It's been 18 years since the original MMORPG was released in 2004, and currently, World of Warcraft has both vintage and retail versions still running strong. Recent news from the game's developer, Blizzard, is a new expansion to the current game and the continued progression of Classic through The Burning Crusade expansion.
Patch 2.4.0 is part of the Phase 5 rollout that Blizzard announced when Classic WoW was officially released. The changes in this patch affect virtually every facet of daily life in Classic WoW, including professions, raiding, PvP, and trading. No matter what class or faction a character has chosen, there's something to make progression easier and more fun, and that's not just the new content.
7 New And Improved Cooking Recipes
Cooking is one of the secondary professions that everyone can take no matter what they've chosen as their primary profession. It's nice to see an improvement that everyone can enjoy provided they've leveled this important skill.
Older recipes have been upgraded with better buffs. For the fisherfolk out there, the new Broiled Bloodfin now gives the character a resistance to all schools of magic. For those players that would prefer to turf as opposed to surf, there are two new recipes available that use bear meat: Charred Bear Kabobs and Juicy Bear Burgers.
6 More Options For PvP Quests
Previously, there were only a few daily PvP quests available in the game, although battlegrounds and arena play are available at virtually any time. This oversight gets a major improvement with the latest patch.
The new PvP quests will focus on Outland, with the action taking place in contested areas like the Bone Wastes on the northern edge of Terrokar Forest or Halaa in Garadar. These quests are available from certain NPCs in Terrokar Forest, which means Allerian Stronghold for Alliance and for the Horde, Stonebreaker Hold.
5 The Caverns Of Time Portal
Virtually all of the new content in The Burning Crusade expansion was located in Outland, with one exception, the 25-player raid of Mount Hyjal. This is located in the Caverns of Time with several other 5-player dungeons that are also set in Azeroth's past.
It was a long trip to get there from where most high-level players start, in Outland, and an especially tough one for Alliance players, who have few settlements in southern Kalimdor. The new patch includes a representative of the faction that oversees this location in the World's End Tavern, the Lower City's local watering hole. Players will now be able to port directly to the Caverns of Time from Shattrath City after a brief chat with this NPC, provided they are Revered with the Keepers of Time.
4 Smarter Casters Get A Mana Boost
Mana regeneration was connected to a character's spirit score already, which is why it's an important stat for casting classes, especially healers. Now, Intellect works with Spirit, so the higher a character's Intellect is, the better their mana regeneration is depending on their Spirit stat.
This also works with the various spells and buffs that players can use to raise both their Spirit and Intellect scores. Mages can cast Arcane Intellect at Level 8 to give themselves and friends a boost, and other options include scrolls and certain foods.
3 Fishing Has Been Streamlined
Not everyone takes up Fishing, a profession that's neither required nor mandatory, but those who level the skill should know that it has worthwhile rewards in this patch. The Find Fish ability now works to find Tastyfish, the key to winning the Stranegthorn Fishing Contest, and it also detects the Muddy Waters in Zul'Gurub to fight Gahz'ranka.
Other improvements include a longer list of daily fishing quests offered by Old Man Barlo to players of both factions, whereas there was only one to enjoy previously. Find this neutral NPC on the southern shore or Silmyr Lake by Shattrath City.
2 Raids Drop More Tokens And Gold
Want happy gamers? Hand out more stuff, it never fails. Speaking of improvements that everyone can get behind, the coin drops in certain raid instances will increase, and bosses that dropped currency like badges or tokens before now drop more of them.
This improvement only applies to the 25 player raids, and there are a total of seven currently in the game. There are also the world bosses, Doom Lord Kazzak and Doomwalker, which require a raid group of 25 players. This doesn't apply to the Old Azeroth raids of Naxxramus, Onyxia, or Molten Core, because they require 40 players.
1 Basic Environment Fixes
These are the smaller tweaks that include bug fixes along with other small improvements that players often don't even notice or take for granted. The neutral banks in goblin-controlled cities also provide Guild Bank access, for example, and Night Elves now have a convenient mailbox outside of the Darnassus Inn.
Another interesting fix that seemed to take a long time was correcting the bug that made ambient level one animals and other critters possible targets for chain spells. So many dead bunnies and squirrels have resulted from spamming that tab button. It's great that it finally got corrected, but how many frozen or fried critters does it take, Blizzard?
Classic World of Warcraft is currently available on PC.