Awwwwkward

So, I post a big, bitchy rant about how Blizzard doesn't know how to make their own game, on the day before a big patch release. And the day of that patch release, there is no post. Hmmm. Coincedence? No, folks- just a big foot-in-mouth. I am sorry I missed my update yesterday. Quite frankly, it's because WoW patch 3.2 kicked me in the teeth, and said, "What now, Blogger McBloggerson?!" Well, like that, only not totally lame. Anyway.

So yeah. I stand by my comments that Blizzard is messing up class balance somewhat, and should listen to the community more. But the hinting that they didn't know how to design the rest of the game either? Consider mine an embarassed silence on that subject. 3.2 is awesome. Really, truly, genuinely amazing. Okay. Statements like that must be both explained and supported, and fortunately I am prepared to do both. For starters... what is so great about it? I think the main points are the emblem changes, and the battlegrounds changes. Beyond that, there are also a bunch of small changes that are significant when taken as a whole. The emblem changes make level 80 that much better, and the BG changes make all the lower level stuff much better.

First, the emblem changes. With this patch, everything that drops an emblem, other than the newest raid, drops the second best emblem type. So heroics drop the same as Ulduar. A lot of people were unhappy about this idea- they think that it makes raids without value. Thankfully... they are quite wrong. Raids are still fun (I did a few), still have unique content, are still worth experiencing. They also still, you know, have a lot of great gear. Just because heroics have good emblems doesn't change that- heck, it takes 58 (weird number, I know) Emblems to get ONE piece of Tier 8 gear, but you can get that same piece of gear with one drop in Ulduar. Raids aren't pointless now, it's just less of a bitch to get geared up when you hit 80. I'm all for that- I didn't raid for most of Ulduar, and now the game of catchup I have to play is not going to be such a nightmare. I'm also about to get my Warrior to 80, and when I do... it would blow pretty hard to have to do 80 instances, then heroics, then Naxx, then Ulduar, all just to get geared up. Now, I don't have to.

And of course, there's a part to it beyond the gearing up part... it makes heroics something people do again! Before the patch, a lot of raiders didn't even bother with heroics... and the players that did bother with them? Horribly geared and horribly unskilled. I honestly thought heroics were harder to heal than raids for a long time, until I realized I was just dealing with god awful tanks. No more! People in full Ulduar gear are doing heroics again, and it's marvelous! Amazing! And most importantly... fun! There's something we could stand to have more of.

If the emblem changes made the day for your 80, then the battleground changes are gonna make your alt flip out. No. More. Twinks. MAN. Well, that's not entirely true. It's more accurate to say that Blizzard came up with a system to keep twinks seperate from everyone else, so that normal people, like me, who just wanna do a BG as they level, can do so without being chain ganked. Now, if you pop into a BG at level 26... you'll do fine! Because the BG will be filled with people like you, people just wanting a little variety and fun as they level. Not people dedicated to making everyone else in their level range miserable. You can even level from a BG! How awesome is that?

And, of course, there were other changes with this patch. Holy Paladins were made into something human, rather than single target gods that failed at AoE healing. Score! More dailies, an excellent (and well scripted) new instance, a new raid, Engineering buffs (Yessssss!), and lots of other tweaks to the game. Really, any WoW player should love this patch- and if you don't, you're either way too conservative, or a twink, and therefore a bad person.