Patch 4.0.1

I haven't posted for longer than I expected, what with the many changes that talents have undergone on both the beta servers and the patch test realm, but now that Patch 4.0.1 has arrived and I've spent some time on Ascanius, I feel qualified to write a little about it.

Provisional!

I'm fairly happy, overall. The new Fire tree is significantly improved from the version about which I wrote in my last post on the subject. Impact is even a useful talent in PvE, now! For the first time in my World of Warcraft career, Ascanius actually has two talent specs - one with Burning Soul, Cauterise, and Molten Fury for single-target fights, the other with Improved Fire Blast, Impact, and Improved Flamestrike for multiple-target encounters.

I enjoy the new Combustion mechanic, too - it's a straightforward and accessible way to improve your performance when you're on a boss long enough to make sure all of your damage-over-time effects are up at once. It's also nice that the Scorch debuff can be refreshed by Pyroblast - and I can't tell you how enjoyable zero-mana Scorches while moving has been!

It's a little disappointing that clipping Living Bomb removes the explosion effect, but I can actually imagine encounters in Cataclysm where we might not want the area-of-effect damage spreading out from the boss. The more frustrating aspect of Living Bomb is the new three-target limit, especially as it pertains to the DoT-spreading aspects of Impact (or just to slipshod tab-targeting on my part!).

I'm enjoying the new built-in "Power Auras" system, although the glowing on-screen graphics make me even more anal-retentive about using my Hot Streak procs than I already was. In some ways, though, it's a shame that I never got to experience what it was like getting Arcane Missiles or Pyroblast procs as I levelled - luckily, I do intend to create a goblin mage in Cataclysm on another server.

I will likely have more to say in the future, but I'll knock out a few more points before I go:

• Although it smacks of homogenisation, I do like that Engineering tinkers have lost their enchant-like secondary effects and can now be applied to gear along with regular Enchanting effects.
• I haven't been raiding very much in Icecrown Citadel, but I did go in after the patch and came out with heroic Ether-Soaked Bracers and heroic Frost Needle. The sword was good enough to make switching from my Mag'hari Chieftain's Staff worthwhile right away, but I had no off-hand item better than the Inscription-created Rituals of the New Moon - until only my second run through heroic Halls of Reflection, when I was lucky enough to get Shriveled Heart. I also managed to earn my third piece of Tier 10 gear this morning after defeating the Headless Horseman.
  
• This week many of us finally earned our Glory of the Ulduar Raider achievement, even though the Rusted Proto-Drake no longer automatically awards you with the Master Flying skill for 310% speed. Still, it's a great mount and I'm glad to have it. Hopefully we can get most of the rest of the raid their achievements this coming week.
• I really like the fact that all mounts scale with Riding skill now. Ascanius is currently zooming around Dalaran and the old world on the same Chestnut Mare that was his first-ever mount back at level 40 in 2005, bought for what seemed like a fortune in gold at the time.
  
• My alts are more or less static; I have respecced and fixed up their action bars, but the only one I'm really doing anything with is my Retribution paladin. I actually took her to kill XT-002 Deconstructor for the weekly raid quest last night, and was lucky enough to get Ironsoul from Flame Leviathan on the way. Concepción had previously been carrying the ilevel 200 sword that you can buy at the Argent Tournament, so this was a fun upgrade.

Next time, I expect I'll have some more to say about raiding - we still haven't killed Halion, and we're doing surprisingly well in heroic Icecrown Citadel - and, of course, about what we learn at BlizzCon 2010 this weekend!