Meh Patch 3.1 highlights

(lagtastic offers prolonged poses for ultimate screen capture in 3.1!!)

1. The Argent Tournament Begins:
Representatives of all ten faction capitals, from Undercity to Exodar, have traveled to the tournament grounds to find champions among their heroes who will prepare for the inevitable battle against the enemy of all living beings, the Lich King.

haven't heard too much about what this will actually entail but I suppose we'll find out soon enough! Finally we can destroy the gnomes!!! Also this bit caught my eye- New rare and epic items, tabards, pets, banners, faction shirts and mounts. Faction shirts!!! Can't wait to see those! I <3 IF shirts FTW!

2. Due to significant talent tree revisions, all players will have their talent points reimbursed. Several new spells and abilities have been added for select classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells.

so glad I didn't bother respeccing for dailies this week.

3. Players level 40 and higher will now be able to visit their trainer to pay a one-time fee and access the dual talent specialization feature.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

4. Applying a glyph no longer requires a Lexicon of Power.

No more- Where's the book? WTF is the book!?

5. Gift of the Naaru (Draenei Racial): The heal has been changed to an instant-cast heal-over-time.

all right! a little LESS useless.

6. Mana Regeneration: The amount of mana regeneration derived from intellect and spirit has been reduced by 40%; however, talents that allow for mana regeneration while in combat have been increased. As a result, in-combat regeneration for classes with those talents will stay the same, while out-of-combat regeneration will be lower.

I defer to World of Warcast Episode 79. They said it all.

7. DK changes-- zomg. just when I thought Death Knights were confusing already, they pretty much decided to play hokey pokey with the class. You put your bone shield here, you take your magic dmg reduc out, you add your Improved Death Strike in and you shake it all about!

8. Druid- Tree of Life: Now receives 240% increased armor. You can now use Nature's Grasp and Thorns while within this form. In addition, the discount on heal-over-time spells from this talent is now active at all times, whether or not the druid is in Tree of Life form. Mana cost reduced to match the cost of Travel Form.

9. Hunters- Ammunition: All types of gun and bow ammunition now stack to 1000. All quivers and ammo pouches no longer provide haste. 15% ranged haste is now built into the hunter's Auto Shot.

Sweet. I can finally stop wondering all over the cities figuring out where the hell the damn fletcher is. I'll only need to refill every 10 levels.

10. Hunters- Aspect of the Pack is now raid wide, and radius increased from 30 yards to 40 yards.

ONE SPEED baby!

11. Mages- Arcane Blast stacking effect is no longer considered a Magic effect and will not be dispelled

Ahhh. man. no way to haze the new arcane mages anymore!

12. Mages- Mage Armor: Now grants 50% of mana regeneration while casting

no more blaming the gnome racial Flip!

13. Paladins- Blessing of Kings is now trainable at level 20

Whose got kings? anyone? anyone?

14. Paladins- Exorcism: Now can be used on any target and has a 100% chance to be a critical strike when used on Undead and Demons

BUFFADINS!

15. Priests- Prayer of Healing: This spell now heals the target's party, rather than being limited to just your direct party

Woot. No more having to switch the damn priest in and out of parties.

16. Priests- New Talent: Body and Soul: 2-point talent. When you cast Power Word: Shield, you increase the target's movement speed by 30/60% for 4 seconds, and you have a 50/100% chance when you cast Abolish Disease on yourself to also cleanse 1 poison effect in addition to diseases.

I just liked this one cuz the new talent sounds so 80s.

17. Warrior- Titan’s Grip: While you have a two-handed weapon equipped in one hand, your physical damage done is reduced by 10%.

Welcome back to Arms. lol.

18. Alchemy- You can now sometimes find Alchemist's Caches from bosses in Ulduar. Only players with an Alchemy skill of 425 or higher can loot these secret caches.

secret caches...oooooh!

19. Cooking- A new recipe has been added to cooking trainers for making Black Jelly, using several Borean Man 'O War as ingredients. While it looks disgusting, it restores more health and mana than the highest level food.

yummy. better than mage food.

20. Mining- Northrend deposits now despawn 1 minute after mining them. This change was made to speed up respawning when nodes were partially looted.

That's right you @ssholes who left one Crystalized Earth on a Titainum node. you know who you are!

21. More on Dual Specs--
Options->Interface->Preview Talent Changes
have that enabled if it's not for you so you can modify your talents before finalizing them. Spell bars coincide with your active spec.

22. ALSO! Now with more enhanced lag features! Ultimate lag crashes and prolonged loading screens!