2.4 Has Dropped (But Your Balls Still Haven't)

[kongurous]

Double post, waaah waah wahh. Deal with it.

Anyway, this Friday, first raids are starting. I'll tell you how it goes.

[GenocideAlive]

The Sunwell Isle

* The Sunwell Isle is now available for play. This area includes a new quest hub and 5-player and 25-player instances. Join the Shattered Sun Offensive in shutting down Kael'thas' nefarious operations. This new force is comprised by both the Aldor and Scryers and is led by the Naaru. Players will take part in claiming Sun's Reach and setting up a larger base of operation to stop Kael'thas and the Legion.

Combat Log Improvements

* The combat log has undergone improvements that allow more robust combat filtering including the ability to define custom colors for enemies and friends as well as combat filtering for self and others.

General

* The combined forces of Shattrath have launched an attack on the Isle of Quel'Danas, to confront Kael'thas and the Legion at the Sunwell and surrounding areas. Players will now be able to gain reputation with the Shattered Sun Offensive and participate in a new set of daily quests.
* A representative of the Keepers of Time has been spotted at the World's End Tavern in Shattrath. Players in good standing with the faction will be granted ease of passage to the Caverns of Time.
* Characters will now retain talented spell ranks so when they retalent they do not have to relearn the spells from trainers.
* Spell Haste: Spell haste now reduces the global cooldown on spells, down to a minimum of 1 second. This change does not apply to melee and ranged abilities.
* Item Cast Spells: Many spells cast by items were being cast as if the caster were the same level as the item. Most of those will now cast at the player's level, giving them a reasonable chance to miss, be dispelled, or be resisted.
* Spirit-Based Mana Regeneration: This system has been adjusted so that as your intellect rises, you will regenerate more mana per point of spirit.
* Weapon Skill: Points will be gained faster in weapon skills for levels 1 through 59.

Racials

* Find Treasure: This ability no longer deactivates upon death.

Druids

* Empowered Rejuvenation: This talent now properly affects the final heal from Lifebloom.
* Gift of Nature: This talent now properly affects the healing from Tranquility.
* Insect Swarm: Casting lower ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
* Lacerate: This ability now deals additional damage based on the attack power of the Druid.
* Mangle (Bear) now properly triggers a 1.5 second global cooldown, increased from 1.0.
* Natural Perfection: This ability will no longer be triggered by taking critical strikes while sitting. In addition, it is now affected by the Subtlety talent.
* When a Druid in cat form casts Pounce it will now properly animate.

Hunter

* Equipping a thrown weapon while in the middle of an Auto-Shot will no longer cause animation issues.
* Casting Flare while in any way not visible, will no longer cause your flare to be invisible to other players.
* Hunter's Mark: Hunters with Improved Hunter's Mark will now properly overwrite Hunter's Mark cast by Hunters without the talent.
* The stamina tooltip for hunter pets will now display the proper health increase.

Mages

* Using low ranks of Fire Ward and Frost Ward spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
* Fire Ward: Using low ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing spells are penalized.
* Frost Ward: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
* Frostbite: When a frost spell is reflected back at a Mage, it is now possible for the Mage to suffer from the Frostibte effect.
* Ice Barrier: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
* Permafrost: This talent will now correctly increase the movement slowing effect of frost Armor instead of the attack speed slow.
* Spellsteal will no longer overwrite a longer duration buff.

Paladins

* Avenger's Shield, Holy Shield and Holy Shock: Casting lower ranks of these spells is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
* Divine Illumination: The mana energize from this talent no longer has a chance to set off other triggered effects.
* Holy Shield and Holy Shock: Casting lower ranks of these spells is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
* Judgment of the Crusader: It is no longer possible to have icons for two different ranks of Judgment of the Crusader appear at the same time when judged by multiple Paladins.
* Judgment of Wisdom: Some abilities (such as Frostbolt) were not triggering the mana energize effect from this spell. This has now been fixed.

Priests

* Fear Ward is now usable while in Shadow form.
* Inner Focus: Chastise now benefits from Inner Focus. In addition, Starshards no longer consumes Inner Focus.
* Power Word: Shield: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
* Prayer of Mending: This spell will now fade from players who leave or enter an instance, change continents, or exit the game.
* Reflective Shield: The reactive damage from this talent no longer breaks crowd control affects which break on taking damage.
* Shadowguard: No longer consumes the charge of Inner Focus when triggered.
* Silent Resolve:This talent is now affects Surge of Light, Power Infusion, Inspiration, Spirit Tap, Blackout, Levitate, Shackle Undead, Touch of Weakness, Hex of Weakness, and Symbol of Hope.
* Touch of Weakness: No longer consumes the charge of Inner Focus when triggered. It will also function properly even when the Priest with Touch of Weakness on is silenced or stunned.
* Vampiric Touch: Casting lower ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.

