Readers who have been following the progress of the World of Warcraft know that the response to the game has been extraordinary. Many of the guilds in the game are already treating the title like a full-blown product - even to the point of getting upset on message boards when game systems get shuffled around, items get nerfed, removed altogether or (as in the last patch), when everyone's quest flags are reset. It'd be hard to find fault with the game's latest 190MB patch, though, as it improves the game's look quite a bit and adds three new elements to the game that were badly needed.

The biggest change, of course, is the addition of the long awaited "Talent" system. Gamers who are familiar with branching talent tree Blizzard used in the Diablo games will be immediately familiar with the system in place here. Players get one talent point every time they level up, and each of these points can be invested in an ability that will enhance one of your existing powers or skills. Warriors, for example, can get enhancements to their Battle Shout or Rend combat moves, or they can specialize in a particular kind of weapon or combat style. Mages can enhance their mana regeneration or gain spell-like abilities like Ice Barrier that can absorb damage for up to one minute. Unfortunately, the system is only in place for Mages and Warriors with this patch, which will doubtlessly unbalance PvP combat for a while. Still it's a nice addition to the game and helps make each level advance rewarding - something that was rather off-putting when players got no new powers at certain levels.

Boo! Welcome the World of the Dead!
One of the elements that players most liked in the unofficial Cosmos enhancement for World of Warcraft was the regional auction system that took the place of the unwieldy "Tradechat" system. Blizzard clearly took a few lessons from that because they're implementing a series of "Auction houses" that players can use to trade items back and forth. At the moment, auction houses can only be found in each race's capital and trade is restricted to members of that player's faction. The town of Booty Bay, however, also has an auction house where Alliance and Horde players can trade with each other. While this system isn't as versatile as the regional one developed in Cosmos, it does have the advantage of being official and therefore part of the eventual final game. It also works automatically with the game's postal system and there's a possibilty that Blizzard might institute a regional auctions system based on fan affection for Cosmos.

The third major addition in the patch is what looks like it might be the final change to the controversial "Rest" system. The system now only has two tiers - Rested, which nets 200% experience, and Normal, which gets 100% experience. The "Rested" state only lasts for about 30 "bubbles" or 1.5 levels of play, and players can only gain back one "bubble" per 8 house of logout time. Effectively it eliminates the Rest system for players who log on every day, while giveing more casual players a chance to keep up with their friends.

Finally, the patch adds a whole host of minor tweaks to the game. There's a new "Guard" system that allows players to call for help from NPC guards when enemies attack a village. The game's level cap has been raised to 50 and new quests and points of interest have been added. The most immediately obvious change, though, is the impressive graphic update the game has recieved. The game's maps now look more authetically "hand-drawn" with larger labels for major cities. Player corpses now decay into race-specific skeletons. The most impressive change, though, comes when players die and the whole world because a ghostly gray. It's remarkably effective and may be the beginning of the promised "ghostly" adventures.

If you'd like to check out some footage of World of Warcraft in action, check out the various movies available on FilePlanet and continue checking in with GameSpy for hands-on details. .