Patch 2.4 is now live and will no doubt be greeted with mixed reactions. Will the removal of diminishing returns on honor lead to hour-long graveyard camping festivals? Will the Warsong Gulch flag carrier debuff help reduce turtles or will it make the problem worse? Find out for yourself and let us know what you think by posting on our forums.

Here are some of the Patch 2.4 highlights of particular interest to the twink community:

PvP

• Diminishing returns on honor for kills is being eliminated.
• Honor will now be instantly calculated, and available for player use.
• Players that have the resurrection sickness debuff will be worth no honor.
• Added new PvP daily quests that send players to Halaa and the Spirit Towers of the Bone Wastes. These quests are available for Alliance and Horde at their respective local quest hubs.
• Arenas
  • The benefits of drinking out of combat have been delayed while in the Arena. It will now take four seconds before the full benefit of the mana regeneration will come into effect.
  • Queue times for arena matches have been reduced. Players will now be able to enter matches faster than previously.
  • Shadow Sight now increases damage taken by 5% rather than dealing damage over time. Duration has been reduced from 21 seconds to 15 seconds.
  • Players feared outside of the Arena (through the world or outside the arena walls) will now be teleported back to the center of the arena map.

So you've got your fishing gear and you forked over the gold for your enchants, librams and leg armor. Perhaps you've even managed to score some Naxx enchants for your shoulders. You've racked up more than 25,000 lifetime kills in the past month. The question you have no doubt asked yourself is the same question currently perplexing World of Warcraft twinks across the globe; Now what?!?

Wrath of the Lich King Achievements, that's what!

Blizzard recently announced that the Wrath of the Lich King expansion will introduce a series of new goals and rewards, many of which will be based on PvP objectives. For example, return the flag 5 times during a Warsong Gulch battle and you will receive the Frenzied Defender award. Prefer a little more PewPewPew in your stew? Get 20 Killing Blows without dying in a single battleground and you will earn the Grim Reaper award.

What do you want first? The good news or the bad news? Let’s start with the bad news…

When Patch 2.4.3 goes live, the level 10 twink as we know it will cease to exist. Blizzard has decided to nerf Parry Rating, Block Rating, and Defense Rating- a fatal decision for our sneaky little friends that love to never get hit.

“Parry Rating, Defense Rating, and Block Rating: Low-level players will now convert these ratings into their corresponding defensive stats at the same rate as level 34 players.”
What does this mean? According to WoWwiki.com, the benefit you gain from a certain amount of rating is calculated by dividing the amount of rating by a certain value, depending on your level and the type of rating. For a single point of rating, the formula is:

1/(value*(level-8)/52)=benefit of 1 point of rating.
The value is 1.5 for Defense Rating, 15 for Parry Rating, and 5 for Block Rating. So what the nerf does is that the “level” number changes from whatever it was to 34, meaning you will need more rating for the same benefit.

For example, a level 19 Warrior with a shield that grants 5 Block Rating will yield:
5/(5*(19-8)/52)=4.73% block.
But after the nerf, the benefit he gains will be:
5/(5*(34-8)/52)=2% block.

Also, a level 10 rogue with a dress that grants 15 Defense Rating will yield:
15/(1.5*(10-8)/52)=260 defense.

After the 2.4.3 nerf, the benefit he gains will be reduced to:
15/(1.5*(34-8)/52)=20 defense.

Because level 10 characters used to calculate with very small amounts of rating needed to gain a large benefit (due to the 10-8, instead of 19-8), this nerf hits them the hardest. In fact, it makes it equally hard for them to gain benefit as level 19 characters.