Patch 3.1: Do Want Now Plz

The latest patch notes are out. I'm not going to list all the changes. Plenty of other sites on the net do that, like mmo-champion.com and wowhead.com among others. I'm very excited about it, though.

When I logged off this morning to go to work, I noticed that we were already getting part of 3.1 downloaded, which gives me giggles of anticipation. I may not be raiding, but there are plenty of things in the patch notes that give me joy nonetheless. The Argent Tournament, for example, is going to probably become my new favorite thing to do when 3.1 goes live. Something tells me Yrovi will be spending a great deal of time in Icecrown on Arthas's doorstep, trampling on his lawn with all the other members of the Horde and Alliance.

It almost makes me wish I was on a roleplaying server. Almost. ;-) The idea of fighting in a tournament to earn the respect of the other members of the Horde and the Argent Crusade is so awesome, I have a hard time coming up with the words to describe my feelings. :D Plus, the PTR has revealed that when you become a Champion of the Tournament, you get a new vanity pet. A squire. He'll even show a pennant of one of the factions you are exalted with, if you like. I'm guessing this can change whenever you wish. If there were no other rewards but this little squire, I'd still do the Tournament. That alone is worth it. Thankfully, though, there are plenty of other rewards to get, and I plan to have a ton of fun getting them all.

I'm still working on leveling my fishing and cooking on Yrovi. There are some great new dailies and such on the PTR regarding fishing, and it looks like Blizzard is going to make leveling fishing easier when 3.1 goes live. I've half a mind to just wait till then to level it, but I'd almost rather have it leveled enough to fish in Northrend so I can start on the dailies right away. Also, nearly every lower-level cooking recipie has had the spices removed as ingredients. This is a huge change for cooking, and I'm honestly not sure it's one for the better. You don't need flint and tinder to create fires anymore, either, when 3.1 goes live. While I'm glad they are making it easier to level these secondary professions (especially fishing), I must admit that part of me is wondering if they are nerfing it too much. I mean, taking away the flint and tinder? They had already gotten rid of our need to have wood, which I appreciated, but this just seems... over the top. I'm starting to understand some of the "cater to casuals" QQ on the forums and the web, at any rate. It isn't game-breaking. I'm not quitting over it, and I won't throw a tantrum. But part of me thinks that Blizz is starting to dumb it down a bit more than I'd like. Funny that I would start to feel this way over something as simple as flint and tinder and spices.