First Impressions of Patch 4.0.1: A Player’s Standpoint

Ok, so patch 4.0.1 took about forever and a year to download for me because I kept having to pause it to get some work done.  Yeah, I know, work, heh.  But, once I finally got it downloaded and ready to rock, I couldn’t wait to get in and play.  While I’m sure some of you have already seen all the cool changes that came along with patch 4.0.1, some of you might just now be downloading the patch and getting in to play.  So, I thought that I would give you my first impressions of what patch 4.0.1 has to offer and how I think it will affect gameplay overall for me.

One of the first things I noticed when I logged into my banker toon is that there is now a subtle change to the way that the auction money comes to you.  I do like this layout better, it’s easier to read.  And, I hate it that now none of my addons work – so I’ll have to re-download my favorites… uggg.

When I logged into my Death Knight, I immediately found my talents were reset.  Ok, no problem, I’ll go in and fix that.  Well, the change that has been placed in the talents window is awesome to me to say the least.  Now, you can see everything side by side, and you don’t have to flip back and forth trying to figure out what you want to do.  Do I love this?  Hell yes I do.  You have to choose one talent to specialize in before you can start plugging talent points into it, and I love the Blood spec for a DK, so that’s where I went.  After plugging my talent points in, I went to my spells tab to put back some of the hotkeys I’d lost.

Another cool change – I see that now your spells book is laid out in a way easier to read manner.  Plus, it actually tells you what you can get now from your trainer.  To me, this is sweet, as it will save time running back to a trainer if you aren’t sure that you can get new spells or whatever.  I also like that now on your spells tab you can see your professions, mounts, and pets, along with your spellbook.  Super sweet – I love it…  I also love the new layout of the spellbook overall, it looks awesome and more like a book now.

Of course, now you can reforge an item, as long as it is level 200 or over, which most lower level players won’t have.  But, the good thing is that when you can reforge something, it will make it much easier to customize your toon the way you want it.

You will probably notice that there are NO level 200 items in the AH right now.  I’m sure that almost everyone snatched them up quickly before the patch.  And, you will probably also notice that there are very few lower priced gems and other items that you might need for gear.  I’m sure that this will change too – but in the mean time, us JC’s will be eating up the rewards from these changes.

I keep hearing everyone griping about this class change or that change, and then I hear others that are jumping for joy with some of the changes.  I haven’t messed with some of the different changes to the DK class or the Warlock class yet – but I’m sure I will like some and hate some.  That’s the way it goes people…

Now, as I’m playing this morning and checking out the new changes, I am hearing mixed reviews on patch 4.0.1.  Supposedly, some of the higher level raiders are not happy with the changes at all on my server, and according to one, ah, rude player, several have already quit.  But, everyone else seems to like patch 4.0.1 so far – as I do.  As Cataclysm draws nearer, I’m sure that more changes will come and everyone will modify their first impressions of the patch and the changes, but so far, this WoWHead loves patch 4.0.1.