The WOW developers have let us know about some of the changes they’re planning in patch 3.1. Priests in particular are getting a couple of significant buffs:

• Divine Spirit is now a baseline skill. I’ve wondered for a while why Divine Spirit wasn’t a baseline skill; it complements Power Word: Fortitude so well. Historically, it’s also been in the “buff tree”, which happens to be the one talent tree that doesn’t gain very much benefit from Spirit, meaning that Holy and Shadow priests either had to go 21 points into Discipline or sacrifice some of their spell power. Given the utility of Guardian Spirit and Dispersal, I’m surprised to see Holy and Shadow priests with Divine Spirit since the talent revamp last fall. Now that it’s a baseline skill, the specs that actually get significant use out of Spirit will be able to use it without giving up their tree-defining skills.
• Discipline priests receive Power Word: Barrier, which is effectively a Power Word: Shield for the whole group. We don’t really have very much detail on this yet. It’s easy to assume that it will take the place of Divine Spirit in the Discipline tree, especially since we haven’t heard about a talent rework for Disc priests, but there’s no confirmation for that yet. There’s also no word on the actual mechanics of the spell; will it be a dome over the whole party, or a bunch of individual bubbles? (I’m guessing the former.) If it’s a dome, will it move with the party? (Perhaps it’ll be centered on the target of the spell.) If it’s a dome, will it block damage that originates from inside the dome, or from a character’s own abilities? I can see this being very useful for fights that involve lots of AOE damage, but we’ll have to see how it works and what it costs before we make any final judgments on it.
• Prayer of Healing can now be cast on any group in your raid. I suspect that this means that it’s targetable, and will heal the target’s group members. The only drawback I can see to this is that I’m used to having it affect me, but it won’t be that hard to re-learn to press Alt-2 instead of just 2.
• Holy Nova’s mana cost has been reduced. This will be a blessing for Holy and Discipline priests who are trying to solo lower-level content. Now if only they’d make Mind Sear do damage to the primary target, we’d be set. (The problem with Mind Sear is that it’s channeled and does no damage to the priest’s actual target, so it’s worthless against a single mob and unfortunately limited when the priest faces several mobs. Although, actually, when I think about it what comes to mind is to allow priests to cast Mind Sear on friendly targets…)
• The amount healed by Circle of Healing is increased. Given the spell’s mana cost and cooldown, this is entirely warranted.
• Shadowform reduces magic damage as well as physical damage. Conceptually I can see why Shadowform has been the way it has for so long, but in terms of game play, this is a much-needed revision of the ability, especially considering how many creatures deal magic damage in Northrend. (Oh, and for Holy priests clamoring for Holyform: you have one. It’s called Spirit of Redemption. Don’t forget to glyph it up.)
• Dispersion removes snares. This would be great if you could move while you were Dispersed. Ghostangel tells me that you can move and act while Dispersed – I guess I was just bugged or super-lagged when I tried it out, because I was locked in place. In that case, this is actually a useful (and conceptually appropriate) change.
• Penance can now target the casting priest. Aside from Alex Ziebart’s observations on its uses in PVP, I can also easily see priests using Penance on themselves in AOE fights to triple-stack Grace on themselves, since each of Penance’s three “strikes” counts as an application of the spell for Grace’s purposes. (This is part of how I use Penance on tanks already.) Also, before this Penance was useless in solo play except as a damage spell; after 3.1 it will be a useful, quick heal, especially if you’ve stacked Haste to reduce its channel time.
• Serendipity reduces the cast time of Greater Heal and Prayer of Healing when Binding Heal or Flash Heal is cast. I’m going to want to see how much it reduces the cast time. Currently Serendipity is a three-point talent, so I suspect that it’s going to be either 3%/6%/10% or 8%/17%/25%. (Given that both Greater Heal and Prayer of Healing have a base 3-second cast time, though, it might be 11%/22%/33% or something similar.) This talent might actually make Greater Heal worth casting again, especially combined with the 4-piece Tier 7 set.
• Holy priests will have additional PVP utility. I’ll wait to see what they do to the Holy spec before I say any more.

In general, 3.1 looks like it’s going to be a nice patch for priests. I’m looking forward to seeing how Power Word: Barrier and the Holy changes work out.

