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New mounts and non-combat pets of 2.4
Of the many shiny goodies coming our way with Patch 2.4, some of the shiniest are the new mounts and non-combat pets. The 5-man Kael'Thas of Magister's Terrace drops the latest status symbol among pet collector's: the Phoenix Hatchling. We're not sure of the drop rate, but we have to assume it's going to be rare. If you can't get it in-game, you can always check it out on video.If baby creatures aren't your thing, there's also a number of new mounts available with the Sunwell patch. Two new PvP mounts: the Black War Elekk and Black Swift Warstrider. Information on obtaining these new mounts as well as pics can be found in our PTR post.Finally, the new Rocket Mount will be introduced in either blue or red. This can only be gained through a World of Warcraft Trading Card Game loot card. Or, you know, EBay. Patch 2.4 sounds great, but what's in it for you? Find out on our Sunwell Isle page where we list the impact on classes, professions, PvP, Raiders and many other playstyles and interests. Looking for more great info? Check out the WoW Insider Directory for the best of our guides and analysis.
Encrypted Text: Gear me up in 2.4
Surprised to see us again so soon? Well, with 2.4 hitting today (Elune willing), it's time to see what there is out there for rogues in the new patch -- at least gear-wise, since rogues don't have many mechanic changes on the PTR right now. This new gear is available as badge rewards, drops from Magister's Terrace, and even crafted loot! (Sorry -- since the Sunwell isn't going to be open at first, loot from the 25-man raid has been left out of this one, and we talked about the Shattered Sun rep rewards already.) Badge of Justice Loot The first things you'll probably be staring at in the new badge vendor's inventory are the new daggers. The Blade of Serration, Swift Blade of Uncertainity, and the Mutilator clearly have a lot in common -- all three have the same 103.1 DPS and stam/hit/AP stats. However, the Blade of Serration is 1.8 speed, one-handed, and costs 105 Badges of Justice, while the identical Mutilator is off-hand only and costs only 45 Badges. The Swift Balde, intended as an off-hand for combat dagger rogues, boasts a speed of 1.5 and the same discount off-hand price of 45 Badges. Since these daggers clock in as the fourth-best daggers in the game DPS-wise, they're a must-have for all small-group dagger rogues. Combat fist spec rogues can also enjoy some hot new weapons. (Sorry, swords and maces, but no new pointies/blunties for you.) Vanir's Right (and left) Fist of Brutality and Vanir's Left Fist of Savagery forgo the hit rating and stam of the daggers in exchange for agi and haste rating. They share the same 105/45 badge price as the daggers, so you can pick up the whole set for 150 Badges of Justice. Drawbacks include that the models look like rejected monsters from AQ40.
The Light and How to Swing It: Badge rewards in 2.4
Now that the patch is upon us, it's a good time for reflecting upon all the new badge rewards available to us in the near future. As a hybrid class with 3 main viable specs (healing, tanking, DPS), it's no wonder that there's a lot of new badge gear for paladins in this patch. Allison did a fantastic write-up of new badge gear for druids a few days back, so I figured I'd follow her format as it relates to paladins! HolyItemization for Healing specs has been pretty solid when it comes to badge gear, and the new stuff is no exception. Just like the Pier 1 set that 2.3 introduced, you'll find lots of healing, spell crit and mana per 5 on the new gear... just more of it.
Patch 2.4 notes - live version
Take a look after the break for a mirrored copy of the live version of the 2.4 patch notes. This comes directly from the downloader, which is now working. The normal patch note site located at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/ is not updated yet. However, I'm sure it will be soon.One of the big changes from the PTR to the live realms is that CC non-breaking effects have been removed. You cannot Multi-shot with CC targets up and get a way with it (or a number of other abilities). This has been confirmed by Hortus, and thanks to reader Meph for pointing this out. However it should be noted that in the patch notes, Avenger's Shield will still not break CC. This is interesting and will be explored more once the game comes up.You should be seeing the downloader finish about 10 megs worth of content, and then update the game. Everything went smoothly for me on both my Mac and PC clients.WoW Insider will continue our extensive coverage of patch 2.4 today!
There's things to do outside of Quel'Danas, too!
It's patch day, and as you know, patch 2.4 is bring us a new zone, Quel'Danas. Quel'Danas(and the region it directs you to in Hellfire Peninsula) is going to be packed and probably pretty laggy, but there's new content elsewhere, too.Shattrath City and the surrounding regions also have a handful of new quests that will probably be less crowded as everyone flocks to the new zone. Daniel Whitcomb covered a few of these awhile ago in detail, but here's who you want to be looking for: Inside Shattrath, you will find Emissary Mordin(for herbalists, miners and skinners), Lord Torvos, and Harbinger Haronem.Just outside of Shattrath, master anglers can talk to Old Man Barlo for some fun Fishing quests, and there's also a new quest for PvPers in Nagrand. Garadar and Telaar both receive a daily quest for slaughtering the opposition at Halaa. A similar quest can be found in your faction's respective towns in Terokkar for the Spirit Towers.So don't worry, even the potential soul-searing lag of Quel'Danas won't ruin your enjoyment of patch 2.4! There's plenty of new stuff to do even outside of that zone.
