Patch 3.2.0 Public Test Realm Notes

I have been reading up on the Public Test Realm patch notes and it seems Blizzard is still on their crusade to make it easier and easier to play World of Warcraft to attract more players.

The mounts seem to be the biggest thing they are 'giving' away:

Apprentice Riding (Skill 75) will be able to be purchased at level 20 for 4 gold. 4 gold... A far cry for the 80 gold I had to pay to get this skill at level 40.

Journeyman Riding (Skill 150) will be able to be purchased at level 40 for 50 gold. A far cry from the 600+ gold I paid to learn this skill at level 60. Not to mention the fact that currently Warlocks can buy their Dreadsteed at level 60 instead of doing all the quests finishing with Dire Maul to summon your mount. (I got my first mount free on my Warlock, which is part of being a Warlock, but I sure paid for the second one.)

Expert Riding (Skill 225) will be able to be learned at level 60 from trainers in Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde) for 600 gold. That only went down 200 gold from when I purchased it for 800 gold on my Warlock. As a Druid it only cost me about 7 gold for 225 riding skill so I could have flight form, this was how it always was, not a cost reduction.

Artisan Riding (Skill 300) will have faction discounts (Honor Hold and Valiance Expedition for Alliance and Thrallmar or Warsong Offensive for Horde). They are not saying how much of a discount but I am betting it will be a far cry from the 5,000 gold I paid. Druids can currently buy their swift flight form at level 71 instead of doing the 17 quests and finishing up in Heroic Sethekk Halls. This is compliments of a previous patch.

There are some changes to the secondary skills though these seem to be along the same lines they have been following since the beginning, just improvements:

Cooking - There will be some changes here too, reduced materials for some of the recipes.

The Chef's Hat will allow you to cook faster, this will be nice as I find myself cooking stacks and stacks of items at a time, either to replenish stock in the guild bank or clean out the guild bank.

There will be a higher chance to receive an extra Dalaran Cooking Award in your Small Spice Bag and an increase in drop rate for the cooking recipes from the Outlands cooking quests.

Fishing - Players with a fishing skill over 300 have a chance to get a Waterlogged Recipe in their Bag of Fishing Treasures. This can be traded to other players and can be turned in for several Dalaran Cooking Awards.

There are also a lot of class (talent) and some race changes too, too many to go into here but anyone who would like to check them out can go to PTR Patch Notes

PvP Fishing 7/7/09

I picked up my daily fishing, from Marcia Chase (53,65), by the fountain in Dalaran, which was Dangerously Delicious and my daily cooking, from Katherine Lee (41,65), the Grand Master Cooking Trainer in the kitchen of A Hero's Welcome, which was Convention at the Legerdemain first thing when I logged on today. I usually grab my daily's as soon as I log on unless someone asks for help first.

Today's cooking was really easy, I headed to the bank and grabbed some Chilled Meat to make the Northern Stew I needed then headed over to One More Glass, the wine and cheese shop in Dalaran to grab a jug of wine. This is the part that can take a little while but not today, I got the jug of wine on both as soon as I walked in. All I had to do then was run over to the Legerdemain and deliver it to Arille Azuregaze, the bartender. He gave me 9g93s, a Dalaran Cooking Award and a Small Spice Bag.

Gomorra's Small Spice Bag had Northern Spices in it, not the best haul but not too bad.

Wranngar's Small Spice Bag had 3 Northern Spices and 3 Old Spices in it, again not great but not too bad.

From there I headed over to the flight point at Krasus' Landing to catch a flight to Wintergrasp to do my daily fishing. For that I had to catch 10 Terrorfish. That didn't take me too long. There was one Horde there that decided he was going to make fishing a little rough for us, but it turned out all he really did was die. Once I had my 10 Terrorfish on each I headed back to Dalaran and turned them in to Marcia Chase in exchange for a Bag of Fishing Treasures.

Wrann's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 10g36s12c, 2 Northsea Pearls and a Velociraptor Skull in it, a pretty crap return for risking life and limb to catch the 10 Terrorfish in a combat zone.