Rogues

* Cheat Death: A combat log message will now show when this ability activates.
* Vanish: This ability will no longer sometimes cause the UI to display Shadowmeld as active when it has been cancelled.
* Abilities that can be used while stealthed, without breaking stealth, can now be cast without breaking Vanish when used at the same time.
* Sap mechanic changed from "Incapacitate" to "Sap". This will allow more humanoids that were previously immune to Sap to be vulnerable to Sap, but still immune to Gouge. Note that anything that removed Sap previously will still remove Sap after the change.

Shaman

* Call of Thunder: (Rank 5) now gives 5% critical strike chance.
* Earth Shield: Mana cost reduced roughly in half, and charges reduced from 10 to 6.
* Elemental Focus: This buff will no longer be removed when Shamanistic Focus is triggered.
* Healing Grace: This talent now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.The resistance to being dispelled modifier from this talent now applies correctly to Water Breathing.
* Rockbiter Weapon: Tooltip and error messages have been adjusted slightly.
* Stormstrike has a new icon.
* Totem timer icons will now show up under your player portrait when you cast totem spells. Right-clicking a totem timer icon will destroy that totem.
* The Shaman spell Fire Nova Totem will no longer sometime detonate without doing any damage.

Warlocks

* Demonic Knowledge: This buff will no longer remain on enslaved demons when Enslave Demon is removed.
* Pyroclasm: This talent now works correctly again with Rain of Fire.
* Ritual of Summoning can be used to summon players into instances if they meet the instance requirements.
* Shadow Ward: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.

Warriors

* Endless Rage will now give the correct amount of rage as intended from damage dealt by a Warrior.
* Stances: It is no longer possible to accidentally change into a stance you are already in via macros (resulting in a global cooldown and loss of rage).
* Whirlwind: Critical strikes with the off-hand weapon from this ability can now trigger Flurry and Rampage.
* Flurry will properly refresh if a crit occurs with 1 charge left.
* Improved Hamstring (Arms) effect is now subject to diminishing returns when used in PvP.

PvP

* Diminishing returns on honor for kills is being eliminated.
* Honor will now be instantly calculated, and available for player use.
* Players that have the resurrection sickness debuff will be worth no honor.
* Added new PvP daily quests that send players to Halaa and the Spirit Towers of the Bone Wastes. These quests are available for Alliance and Horde at their respective local quest hubs.
* Arenas
o Shadow Sight now increases damage taken by 5% rather than dealing damage over time. Duration has been reduced from 21 seconds to 15 seconds.
* Battlegrounds
o If a player dies 50 times or more in a battleground, they will no longer be worth honor for the remainder of that battle.
o When you first enter a battleground, messages about other players joining the battleground will be linked together for the first minute. You will see a message in AV like "28 players joined" rather than a line for each player that joined. After the first minute, it will work as it always has. In addition all of the messages about other players leaving the battleground and getting marks of honor once the battleground is complete have been removed.
o Alterac Valley
+ Captain Balinda Stonehearth's spells have been simplified, and she can no longer be slowed or locked out of a school with interrupts (although she can still be interrupted).
+ Vanndar Stormpike and Captain Balinda Stonehearth have had their health totals reduced.
+ Warmasters/marshals in Alterac Valley now increase each other's maximum health and damage by 25%. This is a stacking effect.
+ Horde players will now start the battle closer to Drek'Thar and Frostwolf Keep.
o Warsong Gulch
+ When both flags are held, the flag carriers will receive 50% increased damage done to them after approximately 10 minutes and 100% increased damage after approximately 15 minutes.
+ Flag carriers can now be tracked 45 seconds after picking up the flag.

