World of Warcraft Patch 3.0.8 News

Wrath of the Lich King News

The much anticipated Patch 3.0.8 hits live servers today (and yes we're sure this time) and with it comes a great deal of change. We have decided to concentrate our WoW news section this week on highlighting some of the changes we feel are significant.

• Roll a DK (almost) Anywhere - With the release of 3.0.8 players will be able to roll Death Knights on any realm as long as they have a level 55 somewhere. This is a welcome change for many players on higher population realms that opens the option to go to other realms and start their DK's. Many of the old restrictions still apply but we are happy to see this one be a thing of the past.
• New Graveyards - More than 60 new graveyards have been added to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. This will sure make it less of a haul to get back to your corpse should you die in areas affected by this.
• Death Knight Boost - Death knights will notice a boost in the effects of their Blood Aura and Blood Presence abilities as they are returning them to their beta state. This will double the healing effects of these spells.
• Reputation Rewards - A change has been implemented so that killing mobs required for gaining reputation with a particular faction will yield the same amount of rep. regardless of your character's level. I have to say I think this change is pretty sweet and I am excited about it for the alt I just started...I may even return to Outland to finish up some rep. grinds on my main.
• Swimming Druids - A Druid's aquatic form is now available from the Druid Trainer at level 16. This comes as quite a relief to anyone running up another druid who has had to run the quest in the past. I did it once and it was a royal pain! The line of quests will still be available, but they are no longer a prerequisite to obtaining aquatic form.
• More Talented Shaman - With this patch Shaman will see the arrival of a new talent called "Shamanism". This is available on the elemental tree and causes your lightning bolt and lava burst spells to gain additional bonus damage effects.
• Feral Druid Weapons - All weapons will now have the potential to grant feral attack power based on their dps which means many new weapons will now be options for the feral druid. All druids will be able to see the feral attack power an item will grant them, but other player classes will not see this information. Since polearms can now also be trained by druids, this will open many doors for this class and broaden their weapon capabilities considerably.
• New Paladin Ability - Paladins are getting some love here too. With 3.0.8 they now have an ability called "Hand of Reckoning" which will be available from their class trainer at level 16 and will enable them to taunt an enemy from up to 30 yards and also cause holy damage to the targeted foe.
• "Yummy" New Food and Drink - A new recipe for "Worg Tartare" is now available for purchase with Dalaran Cooking Awards. This food will give it's consumer a hit rating and stamina bonus. If you're looking for something to wash it down with, try the new recipe called "Kungaloosh" which is available from the Washed up Mage in the sewers of Dalaran once a cook has completed the quest "The Taste Test" in Scholozar Basin this is a mana restoration drink that will also get you tipsy.
• Hunter Nerfs - Sadly, today is the day Hunters (like me) have been dreading. With this patch two of the main attacks most hunters use are getting seriously nerfed. Steady shot will go from rewarding 20% attack power as damage to rewarding only 10%. Volley is also taking a hit in the form of a 30% reduction in damage across the board for all levels of the ability. I will try to refrain from whining too much.
• Cool Spells Now Shareable - Mages will now be able to cast Slowfall on other players and Priests will be able to share Levitate with others.
• Wild Growth - This is a favorite spell of any good Druid healer. With this patch they decided to plague this ability with a 6 second cooldown. This will likely impact raid healing for Druids, it will be interesting to see how much of an impact it has.
• Enchanting - There is now a new enchanting recipe available for purchase from Vanessa Sellers in Dalaran. The recipe is for a plus to stamina on bracers.