Filed under: WoW Archivist

World of Warcraft Patch 2.3

The Gods of Zul'Aman

The stronghold of Zul'Aman has stood for millennia as the Amani trolls' seat of power and bastion of the fearless, cunning warlord Zul'jin.

Zul'jin has spent several years plotting behind Zul'Aman's walls. Furious at the Horde for allowing his hated enemies, the blood elves, to join its ranks, he eagerly embraced a scheme that the witch doctor Malacrass recently proposed: to seal the power of the animal gods within the bodies of the Amani's strongest warriors.

Now Zul'Aman's army grows more powerful by the day, hungry to exact vengeance in the name of its fearless leader, Zul'jin.

Guild Banks Introduced

The Guild Bank is a shared repository for an entire guild and will be accessible through Guild Vault objects near existing banks. The Guild Bank will allow players with the appropriate permissions to store items and money for use by the rest of the guild. Permissions to withdraw and deposit money and items are controlled by the guild leader through the guild controls menu. The Guild Bank is divided up into separate tabs so that the guild leader may restrict access or group items into distinct categories.

• Up to 6 purchasable tabs each containing 98 item slots
• Permissions to view/deposit/withdraw per tab
• You may use your Guild Bank withdraw limits to pay for item repairs (now enabled on all merchants)
• Transaction logs of the last 25 actions within each tab, as well as money activity.

Dustwallow Marsh

Dustwallow Marsh has seen many improvements with the addition of over 50 new quests and a new neutral goblin town called Mudsprocket located in the southern part of the zone. There is also a small quest hub featuring a crashed goblin zeppelin, to the east of Tabetha's hut.

Leveling Improvements

Many leveling improvements have been made for the old world.

• 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.

General

• The latest patch of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade shows a benefit on today's popular multicore processors like the Intel(r) Core(tm)2 Duo processor family. The enhanced patch has demonstrated higher frame rates by spreading the work across both processor cores.
• Zul'Aman is a 10-player, level 70 outdoor instance located in the Ghostlands. Players will be able to confront six new bosses including the Forest Troll Warlord Zul'jin.
• Guild Banks have been introduced. The Guild Bank will allow players with the appropriate permissions to store items and money for use by the rest of the guild.
• Experience: 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.
• All items have had their bonuses to Weapon Skill Rating converted to a new stat called Weapon Expertise Rating. Each point of Weapon Expertise reduces the chance for your attacks to be dodged or parried by .25%.
• Healing reduction effects will now affect all health drain spells and abilities (e.g. Mortal Strike will reduce health gained from Drain Life).
• Healing: Almost all items and enchantments that provide bonus healing now also provide a smaller number (approximately 1/3) of bonus spell damage. There are a few items and enchantments where this was not possible, such as random-stat items and Zul'Gurub enchantments, but this is now the case on virtually all other items.
• On Kill Effects: Items and abilities that trigger on killing an enemy will no longer trigger on using an ability that kills your pet.
• Weapon Skill: All items and abilities that granted weapon skill have been changed. In most cases, they were converted to expertise or expertise rating. Ranged attacks do not benefit from expertise, so ranged weapon skill has generally been replaced by critical strike bonuses or hit bonuses. In a few cases, talents have been changed to other effects to avoid granting players excessive amounts of expertise.
• A new flight path has been added to the Rebel Camp in northern Stranglethorn Vale.
• Flying units can see ground units and vice versa at any altitude.
• Players no longer gain the moving AOE radius bonus if they are jumping.
• Client spell cast requests are now sent to the server even if your player is already casting another spell. This eliminates the need for /stopcasting in macros to compensate for latency.
• Vendor Discounts: All vendors with an associate faction now give discounts at all levels above neutral.
• Friendly: 5% discount
• Honored: 10% discount
• Revered: 15% discount
• Exalted: 20% discount
• Quest givers who have available daily quests will have a blue exclamation point instead of a yellow one.
• Pets will try to get behind their targets when engaging in melee combat.
• You can now obtain a tiny Sporebat pet with exalted Sporeggar faction.
• An Azure Whelp pet now drops from the blue dragonkin in Azshara.
• If you are seated and try to use abilities that require you to be standing, you will stand up and use them. This can be disabled with: /console autoStand 0 .
• Racial Abilities
• Dwarf: Gun Specialization now increases chance to critically hit with Guns by 1% rather than increasing weapon skill.
• Gnome: Escape Artist cooldown increased to 1 min, 45 sec.
• Humans: Mace Skill now increases the critical strike chance with maces and two-handed maces by 1%.
• Humans: Sword Skill now increases the critical strike chance with swords and two-handed swords by 1%.
• Orcs: Axe Skill now increases the critical strike chance with axes and two-handed axes by 1%.
• Troll: Bow and Thrown Specialization now increases chance to critically hit with those weapons by 1% rather than increasing weapon skill.

PvP

Arenas

• The top ranked team of each battlegroup for each format will receive a new unique title for the end of Season 2 called "Merciless Gladiator".

Battlegrounds

• Daily quests have been added targeting a random battleground for that day. Look for Alliance Brigadier Generals and Horde Warbringers near your faction's battlemasters in all major capitals.
• Dropping the Flag in a battleground will now result in a debuff that will not allow you to pick up the flag again for 3 seconds.
• Druids who are shapeshifted when they receive the Restoration buff from battlegrounds will now correctly regenerate mana.
• Players will now be able to cast spells for free in the Battleground before it begins.
• Players will now be able to cast spells for free for a few seconds after being resurrected by a Spirit Guide in the Battleground.

Alterac Valley

• Additional Warmasters no longer report for duty upon destroying an enemy tower. However, destroying an enemy tower still eliminates the associated opposing Warmaster.
• All Warmasters are linked to each other and their respective Generals and can no longer be pulled individually.
• Honor from capturing towers has been increased.
• All Commanders and Lieutenants have left Alterac Valley in search for other battle opportunities.
• Players will no longer be sent to their starting tunnels on death unless that team controls no graveyards in the battleground.
• Many NPCs in Stormpike and Frostwolf holds are no longer elite
• Bonus Honor in Alterac Valley is now only awarded during the battle for destroying enemy towers and slaying the enemy Captain. Upon conclusion of the battle, bonus honor is also awarded for intact towers, a surviving Captain, and for victory in the battle. The total bonus honor awarded should be similar to the previous total.
• The Horde and Alliance now have a limited number of reinforcements available in the battle for Alterac Valley. The number of reinforcements available is reduced upon player death, loss of towers, and death of Captain Galvangar or Balinda Stonehearth. In addition, all available reinforcements are lost upon the death of General Drek'Thar or Vanndar Stormpike. If a team is reduced to zero reinforcements, the opposing team wins the battle.
• Towers and Graveyards in Alterac Valley are now captured in 4 minutes (down from 5).

Eye of the Storm

• The points awarded from capturing the flag in Eye of the Storm is now increase based on the number of bases the capturing team owns.
• Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm
• Additional bonus honor is now awarded upon conclusion of the battle.

