Sam "azerian" Maxted examines how changes in the next patch will affect World of Warcraft's players.

Every so often MMOs are patched, not only with new content, but also with changes to what's already there. These changes are generally designed to benefit players, but they're not always a good thing for everyone. Therefore, I present to you an examination of some of the major changes in WoW's next patch, including who'll benefit and who stands to lose out.

The Equipment Manager
This feature was originally planned to go live with Ulduar, but was held back because it wasn't ready in time. However, work on it should be complete in time for the next patch. This new feature will allow characters to switch between different sets of gear with the click of a button, rather than manually changing each piece of equipment. What it won't do, however, is provide any more storage for different sets of equipment - they'll still need to be stored in your character's bags or in the bank. One additional feature of the Equipment Manager is being able to see all items you have available for a particular item slot by selecting that slot on your character screen. In other words, you'll no longer need to search your bags for that new piece of equipment you picked up.

Winners: This will be a godsend for anyone with more than one set of equipment. In other words, dual speced characters and those switching between PvE and PvP content will be able to swap between their equipment sets more easily than before.

Losers: No-one, other than possibly the creators of interface mods that performed the Equipment Manager's function, as the update could render their creations obsolete.

We'd like some extra storage for those tabards next, please, Blizzard.

The Argent Tournament
The mounts available through the Argent Tournament are going through some changes in 3.1.2, not all of which will be popular. One change that is likely to be universally popular, however, is the reduction in price of the Argent Hippogryph. If the patch hits soon, no-one will have had enough Seals to purchase the mount at its original price, meaning everyone will benefit from the lower cost.

The skins for the Argent Tournament mounts will be replaced with new ones in 3.1.2, with some of the changes being pretty drastic. These modifications are designed to more closely match each faction's own colours. The current versions of the Argent Tournament mounts will still be available for purchase at the price of 500 gold, plus 5 Champion's Seals. However, purchase of these mounts will require characters to be part of the faction itself, or Exalted with them.

Winners: Anyone without the Leading the Cavalry and Mountain o' Mounts achievements should now be able to obtain them more easily, with an extra five mounts being available for them to purchase. Those players who have been doing their Argent Tournament dailies will also benefit from the lower price of the Argent Hippogryph, and some of them may be able to purchase it straight away.

Losers: Not everyone will like the changes to the Argent Tournament mounts, so people who have already purchased one could end up with a mount in colours they don't like. Unlike with previous patches, the skins on these mounts will be changed automatically, so it won't be possible for players to keep the old designs. Players who want the old versions of the mounts but who aren't Exalted with the relevant factions will have some extra work ahead of them, and anyone with the Leading the Cavalry and Mountain o' Mounts achievements could be disappointed at them now being easier to obtain.

The Argent Tournament's Mechanostrider is getting a major revamp.

Ulduar Rewards
Rewards from 10-man Ulduar will be increased for players completing it on hard mode. Item levels for hard mode's drops will be increased from level 226 to 232, putting them more on a par with drops from the 25-man version of the instance. These items will be upgraded retroactively, so anyone who already owns one of the affected items should benefit from their improvement when the patch goes live.

Winners: As mentioned above, anyone who already has one or more of these items will have them upgraded in the patch, meaning they'll no longer need to complete 25-man Ulduar to get equivalent items. Guilds with only a small number of members geared for Ulduar should also benefit, as they'll be able to obtain higher level rewards with a smaller number of players.

Losers: Anyone specifically targeting 25-man Ulduar for level 232 rewards might be annoyed at the change, as they could have had a higher chance of getting them by attempting hard mode instead.

Wintergrasp will be changed again in 3.1.2.

Wintergrasp
Vehicles' damage and health in both Wintergrasp and Strand of the Ancients will change in 3.1.2, so that they scale depending on the user's equipment. In other words, characters with better gear will now be more effective in vehicles, compared to their lower-geared counterparts. The other major change to Wintergrasp is the switch of its daily quests to a new weekly system. The rewards for completing these quests will increase due to them only being completable once a week.

Winners: Anyone used to lag or performance issues in Wintergrasp should benefit from the quest changes, as the zone should be less populated at busy times. Casual players who don't go to Wintergrasp as often should also benefit, as they could end up with a bigger reward for a smaller amount of work. Highly-geared characters will also be rewarded for their efforts, as they'll now be more effective in siege vehicles.

Losers: New servers and those with low populations will lose out as a result of these changes, as they may not have suffered from the performance issues experienced elsewhere. Characters on these servers - as well as characters that use Wintergrasp late at night - could end up in a zone that feels somewhat deserted. Those used to doing Wintergrasp on a daily basis could also be disappointed, as they'll no longer be able to receive rewards for participating quite as regularly. Finally, characters in lower-level gear will be at a further disadvantage in Wintergrasp as a result of the vehicle changes. Part of the appeal of Wintergrasp PvP was that you could still be useful in vehicles if you were poorly geared; not so any more.

Unknown: For some players, whether the quest changes are a good or a bad thing will depend on the rewards given for the new "weeklies". Some players will see an overall benefit, but if the rewards given are less than those for completing the quests every day of the week, those used to visiting the zone every day could lose out, overall.

SAM "azerian" Maxted
Editor
ZAM.com