Its here! The first major Cataclysm patch has arrived, and while Patch
4.0.6 won’t alter the physical world of Azeroth like
it’s predecessor 4.0.3a, some big changes are coming
regardless. This massive patch brings the promise to players everywhere
that perhaps finally their prayers have been answered and many of the
problems (/cough Shadow Priest damage /cough) the release of Cataclysm
brought will finally be resolved.



In Patch 4.0.6 Blizzard has seemingly left no class untouched, and has
also tweaked and recombobulated everything from PvP to Professions.
Truly no stone has been left unturned in what Blizzard at first labeled
a “minor” content patch. Because of the caliber of
the incoming changes its no wonder that the majority of the World of
Warcraft community is as excited as a kid with a shiny new bike under
the tree on Christmas morning.



Despite the huge and rather daunting list of changes found in the
current patch notes, that seem to promise to bring the changes we seek,
one can’t help but ask, will this patch actually fix or
alleviate many of the painfully obvious in game problems? Or is
Blizzard simply trying to hide behind a massive wall of text that fixes
little, or worse, breaks things even more?



Honestly this is a question that is difficult if not almost impossible
to answer at this point. Until this new patch has seen some series game
time making a call on its effects will be flawed at best. However, not
all hope is lost, taking a look over the patch notes can enable us to
make an educated guess at what this patch will mean.



It is this writer’s opinion after viewing the patch notes
that World of Warcraft as we know it is once again going to be rocked.
Almost everything you thought you knew about your class, profession, or
PvP will be changed in some way or another and every single player will
find themselves once again as confused as they were when Cataclysm was
first released in some area or another.



Many of the issues that are addressed in this patch are the big ones,
including the problem with certain classes DPS/Healing abilities,
various PvP concerns, and also the many unbalanced bosses found in
instances. This leaves me to speculate that perhaps this patch will not
be a complete and utter fail as other similar patches in the past have
been. It actually appears that this patch can and will balance out
World of Warcraft to a level that will make it playable and enjoyable
once again for most players.



However this writer’s one major concern is despite the
massive amount of changes this patch will bring is it really enough?
The best example of this is the much needed buff Shadow Priests will be
receiving. Sure it is a buff, and we all know they could certainly use
it, but will this buff make enough of a difference to fully fix their
abysmal DPS numbers and bring them up to par with other classes? My gut
is personally saying no, however in cases like the one above I think
the answer will be we will just have to wait and see.

 

Most of us by now have read the patch notes and are well aware of the
impending changes, however, several new changes were added to the patch
notes as late as Janurary 28th. So to say Blizzard was cutting it a
little close here was an understatement. The newest changes found in
Patch 4.0.6 include:

Tol Barad

• Attacking forces will
  receive a 200% capture speed bonus when they control 2 keeps.

• Defending forces will
  receive a 200% capture speed bonus when they control all 3 keeps.

• Daily quest creatures,
  herbs, minerals, etc. will only spawn when Tol Barad is in the quest
  phase between battles. There will be 5-minute and 1-minute warnings
  before the quest phase ends. The quest phase ends 15 minutes before the
  battle for Tol Barad begins and queuing is made available. At that time
  any players in the daily micro dungeons will be ported just outside.
  This does not apply to Tol Barad Peninsula or the daily quests there.

• The weekly PvP quest
  "Victory in Tol Barad" now awards 200 Honor Points and 3 Tol Barad
  Commendations.

• Players can now see the
  status of Tol Barad on the World Map no matter where they are. The time
  to the next battle is displayed by zooming into the Tol Barad section
  of the map. The current controlling faction can be seen on the Eastern
  Kingdoms map.

Mages

• Fireball mana cost has been
  reduced to 9% of base mana.

• Frostfire Bolt mana cost has
  been reduced to 9% of base mana.

Priest

• Strength of Soul now occurs
  when the priest casts Inner Focus on oneself, rather than Power Word:
  Shield. In addition, Strength of Soul now also causes the priest to
  become immune to silence, interrupt, and dispel effects for 2/4 seconds
  after using Inner Focus.

Fishing

• Rare fishing poles now have
  a chance to be found in the Bag of Fishing Treasures earned via the
  Stormwind and Orgrimmar Fishing daily quests.

Jewelcrafting

• Wrath of the Lich King
  purple, green, and orange gems have been increased in cost to match
  red, blue, and yellow epic gems (220 Justice Points). Burning Crusade
  epic gems have been increased in cost to match the most expensive Wrath
  of the Lich King gems.

Items

• Normal PvE helms (item level
  359) no longer have a chance to drop from Nefarian or Cho'gall on
  Heroic difficulty. Instead, the Heroic PvE helm and shoulder pieces
  (item level 372) only require their associated Crown/Shoulders of the
  Forlorn tokens to purchase, and do not require players to obtain the
  normal helms or shoulders first.

For those of you still wondering what other changes patch 4.0.6 has in
store and what they may mean for you please see our href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/patches/4-0-6-overview"
target="_blank">Patch 4.0.6 Overview
or Cyrak’s href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/state-of-pvp-jan26"
target="_blank">detailed report on the state of PvP
after Patch 4.06 for those
PvPers among us. Despite the massive amount of changes, both old and
new, players everywhere will be pleased to note that Playerscore is
still fully functional and needs no updates to fully function with the
new patch.



The only thing left to do at this point is get out there and play and
see for yourself if Patch 4.0.6 will be the saving grace most of us
hope it will be. Feel free to share you findings in the comments
section of this article. Remember we love hearing from you!