I’m currently trying to figure out why the PTR client won’t work right on my machine, so I figured I’d run down some of the 3.2 changes that piqued my interest… a lot of good, some bad, and some “meh.”

First, on the “levelling alts” front:

There’s heirloom chestpieces available, and they will have a 10 percent XP gain on them as well, which stacks with the bonus from shoulders. Score! This should make levelling my DK and Shaman easier, although I don’t have any damn time to play these days.

We also have news that you will be able to “turn off” XP gain for a nominal charge. Twinks, therefore, can keep on twinking and avoid the new XP gain from battlegrounds. Also, those with XP gain turned off will be in their own battlegrounds, which means that poor lowbies won’t get screwed so much. This also opens up the possibilities for “Classic raiding” guilds. People have asked for their own classic wow realms for a while, and with this change, you could artificially cap your character at level 60.

As for hunter specific changes, we have Aspect of the Cheetah being trained at level 16 now, and traps existing for only 30 seconds, down from 1 minute. Which sucks… bigtime. However, it’s ok, because there’s categories of traps now, with seperate cooldowns. Black arrow is in a category with immolation and explosive, which means no longer will you lose the ability to frost or freezing trap while doing awesome DPS. EXCELLENT change.

But what I’m most excited about, given the fact that I haven’t raided regularly in FOREVER because of my crazy work schedule and my new baby, is the changes to emblems.

Heroics and raids will now drop emblems of conquest, and valor/heroism emblems are going away. This is exciting news, although the hardcores who are only motivated by gear are super pissed. Basically, you can get decked out in ulduar level gear from running heroics and naxx, if you do it long enough. The head and chest from tier 8.5 are available from emblems, and the gloves and legs from Emalon, so theoretically you could get 4/5 t8.5 without setting foot into ulduar.

Now, it’ll take some serious time… but I think it’s a great change. Casuals will be able to gear up, but more importantly, those of us like me who have to take a break for a while due to work or family, can get caught up and rejoin their guild’s progression.

What do you think about the changes so far?

due to the pics being huge, i have resized and posted bunches more to a coppermine gallery.

Linkie: http://www.afkautoshot.net/brooke/thumbnails.php?album=1