Top 5 must-dos in Patch 2.4
Patch 2.4 is finally going live, and with all of the new content, it will be pretty overwhelming when you first log on and attempt to decide what you want to do. With new loot, new quests, and new areas to explore, there will be plenty to keep you busy!05. Regarding your User Interface: The default UI is changing, so along with updating and reconfiguring add-ons, you should learn more about the changes you're going to need to make.04. For the explorer: If you like to be prepared, check out our coverage of the maps for Sunwell Isle. If you'd rather dive right in and be surprised, then check out your own map of the Eastern Kingdoms. The little island at the very top is your new destination! Either way, the easiest way to get there is from the Ironforge (Alliance) or Silvermoon City (Horde) Flightmaster.For the rest of the countdown, hop through the break!
Breakfast Topic: First Things First
We know that patch 2.4 is on its way, sometime soon. The World of Warcraft page has been updated and the background downloader has appeared. Many of us are itching to experience the Fury of the Sunwell. Tomorrow was the second most frequently projected date in our "Guess the release day" contest. As always, Blizzard says it'll go live when it's ready, but tomorrow seems likely to me. The first thing I'm going to do when the patch goes live is check out the patch notes and see which changes were actually included, what's been rolled back, and what's been replaced. After that I'll be heading into Warsong Gulch to see if the developers have found a way to make the battleground experience a little better. I hope they did better than the promised debuff after five minutes of flag-carrying time. What's the first thing you're going to do once the patch drops?
Angelista? Who the heck is that?
I've been looking through patch 2.4's loot tables fairly frequently, and just the other night one piece in particular really jumped out at me. Angelista's Revenge. Yes, good ol' Angelista is back yet again.There's no lore or backstory for Angelista, she's not really a lore figure at all. Like Foror and Styleen, Angelista is a just a little plug for a Blizzard employee, or friend/family member of a Blizzard employee. We don't know exactly who she is, but it's fun to see all of the signs pointing to her that crop up. Ahn'Qiraj, Stratholme(see above), Blackwing Lair, and now the Sunwell.Even though I know there's no real lore for Angelista, I have a mind obsessed with story telling, so I started to wonder what she would be like if she was a Warcraft figure. Her name sounds like a Priest, but her equipment definitely isn't priest-like. There's cloth belts in BWL and Mount Hyjal, a melee DPS ring in 2.4, a tanking ring and healing neck in Ahn'Qiraj... the only classes Angelista could possibly be are a very, very confused Shaman, Paladin or Druid.
Hybrid Theory: Itemization, Patch 2.4 and beyond!
My original intent for this week's Hybrid Theory was to take a close look at the Badge Gear for Hybrids in patch 2.4, but that turned into a monstrous project that left my head spinning. I remained vigilant, until I saw the specific class columns were working on this themselves, starting with Shifting Perspectives. Upon hearing that, I jumped for joy and it was as if the Heavens opened up and thousands of beautiful angels embraced me against their supple forms.So instead of filling your browser with loot links and badge prices, I'm going to talk about the future of itemization, from patch 2.4 and onward."We do plan to have more specs share some loot. I know it's great when the Retribution-Paladin piece drops, but that's a piece that isn't good for 26 other classes/specs, so hopefully we can make it so the item will apply to more classes/specs so even the randomness of loot won't be so much of a big deal." -Bornakk on Wrath of the Lich King
Cinemassively: Sunwell trailer spoof
World of Warcraft machinima favorite, Ian Beckman, has created a parody version of the Blizzard trailer for Sunwell. In his world, everything is "awesome," "cool," "fun," and "happy." Don't worry about it being all rainbows and puppies, though. There's actually a story behind it.Blizzard's version, however, is awesome on it's own. Kael'thas Sunstrider determines that the Sunwell will make his people sick, so he sets out to destroy it, not realizing how dependant everyone is on it. Seeking guidance, he turns to Illidan Stormrage, and from there, lives are changed forever.Does your ideal patch 2.4 contain fury, or a pool of awesome?
