PSTP Gaming Network

Well, anyone who has any interest at all in World of Warcraft will know that it is getting its latest major content patch this week after weekly maintenance.

This has been highly anticipated, the last two major patches to be added into the game, shockingly 2.1 and 2.2, were major disappointments. Voice Chat added in 2.2 is almost completely useless, since any guild who wants to use VC just uses Vent anyway and several months since its introduction into the game in patch 2.1, the Black Temple has remained mostly untouched by most realms. It is not uncommon for realms to only have two guilds progressing as far as MH/BT. This shows Blizzards major failure in relation to end-game content that was seen preBC(Burning Crusade, WoW’s first expansion for those of you not in the know), in which only a handful of hardcore raiding guilds will ever see the “real” end-game. Very few guilds hit Naxxramas(And many that did never saw past the first five bosses) and even fewer have seen BT. This is like a master painter spending years on his masterpiece and then only letting 1 in 25 people who want, in to see it.

Of course, thats all pretty negitive about the last patch when really I should be optimistic about the newest one. The list of additions into the game is really very impressive, and shows that Blizzard to listen to some of the player feedback thats given to them. Players are given quite a lot of new content, as well as old content being improving. It’s actually quite difficult to decide where to start when it comes to explaining the things which are excellent about this new patch.

Probably the thing which will effect level 70’s the most is the addition of a new ten man raid, Zul’Aman. This is going to be only the second troll based instance in the game, and is going to be set in troll ruins in the Ghostlands. This addition is a great one, since it adds an extra stage of progression for guilds who have Karazhan on farm, but are unable to make the just into 25 man raids. The raid itself is going to have better loot then Kara, but is going to be more difficult with the first boss apparently being as difficult as Nightbane in Kara. It is also going to have a time trial event, much like the Baron run of ye olde days in Stratholme. They are also adding a new 25 man raid, the Sunwell which is going to be more difficult then BT according to Blizz. This is to appease those hardcore freaks such a Nihilum who spend obscene amount of time raiding during the week.

Another of the great additions in this patch for level 70’s is the addition of new Badge of Justice rewards. The new rewards are going to be of great benefit to people who cannot raid regularly but still want to gear up their character. This is also nice for guilds who want to avoid farming Kara to help gear up new members. The cost of the new gear is high, but since any knuckle-dragging mouth breather can finish Heroic Mech nowadays, its not all that surprising.

Now, probably my favourite addition of the patch is that they are making levelling easier. Going from 1-70 for the first time is an epic journey, doing it the second time is tedious. Levelling from 20-60 is now easier with more experience gained from questing, less experience needed to level, better gear from lowbie instances (Bye bye to cloth with strength on them!) and new questing hubs. Its really the best time to level a new character, since most experienced players will be levelling their alt. Azeroth might not be such a ghost town anymore with people trying the new content.

There are more changes in this patch (Woo, warlock nerf!) but the majority of them aren’t important enough for me to write about (Or, I can’t be arsed. Take your pick).

Remember, blame the noams!

Posted in Games, PC