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Patch 5.3 has been active on live servers for
a little over a week now and if you are anything like me, you have spent
that week and a few days scrambling frantically through the game
determined to try everything new. Yes, I am aware I might have a problem.
I tend to flit from place to place, new feature to new feature like some
crazed hummingbird, it is just the way I work. Thanks to my flitting and
scrambling skills I have had a good chance to sample most of what Patch
5.3 has to offer. Below you will find my favorite features and additions
from this new patch. Check it out and see if they match up with your own!

Top 5 New Features and Changes in Patch 5.3

Loot Specialization

Let me say that I know a lot of
players who constantly use more than one spec and do it well. With so many
classes that can choose to dual specialization, it seemed rather unfair
that when on a run they couldn't collect gear for it. However, collecting
for both sets of gear at the same time was also unfair to the other
players in the party. Loot specialization solves this conundrum by
allowing players with multiple specs to choose which spec they would like
to collect gear for. This tool is especially useful for players who level
as a DPS class, but plan on tanking or healing when they hit max level.
Want to know more about how loot specialization works in Patch 5.3? Check
out this handy article titled Loot
Specialization in Patch 5.3
by Messiah.

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Reduced Experience Requirements

Back in the day I was furious when they
lowered the experience requirements. Purely outraged. Fast forward to
several years later, my play became more casual and I had somehow amassed
a huge number of alts that needed leveled. So even with Mists of Pandaria
being so fresh, I happily embrace any and all changes that mean my (and
your) leveling process takes a little less time. Some may claim that this
means players won't get to experience all the zones of Pandaria. However,
this is true even BEFORE the change. I easily reached max level without
questing through all the zones and you know what? Even when I hit 90 I
still continued questing to see how the storyline played out and to
collect the rewards along the way of course.

Help Menu Upgraded

One of World of Warcraft's major problems is
attracting and keeping new players. With such an old community new players
tend to feel like the odd man out and likely more than a little
intimidated. This only amplifies when the new player asks for help as they
will likely be scorned and laughed at by the majority of the community. In
Patch 5.3, finding the help they need has become a bit easier. The help
menu has undergone a major upgrade and now links directly to Blizzard's
support site, without ever leaving the game. Looking much like a browser,
the new help menu is easy to use and will be sure to get players old and
new out of a pinch. This new browser like design may also eventually
(hopefully) branch out into a real browser where we can access other World
of Warcraft oriented websites.

alt="Patch 5.3 Help Menu System" />

Pet Battle Accuracy and Damage

Pet Battles are a breath of fresh air in World
of Warcraft and a great way for me to show off the mad skills of my pets.
However, until Patch 5.3 sometimes the battles would take frustrating
turns. The randomness of the battle would be just...a little too random.
While I haven’t spent a ton of time testing out Pet Battles in Patch 5.3,
things do seem to have normalized overall. That is to say that a hit that
dealt 10 damage in one battle, won't deal 100 in the next. This makes Pet
Battles more fun, a bit more predictable without being overly so, and lets
us know that Blizzard is indeed listening.

Deepwind Gorge

I am terrible at PvP. Horrible. Rotten.
Hopeless, even,. If PvP was a kick ball team, I would be the last kid
picked for the team without a doubt. Despite my failure at the PvP life, I
still like to try it out from time to time, just to see if I've improved.
Like all things in WoW, eventually, doing the same thing over and over
again gets a little bit boring. At one point I could have run Warsong
Gulch with my eyes closed. So it is refreshing to see some new PvP content
hit servers. A fresh new battleground is just what World of Warcraft
needed, even for crappy PvPers like me. Want more information on this new
battleground? Check out our preview
of
Deepwind Gorge.


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That concludes our list of the top 5 new
features and changes of Patch 5.3. What are your favorite new features and
changes of Patch 5.3? What would would like to see in future patches?
Share your thoughts with us by using the comments section below!


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Amunet, also fondly known as Memtron, is an organic life form best known for its ongoing obsession with Blizzard Entertainment's numerous properties. To that end, Amu has authored hundreds (thousands?) of the most popular World of Warcraft guides, editorials, and Top 10 lists on the planet. When not gaming and writing, Amu is busy chasing after her three children in a perpetual loop of ongoing disaster.

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