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Official patch 4.1 notes updated for May 2
Blizzard has released an update for the patch 4.1 official patch notes. Most of these notes confirm changes already in game, including the presence of portals to Stormwind and Orgrimmar in Dalaran and Shattrath, which should be good news for people leveling through the 60s and 70s. In addition, the art update to Reins of the Dark Phoenix was stricken from the patch notes. That change will be coming in patch 4.2. Read on after the break for all the new changes.
Arcane Brilliance: Assorted patch 4.1 thoughts
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we take a break from slaughtering trolls and digging up ancient relics long enough to discuss our early impressions of patch 4.1. My first impression: Cobraaaaaa! The days and weeks following a major content patch are always an adventure. Suddenly Azeroth becomes the Wild West, with unexplored frontiers awaiting over every mountain, untamed vistas as far as the eye can see, and far, far too many people wandering around who haven't bathed in months. Patch 4.1 has been no exception. Logging in on patch day is a bit like going to sleep in one world and waking up in another, one where up is down, left is right, Olivia has brown hair and wears tight shirts, and Walter Bishop has an intact brain and is sleeping with some Asian chick. You never know when you're going to discover some random new nugget of craziness that wasn't in the patch notes. You also never know when you'll be disconnected in the middle of a boss fight, but hey, patch days are patchy. It's only been a few days, but undoubtedly you've noticed some good, some bad, and some weird new things lurking about the fringes of this digital world we spend time in. Let's take a look at some of the more mage-specific tidbits, shall we?
Ink traders come to Stormwind, Orgrimmar in patch 4.0.6
Those of us who make Darkmoon decks will no longer have to park our scribes in Dalaran to access the ink trader there, because patch 4.0.6 will bring with it the addition of ink traders in Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Now, aside from changing an alchemist's proc specialization, there's no reason to move any crafting character out of the main cities! Bashiok Ink Traders are being added to Stormwind and Orgrimmar in 4.0.6. source The ink trader used to be the center of every glyph maker's business. Now that the traders only take the somewhat more expensive Blackfallow Ink, they're mostly used as a way to create more Inferno Ink. I also sometimes use them to trade Blackfallow Ink in for lower-level, common inks when I need them for glyphs, but that's only when my stocks of old-world herbs dry up. So far, actually, it's been only Ethereal Ink from Outland. Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped, plus the author's Call to Auction podcast. Do you have questions about selling, reselling and building your financial empire on the auction house? Basil is taking your questions at basil@wowinsider.com.
Know Your Lore: Shadowfang Keep
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Since I talked about Gilneas last week, it only makes sense to continue the discussion with one of the most worgen-centric places in all of the World of Warcraft, namely storied Shadowfang Keep. It debuted in vanilla WoW as a brooding ruin infested with those dastardly worgen and the angry, unquiet ghosts of their victims. Now, some six years on, it's a brooding ruin infested with those dastardly undead, led by three traitors to both the Forsaken and Gilneas itself, also jam-packed with the ghosts of its former worgen masters and their victims. In short, time hasn't done much to improve Shadowfang Keep's general disposition. Well, unless you like your keeps to be atmospheric, top-filled with raging monstrosities and jam-packed with the loots -- in which case, the former estate of Baron Silverlaine awaits you. Yes, before it was a dungeon, Shadowfang Keep was the ancestral home of Baron Silverlaine, a noble who owed allegiance to Gilneas and whose ancestral lands lay just outside of where the Greymane Wall would be erected. Ruling over the settlers of neaby Pyrewood Village, the Baron seemed a relatively capable leader... until, of course, the coming of the Scourge.