WoW Moviewatch: The REAL Fury of the Sunwell Trailer
According to Ian Beckman, Blizzard has a trailer for the new 2.4 patch that they don't want you to see. In the Blizzard-issued version, Kael'thas believes that the Sunwell is the root of all evil and destroys it. When the destruction makes things worse, he turns to Illidan Stormrage for help.Ian's version, however, tells the story of monsters that overtake the "pool of awesome." Kael'thas has an identity crisis and it just gets really random from there. If you like all things fun and happy, then this is the Sunwell for you! I wonder why Blizzard would cover up something so cool?Previously on Moviewatch ...
Know Your Lore: The Sunwell
The upcoming patch, patch 2.4, now known as The Fury of the Sunwell, revolves around... well, the Sunwell! I guess there's something in there about a huge demon by the name of Kil'jaeden, but I'm sure he's not important. Like my previous installments of Know Your Lore, I'll give a little bit of background information on our subject, so you understand the foundation of it. This bit isn't quite as exciting as my last installment or two, but this took a lot more research, and a lot more piecing together half-told bits of story from multiple authors. It's a bit like playing Connect the Dots, but instead of getting a flower or a sailboat, I get Richard Knaak flipping me off. Sorry it's so dry, but on with the show!A little over 10,000 years ago, the Night Elves lived under the rule of Queen Azshara and the upper class of society, the Highborne. Their culture was rich in magic and the arcane, very different from the down to earth, nature-centric society of the Night Elves today. Queen Azshara and her Highborne were extremely hedonistic, using the nearby Well of Eternity for personal power and gain. At some point during all of this, Azshara heard a dark whisper, promising power beyond her imagination.Does this sound familiar? Yes, Sargeras was up to his old tricks again. Like he lured Kil'jaeden and Archimonde to the Legion's cause, he did the same with Queen Azshara. Whereas Kil'jaeden and Archimonde seemed to have needed a little trickery from the Destroyer, Azshara was far more welcoming. She was pretty okay with hanging out with demons, and rather enjoyed the whole fire and brimstone thing.
The Light and How to Swing It: State of the class
When I first decided to roll a Paladin, I had no interest in healing or tanking. I rolled one back in the days before Burning Crusade, back in the heyday of the Reck Bomb. The idea of having what seemed essentially like a Warrior who had access to spells and could self-heal was extremely enticing. I've also had a fascination with the Paladin ever since I played Final Fantasy IV (released here in the States as Final Fantasy II). I've had a Paladin in every game I ever played where it was possible to have one.I used paladins to great effect when I played Warcraft 2, and as anyone who's ever played Warcraft 3 can tell you, paladins were central to the story (Arthas Menethil, better known these days as The Lich King, started out as a Paladin of the Silver Hand under Uther the Lightbringer, the original Paladin). Oddly enough, when I started playing WoW back in June of 2005, my first character wasn't a Paladin (I rolled Horde, and thus couldn't). However, as soon as I started playing as Alliance on a different server, I created one immediately.
Breakfast Topic: Patch 2.4, for better or for worse?
Patch 2.4 draws closer every day. Many players were speculating that it was going to be released yesterday (March 18, 2008). Blizzard has promised that the patch is coming soon and the background downloader has appeared. My best guest is that we'll be visiting Sunwell Isle on March 25, 2008. The day that patch 2.3 was released I attempted to rush home from work to check out the new changes, but was thwarted by cross-town traffic. There are some things that I'm excited about for in the newest patch, but I'm not nearly as stoked as I was for the last major update. I try to keep in mind that what we've seen so far on the Public Test Realm is not the final product for the patch, but it gives us a pretty good indication of what's coming.
Shifting Perspectives: 2.4 Badge-A-Palooza, Druid style
Every week, Shifting Perspectives is written by someone who is not me. Except for that one time. Rather an addictive experience, stealing this column. Does anyone even read the italicized portion at the top? Hello? Nobody? I'm just gonna sing. "My baloney has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R, my baloney has a [censored over copyright infringement] (ed. just do the column, please).While I sincerely hope the rumors about the patch hitting soon aren't true because I'm sitting on all of 43 badges of justice right now (g@^#(*% mother-expletive piece of $%^@ fire resistance set), I am forced to admit that the times may possibly have caught up with me. I confess that for a long time I hadn't even looked at the new badge loot that will become available ingame, partly because things have gotten markedly busier with my guild of late and partly because I'd planned my 2.3 badge acquisitions very carefully and wondered if I could get away with keeping myself somewhat unspoiled for 2.4. That lasted until I found out just how expensive the 2.4 gear is actually going to be ("150 badges for a new weapon, Zach? Are you @*(#&#% kidding me?"). Noble effort while it lasted, though. Well, no more. If 2.4 does hit next week, I'm going to be ready to stand in front of the badge vendor and know exactly what I can't afford to buy for all three specs.This treatment looks exclusively at the new leather gear offerings available in 2.4 and assumes that you won't have access, or at least immediate access, to the new 25-man raid Sunwell Plateau. For my part I am still using six -- count 'em, six -- pieces of badge gear for various tanking purposes in Tier 6 content, which either says a great deal about the general quality of badge gear or says a great deal about how bad feral itemization is in endgame content. I'll be magnanimous today and say it's both.