Professions

* Added several new tradeskill items to the new Sunwell Daily faction vendor:
o Enchanting recipe to shatter a Void Crystal into two Large Prismatic Shards.
o Enchanting recipe to increase Defense Rating by 15 for chest armor.
o Three jewelcrafting recipes to cut gems with spell haste from Dawnstones, Talasite, and noble Topaz.
o Two new meta gem recipes.
* Alchemy
o Gift of Arthas now stacks to 20.
* Cooking
o Broiled Bloodfin now increases resistances to all schools of magic instead of increasing Stamina and Spirit.
o New recipes, Charred Bear Kabobs and Juicy Bear Burgers, can be purchased from either Bale (Horde) or Malygen (Alliance) in Felwood. These recipes requires 250 skill to learn, and are created from meat found on level 48-56 bears. This will aid players in leveling up their cooking skill to 300 without fishing.
* Enchanting
o Reduced the materials required for Enchant Shield – Resistance
* Engineering
o Gagsprocket in Ratchet now sells the plans for the Minor Recombobulator.
o Goblin Jumper Cables and Goblin Jumper Cables XL now display cooldown information in their tooltips.
o Removed the level requirement for the Craftsman's Monocle.
o The stun caused by engineering Bombs and Grenades is now considered an Incapacitate effect and uses the appropriate Incapacitate diminishing returns. Bomb and Grenades can now inflict damage to targets immune to Stun and Incapacitate effects.
o A new recipe has been added for Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite, a cloth version of the Rocket Boots Xtreme. This pattern drops from Mechano-Lord Capacitus.
o Rocket Boots Xtreme now have all their stat points allocated toward Attack Power, and will no longer have Stamina.
o Rocket Boots Xtreme and Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite will cause players to drop a PvP flag if used while carrying one. (Warsong Gulch, Eye of the Storm, and Zangarmarsh)
* Fishing
o New Fishing Daily Quests! Visit the mysterious old man fishing at Silmyr Lake outside of Shattrath City to discover what treasures he has to offer.
o Find Fish now correctly tracks Schools of Tastyfish and Muddy Churning Waters.
* Herbalism
o Ancient Lichen now has a chance to drop a Fel Lotus where it used to drop a piece of random green jewelry.
o Black Lotus replaced by Fel Lotus in herbalism skinning tables for Outland creatures.
o Increased the chance that Felweed, Dreaming Glory, Ragveil, and Flame Caps will contain a Fel Lotus.
o Warp Splinter can now be skinned with Herbalism in heroic difficulty.
* Leatherworking
o Shadow Oil will now fit into Leatherworking Bags.
* Mining
o Increased the skill up potential for most smelting recipes.

Quests

* New Daily Dungeon quests for both the heroic and non-heroic five-person Magister's Terrace dungeon at the Sunwell.
* Dungeon and Group Quest Experience: The amount of experience awarded for dungeon and 5-person group quests in Outland has been increased in almost all cases.
* The number of elite Shadowsworn Drakonid patrollers on the Ata'mal Terrace has been cut in half. Most of the remainder have had their patrol paths lengthened.
* Increased the slots on Old Blanchy's Feed Pouch to 8.
* The Thunderspike no longer sparkles for Alliance characters, nor does it show up on the mini-map when Find Treasure is in use.
* "Zapper Fuel" is now flagged as a Sunken Temple dungeon quest.

Dungeons and Raids

* All 25-player raid bosses have had their cash drops increased!
* All 25- player raid bosses that drop set tokens will now drop an additional token!
* Players will no longer require an attunement quest to enter Hyjal.
* Players will no longer require an attunement quest to enter the Black Temple.
* Players who have completed the attunement quests for Black Temple and Hyjal will be granted the title of "Hand of A'dal".
* You may now fight Prince Kael'thas and Lady Vashj without first killing all the other bosses in their respective dungeons.
* The Unstable Cloud and Frost Breath spells are now treated properly as a movement impairing spells.
* Non-corporeal Undead and Mechanical creatures are now susceptible to bleed effects.
* Elemental creatures are no longer explicitly immune to poison and disease effects. Elementals with nature school immunities will still be immune to nature-based poisons, however.
* Gems obtained through Heroic difficulty instances are no longer Unique-equipped.
* Loot dropped by Doomlord Kazzak and Doomwalker has been changed to Bind on Equip. In addition, the cash dropped by these bosses has been significantly increased.
* Scale of the Sands reputation will now be awarded in Hyjal at a much higher rate.
* Caverns of Time: Heroic Black Morass
o Rift Keepers and Rift Lords now have reduced hit points.
* Caverns of Time: Mount Hyjal
o The Vials of Eternity quest is no longer necessary for entry to Hyjal. This quest is still required for faction rings.
o Azgalor's Rain of Fire now affects a smaller area.
* Caverns of Time: Old Hillsbrad
o The Human Illusion effect will now always be removed properly when a player leaves the instance.
* Hellfire Citadel: Magtheridon's Lair
o Many gameplay elements of the encounters in Magtheridon's Lair have been changed to decrease their overall complexity and difficulty.
* Tempest Keep: Kael'thas
o The Vapor Clouds in the Kael'thas encounter are significantly easier to see.
* Tempest Keep: The Mechanar
o The Mechanar: It is no longer possible to gain an additional Badge of Justice by bringing Cache of the Legion keys obtained in other copies of the instance.
* Tempest Keep: The Eye
o Void Reaver is now immune to Vindication again.

