I wasn’t expecting the big 4.1 to hit yesterday, but hit it did along with a lot of issues which are being hotfixed this morning. As with any major patch there were all of the now outdated UI addons that had to be updated, and while most of mine are there are still some which are not. This patch added a few key things that I am really pleased to see. Number one would have to be the new looking for guild interface. While EQ2 does have a LFGuild tool – it doesn’t allow players to communicate and apply to a guild that they see in the window unless there’s an officer online currently recruiting. The tool also does not allow players to see what level the guild is, something I find very handy. I applied to a casual guild on my warlock, and left a little blurb about what I was looking for. My other characters are already in a pretty nice guild, level 25 and casual but also do some light raiding and other organized events. I wish leveling a guild solo was more of an option (a la EQ2) but blizzard makes this just about impossible, or at least impossible to earn the achievements because you need to have a group majority of guild mates in with you. Don’t get me wrong, I love my guilds, just some times I like things quiet, too.
Guild challenges were also put in, which I do not really like. There are three types, one requires you to kill one boss of a level appropriate zone and your guild bank will receive 1,000g (each week). The second is to do 7 group dungeons in a guild group, your guild bank earns 250g for that one. The final is PvP and you earn 500g for that one. My problem is that this coin just goes into the guild bank for – for what purpose? Whatever the guild leader decides? For their own personal use? To cover repair costs? I have no idea. I still feel that sort of money is a large amount – but I realize I’m probably wrong.
With this patch also came the rise of the Zandalari, two revamped instances for level 85 characters who have an item level of 346 or higher – which I do not. In fact I doubt I even come close. I am excited about exploring them eventually but for now I’ll be content to listen to everyone else talk about it.
Dungeon finder: call to arms was also implemented. This is the incentive program to get queues to move faster. There are some restrictions on it: “to be eligible for the additional rewards you must solo queue for a random level-85 Heroic in the role that is currently being Called to Arms, and complete the dungeon by killing the final boss” – so I haven’t had any experience with it yet. I do like the idea of rare mounts being a reward, but I dislike that once again WoW focuses entirely on the end game.
A LOT of class changes too place, fixes, and updates. So if you want to read up on what else changed be sure to head over to the patch notes. In the mean time I’m having fun just doing my thing. The paladin is now level 36 and I’m having no issues healing my way through dungeons. Hopefully I can keep that up, but we’ll just have to see. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!