Sunwell Plateau trailer
The Sunwell Plateau trailer, released by Blizzard, has to be on the coolest trailers I've seen from them recently. If you have a second, turn the sound up a bit and have a look. You can watch the trailer right above via a YouTube hosted copy of the video, or head on over to the Blizzard page about Patch 2.4 and watch it there.I give the people who made this an A+ for the day.Of course, this will all be made even better when patch 2.4 actually does drop, and we're hopeful that it'll come next week. Today wasn't the day for it, unfortunately, despite some teasing remarks made by blue posters yesterday.What do you think of the video? Pretty neat, eh?
New Fury of the Sunwell preview page at the main US site
2.4's not out today, but Blizzard threw a nice little consolation prize our way: A new Fury of the Sunwell preview page, complete with a trailer and a very spiffy looking wallpaper featuring Kil'jaedan rising out of the Sunwell while Kael'thas looks on, as well as an in-game cinematic trailer in which Kael'thas tells the story of the destruction of the Sunwell and speaks of his plans to reignite it and summon Kil'jaedan. if you're a bit unclear on the Sunwell Lore, this page explains it succinctly as well. There's also a list of some of the new features, such as all the new daily quests, accompanied by screenshots. In what might be considered a bit of tease for WotLK, the screenshot for the Arena Tournament features a Warrior wielding the fabled Ashbringer (the corrupted version, but still!). It's also worth noting that we can add another Kralnor cookie to the growing list of them, the screenshot also features everyone's favorite staff-using Warlock. Blizzard's done a great job with this page, although I have to wonder if this is a harbinger of more PTR time. It seems strange they'd only release such a well done preview page a few scant days before the patch goes live, but we shall see. It's fun to have some new eye candy to keep us occupied until the patch drops.
2.4 invades the background downloader
As Adam pointed out earlier this afternoon, the changes for patch 2.4 are starting to be less and less dramatic, which may indicate that the patch is nearing completion. Here's another such indication: parts of the patch (251 MB for me) are now being sent out to the background downloader. This means that some of the patch data is finalized, and we can get those parts of the patch now instead of having to get everything on patch day.Note that the patch is not, in fact, being released today, or even necessarily next week. But I would bet that it won't be more than a few weeks until the Sunwell is upon us. And when the patch does drop, someone's going to win fabulous prizes! More importantly, I'll have some new dailies to do. Hurry it up, Blizz (but don't release it before it's ready, of course).Edit: Patch 2.3 was on the background downloader for 12 days before it was released, and 2.1 was 11 days. But 2.2 was on for over a month, so it's hard to predict for sure how this will go.[Thanks, Amarius (and multiple other tipsters)]
Does Kil'jaedan's defeat animation hint at further lore?
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/New_boss_mob_death_animation_movie_pulled_from_WoW_files'; Tipster Kronack sent us a link to this video, which shows the Sunwell Plateau's final boss, Kil'jaedan. The animations look to be his initial summoning and his final defeat. I'm pretty impressed by how awesome he looks, but what really intrigues me is what these animations could reveal about the lore behind the encounter - and what follows it. We still don't know much about the Kil'jaedan encounter, since Blizzard is mostly focusing testing on the Eredar Twins these days -- when the dungeon is even activated -- so most of what we have for now is speculation. That said, there's still some pretty good things I can see in these animations. Anyway, I'll be using Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau lore spoilers to explain what I think, so If you don't mind that and want to speculate along with me, please, do join me after the jump.
PTR Notes: Patch note watch 3/5
Welcome back to another installment of Patch Note Watch, the show where we go through the PTR patch notes in meticulous detail and show you everything that's changed since the last version! Much of this has been covered already here on WoW Insider, including rollbacks on Life Tap and Flametongue, some multi-target effects no longer breaking CC, and a nice new recipe for jewelcrafters. But I am a completist. I must post every detail, so let's begin. As usual, any change that we haven't covered on the site that looks interesting will be bolded. Blizzard Entertainment would like to dedicate the patch in memory of Gary Gygax. His work on D&D was an inspiration to us in many ways and helped spark our passion for creating games of our own. As avid D&D players and fellow game developers, we were all saddened by the news of his passing; we feel we've lost a true adventuring companion. Thanks for everything and farewell, Gary. You will be missed.