Druids

• Barkskin: It is no longer possible to cast this spell while Cycloned.
• Challenging Roar: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its targets is now increased by hit rating.
• Cure Poison and Abolish Poison are now usable in Tree of Life Form.
• Cure Poison, Abolish Poison and Remove Curse range increased to 40 yards.
• Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible for multiple Druids to have Entangling Roots on the same target. In addition, it will now always be removed correctly if multiple Druids overwrite each other's Entangling Roots.
• Entangling Roots: This ability will no longer be overwritten when the new Entangling Roots would do less damage.
• Feral Attack Power: Items that granted bonus attack power in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear, and Moonkin forms have been re-evaluated. In almost all cases, the attack power on the item has been increased. This change corrects an issue where feral weapon damage was not keeping up with other classes in its rate of increase.
• Feral Charge: It is now possible for the interrupt and root effects from this ability to be resisted separately.
• Force of Nature: This ability will no longer automatically break stealth on victims in its casting area. Nearby stealthed characters may still be attacked if they are too close to the summoned Treants.
• Growl: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its target is now increased by hit rating.
• Heart of the Wild: This talent no longer provides 4/8/12/16/20% bonus Strength in Cat Form. Instead it provides 2/4/6/8/10% bonus attack power.
• Hibernate: This spell will now always be removed correctly if multiple Druids overwrite each other's Hibernate.
• Intensity (Restoration) increased to 10/20/30% mana regeneration.
• Natural Perfection (Restoration) - Now also grants the Natural Perfection effect after being critically hit, reducing all damage taken by 1/3/5% for 8 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
• Natural Perfection: This talent can now trigger while the Druid is sitting.
• Primal Fury: This talent will now be learned correctly even if purchased while the Druid is dead.
• Rebirth cooldown reduced to 20 minutes, from 30 minutes.
• Remove Curse is now usable in Moonkin Form.
• Shapeshifting Spells: Some of these spells were causing additional unintended threat. That additional unintended threat has been removed.
• Soothe Animal: This spell now properly consumes Nature's Swiftness.
• Tranquility now gains additional benefit from spell damage and healing bonuses.
• Tree of Life: It is no longer possible to have the bonus healing aura from this ability while not actually in Tree of Life Form.
• If you are in a shapeshift form and try to use an ability that may only be used in caster form, you will leave the form and use that ability. This means that you can shift from one form to another in one action. If you don't have mana to shift form, you will get an error message and remain in your current form. This can be disabled with /console autoUnshift 0

Hunters

• Aimed Shot (Marksmanship) now reduces healing done to that target by 50% for 10 seconds, shot time reduced by 0.5 seconds.
• Arcane Shot (Ranks 6 and above) now dispel 1 Magic effect in addition to their normal damage.
• Explosive Trap: The initial damage dealt by this trap is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• Expose Weakness: The triggered effect from this talent will no longer use up charges of Misdirection.
• Immolation Trap: The total damage dealt by this trap is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• Misdirection: This spell will now always be removed correctly if multiple Hunters overwrite each other's Misdirection.
• Misdirection: If a Hunter attempts to use this ability on a target which already has an active Misdirection, the spell will fail to apply due to a more powerful spell already being in effect. This will not trigger the cooldown or cost any mana.
• Readiness: This talent now finishes the cooldown on Kill Command.
• Serpent Sting, Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap all gain additional damage based on ranged attack power.
• Serpent Sting: The total damage dealt by this sting is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• Steady Shot: Tooltip clarified to indicate base weapon damage is used in the damage calculation.
• Trueshot Aura (Marksmanship) no longer costs mana to cast and will last until cancelled.
• Wyvern Sting (Survival) is now instant cast and has a maximum duration of 10 seconds in PvP.
• Wyvern Sting: This ability will no longer be overwritten by lower ranks of Wyvern Sting.

Mages

• Arcane Intellect and Arcane Brilliance mana costs reduced.
• Arcane Meditation (Arcane) increased to 10/20/30% mana regeneration.
• Arcane Missiles: Players will no longer get strange error messages when casting this spell at evading targets. The spell will simply fail.
• Detect Magic removed. All players may now see their target's beneficial effects at all times.
• Evocation now regenerates 15% of total mana every 2 seconds rather than increase Spirit based regeneration.
• Fire Ward and Frost Ward now gain additional benefit from spell damage bonuses. Base absorb values of ranks 5 and 6 have been reduced.
• Ice Barrier now gains additional benefit from spell damage bonuses. Base absorb values of ranks 5 and 6 have been reduced.
• Ignite: This talent is no lingered triggered by damage dealt by Molten Armor.
• Improved Fireball: The reduction in damage coefficient caused by this talent has been removed.
• Improved Frostbolt: The reduction in damage coefficient caused by this talent has been removed.
• Polymorph: It is no longer possible to polymorph a player and have that player remain mounted. In addition, it will now always be removed correctly if multiple Mages overwrite each other's Polymorph.
• Portal Spells: Portal spells to capital cities can no longer be cast in battlegrounds.
• Remove Curse range increased to 40 yards.
• (NEW SPELL) Ritual of Refreshment available on trainers at level 70.
• Spellsteal: It is no longer possible via this spell to get two Forbearance debuffs at the same time.

Paladins

• Blessing of Light: Lower ranks of Flash of Light and Holy Light are now properly penalized when used with this Blessing.
• Cleanse and Purify range increased to 40 yards.
• Crusader Strike (Retribution) cooldown reduced from 10 to 6 seconds.
• Divine Favor: When this ability is cast immediately after a critical heal, it will no longer be removed incorrectly.
• Exorcism mana cost reduced.
• Fanaticism (Retribution) now also reduces threat caused by all actions by 6/12/18/24/30%.
• Hammer of Wrath mana cost reduced.
• Holy Wrath mana cost reduced.
• Improved Seal of the Crusader (Retribution) benefits folded into the base spell. This talent now gives the benefits of the Sanctified Crusader talent instead.
• Judgement of Light: The combat log will now show the health gained from rank 5 of this ability as Judgement of Light instead of Seal of Light.
• Judgement of Wisdom: It is no longer possible for the mana energize effect to trigger off of reapplication of the Judgement of Wisdom.
• Paladin seals no longer have a low chance to be dispelled if you have 3 points in Sanctified Seals.
• Precision (Protection) now increases spell hit chance as well.
• Pursuit of Justice (Retribution) is now 3 ranks and increases movement speed by 5/10/15% and also reduces the chance you'll be hit by spells by 1/2/3%.
• Righteous Defense: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its targets is now increased by hit rating.
• Sanctified Crusader (Retribution) renamed Sanctified Seals, which now increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and melee attacks by 1/2/3% and reduces the chance your Seals will be dispelled by 33/66/100%.
• Seal of Vengeance: The bonus damage this ability dealt when the debuff is fully stacked on the target was incorrectly too low. It is now increased.
• Spiritual Attunement: This ability will now gain mana properly from Vampiric Embrace heals.
• Vengeance (Retribution) duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds.
• Vindication (Retribution) frequency and duration increased and now reduces all attributes by 5/10/15%, not just Strength and Agility.
• Weapon Expertise (Protection) renamed Combat Expertise, now increases expertise by 1/2/3/4/5 and total Stamina by 2/4/6/8/10%.

