The pre-patch finally arrived. I was curious about all of the changes and had a decent mental check list for when I logged in.
I am using WowUp now for an addon manager. Twitch is going away or something like that, so my 45 addons are being updated a bunch.
Picking up three spells for my BM hunter; Tranq, Kill and Arcane shot means finding space on my action bars which are pretty full. We have been through this before, Blizzard, hunters end up using over ten spells on a typical fight. A bit much.
My Resto-Druid who runs as Balance when questing (I skipped all the hyphens, you are welcome) will be missing Typhoon. Typhoon was an AoE Knockback spell and was great for an interrupt. Instead we have a 5-minute cooldown spell called Heart of the Wild which uses our affinity spells – I mean, it looks great on paper, like a gift even, but that is a narrow skinny corridor of use.
The best part of the evening was the Barbershop. And that is because I was joined by three other druids on Discord and, boy howdy, did we have a lot to say. Why they could choose fire kitty with out earning the toy feels a little unfair given the volume of Firelands runs on two druids; but it is all good.
The mount, toy and pet tabs have pre-loaded the stuff that we can get from Shadowlands and we all oooohed and aaaaahed at the pets and mounts that we want to get. The Adventurer’s Guide is not updated with our future raids and dungeons so no peeking at the gear yet.
We all practiced using the pins on the map and posting our pin links in chat. It might be possible to lose Tom Tom now and that would be a very good thing, Blizzard’s solution is legit.
Everything feels smoother. My druid flight form feels smooth and easy to navigate and more responsive.
I had spent a bunch of prismatic pearls to gear-to-vendor for 72 gold before the patch but there is no price change. The Paragon Cache still gives the same amount of gold. I do think that gold making will drop though.
My to-do list still includes a run through the new beginner’s zone, Exile’s Something. I read today about the long lines to kill a quest boss, so I’ll wait until the interest wanes a bit.
But, in all, so far: so good!
Coffee Cakes and Crits 
What affinity are you using for resto druid? You get the CC of your affinity. Meaning as Resto you get your base Ursol’s Vortex then your affinity gives you Bal-Typhoon, Feral-Maim, Guard-Incapacitating Roar. Most I know playing resto are playing balance aff for the range and dps options or playing guardian aff for the damage reduction. Either way, you get a good aoe [mess them up ability]
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Thanks, I’d better look closer — that incapacitating roar should serve as an interrupt.
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I didn’t think about looking at Shadowlands toys and mounts, thanks, i’ll check them out.
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Enjoyed your view on the pre patch..I agree..changes and added spells to the hunter seems like alot..The barbershop is fantastic..leaves in the druids hair is so much fun..Thank you for all the information and thoughts….always a good read..
Sarim
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