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The long-awaited Patch 2.4.3 went live today. You can read the full patch notes as reported by MMO Champion, but here are a few of the changes I found worth mentioning.
- Haris Pilton has launched a new line of bags and jewelry. Check her out in the World’s End Tavern!
These bags are 22-slot and cost 1200 gold. Relevant to Druids in particular given the amount of gear we’re known to tote around. Keep in mind that, with Wrath of the Lich King right around the corner, 22-slot bags will probably become much more accessible soon. 
Mounts at 30?! Yes, it’s true: Apprentice Riding and mounts are now available at level 30. Training costs 35 gold.
This makes the Druid Travel Form gained at level 30, a 40% speed increase, slightly less exciting (though it remains a great PvP tool due to being insta-cast and usable in combat). I’d like to see it made available at level 20 alongside the Shaman equivalent, Ghost Wolf.- Equipping an item will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress.
This is a substantial change as it invalidates idol-switching for any spell with a cast time (Wrath, Starfire, Regrowth). If you use macros of this nature, make sure you check them and make changes before you raid. - Barkskin: The cost of this spell is now reduced by Tree of Life Form.
With 2370 base mana at level 70, Barkskin will cost 228 mana in ToL, down from 284. - Rocket Boots Xtreme and Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite can no longer be used in the arena. These no longer have a failure chance.
Maybe now people will realize that OP Arena mobility is the strict domain of Druids, not engineers! - Juicy Bear Burgers now correctly increase healing as well as spell damage.
But don’t let BBB catch you eating them! - Druids: Mangle will no longer incorrectly indicate a 100-yard range on the tooltip.
Corrected a typo in the tooltip for the Druid spell Rip (Rank 4).
I swear Druids are the most tooltip-maligned class. Our class developer must be the office drunk. - Taking the Druid flight path from Moonglade will no longer dispel buffs.
I find it sad that I never noticed that it did this.
All in all, nothing too exciting (although I am looking forward to getting a couple of alts mounts now). These types of patches tend to whet my appetite for new content, in this case Wrath of the Lich King. 360% armor buff and no movement speed reduction while in Tree of Life? Yes, please!
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Well, there goes libram switching. Oh well, I’m sure I needed those macro slots for something else…
w00t for low level mounts….And why should a tree even have to cast barkskin….HELLO?!??!
Taking the Druid flight path from Moonglade will no longer dispel buffs.
I find it sad that I never noticed that it did this.
If it makes you feel any better, it’s possible it was a bug introduced only recently, in a previous patch. You used to have to manually cancel your shapeshifted form to use any flightmaster in the game. Then, after a patch, there was a period of time where talking to a regular flightmaster would auto-cancel your shapeshifted form, but they forgot to do it for the special Nighthaven Druid flightmasters (which work a little differently). Then, finally, in another recent patch, they added similar functionality to the Nighthaven peeps. So it’s possible that in doing so, they mistakenly set it to cancel all buffs and auras, in addition to our “stances.” But I never noticed either, so who knows?
Say goodbye to spellsurge swapping as well – that’s gonna hurt a lot more…
Ithiliens last blog post..Small update
“Equipping an item will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress.”
Well there goes using itemrack while hearthstoneing. =(
“Barkskin: The cost of this spell is now reduced by Tree of Life Form.”
In other words, 60 more mana! WOOT! ^_^
“Taking the Druid flight path from Moonglade will no longer dispel buffs.”
I didn’t notice this ether, but then again i dont notice many bugs…
“I’d like to see it made available at level 20 alongside the Shaman equivalent, Ghost Wolf.”
Turning into a Cheetah though is just so much more awesome than a ghost wolf that Blizzard had to hold out giving it to us till level 30. I mean, what would everyone else do if we could possibly use Cheetah at 20!? Pandemonium i’m sure. (but seriously its just because Blizzard just HAS to keep the generic cast time on their ghost wolf, /sigh).
Wahh, i can’t stay in tree form during an arena match with my rocket boots on while they think ‘lol tree form? I don’t even need slowing effects’ Zoom! away go the trees.