Priests

• Blessed Recovery: This talent can now trigger while the Priest is sitting.
• Blessed Resilience: This talent can now trigger while the Priest is sitting.
• Chastise (NEW) is now available to Dwarf and Draenei priests at level 20. Chastise causes Holy damage and incapacitates the target for 2 seconds.
• Circle of Healing: The base amount of healing from this spell has been reduced along with increasing the bonus it receives from bonus healing effects. Characters with more than 1338 healing will see their Circle of Healing heal for more than previous patches. Characters with less than 1338 healing will see their Circle of Healing heal for less.
• Cure Disease and Abolish Disease range increased to 40 yards.
• Divine Spirit: It is no longer possible for a target to simultaneously have Divine Spirit rank 5 and Prayer of Spirit Rank 1 icons showing at the same time.
• Elune's Grace (Night Elf) effect changed to reduce chance to be hit by melee and ranged attacks by 20% for 15 seconds. There is now only 1 rank of the spell.
• Fear Ward is now available to all priests at level 20. Duration reduced to 3 minutes, cooldown increased to 3 minutes.
• Fixed a bug where the global cooldown was triggered when shifting out of Shadowform.
• Focused Will (NEW Discipline Talent) - After taking a critical hit you gain the Focused Will effect, reducing all damage taken by 1/3/5% and increasing healing effects on you by 4/7/10% for 8 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
• Holy Fire: The tooltip on rank 4 has been adjusted.
• Inner Focus will now properly affect Lightwell Rank 4
• Inner Focus: This effect is now properly consumed by casting Mind Soothe.
• Meditation (Discipline) increased to 10/20/30% mana regeneration.
• Mind Soothe: This spell will now consume Inner Focus.
• Mind Vision: Now consumes the Inner Focus buff when cast.
• Pain Suppression (Discipline Talent) is now usable on friendly targets, instantly reduces the target's threat by 5%, reduces damage taken by 40% and its cooldown has been reduced to 2 minutes.
• Prayer of Healing, Circle of Healing and Holy Nova (healing effect) now gain additional benefit from spell damage and healing bonuses.
• Prayer of Mending: This ability will no longer be overwritten when the new Prayer of Mending would do less healing.
• Power Word: Fortitude, Divine Spirit, Prayer of Fortitude and Prayer of Spirit mana costs reduced.
• Power Word: Shield now gains additional benefit from spell damage and healing bonuses. Base absorb values of ranks 10, 11 and 12 have been reduced.
• Shackle Undead: This spell will now always be removed correctly if multiple Priests overwrite each other's Shackle Undead.
• Shadow Word: Death: Resilience no longer reduces the backlash damage from this spell.
• Starshards (Night Elf) is no longer channeled, costs 0 mana, is now a Magic effect, lasts 15 seconds, causes damage every 3 seconds and has a 30 second cooldown.
• Starshards: The damage per tick of this ability no longer changes during the duration of the effect.
• If you are in Shadowform and try to use an ability that my not be used in Shadowform, you will leave Shadowform and use that ability. This can be disabled with /console autoUnshift 0
• Silent resolve: This talent now benefits the triggered buffs from Blessed Resilience, Blessed Recovery, and Martyrdom.

Rogues

• All poisons will now enchant the weapon for 1 hour, increased from 30 minutes.
• Blade Flurry: This ability now works correctly in all cases with shielded targets.
• Blind is now a physical (no longer a poison) attack. Reagent requirement removed. Now shares the same diminish category as Cyclone and is now diminished in PvE as well as PvP.
• Cheat Death (Subtlety) chance to trigger increased to 33/66/100% and now also causes the rogue to take 90% less damage for 3 seconds when the effect triggers. This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.
• Cold Blood: Fixed an issue where this buff was sometimes getting removed when an attack missed.
• Dirty Deeds now also increases special ability damage against enemies below 35% health.
• Dirty Deeds: This talent will no longer interfere with getting the bonus damage from the Druid ability Mangle on Rupture and Garrote.
• Fleet Footed (Assassination) now increases movement speed by 8/15%.
• Hemorrhage: This ability now does 125% of weapon damage.
• Kick: Interrupting a channeled spell with this ability will now always properly prevent casting spells from the same spell school for 5 sec.
• Precision: This talent now also applies to ranged weapons.
• Remorseless Attacks: This talent can no longer be triggered by the death of a rogue's target dummy or other pet.
• Riposte is now subject to diminishing returns in PvP.
• Rogue's Deadly Throw missile speed increased significantly and snare duration increased slightly.
• Ruthlessness now only affects melee finishing moves. It no longer works with Deadly Throw.
• Sap: Multiple Saps placed by multiple Rogues will now be handled correctly in all cases.
• Shadowstep (Subtlety) can now be used at any time, not only while stealthed. Now increases the damage and reduces the threat caused by the next damaging ability. Cooldown increased to 30 seconds. Range changed to 25 yards.
• If you are in Stealth and try to use an ability that may not be used while stealthed, you will leave stealth and use that ability. This can be disabled with /console autoUnshift 0

Shaman

• Chain Heal: The tooltips on ranks 1-3 have been adjusted.
• Chain Lightning cast time reduced to 2.0 (from 2.5), mana costs reduced, benefit from spell damage reduced appropriately.
• Cure Poison and Cure Disease range increased to 40 yards.
• Earth Shield: This spell will now always be removed correctly if multiple Shaman overwrite each other's Earth Shield.
• Earth Shield: This ability will no longer be overwritten when the new Earth Shield would do less healing.
• Earth Shock: Interrupting a channeled spell with this spell will now always properly prevent casting spells from the same spell school for 2 sec.
• Elemental Focus (Elemental) now reduces the mana cost of the next 2 damage spells by 40%.
• Elemental Mastery: It is no longer possible to get two consecutive guaranteed critical strikes from using this ability.
• Eye of the Storm: This talent can now trigger while the Shaman is sitting.
• Frost Shock is no longer subject to diminishing returns.
• Grounding Totem: This totem is now destroyed upon redirecting any spell to itself.
• Lightning Bolt cast time reduced to 2.5 (from 3.0 where applicable), mana costs reduced, benefit from spell damage reduced appropriately.
• Lightning Mastery (Elemental) cast time reduction reduced to .1/.2/.3/.4/.5 seconds.
• Lightning Overload (Elemental) now has a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to occur and the additional spell causes half damage and no additional threat.
• Mana Spring Totem effect increased.
• Mental Quickness (Enhancement) now also increases spell damage and healing equal to 10/20/30% of your attack power.
• Two-Handed Axes and Two-Handed Maces are now trainable by all Shaman at the appropriate weapon masters. The Enhancement talent has been replaced by Shamanistic Focus.
• Shamanistic Focus (New Enhancement Talent): After landing a melee critical strike, you enter a Focused state. The Focused state reduces the mana cost of your next Shock spell by 60%.
• Shamanistic Rage (Enhancement) now also reduces all damage taken by 30% for the duration.
• Spirit Weapons (Enhancement) threat reduction increased to 30% from 15%.
• Rockbiter Weapon: For ranks 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 the increased damage resulting from this enchantment has been reduced slightly to match the intended numbers given in the tooltip. Ranks 1, 2, 3, and 9 are unchanged.
• Water Shield: This spell no longer costs any mana to cast and its duration has been shortened. At the end of its duration, it now grants mana for any remaining globes. In addition, the mana granted per globe has been substantially increased.
• Windfury Weapon: This enchantment can no longer be triggered while you are disarmed.

Warlock

• Banish can no longer be cast on targets tapped by other players or groups.
• Conflagrate: The Immolate debuff will now always be removed correctly when this spell is cast.
• Drain Life and Siphon Life now reduce the amount healed when the warlock is affected by healing reducing effects (e.g. Mortal Strike, Wounding Poison).
• Hellfire: This spell will no longer cause enemy spells to increase casting time or reduce channel time. It will also no longer prevent flag captures in Battlegrounds.
• Nether Protection (Destruction) now has a new, more distinct visual effect.
• Ritual of Souls now takes significantly less time to cast and complete.
• Seed of Corruption detonation will now obey line of sight.
• Shadow Embrace: This talent's effect can no longer trigger other effects.
• Shadow Ward: This spell now gains additional benefit from spell damage bonuses. Base absorb value of rank 4 has been reduced.
• Soul Siphon (Affliction) now increases damage by 2/4% and no longer affects Drain Mana.
• Soul Siphon (Affliction): If a Warlock already has a particular spell cast on a target, reapplying before its duration ends will no longer grant an additional bonus.
• Unstable Affliction: The silence from this ability is now subject to diminishing returns.

