Warlords of Draenor (WoD), Patch 6.02: The Iron Tide

The Missus is on a short trip to Palm Springs and has left me to fend for myself for a day. I have a long list of honey-dos to keep me out of trouble. Most of the work involves taking care of our cats, three of which need regular medications. But I do have time for an announcement: I am going to restart this blog again. Somewhat paradoxically, the first thing I’m going to talk about is why I’ll be playing WoW even less than usual for a few weeks, even though a new patch is coming out in just three days.

First of all, I am in the final stages of finishing my novel. Ok, so I’ve claimed to be “almost done” more than a couple of times. This time, it may even be true. Twenty-seven chapters are complete, and for the first time the chapters still to be finished (Chapters 28-32) are already mapped out, ready for me to fill in the details.
Complicating both WoW and the novel, our RV trip to the east coast to visit relatives is just around the corner. The RV is currently in the shop getting a thorough checkup. I’ll have the laptop so I can keep up with any WoW news when I have internet access. What I wasn’t expecting was the announcement of the pre-Warlords of Draenor patch was being released this coming Tuesday. I know the full WoD release is planned for November, but the pre-patch slipped up on me unawares.

I’m going to carve out some time to check out the patch next week. I have three max level 90 characters to choose from. I’ll be most comfortable trotting out the veteran Wildshard, but I can also pick from two other level 90 characters, the Monk Fist and the Paladin Jocy. I am constantly changing my mind about which to start with, but I spent my player “boost” on bumping Jocy from level 27 to level 90 and I really want to learn to play a paladin. Jocy is my choice, subject to change.

I haven’t been totally derelict regarding the incoming patch. I gleaned the information below from the patch notes.

The pre-WoD patch has finally been announced. Next week (14 Oct) the World of Warcraft will shift on its axis in preparation for the coming release.

There are a ton of changes in this patch. The new/old enemy are orcs coming from a parallel universe on Draenor, called the Iron Horde. The initial attack begins in the Blasted Lands, which I think most everyone will be able to participate in. Level 90 only players can gain access to Blackrock Spire and enter the 5 player dungeon, Upper Blackrock Spire. NOTE to Myself: Place Jocy in the Blasted Lands BEFORE the patch, to avoid the flood of players heading that way on Tuesday.

We are tramping over very old ground, as the Blasted Lands and Blackrock have been sacked and destroyed innumerable times since the original, vanilla game came out in 2004. The familiar ground should help players adjust to all of the game changes in the new patch as we learn and deal with them. And that is likely the point.

Wild and his family have chosen to stay away from groups and raids, at least for now. Those players who are looking to group up, however, will find many changes (hopefully improvements) to get players together to kill things.

Questing has gotten more options to improve that necessary aspect of the game. The Quest Tracker automatically lists quests in order of how close they are to you. Quests don’t take up bag space anymore, either.

There are so many changes in how bags are handled, and so many changes in where things can be stored, it will take my bank manager, Happy, some time to get that all sorted out. One thing Happy’s noticed, though, is bag sales remain high despite the incoming changes. The newest bag will have 30 slots. There are all-purpose bags with 26 and 28 slots in the game now, but they are so expensive most players stayed with the much cheaper 20 and 22 slot bags. I’m really interested to see how the 30 slot bag is crafted and what Wild (who is a tailor and plans to make those bags) needs to learn to do to make them. Wild won’t even have to level up from 90 to 100 to learn how to make them, either.

There is more help for those who always need more bag space, too. Many items that stack up to 20 now stack up to 200. Now Happy can store even more stuff that he already has too many of to sell. One thing Happy has learned over time, though - almost everything has a price, and a buyer. You just have to put the two together. Banks also get a new, special reagent bank tab, adding more storage. And crafter's will be able to use reagents from that tab from wherever the crafting takes place. No more having raiders leave a raid to go get materials to craft something important. It can be done on the spot.

The “squashing” of character stats also goes into place. Repeat after me - This is NOT A NERF. Supposedly everything is balanced out so that you are as good - or as bad - as you were before the patch. Many stats have been removed from the game completely to further simplify what had become runaway stats. These changes are going to affect Pandaria items as well, something that isn’t usually done. There are going to be some befuddled folks wondering who messed with their stats.

Reforging items is no longer possible. Good riddance. It was a pain to keep up with, and it was practically a forced requirement for raiders.

Resurrection spells have also undergone changes when grouped up. All available spells are placed in a pool. The availability of a spell is based on a timer with a cooldown. Players must still cast their own spell, so group leaders will likely have to make rules on when and who should cast them. The nice thing is that these spells can be charged up and reused, depending on the length of the encounter.

That is just a smattering of all the changes. I’ll have more to say next week, if I can get Jocy ready.