Well, according to the Warcraft Twitter account, 5.3 is coming this Tuesday, the 21st (I had predicted earlier that it would either be this past Tuesday or the next, and while I favored the former, I still count this as a correct prediction, so hooray!)
As a quick reminder, as if Blizzard weren't doing that enough, here's what's coming with 5.3: Escalation:
- Battlefield: Barrens
A new World Event, somewhat akin to the Scourge Invasion or the various pre-Expansion Events, Battlefield Barrens will be (I believe) a temporary event taking place mostly in Northern Barrens, with some other stuff in Durotar.
Players will be able to either join the Darkspear Rebellion (Horde) or act as an SI:7 agent aiding said rebellion to destabilize the Horde (Alliance.) Rather than link everything to daily quests, players will be able to ambush Kor'kron convoys and kill Kor'kron officers while protecting their own caravans throughout the zone. Killing Kor'kron NPCs will grant Lesser Charms of Good Fortune, as well as many materials to aid in the war effort. Bringing in such material will grant various rewards, including a battle pet and cosmetic transmog armor, modeled after dungeon set 2 (not exactly sure what DKs and Monks will get.)
- New Scenarios
There will be several new scenarios, including two that are required to unlock the Battlefield: Barrens event. Story details will be revealed, showing how Garrosh has transformed Ragefire Chasm into a facility to fuel his war machine, and Moira and her Dark Irons are actually fighting hard earn the trust of the Alliance.
- Heroic Scenarios
A new difficulty for Scenarios is being implemented. Heroic Scenarios will have a chance to reward higher-quality loot than the stuff you get from the current ones, but they are tuned with a premade group in mind. You will only be able to queue for these if you already have your group put together.
- New Battleground: Deepwind Gorge
A new battleground, set in the Valley of the Four Winds, has Horde and Alliance forces attempting to secure the minerals underneath Pandaria's fertile farmlands. Players will try to capture various points on the map to get a steady stream of resources, while mine carts can also be taken to your territory in order to get a sudden burst of resource points.
- New Arena: Tiger's Peak
A Shado-Pan themed Arena is being added, apparently with some interesting new factors, such as platforms with fences that will allow LOS without making it that easy to knock someone off. Holding the high ground will presumably be very important.
- Wrathion Chapter IV
A new stage of the Legendary chain unlocks, where you will travel to the various temples of the August Celestials and test your skills to prove that they should grant you some of their power. The reward will be iLevel 600 (that's a six at the beginning!) cloaks.
- Valor Upgrades Return
The Voidbinders from 5.1 are back, and now things cost significantly less. The intention, according to Blizzard, is to have players upgrade nearly every slot, which will provide both a great outlet for Valor Points (even if you've already gotten everything from SPA) and also hopefully remove the need to nerf Throne of Thunder, instead accepting that people will have higher and higher iLevels thanks to this service.
- Pandaria XP requirements slashed
The XP required to level up from 85-90 has been reduced by 33%, which should make leveling through Pandaria an absolute breeze.
- Profession Leveling Improvements
Herbalism and Mining are getting the Blacksmithing treatment, allowing you to level them up entirely in Pandaria. When attempting to gather below the appropriate level, you will now get smaller pieces (the number depending on your skill level) that can be combined into the appropriate resources, such as Torn Tea Leaves, ten of which will combine into a Green Tea Leaf.
- Lots of Other Stuff!
Let's see: new pets from Old School Raids (this time in the earlier BC raids,) complete with a Meta achievement. New Brawler's Guild bosses, some changes to how PvP gear works (search me,) and probably some stuff I'm forgetting!
Anyway, there might not be a new raid tier coming, but this patch is far from small. I, for one, am looking forward to spreading death and destruction among the Kor'kron ranks.
Also, if the pattern established thus far in Mists holds, we're going to start hearing big things about 5.4 and the Siege of Orgrimmar very soon indeed.
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