The battle for Pandaria is at its peak. Her resources have been completely raped and pulled from the ground. The earth has been torn usunder, and the Horde and Alliance are at each others throats-But there are more serious problems forming in their ranks. Garrosh Hellscream is grasping for anything that will give him an edge in the fight, even if that means digging into the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, to look for the dark heart of a dead god. King Varian of the Alliance has been forced to seek aid from the Dark Iron Princess Moira, to help shore up his ranks for the fight as well.
The Battle for Pandaria threatens to engulf the whole of Azeroth, and you and your team are on the frontlines of the conflict.
With the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance on Pandaria is reaching it’s peak, both sides are doing what they can to get and keep the upper hand. While the Alliance is seemingly all on the same page, the Horde, under the pressure of Garrosh’s tyranny, is fracturing and breaking apart. The trolls are in open rebellion, Orgrimmar is on lockdown, and Garrosh has sent crews into the Barrens and Vale of Eternal Blossoms to get resources to move the war machine forward.
You will receive a letter and a quest (War is Coming) from Lorewalker Cho. He will be located in the Seat of Knowledge in Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Once you meet up with him, he will give you the Blood in the Snow and Dark Heart of Pandaria , and once completed, you will be sent off to the Barrens.
Battlefield: Barrens
The battle for the Barrens is in full swing, and the choices you make could very well effect the future of both the Horde and Alliance. While both sides have different motivations, the end result is still the same for both sides; the removal of Garrosh from power. You’ll go to Sen’jin Village, and meet up with Ki’ta Arrowtusk, who will then take you to Vol’jin. Thankfully, due to Chen’s aid, he is alive and well, and he isn’t alone. Vol’jin is with Chen and Thrall. Even with the combined strength of the trolls, along with Chen and Thrall, more members of the Horde are needed to rebel, if there is any hopes of it working. You’ll have to protect Sen’jin Village from the Kor’kron assault.
Once Sen’jin Village is safe, you’ll be sent up to Razor Hill as Vol’jin works his way and his troops to Orgrimmar. (Speak to Zulu de Voice outside of Razor Hill to get a buff for you and your allies)
Razor Hill is a temporary stop on their way to Orgrimmar. The stop here is mainly for supplies, and lots of it. You’ll be asked to go out into the Barrens and take supplies from the various Kor’kron supply locations. Completing the quests will open a weekly quest for you to do. After the initial quest to steal supplies for Vol’jin, you will receive a weekly quest to steal supplies. The 4 supplies that need stealing are Kor’kron Oil, Kor’kron Lumber, Kor’kron Meat, and Kor’kron Stone. Completing this quest will reward Radical Mojo, which can be used at the Quartermaster. These can each be gathered in one of four static locations throughout the Northern Barrens. You can also get resources by killing Kor’kron, escorting caravans, or scavenging from overturned Kor’kron Caravans. There is obviously strength in numbers, and you’d be well advised to find a friend or two to help make sure the Kor’kron know just who they’re fucking with.
Escorting Caravans
Occasionally, there will be an announcement that Caravan supplies need to be escorted. A small caravan icon will be on your map, representing the caravan that needs protecting. You will gain a buff for staying with the caravan, and it will stack over time. The longer you stay with it, the higher buff stacks you will receive, and you can get a total of 10. Once at its location, you will get a surplus of supplies, which is determined by the amount of buffs you have and how long you were part of the caravan escort.
Overturned Kor’kron Caravan
A zone wide announcement will be made when a Kor’kron caravan is overturned. This is a good way to get extra supplies before the Kor’kron retrieve and fix their caravan.
Elite Commanders
If you really want to do some damage to Garrosh’s troops, you’ll get the opportunity when an Elite Commander is spotted in the zone. You’ll need help though if you want to make it out of this encounter alive. These are some of the toughest Kor’kron that Garrosh has at his command and they won’t go down without a fight.
Rewards
You’ll be able to scavenge Latent Kor’kron Armor (iLevel 489) from the battlefield or from the Darkspear Quartermaster, and with your weekly quest reward –“Radical Mojo”– you can upgrade the armor into a usable item. These items will have randomized stats that may have some unexpected results that you won’t be able to get from other gear. Vanity items are also available for purchase to help you remember your time pillaging Orgrimmar with fondness.
New titles can also be earned for taking part in this event. Horde players can earn the “Darkspear Revolutionary” title while Alliance players will earn the title, “Hordebreaker”.
Make sure you do all this during the patch, because once the patch is over, like the other World Events, this will be gone.
Scenarios
In this patch, we get 2 new scenarios:
Both Factions
Battle on the High Seas: Protect your faction’s ships from enemy raids on the open ocean; deflect boarders and scuttle your enemies’ watercraft.
The Secrets of Ragefire: Infiltrate Ragefire chasm alongside the mighty Gob Squad – and steel yourself against the onrushing tide of foes from beneath.
Alliance
Blood in the Snow: Engage in a behind-enemy-lines mission to stop an uprising of the Frostmane trolls among the bitter, windy ridges of Dun Morogh.