Warrior

• Blood Craze: This talent can now trigger while the Warrior is sitting.
• Challenging Shout: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its targets is now increased by hit rating.
• Charge will work more often when targets are up against unpathable areas like walls and poles.
• Defiance (Protection) now also grants 2/4/6 weapon expertise.
• Devastate (Protection) now combines the effects of Sunder Armor into its effect. It is also now affected by all talents and items that affect Sunder Armor.
• Disarm is now subject to diminishing returns in PvP.
• Enrage: This talent can now trigger while the Warrior is sitting.
• Improved Berserker Stance (Fury) now also reduces all threat caused while in Berserker Stance by 2/4/6/8/10%
• Improved Intercept and Weapon Mastery have swapped locations in the talent trees.
• Intervene will no longer place you in combat.
• Hamstring now has a 10 second duration when used on PvP targets.
• Mace Specialization (Arms) now has a reduced chance to occur but generates 7 rage instead of 6.
• Pummel: Interrupting a channeled spell with this ability will now always properly prevent casting spells from the same spell school for 4 sec.
• Shield Bash: Interrupting a channeled spell with this ability will now always properly prevent casting spells from the same spell school for 6 sec.
• Shield Slam (Protection) now always tries to dispel one Magic effect on the target.
• Sweeping Strikes and Deathwish have swapped locations in the talent trees.
• Sweeping Strikes (Fury) now lasts 10 seconds and affects your next 10 swings.
• Sweeping Strikes: This ability now works correctly in all cases with shielded targets.
• Tactical Mastery: This talent also now grants greatly increased threat from Mortal Strike and Bloodthirst when in Defensive Stance.
• Taunt: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its target is now increased by hit rating.
• Weapon Mastery (Arms) now reduces duration of Disarm effects against you by 25/50% rather than giving you a 50% chance to avoid or full immunity to Disarm effects.
• Whirlwind: This ability now strikes with both weapons when a Warrior is dual-wielding.

Professions

• All primary profession trainers outside of capitals (Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring) have been changed to train up to Artisan level (skill level 300) in their respective professions.
• The capital cities now possess Artisan level trainers for the primary professions they support, and are surrounded by their newly-dubbed Apprentices where applicable. Please visit your local Master trainer when you wish to train.
• Alchemy
• Added a sound for when a cauldron is created.
• Added a new potion to alchemy trainers: Mad Alchemist's Potion. This new potion requires Alchemy to consume.

Blacksmithing

• A new world drop recipe for an Adamantite Weapon Chain has been added. This new weapon chain both reduces disarm duration and increases parry rating.
• Sharpening Stones and Weightstones now last 1 hour.

Cooking

• Daily cooking quests are now available from The Rokk in Shattrath City! In addition to gold, you can receive random cooking reagents and new recipes as a reward for completing these quests.
• Reduced the maximum skill obtainable from recipes between 200 and 300. This does not include Outland recipes.

Enchanting

• Duration of wizard and mana oils created by enchanters has been increased.
• The Surefooted enchantment now requires Fel Iron Rod (was Runed Eternium Rod).
• Added a new enchant shield recipe to trainers that increases resilience.

Engineering

• Cogspinner Gearcutter in Ironforge and Sovik in Orgrimmar now sell the schematic for the Steam Tonk Controller in a limited supply.
• Engineers can now create incredible new flying machines! Find Niobe Whizzlespark in Shadowmoon Valley to learn these fantastic new plans.
• Engineering potion injectors no longer require engineering skill to use.
• Jumper Cables XL is no longer a trinket.
• Materials required to create the Steam Tonk Controller have been reduced. To reflect the reduced requirements, the maximum skill gain has also been reduced somewhat.
• Plans for a new Field Repair Bot are rumored to belong to a select few Gan'arg Analyzers in Blade's Edge Mountains.
• Plans for a new arrow making device can be found from Sunfury Archers.
• The plans for adamantite shells now create an Adamantite Shell Machine. The machine creates 200 high quality bullets at a time, with 5 charges per item.
• The Crashin' Thrashin' Robot is now Bind on Use rather than Bind on Acquire so non-engineers can use them as well.
• The materials required for the Field Repair Bot 74A have been simplified.

Fishing

• Players can now track fishing nodes. This ability is learned from a journal sometimes found in crates obtained through fishing.
• New fish can now be caught in Zul'Aman and Deadwind Pass. Recipes for preparing these new fish are obtained through the daily cooking quests.
• Fishing difficulty reduced for some areas in Nagrand.
• You can now fish in Ironforge again.
• Herbalism
• Picking herbs will no longer cause effects on items to trigger.
• Fel Blossoms are now unbound, but have an additional requirement of 275 herbalism to use.

Jewelcrafting

• A new skyfire meta gem recipe can be obtained from the Coilskar Siren of Shadowmoon Valley. This new meta gem increases critical strike rating and critical strike damage with spells.

Leatherworking

• Stylin' hats no longer require Zhevra leather.
• Greatly increased the radius of the Drums of Battle, Drums of Restoration, Drums of Speed, and Drums of War.
• Increased the range at which you can gain leatherworking skill from crafting drums.
• Removed the casting time from the Drums of Battle, Drums of Restoration, Drums of Speed, and Drums of War.
• Slightly increased the radius of Drums of Panic.
• Reduced the casting time of Drums of Panic and added a global cooldown equal to the casting time.
• Reduced the faction required to obtain Drums of Battle and Drums of Panic.
• Drums of Speed and Drums of Restoration are no longer world drop recipes, and can now be obtained from the Mag'har and Kurenai faction vendors with revered standing.
• Drums can now be used while shapeshifted.
• A new recipe is available from Grand Master leatherworking trainers to create glove reinforcements, providing a substantial armor bonus. Reinforcements are a permanent enchantment and cannot be placed with other permanent enchantments.
• New recipes are available from Grand Master leatherworking trainers to make 20 slot quivers and ammo pouches.
• New recipes are available from the Honor Hold, Thrallmar, and Lower City quartermasters to create 24 slot quivers and ammo pouches.
• A new recipe is available from Grand Master leatherworking trainers to make a 20 slot bag to hold leatherworking supplies.
• The ogres in the barrier hills are rumored to have a pattern for a 24 slot bag to hold leatherworking supplies.

Mining

• Mining will no longer cause effects on items to trigger.

