Repost of https://wehatepugs.com/blog/paravel/2008/10/02/patch-just-nick-time

Wowinsider posted about an official speculative release date for the 3.0.2 content patch.   Blizzard poster Nethaera. posted this little bit of information on the first.

We’re currently planning to end the fourth Arena season on October 14, 2008, and as always – this date could easily change. This Arena Season is only ending in respect to the ladder, meaning we’ll be taking a snapshot of the season’s ladder and then go through our normal process to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards. This process should take approximately one week. It’s very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for the arena-specific title and/or Armored Nether Drake to refrain from transferring their character to another realm between the date outlined above, and when the end-of-season rewards are physically awarded.

Upon the end of this Arena Season, teams and ratings will not be wiped, and will carry forward allowing players to earn points each week and purchase gear until the launch of the expansion (November 13, 2008).

Sooo . . . speculation has the patch coming out November 13 or 14 with the end of Season 4.  This patch will bring a lot of the new goodies that will be coming out in WotLK.

  • New talent specs.

  • New spells.

  • Nerfed NPC’s and bosses in outland to make leveling a bit easier on the race to 80 when we all hit Northrend.

  • New professions, glyphs. . I can go on, but I wont.

What I really want to address is the timing.  If you are like me, you know the normal run of the mill jack of all trades master of none casually hardcore player, then you have hit what we like to call the pre-expansion blues (echo and reverb).  You are at a point where motivation becomes your worst enemy.  You don’t want to raid because hey, in a few weeks I might replace one of my purples with a quest green.   We saw it when Burning Crusade came out. . but. . Its not that bad.  I was happy to NOT replace my epics with the first zone in Northrend.  You find it hard to farm because meh. . who really likes to spend hours in one spot killing things over and over and over?

You can feel it in general and *shudder* trade channel on most servers.  They are becoming ghost towns, which is not necessarily a bad thing mind you..   The good news is that this is not new.  It happen with the last expansion.   A lot of us stopped doing anything.  However we did not have other things pulling us away.  Today we have another triple A game attempting to  woo players away.  How does Blizzard keep us interested and coming back?

Release a content patch.  One that, frankly, is a little odd in how much is in it.  We received a content patch before BC came out where our talents got a “review” but nothing in the scope of this patch. It begs the question then as to why so much?  All of the new game play mechanics that WotLK has in it will be out here for us before we can even step foot on the new frozen digital playground.  I suspect Blizzard is doing this for two reasons.  One, to keep us interested and give us something to do while we wait for release, and two, create a larger “beta” group.  How best to flush out all the bugs of the mechanics than release it to over 10 million players.  They can then find, fix, and have a smooth release on November 13th.

The good news for us is we will have things to do for the next 2 weeks after the patch hits.  It will, Blizzard hopes, keep us engaged and reved for the leveling race again.

I am looking forward to the release.  Between all my toons, and lack of things to do right now I am very frankly. . bored out of my ever loving skull!  I log in. . start my dailies and then. . . . arg. . log off, read blogs, work on stuff.  “EXPANSION IS RUINING MY GAME LIFE MAN!”

But to fight this off, being a vet of the Pre Burning Crusade Expansion Blues, I have made a list of things I will do once the content patch is released.  Perhaps you might get some ideas yourself. . Yes you, the one behind the monitor going. . what do I do today?  You could;

  • Pick up inscription on one of your toons and max it out as far as the current content will allow.  If you want some advice, pick up all the herbs you can now and get ready for a very exciting and cool new profession.

  • Study for your new talents and builds.  Everyone gets a free respec come patch release, and everyone gets new deeper talent trees.  Level 80 here we come. . err. . in a couple more weeks.

  • Achievements!  I will be completing all the old and small achievements I can.  Like the exploration, faction, and collecting items ones.  Some hate the idea of achievements, but I like it!  Gives me some goals to work on durring down time, even if it may only give you a title.  But hey, you can get cool stuff too.  Get 50 mounts and you will be the proud owner of this baby!

  • Work your alts.  Now that leveling will be easier in Outland I will get my remaining alts, or as many as I can, to 70 before the expansion.  This way Ill never run out of things to do. . . Until the next expansion that is.

  • Get your addons in order.  With the release of the patch we will be on a new client build that has a lot of changes to the UI.  Mod authors are busy trying to get mods ready and its going to be a bumpy ride for those of us that use a lot of mods.  Just like the lat major UI overhaul it will be rough, but the mod community is wonderful and will have things ready and patched in a week or so after the patch.  This is great news.  It means when we get off the boat on November 13 into the new land we will not have to worry about our mods.

I for one can not wait for the patch to hit.  I hope to be ready to hit Northrend fully prepared and ready to go.  What are some things you plan on doing while we wait for Northrend?