Items

* Players will now be able to purchase level 70 Superior quality PvP items from reputation vendors.
* Avatar Regalia: The two-piece bonus from this set will now be consumed by Vampiric Embrace as intended.
* Bloody Brass Knuckles, Eerie Stable Lantern, Baelog's Shortbow, and Snakeskin Bag have been upgraded to Superior items.
* Blue Suede Shoes can now be disenchanted.
* Crystalforged Raiment: The two-piece set bonus will now work properly. Additionally, the four piece bonus will now only work on the next Holy Light cast, as intended.
* Cyclone Regalia: Trade skills will no longer consume the Energized effect.
* Deadman's Hand: This item's effect now works while the victim is sitting. In addition, its effect is now properly considered a root for purposes of being dispelled or removed.
* Discombobulator Ray: This item will again not work on mounted players.
* Frostfire Regalia: The resistance bonus from this set now works with the Burning Crusade ranks of Mage Armor.
* Gladiator's Leather Gloves: This arena bonus will now properly school lock enemies when the damage from Deadly Throw causes them to stop channeling.
* Gnomish Mind Control Cap: Victims of the Gnomish Mind Control Cap will no longer get Forbearance when the mind control is terminated due to Blessing of Protection.
* Gnomish Poultryizer: This item will again not work on mounted players.
* Goblin Rocket Launcher: Creatures will no longer gain health while affected by the Stun from this item.
* Heavy Netherweave Bandage: It is no longer possible to have two players bandage the same target simultaneously using this item.
* Netherweave Bandage: It is no longer possible to have two players bandage the same target simultaneously using this item.
* Idol of the Crescent Goddess: The mana discount on Regrowth has been increased.
* Idol of Feral Shadows: The bonus damage to Rip has been increased.
* Idol of the Raven Goddess: The bonus healing, critical strike rating, and spell critical strike rating from this item have been increased. In addition, it no longer sometimes fails to apply the healing bonus.
* Idol of the Unseen Moon: The cooldown added in a previous patch has been removed.
* Idol of Ursoc: The bonus damage to Lacerate has been increased and the tooltip clarified to indicate it applies to both initial and periodic damage.
* Idol of the White Stag: Duration increased.
* Items intended for Retribution Paladins have had their stats adjusted. Retribution Paladins should see an increase in dps as a result.
* Jade Pendant of Blasting: This item no longer increases physical damage dealt.
* Libram of Absolute Truth: The Holy Light mana discount has been increased.
* Libram of Divine Purpose: The bonus damage on Seal and Judgment of Righteousness has been increased.
* Libram of Mending: The mana regeneration buff has had its duration increased. The name of the buff granted by this item changed to Grace of the Naaru to avoid having the same name as the Light's Grace talent.
* Libram of Righteous Power: The bonus damage for Crusader Strike has been increased.
* Libram of Souls Redeemed: The bonus for Flash of Light has been decreased and the bonus for Holy Light has been increased.
* Libram of Wracking: This item now increases the damage on Holy Wrath and Exorcism instead of decreasing their mana cost.
* Masquerade Gown: The spirit bonus from this item will now properly trigger all benefits from the Tree of Life talent.
* Mojo: A pvp-flagged player can no longer kiss Mojo and cause non-flagged players to become flagged.
* Moongraze Stag Tenderloin can now be consumed by hunter pets that eat meat.
* Noggenfogger Elixir: It is no longer possible using this item to keep the Old Hillsbrad human illusion outside of the instance.
* Pendant of the Violet Eye: Paladin Judgment spells will again properly trigger this item.
* Players can now only carry 80 Conjured Manna Biscuits at a time.
* Steam Tonk Controller: This item can no longer trigger the Warrior talent Second Wind when it is driven out of range by the Warrior.
* The On Use effect has been properly changed to passive for the following items: Blue Overalls, Brantwood Sash, Firewalker Boots, Gloves of Kapelan, Hellion Boots, Hibernal Gloves, Hibernal Pants, Kimbra Boots, Mistscape Gloves, Nightsky Trousers, Sacred Burial Trousers, Turquoise Sash, and Woolen Boots, Spinesever.
* Tome of the Lightbringer: The block value and buff duration have been increased.
* Totem of the Pulsing Earth: The mana discount for Lightning Bolt has been increased slightly.
* Weightstones and Sharpening Stones: The bonus damage from these temporary enchantments now works while shapeshifted.
* Winterfall Firewater: The tooltip no longer specifies only melee attack power.

