World of Warcraft Patch 4.0.1: Cataclysmic Changes

This week Blizzard has begun its official ramp up to the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. This Tuesday marked the release of Patch 4.0.1, which implemented many of the core game mechanic changes that were promised with the expansion. Here is a rundown of what’s new:

• Talent Tree Changes: All of the talents have been reworked, with the amount of talent points being reduced from 71 to 41. The trees themselves are also much smaller, many older talents are either gone or combined with each other to make it easier to specialize player’s characters.

• Mastery Rating: A new stat, called mastery has been added, which, depending on a player’s talents, will give them different enhancements.

• Character Skills: Players now only need to train a skill once, and it will level along with them. Skills have been radically changed, along with the levels at which they are learned.

• Raid Lockout: With the new system, players are now no longer stuck with the same group for the entire period. If they defeat one one boss, they can now leave their group, then continue with the rest of the bosses in the raid in a different group.

• New Currency: Badges have now been removed form the game and replaced with a much simpler points system for buy your epic shiny gear. Bosses in dungeons and raids now award a set amount of points.

• Reforging: Players can now shift stats on their gear, allowing for better customization.

• Guilds: A new guild pane has been added, and guild membership has been capped at 1000.

These are just some of the bigger changes. There has also been some new graphic options, and specific changes for class. For the whole list, go to : Patch Notes 4.0.1

How will these pan out? It will most likely be a few months before the dust settles and the kneejerk reactions stop. But as a WoW player, as far as I can see, these are changes for the better