Patch 6.1 - Meh or hell yeah?

I didn't realise that patch was so close, as in next week!  Official release date is February 24 and I am excited about some of the changes. Stick me on the hell yeah end of the stick.

The Grumpy Elf was on the meh end of the 6.1 bandwagon. He wasn't particularly excited about the new changes because:
  • They should have come out with WoD release
  • The social media stuff and selfies is for kids (ie he's too old for that shit)
Blizzard has never released a game till they thought they were ready.  Though many may disagree, I think that Warlords of Draenor was as it could be for release.  The server crashing thing with too many people in the instances - could they really predict that when they didn't have problems with it in beta testing?  "Why didn't they just upgrade the servers so that they could handle the extra load?" said a lot of people.  Well, how would you like it if you had to pay for a $2500 for a 2 million dollar life insurance when you could get away with a $300 for a $150,000 life policy? Because you don't have  3 kids and a mortgage right now but you might in the next year or so, right? So, you can't blame Blizzard for not knowing what it would do until it hit, you don't know how many people are going to start playing from Day 1.  You have to applaud them though, they got onto the instance server thing within a few days. A few days to have instance servers fixed is faster than getting bloody Telstra out to fix my damned phone line.

Also, having all those things from patch 6.1 ready for release meant that they would have to push back the release date.  People couldn't wait any longer for the expansion, in my opinion.  They were already itching for something to do, and if Blizz announces a release date, they stick to it.

So what's my take on the new things coming?

New Heirloom tab
Yeah I wish they'd had this before.  But people were excited with their new found bag space with reagent bank and toy tab, so this may not have been as exciting.  Now that we've all filled our bags with shit again, people may be excited to find somewhere to park all their heirlooms - though really, they don't take up too much space on my main since I store them all on crappy bank alts.

Updated Blood Elf models
People are going to start playing their Blood elves again so they can see some pert butt, nipples on men and sculpted backs with these character updates.  I think they'll be appreciated more because everyone was too busy looking at their Forsaken, Tauren, Trolls, Humans, Gnomes, Night elves and Dwarves.  I do wonder why Draenei were done before Blood elves though - you'd think since they came out together they'd be updated together.  I guess that's why people thought Blood Elves should have been updated with release.

Selfies and Tweeting pics
I think it's useful to have this function but it makes no difference to me.  At least Blizz is getting "with the times"!

A Buttload of Garrison upgrades - practically all win

  • Win! Something to shrink that stupid Bodyguard
  • Win! Treasure hunter trait. OK, I agree with Grumpy Elf, should've had this from release.
  • Win! Garrison UI being updated because Master plan is so successful and useful
  • Win! Platinum invasions - I'm not sure if I can do them on all invasions but Botani will definitely be an easy Platinum invasion
  • Win! Easier to catch Lunkers, and Nat will sell those baits to catch fish
  • Win! Trading Armour scraps for follower item upgrade. At last they are useful
  • Win! Ashran Auctioneer parts now have an increased drop rate.  Though, I probably won't keep my trading post much longer...
  • Poo! Salvage yard nerfed for drops.  I don't have one so I don't really care.
  • Poo! Scavenger boost to resources from missions nerfed.  It was a bit OP anyway.
I like that there will be a summonable raid bosses in the Garrison (more party times for groups more than 10!) and also there was the expected increase in item level for your followers and Blackrock Foundry Missions. 