Since I wrote this post and its Holy counterpart, they’ve probably had the most hits of any post on this site. New visitors, please be aware – this was my preferred list for Naxx-level gear. Now that Ulduar’s out, this post is obsolete! Please stay tuned for a list that’s updated for Ulduar gear.

Since I wrote a list of the best current gear for Holy priests, I’ve had a couple requests to do the same for Discipline priests. Here’s my estimation of the best gear in each slot for Disc healers.

• Head: Hood of Rationality (Alexstrasza’s Gift, Heroic Eye of Eternity)
• Neck: Life-Binder’s Locket (Quest reward, Heroic Judgment at the Eye of Eternity) – consider Chains of Adoration (Zone drop, Heroic Naxxramas) as an alternate
• Shoulders: Mantle of Dissemination (Alexstrasza’s Gift, Heroic Eye of Eternity) – Sympathetic Amice (Grobbulus, Heroic Naxxramas) is a good standby
• Back: Pennant Cloak (Sartharion, Heroic Obsidian Sanctum)
• Chest: Blanketing Robes of Snow (Alexstrasza’s Gift, Heroic Eye of Eternity)
• Wrists: Cuffs of the Shadow Ascendant (60 Emblems of Valor)
• Hands: Wraps of the Persecuted (Thaddius, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Waist: Leash of Heedless Magic (Alexstrasza’s Gift, Heroic Eye of Eternity)
• Legs: Leggings of Mortal Arrogance (Kel’thuzad, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Feet: Serene Echoes (Heigan the Unclean, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Finger 1: Signet of Manifested Pain (Kel’thuzad, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Finger 2: Ring of Decaying Beauty (Sapphiron, Heroic Naxxramas) – or Seized Beauty (Zone drop, Heroic Naxxramas) if you don’t care about +haste and really, really want that extra 0.83% crit
• Trinket 1: Forethought Talisman (Zone Drop, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Trinket 2: Je’Tze’s Bell (World Drop) – the proc from this is effectively about 30 MP5 during a fight.
• Weapon: This one’s a tossup. If you need more mana and haste, take Spire of Sunset (Thaddius, Heroic Naxxramas). If you need spellpower, +crit, and MP5, take Torch of Holy Fire (Kel’thuzad, Heroic Naxxramas) paired with Urn of Lost Memories (Four Horsemen Chest, Heroic Naxxramas).
• Wand: Fading Glow (Loatheb, Heroic Naxxramas)

Oddly, Wowhead lists Urn of Lost Memories as dropping from Gluth (Heroic Naxxramas). That doesn’t actually appear to be the case and I can’t find anywhere else that corroborates it.

As with Holy priests, you may not want to rely on world and zone drops for your trinkets. The Egg of Mortal Essence (40 Emblems of Heroism) and Embrace of the Spider (Maexxna, Heroic Naxxramas). It’s worth noting that both of these can proc at the same time, giving you an effective +1010 haste rating. (This works out to about 72 +haste per trinket while you’re healing.) Using these instead of the recommended trinkets costs you 21 spell power, about 30 MP5 from Je’Tze’s Bell, and the HOT proc from Forethought Talisman, in exchange for about 144 (4.4%) haste.

Here’s the stat run-down:

Plus a meta gem socket, 3 blue sockets, 1 yellow socket, and 1 red socket, without any modifications.

Questions and comments are welcome!

Blue poster Kisirani has let us know that Blizzard has increased the drop rate of the Bag of Candies from the Gifts of Adoration given out by the various civilian (non-guard) NPCs. The bags’ drop rate was not bugged, and was “fairly reasonable”, but it’s been increased to be in line with the rest of the consumable holiday items (Love Rockets, Love Fools, etc.).

Patch 3.0.9 goes live tomorrow with the extended (?) maintenance. I’m looking forward to a 30-minute Inner Fire, even though there aren’t any LK fights long enough to require its reapplication (yet!), but I wonder what’s coming up.

3.2: Inner Fire is now castable on others.
3.4: Priests receive a new spell at level 80, Prayer of Fire, which costs 1 Devout Candle and provides the benefit of Inner Fire to the friendly target’s entire party.
4.0: Inner Fire and Prayer of Fire have been removed from the game. Instead, priests can now wear leather armor and have a permanent Aura of Fire which grants them and all raid members within 20 yards an additional 150 spell power.