Know Your Lore: Jaina Proudmoore
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Duty first. Grief second. Self-pity? Never. Daughter of a Grand Admiral, once intended of a prince, and one of the greatest mages in the history of Azeroth -- it's a hell of a reputation to live up to, but Jaina Proudmoore is nothing if not conscious of the example she sets to others. While other leaders have suffered greatly and bear the scars of their past as a badge of honor to further their pursuits, Jaina has had her own share of grief. Yet unlike the other leaders of her time, she bears her sorrow quietly, burying it under responsibility and an unwavering dedication to the greater good of the world. Jaina Proudmoore was the youngest of Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore's children. The only girl born to the family, Jaina had a lot to live up to -- and she was determined not to spend her life as one of other ladies of the noble court. From a young age, Jaina showed a remarkable aptitude for the magical arts. Around age 11, she was sent to Dalaran to study among the mages of the Kirin Tor -- something that may have been a daunting task for other children her age, but not Jaina. She'd spent her childhood reading tales of Aegwynn, one of the greatest Guardians the world had known. The tales of how Aegwynn had overcome the stigma of being a female wizard and achieved far greater success with her position than any man in the Guardian line only served to fuel Jaina's ambitions, even though she was but a child at the time.
One Shots: Smokescreen
Bored and not sure what to do? Well, if you're anything like Soulbreeze from the Pink Cupcake Brigade guild on Lightninghoof in World of Warcraft, you could always use that hard-earned knowledge of tradeskills to royally screw with the opposite faction. There again, you could mess with your own just for the fun of it! Today's One Shots shows off one such prank recently perpetrated by Soulbreeze, who writes in to explain the scene: "I have found the ultimate cure for in-game boredom in World of Warcraft: smoke flares! Usually I'll hassle the opposite faction's side of Dalaran with curtains of smoke flares, but this display is set up on the horde side. It requires engineering to make flares, but anyone can use them!" If you see these start popping up all over the place on your server, you'll know who started it! Do you like pulling off pranks against the opposite faction -- or on your friends? If you've got a good prank planned, snap a screenshot of the ensuing aftermath and send it in to us here at oneshots@massively.com. Be sure to include your name, the name of the game, and a note about what happened! It could wind up being the next image we feature here on Massively. %Gallery-85937%
Breakfast Topic: Where will you ride out the Cataclysm?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Soon, Deathwing the Destroyer will spring forth from his exile in Deepholm and wreak havoc upon Azeroth. The world (of Warcraft) as we know it will never be the same again. Some locations will be mostly unchanged, while others will be completely unrecognizable. One of the things I'm looking most forward to in Cataclysm is having my characters wake up in the newly changed world and experience that "Holy cow!" moment. When I get home from the midnight opening of my local game store and install the game, I want to log in at the most interesting and significant place I can. I plan on taking some time during that last night to move my characters to certain specific locales. There are many places to choose from. Where will you log out the last time before the expansion? Will you choose a place that will experience a big change, like the bottom of the Shimmering Flats? While it might be fun to wake up underwater -- or will you be floating, or ported to the speed barge? -- there might also be a million other players who had the same idea. You may want a more secluded and original place. Other zones with big changes like Desolace or Blasted Lands might be less crowded and still provide that "whoa" factor.
Guest Post: Three fresh ideas for world PvP events
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Of all the PvP events I've participated in over the years, the battle for Halaa in Nagrand always sticks out in my mind as one of the best-executed examples of world PvP that the World of Warcraft has ever produced. The battle for Halaa brought together several areas of warfare in perfect harmony. The element of surprise The battle for Halaa took place at any time. Whenever the opposite faction felt like taking control of the city, they could form a raid and start bombing. It left the controlling faction scrambling to assemble a defense when the words "Halaa is under attack!" popped up on their screens. Aerial assault Players had to activate one of four wyvern stations and fly over the city of Halaa to drop bombs, causing massive amounts of damage. Until the defenses were weakened, players could not successfully enter the city. Sabotage While enemy players were taking to the skies, one of the keys to success was to destroy the activated wyvern stations to prevent those enemy players from immediately taking off for another bombing run. Siege warfare Once the city's defenses were eliminated, the conquering force moved into the city center and held the city captive. Either the defending faction would break the siege and regain control of the city or it would be lost to the conquering heroes. Spoils of war Defeating your enemy within the boundaries of Halaa yielded you a Halaa Battle Token. Once you controlled Halaa, those tokens could be spent on various rewards, including the coveted Dark War Talbuk. With new expansions come new territories to explore and conquer. Sadly, Nagrand and the war-torn city of Halaa fell to the wayside in favor of Wintergrasp once Wrath of the Lich King was released. So what does a player who is hungry for world PvP do now? If you have some friends and are will to do a little organizing and promoting, here are three new ideas to spring on your server.
