Welcome to A Look At, an editorial series where we try to keep things lighter than your average guide.
Patch 6.0.2 is live on both the US and EU servers now and it possibly has the biggest amount of changes to the game we’ve seen in any pre-expansion patch. Because of this you’ll undoubtedly run into some things that could be confusing or just broken. Let’s take a look at what you could run into and how to go about dealing with it. (You can always check out the patch notes here)
Class Changes
Let’s face it, one of the biggest things you’ll encounter is the amount of changes you might have gotten to your class. The ability pruning and stat/healer/tank changes were all needed for the longevity of the game but no doubt some things might frustrate you at first. You’ll have to get used to playing your class or spec again in a different way compared to what you were used to. You might even have to switch specs if it turns out due to the changes another spec has more damage/healing output. Icy veins has guides to help you along in getting used to the changes for your class.
Along with those guides what can you do to get up to speed? Practice. Use the training dummies in the city to get used to your new rotation (Raid dummies have been updated to level 100 raid bosses, so use the level 90 dummies in your faction’s shrine in pandaria). It’s ok that it can cost a bit of time, just be patient. There’s a reason these pre-expansion patches are released ahead of an expansion. By getting used to everything now you’ll be able to rock the socks of the Iron Horde when Warlords is actually released.
System Changes And Bugs
There’s no doubt that a lot of the changes are straight forward, especially taking into consideration all of the bagspace changes. However because of all these changes it’s quite possible that there are still bugs lurking beneath the surface because of the complexity of each system. If you come across such a bug, don’t get too frustrated. Again this is why we get the changes now and not when the actual expansion is launched. Report the bugs with as much detail as you can through the appropriate bug reporting channels. You can also check to see if the bug or issue is already known.
- For the EU, use the ingame bug reporting tool. In WoW go to the menu (escape), help, click Submit Bug. Then Enter the details of the bug, making sure to follow the guidelines outlined on the submission form. Afterwards click Submit.
- For the US, other than the ingame way of reporting you also have the bug report forums.
Community Manager Zarhym had this to say about any stat squish issues:
If any particular creatures aren’t properly squished, be sure to report them by name in the Bug Report forum so we can hotfix these as quickly as possible.As an aside, Patch 6.0.2 is the biggest change World of Warcraft has ever seen, particularly on the technical side with file structure and coding, as well as on the mechanical side with things like the stat squish, ability pruning, etc. There are bound to be some unforeseen bugs or other issues, which is why we have all hands on deck ready to pounce on these as we find them. With your help and patience we’ll get things sorted even faster.
Addons
As a last mention, due to all the system changes it’s quite possible some or many of your addons might be broken. The process of fixing an addon, let alone writing one, can be quite long. So if your favorite addon hasn’t been updated yet and is completely broken just turn it off for now and wait until it has been fixed by the author. (And you can always choose to find another addon that does the same and has been fixed for 6.0)
Conclusion
Pre-expansion patches are always exciting times, but they can be frustrated too. Just remember a game can be a complicated thing beneath the surface. So just take your time to get used to the new things and report any bugs you might come across. That way you’ll help the developers and be completely ready when the real goal comes around: Warlords of Draenor.