Patch 4.1 Recap

The latest version of the PTR is listed as a release version which means patch 4.1 will probably go live within the next couple of weeks. It’s about time too. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m ready to go in there with all of our improved abilities and new found DPS and start pounding the sweat out of these trouble making trolls. Not to mention that there’s a certain cloak that must be found and disenchanted.

What’s that you say? Our DPS is not getting buffed this patch? Our specs, rotations and abilities aren’t changing? Are we getting nerfed to the ground then? Thankfully, the answer is no to that as well.

Basically what we’re getting are tweaks and some very nice quality of life changes. Multi-shot is getting a buff which will help to improve Marksman AoE, but for the most part our specs, rotations and overall DPS will remain as they are now.

We probably won’t see any significant changes to our DPS until the next tier of raid content is released, and we’re half way through Firelands, and everyone is MM because it’s doing massive amounts of DPS due to weapon damage scaling.

That’s all patch 4.2, today I’m talking about patch 4.1. The full enchilada of patch notes can be found here, but the meat of the changes is pets.

Once upon a time I tamed Humar the Pridelord. This was back in Vanilla. I got him when I dinged level 23, and he was my pet for a long time. Then Burning Crusade came along and I decided to release him. Later in the expansion I decided to tame him again. I was 70 and he was still level 23. I had to grind 47 levels on him fighting mobs that were level 63 and higher. In other words for the majority of that time he just stood by my side watching me kite mobs. It was brutal. 

Well brace yourselves because pet leveling is about to become the fodder for grumpy old hunters who’ll sit back and tell you how it was back in their day. It’s gone, kaput, a thing of the past, and I say good riddance. So now when you tame a pet it will automatically ding to your level. No excuse for not having a sporebat now.

You know what makes me happy? That’s right, the demise of the pet happiness system. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to use a cunning pet and watch him go from green to yellow in the middle of a boss fight. No more having to waste GCDs on mend pet just to make our pets happy. Oh, and that “damage buff” the pets get for being happy? Yeah it’s going baseline, so our pets will do the exact same damage they are now.

Of course all of the talents and glyphs that affect happiness are getting modified. The most notable is the Glyph of Mend Pet which is changing to the Glyph of Lesser Proportion. While I think it’d be awesome if it shrank our pets to critter size (think Baby Spice), I suspect it will be hardly noticeable.

All in all some great changes coming our way in Patch 4.1

Good Hunting!