WoW: Echoes of Doom Patch Impressions

Oct 15, 2008

It was right about early July when I last logged into Azeroth, and man, has it changed. With the 3.0.2 Echoes of Doom patch, there have been a slew of tweaks to the user interface, as well as new quests, game features and skills to take a look at. As soon as I logged in, I was treated to something that felt entirely new, forcing me to familiarize myself with the new update. Once I started to get a firmer grasp on things, I was fairly impressed with what Blizzard has done, and looking at some of the skills that open up for the 71-80 level tier, the excitement over The Wrath of the Lich King expansion finally hit me.

According to the game lore, the magicians of Dalaran have decided that they've sat out of the fight for long enough, so they decided to move to the front lines of the upcoming war, taking their entire city with them. Left in its wake is nothing more than a crater with remnants of the city's arcane barrier and some floating rocks. It's an impressive sight, especially considering that this city inhabited this low-level zone since the game's launch back in 2004. Now, it's hovering above Northrend, smack dab in the middle of the action, acting as the central hub for the new island. Though, unless you've been playing the beta, you'll still have to wait until next month to see all this new central city has to offer.

Some of the changes that were immediately apparent had to do with the mounts in a player's inventory. With the new expansion comes a new pet tab on your character sheet. What this does is do away the need to have your mounts or pets taking up slots in your inventory. Rather, they'll each take up one of 12 slots in your pets tab, keeping those precious slots in your bag open, giving you extra room while questing. It's a really nice tweak, especially considering how much loot you'll receive during raids, where you'll need every bit of space possible to make the most of things.

The next new element that cropped up was that the new inscription job has now been implemented, and along with that comes glyph slots that you'll find as a new tab in your spellbook and abilities sheet. Think of glyphs as enchants, but rather than effecting your gear, glyphs add bonuses to your various spells and abilities. You'll be able to do things like add the chance of a critical strike from an attack, or do away with the need for reagents when casting some abilities, further helping you to fortify your character. As a mage, I was able to go to the auction house and buy two glyphs -- one that increases the damage from my frost nova, with the other increasing the distance travelled when I cast blink. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. To assign these new items to a slot, you'll need to head to a lexicon of power, which will be located near an inscription trainer, acting similar to a blacksmith's forge. At the onset of the game, you'll have access to five glyphs – three for minor glyphs, with two for major glyphs. You'll also be able to unlock a third major glyph slot, but you'll have to wait until you hit level 80 before that happens.

New talent trees have now been implemented, but there's nothing just yet that shows off the new abilities that will be available when the expansion is released next month. Some of the new talents are fantastic, adding some extra perks to a class' skillset, but there are also a few new talents that left us scratching our head. Though you can never please everyone, I'm confident that Blizzard is in the process of tweaking these new trees and if not, there's already a little something for everyone. If that's not enough for you, Blizzard has borrowed a page from Microsoft's playbook, implementing a system that has worked so well for the Xbox, and is more than likely to do well for WoW: Achievements.

I'm fairly confident that Blizzard has made more than a few fans happy, as this achievement system will add a tangible track record of everything you have done through the game. In fact, several co-workers downloaded the patch, while another reactivated his account just to see what their achievement score was. Players will now be able to gain points for their various accomplishments through the game, adding something to strive for in the game. Naturally, you'll be rewarded for doing some of the more difficult things the game has to offer, getting achievements for things such as dinging level 70, completing 1000 quests in the game, or getting 10,000 honorable kills, but if you're new to the game, you won't be left in a lurch. You'll also be able to get achievements for things like getting your first mount, or learning a profession, or even getting a new hairstyle through the barbershop.

Yeah, that's right, barbershops are now in the game too. Here, you'll be able to change your hair style, hair color or facial features, similar to what you'd find when you're first creating your character, but it's not exactly cheap. It cost us over seven gold just to get a quick haircut, and though in the grand scheme of things, the cost really isn't that much, to lower level players or those short on funds, it's a hefty price to pay for something that's merely aesthetic change. Another change to note is the new calendar feature, doing away with the need for an extra add-on. This calendar allows you to see upcoming events around Azeroth, such as the Feast of Winter Veil or the Hallow's End celebration. On top of that, you'll be able to create your own events, such as raids or PvP schedules, with the ability to invite whoever you'd like to the calendar listing.

For the PvP crowd, two new arenas have been introduced: The Ring of Valor and the Dalaran Sewers. The former is set in Orgrimmar, with the map being a giant ring, but the trick here lies in the staging areas. The combatants will be set on platforms, eventually rising to the surface just in time for the battle to begin. As the match commences, the two teams are placed mere yards away from each other, forcing both teams to immediately jump straight into the fray. The latter, set oddly enough in the bowels of Dalaran, seems like the less interesting of the two. There's a slightly raised platform with a waterfall that spouts water down in a pillar in varying intervals, acting as line-of-sight trial, forcing each player to constantly vie for a decent position for an attack.

As I said earlier, it's been a few months since I've played World of Warcraft, and with the changes found in the new patch, the game feels like something totally different. Considering the sheer amount of new content included in the 3.0.2 update, it can easily seem overwhelming, but at the same time, incredibly exciting. Even though there's a lot to grasp, this is just a warm up to the expansion, helping to give us a taste of what to expect when Arthas unleashes his scourge on Azaroth, and it seems like we have a lot to look forward to on the way to this epic fight.