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It seems like just yesterday
that Patch 4.1.0 left the warm fuzzy confines of the PTR and merged
onto live servers everywhere. And in fact it almost was just yesterday.
Only a little more than a month ago Blizzard unleashed style="font-style: italic;">Patch 4.1: Rise of the
Zandalari, and reintroduced
the now revamped Troll based instances of Zul’Aman and
Zul’Gurub. Yet despite it’s recent release, Patch
4.1 is already old news, with Patch 4.2 already in the works on the PTR.

What reason Blizzard has for
pushing this patch so soon is
unknown. Perhaps they are trying to keep
content fresh to keep from losing more of their player base to other
games, or maybe they are just celebrating
surviving the almost
rapture(hallelujah!). But no matter the reason, 4.2 is coming, and
coming soon, and with it will be some big changes. Below you can find
some of the most significant changes that will be implemented into the
game in this patch:

Thrall the Not So Friendly
Ghost? 

Patch 4.2 will further explore
the story of Thrall who apparently
has finally (thanks to the millions
of players who steadfastly put the
World Pillar back together again)
has been allowed to put his arms down for a rest. Sadly though,
Thrall’s break is short lived and he is called into action
again to assist at the World Tree. Here rumor has it Thrall meets his
demise and is doomed to roam the Elemental Planes for what might be
eternity. What a sad day indeed
for Azeroth, and the Horde which is now
doomed to have Garrosh as Warchief, at least until one of the other
Horde leaders (anyone want to take bets on which one?) puts a knife
into his back.

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Will
Thrall meet his maker in Patch 4.2?

New Daily Quests 

All new daily quests can be
found in Hyjal, where players will assist in pushing back the forces of
Ragnaros in order to form a base in the Firelands. Before players can
participate in these quests however, they must have completed up to and
including the quest Aessina’s Miracle. While these new daily
quests may excite some, I just see more work that I’m
probably going to sucker myself in to doing somehow. This stands to
reason because players can easily (at least at the moment) reach
Exalted status by simply questing in the zone, so the addition of daily quests won't make much of an impact in the grand scheme of things.

Adieu Keyring, Adieu 

The now almost totally useless
Keyring bag is finally being removed. The exciting part is that
Blizzard claims they are removing it to make room for new features.
I believe that this empty space should be filled with a brand
new bag slot so that semi-hoarders like myself can haul around even
more useless items! Keys that are obsolete will be removed from the
player, while keys that are still useful will be transferred into
regular inventory space. So be sure to save some room, otherwise these
keys will be placed in a backlogged inventory until
space is made.

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The
Keyring will become a thing of the past in Patch 4.2

No More Rabid Pets 

That’s right ladies
and gentlemen, the Aggressive pet stance is now a thing of the past
ending an era of amusing situations usually begun with a Warlock or
Hunter saying “Oh crap I forgot to turn my pet off
Aggressive”, followed by a swift death. Instead pets will use
the Assist stance which is far less entertaining, but safer as the
player’s pet will only attack the player’s target
and will not charge random targets.

Nerfdity, Nerf, Nerf,
Nerf 

What is the answer when too many
people think various dungeons and raids are too hard? Nerf them! Patch
4.2 will bring nerfs to almost every dungeon or raid across the board
(see all the incoming nerfs in the official patch notes which can found
here), including nerfs to boss health, damaging abilities and even
debuff durations. While some might celebrate these changes, I
personally find them unnecessary. My
personal guild is full
of regular
Joe Schmoes who are not hardcore in the
least, some only log on to raid
and most don’t read any raid strategy whatsoever and
we still
have managed to beat most the bosses in game. I might be wrong (and
according to my wife I usually am) if my guild can do
it, almost anyone
can.

Need Vs. Greed

Finally those annoying players
who roll need on BoE items only for you to see them listed on the
Auction House later will potentially be stopped. In Patch 4.3 items
that a player rolls Need on will automatically become soul bound to the
player who wins the roll. The only people that I can foresee objecting
to this change will be those dishonest players mentioned above. Score
one for honest players everywhere!

Interface Awesomeness

Once again Blizzard is updating
the user interface to make things a little bit easier to use. Not only
can a player’s cast bar now be moved to display below the
character frame, but also Move Pad (a mouse-click interface for
movement) has been added to the base interface, not to mention that
savable raid profiles have been added. The icing on the cake however
happens before you even log in to game. Now directly from the character
screen players will be able to rearrange the order in which their
characters are displayed. This may not seem like a big deal for some,
but if you are like me and have been totally annoyed by the fact that
your current main character is second, third, or even lower on the
screen, then this change will excite you as much as it did me.

/Dance /Roar

And finally, a little bit of
randomness for you fun-loving players out there. Thanks to the fixes
brought to you by Blizzard in Patch 4.2 players will now be able to use
the /Roar emote complete with sound effect. Also when you get the urge
to /Dance while you are in combat you will be able to give into your
desires and bust a move without causing any graphical errors in your
game. As Blizzard said “fun has been unerfed”. Dance
and Roar away my friends!

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The
/Roar emote will be fixed in Patch 4.2.

How will Patch 4.2 pan out in
the grand scheme of things? This writer feels that overall the Patch
notes look promising and honestly, we’ve seen many I suppose
we will just have to wait and see, but one thing is for sure, some big
changes are on the horizon be they good or bad. So
players…be ready!

Don’t forget, Patch
4.2 isn’t just about the changes listed above though! There
will be many changes (both big and small) to nearly every class, new
instances, a new PvP season, and tons of other changes that can be
viewed directly on Blizzards webpage. Click here to view them now and
get yourself prepared for the upcoming patch!