6.1 PTR

The 6.1 PTR has apparently gone live. What is coming for us in 6.1? What defines the patch?

Well, first off, I think it's very clear that we'll be getting a sort of in-between patch much like 5.1's Landfall. While this one is coming a little later in the expansion cycle than Landfall was, it seems it will be adding new quests around the Iron Docks in Gorgrond, and will involve a continuation of the Legendary chain in which we (SPOILERS, I guess) rescue a certain half-orc/half-draenei assassin from the mental domination of her master, and gain her as a legendary follower.

While there will be that bit of content (and I really don't know how extensive the Iron Docks quests will be,) it looks like this is going to be primarily a mechanical update. (Which is probably fine, as we haven't even gained access to Blackrock Foundry yet, meaning we've still got the meat of the first raid tier to experience.)

One exciting feature, for those of you who like heirlooms (personally I've actually enjoyed going back to non-heirloom leveling, though I haven't touched any low-level alts since the expansion came out,) is that they will now be stored in a collection-style panel like mounts, pets, and toys. Presumably you'll be able to drag these into your inventory or something, and hopefully that means you'll only need one of any dual-wielded weapon (also, it'd be cool if they'd change the parry on the strength 1-h to crit so that there's something for DW Frost and SMF. And crit is straight-up parry now, so...) Also, those heirlooms will be upgradable to level 90 and level 100 (so those Garrosh heirlooms are probably less exciting now, though if you care that much, you've almost certainly gotten your main to 100 already anyway.)

There are a number of under-the-hood things, like anti-aliasing options. One exciting thing is that you'll now be able to cancel flightpaths without logging out, which will cause you to land at the next stop in your path.

The garrison is getting a bunch of new features, though no new plots or buildings. But we're getting a jukebox, which will allow you to collect music to play at Lunarfall/Frostwall. Likewise, you'll now be able to get platinum invasion ratings, which will presumably give better rewards.

Finally, Blood Elves will finally get their own model upgrades, making Goblins and Worgen the oldest character models (unless you for some reason prefer to run with the old models.)

At the moment, I think most guilds are still working on Highmaul (indeed, my guild's just getting started) so I'm not all that worried that 6.1 has no new raid content. Indeed, it almost seems like it'll be releasing right as we get into Blackrock Foundry, meaning that it could very well be a "raid patch" in a sense, even though BRF is theoretically a 6.0 feature.

Still, I'm very curious to see how the patch cycle of the expansion works out. Will we see a true middle-tier, or race on to deal with Grommash? What role will the Burning Legion play as we deal a crippling blow to the Iron Horde? Will Gul'dan be the target of those on the Legendary chain? Will he be the true final raid boss? Or will he live to continue tormenting us after we leave this strange alternate Draenor?