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Blizzard previews new rated battlegrounds PVP mounts
Blizzard is making another big push in patch 4.2 to get players engaged in rated battleground PVP action with the new Vicious War Wolf and Vicious War Steed for the Horde and Alliance respectively. Both new mounts look amazing. Alliance players go a little crazy with Horde heads hanging off the back of their spike-horse; Hordies get to roll around with the skulls of their former enemies dangling as a warning. The really interesting and cool part about these mounts are that they are awarded for 75, 150, and 300 rated battleground wins. That's right -- each time you reach one of those milestones, you are given another account-bound mount for use on one of your alts, with three mounts available total. That is an awesome change that potentially signals the beginning of more account-bound achievement items being earned and shared across players' accounts, as opposed to having to complete each achievement on each character. This is the first step in something bigger, I'm sure of it. Rated battlegrounds have been a touchy subject with Blizzard, since depending on who you ask they are either wildly successful or not being used enough. Gathering 10 people for coordinated PVP is sometimes just as much of a pain as doing it for raiding, and the time commitment can be just as large. With these new mounts, Blizzard hopes to get more people into the rated battleground system and start fighting it out for some cool new mounts.
Update: PVP Season 9 ending as soon as June 28
The WoW community site was recently updated to let players know that the ninth PVP season would be ending as soon as June 28 rather than the June 21. What does this mean for us? Unofficial confirmation that patch 4.2 has been moved back at least a week. The new probable release date is June 28. Earlier this week, a new balance patch hit the PTR and some decently sized changes to abilities and their associated numbers were made. No new assets were added, but a lot of numbers were moved around. After Ghostcrawler's excellent balance post and call for feedback, we guessed that this PTR patch could have the potential to push the 4.2 back a week. Well, it looks like it did. Update your calendars, folks. You've got an extra week to push tier 11 content and have a patch-free Midsummer Fire Festival, which launches on June 21. The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!
PVP Season 9 ending soon
Season 9 of the arena and rated battleground PVP experience is coming to an end as early as June 21, and end-of-season rewards will be calculated a week after that. While there is a break in the PVP season, all rated battleground and arena matches will become unavailable to players, so get your wins in now. Blizzard stresses that if you believe you are potentially going to get the Season 9 PVP rewards for being in the highest percentile of winners and think you might be eligible for the arena titles or Vicious Gladiator's Twilight Drake, you should refrain from transferring your character to a new server while the reward tabulation is going on. If you're a big PVPer, stay on your server until the winners have been announced. PVP Season 10 will begin approximately one week after Season 9 ends. All honor over the 4,000-point cap will be turned into gold at 35 silver per honor point. Blizzard's full post after the break.