(Yes, I’m being silly. … I hope.)

So here we are. I’ve finally taken the plunge and started a blog just for the World of Warcraft stuff I write occasionally – which hopefully will be more often now that I don’t have to worry if my readers care about it. Matt rightly points out that there are three classes of readers at Lost in Translation:





So I’ve split off the World of Warcraft stuff. Now the people who want to read about my thoughts on World of Warcraft can do that here without having to read about my cats, and the people who want to read about my cats can do that on Lost in Translation without having to read about my altitis.

Naturally, this thing is going to stagger and lurch for a while as I get my bearings, but bear with us. And please remember to subscribe via the shiny orange button in the upper right. (Well, that’s where it is right now. When I finish re-theming, who knows?)

Since I wrote this post and its Discipline counterpart, they’ve probably had the most hits of any post on this site. New visitors, please be aware – this was my preferred list for Naxx-level gear. Now that Ulduar’s out, this post is obsolete! Please stay tuned for a list that’s updated for Ulduar gear.

Originally posted here on 2/5/09.

A quick run-down of the best-in-slot items for healing priests in WOW, for Holly. If you’re not a healing priest you can safely ignore this. :)

• Head: Hood of Rationality (Eye of Eternity, Alexstrasza’s Gift)
• Shoulder: Mantle of Dissemination (Eye of Eternity, Alexstrasza’s Gift)
• Chest: Digested Silken Robes (Maexxna, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Wrist: Unsullied Cuffs (Sartharion, Heroic Obsidian Sanctum) – only very slightly better than Punctilious Bindings (Grand Widow Faerlina, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Hands: Gloves of Token Respect (Grand Widow Faerlina, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Waist: Leash of Heedless Magic (Grand Widow Faerlina, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Legs: Distorted Limbs (Maexxna, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Feet: Arcanic Tramplers (Alexstrasza’s Gift, Eye of Eternity)
• Neck: Necklace of the Glittering Chamber (Alexstrasza’s Gift, Eye of Eternity) – these can be replaced with Cosmic Lights (Sapphiron, Heroic Naxxramas), if you’re confident in your MP5 and want more Haste
• Finger 1: Band of Channeled Magic (25 Emblems of Valor)
• Finger 2: Lost Jewel (Zone drop, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Trinket 1: Forethought Talisman (Zone Drop, Heroic Naxxramas)
• Trinket 2: Je’Tze’s Bell (World Drop)
• Weapon: Staff of Restraint (Sartharion, Heroic Obsidian Sanctum) if you favor more mana, or Damnation (Four Horsemen, Heroic Naxxramas) if you favor more crit; both are staves, so you don’t need an off-hand
• Wand: Wand of the Archlich (Kel’thuzad, Heroic Naxxramas)

Since both of the trinkets are random drops – fortunately, Je’Tze’s Bell is at least Bind on Equip now – you might want to start out with The Egg of Mortal Essence (40 Emblems of Heroism) and Embrace of the Spider (Maexxna, Heroic Naxxramas).

Comments? Questions? There’s a form below!

Originally posted here on 1/19/09.

I’ve been thinking about set bonuses for priests, because I’m dissatisfied with the bonuses that the current Tier 7 sets have. Below are some thoughts for replacements – or perhaps T8 bonuses. I’m not separating them into 2-set and 4-set yet; they’re all jammed together. Also, some of these are pretty good; to which my response is to ask why set bonuses are required to be mediocre at best?

• Your critical heals have a chance to dispel a harmful magic effect or disease from the target. (This is kind of the inverse of Glyph of Dispel Magic.)
• Your Prayer of Healing affects up to five members of your raid, if you are in a raid group.
• Your Binding Heal now heals one additional group member within 10 yards of you.
• Heals cast on you have a chance to also heal a nearby group member for 50% of the effective healing done to you.
• Your Circle of Healing’s cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds.
• Your Smite does 10% less damage, but has 10% additional chance to critically strike. (This one may be better suited to a glyph.)
• You gain the Power Word: Shield effect whenever your Power Word: Fortitude is dispelled.
• Your Vampiric Touch grants its Replenishment effect to up to two additional raid members.
• Your Levitate is no longer dispelled when you take damage.
• Your Shadow Word: Death’s critical strikes restore 10% of the spell’s mana cost.
• Your Mind Sear deals 25% damage to your target.

