Weekend (19 Aug) - Only Temporarily Sane

Weekend (19 Aug) - Only Temporarily Sane

I had to take some time to talk game stuff in between whatever is going on with the Wild family. That insanity will likely return.

The big news is that the pre-expansion patch (officially patch 5.04) will hit on 28 August. That's a 6GB patch that clogged up my computer for several days of background downloading.

There is also some significant news for anyone who isn't planning to buy the MoP expansion. Blizzard announced that with the release of 5.04, all of the races will be available to be created and played, regardless of what version of the game you have. For example, those who never bought Cata will still be able to roll worgens and goblins. When MoP goes live, everyone will be able to roll the new Panda race - even if you did not buy MoP. However, only MoP owners will be able to use the monk class.

Here are the rest of the goodies that arrive with 5.04, none of which requires MoP.

* Most achievements completed by one character will automatically be shared with all other characters. If that is based on the battle.net account, I assume that would spread to both my accounts. But maybe not. The sharing includes pets and mounts as well. Note that is says "most." Some are not shared.

* Looting gets easier with AoE looting, allowing players to pick up the loot of all slain enemies in close proximity.

* There is a new, simplified talent system. Talents are learned automatically and instantly, without visiting a trainer. Wild gets a new spec: Guardian, which since it's the tank spec, I'll never use. Still it's kind of cool that druids have more specs than any other race.
    Note: The talent system we're used to is not just changed - it is completely gone. New talents are available at specifically defined levels, and there are just six levels. Each level has a choice of three talents. I guess we pick one of them. The rest of the abilities are automatically added as you level. At least I think that's how it works. It seems much like the Diablo 3 system.

* For you pvpers out there, note that all characters take 30% LESS damage when attacked by other players. Also for pvpers, spell penetration is gone, replaced by PVP Power.

* All head enchants are gone. Also gone is the gear slot where ranged, relics and thrown items once went. All items that went there now must fit into the two weapon slots.

The user interface stuff I am copying from the PTR notes since there is a lot of good information, but little for me to comment on:

User Interface

There is a new user interface for your mounts and pets.

Character creation screens have been updated.

Buffs have been consolidated in the UI.

New roll results frame added. This new feature can be accessed by clicking the word "[Loot]" in chat, or by typing "/loot".

The PvE queue frames have been unified. You can now queue for dungeons, raids, and other queue-able content in one handy place.

Vendors now offer item filtering.

Spellbooks have been updated to reflect changes to core abilities, and now include a brief overview of specializations.

The Dungeon Journal has been expanded with information on all pre-Cataclysm encounters.

A new help system has been added to many frames. You can toggle this on and off by clicking the "i" button in the upper left corner of the frame.

Finally, if you haven't already pretended to be working by now, the 5.04 patch comes with some fireworks. Warchief Garrosh is going to war. We're all invited. On pain of death for desertion.