6.0 PTR Is Up

The 6.0 PTR is up.

Well, that was quick!

Seriously, though, the 6.0 patch is going to bring a handful of things to the game before the actual launch of Warlords of Draenor on November 13th. As usual, this will be the big launch event, and while it's certainly not as big as the Wrath or Cataclysm launch events, it's definitely more substantial than Mists' simple early run of the Fall of Theramore scenario (though it could be considered to be in the same vein.)

What will we see in 6.0?

I don't have a definitive list, but here's my prediction:

Quests: There's an opening quest chain in the Blasted Lands that has you dealing with the invading Iron Horde forces. It's not terribly long, and appears to be restricted to the Blasted Lands. The Iron Horde has hit both the Alliance and Horde outposts there pretty hard, and so you have to go liberate them from the invading forces. Doing so will get you a special pet and a title: "of the Iron Vanguard."

Dungeon: There will apparently be a level 90 version of the revamped Upper Blackrock Spire available during the event. No word yet on gear drops, but I'd expect an achievement at least. I don't believe the entire dungeon will be open, as they're probably saving Warlord Zaela for 100.

Character Models: Ok, here's where I get a little speculative, but I'd guess the character model revamps are going to come in with the patch. Everyone except Worgen, Goblins, Pandaren, and Blood Elves will have new character models available. Blood Elves, fear not, as the plan is still to revamp them, but probably in a later patch (I'd assume 6.1.) If you don't like your new model for some reason, there will be an option to go with the old models. Thankfully, this is something where Blizzard is preserving the Old even as they allow for the new. Still, I'd recommend checking the new models out, as they're pretty great (and my human finally runs like a normal person!)

Ability Revamps: Warlords is, depending on spec and class, going to be cutting down a lot on various abilities. In most cases, it will be refreshing and freeing, but a few specs and classes might feel gutted (my previous article laments the fate of the Arms Warrior.) This is all purely opinion, though, but you'll probably want to test out your toon a bit on a target dummy or something to see how your rotation has changed.

Item Squish: Yep, numbers are going to get smaller. It's going to seem pretty bad at first, but I promise that after a very short time, you won't even notice. And it's not even like the numbers are going to be that much lower. At level 100, I have over 200k health, which is about what I had by the end of Cataclysm, and that's for a tank in leveling greens and blues. Granted, compared with other values, health will be roughly doubling, so that does downplay the extent of the squish a little. Still, in PvE, the effect is hardly noticeable, while in PvP it might take a little longer to kill other players, but also a little longer to heal them up to full.

One thing to note is that when you go into older instances, you'll probably find yourself doing even more damage than you were doing before. At level 100 you can pretty easily solo most Cataclysm raid content on a Mage, and at lower levels you'll still probably be able to manage it - perhaps even at 90 if you're careful.

Achievements Going FOS (or "Legacy:") Certain achievements will no longer be attainable, and likewise their rewards. The big ones: Challenge Modes, meaning that that sweet transmog armor, the Pandaren Phoenixes, and the title will be gone. Ahead of the Curve: Garrosh Hellscream, meaning the Kor'kron War Wolf mount. Also all the Brawler's Guild progress will be going away, Bismo's Brawlpub and Brawl'gar Arena will be going up to level 100, with the same fights (I don't know if there are new ones planned, as I haven't checked it out on the Beta.)

SoO Getting the New Raid Model: While SoO was kind of a test-run for the new system of raiding, it will be further updated to reflect the refinements made for Warlords. The four difficulties will now be Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic, and Mythic. All but Mythic will now be flexible in size, going from 10 to 30 players, while Mythic will be set at 20 players. Any gear you have will be updated to reflect the appropriate difficulty, so if you have normal gear off of the Celestials or Ordos, it will now be labeled "Heroic." Essentially, it's the same difficulties that existed before, but with different names, and the flex technology now applying more broadly. Notably, Normal (formerly Flex) will now be like any other raid difficulty, meaning that you can simply choose it and then go through the instance portal like a normal person. This does seem to imply that you won't be able to skip ahead to particular wings, though.

New Scenario/LFR NPCs For Old Content: Did it ever annoy you how there's just literally no way you can go back to LFR Dragon Soul to get some missing piece in an otherwise awesome transmog set? Worry no more! Because new NPCs have arrived either right outside Dragon Soul or in the Seat of Knowledge in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms who will allow you to solo (or group-) queue for said LFR instance, and obviously don't make you wait for a full raid to let you in. Get your blue Ti'tahk!

New Achievements: While most of the new achievements are going to be related to Draenor stuff, there are a handful you'll be able to complete earlier than that. Notably, there's a new one for collecting just about every kind of drake mount (yes, including Netherwing - though you only need the Violet one,) that will finally reward the Emerald Drake, the last of the five core Dragonflights yet to be mountable (funny that the other four all came with 3.0.)

Down with Hellscream, Down with the Kor'kron!: Horde players will note that gone are the Kor'kron from Orgrimmar, as well as Undercity. With Garrosh defeated, his loyalists have been driven out or have laid down their arms. Vol'jin now sits in Grommash Hold (wonder what the Iron Horde's Warchief would think of the fact that the opposing Horde's White House equivalent is named after him) and those lovable, gentle giants, the Abominations, are back to guarding Undercity and radiating their foul miasma while dispensing directions for the first time since like 3.1 or 3.2.

Obviously 6.0's got to come out some time in the next two months, but I'd expect it'll be either a month or month and a half, probably starting right around Halloween or so. The tenth anniversary celebration stuff will likely come later, though they could throw some of that in to the PTR. It should be noted, though, that the 10th Anniversary stuff is going to come out late enough that players will have had a chance to get to level 100, and I should hope that they extend it to last a good deal longer than the usual anniversary celebrations (I sure as hell am going to get my that Core Hound mount, but also hopefully the Hillsbrad Foothills BG title.)

Warlords itself launches on November 13th.