Any other set bonuses you’d like to see?

Originally posted here on 1/13/09.

Matt is drafting a post on the various classes’ Tier 7 set bonuses, so I wanted to ring in on the priest bonuses while the thought was still fresh in my mind. (I’m not trying to compete, Matt, I promise.) These apply to both the Heroes’ set (Emblems of Heroism) and the Valorous (Emblems of Valor) set.

DPS (Garb of Faith)

• (2) Set: The mana cost of your Mind Blast is reduced by 10%.
• (4) Set: Your Shadow Word: Death has an additional 10% chance to critically strike.

The 2-Set bonus seems okay. I’d like to know whether the reduction is calculated after or alongside talents (in other words, if I have Shadow Focus 3/3 (reduces the mana cost of my Shadow spells by 6%), is Mind Blast’s mana cost 14.38% of base mana ((17% * (94% from Shadow Focus) * 90% from set bonus) or 14.28% (17% * 84% (Shadow Focus and set bonus combined))? I guess it’s a trivial difference, but I’d like to know. As for practical application, our Shadow priest last night used Mind Blast 78 times over 19’19″. It costs him 617 mana to cast Mind Blast currently, so with a 10% savings, he’d get the equivalent of about 20.8 additional mp5.

The 4-piece bonus, on the other hand, is not one I want at all. I’m truly hard-pressed to think of a single circumstance when I’d want Shadow Word: Death to have a higher chance of critting. Perhaps if I used SW:D in a general damage rotation, I’d see more use to the bonus, but I’m not a particular fan of making the healer’s life harder. Otherwise, I use SW:D to tag mobs (which won’t be necessary come 3.0.8), when I don’t want extra damage taken out of my health bar; to get rid of Prayer of Mending, when I don’t want to risk overwhelming the PoM heal; and when a mob’s almost dead, when I don’t use SW:D unless I’m sure it’ll kill the mob anyway, so what’s the point of extra crit?

Healing (Regalia of Faith)

• (2) Set: Your Prayer of Mending will jump an additional time.
• (4) Set: The cost of your Greater Heal is reduced by 5%.

Whether the 2-Set bonus here is nice or not depends on how you use Prayer of Mending and what fight you’re on. In general, giving PoM an extra bounce is a nice bonus, but if your rotation calls for casting Prayer of Mending every time its cooldown is up, you’re never going to get a chance to let it bounce that much (unless your group is taking a very strange amount of staggered damage).

The 4-Set bonus is okay, but it’s nothing special. Again, I’d like to know if that’s alongside or after talents, since it does affect the mana cost a little. But in terms of practical numbers: I cast Greater Heal 75 times in boss fights last night in Naxx. Given that my Greater Heal costs 1050 mana at the moment, a 5% mana cost reduction would have meant me saving 3937 mana total; I was healing bosses for 22’27″, so saving that much mana over the course of the night would have been the equivalent of 13.5 additional mp5. Like I said: okay, but nothing special.

Originally posted here on 1/13/09.

This is a quick guide to priest-friendly gear in the non-heroic Northrend instances. The goal of this list is to build a gear list for priests who are leveling through Northrend or who have just hit 80 and want to know what they should collect in order to enter Heroic healing.

Please note that later entries aren’t necessarily upgrades! Always make sure to check the stats on the loot you’re looking at before you roll on it.

Utgarde Keep

• Prince Keleseth: Reinforced Velvet Helm (Head).
• Skarvald the Constructor and Ingvar the Plunderer have nothing for priests.

The Nexus

• Grand Magus Telestra: Wand of Shimmering Scales (Wand).
• Anomalus: Tome of the Lore Keepers (Off-hand).
• Keristrasza: Attuned Crystalline Boots (Feet) and Band of Glittering Permafrost (Ring). The ring is great, but don’t specifically go after the boots; you’ll get an upgrade in Azjol-Nerub.
• Ormorok the Tree-Shaper has nothing for priests.

