Build 12694 Info

[Waldonnis]

New build...and new launcher! Read below (it's nifty, but has some issues still). Buckle your safety belts, she's a big download...

Notable Bugs:

• The feedback tool was accidentally disabled in this build, so reporting bugs is...done on the forums, I guess. Oopsie!
  
• The new launcher may show a red bar long after you passed an earlier yellow or green marker if you stopped the download at some point. Ignore it if you know you're past the red zone (the Play button will be enabled anyway).
  
• The new launcher for some reason loves to download every single locale. I'm sure this isn't totally intentional (and explains a chunk of the 15.6GB download), but...meh, they'll fix it up. The new scheme is quite nifty, though.
  
• The new launcher has no way to en/disable peer-to-peer transfers, nor a way to view the torrent progress. You can change the settings on the live launcher and they'll apply to the beta launcher. Some folks with asynchronous Internet connections are finding it faster to disable P2P due to technical limitations of their connection type and (relatively) few people that are currently enabling P2P anyway.
  
• The Dungeon Finder currently isn't allowing solo queuing, but if you group with someone else, you can queue as a group.
  
• Guild bank permissions (and some other guild master functions) aren't totally working or resetting randomly. If you want to access the guild bank and it doesn't allow you to, let me know and I'll try to fix it.
  
• Class/profession training is still not working if you have two primary professions. If you don't care about them, unlearning one and relogging should allow you to train again. Honestly, I would wait if you can, since skilling up again can be a bit of a pain, but it's up to you.
  
• Learning skinning from the trainer in Org will cause the dead boar that he's skinning to attack you (and you can't attack back). The sliding dead boar does have an aggro table, as I found out when healing the first "victim" I saw. Quite a hilarious bug and one that I suspect might be a practical joke
  

General:

• The new launcher is in and works fairly well for most. What it basically does is allow a download-on-demand system, allowing you to get in and play once the core files are in place, and it will download the rest as you encounter it. It does cause some hiccups when zoning or loading new areas, but if you give it a short bit to download/cache things, it plays like normal in that area. Downside: total reinstall, including a gigantor download of the entire client (previous client downloads copied bits from a live install to save time...this one doesn't seem to). Note: If you have a usage cap on your Internet connect (mobile users, etc.), think very carefully before pulling the trigger on this, since it could cost you a ton of money to download 15.6GB worth of data plus the installer.
  
• Reforging is in! See Enchanter Farendin in Orgrimmar (Godan's Runeworks, just east of the Valley of Wisdom in the Drag, where the enchanter trainer is). I played around with the panel, but didn't actually try it, so let us know how it works (or doesn't).
  
• Ysera got a new model. I expected more green, honestly, but it looks pretty interesting (and as usual, has gotten mixed reviews). It's still marked as a placeholder task, so we may see more versions over time.
  
• The Abyssal Seahorse mount has been restricted so that it may only be used in Vashj'ir. Boo! I hope they have a change of heart on this one.
  

Zones:

• Orgrimmar:
  • Lots of sign doodads have working tooltips! Of course, it won't stop people from asking where stuff is, but at least it makes it easier to direct them around if they can read a sign (that's a big if).
    
  • Banks around town have hired a bunch of employees...and they seem to be goblins! They're trustworthy, just ask them...
    
  • Reforging NPC is in. See the info in the General section above for his location.
    
  • There's an NPC marked as a "Guild Vendor", but he's inactive (curious!). Next to him is also a placeholder model that's noted as a Thunder Lizard Mount (!!)....eeentereting.
    

  [*]Silverpine Forest:

  • Forgot to note this specifically, but the breadcrumb quest leading to Hillsbrad Foothills is not in place yet, so the zone ends a bit abruptly quest-wise.
    
  • Also forgot that rewards are still non-existant (other than experience and money). Gear rewards should be introduced in future builds.
    

  [*]Uldum:

  • The zone is technically open, although not for testing (meaning, you can get in there and poke around; one of the invisible walls and the NML were removed).
    
  • I wouldn't go starting any quests or messing around in there quite yet, but it's a stunning zone and fantastic eye candy for those who love Egyptian themes (like I do).
    

Classes:

• Some talents are still reseting any time you zone or reload after spending talent points on them. In some cases, respec'ing and redoing the build allows things to "stick", but not in every case.
  
• Nothing new of note in this build.
  
• Mastery system is still disabled/NYI.
  

Professions:

• Nothing new - still no Archaeology
  
• Some characters still cannot open their First Aid crafting window for some reason. No workaround as of yet.
  
• Fishing trainers are offering all ranks of fishing available to be learned, even if you're at 450. Odd bug...
  
• Some miners have magically learned the Illustrious rank of mining and can skill up to 525 (including one of my miners, but not another). No idea why some characters got it and some didn't.
  

User Interface:

• Other than the new launcher, there's not much that I've found in this build yet. Still working on understanding how the new file scheme works.
  
• Some interesting messages have been added to indicate if you've been disconnected/reconnected to the chat server. If they work the way I hope they do, this should really help alert players to the chat server connection issues that some of us have faced.
  
• The messages indicating that you need better gear to queue for an instance/heroic have been changed to say that you need a higher average item level. Demystifies the whole "how does this work" thing for people who are unfamiliar with it.
  
• More code added relating to rated battlegrounds. Guess we'll see some updates to the PvP pane soon. There is some new code in there already, but not sure if it's hooked to anything or even works properly.
  
• An option was made to the raid frames options pane to display/hide power bars (rage, mana, energy).
  
• Some interesting changes to the restricted environment code (more commonly known as the "secure stuff"). If this does what my (really tired) mind thinks it does, it should open up some new possibilities for addon authors.
  
• There's support for "flyouts" being added for spell groups slowly. From what I can tell, it looks like spells like the mage teleport and portal spells will be capable of being "grouped" up in a way, similar to how the totem bar works. This would be amazingly helpful if that's what the plan is (a few less addons for me to use if they do this).
  

Edit (8 Aug 2010): Added Uldum and UI info

Edit 2 (8 Aug 2010): Added bug about the dead boar and info about the guild vendor and potential new mount to the Org section

Edited August 8, 2010 by Waldonnis

[Martok]

Still no beta for me. Thanks for keeping us posted

[Waldonnis]

Still no beta for me. Thanks for keeping us posted

My pleasure. I love poking around and seeing what's different with every build. I've nicknamed it "new build syndrome"

Reminder that I'm posting screenshots on my blog (linked in my sig) as well of many of the new zones, races, druid forms, and UI elements. I know MMO-Champ posts about 200x what I do, but I prefer to take mine on actual servers instead of private ones Datamined content is interesting, but there are tons of things in the data files that have never seen the light of day on alpha, beta, PTR, or live servers...so take some of those things with a grain of salt. I've seen about five different potential goblin mounts in the files at various points, many of which were removed or ended up being used in quests instead...