World of Warcraft 4.3 Patch

It's all over the Trade channel because, you know, it's really more of a gossip/troll channel than a trading one.  OK, admittedly there is also an element of LFM (looking for member, for the uninitiated) for raids too.  But before I get off on a tangent, back to the subject at hand.

Patch 4.3, rumored to be the final Cataclysm content patch and contain the means with which to kill Deathwing.  As with all patches, rumors and hunches are being thrown around like set in stone certainty.  You can't blame them too much.  End game 85s really do need something to do after all.  The best I can decipher, it's due out in the next couple of months.  I would be very surprised if it wasn't released by the end of the year.

There are several very exciting prospects with the new patch.  The most anticipated is, of course, Transmogrification which will allow you to change the appearance of an item while retaining its original stats.  Why does anyone care?  Well, say you play a Feral Druid (you know, a completely random example, ahem) who happened to really like look of the Embrace of the Viper set from Wailing Caverns.  Now, that set is really only good until at best level 30.  But, what if you could re-engineer it with level 85 equivalent stats?  Ahh, the heavens would open up and all would be right with the world.  OK, maybe not, but you could kick ass while looking sexy.  Many players are looking forward to wearing Deathknight and Warrior specific gear as Priests or Rogues.  Best of all the moggs, as it's affectionately being called, are not permanent but work more like gem slots so you can change your appearance whenever you like.

So where do you store all of the extra equipment you're holding onto for mogging?  I most definitely do not have space in my bank.  Good thing we have Blizzard to think of everything for us. Void Storage, due out with the new patch, is a new type of bank where players will be able to store their old armors in order to free up space in their regular bank.  I've heard storage estimates between 80-150 items and that anything stored there will lose all gems and enchantments.  That's kind of crazy actually considering the regular bank only has 28 slots.  Even if you bought all 7 additional slots and outfitted them with 16 slot bags you'd only have 140 slots.  I'm excited.

Something else that excites me is Darkmoon Island.  Yeah, yeah, 4.3 will have 3 new 5-man instances, including one in the Caverns of Time and there's a new Raid Finder, similar to the Dungeon Finder, but while I have an 85 Pally I don't raid.  I know, blasphemy.  I much more enjoy professions (epic gems are of great interest) and world events, like Darkmoon Faire which has been completely overhauled.  The Faire will run the first week of every month and there will be portals outside the capital cities to take you to the new Island.  Rumored are new heirlooms, new armor sets, deathmatches (think Gurubashi Arena), new companion pets, new recipes...ugh, I'm so excited!

Another much, much needed change in the works is decreasing the experience needed for levels 71-80 because right now Northrend is where alts go to die.

And for all of you who just read this post and are like, "What the Hell is she talking about?" Blizzard is planning more tutorials and walk-throughs for the first 30 minutes and five levels of the game.  Thank God you can turn those off.  Get in while you can because Patch 4.4 will bring a world changing event before the next expansion but you probably have at least until the middle of next year.