Gom's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 8g50s63c, a Glow Worm and another Velociraptor Skull in it, not a great return for him either.

There are still some pretty good rewards to be had from the daily fishing, that's why I keep plugging away at it, some day I will get something good :).

Monsterbelly Appetite 7/6/09

Today my daily fishing was Monsterbelly Appetite, which is a pretty good one, but my daily cooking was Cheese for Glowergold, my least favorite. I only had time to do these 2 daily's today.

I did the cooking first as usual, this had me running all over Dalaran looking for Half Full Dalaran Wine Glasses. I don't know why this one requires you get 6 Half Full Dalaran Wine Glasses as all the other quests only require you to get 4 or whatever you're after. The wine glasses are small and hard to see, I can barely target them. It also doesn't help to have a Felguard running around with you who is always in the way. I usually park him outside when I am doing the daily cooking, whatever it is. Eventually I got my 6 Half Full Dalaran Wine Glasses and the piece of Aged Dalaran Limburger I needed and combined them on the platter that was supplied when I picked up the daily.

I delivered the wine and cheese platter to Ranid Glowergold (36,28) at the Leatherworkers in the Magus Commerce Exchange in exchange for 9g93s, a Dalaran Cooking Award and a Small Spice Bag.

Gomorra's Small Spice Bag had 3 Northern Spices and 4 Baby Spice in it, not the best haul but there is just not much to be had from this daily anymore.

Wranngar's Small Spice Bag had 4 Northern Spices in it. Not the best haul but not bad all around I guess. I am close to 500 Northern Spices in the guild bank now. That seems like a lot but they go quick once you start cooking.

After that I headed over to Unu'pe to catch me a Bloated Monsterbelly to get the fisherman's arm back. It took me no time at all to get one on Wrann but when it came time for Gom to do it there were no schools of Monsterbelly to be found. I fished a little anyway, not in any schools, as I have gotten one before just fishing but didn't have any luck with that today. I was finally able to locate a school of Monsterbelly and got one on my 3rd cast.

I headed back to Dalaran to turn the fisherman's arm in to Olisarra the Kind, (36,37) the Grand Master First Aid Trainer in the Magus Commerce Exchange in Dalaran. She is going to attempt to reunite it with the fisherman who lost it. She gave me a Bag of Fishing Treasures for my trouble.

Wrann's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 6g62s80c, 3 Elixir's of Water Walking and a New Age Painting signed by Marcia Chase which I sold to a vendor for 25 gold. Not a bad haul for Wrann today.

Gom's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 10g86s57c, 3 Pygmy Oil and a Worthless Piece of Violet Glass in it. He didn't make out as well today.

Infused Mushroom Meatloaf 7/5/09

I got my daily's out of the way today but not much else. My daily cooking was Infused Mushroom Meatloaf. I picked that up from Katherine Lee (41,65), the Grand Master Cooking Trainer in the kitchen of A Hero's Welcome. My daily fishing, from Marcia Chase (53,65), by the fountain in Dalaran, was The Ghostfish.

I headed down into the sewers first to pick some Infused Mushrooms for my meatloafs. I got them really quick today, it seemed like no one was doing at that time. I headed over to the guild bank to grab some Chilled Meat to cook up my mushrooms with then delivered my meatloafs to Orton Bennet upstairs at Curiosities and Moore in exchange for 9g93s, a Dalaran Cooking Award and a Small Spice Bag.

Gomorra's Small Spice Bag had 3 Northern Spices and 3 Baby Spice in it, not the best haul for Gom.

Wranngar's Small Spice Bag had 6 Northern Spices in it, a pretty good haul for Wrann.

After that I headed over to River's Heart in Sholazar Basin to fish for the elusive Ghostfish. I usually fish up top a little Northeast of the flightpath and usually have pretty good luck, today was no exception.

