August 19, 2005

WoW 1.7 patch notes... commentary

Check out the official patch notes here... finally they weren't leaked early. As always I am here to sift through and pull out the good stuff... and of course tell you what I think.

Switching weapons in combat triggers a 1 second global cooldown for all abilities for rogues and a 1.5 second global cooldown for everyone else.
-EDIT:Sprawl from VN WoW General forum has explained this better than I could....

"What this change did do was fix it so exploiters couldn't use the instant swap in order to backstab with a sword. People were using macros to pass the dagger check with backstab but swap to swords before the damage is calculated." - Sprawl

Battleground "holidays" have been added to Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley and Arathi Basin. Holidays occur during most weekends, starting on Thursday night at midnight and continuing until Tuesday morning. During a holiday, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.
-Another wonderful blow to those of us that play off hours and on odd days. Shouldn't bother us anyways, because the battlegrounds are rarely open outside of primetime.

Losers of Warsong Gulch are now given a "Ribbon of Sacrifice" which they may turn in to Captain Shatterspear or Sentinel Farsong for a faction reward.
-Huh? WoW... the only game where losers are rewarded!

New Spell: Hammer of Wrath (Level 44) - Hurls a hammer that strikes an enemy for Holy damage. Only usable on a wounded target.
-Now that class that never dies... gets a ranged attack. Interesting to see how powerful this is. Still doesn't give them any sort of range to pull with... which is the main complaint of Paladins.

Proficiency Bonuses have been added to the game. Some sets of equippable items have been added that will give bonus effects to the player only if they have a specific skill, such as Leatherworking.
-Good change. Funny they mention Leatherworking... one of the most useless crafting skills in game. Finally balancing things out towards engineering by buffing the other crafting skills... great move.

New "Dressing Room" Interface now available! If you control-left click on any item, item reference (vendors, quests) or item link (chat), a UI panel will appear showing your character wearing that item. You can then use the same command (control-left click) on additional items to add to the preview appearance. In addition, the Auction House now has a checkbox in the upper right-hand corner; if checked, any item you click on within the Auction House will automatically be previewed on your character.
-24/7 window shopping baby! Who says games aren't programmed without women in mind?

The Effects of Flasks will now persist through death.
-Woot! Another buff to alchemy and actual reason to justify the cost of overpriced potions.

That is all I could find worth noting -_o Seems to be a few good anti-rogue things... a definate plus. The addition of a new area and a new battleground should keep us busy for a while. See everyone when this pig goes live :)