Posts with tag wow-patch

We may not see another patch before Warlords of Draenor, which means the content in the game right now could be all the content we'll have for a while. And though plenty of players are still working through Siege of Orgrimmar raid content or collecting endless numbers of Timeless Coins, some of us are already starting to get bored of the Warlords waiting game.

But sometimes, not having any new content on the horizon can give you a chance to stretch your virtual wings and work on in-game goals you haven't gotten around to yet. Maybe now is the perfect time to try your hand at PvP, the Brawler's Guild, or finishing up your Loremaster (or the Insane) achievement. So tell us, readers -- how are you killing time before Warlords arrives?

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Patch day is finally upon us! Soon enough, patch 5.4 will be here to bring a world of exciting new content on our virtual doorsteps. So the question of the day, as we wait out the downtime, is just what are you looking forward to in this patch? There's plenty to chose from, with the Siege of Orgrimmar (and potentially a new leader of the horde), the new flex raiding system, connected realms, and the mysterious Timeless Isle.

So tell us, readers -- what are you most looking forward to? What are you going to jump into as soon as the servers come back online?

Tomorrow -- that's Tuesday, September 10th -- U.S. realms will be going offline for maintenance at midnight, Pacific time and are scheduled to come back up by 10 in the morning. This downtime is, of course, for the launch of patch 5.4: so by tomorrow afternoon the Siege of Orgrimmar should be upon us. We think the schedule is on the optimistic side for a patch roll-out, but here at WoW Insider, we'll keep our fingers crossed for servers popping back online quickly so we can all get back to gaming.

Not sure what all the fuss is about? Blizzard posted a roundup of patch 5.4 info to catch you up on all the news, but if you need to go more basic than that you can also check our rookie writeup on what WoW patches are.

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We've gone through 24 patch cycles and four expansions since World of Warcraft launched. But while that sounds like a lot of patches, in the past Blizzard has only done 3 or 4 patches per expansion -- 11 of those 24 patches were between vanilla WoW and the game's Burning Crusade expansion. But the recent breakneck pace of patches -- one every couple of months -- doesn't quite mesh with the fact that Blizzard doesn't tend to do more than 4 patches per expansion and the fact that they recently confirmed that patch 5.4 will be the final raid patch of Mists of Pandaria.

While final raid patch doesn't necessarily mean final patch, it certainly doesn't get our hopes high for exciting new WoW content. So what's a gamer to do with a potentially tremendous content drought on the horizon? We really don't expect to see an expansion announcement before BlizzCon this November, which would mean an actual expansion launch date even later than that.

So, readers, I put the question to you: how many more patches do you expect Blizzard to roll out to keep us engaged and interested before the next expansion launches?

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Whether this is pointing to the usual lead-in patch for the next expansion, or a patch 5.5 in the works is, of course, completely up in the air. But it's nice to see that Orgrimmar won't be in a state of perpetual lockdown for good. It would be even nicer, however, to see the Vale restored at least a little bit in some sort of resolution -- after all, its appearance in 5.4 is kind of a shock. And if we're dead set on cleaning up Pandaria, wouldn't it be lovely to see some kind of evidence that we're serious about it? For that matter, seeing the Jade Forest cleaned up would be nice, too. Sure, it might take another hundred years to build another statue for the Jade Serpent, but I miss the orange trees.

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If World of Warcraft had but one holiday, it would be Patch Day: the glorious Tuesday (or Wednesday) in which the WoW servers go down for maintenance but come back online brimming with new, unexplored content. If you're new to World of Warcraft, or MMOs in general, you may not entirely understand all the fuss the community makes over patches. So just what is a patch? Why are they so important? And how can you get your hands on one? We'll do our best to explain.

What is a WoW patch?
Did you know we're playing version 5 of World of Warcraft right now? It's true: Version 1.1 was World of Warcraft's launch client and every expansion since has bumped the version number up a full number, while each patch release is a decimal place. The original game went up to patch 1.12 (the 1.1 launch client and 11 patches after), Burning Crusade (2.0) had a scant 4 patches, Wrath of the Lich King (3.0) had 3, Cataclysm (4.0) had 3, and Mists of Pandaria (5.0) is about to see the release of its 3rd patch, patch 5.3. These days, patches are coming more quickly than ever and we have no idea how many patches to expect before the next expansion arrives.

We know Blizzard has a lot planned for patch 5.3, which could go live any time now. But to keep us busy while we wait for the next batch of new WoW content, Blizzard Insider has posted an interview with Game Director Tom Chilton. Though the interview mostly summarizes what we already know about the upcoming patch, it provides a great overview of what's coming with a bit of added insight Blizzard's development thought process. Covered in the interview are how the devs felt patch 5.2 performed, the storyline of patch 5.3, PvP changes and the new battleground, new scenarios (and heroic scenarios), gear and the ability to choose which spec you'd like gear for, and visible pet battles.

The patches are certainly coming our way quickly. Are you looking forward to patch 5.3 or still working on patch 5.2?