Horde
Dark Heart of Pandaria: Defend a pivotal excavation taking place in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms…with the eyes of Warchief Garrosh Hellscream upon you.
In addition, two existing scenarios (Crypt of Forgotten Kings and A Brewing Storm) have also been bolstered with heroic modes.
We also get Heroic Scenarios. Unlike regular scenarios, Heroic Scenario’s require a pre-made group to even que up for the Scenario. These will provide newer challenges, optional side quests, and better gear. But more than likely, you will still get bags of gold, as a big F U from Blizzard…
Player vs Player
Deepwind Gorge: As part of a 15-player group, you’ll delve into the lush fields of the Valley of the Four Winds, battling the enemy faction to plunder the resources of Deepwind Gorge in a gold rush-style race. With fellow level 90 players at your side, you’ll fight to maintain your hold on three of the Gorge’s mines, using carts to accelerate your rate of harvesting, and your trusty swords and spells to keep your enemies from doing the same. The dead stake no claims.
The Tiger’s Peak-Arena
For generations, raw recruits have been tempered into fearsome Shado-Pan amidst the awe-inspiring Kun-lai mountains. The training grounds of the Tiger’s Peak are rimmed by massive tiger statues and raised daises that can provide cover and elevation. Here, on the snow-covered cobblestones, members of the Alliance and Horde who hope to master the principles of the arena can now test their mettle against each other in pure, undiluted combat.
Wrathion Questline
As with the previous patches, this patch will see the continuation of Wrathion’s legendary questline. You have to be up to snuff on the other quests to be able to start the quest.
Professions
Herbalism: Herbalists of low skill can now pick herbs in Pandaria for a small amount of usable material. The yield an herbalist will be able to harvest from each node is determined by skill level.
Mining: Miners of low skill can now mine mineral deposits from Pandaria for a small amount of usable material. The yield a miner will be able to harvest from each node is determined by skill level.
New Mounts
- Enchanted Fey Dragon-No confirmed source for it yet, but I am leaning towards it being the Blizzard Store mount
- Hearthsteed- Reward of the Hearthstone Beta
- Armored Red/Blue Dragonhawk- Reward of the Mount Parade achievement (200 mounts)
- Brawlers Burley Mushan Beast- Purchased upon reaching level 10 in the Brawlers guild.
- Iron Hitching Post- Probably the TCG reward card.
Transmog
Patch 5.3 allows you to transmog items straight from your bank/void storage. Items no longer have to be in your bags.
PVP changes
- Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds, and Arenas now have an ilevel cap. All gear will be scaled down to ilevel 496. So no more getting raped by players that have better gear and whatnot.
- All characters now have a base Resilience of 65%.
- PvP Power conversion ratio to obtain 1% damage at level 90 has been changed from 265 to 400.
- Battle Fatigue now reduces the amount of healing and absorbs by 45%, up from 30%.
- Healing specializations receive a 100% bonus to healing from PvP Power.
- Damage specializations for Druids, Monks, Paladins, Priests, and Shamans receive a 70% bonus to healing from PvP Power.
- All other specializations and classes (including tanking) receive a 40% bonus to healing from PvP Power.
- Resilience has been removed from most PvP gear and set bonuses, excluding PvP Trinkets.
- PvP Power and Resilience amounts have been halved on gems.
- You will also be able to choose your role as well, to hopefully help que times and make sure that teams are equal.
5.3 will introduce spectating for Pet Battles. This will only be able to be used for those that are battling pets in the wild.
The dungeon journal is getting an addition. When looking at loot, they added the bosses on the right side, so you can just click the boss to see what loot he has, instead of having to back out completely, which is pretty cool. They are also adding loot specialization. You can select what spec loot you want from Pandaren quest rewards, bonus rolls, and raid rewards. (So if you are in Balance as a druid, but want healing gear, you can quest/raid as dps but have your loot spec set to healing so you get that gear)
Everyone is taking part in the fighting, even Gamon. Gamon gets upgraded to a level 90 elite, with 39 million health.
The Isle of Giants is getting a slight change. There will be a path made straight up the mountain to grab Oondasta. Speaking of Oondasta, it’s health is getting cut by 50%
No new dungeons in the patch. Blizzard didn’t want the newer dungeons to make the raid gear practically useless, like the End of Time dungeons did.
Bad Luck Protection
This is what I am pretty excited about. Tired of getting screwed by the RNG (Random Number Generator), well have no fear. Blizzard is implementing a protection for those that are just constantly getting bags of gold. Pretty much when you get bags of gold, it increases your chance of getting loot.
Now lets get out there and do what we can to overthrow Garrosh, and make sure that he isn’t the Warchief when all is said and done.
This is the thing I am most excited about. They are reducing the experience needed to get from 85 to 90 by 33%. So dust off all those 85 alts that you might have (since you avoided grinding them due to the sheer amount that was needed, and get out there and kill shit.
