Preparing for Patch 5.4: Siege of Orgrimmar

World of Warcraft Patch 5.4: Siege of Orgrimmar is almost upon us. To help you prepare, we’ve provided an overview of vital information you need to know so things go smoothly when patch day arrives. You can also review the current Public Test Realm patch notes, or even download and play on the PTR itself for a taste of what’s to come.

The new patch brings a new raid, many class changes, a new PvP season, and a whole new questing area. It also marks the end of the Battlefield: Barrens event. Read on to learn how you can be best prepared to dive into the adventure when Patch 5.4: Siege of Orgrimmar hits.

Class Changes
There are changes coming to every class in Patch 5.4, including glyphs and abilities, as well as alterations to established mechanics like Vengeance. This is an excellent time to head over to the Public Test Realm patch notes to begin familiarizing yourself with what to expect when you log in on patch day. Do keep in mind however that the PTR notes aren’t final, and things could still change before the patch.

Don’t forget to check out Ghostcrawler’s Dev Watercooler: Dissecting Patch 5.4 Class Changes, where the doughty crab drops some knowledge on the reasons behind the class updates you’ll be seeing.

Currency Conversions
Justice and Valor won’t be converted in Patch 5.4, but with the PvP Season turnover, you can expect your Conquest to be converted to Honor as usual.

Please be aware that the conversion cost of Justice to Honor is going up, and it will cost 500 Justice to purchase 250 Honor.

Where’s the New Valor Gear?
There won’t be a new Valor Quartermaster come 5.4. Instead, we invite those of you intent on gearing up quickly to face Patch 5.4’s challenges to visit the new Timeless Isle. You can get a taste of what’s to come by reading Bashiok’s Timeless Isle preview.

The Ethereals who offer Item Upgrades are sticking around, so you’ll still be able to spend your Valor on upgrading your existing gear.

PvP Updates

​Season 14 Begins!

PVP Season 14 arrives with Patch 5.4, which means a few different things. First, Season 14 Grievous gear will become available. Elite versions of Season 14 Grievous will also be available as a mark of prestige for players that reach a personal rating of 2,000 and earn 27,000 Conquest Points over the course of the season, and the non-Elite pieces will no longer be a pre-requisite to purchase them. The prior season’s Season 13 Tyrannical gear will be available for purchase with Honor Points, while Season 12 Malevolent gear can now be crafted. Finally, equipping any pair of PvP trinkets from Season 12 or later will grant a 10% reduction in damage taken from other players.

New Arena System
Big, big changes are coming to how Arenas are organized in Patch 5.4. The most important part is that players will no longer need to create or join an Arena team to compete. Similar to the Rated Battleground system, players in a party of the appropriate size (even cross-realm!) can queue for an Arena bracket of the same size as their party (2v2, 3v3, or 5v5).

For the details regarding how Arenas work in 5.4, check out Daxxarri’s blog on the subject: Patch 5.4 Arena Update.

Be Prepared

The Vale of Eternal Blossoms and the Golden Lotus
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You might already be aware that Garrosh’s callous actions will bring great destruction to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. This also means that the majestic pagoda that once housed the Golden Lotus will be no more.

While this is truly a tragedy, the Golden Lotus fight on. You can still complete some quests for them, as well as earn reputation with the Golden Lotus by slaying their enemies in the Vale. Get the details from Nethaera’s write up: Patch 5.4: Destruction of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

Battlefield: Barrens

The conflict that has been occurring in the Barrens is culminating in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid, but that also means that the various quests offered there, as well as the Darkspear Rebellion Quartermaster, will no longer be available once the patch hits. If you want any of the items that the Quartermaster provides, such as Xan’tish’s Flute or Latent Kor’Kron armors, then your time grows short!

While the quests and the Quartermaster will be gone, the Kor’kron and their camps will remain in the Barrens (though it will no longer be possible to get the various Battlefield: Barrens supplies from them), and those foes will now drop Gahz’rooki’s Summoning Stone, Raptorhide Boxing Gloves, and the Kor’Kron Supply Satchel.

Attention title hounds! The Battlefield: Barrens exclusive titles, Hordebreaker (Alliance) and Darkspear Revolutionary (Horde) disappear with this patch! If you want either one, you’d better get out there and finish the quest line before it’s gone.

Attention Transmogrification enthusiasts! Griftah’s Authentic Troll Shoes are disappearing with Patch 5.4! They may return again at some point in the future, but if you want to be sure to have them, this would be a great time to visit the Barrens and help out the Darkspear Rebellion.

Wowhead has posted a useful guide that can help you make sure to get the most from Battlefield: Barrens before it’s gone.

Professions

Archaeology
The Mantid Artifact Sonic Locator is seeing some changes (you can read the PTR patch notes for details), but the big news for now is that it will be more difficult to obtain in the future, so you maybe want to grab yours now.

New Craftable Raid & PvP Gear
New-for-5.4 crafting materials will be usable to craft new Raid and PvP gear. You’ll be able to learn how to create the new crafting materials via recipes that drops from creatures in Pandaria. Be sure to check out the Professions section of the patch notes to see if it might be a good idea to hold onto some of the mats that you’ve already got stashed.

Fishing
With the destruction in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Jewel Danios have been airlifted to their new habitat on the Timeless Isle . . . where you can fish them up!

Patching Smoothly
It’s easy to make sure that you’re ready to play when the realms become available on patch day. If you haven’t played in a while, then one of the simplest things you can do is open the World of Warcraft launcher, and allow the updater to download the latest available game files. If you use approved User Interface AddOns, make sure you have the latest versions and that they’re updated and ready to go for the new patch. This is also a good time to update your video card’s drivers, to ensure that there aren’t any compatibility issues.

If you experience any patching issues, there’s a technical support forum thread all about patching that could help.  You can also follow @BlizzardCS on Twitter for the latest support-related news.

Getting Additional Account Help
Help with account and in-game issues is just a few clicks away. There may already be a post that addresses your concern on the Customer Support forum, and reading the posts there can be very helpful; the stickied posts at the top are a good first stop, and will help you get the most out of the forum.

The Blizzard Support site provides options like searching through available solutions, or, if the self-help options don’t do the trick, submitting a support ticket might help you get back into the game fast.

In the early days of a patch, players are especially helpful in ensuring the any issues are detected and addressed as soon as possible. You can let us know about previously unreported issues (and find out if a bug you’ve run into has already been reported) on the Bug Report forum.

Good luck, and we’ll see you in Azeroth!