Breakfast Topic: We get bored
Sometimes everyone on my server simultaneously gets bored, or antsy or just a little bit more wired then normal, and things happen like the screenshot pictured above -- that's about half of the mammoth train that was walking slowly around the perimeter of Dalaran. Why was it formed? Where was it going? No idea, but as I watched them slowly shuffle by, I obligingly hopped on my Black War Mammoth and joined the train. Because it was late, I'd just finished a solid run of ICC-25, and it was something to do while I chatted with guild members. This sort of thing happens just before the raids, too. One guild member will pull out a D.I.S.C.O. ball, another will start throwing around Party G.R.E.N.A.D.E.s. Before you know it, the dank corridor that leads into the depths of Icecrown Citadel has suddenly been turned into a happening place to be, the ground littered with "Spectral Tiger" mounts, Ogre Pinatas and kettles of Goblin Gumbo. Sometimes Archmage Vargoth puts in an appearance. He can't help it; there are usually four or five flaming draenei dancers congregated around a Brazier of Dancing Flames, and the girls just drive him crazy. Does stuff like this happen on your server? Spontaneous dance parties, mammoth trains, stacks of flying mounts hovering above the Dalaran well? What happens when your server gets bored? Trade chat aside, mind you -- we all know how /2 gets when people are feeling feisty.
Official: Dalaran Children's Week quests not repeatable this year
Blizzard has officially stated that the issue with not being able to complete the Dalaran Children's Week quests this year, if you did them last year, will not be resolved before the holiday is over. They are not saying this is how it is supposed to work, but that they cannot fix it in time. Bornakk -- Dalaran Children's Week Quest Line Issue We are aware of the issue that is currently affecting the Children's Week quest line in Dalaran which does not allow players who have completed the quest line last year to take part in it again this year. We do not currently have a fix planned to address this issue at this point in time. source Bashlok -- Dalaran Children's Week Quest Line Issue To clarify, this issue won't be able to be resolved for Children's Week this year. If you completed the quest previously you won't be able to complete it again for the other pet this year. source
Breakfast Topic: Mister Jones and me
Jones and I are buds. He's a cat that likes to hang out on the landing in the stairwell of the Legerdemain Lounge in Dalaran. He's a stealthy little guy -- he doesn't even have a listing on Wowhead, but if you stop to give Jones a /pet, he'll purr contentedly. I like to hang out in the stairwell sometimes, just Jones and me -- it's a relatively quiet spot in the middle of a usually busy area, and I can sort through my bags, chat with the guild, harass trade chat engage in some lively banter in local channels, and just hang out without being pestered. I've got a few different spots I like to hang out at, and the locations change every expansion or depending on what I'm focusing on at the time, but nothing beats Jones, he's the best. I'm not sure why exactly I like finding non-crowded places to sit and chat with people -- it shouldn't really make a difference where I'm typing to people from, but I enjoy the relative solitude in what is otherwise a very busy and populated game. And every expansion it happens -- in vanilla, it was the upper buildings in the Drag in Orgrimmar. In Burning Crusade, I liked the relative quiet that could be found in the World's End Tavern in Shattrath, or the rocks up above the city. In Wrath, it's either the Underbelly, or the little landing in the Legerdemain that I share with Jones. He doesn't mind, he's a pretty well mannered kitty. Sometimes we tell each other fairy tales. So how about you guys? Do you have a favorite spot to sit and chat? Does the generally crowded nature of Dalaran bother you? Do you, like me, seek out an area of relative solitude to hang out at when you aren't off storming the castle or otherwise occupied?
