World of Warcraft Client Patch 1.9.3 today. Excerpted commentary follows, full text after the jump:
* Zandalar Tribe reputation rewards for killing mobs in Zul’Gurub have been increased.
Sure wish this was retroactive so I didn’t have to visit that pisshole ever again.
Raid & Dungeons
* Molten Core
o It should now be very difficult to remain out of combat while fighting the bosses in Molten Core.
This change meshes beautifully with the post-1.9 delay in leaving combat AFTER THE MOBS ARE DEAD. That bug/fix/nerf, who knows why it’s in the game now, is a nuisance to every class, but as a rogue, it’s particularly hated to stand around waiting to restealth, trying not to make eye contact with the approaching patrol, while my unstealthed rogue ass is hanging out in the wind.
And, if the change to ooc-rezzing means that engaging any mob throws the entire raid into combat — ergo, forcing us to use a pre-pull checklist for each and every piece of trash … casters done drinking? everyone done swapping equipment? stealthing rogues ready? — well, I’ll just say that I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the implementation and I’ll leave it at that for now.
* Zul’Gurub
o A small number of spawns have been removed from Zul’Gurub to allow for a slightly faster clearing time.
We. shall. see.
* King Gordok can no longer be seperated from Cho’Rush the Observer in Dire Maul.
Farmer fix/teleport-hacker partial fix. If this is true, and the whole truth, this really is a fix/partial fix, rather than what has been typical: nerfing the loot table. (That’s me being optimistic.)
Undocumented shit:
Cloth items cannot be disenchanted. (Classified as a bug by Blizzard — that is good news.)
Treasure chests can’t be looted during combat, stat changes to the Arcanist and Felheart armor, etc. (As identified by players.)
Still not fixed from 1.9:
The delay in leaving combat after mobs are dead (see above).
Wandering, roaming, mingling mage sheeps (polymorph).
Full Patch 1.9.3 text from the Warcraft site, which differs slightly from the notes that were in the download earlier today:
World of Warcraft Client Patch 1.9.3 (2006-02-07)
Love is in the Air!
Are you looking for love? All of Azeroth soon will be! As winter draws to a close the races are starting to seek that special someone. Be on the lookout for amorous individuals! Put on that special perfume or cologne, express your love, and receive gifts in return! Prepare yourself… love will soon be in the air!
Mac
o Added native support for Intel-powered Macs such as the iMac (Core Duo) and MacBook Pro. World of Warcraft is now a Universal Application. Be advised that the minimum supported MacOS X version has been changed to 10.3.9; World of Warcraft version 1.9.3 and later will not launch on older revisions of MacOS X.
Battlegrounds
o The default graveyards in Alterac Valley for each side were moved further up the tunnels away from the battlegroud exit. This should prevent accidentally leaving the battleground.
o The chokepoint building leading to the towers in the Horde base in Alterac Valley will no longer dismount players.
Paladin
o Eye for an Eye – This talent will now still do damage when the paladin is stunned. In addition, if the critical hit kills the paladin, damage will still be dealt to the spellcaster.
o Greater Blessing of Sanctuary – Paladins with Righteous Fury will now generate extra threat correctly when this Blessing procs.
Rogue
o Deadly Poison V – The charges were inadvertently not increased with the new rank of the ability. Increased from 105 to 120 charges.
o Slice and Dice – This ability should no longer miss.
Warrior
o Shield Block – This aura will now correctly be removed when the charges are all consumed. However, it is still possible when fighting multiple opponents to get extra blocks due to technical restrictions.
Items
o Arcanist Gloves were not receiving the intended spell damage bonus; this has been corrected.
o The Stamina and Intellect on Kezan’s Unstoppable Taint were inadvertently flipped; this has been corrected.
o The Enigma’s Answer and Stormcaller’s Wrath effects now have tooltips.
o The mana regeneration effect from food no longer causes threat.
o Quicksand Waders are now Bind on Pickup.
o The Panther Hide Sack is now Superior Quality.
o The Slime-coated Leggings now have their proper nature resistance.
o Prophetic Aura, Mageblood Potion, Wizard Oils, and the Mana Regeneration bracer enchant no longer generate threat for the wearer, and should also provide the increased mana regeneration on normal ticks instead of every 5 seconds.
o The Ancient Hakkari Manslayer has the proper icon again.
Professions
o The Engineering schematic for the Tranquil Mechanical Yeti now requires a Cured Rugged Hide rather than Ice Thistle E’ko so that both Horde and Alliance Engineers can make the recipe.
o Stormshroud Gloves are now Bind on Equip.
