Hey folks!
My goal with this post is to compile the changes in the upcoming Warlords of Draenor expansion as they apply to trial accounts. Obviously, this early into the process, there will be a lot of speculation involved. Things will change as the expansion draws closer and more concrete information becomes available; I'll try and keep this list as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Ideally this will eventually turn into a comprehensive F2P patch notes post.
Warlords of Draenor Changes Relevant to F2P Accounts
Updated 11/10/2013
General:
- Character models will receive graphical updates. This will include new hairstyles as well.
- Vengeance will increase tanking abilities instead of pure AP.
- Position requirement (such as "must be behind target") for abilities removed.
- Alliance racial passives reworked to be roughly 2-3% damage increase. The idea is that Alliance will have stronger passives and Horde will have stronger active racial abilities.
- New Adventure Guide shows things you can do, what your character can work on. Customized to your character.
Itemization:
- Gear scaling / item level "squish" will occur.
- The primary stats on armor will now change based on your spec.
- Dodge, Parry, Hit and Expertise stats removed. Hit and Expertise soft caps will be baseline for melee/ranged.
- Adding new stats such as Amplitude (crit damage) and Readiness (CD reduction).
- Tertiary stats - bonus stats that can appear on gear that don't count towards the item level budget. Lifesteal, avoidance, sturdiness, movement speed, cleave, and more.
- Armor will become a good tanking stat again, Spirit will be good for healers.
Inventory:
- Pets and Mounts are collected now, but WoD will be adding Heirlooms, Toys, and maybe Tabards. All of these are Account Wide!
- You can flag items as Favorites and summon a Favorite mount.
- Bags are now auto sortable in the default UI.
- Bags highlight items that were added since you last opened them.
- Bags highlight the quality of items.
- Bags show an icon on Vendor Trash.
- No more quest items in your bags!
- Larger stack sizes.
- Craft directly from your bank.
Quests:
- Quest chains that are important and have important lore and story will be indicated with an icon.
- The quest UI has been updated to combine the map and quest log and help guide the quest experience better.
- The map will show you where you left off on the important storyline quests.
PvP:
- Battleground scores will be added to give players an idea how how they are doing in the battleground. It fills out by doing damage, healing, capturing objectives, and contributing to the battleground.
- The Honor system will stay in place, but the end of battlegrounds or arenas will give you a random chance to win bonus items, honor, BoE gear, and more.
- Several major PvP-related UI improvements, including updates to help you track and communicate with your team about objectives in Battlegrounds.
Class Changes:
Hunter
- Hunters will be getting updated weapon sounds in WoD.
Rogue
- Backstab removed entirely.
Warlock
- Warlocks will receive a significant rework.
Note: I'm assuming for the time being that we will be unable to access Draenor or the Garrison feature. If that turns out to be incorrect, I will be sure to add that information as well.