I got my Phantom Ghostfish in less than 10 casts on each. As soon as you loot it you have to eat it, it is on a timer and you have 60 seconds to eat it before it disappears. The Phantom Ghostfish looks a lot like a Pygmy Suckerfish so be careful when you are looting it so you don't miss it. When you eat it, it puts you into a state called Invisibility which makes everything around you look dim. Any movement or action at all while in this state will cause the spell to be broken.

I headed back to Marcia Chase and told her I figured out the Ghostfish Mystery and she gave me a Bag of Fishing Treasures for my trouble.

Gom's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 6g86s, 3 Northsea Pearls and a Velociraptor Skull. I had certainly had better payoff's.

Wrann's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 7g33s30c, a Glow Worm, which I have an overstock of now, a Diamond-tipped Cane and 4 Deviate Fish. Not the best haul for Wrann either today.

There are still a lot of great rewards to be had from this daily though so I will keep plugging away at it in hopes of getting something good some day.

Monsterbelly Appetite 7/3/09

Today my daily fishing in Dalaran was Monsterbelly Appetite. I picked it up from Marcia Chase (53,65), by the fountain in Dalaran and headed off to Unu'pe in Borean Tundra.

Once I got to Unu'pe I headed out to sea, to the iceberg's. I had my fish tracking on so it only took me a few seconds to find a Monsterbelly school. I got my Bloated Monsterbelly on my first cast on Gomorra and my 3rd cast on Wranngar.

Once I removed the arm from the Bloated Monsterbelly I headed back to hand it in to Olisarra the Kind, (36,37) the Grand Master First Aid Trainer in the Magus Commerce Exchange in Dalaran, who will attempt to reunite the arm with the fisherman who lost it. She gave me a Bag of Fishing Treasures for my trouble.

Gom's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 9g23s86c, 3 Pygmy Oil, a Tower Key, which I sold to a vendor for 16g66s66c, and 2 Deviate Fish. Nothing great for Gom today.

Wrann's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 6g1s12c, a Glow Worm and 5 Solid Gold Coins which I sold to a vendor for 1 gold each. Not a great day for Wrann either.

My daily cooking quest from Katherine Lee (41,65), the Grand Master Cooking Trainer in the kitchen of A Hero's Welcome was Convention at the Legerdemain today. This is a pretty easy one, I headed to the guild bank and got some Chilled Meat which I used to make 4 Northern Stew. All I had to do after that was run over to One More Glass, the wine and cheese shop in Dalaran to grab a jug of wine. The jug of wine spawns in several areas so you have to run around and check the spots until you find one. I got mine on both pretty quick today and was off to hand it in to Arille Azuregaze, the bartender at The Legerdemain in exchange for 9g93s, a Dalaran Cooking Award and a Small Spice Bag.

Gom's Small Spice Bag had 5 Northern Spices and 4 Baby Spice in it while Wrann's had only 3 Northern Spices in it. All in all not to bad a day there.

Wrann is close to getting his Chef's Hat, he only needs 6 more Dalaran Cooking Awards and he will have it. According to the patch notes wearing a Chef's Hat will enable you to cook faster after the next patch. That will come in handy when I am cooking up stacks of buff food.

Some Fishing and Cooking 7/2/09

I did the daily fishing and cooking today. The fishing was Jewel Of The Sewers and the cooking was Infused Mushroom Meatloaf. I got the fishing from Marcia Chase (53,65), by the fountain in Dalaran and the cooking from Katherine Lee (41,65), the Grand Master Cooking Trainer in the kitchen of A Hero's Welcome.

These both had me running to the same place, the sewers below Dalaran. I got all my Infused Mushrooms first, then headed over to the Black Market to fish up a piece of Corroded Jewelry. That took longer than usual today, about 15 casts on each but I finally got it.

I cooked up my Infused Mushrooms with a couple pieces of Chilled Meat to make my meatloafs and delivered them to Orton Bennet upstairs at Curiosities and Moore in exchange for 9g93s, a Dalaran Cooking Award and a Small Spice Bag.

Gomorra's Small Spice Bag had 3 Northern Spices in it. Not the best haul but not bad I guess, there is really not much more to be had from this daily.