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If you've been on the leveling treadmill -- or if you frequent the WoW forums -- chances are you've noticed that after patch 5.2, you stopped automatically discovering new flight paths. For those of you (myself included) who loved this feature, it's unfortunately an intentional change. According to everyone's favorite floating skull, Zarhym, the auto-discovery of flight paths -- introduced way back in patch 4.2 in June 2011 -- was never intentional.

@autumnsunxo @bubblepuffle Unfortunately, you weren't provided correct info. Auto-discovery was never intended. Post to explain coming.

- Zarhym (@CM_Zarhym) March 17, 2013

So why's it waited so long? Again, according to Zarhym, it was a complicated problem to crack -- and low on the priority list.

@reaper2352 Until 5.2 we couldn't fix it without erasing what paths any character had discovered pre-Cataclysm. It required new tech.

- Zarhym (@CM_Zarhym) March 19, 2013

While I mourn the loss of what was one of my favorite Cataclysm-era features -- the run through the Wetlands to pick up the flight path at Menethil Harbor used to be a killer, literally -- I can't complain too much. After all, with mounts starting at level 20, hearthstones on a 15 minute cooldown (with the right guild perks), and flight paths scattered conveniently around the world, getting around is easier than it's ever been, even without automatically discovering new flight paths.

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If you've been waiting for some new WoW loot to drool over, today Blizzard posted previews of season 13's "Tyrannical" PvP armor sets. Season 12 will be coming to an end on March 5, making the Tyrannical sets your new PvP goal. Though we have to say, the paladin set looks kind of dangerous, like you might put someone's eye out accidentally with those giant blades attached to your shoulders. (It reminds us of warrior's tier 2 Wrath set, which also seemed like tempting fate. What if you tripped?) So, PvP paladins, please be careful and try not to run with scissors -- or those huge shoulders -- okay?

For PvEers, Blizzard also has previews of tier 15, which will be arriving with patch 5.2 -- that is to say, soon. Thankfully, Blizzard has finally taken the preventive measure of putting bells on the priests so they can no longer sneak up on you. (Apologies to stealth-loving priests everywhere.)

And if that's not enough preview action, our friends at Wowhead also have Throne of Thunder boss drops from the PTR (if you're not seeing them, click to sort "By Boss"). Happy looting, everyone!

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Technically, as I write this, the Dragon Soul isn't actually dead yet, nor do raids really die so much as either become outdated or revamped. (Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman stand as examples of raid content that died to be reused, while Naxxramas was used again as an introductory raid.) But since we're closing in on our fourth month running the raid instance, I thought this was a good time to examine it critically. What were the Dragon Soul's main themes? How did it function both as a raid instance and as a platform to end Deathwing's story arc? And most importantly to me, did I enjoy the ride?

Dragon Soul as an experience was fascinatingly diverse compared to previous raids. It eschewed the static finding of some dark cave or towering fortress to instead create a raid wherein we traveled the world, with different environments for the bosses to suit the locations and set pieces for our transitions. One complaint I've seen is that by reusing the Dragonblight and Wyrmrest Temple, Blizzard's design team was cutting corners -- but frankly, I don't find that criticism very accurate. First off, Wyrmrest is where the dragonflights typically meet, as demonstrated by Malygos' assault during the Nexus War, so it makes perfect sense for it to be where Deathwing sends his full Twilight's Hammer forces to try and crush them.

• Healers coming back via Scroll of Resurrection will no longer find strength on their starter sets.
• In Madness of Deathwing, Burning Blood will no longer prematurely spike to 100 stacks if you happen to damage the Arm and Wing Tentacles quickly.

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

Hey, get the Blu-ray transfer of this movie; the visual quality is great. Plus you'll own two of the finest movies ever made if you buy the Aliens Blu-ray too. If you have to pick one, though, get Aliens instead.

TheBishop asked:

With the change to achievements in MoP, specifically sharing mounts and pets towards collection numbers and them being useable by all toons, do you believe my warrior would be able to use and count my pally specific mounts? Or do you think certain mounts like the pally and lock ones may be class use specific?

The mounts that will be shared between characters on your accounts are specifically ones that are granted by achievements, according to what Blizzard reps have stated. It's unlikely that your shaman will be able to use your dreadsteed mount or your warrior your charger, since those are granted by a class trainer, not an achievement.

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

I follow a lot of people on Twitter, but one of my favorites is @beebee880, probably the nicest guy on the internet and a big fan of buses in general. My friend Satellite High made a split EP with Bert Smith that's all about Beebee's bus-related obsessions and it's pretty rad. You should go get it.

Puntable asked:

Why do you think they made the raid hit cap for casters more than twice as much as it is for melee?

Easy answer! Melee classes also have to deal with expertise, so it balances out in the end.

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

I know Adam just used this image yesterday, but man, how could I resist? Image relevant to next question.

Finneous asked:

I wonder, if you create a character in the MOP beta, and later buy the game, will the character still be there to play, or do you have to start from scratch?

You don't get to keep your characters from any Blizzard beta (or many online game betas, period). Expect that trend to continue with MoP when the beta ends.