Resto Druid changes
  • Moment of Clarity now lasts 7 seconds instead of 5.  So I can get four free regrowths in now instead of three.  Good for mana heavy fights!
  • Rampant Growth now also increases the healing of Swiftmend by 20%.  I can see that these two talents (MoC and RG) were buffed because everyone was choosing Germination.
  • Genesis no longer requires a target to cast.  About bloody time, the thing was an AoE effect, it's like finding a target to cast tranquility.
  • Can't cast Ironbark or Displacer beast when silenced.  Well, I did expect that to be coming.
Pet Battles
  • Raiding with Leashes III with new pets to get, will be fun for me.  Though I have not used any of my new pets, really, as part of  my pet battling repertoire yet.
  • Garrison pet battles easier - I thought of EJ and Raven when I heard this was coming!
Cooking
I hated how better food dropped from the barn than from cooking.  I like that there will be a +125 stat food (self only - does that mean the food is soulbound? That's a good idea) so that we can all bring our own good food to raid, and it feels like cooking is WORTH doing.  Maybe now I'll be able to get Lil Leftovers.
Fishing
  • Lunker drop rates increased yay!
  • Nat can give baits now and they last for 10 minutes instead of 5 minutes.  Much better when you're using it with worms.
Archaeology
  • Yay, you can hold 250 fragments now.  I had a really annoying time when I had a rare item to solve and it took 200 fragments and I couldn't pick up 7 fragments (I had 198) because I had reached the max limit.  I had to buy one of the special items to make up the rest of the archaelogy item which was expensive. 
  • I can now put Restored artifacts in the reagent tab! Yay!
Ashran
  • Time between battles is now 10 minutes, thank goodness.
  • The PvP events now award 100 conquest instead of 125.  They should have made it 50 or 75, in my opinion.
  • Queue times are shorter.
  • They got rid of most of the Ashran only scrolls and wands.  YAY BAG SPACE! Though I will miss the Town Portal scroll.
I found it amusing that people said they were "done" with the expansion already.  The things that they enjoy are done, probably.  But that's because they're not looking to do other things in game, say pet battles or achievements, raiding or PvP.  I play a hell of a lot and I still am not done with those things. Perhaps it is a little disappointing that there is no new "content" in terms of quests, lore, dungeons etc, but Blackrock Foundry only just came out and LFR is out this week - that should keep people busy for a while!  I know it will keep my busy!

So, what side of the fence are you sitting on? Meh or Hell yeah?

Comments

  1. Maybe now I'll try fishing for lunkers again, I've pretty much given up on those. Maybe I'm just an unlucky fisherwoman, lol.

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  2. I am sure on the meh side, as you noted.

    As for the server issues, they were the same on beta with many less people. Beta had the same crashes for the same reasons day in and day out all day long every day. So yes, they could have predicted them. If they were having this problems on beta with fewer players did they really think that if we released it to many more people that errors would just disappear or correct themselves? Warlords was still in beta at release. 6.1 marks the end of the beta. It is not a content patch.

    I wonder what will be needed for platinum invasions, have not read it anywhere yet. You are right about the botani one however. Got over 1600 the first time I did it. Want over 2K? Bring a boomkin and 2K is a sure thing.

    Over all, I still stick with what I said. I love a lot of the changes as you mentioned, lunkers, more garrison stuff, new pets, etc, but everything you mentioned should have been in the game on release. The only "new" stuff we are getting is twitter and selfies, and I am too old for that, so meh is really the best possible response to it.

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    1. The more I read what you and others have said, I have come to realise that these tweaks and gameplay changes are not content changes - as everyone keeps telling me, there is no new content. I wonder if Blizz will change directions next patch (though by then there should be new raid and things to do)

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    2. Er, yeah, 6.2 will be Tanaan Jungle and the new raid at a minimum. I'm just not even sure what people expected for a patch like this.

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  3. "I play a hell of a lot and I still am not done with those things."

    Indeed (well, I technically am not playing much at all outside of raids but I definitely get the gist). It's felt rather overwhelming to me if anything. Normally I'm the person who immediately jumps on every new rep, questing achievement, or mount collecting -- but in WoD I haven't. Feels like there's so many quest achievements or so much rep to grind that it's not even worth bothering with.

    Kind of like what happened with pets in MoP -- I had like 200 pets prior to MoP and was fairly proud of it...then they added another 300+ and I just thought "screw it." Too much effort to stay "current" at that point.

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    1. Your thoughts on pets inspired another post...

