was good while it lasted :P.
wutsconflag Jun 2nd 2011 12:36PM
Same for my herbalism in Sholazar. Hit 525 without ever touching a Cataclysm herb.
Noyou Jun 2nd 2011 2:04PM
Yeah that's weird. I know there are a bunch of herb nodes that say one thing when you hover over them but you can still collect them.
Necromann Jun 2nd 2011 1:40AM
I thought that the lvl ranges for skillups increased, but Blizz forgot to change the color to signify it. Again, guess not.
Necromann Jun 2nd 2011 1:44AM
How in the . . .
Stupid comment system. You double post with the new post being it's own comment while one is in the right spot (thank the titans) as a reply. And they are 2 mins apart. I hate you comment system.
Al Jun 2nd 2011 2:07AM
Just to keep Archaelogy tedious.
Hux Jun 2nd 2011 3:36AM
Way to go on the Archaelogy nerf Blizzard, this has to be the most tedious profession in game and the one thing that makes it slightly easier you remove??
Stray Jun 2nd 2011 5:42AM
Yo Archaeology I'm happy for you and I'mma let you finish, but Fishing is the most tedious profession of all time--OF ALL TIME.
Well, I guess now theoretically, if I hated profit and gaining towards guild achieves, I COULD level 1-max next to the trainer in SW. I think if they did that to archaeology it would be even more boring--not seeing the sights associated with the ruins and finds.
I might add that Archaeology is a slow, painstaking process IRL, with generally a lot less action than Harrison/Indy go through c; fishing IRL is boring and its greatest rewards tend to be one-on-one time with your dad or what have you. Though I must admit I enjoy fishing a lot more now that I have my water graphics on ultra. I just wish the bobber would sometimes splash at any time other than the millisecond before it runs out.
Lemons Jun 2nd 2011 5:59AM
The nerf to BDA is insane...I mean it was needed, but wow. Goblins must be pissed.
wutsconflag Jun 2nd 2011 12:38PM
Pissed that a racial that wasn't working properly is now fixed? Yeah, I could see that. ;)
Keith Jun 2nd 2011 9:00AM
Yay for the BG fixes. The thread on the European forums was up to 45 pages of increasingly petulant whining, and some of it was even justified.
On another subject, I love how the bug fixes give an insight into the game's design. The tooltip says "increases damage for the imp's firebolt", but some lazy programmer has said to himself, "the imp only has one spell. Let's increase his spelldamage by 20% instead, much easier", and then somehow managed to leak that change into the other pets.
Shugowah Jun 2nd 2011 10:51AM
Yes! I got my discounted Sands of Time and Pyrium-Laced Vial before the switch.
perasitewow Jun 2nd 2011 11:43AM
I'm just pissed that they hotfixed it, made no notes that the hotfix was made, several people purchased Vial of the Sands mats expecting the discount that had been working for 7 months, those people noticed they didn't get the discount and put in bug reports, a day or two goes by where people are posting in the official forums about the "bug", THEN Blizzard FINALLY announces that they'd done a hotfix a few days before.
Come on Blizzard... you know when you do or plan to do a hotfix. Put out some sort of notification. Don't wait days. Do the hotfix and post immediately, or better yet, post that this hotfix is being applied tonight, then apply the hotfix! Your communication has just been very poor for some time now.