Patch Sneak Peek | 8/12/2004 5:26:23 AM GMTDT

We’ve been in the “coming soon” stage with the new patch for a little over a week now, so we figured now is a good time to offer a sneak peek of just a few of the changes that we’ll be implementing. The real fun will be reviewing the full patch notes when those are available, but for the time being, we hope you find some of this info useful. As for the patch, well, it’s coming soon.

Boats and Zeppelins
Boats and zeppelins will be added to the world in a couple locations. A boat will be added between Booty Bay and Ratchet, and a zeppelin will be added between Orgrimmar and Tirisfal. A zeppelin will also be added between Grom'gol and Orgrimmar. The round trip on all three of these new transports will be around five minutes, with a pause at each destination of one minute each. If you miss a transport, you will have a very short wait before it returns. If you log out or crash during your journey, you will log back in on the same transport as you logged out on, though you will likely be at a different location along its path. Because this was the original intention for our world travel, the instant-teleport NPC's at these locations will be removed, but they still remain at the other locations where boats and zeppelins have not yet been added. Please keep in mind that the Goblin Transit Authority is not responsible for accidents, so do not jump off of boats or zeppelins when riding them because you may land in a place where you cannot reach your corpse.

Flight Paths
Many new flight paths will be added for world travel. Be sure to check your flight-path NPC's to see what new paths have opened up. Not all of the paths will be in yet; more are on the way in the near future.

Sharing Quests
You will now be able to share your quests with your entire party. To utilize this option, you’ll need to open your quest log, select a quest, and press the “Share Quest” button. All members of your party will then be presented with the quest as though you were the quest-giving NPC.

Some restrictions:

* You’ll only be able to share with party members.
* Party members will have to be nearby when you share.
* Party members will have to meet the prerequisites of the quest. For example, if you’re on step 2 of a quest and your friend is still on step 1, you won’t be able to give your friend a “shortcut” to step 2.
* Quests generated from items cannot be shared.


Tracking
Tracking of all types will now work until canceled, but you will only be able to have one type of tracking working at a time (Herb Finding, Mineral Finding, Sense Undead, etc.).

Faction/Reputation
Ratchet, Gadgetzan, and Booty Bay will now utilize our most current system of factions and reputation adjustments. Assaulting bankers, vendors, transportation specialists, etc. may result in a loss of permanent reputation with these cities.

Chat
The chat user interface has been revamped, and we will continue to make changes based on player feedback and designer upgrades.