Blizzard readies the 3.1 WoW patch for release.
Those World of Warcraft (WoW) players sick of re-running Naxxramas can rejoice, for it looks like the massive 3.1 patch will hit during tonight’s maintenance. Titled ‘Secrets of Ulduar,’ this patch continues the Wrath of the Lich King storyline, focusing on the new raid instance in the titan city of Ulduar, where an old god has awakened and the situation is dire, indeed.
In order to set the scene for Ulduar, Blizzard has unveiled a new trailer, which not only focuses on worrying discoveries made by famed Dwarven explorer, Brann Bronzebeard, but also provides more insight into the re-ignited conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. You can view it on Blizzard’s Ulduar preview page.
Ulduar marks the culmination of many quest lines from the eastern part of the continent, and is perhaps the most ambitious raid instance to date in WoW. With fourteen new boss encounters, each of which can be attempted at multiple difficulties, Blizzard promises that Ulduar will cater for all kinds of players.
Beyond the raid instance, 3.1 brings a new questing hub, dubbed The Argent Tournament. This provides a series of daily quests and a bunch of new rewards including mounts, pets, and weapons. It also finally gives players a chance to raise reputation with the varying sub-factions in the Alliance or Horde without having to resort to farming runecloth, which is a welcome change.
Besides these content additions, 3.1 has some major changes to the game itself, with some pretty significant balancing done to all classes. This comes alongside the highly anticipated dual specialisation feature, which allows players to pick two talent builds and switch between them depending on the role they need to play. It will cost 1,000 gold to do so, but for those of us who have already blown thousands of gold switching between specs, it is a welcome relief, and should significantly increase the availability of tanks and healers.
There are a pile of other changes in the patch, as catalogued on sites like MMO-Champion and World of Raids. Remember, that when you log in tomorrow, you’ll need to redo your talents, as all points are being refunded. It’s time to farewell Naxx and sink our teeth into the challenge that is Ulduar.
Update: The patch release has just been confirmed by Blizzard on the WoW forums.
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VannA
2009.04.15 11:16
Is patched! But now at work. Le Sigh.
2009.04.15 11:24
If its any consolation, the servers are only now coming back online.