Breakfast Topic: Does this topic not value its life
Meet Cro. Cro's just an orc trying to make a living down in Lower City, but apparently it's not as easy to just sell some items and be a vendor as everyone thinks. In Burning Crusade, players were entertained by the ongoing saga of orc vs. fruit vendor -- a tiny little old lady who seems a bit absent-minded at best, and doesn't realize the orc is screaming about her. This began with simple screaming from the orc, who was outraged at the apple cart parked smack in front of his stall, and quickly progressed into a self-perceived war which ended, ultimately, with Cro selling the apples out of the cart and encouraging people to crush them. Lower City was full of this random NPC interaction and storylines, between the Cro saga, Griftah's ongoing struggle to stay in the city's limits, and the continuing adventures of Investigator Asric and Peacekeeper Jadaar. But let's get back to Cro. I find sometimes when wandering around Dalaran that I miss the orc's frenetic shrieking and paranoia. And then I find myself wondering what would happen if the simple leatherworker, sick of the fruit wagon nonsense, up and moved to Dalaran to try and do business there. What would Cro do? Who would he ally with? Would he berate Marcia Chase until she remembered the stupid secret of the Ghostfish and finally stopped calling it a mystery? Would Minigob Manabonk take some small amount of pleasure in repeatedly turning the bellowing orc into a sheep? I have no idea but the speculation has been entertaining me for the last half hour or so, so have at it, Breakfast Topic readers: If suddenly relocated to Dalaran, What Would Cro Do?
The Queue: Earthquake bonanza
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Today we're going to skip the wacky shenanigans that usually plague the intros to the Queue. Instead, I'm going to blow your minds with the news that Chile's recent earthquake was large enough that it has potentially moved the Earth's axis and an Earth day is now shorter because of it. dav103id asked... "When running Shadowfang Keep during Love is in the Air, did anyone else notice Arugal on the other side of the courthouse gate when you first enter the instance? Has he always been there at that location or was he added for the Love is in the Air boss event?"
Breakfast Topic: It's the little things
Hidden in the upper corner of The Threads of Fate in Dalaran is a curious little cobbler named Sheddle Glossgleam. While he seems to be an ordinary vendor, it's really the chair next to him that makes him much more entertaining -- when you sit on the chair, he'll toddle over and shine your shoes for you. This buff last for an hour -- or until you take combat or fall damage and scuff your feet. Don't worry though, a quick trip to the chair will get your toes glittering again in no time. I love NPCs like this -- the NPCs that do curious things like punt you all the way across Azeroth, or murder unsuspecting lowbies that don't understand that right-clicking a yellow conned NPC will result in a swift punch to the face. The NPCs with stories, like the saga of Grifta from Burning Crusade, and the continuing adventures of Investigator Asric and Peacekeeper Jadaar. While they serve no real purpose, they're always there to entertain, buff, or amuse. There's always an NPC or two that never fail to bring a smile to my face, and that I look forward to meeting on whatever alt I happen to be playing. Who's your favorite NPC? What's your favorite little thing in the game?
Why so empty, Crystalsong?
Some actual new information from tonight's developer Twitter chat with Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street and J. Allen Brack? I'm as surprised as you are. When asked why the resplendent (and glowy) Crystalsong Forest is oddly barren of anything to do beyond sightsee (and, of course, the rare quest), we received some interesting info about game performance: Part of the problem is that it sits beneath Dalaran, which ended up being more of a resource hog than we had anticipated. We didn't want to draw too many more players to that zone. Initially the Crusaders' Coliseum was going to be there, which is why some of the quests send you there. We just worried too much about the performance hit. So what does this mean to the average WoW-player? That you can enjoy the peace and quiet of Crystalsong Forest for a long time to come, because additions to the zone just aren't on Blizzard's agenda. And it's probably for our own good -- we all know what a lagfest Dalaran can be, don't we? Now close your eyes and just imagine combining that with all of the players that come and go from the Crusader's Coliseum. If your thoughts on this imaginary scenario are anything other than "do not want," well, we'll just have to agree to disagree.
The OverAchiever: 5 of the best lore-related achievements
Let's be honest; the best lore-related achievement is without question Loremaster, which requires you to do the vast majority of the game's quests. But that's pretty self-evident -- "To get the best lore experience in-game, do the quests, which contain virtually all of the actual lore!" -- and thus kind of a cop-out from my perspective. So what I'm going to do with this edition of OverAchiever is pointedly ignore the fact that Loremaster is the most important thing you should do as a dedicated lore junkie, and turn to some other options that tend to be overlooked. As with our article on Twenty-Five Tabards, this is not an exhaustive guide on how to do each achievement, but simply a starting point if you're either interested in Azeroth's history, or interested in your character becoming more deeply involved in the developing story. As an early warning, 1 of the following 5 achievements is no longer doable, but I've decided to include it as I think the inability to do it at this point in time could be considered part of Azerothian history.