Azjol-Nerub

• Krik’thir the Gatewatcher: Exquisite Spider-Silk Footwraps (Feet). These have less Stamina and spell power, but more Intellect and Spirit, than the Attuned Crystalline Boots from Keristrasza. All things considered, I’d take these over the Attuned Crystalline Boots.
• Hadronox: Life-Staff of the Web Lair (Staff). N.B.: I’m still using this to heal Naxx at level 80. Unless you have something really amazing from BC, get this staff.
• Anub’Arak: Charmed Silken Cord (Belt). This is really a DPS item, but I’m including it for completeness’ sake.

Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom

• Prince Taldaram: Gloves of the Blood Prince (Hands) and Talisman of Scourge Command (Off-hand). The Talisman has much less Stamina and a little less Spirit than the Tome of the Lore-Keepers from Anomalus, but it has more Intellect, more spell power, and 7 mp5. I’d take it if it drops, but don’t farm for it.
• Jedoga Shadowseeker: Cloak of the Darkcaster (Back).
• Herald Volazj: Mantle of Echoing Bats (Shoulders).
• Elder Nadox doesn’t have anything for priests.

Drak’Tharon Keep

• Novos the Summoner: Crystal Pendant of Warding (Neck) and Robes of Novos (Chest). You’re going to be fighting with pretty much every other caster for both of these items, since neither has the Spirit that makes them priest-friendly.
• King Dred: Stable Master’s Breeches (Legs) and Staff of the Great Reptile (Staff). Don’t let your group skip King Dred (who’s technically an optional boss) unless you have better pants than these already – but don’t go after this staff, which makes tragic use of its item budget. If it’s really an upgrade, go back to AN and farm Hadronox.
• Trollgore and The Prophet Tharon’ja have nothing for priests.

Violet Hold

Violet Hold is unusual among instances in that you won’t always be fighting the same bosses; you get two random bosses and then Cyanigosa. Keep this in mind when reading through this list, since you won’t be guaranteed to get the boss you want, much less the drop from that boss. Violet Hold also will likely contain your first socketed items since level 70.

• Erekem (Arakkoa): Trousers of the Arakkoa (Legs).
• Moragg (Beholder): Band of Eyes (Ring).
• Lavanthor (Core hound): Lava Burn Gloves (Hands). These are DPS gloves; don’t take them unless nobody else wants them. The +hit will be good for leveling and grinding, but hardly at all for instances.
• Zuramat the Obliterator (Void lord): Pendant of Shadow Beams (Neck). Again, this is largely DPS, although the Haste will help you.
• Ichoron (Water revenant), Xevozz (Ethereal), and Cyanigosa drop nothing of interest to priests.

Gundrak

• Slad’ran: Embroidered Gown of Zul’Drak (Chest). Once again, a DPS piece.
• Moorabi: Frozen Scepter of Necromancy (Mace) and Arcane Focal Signet (Ring). The ring, like the pendant from Violet Hold, is a DPS piece with possible healing applications. The mace is an oddity; it’s budgeted as a Shadow priest item.
• Gal’darah: Shroud of Akali (Back). Another DPS item.
• The Drakkari Colossus has nothing for priests.

Halls of Stone

• Maiden of Grief: Ringlet of Repose (Ring) and Chain of Fiery Orbs (Neck). Finally, some honest-to-goodness healing items! The ring is indisputably a priest item, and despite its name, the Chain of Fiery Orbs is great for Discipline priests.
• Krystallus: Leggings of Burning Gleam (Legs).
• Sjonnir the Ironshaper: Static Cowl (Head). Primarily DPS.
• The Tribunal of Ages drops nothing of use for priests.

Halls of Lightning

• General Bjarngrim: Mantle of Electrical Charges (Shoulders).
• Volkhan: Volkhan’s Hood (Head) and Cape of Seething Steam (Back). Both primarily DPS.
• Ionar: Thundercloud Grasps (Hands). Excellent for Discipline priests.
• Loken: Chaotic Spiral Amulet (Neck), Raiments of the Titans (Chest), and Ancient Measuring Rod (Wand). All three are good priest items!

The Oculus

• Drakos the Interrogator: Verdisa’s Cuffs of Dreaming (Wrists) and Timeless Beads of Eternos (Neck).
• Varos Cloudstrider: Gloves of the Azure-Lord (Hands).
• Mage-Lord Urom: The Conjurer’s Slippers (Feet). Primarily DPS.
• Ley-Guardian Eregos: Vestments of the Scholar (Chest) and Malygos’ Favor (Staff). The chestpiece is largely DPS, but Malygos’ Favor is a good priest staff.