Items

• All old world dungeon bosses have had their loot revisited. Players will now find that the loot dropped inside instances will be of Superior (blue) quality.
• Arena Relics: New relics have been added to support all talent trees for relic users. In addition, most of the arena-system relics have been renamed so there is a more consistent naming convention.
• Arakkoa Feather: This item can now be sold to a vendor.
• Ashtongue Talisman of Lethality: This item will no longer trigger when the victim of your finishing move is immune to that attack.
• Ashtongue Talisman of Vision: The mana granted by this trinket has been increased.
• Ashtongue Talisman of Vision: This item will no longer receive multiple chances to trigger per cast of Stormstrike.
• Ashtongue Talisman of Zeal: The damage over time affect from judgments has been adjusted so that it will work properly. It now has a shorter duration, and is not refreshed by melee attacks.
• Ashtongue Talisman of Zeal: The damage over time effect from this trinket is no longer refreshed by autoattacks and does not charge mana.
• Atiesh: This item can no longer open portals in battlegrounds.
• Band of the Eternal Restorer: As this item now provides some bonus spell damage, spell damage effects can trigger it. In addition, healing over time effects can now trigger it when they could not before.
• Band of Eternity will now make the correct sound when moved in a player's inventory.
• Black Bow of the Betrayer: The triggered effect from this item will no longer use up charges of Misdirection. In addition, the triggered effect will no longer break crowd control effects.
• Bloodsea Brigand's Vest will now make the correct sound when moved in a player's inventory.
• Boundless Agony can now be disenchanted.
• Cataclysm Raiment: The bonuses on this set have been adjusted.
• Cooldown removed from Noggenfogger Elixirs. The shrink effect will no longer stack with other shrink effects.
• Cowl of Benevolence will now make the correct sound when moved in a player's inventory.
• Crystalforge Raiment: The bonuses on this set have been adjusted.
• Darkmoon Card: Vengeance: This item will no longer trigger from environmental damage.
• Dropped items that were rings/trinkets/one handed weapons that were previously unique are now unique-equipped. That means that you can have more than one of those items, but you can only have a single one of them equipped.
• Enriched Terocone Juice: This item now properly provides mana regeneration no matter how it is used.
• Essence of Death now drops from level 57-60 non-elite undead in the Eastern Plaguelands.
• Eye of the Dead: As this item now provides some bonus spell damage, spell damage effects can now consume its charges.
• Felsteel Chests: The loot from these chests has been improved.
• The Felsworn Gas Mask will now work when you put it on while mounted.
• Free Action Potion: The buff from this potion can no longer be dispelled or taken via Spellsteal.
• Gladiator's armor pieces of like nature from various seasons will now all meet the requirements for their shared set bonus. This means if you are using 2 pieces of Season 1 gear and 2 pieces of Season 2 gear of the same design you will now have your 4 piece set bonus.
• Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets: The bonus damage on these gloves has been increased from 4% to 5%.
• Grand Marshal's Dragonhide Helm: The intellect on this item was increased slightly to match the equivalent Horde-only item.
• Hallowed Wands: These items no longer work on Druids who are shapeshifted.
• Hallowed Wands: These wands no longer function in the Old Hillsbrad Caverns of Time event.
• Hallow's End Pumpkin Treats: The larger and oranger buff no longer causes Battle Elixirs to be removed and can stack with them.
• Hand of Antu'sul: The effect that triggers from this item will no longer cause a cooldown on Warrior's Thunderclap ability.
• Libram of Saints Departed: This relic now functions properly again.
• Lightfathom Scepter will now make the correct sound when moved in a player's inventory.
• Lightning Capacitor: This item now has a 2.5 second cooldown on acquiring Electrical Charges.
• Lockboxes will now display the numerical lockpicking skill required to open them.
• Low Level Cloth Items: All agility and strength on low-level cloth items has been replaced with other stats, usually bonus spell damage, but also sometimes other stats beneficial to mana users.
• Merciless Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets: The bonus damage on these gloves has been increased from 4% to 5%.
• Mr. Pinchy: This item no longer destroys itself when its charges run out. This resolves some bugs that occurred when its final charge was used.
• Mystical Skyfire Diamond: A cooldown has been added to this item's effect, but the chance for it to trigger has been increased.
• Noggenfogger Elixir: Consuming this potion now has a shared 3 second cooldown with other types of non-combat potions.
• Ogri'la Faction Vendor: This vendor now sells potions useable anywhere for a large number of Apexis Shards.
• Ogri'la Reputation Rewards: All epic and superior quality items are now disenchantable.
• Overseer Disguise: It is no longer possible via use of this item to be on a mount while in Moonkin Form or Tree of Life Form.
• Pendant of the Violet Eye: This trinket will no longer fire multiple times from a single casting of some Paladin spells.
• PvP Trinkets: Insignia of the Alliance, Insignia of the Horde, Medallion of the Alliance, and Medallion of the Horde now clear the debuff from Judgement of Justice.
• Shadowmoon Grunts will no longer drop Black Temple quality loot.
• Shiffar's Nexus Horn: Many spells and abilities can now trigger this item that were unable to before.
• Skyshatter Raiment: The four piece bonus is now being applied correctly and the two piece bonus will affect the correct spells.
• Tidefury Raiment: The additional mana granted to Water Shield by this set has been increased.
• Tome of Fiery Redemption: This item no longer can be triggered by casting blessings.
• Totem of the Thunderhead: The additional mana granted to Water Shield by this totem has been increased.
• Unstable Flask of the Sorcerer: This flask will now provide the bonus to healing specified in its tooltip.
• Vambraces of Ending will now make the correct sound when moved in a player's inventory.

Dungeons and Raids

• Players that complete the attunement quests for Tempest Keep and Coilfang Resevoir may now choose to display a new title, "'character name' Champion of the Naaru."
• The Requirement for Heroic Keys has been lowered to Honored.
• Elite mobs outside of pre-Burning Crusade dungeons have been changed to non-elite.
• The level ranges of pre-Burning Crusade dungeons have been adjusted to a narrower range.
• Meeting stone level requirements, the Looking for Group system, and quests have been adjusted to match the new dungeon level ranges.

Auchenai Crypts

• Wandering Ghosts are now neutral to players
• Summoned Ghosts now take longer to summon in.

Auchindoun: Sethekk Halls

• Mobs inside Sethekk Halls will now continue to award Lower City reputation into Exalted.
• The Shadow Labyrinth Key can now be looted from the Talon King's Coffer next to Talon King Ikiss in the Sethekk Halls.

Auchindoun: Shadow Labyrinth

• Blackheart the Inciter: This stun associated with this creature's charge ability will now properly be considered a stun for talents, abilities, and items that interact with stuns.

Black Temple

• High Nethermancer Zerevor's Blizzard and Flamestrike will now last their full duration.

Caverns of Time: Battle of Mount Hyjal

• Increased the reputation awarded for killing Archimonde in Hyjal Summit.

Hellfire Citadel: Hellfire Ramparts

• The Reinforced Fel Iron Chest can now only be looted by players who are present during some portion of a successful attempt of the Vazruden and Nazan encounter. In addition, on Heroic difficulty the chest now contains a Badge of Justice for each player present.

Hellfire Citadel: Magtheridon's Lair

• Mind Exhaustion is not applied until Magtheridon is successfully banished.

Karazhan

• The number of creatures that must be killed in the Karazhan Servants Quarters area before a miniboss spawns has been reduced.
• Phase hounds in Karazhan will now phase out less frequently.
• Coldmist Widows no longer wipe threat when casting Poison Bolt volley.
• Karazhan Chess Event: The Dust Covered Chest can now only be looted by players who are nearby when the event is completed successfully. In addition, the chest now contains 2 Badges of Justice for each player present.
• Wrath of the Titans will no longer cause Shackle Undead to break.

Tempest Keep

• The Blood Elves that patrol the Tempest Bridge no longer patrol directly into Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider's chamber.
• The use of Ice Block, Divine Shield, Cloak of Shadows, and other similar spells and abilities will no longer prematurely detonate High Astromancer Solarian's Wrath of the Astromancer spell.

Kael'thas

• All four advisors have had their health reduced by 10%.
• All of the summoned weapons have had their health reduced by 10%.

Al'ar

• The ability "Meteor" has been renamed to "Dive Bomb".

Mechanar

• Nethermancer Sepethrea's Frost Attack now reduces movement speed by 25% rather than 50%.
• The Cache of the Legion can now only be looted by players who are present during some portion of a successful attempt of the Gatewatcher Gyro-Kill and Gatewatcher Iron-Hand encounters. In addition, on Heroic difficulty Gatewatcher Gyro-Kill and Gatewatcher Iron-Hand no longer drop Badges of Justice. Instead, the Cache of the Legion contains a Badge of Justice for each player present.

