Now I know I’m sometimes (sometimes?!) a little (a little?!) out of touch, but when did they put a portal to Orgrimmar back into Dalaran and Shattrath? (And one to Stormwind too, of course.)

This is great news! I changed my hearthstone from Orgimmar back to Dalaran immediately to give me quick access to both Northrend and Kalimdor. Plus the Dark Portal portal in Orgrimmar – which is right next to the landing spot for the incoming Dalaran/Shattrath portal – gives me relatively quick access to the Eastern Kingdoms and Outlands.

Mind you, I can no longer bop easily between Thunderbluff and the Undercity (for example), but all I really wanted was a way to get from continent to continent without waiting for a bloody zeppelin (and then realizing I got on the wrong one, riding back and searching for the right one … just to see it disappearing into the distance).

Special thanks to Gavendo of Rapid Fire for mentioning this in a post. Otherwise I still wouldn’t know!

I don’t know why it surprised me so much, but when my blood elf hunter leveled today so did her tallstrider Sarcasm. Right then and there. Double bursts of light.

Of course I knew that as of Patch 4.1, pets will level up to the level of the hunter when they are tamed. And I knew that pulling a lower level pet out of the stable will level it as well. But somehow I didn’t expect him to level the instant I did when we were out hunting together.

You know what this means? We never have to think about pet XP ever again. I knew that on an intellectual level, but this brought it home to me.

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Patch 4.1 is finally upon us! Blizzard posted an overview and patch notes for Patch 4.1 a couple days ago and there is some interesting stuff for hunters in there.

Patch notes:

• The Feed Pet ability now instantly heals 50% of the pet’s health. Cannot be used in combat. Requires diet-appropriate food.
• The Happiness/Pet Loyalty System has been removed. Hunters will no longer have to manage Happiness for their pets, and the previous damage bonus for pets being happy will now be baseline for all tamed pets.
• Bloodthirsty no longer generates Happiness. [Note: Still has a chance to heal.]
• Carrion Feeder no longer restores Happiness. [Note: Still heals pet.]
• Guard Dog no longer causes Growl to generate additional Happiness. [Note: Still affects threat. Does not heal.]
• Tame Beast now tames pets to match the hunter’s level, rather than 3 levels below.
• Summoned pets now start with 100 focus, up from 0.
• Glyph of Mend Pet is now Glyph of Lesser Proportion, which decreases the size of the pet slightly.
• Added: The pet action bar should no longer sometimes become locked on its own.

Added: Known Issues:

• The exotic pet ability Burrow Attack does not have an animation for certain types of worm pets.
• Pets do not initially spawn in with the correct amount of health.

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Jessibelle from Moon Guard was generous enough to volunteer a guest post on a topic that I’m pretty sure has never appeared on this blog before: hunter specs and raiding.

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Everyone is well aware that back during the previous expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, Marksman and Survival were the hunter specs to be for Heroic Dungeons and Raiding. Well look out Rangers and Survivalists! You’ll be seeing a lot more Spirit Beasts and Corehounds making the scene!

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