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WoW.com's top ten stories of 2009
What a year it's been for the World of Warcraft. We've had three big content patches, a BlizzCon, an expansion announcement, and perhaps out of all of the five years this game has been running, this was the year with the most surprises. A few things players thought would never happen (including faction changes) finally did, and we saw quite a few new tricks from Blizzard, both in terms of game features and in the way they run the game at large. 2009 was also a year of expectation: we thrilled to leaks and rumors about Cataclysm, and all year long, we looked forward to the villian that has been set up for us ever since 2008's Wrath release: the Lich King himself. As we've done for the past couple of years, let's take a look back at the most popular stories of 2009 here on WoW.com. We'll start first with number 10, which also came as a surprise to many players, right after the break.
Patch 3.2 lowers casting time on flying mounts
As dear Wryxian announced earlier today, we're getting a new build on the PTR. The unofficial notes for this build are already making the rounds, and they're... not very interesting! Perhaps the most notable change is that the change to mount casting speed, previously only applied to ground mounts, now affects flying mounts as well.When the casting time change to ground mounts in Patch 3.2 was announced, Eliah Hecht, Michael Gray and I had a long debate about why they wouldn't have applied the change to flying mounts as well. We ended up coming to the conclusion that they were avoiding it for PvP reasons; only needing to be out of combat for a second and a half to mount up and zoom off to escape a fight that's not going your way would be a little... cheap. The outlier here was the Druid Flight Form, which is an instant cast spell. Everyone but Druids hate that though, right? It's pretty freaking annoying when you get into a scuffle, you gain the upper hand, and then the Druid just runs in circles like a headless boomkin spamming their flight button and hoping it eventually takes. So we figured that didn't count. It was a perfect example of why being able to fly away quickly was a bad thing.Boy, are our faces red. Flying mounts get the 1.5s cast time now as well. Sometimes trying to figure out Blizzard's reasoning doesn't really pay off. I'm not going to complain that much, though. I certainly appreciate being able to get into the air faster! Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!
Upcoming mount changes
A very big announcement this evening from Zarhym. In the "next major content patch" (which means Patch 3.2) the mount system in WoW will be having some significant changes to it. The highlights are as follows: Regular land mounts trainable at level 20 (was 30) Epic land mounts trainable at level 40 (was 60) Regular flying mounts trainable at level 60 (was 70) Regular flying mounts speed increased to a 150% gain (was 60%) The costs for all the training and mount purchases has been decreased outright, with the exception of the artisan riding skill (epic flying mounts). For all mount costs, faction discounts now apply.This means that when you hit 60 you'll be able to fly around Hellfire and finish all those quests. Leveling from 60 to 68 is going to become easier and more relaxed. You'll hit Northrend much sooner with this change.The full details after the break.
WoW Insider has you covered for patch 3.1
Blizzard is hard at work with designing all of the changes coming in World of Warcraft's patch 3.1, and WoW Insider is hard at work on documenting and analyzing those changes for you. Patch 3.1 will be introducing the long awaited dual spec system, which will allow players to switch back and forth between two talent builds, many class mechanic changes for all of the roles, mounts that are usable in water, and many more smaller changes.To quench your thirst for information, WoW Insider has set up a main repository post on everything 3.1 related. From that post you can find out if Blizzard is slapping the nerf paladin, buff warrior buttons again, or if perhaps the shoe has now been placed on the other foot.As for this blogger, I'm off to go celebrate being able to exorcise everything in existence -- a la lightning bolts.