Wranngar's Small Spice Bag had 4 Northern Spices in it, he made out just a little better than Gom.

After that I turned my pieces of Corroded Jewelry in to Marcia Chase in exchange for Bags of Fishing Treasures.

Gom's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 6g85s21c, 3 Pygmy Oil and 4 Solid Gold Coins which I sold to a vendor for 1 gold each. Not the best day for Gom.

Wrann's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 10g4s65c, 2 Elixirs of Water Walking, 2 Worthless Pieces of White Glass and 4 Deviate Fish, not the best day for Wrann either.

There are still some pretty good rewards to be had from this daily though, the Strand Crawler Wrann got the other day and the High Test Eternium Fishing Line Gom got the other day are proof of that. I will keep plugging away at them.

Wrann has 93 Dalaran Cooking Awards now so he is just 7 awards away from getting his Chef's Hat. In the next patch the Chef's Hat will allow you to cook faster which will come in handy when I am cooking 80 or 100 pieces of something trying to make room in the guild bank.

Strand of the Ancients 6/30/09

My daily battleground was Strand of the Ancients today. I did it on Wranngar.

We easily won the first battle I was in, we pwn'd the Horde. We got to the relic in 2 minutes 40 seconds which means the Horde had 2 minutes 40 seconds to get to it. They managed to just break their second gate when the time was up. The Alliance seemed to be in fine shape today, at least in that battleground.

I turned this in when I got out and got my 13g23s and 1241 bonus honor. I forgot to check and see how much honor I have now, but as I just got something with my honor I doubt I have much. This is one of the better daily's. Yesterday's daily battleground was Warsong Gulch and I skipped it, I hate WSG.

The Deadmines 6/29/09

I ran someone through the The Deadmines 4 times today, trying to get Cruel Barb to drop, it didn't. I have been through The Deadmines over 100 times and I have only seen it drop 4 or 5 times, it is a pretty rare drop. I have also run people through who have gotten it on their first run, it is all a matter of luck.

The Deadmines is located in Westfall and I think you get the quests to go in there around level 15. The main quest is to kill Edwin VanCleef, the Defia's Kingpin, and bring back the Head of VanCleef.

You enter The Deadmines in Moonbrook. There are mobs to deal with as soon as you enter the instance, the first boss is Rhahk'Zor the foreman. He always drops a blue item, Rhahk'Zor's Hammer. When you kill him the door behind him opens automatically, beware when anything opens automatically, it means a patrol is going to come up behind you.

After going through that door you deal with some more mobs, and off to the left there is a little tunnel, go in there are see if Miner Johnson is there. He is a rare elite. You can tell a rare elite because they have a silver dragon around their portrait instead of a gold one. He can drop Miner's Cape and Gold-plated Buckler which are blue items. He is not always there, hence 'rare elite'.

From there you kill some more mobs until you get to a door you open, once again there will be a patrol that comes up behind you. That door lets you into the Mast Room. In the Mast Room you have to deal with a bunch of elite goblins that can stun even a level 80. The boss in there is Sneed's Shredder, a robot operated by Sneed. Sneed's Shredder will drop these 2 blue items, Buzzer Blade or Buzz Saw. Sneed will drop Gold-flecked Gloves or Taskmaster Axe also blue items. All of these bosses drop other items but these are the ones people are after. A door will open and a patrol will come up behind you.

From there you kill some more mobs as you work your way to the Goblin Foundry. This is packed full of goblins and it is where most people usually end up giving up. The boss in there is Gilnid, he's the smelter. He will drop Smelting Pants or Lavishly Jeweled Ring, both blue items. On our 4 runs he dropped Smelting Pants 3 times and Lavishly Jeweled Ring once. Killing him causes another door to open and another patrol to come up behind you. You are almost there.

