November 13th, 2007

World Of Warcraft Patch 2.3 is live

Enough time has passed and it’s time for yet another Blizzard goodie to hit the World of Warcraft live servers. Patch 2.3 went live today on the US servers and will be up for Europe early tomorrow after maintenance. It’s a matter of preference actually, because we have Zul Aman and its animal bosses for PvE raiders in 2.3 and we’ll have the start of the PvP Season 3 complete with a ladder reset in exactly one week. Supplemented by serious class tweaking, big changes are coming to the live servers for everyone. It’s part of Blizzard policy to release new content on a regular basis and we see new instances introduced to the game each four months and a ladder reset on the same timetable. Time’s up, thus game hype will once again rise as old accounts get reactivated and the flame is rekindled in the hearts of MMO gamers.

Patch testing and changes have been the bread and butter of WoW fan sites all over the net for a month now, so let’s take a quick look at what the future has in store for us. First and foremost we have Zul Aman, which will be fully reviewed hands on in a couple of days. This lost temple can be found in the Ghostlands and requires no attunement quests performed. It’s a relic of the old Amani Empire, one of the two troll factions known to Azeroth (the Gurubashi Empire being the other). Zul Aman is Blizzard’s way of responding to public feedback. For a fact, Karazhan proved to be a huge success, if not due to its native fun filled encounters, then because of its wide accessibility. Here we go again with events scaled to go up from Prince Malchezaar and beyond. Guilds that are just about to enter Serpentshire Cavern and Tempest Keep: The Eye will find Zul Aman just about right in terms of gear versus challenge.

Too bad Blizzard didn’t learn anything from last Halloween, when alliance players were forced to wait in front of Scarlet Monastery and deal with PvP against countless horde that had the advantage of the home court. Ghostlands is the Blood Elf starting area, so be ready to witness the same scenario again: Several groups get ready to enter Zul Aman and start gathering by the summoning stone. We have horde and alliance together, bundled for a group hug, when someone attacks and just like a bar fight, everything ends up in a bloody mess.

Zul Aman is the home of the elder totemic gods of the Amani trolls. It’s been a place of worship since the very beginning thus the upper priesthood hierarchy has been granted powers beyond those of mortal trolls. You’ll meet the great bear guardian first, dire Nalorakk. Be sure to direct nightly prayers his way if you dream about riding that wicked looking bear out sometime in the near future. Akil'zon is the eagle avatar and master of storms. Unlike his Zul Gurub counterpart, the lynx avatar Halazzi does not have three acolytes that resurrect one another. Jan'alai, dragonhawk avatar puts up a good fight protecting the eggs of the flying hunter. Many raids will find their doom by the hands of Hex Lord Malacrass but none of the above is as powerful as the master himself, Zul’Jin.

Needless to mention, loot rises to the occasion by pumping up as much spell and melee haste as possible within level 131 items, along with melee armor penetration stats. In terms of item level alone, these should neither make nor break high end raiding itemization on guilds raiding Hyjal and Black Temple. But in practice, Zul Aman will boost casual raiding guilds itemization to a great extend, introducing item stats previously native to the high end part of the spectrum. It’s a bit unfair from Blizzard’s part, but then again, they always nerfed encounters in order to make them more accessible. Another random drop specific to Zul Aman is the enchant weapon: Executioner recipe. The enchant grants the use a chance to deal attacks that ignore 840 target armor for 10 seconds, for a good dps boost against low armored targets. Needless to say, Executioner is the new mongoose for PvP use, a clever time sink which gobbles up roughly 500g on each application. WoW greatness is never cheap. Not unless you count the new mad alchemist healing potions which grant a random buff on each use, stackable with any elixirs and flasks you may use at the time.

There can’t be a good patch without random freebies. Although the proper riding skill is required, engineers will be happy to know that Blizzard graced them with new normal and epic flying mounts. Flying machines they are called and supposedly have nothing in common with flying saucers. It’s still a question of goblin versus gnomish engineering. If they bug and end up in a huge explosion I’ll bet on gnomes. Maybe it’s better to have faith in goblin racing minds. There is little profit to be gained should your flying machine suddenly stop and fail high above Netherstorm. Awesome 8 seconds to treasure life before the corpse run though. It’s a good think the Cenarion Expedition has new hyppogriph mounts for sale, just as good looking and more dependable.

Now that I mentioned PvP, many things will change in a week so I recommend you start farming honor right away if you haven’t already. If you’re a newcomer to competitive PvP, 50k honor would just about grab you four pieces of the now honor-standard Gladiator set. Its arena point requirements have been removed and the old blues High Warlord set becomes obsolete. New trinkets that give a specific class bonus and boost your hit points by 1750 for 20 seconds are also available, sharing different cooldown than regular damage dealing trinkets. Blizzard seems to think nuking is out of control, or at least it will be with the new itemization and skill changes. Season 3 Vengeful Gladiator armors and weapons have plenty nice surprises to show, most notably being the introduction of extra armor (the green markup) and armor penetration. Gibing casters seems to get easier and easier, but what do they get in return?

Hunters get a ranged mortal strike effect on each aimed shot. Warriors get important talents from the fury tree moved to arms. I can’t even begin to stress the importance of this minor change. We’ll have brick walls that hit like trucks, are immune to fear for a long time and hit fast and harder as the battle drags on. Priests get a lovely discipline buff and can land Pain Suppression on any team member, just like paladins do with their Blessing of Protection. Mages have the damage coefficient tax removes thus fireballs and frostbolts will deal roughly 10% more damage. Dual wielding shamans have so many changes in store for them, that I’m almost tempted to get one in my arena teams. Whenever shamanistic rage gets activated, shamans get 30% reduction on both physical and magic damage, unkillable for 30 seconds.

Many more undocumented changes will stir things up even more. I have to admit, I came to love these first aid packs that boost enjoyment for a while longer. MMORPGs are born, live and eventually die, but WoW has its moments even after three years of existence. Be sure to get the patch in advance with the automatic background-downloader. Servers should be up by 11 AM tomorrow, but you never know what complications may arise. Patch days tend to get unexpected errors and delays in realm resuscitation.