Quests

• New random Daily Dungeon quests have been added for both the heroic and non-heroic five-person Outland dungeons, as well as for the 5-person Caverns of Time instances. Each day both a single heroic and a single non-heroic dungeon are randomly targeted by these quests. The Consortium quest givers can be located in Shattrath's Lower City
• Quest givers who have available daily quests will have a blue exclamation point instead of a yellow one.
• Aether rays can now be wrangled earlier.
• Dustwallow Marsh: Many new quests have been added to the zone. The Steamwheedle Cartel have just completed building the new town of Mudsprocket in south west Dustwallow Marsh.
• 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.
• Nutral, the flight master in Shattrath City, now has a quest for characters who are level 70 and do not yet have a riding skill of 225. The quest will direct a character to visit the appropriate riding instructor in Shadowmoon Valley so that the player will know where they can purchase the skill necessary to use a flying mount.
• The icon for the Charged Crystal Focus has been changed.
• The range of the Battery Recharging Blaster used in the quest, "Recharging the Batteries" has been increased.
• The Repolarized Magneto Sphere now only functions within the Blade's Edge Mountains.
• Upon completion of the Ghostlands quest, "A Little Dash of Seasoning", if a character still has the Apothecary's Poison; it will be removed from their inventory.

User Interface

• The Auction House UI has been much improved. The useless categories have been removed (Plate-Cloak for instance) and a number of additional sub categories have been added. In addition, many items have had their category changed so that they make more sense.
• The Auction house time periods have been changed. Now items can be put up for sale for 12, 24, or 48 hours. The option to put up items for 8 hours has been removed.
• Sorting of auction house searches has been simplified so you can only sort by one column, and automatic sub-sorts have been created for those columns to be as useful as possible. In addition, sorting is now done on the server so as you page thru results, items will appear to be sorted across the entire results instead of just the page you're looking at.
• The Battle Map has been renamed to the Zone Map and can be turned on for any zone rather than just PvP objective zones. There is now a drop down in the world map screen that allows you to choose when the zone map should display.
• Items that have cooldowns will now display the base cooldown time in the item tooltip.
• All players now have a tracking bubble on their minimap. From that menu you can select a specific type of vendor or npc to look for or you can select a specific tracking type if your character has tracking. Yes this means that hunters can take all of those tracking buttons off of their action bars.
• Game objects that you can interact with will now sparkle and display their name over the object to make them more obvious.
• Questgiving objects will now display an exclamation point above them when they have a quest for you. Quest completion objects will display a question mark.
• Items with Metagems in them will now display the gems required to activate the metagem and whether those requirements have been met on the item tooltip.
• When you take damage and have a full screen UI up, the edges of the screen will flash red so you know you are under attack.
• Inspect distance has been increased to 30 yards.
• When you inspect another player, you can now see their talent choices as well as their equipment.
• There are now options for displaying health and mana values on your health/mana bars for you/your party/your target and to display that information either as percentages or as numbers.
• When you are possessing a target (Priest Mind Control, Eyes of the Beast, using a Steam Tonk, etc), you now get their action bar as your primary action bar rather than having a mini action bar above your normal action bar.
• The Mind Control and Possession action bar has been revamped.
• You can now send up to 12 items in a single mail message.
• When you have an outgoing mail open, you can right-click on items to attach them to that outgoing mail.
• When you have a trade window open, you can right-click an item to move it to the trade window.
• When you have unopened mail, you can mouse over the recent mail icon and get the name of the people who most recently sent you the mail.
• When you speak with an NPC with a single function (Banker, Flight Master, Etc) and who has no other gossip options or quests you will go straight to their functional pane rather than to the gossip pane. Most importantly this means that clicking on a flight master will bring up the flight path map directly rather than the gossip pane with the option to bring up the flight path map.
• Quests that are much below your level will now have the tag (Low Level) in the gossip pane attached to the quest. This will make it easier to tell which quest to accept when a quest giver has both low and high level quests.
• You can now set the loot threshold (/threshold) with a word as well as the loot threshold number for an instance-
• /threshold Epic- also sets the party loot threshold to Epic items or better quality
• /threshold Rare-sets the party loot threshold to Rare items or better quality
• Corpses that belong to someone in your party, but that you cannot loot will say in the corpse mouseover who has loot rights on that corpse. This will help skinners who want to know who to talk to in order to skin their corpse, as well as master looters when special loot drops on a normal monster. Everyone will then see that there is a monster that the master looter has loot rights on.
• When an item drops that you cannot loot due to uniqueness or other factor, you will get a chat message letting you know what the item was that you passed rolling on.
• If a player is looting a corpse and there are one or more items on it that player cannot loot, the player will still be able to see those items (although not able to loot them). This only is for green or better quality items. The cases this should affect are for the profession recipes that only a player of that profession can loot or when master looter is on and there is a threshold or better item on the corpse.
• The raid panes that have been pulled out into the gamefield should save their option settings between sessions now.
• When raid bosses send an important message to the center of your screen it will be larger and have an effect that makes it more noticeable.
• The raid warning command now appears in a larger font in the center screen and grows and shrinks slightly when it appears to make it more noticeable.
• NPC's with level appropriate quests will now always appear on your minimap as yellow exclamation points. NPC's that have quests that you have completed will now display as yellow question marks instead of yellow dots. In addition flight masters that you have not yet gotten the flight point for will display on the minimap as a green exclamation point.
• Npc's will display an icon on mouseover that gives a more specific indicator of their function rather than just a gossip bubble. Questgivers will now show an exclamation mark as their in game mouseover. Innkeepers will show a hearthstone as their in game mouseover and so on.
• When an Addon attempts to perform an action that is prohibited in combat, you will get a chat message "Interface action failed because of an AddOn". This only occurs once per login.
• Many interface elements now display players in their class color so you can easily recognize what class a player is. Interface elements affected by this are LFG, Guild, and Who.
• You can now pull the list of players in a channel out of the Chat Channel windows and into the gamefield by clicking and dragging the channel name onto the gamefield. This list will show all the players in the channel sorted by voice chat status.
• Voice chat will now display the nameplate for who is talking when you are in a custom channel. Currently it only displays the nameplate when you are in a party/raid.
• Added a Use Hardware option. This should only be used by advanced users with specific hardware configurations, as it may significantly alter your sound performance.
• When multiple people are talking in a voice chat session, it will show the names of up to four people who are talking at the same time.
• The value of the TargetNearestDistance setting is validated at load time.
• If a non-standard refresh rate is selected in the video options, it will now be saved.
• The Spell Detail slider setting has been reset to the default setting. Prior to 2.3 the default for all systems was the maximum setting which was not appropriate for all hardware.
• Many On Use items now display the cooldown in the item tooltip.
• The tooltip for Block on the character sheet now displays the amount of damage reduced by a successful block.
• New macro commands: /targetlastenemy, /targetlastfriend
• New macro command to target by entire name: /targetexact
• If you get a message "Interface action failed because of an AddOn", this means that an AddOn interfered with the Blizzard UI in some way. To diagnose this, enter the following into chat "/console taintLog 1" and restart the game and try to reproduce it. If you reproduce it, you can quit the game and search through the file Logs\taint.log for the word "blocked" and mail the log to the author of the AddOn listed there. Once you have done this you can turn off logging by entering the following into chat "/console taintLog 0"
• For more details on UI macro and scripting changes, see the UI & Macro forum.