User Interface

* The Interface Options screen has been completely redesigned. AddOns that interact with the Interface Options screen will need to be updated.
* Combat Log Improvements
o New tabs are available for sorting combat messages.
o ctrl-right clicking functionality has been added for individual information sorting
o Colors may now be assigned for friends and enemies
o The WoWCombatLog.txt file format has been changed to make it easier for programs to read.
o The ability to chat-link player spells and talents.
* Cast sequences work with slot numbers again.
* GM messages now appear with a Blizzard icon near their name.
* You can now declare war on a faction in the reputation UI while you are in combat.
* Spell haste and Armor Penetration will now display on the character sheet. (Armor Penetration displays in the hit rating section). Spell Penetration now displays under the spell hit section.
* Weapon enchants are now shown at the character selection screen.
* The friends list now has a notes field per friend. Click on the note icon to add a note for a particular friend.
* There is now a UI option to display free bag space. When turned on, your backpack will display the total number of free spaces available in all your bags.
* You can now link quests into the chat log by Shift-Clicking on the quest name in the chat log.
* Merchants now display how many pages of merchandise they sell (Page 1 of 2).
* Guild Bank Changes
o Ranks can now be set to allow withdraw of funds or allow repair with funds or both.
o When purchasing a bank tab, it takes money out of the guild bank before it takes your personal money. This is logged as well.
o Each Tab now has an info pane. This pane can be used for requests or for rules about the tab or anything at all really.
* When looting Bind on Pickup items, the confirmation dialogue now lists the name of the item in the dialogue. You can now verify that you are picking up the correct bind on pickup item.
* Bind on Pickup items that only you can pick up (Heroic Badges for instance) will no longer bring up a confirmation dialogue.
* Players can now opt out of looting for group loot, round robin and need before greed looting styles. If a player turns this on, they will not get a looting turn in the loot cycle. This can be turned on from the right-click menu on your own portrait.
* In Master Loot mode, all players in the group will see sparkles on corpses that have loot above the master loot threshold. This lets everyone see what the master loot items are, though they cannot interact with them. Only the master looter can loot those items still.
* The names over the heads of nearby players who are on your friends list will appear in a different color now so you can tell when they are nearby.
* Stacked items for sale at the auction house now display the per unit price and per unit buyout price in the item mouseover.
* The profession UI search field has been improved and now allows for searching of more types of things. For instance you can search for items by socket color, by effect ("Critical Strike" for instance) or search gems by their effect ("Strength" for instance). In addition, the searching of items by level has been made more intuitive. You can now search for items by level with "15-20" to search for items that you can make that have a minimum level required of 15 to 20.
* The Tooltip for player Dodge/Block/Parry in the character sheet has been changed slightly.
* Optimized particle system rendering for improved frame rates.
* The casting bar will now display properly when casting Blizzard (mage) or Rain of Fire (warlock) with spell haste.
* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

World Environment

* Alterac Valley, Arathi Basin, Warsong Gulch, Blade's Edge Arena, Lordaeron Arena, and Nagrand Arena: Players who fall below the world in these environments will now die instead of being stuck.
* Creature versions of Intimidating Shout have been changed to Frightening Shout, and the primary target of the ability is now feared instead of stunned.
* Goreclaw the Ravenous can now be skinned.
* Interacting with objects (chests, mining nodes, herbs) should no longer aggro neutral creatures.
* Monstrous Kaliri have learned how to chase players going straight up.
* Shardtooth Mauler: This creature now drops meat like other bears.
* Outland Rare Spawn
o The following creatures have had their hit points and damage significantly reduced: Collidus the Warp-Watcher, Fulgorge, Hemathion, Kraator, Marticar, Morcrush, and Nuramoc