The Queue: Oh no, not again
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. This is The Queue that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started writing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue writing it forever just because this is The Queue that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started writing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue writing it forever just because this is The Queue that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started writing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue writing it forever just because this is The Queue that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started writing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue writing it forever just because this is The Queue that doesn't end.* dpoyesac asked... "Every time I kill his son I forget to ask High Overlord Saurfang when the doors to the next wing will be down. Soon?"
All the World's a Stage: Location, location, location
It's probably simply a reflection of my own, long habits in terms of MMORPGs, but I tend to put a lot of thought in where to roleplay. I mean, a lot. When I first started seriously roleplaying in Dark Age of Camelot, one of my favorite areas was out by the docks. The sound and sight of water lapping against the shore appealed to some mawkish, maudlin post-teenage angst in me. Then, in City of Heroes, I was introduced to a different way of roleplaying in video games. The heroes (and story-based villains) gathered in a small stretch of park next to a danger zone. Hunkered against a lake in Galaxy City, dozens of players would come together to roleplay with whoever happened to be around. That reminded me of my MUD days, of course, and it seemed the best option to get everyone involved. As I cruised different "servers," the roleplayers always seemed to gather in that same, exact area. The reasons were obvious -- it was a safe place for newb toons, and it lent itself naturally to the kind of casual roleplay most folks prefer. But now that I'm firmly in my World of Warcraft life, natural locations for roleplay seem a little harder to find. Every server seems to have their own preferences. If I'm not forearmed via the official forums, I'm regularly flustered when trying to find the roleplayers gathering anywhere. However, good locations for roleplay can be difficult to find. Where can you (safely) get newb toons and older toons together? What locations provide the right ambiance for casual, ad-hoc roleplay? Let's take a look behind the jump where I'll list some of my favorite (or infamous) spots.
Breakfast Topic: Where do you get your meat?
I'm still working on my Chef's Hat, and there was always one cooking daily which took more time than the others: Mustard Dogs. The wild mustard is easy enough to find in the grassy areas of Dalaran, but the Rhino Meat always used to give me fits. I would fly out to Sholazar Basin and kill rhinos until I was bored which was usually right at the 4 meat mark. After whining about it in Twitter one day, multiple people replied to me with their suggestions for rhino hunting grounds, with the consensus being Borean Tundra. The section of Borean Tundra in between Amber Ledge and Warsong Hold is home to roaming Rhino families. If you AoE just some of the members of a family, the rest of the family will aggro. So, if you are of sufficient level and have a good Area of Effect or cone attack, you can take down multiple families of rhinos in a very short time -- even if there is someone else there farming rhinos, too. The hard part then becomes making sure you've looted each corpse in a pile of enormous dead mammals. Now, if I'm out of Rhino Dogs, I just take a few minutes to go stock up and then take a dragon back to Dalaran, just because I can. Where do you get the meat you need to make the recipes you use regularly? Perhaps you know of where large families of Shoveltusks graze? Do you have any other tips for budding chefs looking to speed up their meat farming?
Cooking after Pilgrim's Bounty
So you took advantage of Blizzard's little Cooking leg up during Pilgrim's Bounty (don't be ashamed, I did, too), and you want to know: what's next? The holiday let you level up all the way to 350 Cooking with easily purchased vendor items, which was awesome, but cooking tops out at 450, so maybe you're wondering how to get up there. Let us help. You may not have made it all the way to 350 during the holiday -- if you need to nab a few other points, you'll have to head to Outland and level up there for a little bit. Talbuk Steak is a good one to do if you need that extra boost -- it's vendor purchased, easily farmable (or buyable on the AH), and the Stam boost isn't bad. Once you've hit 350, then you'll need to head to Northrend. You can train at the cooking trainers in the faction inns in Dalaran. You'll probably also want to stop off and pick up the Northern Cooking quest, as Northern Stew will help you get relatively easily to 375. After that, it's time for the booze.
