Patch, what patch?

A bit more than the usual confusion on the World of Warcraft forums. Eyonix hinted about a soon to be released content patch, before the holidays, followed by an EU blue name stating there would be no patch 1.13. Now Tseric tries to explain: "What it seems that people are expecting is another content patch that is independant of the expansion. More specifically, a lot of folks seem to be looking for a free content patch, should they choose not to purchase the expansion.

This is not happening. Therefore, the EU CM is correct in saying there will be no 1.13. We will not be patching the original version of WoW any further.

What we are doing is upgrading the game client to 2.0. This is what happens in an expansion.

The patch 2.0 is going to prepare for the expansion. We will release more specifics about what is in that at a later time. For now, consider it as the patch that allows players who don't have the expansion to keep playing with players who do. If we were to fully upgrade to expansion, players who did not get the expansion on release day would be shafted until such a time as they upgraded. We do not want this, so we have a prepatory patch which will bridge between the two versions of WoW.

Therefore, patch 2.0 will be released shortly prior to the release of expansion boxes. There will be no patch 1.13."

Basically the Burning Crusade expansion contains content which is exclusive to people who buy the expansion pack, but also changes to the game which everybody will get, whether he buys the expansion or not. Among these are the new honor system and the talent trees. Makes sense, how would you for example want to have everybody with the expansion on the new honor system while keeping the old honor system for the others? So apparently there will be a patch before christmas, it will be called 2.0 (and not 1.13), and it will already patch in the new honor system and talents and whatever other general rules changes the Burning Crusade expansion brings.

Sounds good to me. I wouldn't mind them patching in the new honor system *today*, the earlier it comes, the better. And as the new talent trees have 51 points to the top, and you already have 51 talent points at level 60, having the talent trees early wouldn't hurt either. Makes for a more exciting christmas than another repetition of the same old Grandfather Winter christmas quests. And by splitting up the rules-change patch from the expansion content addition, the servers might have a better change of handling the traffic.