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  4. The selfie thing is kind of silly: as far as the Draenei go - they probably had the BELFs done but after the uproar over Draenei they probably got scared. I still hate the way Draenei look...and human females...and it breaks my heart to see the poor quality of art they sold us. The flat, all-white or color eyes, no smiles, no warmth in cheeks or curves in facial expressions will never stop bothering me. Enough to unsubscribe? Maybe. As far as content goes, this game caters to raiders: when I'm trying to raid, it feels pinchy, and when I can't, feels boring. But --so be it. Maybe someday the pretty Blood Elf girls can be shamans! lol

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    1. I take a lot of screenies, but the selfies thing isn't really my thing, though of course I may use it once the feature is up! I guess the game wants to feel updated - attracting younger newer players may be what they're aiming for? I'm not sure.

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  5. I had the 250 Archeology aarokoa one and luckily i had 4 scrolls or I would have been screaming.

    Ayelena

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  6. There's a decent amount of changes but they are mostly tweaks, UI and QoL changes. It's like a major hotfix or weekly patch, with new belf models and tweeting, both features with limited audience and no gameplay significance. Logging on to 6.1 on day dot will feel no different than 6.0 - it's hard to get excited about it when the only story/content progression seems to be khadgar's quest line, which none of us have completed the BRF part of yet.

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    1. You're right, I hadn't reallly thought of it that way, I just saw new things and there are no new content things to do and I wonder what the subs are like NOW.

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  7. I'd been holding off on re-doing my Characters page with the new models until the new Blood Elf models were out. I guess I'll have to get working on that. I haven't HAAAATED (imagine this in the Sindragosa BETRAAAAYS YOU!!!! voice) the new models the way some folks do, but there are aspects of them that I'm not completely happy with. Hopefully the promised "tweaks" to some of the new models will take care of at least some of the things that bother me. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll be okay with the new appearances of my Blood Elf Mage, Warlock, and Rogue.

    I made a conscious choice when Twitter was new to not do it -- I didn't (and still don't) need another distraction of that level in my life. I think the camera could be fun, though -- it might be just what I've been wanting to get decent closeups of my characters' faces for my Characters page. And of course I'm excited about the Garrison jukebox. I'm probably going to be pestering you folks (via my BattleNet status message) for help with Bounty quests so I can get all the parts.

    I've barely used my Bodyguards at all with Kam -- but I'll admit that being able to Shrink-Ray Tormmok will make me more likely to use him with other characters. Garrison pet battles being easier means I might actually open the Menagerie with one of these alts one of these days. I still haven't gotten around to doing the lunkers quest for Nat with Kam, but my Hunter has decided that *she* wants to do it, so, hey. Baits lasting as long as lures is a nice plus, but I could generally catch enough fish to get the 10 fish eggs for the Fishing Shack Daily in only 5 minutes. I'm actually kind of sad that they dropped the idea of baits spoiling because of the inventory space they take up, but if Nat's going to sell them, then I guess I can clear out those inventory spaces anyway.

    The Heirloom tab will be nice to have. It'll clear up some space in the Male Tauren Warrior's inventory. Not sure if I'll try to get the ones I'm missing to get up to 35, though. The Chaffeured Chopper just doesn't excite me. Now, if it were one of those Goblin Hotrods, then I'd be super excited for it -- but alas, it is not.

    I suppose that makes me "looking forward to it" or possibly even "mildly excited". :P

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  8. There are lots of things I'm looking forward to but I guess you can't please everybody.

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    1. True, at least it's not EVERYBODY displeased, right?

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  9. Twitter and Facebook are not content.

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    1. You are correct, they are not. But someone might enjoy them.

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  10. You're absolutely right, the expansion needed to come out when it did, even if it means we get a quality of life patch over a new quest hub or something.

    You so know I would use the SELFIE cam all the time on my new and improved Blood Elves. Is the allure of new models enough for me to resub though? I'm afraid not. I get that there is still a tonne of stuff to experience, but I've seen all the zones, my heart isn't in raiding and I'm really happy with where Nerillia is at with her Garrison. So, for the meantime, I will remain unsubbed and continue to get my WoW fix through great blogs like yours <3

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I hope these comments work! Not sure why people can't comment lately, it makes me sad :(