World of Warcraft Patch 4.1 to Breathe New Life into Old Dungeons

Blizzard are hard at work on patch 4.1 for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The team are currently in the process of preparing some of that new content to be put through the paces in the Public Test Realms. So just what will patch 4.1 include? An update by Zarhym on Battle.net has revealed not only a number of balance changes, but has outlined that a couple dungeons will be undergoing a significant overhaul in the upcoming patch.

Both Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman will be undergoing significant changes with the new patch.

The Gurubashi Tribe Persists

Originally a 20-player dungeon released in patch 1.7, Zul'Gurub will once again open its gates, featuring updated lore, all-new encounters, achievements, and improved loot! Zul'Gurub is now a level-85 five-player Heroic difficulty dungeon. To provide a new tier above the current Cataclysm dungeons, players can expect to find epic-quality item level 353 loot. The minimum average item level to enter this Heroic dungeon is 346.

The Return of Zul'Aman

Ever a player favorite, the level-70 ten-player dungeon of Zul'Aman is being reintroduced as a level-85 Heroic five-player dungeon. Zul'Aman will join Zul'Gurub in a new Dungeon Finder tier of Heroic dungeons, providing epic-quality item level 353 loot. The minimum average item level to enter this Heroic dungeon is also 346. While Zul'Aman will be more of a throwback to the original dungeon featuring many of the same encounters, players can expect to find some updated gameplay mechanics, as well as new environment textures and lighting.

It has been confirmed that the unique mounts once contained within the Zuls will no longer be available and have instead been replaced with new version of the raptor, tiger and bear mounts. The old versions of the mounts will be exclusive to those who already obtain them.

Other changes coming with patch 4.1, include a wide selection of balancing fixes. Below is just a small taste of the changes we can expect:

To start, we want to do a better job of balancing the AoE power of the different damage-dealing specs. You can expect to see some changes to this end made throughout the testing process.

Inner Rage is now available at level 56. It was intended to solve an excess rage problem that largely isn’t affecting warriors anymore. We’ve added a replacement ability for warriors at level 83: Rallying Cry.

Colossus Smash now ignores 70% of an opponent's armor, down from 100%. We are compensating Fury and Arms warriors by increasing the damage of other attacks.

Word of Glory: We want Retribution and Protection paladins to have reasonable healing on themselves or others, but we know paladins sometimes feel like they can’t use their Holy Power on anything but their heals in some situations. We’d rather these two specs spend most of their Holy Power on damage-dealing abilities, with occasional healing.

For more info on what changes we can expect, read the full 4.1 patch notes here.