What’s Fun in World of Warcraft v3.1

GameSpy has kicked up a three-page guide on “what’s fun” in Blizzard’s ambitious v3.1 patch for World of Warcraft.

If you haven’t maxed out your fishing skill or found a charming bathing suit, now would be a good time because 3.1 will see the introduction of aquatic mounts into the game. These include an aquatic ray and a special fast turtle mount that gives a 100% speed boost in the water that can only be caught via fishing. Fortunately, regular mounts won’t be left out as all regular mounts have also learned how to swim, albeit at a reduced speed. This goes along with several other changes to fishing including the ability to now fish anywhere regardless of skill level, though better stuff will be caught in higher level areas by players with higher skill.

Delsyn thinks: This is one of the most mysterious additions to the patch because it’s little more than a novelty in the game as it stands. [Editor’s Note: Novelty? You’ve obviously never tried to catch Mr. Pinchy!] It’s fueling a huge amount of speculation that (along with the extension of breath meters and more underwater breathing equipment) Blizzard is going full speed ahead with more aquatic adventures. What form this will take is up in the air of course, though the smart money has at least some upcoming content focused on the underwater realm underneath the Maelstrom. They might add more such content in a patch, of course, but underwater adventuring seems like a major gameplay change with tons of new mechanics. It’s the kind of thing that simply can’t be handled in a patch. [Editor’s Note: Underwater adventures in D&D were frighteningly deadly. Let’s hope WoW doesn’t take a Little Mermaid approach to the undersea realm.]

In other v3.1-related news, a post on the official forums reveals that the Equipment Manager feature is getting delayed and won’t debut in the patch as previously expected:

Certain issues were encountered with the upcoming Equipment Manager that could not be resolved in time for release with the next content update, patch 3.1. In order to ensure that this feature meets our standard of quality, we will be taking some extra time with the Equipment Manager and it will instead be released some time after patch 3.1. We understand that this feature is a widely anticipated addition and apologize for this minor delay.