You continue through that door and have to fight more mobs, most of which are not elite. On the left, as you are going along, you will see a tunnel, you need to go in there and grab the Defias Gunpowder which you will use a little farther on to shoot a cannon at a door to blow it open. An elite always comes when you pick up the Defias Gunpowder so be ready for that. Continue down that tunnel until you come to the cannon. Right click on the cannon to fire it. It will blow the door open and some mobs will come running in. Once you kill them you can enter Ironclad Cove. This is where the boat and Edwin VanCleef are located.

You will need to fight your way through some more mobs to get to the ramp that leads up to the boat. You need to watch out here. First there is a treasure chest at the bottom of the ramp that is fake, it is there to draw you over so the 2 stealthed Defias Henchmen at the bottom of the ramp can attack you. As soon as they attack you the next boss, Mr. Smite the ships mate, comes down the ramp and joins in. He gets aggravated pretty easy and stomps which stuns everyone. Depending on how fast you can kill him he may do this once, twice or 3 times. Unless you can one shot him. If you are the correct level to be in there you won't be able to one shot him but most 80's can if you have one running you. He will drop either Thief's Blade, Smite's Reaver or Smite's Mighty Hammer which are blues. He also drops other items that are green or white.

Go to the top of the ramp and go right, you will have to fight mobs the whole way, mobs and their parrots. There is a good chance that a parrot cage will drop while you are in the Deadmines which gives you a parrot for a pet. You will go under a bridge. If you have any low level people with you, keep them away from that bridge. Tell them to stay back. They won't listen and will come up to the bridge causing all the mobs above to come down and kill them, happens every time. You will need to work your way up a series of ramps on the side of the boat until you are on the deck. There you encounter another boss, Captain Greenskin. He does a circuit around the cabin with 2 other mobs. He will drop either Emberstone Staff, Blackened Defias Belt or Impaling Harpoon which are blue items. He will also drop some green and white items.

Now you are ready for VanCleef. He is in the cabin in the center of the deck. He has a bunch of mobs with him that are stealthed so be ready for that. I usually draw him out of the cabin and then use an AoE to take him and his mobs down. He will drop one of the following, Corsair's Overshirt, Cape of the Brotherhood, Blackened Defias Armor or Cruel Barb. Everyone goes for Cruel Barb and it rarely ever drops. There is one more boss to deal with now.

You need to jump off the deck on the opposite side that you can into it on, that will bring you down to the lower deck and probably drop you right on top of Cookie, the ships cook. This is the last boss. Cookie will drop Cookie's Tenderizer or Cookie's Stirring Rod, both blue items, along with some white items. That is it, you are done. You can clean up the reast of the mobs on the lower deck if you want, or just go down the ramp towards the exit. There are some more mobs off to the right on your way out if you want to kill and loot them.

That's pretty much The Deadmines in a nutshell.

Good Luck :)

Wranngar

Strand Crawler 6/28/09

I got a Strand Crawler in my Bag of Fishing Treasures on Wranngar today. It has been quite awhile since I got anything really worthwhile from this daily. I was hoping for some High Test Eternium Fishing Line but this is even better.

Ironically Gomorra got another High Test Eternium Fishing Line in his Bag of Fishing Treasures today, you can see how that ball bounces. He already has it on his Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole giving him a total of 485 fishing skill without any lures or anything.

The daily fishing in Dalaran today was The Ghostfish which I picked up from Marcia Chase (53,65), by the fountain in Dalaran. These 2 items where the only items worth mentioning from my rewards today.

Stratholme - Baron Rivendare's Steed - 6/27/09

I ran Thayah through Stratholme on Wranngar a couple times tonight, he wanted the Deathcharger's Reins from Baron Rivendare. We went in the service entrance, we both had the key. You need the key to go in the service entrance and it really cuts a lot of time off. Only one person needs to have the key.