World Environment

• Creature AI has been changed to no longer prioritize attacking unfeared targets over feared targets.
• Gas clouds in Nagrand now produce motes of air.
• Gas clouds in Zangarmarsh now produce motes of water instead of motes of life.
• The gas clouds in Netherstorm are now always visible. Abilities on goggles that previously allowed the player to detect these invisible gas clouds will now show all gas clouds on their minimap instead. This will stack with other tracking types.
• Stranglethorn Vale
• Saltscale Tide-Lords no longer have frost nova
• The fear on Mosh'ogg Lords is reduced
• Lowered the fireball damage of Defias Pillagers
• Increased the cooldowns on the heals of Kurzen Medicine Men
• The standard Disarm ability that many creatures use now has a duration of 5 seconds instead of 6 seconds.
• Sonic Burst now silences for 6 seconds instead of 10.

Bug Fixes

• An issue with spawn rates in Forge Camp: Terror and Forge Camp: Wrath has been fixed.
• Fixed the position of one of the Box of Mushrooms objects at Ango'rosh Stronghold for the quest, "Stealing Back the Mushrooms".
• Fixed the position of a mineral node in the Blade's Edge Mountains so that it is no longer floating in the air.
• Fixed a problem with the directions in the quest, "The Ultimate Bloodsport".
• Fixed a bug in the pet sheet stamina mouseover tooltip that showed an incorrect health increase value.
• Fixed an issue with aura stacking and debuff cooldowns when reapplying a debuff after being charmed.
• Reverse cooldowns are correctly refreshed when a buff is reapplied by another player.

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WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Blizzard likes to talk about their "iterative" process, meaning they make many small improvements over time to produce the best possible result. In the case of the lackluster patch 2.2, players were disappointed that more was not done. With the game's subscriptions still skyrocketing, Blizzard felt pressure to deliver a major dose of new content and improvements.

In November 2007, Blizzard answered the bell and unleashed an iteration that reshaped the game from top to bottom. Players of every level experienced sweeping changes to their play experience -- many of which are so integral now that it's hard to believe we played without them for so long. If you ask players about patch 2.3, they'll call it the "ZA patch." Zul'Aman was a great raid, but 2.3 offered so much more than that.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Vanilla WoW is properly considered the golden age of this beloved MMO. The evolutionary ideas behind the game were exciting, the art style was fresh, and the world was full of mysteries. Some yearn for a return to that time. But many forget that classes at launch suffered from some truly aggravating designs. Last time on Archivist, we looked at priest racials, hunter mana, warlock shard farming, and shaman weapon skill resets. This week, we review the most aggravating aspects of warriors, mages, druids, rogues, and paladins.

Warriors: The leather conundrum

Let's be fair: warriors, for the most part, had it pretty good in vanilla. Back then, they were the only class that could viably tank and their DPS was better than most hybrids. Rage had its share of problems early on, it's true, but the mechanic worked -- warriors just needed more of it. Stance dancing was annoying to some but the mark of a pro to others. Warriors also had a crippling bug at launch that would register all enemy dodges and parries as misses, preventing skills like Overpower from ever proc'ing. The bug made early leveling painful, but it was solved a few months after launch.

The biggest aggravation for warriors throughout vanilla -- and beyond -- was leather.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

The launch of WoW was a magical time -- everyone who played the game back then would agree. The concept of questing rather than grinding was fresh and exciting. The world felt immense, full of secrets and adventures.

Classes, on the other hand, were very raw compared to today. While many players yearn to play on vanilla-only servers, I doubt that most of those players would prefer their class to return to its vanilla version. Though some were better than others, every class had its problems. In this column, I'd like to highlight the biggest aggravation, as I see it, with each of the original eight classes -- and how Blizzard has since fixed every one of those issues.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Mists of Pandaria has many great story lines: the emergence of the Sha, the Mantid war, the history of the Mogu, the Thunder King and the Zandarlari, etc. The overarching story of this expansion has been the ongoing aggression between the Alliance and the Horde, and the central figure of that conflict is Garrosh.

Patch 5.3 will bring us the beginning of the Horde's revolt against its current warchief, and presumably we will depose him with extreme prejudice in 5.4.

Garrosh's story did not begin in Mists, however, or even in Wrath of the Lich King when he led the Horde's assault on Northrend. Way back in The Burning Crusade, an outstanding quest line called Hero of the Mag'har introduced us to a very different Garrosh: a troubled young orc, helpless, hopeless, wishing for death.

If you've only ever played as Alliance, you never got to experience this chain of quests and its many great moments. For Horde players, it's well worth revisiting.

With a community of millions around the world, Blizzard has no easy job trying to keep botters, gold sellers, cheaters, and other hooligans in check. Blizzard has enacted many rounds of mass bannings over bots and hacks. As Archivist noted last summer, several guilds have been banned or suspended for abusing exploits in raids. Among the countless players and guilds who have earned Blizzard's ire over the years, a few stand out as worthy of revisiting. Here are their stories.

Still just roleplaying?

In an online environment owned and operated by a company, "freedom of speech" does not extend quite as far as it otherwise might. That, at least, is what members of Abhorrent Taboo found out in the fall of 2007. The Horde-side Ravenholdt roleplaying guild boldly proclaimed their identity as an "extreme erotic RP guild."

The guild's welcome message laid out their philosophy:

Role-playing is legal. Even if you are role-playing something that would be considered deplorable and highly illegal IRL, it's still just role-playing and isn't subject to any form of disciplinary action. Negative publicity is still publicity. Make a Digg or website about how sick we are. Report us to PervertedJustice. All it does is bring in more members. In fact, the Digg the guy on Ravenholdt made about us was so effective, several people signed up for WoW just to be in our guild. The bottom line is: We're allowed to do what we do on any server we please and no one can do anything about it.

As it turned out, that last sentence was not 100% accurate.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

It all began in 2003, when Blizzard announced pandaren as a playable race -- for Warcraft III. This never happened, of course. The announcement was an April Fool's joke. But you know that someone at Blizzard back then really wanted to play as a panda. Nine years later, with the Mists of Pandaria expansion, we can all be pandaren now.

When Mists was first revealed, the outcry from some in the community was fierce. Much of it centered around how "pandaren were just an April Fool's joke." Most of us, I would hazard to guess, have been won over by them in this expansion. With their incredibly deep history, love of life/beer, and gorgeous architecture, not to mention the amazing voice acting and animations that bring them to life, the pandaren have been a bigger hit for WoW than many ever imagined they could be.

In 2004, a playable goblin tinker for Warcraft III was another April Fool's joke. An overwhelmingly enthused response for playable tinkers led to Blizzard adding them to the game.

Given the origins of the pandaren and goblin tinkers, it's safe to say that any April Fool's joke that Blizzard has done over the years could one day spawn a tangible addition to the game, or perhaps a spinoff under the WoW brand. Let's look back at Blizzard's WoW-related April Fool's jokes to see which ones could be the next to become real -- and which ones already have.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Next year is WoW's tenth anniversary. It's hard to believe, but it's true! If the typical timeline holds, the next expansion will release a few months prior to that anniversary. You have to believe Blizzard wants to pull out all the stops for this milestone.

What better way to celebrate ten years of WoW than by crafting scenarios to relive the best moments? It's possible that Blizzard is planning a time-based expansion centered around the Bronze Dragonflight. The Keepers of Time could send us on missions, much like the Caverns of Time dungeons of expansions past. Only instead of lore moments from the distant past, they could be moments from WoW's own history, including events driven by the community and removed content that players may not have been able to experience.

Here are 11 examples that I would love to see.

