Project Lore

Good lord.  You do a post on just recently announced content and the day it goes live Blizzard drops a cavalcade of new information on the WoW playing populace.  I don't know about you, but when this much information comes out at once I tend to become overwhelmed.   Sure, there isn't much to digest rogue-wise (yay Axes! </sarcasm> Daggers fo' lyfe yo!), or even priest-wise, so that cuts out most of the critical thinking that goes into patch notes for me.  With nothing to QQ about I have been focusing on the little gems and locating overlooked modifications. For example, the ability to level in battlegrounds (via quests, not killing people, which would be cooler) is one hot tamale.  It's also a feature that has been requested for some time.  When this was originally discovered pre-patch notes, people were worried about the state of twinking.  Well, Blizzard has all those level 19 rogues in VanCleef gear covered with the power to turn off XP gain.  That feature is simply huge and goes well beyond twinking to "classic" servers.  While not exactly the same as a vanilla or TBC locked server, turning off your XP gain can enable nostalgic gamers to level a character to 60, or 70, and play as if it were 2004, or 2007!  In the end I think this is a great solution to the classic server problem.  It enables those rosey-eyed gamers to (almost) get what they want, but doesn't cost Blizzard much of anything. My fellow vanity pet collectors are likely rejoicing over the new critters we can add to our stables.  It isn't just a token addition either.  Sure, the Argent Tournament has another one, and you can go the cheesy way and purchase one from Breanni, but the true nuts will be out in Un'Goro, Stranglethorn Vale and numerous other areas farming the pets from elite raptors across Azeroth.  A total of 8 vanity pets have been added to the game (not including Argent Tournament rewards).  Pet owners aren't the only players getting some dinosaur action.  Horde players can pick up a poisonous Ravasaur mount from the trainer in Un'Goro.  Yes, the mount is Horde only. We also have more profession changes.  The biggest one that I came across was the change to potion stacking.  No longer will raiders have to dedicate a full bag to their assorted potions, as they will now stack to a respectable amount, 20.  Of course I foresee most raiders filling their bags with stacks of 20 anyways, crazy blocks that they are.  In Cooking we have the tweak to the Chef's Hat.  The fashionable cookware not only makes you looks good, no to mention dedicated to the art of cuisine, but enables Wolfgang Puck impersonators to cook faster.  I'll be picking up one of these bad boys for that utility.  Still no concrete data on the "increase benefits" to the Engineering goodies though, but it's nice to see that Potion Injectors give an added 25% benefit when used by a tinkerer.  Gas cloud discovery is being moved to the Mote Extractor and off the Goggles.  What the hell took so long? Call of the Crusade is shaping up to be a nice patch.  It may not have an ostentatious sized raid like Secrets of Ulduar, but it does have a copious collection of changes.  What diamonds in the rough have you most excited?  Perhaps actual (epic) diamonds?  Maybe the bloating of the Dalaran Sewers Arena map?

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