Joe's World... of Warcraft - Patch 2.3
In his World of Warcraft column this week, Joe Iuliani takes a quick look at patch 2.3 and gives his impressions.
Zul’Aman patch goes live, WoW players rejoice. Ok, so maybe not so much rejoicing, but patch 2.3 has tweaked WoW a bit.
The obvious big addition to patch 2.3 is Zul’Aman, hell Blizzard named the patch after it. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to actually explore Zul’Aman, (damn my guildies for wanting to do SSC) but the surrounding area has some items to look out for. Make sure you get the flight path right outside the instance next to the summoning stone. As with the majority of summoning stones in the game, there is ample opportunity for world PVP. I learned that while getting ganked exploring the area. There is a town right outside Zul’Aman as well. So far, it’s the location of one quest, which by the way originates in Shattrath. I’m sure there are will many other quests once players begin advancing through the instance.
Some notable changes I came across from playing for a bit:
Enhanced User Interface:
A tracking feature has been added to the mini map allowing players to find NPCs in the area. Previously, a player would have to ask an NPC where they could find profession trainers, class trainers, etc etc. No longer, just click on tracking and you’re on your way.
Points of player interest have been added to the mini map. It has made navigating WOW a little more friendly. This may seem trivial but they really do make navigation so much easier.
- Flight paths are shown as a green exclamation
- New Quests as a yellow exclamation
- Quest turns ins as yellow question mark
- Daily Quests as a blue exclamation
- Repeatable Quests as a blue question mark
New Daily Quests
New daily quests have been added, the quest givers can be found in the lower city.
- Battleground Quests
- Each day there will be a new battleground objective to achieve. Winning a battleground quest will pay out gold as well as addition honor.
- Cooking Quests
- And some of you thought cooking was wasteful, for shame. Gold and cooking supplies are your rewards here. There is a change to learn new recipes and find rare ingredients.
- Instance Quests.
- Two sets of quests appear to be available, heroic and non heroic versions. Unless I misread something late last night. The heroic daily instance quests will yield two badge of justice in addition to the gold received. Make sure you check out all the new Badge of Justice rewards.
The leveling improvements are something that gives existing players who are leveling those alts, and new players can all look forward to.
- The amount of experience needed to gain a level has been decreased between levels 20 and 60. In addition, the amount of experience granted by quests has been increased between levels 30 and 60.
- Level 1-60 dungeon quests have had their experience and faction rewards increased.
- Many elite creatures and quests in the level 1-60 experience have been changed to accommodate solo play.
My personal favorite patch item is druids being able to directly shape change forms. Sorry to all the non druid players, but it’s been a long time coming, since it should just make sense. It is shape changing after all.
For full patch notes visit http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes.
Keep an eye out for future Zul’Aman strategies and loots. Let’s hear your experiences and thoughts on patch 2.3