1. The Blood Plague
What: The Alliance seizes a rare opportunity
Where: Original Orgrimmar
When: Patch 1.7

As WoW Archivist previously covered, the Corrupted Blood plague began when players used "creative game mechanics" to export a boss ability into the general population. The unstoppable and highly contagious plague debuff devastated cities around the world as thousands of players and NPCs alike succumbed to it. The resulting chaos became an excellent model for how real-world diseases could spread.

This scenario would take place at the height of the plague and have different versions for Alliance and Horde. Alliance players would accompany NPCs on a strike into Orgrimmar. They would take advantage of the deadly outbreak to make an attempt on Thrall's life. Horde players would defend the city and their Warchief while trying to contain the plague.

Why Orgrimmar? Due to the time frame, Blizzard could reintroduce the original version of the city.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

New content comes in patches. That's how it has always worked in WoW. Some patches with a multiple decimals, like patch 1.8.2, are just for bug fixes, emergency boss tuning, and the like. They don't really count (although to be fair, some have given us small amounts of new stuff, such as Onyxia's return in patch 3.2.2). A patch with two numbers, like patch 5.2 hitting very soon, is supposed to have shiny new pixels for all of us to enjoy.

Patch 2.2, released in September 2007, didn't have any. It was the only time in WoW's history that a major patch did not introduce any new content to the game world. No raids. No dungeons. No battlegrounds or arenas. No daily quests. Not even new items.

Instead, patch 2.2 gave us something we didn't particularly want. Something players immediately hated and decried as useless. Something we have never embraced, though most of us haven't thought about it in a long, long time. Most players probably don't even know it exists.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

World of Warcraft is without a doubt a massive cultural phenomenon unlike any other online game to date. It has given us countless hours of entertainment, introduced friends and couples to one another, and touched the lives of millions. For some, the game has made a bad situation better, or even -- in at least one case -- possibly saved their lives. For others, it has cost them everything.

Fair warning: This column describes some intense and tragic events.

Hans and the moose

In 2007, twelve-year-old Hans Jørgen Olsen of Norway and his sister (ten) decided to take a shortcut through a garden on their way to school. The choice would prove fateful. A moose had wandered into the area and promptly took a dislike to the children.

"It ran straight towards us when it saw us," Hans told Norwegian news station Nettavisen. "I screamed at it to scare the moose, but I soon realized that it was not going to stop. Then I turned and ran and ran until I couldn't run faster."

The charging moose caught up to Hans and slammed into him. His backpack cushioned the blow, but the impact knocked Hans to the ground.

Unsatisfied, the moose remained. "We held eye contact for a while," Hans said, "and then it suddenly struck me."

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

In the original version of Un'goro Crater, players with a penchant for exploration and a keen eye could find a mysterious quest near a small pond. The first players to find it had no idea that they were embarking on one of vanilla's most epic and celebrated quest lines, and one of Blizzard's most elaborate easter eggs. The chain was a tribute to many of the key moments and tropes in the beloved Legend of Zelda series. It took you up and down Kalimdor multiple times to solve puzzles, forge magical weapons, face deadly enemies, and ultimately find the legendary Triforce Golden Flame.

Sadly, the Cataclysm erased the Linken quest line and it can no longer be completed. Let's relive the glory that was.

Wreck it, raft

Finding this quest early in vanilla was not simple. No quest took you to this area. No floating exclamation point marked it back then, either. To begin the quest line, you had to spot a clickable object called A Wrecked Raft.

The raft gave you the quest It's a Secret to Everybody. The quest name referenced the original Legend of Zelda game. An enemy moblin would sometimes offer you rupees, presumably in exchange for keeping their help a secret (to everybody).

Once you found the hidden quest from the raft, you were faced with another mystery. The quest text read,

A destroyed raft rests along the shoreline. Considering this is only a small pond, it is not clear as to how it ended up here, although looking at the trees tells you that the water level may not be constant.

Perhaps a little exploration in the area might uncover more clues...

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Last week, Archivist celebrated the Ulduar raid, including Thorim's famous IN THE MOUNTAINS speech -- one of Wrath's most memorable memes. In its eight years, World of Warcraft and its players have spawned dozens of memes. Today, Archivist remembers some of the best and most enduring. If you've ever wondered where some of these memes come from, read on!

The earliest memes

WoW memes began almost instantly after the game's release. One of the first was Mankrik's wife. For an early Horde quest in the Barrens, the orc Mankrik sent you to locate her. His directions were rather vague, so many players had trouble locating her. It didn't help that she wasn't an upright and alive NPC, but rather a dead body laying on the ground -- killed by marauding quilboars.

Confused players asked where they could find her in the zone's chat. Many, many players. Because the massive zone spanned 15 levels, everyone leveling through it saw that same question asked over and over again. It got to the point where people would ask just to troll the chat channel.

The quest is no longer in the game, but players can now visit her grave near Grol'dom Farm.

Trolling Barrens chat became something of a hobby for early players. Many in the Horde didn't know about the other leveling zones across the ocean. Some who did ran up against the ongoing Tarren Mill/Southshore lagfest wars and took the first boat back to Kalimdor. The combination of a captive audience and a high saturation of new players made the Barrens the perfect zone to troll. In time, Barrens chat became its own meme, even inspiring T shirts.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

With patch 5.2 on the PTR, everyone is talking about Mists' next tier of raiding content. If the buzz seems more intense than usual, it might be because of the hints that Ghostcrawler and others at Blizzard have dropped comparing the Throne of Thunder to Wrath's Ulduar raid.

Perhaps it's too soon to revisit Ulduar in an Archivist column. After all, the raid went live less than four years ago. I don't care. I want to talk about how amazing this place was, how Blizzard still managed to screw up such a good thing, and why we should all be excited for an Ulduar-style raid in 5.2.

Put the rose-colored glasses away here, folks. You don't need them -- Ulduar really was that fantastic.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

With only five shopping days left until the Feast of Winter Veil, it is officially holiday crunch time. To inspire you in your shopping goals or maybe point out the perfect gift for that special raider in your life, WoW Archivist presents the zaniest WoW-themed real-world merchandise of all time.

Strange swag

Every BlizzCon has its swag bag, but 2008's edition, celebrating the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, has to be the zaniest ever. In addition to Diablo III "sinamints," a can of "zerg creep" goop, and a pandaren beer cozy, the bag included an inflatable Frostmourne or an inflatable "Bubble Hearth Beach Ball." The latter is a Divinely Shielded dwarf using an uninterruptable hearthstone -- in beach ball form.

The bag also included a package of tissues labeled "QQ noob," masks of Azeroth's races (reminiscent of the Hallow's End in-game versions), and a Frostmourne keychain. The keychain is notable for its several outward-facing spikes. It takes falling on your keys to a whole new level of pain. The full-size Frostmourne replica is more dangerous, but you're also not carrying it around in your pocket mere centimeters from your genitals.

Or are you?

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Keys in WoW have come in many forms. Some hang around our neck. Some hide in belts. Others open aircraft hangars or other, very special places. Some let us pretend to be rogues. Some never made it to the live game. Some we eat or play with. Some help us get the mail or reach new heights. We find some in unexpected places. A few are just trash.

This column is not about those keys. This is about the keys that used to be a Big Deal. The keys that people went to extraordinary lengths to obtain. The keys that put you on everyone's friends list. The keys to content.

Literal gates

Today, content is rarely locked. Players take it for granted that when a new dungeon or raid goes live, they will have immediate access. For the first half of WoW's history, however, this was not the case at all.

Vanilla WoW locked away virtually all of its end-game content. Raids required attunement, which means that every single person in your raid had to complete a certain quest line.

Keys worked differently. Content that required a key wasn't gated according to some arbitrary release schedule, such as the Heart of Fear -- but by actual gates.