@Ninjasuperspy: No kidding. I’ve had to resort to using the “Generic” shared macros slots for Phaelia she has so many. I really hope they increase the number you’re allowed to keep when they move them to server-stored in the expansion.
@Abagoo: No, we shouldn’t. But I’m glad that we can.
@Tone: That’s a good theory and it wouldn’t surprise me if your supposition is accurate.
@Ithilien: Well, from how I understand it, you should still be able to perform weapon swaps like that used for Spellsurge; it just shouldn’t be allowed to go off unless you’ve just cast an insta-cast spell (like Lifebloom, Moonfire, Rejuvenation, Insect Swarm). I hope there’s an update to CWS that takes this into account.
@Zackoria: Why were you using Item Rack while hearthstoning? ^_^ If it’s to get dolled up for running about town, you should try Outfitter; it switches for you in town automatically! Also, let’s be glad Ghost Wolf has a cast time. Without it, Shamans would be OP in 2v2!
@Tiagantar: Hahaha … great use for those boots. I’m surprised that they didn’t make this change sooner; Blizzard knows better than to allow Engineering to be useful in any meaningful context!
I think I only noticed the Moonglade druid FP dispel because it used to remove things like Find Herbs; I don’t think it’s done that since the tracking change, though.
I am quite saddened at the loss of idol swapping. It may not have made a big difference, but I liked it! Now Phae, you must tell me whether I need to have Idol of the Emerald Queen or Idol of the Crescent Goddess on. What should my regrowth % be before I switch to regrowth idol?
Aww no more bragging to 30s about our super speed. I wish I found out about that mount lvl requirement change earlier since I just bought my first mount on my alt not too long ago.
Why should a tree need to cast Barkskin? It sounds like something a tree would have naturally…
I never noticed that Moonglade glitch either, and I go there a lot. Did it dispel all buffs everytime or was there just a chance it would occur?
And who would buy 2 extra bag slots for 1200g?
@Phae
Shamans can get instant ghost wolf… they have a 2 point talent in the 2nd tier of Enhancement that reduces the cast time to instant.
I think Shaman’s ghost wolf should be moved down to level ten since now they only have 10 levels to play with it compared to the previous 20
That’s a great list of important changes, but you forgot one of the best: “Zoning into an instance on a PvE realm will now drop your PvP flag”.
No more pvp-infected raid or 5-man party on PvE realms, yey!
Solidstates last blog post..patch 2.4.3
travel form, even at 30, has advantages over ghost wolf.
-GW needs 2 points in a second-tier talent in enhancement (ie at least 7 points in eh) in order to be instant cast
-GW does not provide immunity to polymorph, nor does it break polymorph or snares
-GW is dispellable
if travel form was moved to 30, GW would have to be given some of its advantages in order to compensate. breaking snares would be huge. shaman everywhere would cry tears of joy for something like that.
I swear Druids are the most tooltip-maligned class. Our class developer must be the office drunk.
That would explain Moonkin.
*rimshot*
@Sydera: That’s a trick question, right? The answer is you should adjust your healing to whatever % is necessary for the Regrowth idol to be your idol of choice!
@Gelaende: Mr. Phae thinks that the 30-39 WSG bracket is likely a major reason they decided to give everyone mounts at 30. Apparently Cheetah Form is a big deal in that bracket. ^_^
@Donjo: I never reaslized it could become insta-cast. That’s really cool. I wonder why more Shamans don’t have it.
@Jimmy: I agree!
@Solidstate: I actually included that in my original summary but couldn’t think of a pithy enough comment. >.<
@Luke: I don’t dispute that Travel Form isn’t better than Ghost Wolf. I just think that Druids should be better at travelling than Shamans. I have no issue with them moving Ghost Wolf up another 10 levels, I just thought that having the ability to move faster sooner than everyone else was supposed to be a core perk of the class (though I suppose it’s far less relevant now with the level cap).
@Meanderingmind: No, I’m afraid we’d have to attribute THAT decision to another more controlled substance. LOL
“Taking the Druid flight path from Moonglade will no longer dispel buffs.”
Those flights take so danged long you probably just assumed that the buffs had expired on their own…
@Cailh: Haha … good point!