Bug Fixes

* Fixed an error that was causing many auctions to never complete due to the item no longer being on the auction house.
* Splintertree Raiders will now respawn with Torek if Duriel Moonfire and her guards are killed while the Raiders are still alive.
* Female Draenei can no longer become stuck under a root in the tunnels leading to Blackfathom Deeps, Ashenvale.
* The quest description text for "The Corpulent One" no longer refers to it being a group quest.
* Saber/Tiger Mounts will now make footprints when walking backwards in snow.
* Ogri'la Peacekeeper's weapons have been scaled properly.
* Unplugging speakers/headphones during the opening cinematic will no longer freeze the cinematic until canceled.
* Pets are now able to properly attack mobs near the walls on the ramps in Zul'Aman, Bear Wing.
* The flag on the battle map in Eye of the Storm will no longer show up as Horde controlled even if an alliance player has picked it up.
* Channeling spells will no longer continue to show the channeling bar after zoning into arena battlegrounds.
* Blood Elf corpses now properly have loot in Alterac Valley battlegrounds.
* Nazan in Hellfire Citadel: Ramparts will no longer sometimes not land on the ground until after Vazruden the Herald is killed or Nazan is heavily damaged.
* It is no longer possible to be saved to a Heroic instance while not meeting the requirements to get into it.

[kongurous]

My post moving skills are amazing, aren't they?

[Anoiktos]

This is missing some. I'm pretty sure that spellsteal, slow, and blink were all reduced in mana cost. Not to mention talent changes that this doesn't seem to have listed... (25% added miss chance for all attacks to mages for 2/4 seconds after they blink)

Full notes:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5539824999&sid=1

[ScottieIWU]

My feelings on 2.4:

The Zone

The Good:
-Minimal trash in magister's terrace is pretty nice, and makes running 5-mans relatively painless
-Tie-ins between MGT and Plateau are nice, and both are steeped in lore
-The zones all look pretty, and are fairly interesting
-The progressive increase means that everyone must work together to benefit, and harkens to the AQ gates days

The Bad:
-Bosses in MGT seem derivative. Kael in this is little more than dumbed down Kael Phases 4 and 5 from TK. There's a curator ripoff and a Kalithresh ripoff
-Requiring people to run 5-mans to basically get benefits for rep is ridiculous, not to mention rewarding an epic gem for just killing regular mode Kael
-Gear in MGT is fairly game-breaking

Badge Reward System

The Good:
-New gear available makes raiding/dungeons more worthwhile for everyone, as the Sunwell Isle rewards are equal to BT gear in many cases
-High prices ensure that people aren't just handed these epics, as they ARE extremely powerful
-Many of the pieces are best-in-slot (think of the badge reward xbow for BM hunters, even Thor'idal isn't quite as good in some regards, despite that almost anybody would use it over the badge bow)
-Badges from all raid bosses makes it more appealing to raid as well. Nothing was quite as annoying as hearing about all the amazing badge loot and thinking to myself, "Why should I bother to do BT when simply clearing a bunch of heroics every day can get me best-in-slot gear?"

The Bad:
-Many of the pieces are best-in-slot. Best-in-slot gear should only ever be available from raids.
-Badges available from raid bosses ostensibly takes away the sting of badge gear being so good, but really is little more than a means to appease the raiders-BT gems were something that were unique to raid guilds, and were a reward for your hard work in there. Making BT gems available off Mag and from Badges simply makes them that much less valuable. Moreover, even some of the patterns are available for rep.

Changes to non-Sunwell Raids:

The Good:
-The attunement process to Hyjal/BT was often painful for guilds, as bringing in just one person who hasn't seen either boss can potentially wipe a guild many times over. Vashj kills for guilds in really good gear were more likely, but never guaranteed because of the style of the fight. Kael was easier to repeat with time, but still could be wiped in just one bad move. Taking away attunements eases these stresses on guilds trying to get 25-35 people attuned to a single instance
-Removal of attunements also helps smaller, less progressed servers to still put out good effort to try to kill some bosses
-Because you aren't attuned, you don't get your Hyjal ring, making Kael/Vashj kills still desirable

