World of Warcraft Pre-Cataclysm Patch Will Change Azeroth Forever Tomorrow

Tomorrow, instead of boring old server maintenance like usual, World of Warcraft players are going to witness a literally earth-shattering patch, one like you've never seen before on live servers.

The patch itself, 4.0.3a, is being dubbed “The Shattering,” and it will forever change Azeroth as it paves the way for WoW’s newest expansion: Cataclysm. After this patch tomorrow, the areas that we’ve grown to love over the past six years will never be the same.


Here’s a list of all of the changes that you can look forward to when the patch hits tomorrow:

• New Gnome and Troll starting experiences
• New race/class combinations (Tauren paladin FTW!)
• All of the terrain altering changes to existing zones in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, including splitting zones like The Barrens into two separate zones
• Thousands of new quests from levels 1-55
• New Cataclysm login screen, cinematic, and loading screens
• New music
• New class trainers in Dalaran where the city portals used to be
• New tabards for gaining rep with cities such as Stormwind, Orgrimmar, etc.
• New tamable pets for hunters including a monkey, a fox, a dog, and a beetle
• Druids, paladins, priests, and shaman will have their talent trees reset
• The experience needed to get from levels 71-80 will now be 20% less
• A new auctioneer in Dalaran is available for all players, not just engineers
• Dozens of class changes

Pre-expansion patches are usually the largest and integrate a lot of new things, but this one is different than all the rest. There are tons of game altering changes coming tomorrow, including the permanent deletion of old content. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty more coming out with the actual Cataclysm expansion.

Here’s a list of changes that aren’t happening tomorrow, but that you can still look forward to when Cataclysm arrives on December 7:

• Creating new goblin or worgen characters
• The goblin and worgen starting zones
• The new secondary profession, Archaeology
• Leveling up professions to Illustrious Grand Master status
• Guild leveling
• Guild achievements
• Flying in Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms
• New level 80-85 zones/quests/raids/instances/epics

And finally, for those rare mount collectors out there, you better get your farming boots out tonight because several mounts are disappearing forever with this patch:

• The Swift Zulian Tiger from Zul’Gurub will no longer be obtainable.
• The Swift Razzashi Raptor from Zul’Gurub will no longer be obtainable.
• The Crusader’s White/Black Warhorse and Swift Alliance  Steed/Swift Horde Wolf from Trial of the Crusader will no longer be obtainable.

And there you have it. As someone who has been playing WoW for all of its six years, let me assure you that this patch will blow your mind. The new zones, quests, and overall experience of World of Warcraft are changing tomorrow for the better, and you should be very excited. 

For a list of all of the extensive class changes, terrain changes, and race combos being introduced tomorrow, head over to MMO-Champion.