Quests & Reputation
o Grammar fixed for gossip associated with the quest “Trial of the Sea Lion” in Moonglade.
o Fixed a bug with the quest “Glyphed Oaken Branch” that was having the quest become available sooner than it should have.
o The reputation modifier of Squire Leoren Mal’derath has been reduced.
o The at-war flag is now turned off any time a player crosses a threshold increasing their reputation.
o Zandalar Tribe reputation rewards for killing mobs in Zul’Gurub have been increased.
o Winterfall Spirit Beads and Deadwood Headdress Feathers now stack in quantities of 250.
Raid & Dungeons
o Various bugs have been rectified in the Ahn’Qiraj dungeons.
o Molten Core
+ It should now be very difficult to remain out of combat while fighting the bosses in Molten Core.
o Zul’Gurub
+ A small number of spawns have been removed from Zul’Gurub to allow for a slightly faster clearing time.
+ Increased cooldown on Poison Bolt Volley of High Priestess Mar’li.
+ Slightly reduced the melee damage of High Priestess Mar’li.
+ The vengance effect gained by the death of the raptor Ohgan during the Bloodlord Mandokir fight has been increased in power.
+ Reduced the overall damage of High Priest Thekal.
+ Slowed the rate at which the panthers spawn during the High Priestess Arlokk fight.
+ Hakkar:
# Melee damage reduced.
# Cause Insanity should now correctly target Hakkar’s current target, rather than closest.
# Cause Insanity will no longer remove all threat gained.
# Reduced the damage dealt by Poisonous Blood Siphon.
# Increased cooldown on Blood Siphon.
# Gained an Enrage ability after 10 minutes in combat.
# No longer has the Slow ability.
# Corrupted Blood now deals direct damage with a following damage over time effect and no longer spreads to others in the raid.
# Fixed a bug that was causing Corrupted Blood to target the current target rather than the intended random target.
+ Increased duration of Poisonous Cloud emitted by Sons of Hakkar.
+ Shades of Jin’do are now considered Undead.
o Slightly increased the movement of Lethon’s Spirit Shades.
o Reduced the duration of Lethon’s Draw Spirit from 7 seconds to 5 seconds.
o Fixed a bug that would cause Lethon’s Draw Spirit to spawn two spirits per person instead of one.
o King Gordok can no longer be seperated from Cho’Rush the Observer in Dire Maul.
World Environment
o Royal Dreadguards, Undercity Guardians, and Ironforge Guards will now detect enemy players at the same distance as the other cities’ guards.
o Fixed a bug that would cause you to dismount in certain areas within the Undercity.
In other not-shocking news, Blizzard’s shittorent patch system still sucks. Find a mirror if you know what’s good for ya.
For all the things that these guys have done right, I think it should be pretty obvious by now that they can’t code their way out of an Intro to Java class.
This combat bug is especially devastating to warriors in PVP, since we have to be out of combat before we can charge. No one likes burning a bloodrage intercept just to close distance when a charge would have sufficed. Aside from the obvious mistakes like the cloth disenchanting problems, my favorite recent little coding screw-up occured with 1.9.
If you recall, in 1.6 (I believe) a global cooldown was added when swapping weapons in combat, 1.5 seconds for every class but rogue (1 s for them). Ok, one of the first of many warrior nerfs, boo hoo. I was upset since I’d been swapping weapons for about 10 months at that point but got used to it after a couple of days.
When 1.9 went live about the first thing I noticed was that the global cooldown to swapping weapons was gone! First thought was, “Could they really be throwing us a bone here?” Of course not, it was undocumented and therefore a mistake which was remedied in the same hotfix that stopped the jerky character movement.
It’s a little slip up like this that makes me wonder if they’ve ever heard of version control before. Maybe they’re using second year CS majors for the majority of their coding. Whoever’s responsible, they make some fucking amatuer mistakes.
Right now, I’m having problems recalling all the things they’ve done right. O yes, holidays and special events. Exceptional execution.
Ok, there’s other things, but DAMN, the bad stuff is just wretched. Last night, Dire Maul, my rogue is sheeped and I wander up the ramp, to the left, and start mingling with a dog pack and its owner. Since dogs aren’t fooled by stealth, vanishing was not an option and we did the quick trip to the graveyard. We had a noob priest with us. Ya, he should have dispelled. OR, Blizzard could hotfix the sheep wandering as quickly as they did the weapon swapping.
Here’s a good start:
World of Warcraft To Do List
1. Add chance to fail to rogue stealth2. Remove loot tables from first few bosses in DM West..
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635. Fix the out-of-combat delay after players are out-of-combat.
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698. Fix the wandering radius of polymorphed mobs and players.