The buzz around the entire WoW community has been focused on the upcoming "goodies" for Patch 4.3: Transmogrification, Void Storage, and the Raid Finder. Normally, I'd simply sit around and wait for the patch to see just how good things are and what the final results end up being (since things are bound to change between now and release). However, the talk doesn't appear to be fading anytime soon, so I thought I'd put my own opinions out there, though I doubt anyone will actually be reading them.
Transmogrification
So the basic gist of this new feature is players will soon be able to take a piece of gear they are currently wearing and changing it to look like another piece of the same type (plate, cloth, sword, etc.) to customize the way their characters look. At this point in time, we know the process is going to cost some gold, though the actual amount is not set in stone yet. We also know there will be limitations on this as well, such as not being able to make a weapon look like a Legendary or some silly fish.
Pros
People who have saved up loads and loads of old gear so they can sit AFK in their capital city looking cool can now look cool while raiding with level-appropriate stats on their gear.
People who haven't saved up tons of old gear but what to look like their wearing old tier gear will now have to go farm it all up.
I will admit, this is a pretty cool feature. There are some really neat looking pieces out there. However, I can't exactly say it's something I plan on using very much at this point in time. For one thing, I can't think of any hunter pieces I really want to farm up badly enough. The only one I've really considered is going back to Tier-10 because it was one of the few sets I actually owned - and regaining it all again wouldn't be difficult since I could buy it all with Justice Points. (Though it would be rather nice to have the heroic 10.5 set since it's a nice shade of purple...) However, I'm rather liking how my current gear has been looking for the most part, minus a few pieces. About the only reason I think I'd use this is so I can actually make my gear match when I'm gaining pieces from different sources. Murloc-green pants sooooo do not go with flimsy looking reddish boots and bear-face shoulders. I guess I'll just have to wait till we get there before I truly decide if it's something I'll use or not....
Void Storage
Simply put, this is going to be a new "bank" which will charge players to deposit and withdraw gear and other keepsakes that they don't want in their normal bank. The main reason this feature is coming out is to compliment Transmogrification by allowing people to store their tons of old gear without it cluttering their main bank slots. Items deposited in here will also lose all their enhancements (gems, enchants, reforges).
Pros
Players with a ton of crap in their banks can finally make some room to store more stuff. They are even going to have a bag-search feature to help their hoarding habits!
Cons
Players who don't have their banks stuffed to the exploding point have little use for this.
I'm definitely one of those who fits into the "Con" category. I am an absolute neat-freak with my bags and banks. More often than not, I put stuff into my guild bank for others to use before I put it in my own, knowing I most likely won't get around to using the item in question for awhile. I also rarely hold on to gear I'll never use again, as I don't tend to sit AFK in Stormwind just to show off my "loots". Unless I suddenly decide to go crazy farming stuff for Transmogrification, the only use I'll have for Void Storage is to shove my archaeology and holiday toys inside it. However, I know plenty of people who will make great use out of this feature!
Raid Finder
The Raid Finder is supposed to work similarly to the Dungeon Finder in that you can queue up for raids and/or fill in a raid group when you don't have enough friends or guildies to go.
Pros
The "casuals" might have a slightly easier time getting into raid groups and actually experiencing content they otherwise only hear about in trade chat.
Cons
This could turn out to be a big, big mess. Raid compositions are a little more touchy than 5-man groups, though Blizzard has been doing what they can to balance things out so things aren't quite as group-make-up dependent.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I've never been much of a raider. When I do raid, it tends to be with PUGs, as I rarely have time to commit to any set raiding schedule. If Blizzard gets this feature right, I could actually find myself using this one once in awhile. However, there is still a very big IF on this right now. With what little experience I have with raiding, I know some fights require two tanks, while others require only one, or perhaps three. The number of healers varies from fight to fight, and how well the group of people work together. Not to mention, the Dungeon Finder is rough enough with 5-mans half the time. Getting 5 total strangers to work with each other without drama can be asking quite a bit at times, not to mention getting 25 total strangers to kill a raid boss. I will most likely be trying this one out when it is released, but, like most people in the WoW community, I plan on doing so very cautiously.
So there you have it. I know it's not very concise or anything. Heck, it's more just rambling than anything else. But I'm about to go to sleep, and I can't say I expect anyone to actually read this anyway, so *shrug*. I mostly just wanted to get my thoughts out there and if someone does read this, cool.
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