We went and killed the mobs we needed to kill to take down the crystals which lifts the gate enabling you to go into Slaughter Square where Baron Rivendare is located. Once you are in there you have to kill all the mobs outside, then kill all the skeletons that come in, then kill his personal guard that comes out, then you can go in and kill him. You must make sure everyone is in the room before you attack him as the door closes as soon as he is attacked. It doesn't open again until he is dead. I am not sure if you get credit, making you able to loot, if you are outside the door when he dies. It didn't drop the first time so we reset the instance and tried again, no better luck the second time. The Deathchargers Reins has a very, very low drop rate. I have gone after it numerous times and have never seen it drop. I know it does because I see people riding it, but I think it is just luck.

Thayah got a lot of nice blue drops, most of which he couldn't use but could sell to a vendor for a little gold. My repair bill was over 11 gold for those 2 runs. We didn't have any deaths.

Daily Battleground - Eye of the Storm 6/27/09

My daily battleground today was Eye of the Storm, it took me 3 battles on Wranngar before I got a win.

The first battle everyone was more interested in the flag than towers, so we held one tower and ran the flag.... As usual that resulted in a loss, but a few people got achievements for running the flag, good for them....

In the second battle we didn't have as many flagtards but we still had too many. We had one tower the whole time, 2 towers on and off and a lot of flag running. Needless to say we lost that one too. The sad part is it will never end. They should make the flag achievements so you have to be holding 3 towers when you complete them in order to get the achievement, I think that would wake people up. Or at least 2 towers. I have seen the majority of our team at the flag when we didn't even have a tower.

In the third battle we had a much better group. We got 3 towers right off the bat then fought for BET the whole time, keeping the Horde occupied so we could run the flag. We only had one person at DR, one at FRR and there was no one at MT. Not the best strategy but it worked. We won that one by over 1,000 points.

Porcelain Bell 6/27/09

I got a Porcelain Bell in my Bag of Fishing Treasures today from the daily fishing quest. This is a pretty good reward because it sells to a vendor for 100 gold. I have gotten a few of these so far. The daily fishing today was Monsterbelly Appetite and the daily cooking was Mustard Dogs!. The Porcelian Bell was the only reward I got from either of them worth mentioning.

I did find a new place to look for Wild Mustard though, if you're Alliance. When you are in the Hero's Welcome you go to the right side of the bar to go into the kitchen, if you go to the left side of the bar you can go down a hallway and into a courtyard outside. I didn't even know it was there and I don't think too many other people know about it either. I got 2 Wild Mustard on each of my toons from there today, I didn't see anyone else out there. The hallway to the left of the bar is the only way to get there.

The Ghostfish Mystery 6/26/09

I didn't have a lot of time tonight so I only did my daily fishing which was The Ghostfish. I got this quest from Marcia Chase (53,65), by the fountain in Dalaran.

I had to fly to Rivers Heart in Sholazar Basin to catch my Phantom Ghostfish, I took the flight path out of Dalaran. When I got to Rivers Heart I flew up to the top, a little northeast of where you land. This is where I always fish for them and I always have pretty good luck. I see a lot of people fishing in the water right by where you land so they must be having some luck there to. I fish right by a little bridge at the top.

I got my Phantom Ghostfish on the 6th cast on Gomorra and the 15th cast on Wranngar. It usually takes me 10 or less casts to get one but today was an exception. Once you loot the Phantom Ghostfish, which looks just like a Pygmy Suckerfish so be careful you don't miss it, you have 60 seconds to eat it before it disappears. It starts clocking as soon as you loot it. When you eat it, it puts you into a state called Invisibility which is a little surreal. After I had caught and ate my Ghostfish I went back to Marcia and told her what I discovered. She gave me a Bag of Fishing Treasures for my trouble.

Gom's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 7g3s8c, a Glow Worm and a Worthless Piece of Red Glass. Not a great haul for Gom, but the Glow Worm is useful.

Wrann's Bag of Fishing Treasures had 9g26s23c, a Glow Worm, an Unusual Compass, 3 Deviate Fish and a Runic Mana Potion in it. Wrann got more stuff but not really anything of great value.

There are a lot of great rewards I haven't gotten from this daily yet so I will keep plugging away at it.

I tried to do the daily battleground but it was taking too long to queue so I gave up. I will probably get back on later and try again.