Updated: 20th of September
So, Patch 4.2 dropped a while ago – what’s coming in WoW Patch 4.3? Well, so far we don’t know everything, but this article’s going to contain everything we are aware of.
I’ll update as we get more information on the next WoW patch. But for now, this is everything that’s been publically released in the way of WoW patch 4.3 info.
Patch 4.3 raid and release date
Patch 4.3 will contain Deathwing’s raid. This is absolutely certain now, having been announced at the German convention Gamescon. We also know that we’ll end up attacking Deathwing whilst standing on his back in mid-flight! Not only that, but we’ll be fighting him in multiple locations across the world (as we predicted! Hurrah for being right).
The 4.3 raid is called The Dragon Soul. There are eight fights in total, with the first part of the raid (and the first six bosses), located at Wrymrest Temple in Dragonblight.
This raid will involve fighting Deathwing multiple times, as we speculated it might. The final two fights of the raid are both against Deathwing. Fight 7 is the much-speculated-upon fight on Deathwing’s back. Fight 8 is the final confrontation against Deathwing himself.
This also means that it’s almost certain that 4.3 will be the final patch in Cataclysm’s history, implying that the leaked Blizzard production slate from a few months ago was accurate, and we’re looking at a new expansion (possibly the Mists of Pandaria) in Q2 2012.
Given all that, and given the heavy competition coming in the latter months of 2011, we can expect that Patch 4.3 will be timed to disrupt SWTOR’s release date – so most likely November or December 2011.
At the time of writing, though, the patch is still not on the Public Test Realm, so either it’s going to be a short testing cycle (potentially disasterous, so unlikely but possible) or we’re looking at late November at the earliest.
Read more in our Patch 4.3 Deathwing Raid article.
New features: Transmogrification, Raid Finder and Void Storage
So far, two new features have been announced for Patch 4.3: Transmogrification and Void Storage.
Transmogrification will allow for cosmetic changes to armour in some fashion, possibly similar to LoTRO’s Cosmetic tab, allowing players to customise their character armour much more than was previously possible. Meanwhile, and related to that, Void Storage will act as a massive additional bank for armour only.
Currently, we know about the cost for Transmogrification – it’ll cost a fair amount of gold, perhaps as much as 100g per item. Initially, the rules for “mogging” will be fairly conservative – for example, no transmogrification either to or from legendaries, and you must own the item.
It has been hinted that the Darkmoon Faire island will include a way to get some classic but unobtainable WoW items, like the Death Knight starter set, back.
The final feature that has been announced is the Raid Finder – intended to work in a similar way to the Dungeon Finder, it’s an auto-matcher for PUG raids. Raids Found this way will be easier than normal raids, 25-man only, and will include different loot and achievements to normal raids.
It’s also worth remembering that just because they’ve been announced doesn’t make their appearance in this patch a certainty – see also The Abyssal Maw, the Dance Studio, et al.
More on Patch 4.3 and Transmogrification .
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New dungeons and raids in Patch 4.3
Blizzard have confirmed we’ll see both a raid and three dungeons in 4.3. The dungeons will be sequential, and will form a storyline that will lead players up to the start of the new raid, The Dragon Soul.
As we predicted, the new dungeons will all be centered around the Caverns of Time as a hub, and will involve the players travelling back in time to the War of the Ancients.
More on the WoW Patch 4.3 dungeons in our dedicated post.
Melee buff
An unexpected – and sure to be controversial – change in 4.3 comes in the form of an all-encompassing buff to melee damage. All well as forming an open acknowledgement that many of the boss fights in Cataclysm have not been particularly well tailored to melee damage dealers, this buff feels like a bit of a sledgehammer approach to what is, surely, a more subtle and in-depth problem. It remains to be seen how effective this fix will be.
New Darkmoon Faire
We don’t know much about it beyond that. There’s going to be a new Darkmoon Faire Island, featuring exciting activities such as “Whack-a-Gnoll”.