The Caverns of Time: The Culling of Stratholme

• Meathook: Enchanted Wire Stitching (Ring).
• Salramm the Fleshcrafter: Tome of Salramm (Off-hand).
• Chrono-Lord Epoch: Sempiternal Staff (Staff, natch).
• Mal’Ganis: Beguiling Scepter (Mace), Demonic Fabric Bands (Wrists), Soul Preserver (Trinket). Note that the Soul Preserver is explicitly a healing trinket! Don’t let DPS casters roll against you on this because they “need the spell power”.

Utgarde Pinnacle

• Svala Sorrowgrave: Brazier Igniter (Wand).
• Gortok Palehoof: Seal of Valgarde (Off-hand) and Shroud of Resurrection (Back). The off-hand is primarily DPS, and the Shroud of Resurrection is, oddly, great for Discipline priests.
• Skadi the Ruthless: Silken Amice of the Ymirjar (Shoulders). Try saying “Ymirjar” five times fast.
• King Ymiron: Signet of Ranulf (Ring). Primarily DPS.

And that’s your non-heroic instances! Don’t forget, though, that you can also pick up gear from quests. It generally won’t be as good as the gear you get from instances, but you can fill empty slots easily by finding quests that give those pieces as rewards. (And yes, unlike Outland, you can start healing the low-level heroic instances even if you still have some greens.)

Here’s my recommendation for your gear as you enter heroics:

• Head: Volkhan’s Hood (Volkhan, Halls of Lightning)
• Neck: Chaotic Spiral Amulet (Loken, Halls of Lightning)
• Shoulder: Mantle of Electrical Charges (General Bjarngrim, Halls of Lightning) (Except for the graphic, this is identical to the Silk Amice of the Ymirjar from Utgarde Pinnacle, and it’s easier to get to.)
• Back: Shroud of Resurrection (Gortok Palehoof, Utgarde Pinnacle)
• Chest: Raiments of the Titans (Loken, Halls of Lightning)
• Wrist: Demonic Fabric Bands (Mal’Ganis, The Culling of Stratholme)
• Hands: Thundercloud Grasps (Ionar, Halls of Lightning) if Discipline, Gloves of the Azure-Lord (Varos Cloudstrider, The Oculus) if Holy
• Waist: Charmed Silken Cord (Anub’Arak, Azjol-Nerub)
• Legs: Leggings of Burning Gleam (Krystallus, Halls of Stone)
• Feet: The Conjurer’s Slippers (Mage-Lord Urom, The Oculus), but consider Exquisite Spider-Silk Footwraps (Krik’thir the Gatewatcher, Azjol-Nerub) if you’re having mana-regen issues
• Ring: Ringlet of Repose (Maiden of Grief, Halls of Stone)
• Ring: Enchanted Wire Stitching (Meathook, The Culling of Stratholme)
• Trinket: Soul Preserver (Mal’Ganis, The Culling of Stratholme)
• Trinket: I have a Mercurial Alchemist’s Stone, which is acquired through Alchemy (and requires Alchemy to use). If you don’t have a profession trinket, you might want to check out Futuresight Rune or Cannoneer’s Morale, both of which are quest rewards with quite nice stats and abilities. I won’t assume either in the calculations below.
• Weapon: Malygos’ Favor (Ley-Guardian Eregos, The Oculus), for Holy priests; Sempiternal Staff (Chrono-Lord Epoch, The Culling of Stratholme) or Beguiling Scepter (Mal’Ganis, The Culling of Stratholme) and Seal of Valgarde (Gortok Palehoof, Utgarde Pinnacle) for Discipline priests.
• Wand: Brazier Igniter (Svala Sorrowgrave, Utgarde Pinnacle)

Ultimately, this combination will give you:

Please comment below if you have anything to say – especially if you want to make a correction or disagree with my prioritizing!

Originally posted here on 12/11/08.

Supposedly, the notes from patch 3.0.8 have been leaked. If they’re real, they include my favorite change to the game so far:

• Racial restrictions on mounts have now been lifted. Night elves on mechanostrider? Tauren on raptor? You’re not seeing things.

Finally, Theande can have her mechanostrider!