The Bad:
-Removal of requirements for killing ALL of the bosses in both SSC/TK to fight Vashj and Kael as well as removing attunements is too much. I feel the better route would have been to remove the kill requirements, as with those removed, at most any guild would have to kill Al'ar in TK and Lurker in SSC to be able to get to Vashj/Kael for extensive learning attempts. Guilds that expect kills to happen quickly would not need to kill either, and theoretically could easily kill both Vashj and Kael for new recruits in ONE night. If attunements were removed, the kill requirements should have remained, so as to ensure that guilds don't kill Lurker and VR and think they're ready for Kael/Vashj.
-Early BT/MH bosses (4/9 BT and 3/5 MH) are considered to be gimme bosses that basically any guild that had previously reached BT/MH could easily kill. This may encourage guilds to run in and bash their faces against these bosses with no chance of killing them, possibly further stymieing progression for certain guilds.
-Raiders who had gone through the efforts of attunements got a huge slap in the face for their efforts, as all they received was a title, "Hand of A'dal." To make matters worse, as with "Champion of the Naaru" anybody can still acquire this title, making it really nothing special in the long term
-Even the Naxx attunement, as well as BWL attunements were never removed. Effectively, this means you would have to do MORE work to get into Naxx than you would to get into Hyjal/BT, or Sunwell.

Just some of my thoughts. Overall I don't mind the patch, but those things I listed as bad do annoy me. Perhaps they should make hearts available for badges, too, so guilds can just mass-farm heroics to get their Shahraz SR gear.

[Neo]

I really like the basic things they've changed via the UI.

It's let me knock off a couple add-ons.

Though losing settings is rather annoying, since default wow is choppy for me, heh.

EDIT: Sidenote: Not that I've had a chance to see any of the endgame stuff yet anyway :p

-Neo

[Anoiktos]

I really like:
1. A huge number of additional dailies, so I can actually save for my epic flyer on two characters
2. The invasion-scheme of the new island, making it really feel (in some ways) like a battle between two forces that the players can contribute to. Every time someone asks "Where is the repair guy", and someone says "There isn't one yet", I smile, because if you're invading an island, there aren't usually automatic shopkeepers there for your convenience.

[GenocideAlive]

So...making Frozen Shadoweave...worth it? Seeing the new Tier 3.5 Rep Rewards...you can get slightly less (~20) spell damage in exchange for as much spell crit + resilience. Um, seems a little dumb. Thoughts? I'm thinking about just skipping to Karazahn or just leveling my rogue.

[Anoiktos]

....20 spell damage adds up very quickly, (20*5=100) and frozen shadoweave is the best pair of shoes you can get until BT or the 2.4 badge gear.

I have full FSW. It's nice. If you're just starting tailoring, though, probably not worth it. If you're already in the 300's, probably worth it.

Also, I started picking up haste gear recently; with my haste set, I have around 15 less +dmg, but 3% faster cast time. (2.4 sec frostbolts instead of 2.5 sec frostbolts) And this is blues vs. epics. If you're destro, *grab haste*. Dagger and ring from MrT and heroic MrT (or MgT, if you don't like that name), possibly the 2.3 badge pants (though waiting for 2.4 is better for mages as we don't have CoE/anti-resist talents)

[GenocideAlive]

I just made the shoulders, probably going to go through with the set if I don't get anything better. I've heard good things about the boots. My hands are like 4.5, so I socketed those with my MgT reward. I was going to run a heroic today, but quit because the group hit 5 men and proceed to wait for 20 min...just shittily organized.

[SolidSamurai]

So like, is Kil'Jaeden stronger than Illidan but not stronger than Arthas now? (considering Arthas will obviously be the ultimate boss in the next expansion)

[muradin]

So like, is Kil'Jaeden stronger than Illidan but not stronger than Arthas now? (considering Arthas will obviously be the ultimate boss in the next expansion)
I'm not quite sure. In Wc3, illidan did some stuff for Kil'Jaeden (I think, haven't played the campaign in a while) but then I think that he get's more powerful. I could check that for sure if you want me too.

[kongurous]

So like, is Kil'Jaeden stronger than Illidan but not stronger than Arthas now? (considering Arthas will obviously be the ultimate boss in the next expansion)

Kil'Jaeden in his full form may well be a match for Arthas when considering all factors, but in a straight up fight between the Deceiver and the Lich King, I think Arthas would win.

[RavenCrusade]

Remember that the Deceiver is just that, a deceiver.
He's probably not majorly involved in combat, and so will pale in comparison to Arthas, however, Illidan was forced to do some things by Kil'jaeden, and so I'm assuming:
Arthas > Kil'Jaeden > Illidan in combat.
Overall I believe KJ would be on top though.

[GenocideAlive]

I find it hard to believe that Kil'Jaeden, who gave the Lich King his powers, would ever have any problems defeating the Lich King in combat. That's just my thoughts on the matter. I have no idea why he's so gimpy for the Sunwell setup.