Professions
We don’t know much about what changes might be brought to professions with the new patch, but one tidbit does have some potential ramifications for Jewelcrafters. Bosses from the Dragon Soul raid will drop epic gems, along with their other loot. Each raider will get a ‘geode’, which will usually contain a gem. More often than not, this will be a standard ‘blue’ gem, but occasionally you’ll be lucky enough to get an epic gem.
If this works the way it’s being indicated, this could have a major impact on Jewelcrafters. Demand for crafted gems will drop, and so will profit.
We’ll update this section with more details about profession changes, as we get them.
New Legendary Item in Patch 4.3
We know there’s going to be a new Legendary in Patch 4.3. The new Legendary’s going to be a Rogue item. It looks like this was revealed by accident – see the Warcraft Hunter’s Union writeup – but it’s now official.
And that’s all we know. We now know that the questline to obtain the legendary dagger will involve the uncorrupted black dragon egg found in the Twilight Highlands (kudos to Rades at Orcish Army Knife for calling this one some time ago). The questline will require the Rogue to use all of her rogue-ey skills: pickpocketing, backstabbing, slowfalling and sneaking her way to the prize.
Found any 4.3 titbits we should be aware of? Post info on this, the soon-to-be newest WoW patch, below!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Actually, a War of the Ancients raid would be perfect for the “first time we see Deathwing”. After all, the War of the Ancients is where Neltharion betrayed his siblings and became Deathwing. It is literally the first time anyone saw Deathwing.
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Aha! Nice. That would make perfect sense.
If they release a dungeon alongside the raid, I hope it’s another Caverns of Time Dungeon… and I hope it takes place when Alleria Windrunner and the army you commanded in Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal “killed” Deathwing.
That was the first time I saw deathwing and I thought it was not only the most badass name, he was also a freaking metal dragon! Not as metal as he is now, but still metal!
*Throws the horns*
There’s a pretty good chance for another CoT dungeon, I’d reckon. They’re always popular, and it would tie in with the War of the Ancients raid if that happens.
Yeah, And I like the idea of the transformigation thingy. I mean, Its the first thing I’ve EVER seen appear on WoW thats in favor of the RPers.
“since AGI-based classes have so far missed out on any Legendary items”
I’m sorry, that is utter BS. The Warglaives were agi based legendary weapons. The piss off about those is that warriors could use them, and now DKs, but hunters couldn’t. What sense does that make? Warriors and DKs aren’t an agi based class. Rogues, that makes sense, but not warrior.
It would be nice to have a legendary weapon aside from Thor’idal that hunters would be able to use.
@Kim – OK, I’ll modify that to “AGI-based classes haven’t seen a Legendary in a long, long while”.
Honestly, my hunch at this point is that we’ll be seeing a Drood/Hunter weapon, purely because there are a lot more druids and Hunters out there than rogues and Enha shammies.
Perhaps the reason there are not many Enh Shammy’s is that Blizz has continually made it difficult for us to match other melee DPS class’. I spent a long time working my Enh spec before finally changing to Ele. Oddly enough, this was a good move since some of my gear can be used for both Ele and Resto, meaning less time farming VP and more time farming mats. I have also noticed a higher demand for my role in both t11 and FL raids, as an Ele shaman can throw down DPS nearly as well as a Disc priest.
Happy hunting folks, SHAMMY POWER!!!
WTF. Rogues are getting a welfare legendary before most of us casters even have a shot to finish the staff? So, a legendary that applies to a single class? Is that what they are saying? Really? So we have healers to compete with for our staff (thanks to reforging, literally every class can now find a way to claim its good for their class), which takes upwards of 4 months to complete if you are lucky enough to be first chosen for your guild (I wasn’t, so I wont get it until long after 4.3 is out), and now this. This means that Rogues will get a welfare legendary, good only for them, before I even have a chance to get the caster staff. Wow. Thanks a pantload blizz. Why don’t you just give it to everyone who roles a rogue at the character creation screen and get it over with.
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