[Anoiktos]

I find it hard to believe that Kil'Jaeden, who gave the Lich King his powers, would ever have any problems defeating the Lich King in combat. That's just my thoughts on the matter. I have no idea why he's so gimpy for the Sunwell setup.

The Lich King, by all accounts, has managed to acquire power far beyond that which Kil'jaden intended him to. With the joining of Arthas to him, I have no doubts that he is more powerful than Kil'jaden alone.

As Malchezzar says, however, "You face not only me, but the legions I command!"

I think that the Sunwell Kil'jaden encounter will be mainly an attempt to banish him through the portal from which he is being summoned, not a finishing fight with him at full power. The truth of this speculation, however, remains to be seen.

[Neo]

uhm... but arthas was just a pawn sort of. he didn't have any real powers of his own -- he gave up his paladin skills to become the lich king's death knight champion.

of which he got power FROM the lich king. so I don't see how him joining up with arthas would suddenly increase his power.

the main thing to realize is that the joining freed ner'zhul. which is something else entirely.

but yeah, I also find it difficult to believe that Kil'Jaeden would be so easily defeated. You'd also think that has the sole remaining leader of the legion that he'd warrant his own expansion in some manner... you know?

Personally I'd like to see sargareas make some kind of a come back.

-Neo

[RavenCrusade]

Me too Neo, me too.
Oh and Anoiktos, I'm hoping that's what happens, seeing as the Lich King vs. Kil'Jaeden, or even the Scourge vs. Legion, the ball would be in KJ's court. Uncountable worlds have fallen to the destruction and corruption of the Legion. The Scourge hasn't even killed/corrupted half of the Eastern Kindom's population, let alone Azeroth's.

[ScottieIWU]

I think that the Sunwell Kil'jaden encounter will be mainly an attempt to banish him through the portal from which he is being summoned, not a finishing fight with him at full power. The truth of this speculation, however, remains to be seen.I'm 99% sure that this is exactly the lore behind it, in that Kil'Jaden is in fact still being summoned and it is the players and their friends' job to stop that from happening, lest he wreak havoc on Azeroth.

I'm also guessing that a part of this is Blizzard wanting to move forward with other storylines involved in warcraft, such as the old gods (Uldum?) and the Emerald Dream (Malfurian) because those have yet to be touched, but the lore involved with those is rich throughout WoW.

[Vhaeraun]

The Uldum thing for sure. There's a short questline at liek 45 ish to talk to the keeper of norgannon and get some nice rewards.

And it goes into how you need more discs in the platinum discs in order to enter Uldum.

[GenocideAlive]

I need to level my rogue. I'm going to be exalted with SSO soon, and I don't really see much loot without BT travels worth going after. IKON downed Illidan last night, but I don't really think he's on farm status just yet.

[h0bgawblin]

All I care about is that warriors got buffed, hooha! Now to get that 60 pos ... aww man that would take too much energy. Sounds like the game has gotten way more fun since I quit.

[RavenCrusade]

I'm almost certain that they will at some point in time expand into the Emerald Dream. They already have a zone as larger as Kalimdor in place titled 'the Emerald Dream', including an un-textured forest (Emerald Forest), a gigantic field (Verdant Fields), and a giant lime-green untextured valley (The Emerald Dream). I only know this from my career as a glitcher in WoW. I've found my way into those three, but it is possible there are even more areas.

[Neo]

well considering the ED was mentioned back in '03 and how "they have lots of cool stuff planned for druids"

it's a good bet.

i like my druid.

please, i wanna see wow version of malfurion plz. kthx bai.

-Neo

[kongurous]

well considering the ED was mentioned back in '03 and how "they have lots of cool stuff planned for druids"

it's a good bet.

i like my druid.

please, i wanna see wow version of malfurion plz. kthx bai.

-Neo

http://www.wowwiki.com/Malfurion_Stormrage#In_World_of_Warcraft

[GenocideAlive]

Malfurion - Druids
Illidan - Rogues
Arthas - Warriors / Paladins
Gul'Dan - Warlocks
Hunter - Whisperwind
Shammy - Mulgore
Hot Shaft - Priests

[WarInSerbia]

Kil'Jaeden in his full form may well be a match for Arthas when considering all factors, but in a straight up fight between the Deceiver and the Lich King, I think Arthas would win.
Too bad he will be ULTIMATIVELY destroyed by Lithium guild :D

[GenocideAlive]

That is one bony fucking Malfurion. What he lose, 30kg?

[WarInSerbia]

He is sleeping for 4 years what do you expect?