MMO Champion is reporting that the next major patch for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, the highly anticipated 5.1 update, will hit servers tomorrow.  While this isn't a massive content patch, there is quite a bit within it, enough that players have been waiting on pins and needles.  I tried to track down the original Blizzard post confirming this information, but instead saw something I've never before experienced:  A 404 page on a Blizzard site.  Just in case you're curious what such a page would look like if Blizzard created it, I've included a screenshot below.

In any case, there's lots of fun coming in Patch 5.1.  Items will now be able to be upgraded with a new system that allows you to spend your Justice Points (and other such currencies) to improve the stats on your favorite gear.  In addition the next step in the Pandaria conflict questline is available, and with it comes two new factions to grind for you end game players.  And once you're done with your new dailies (is that a sigh I heard?)  there are several new scenarios to dabble with.

My particular favorite addition to the game in this patch has to do with the Pet Battle system.  Players will now be able to upgrade their pets using either Justice Points or stones that drop during pet battles out in the wild. Pet levels are now visible on the map, and their rarity is clearly marked by their portrait during the battle.  This will save us having to download a mod just to find those rares we were looking for. 

For details on the changes summarized above as well as other goodies in the patch, check out the patch notes listed below.  No doubt the servers will be down for quite a bit tomorrow, so this will give you something to read while you wait.  Unless you still need to finish The Hobbit before the movie comes out next month.

Told ya.  It's like finding a white elephant.

General

 

• The Pandaren Campaign begins!
  • The conflict between the Horde and the Alliance has ignited a new series of daily quests along the shore of the Krasarang Wilds.
  • Players can visit their faction strongholds in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to begin the quest to summon their war fleets to the continent of Pandaria. 
  • Players will both valiantly defend their faction’s outpost and assault the opposing faction's headquarters.
  • Two new Reputations have been added: Alliance players can earn reputation with Operation: Shieldwall, while Horde players will curry favor with the Dominance Offensive.
  • Players can follow the story of the Pandaren Campaign through a series of special quests tied to their reputation with the landing forces. Heroes assisting with the war effort will join key characters and faction leaders as the growing conflagration spreads across Pandaria... as well as other locations around Azeroth.
  • Players can slay rival NPCs and opposing faction players along the shore to earn commissions that can be spent to upgrade their faction's base.
  • Look for strategic objectives to capture, including graveyards and towers. Commissions can be spent to recruit guards that will help protect this captured territory!
  • Players who are truly dedicated to their faction can spend their commissions on an item that will give their fellows an extra reputation group quest for the day. Horde players can speak with Ongrom Black Tooth, while Alliance players can contact Proveditor Grantley for details.
• Brawler's Guild
• Underground fighting rings have sprung up in Stormwind and Orgrimmar that will give brawlers who have their mitts on an invitation a chance to earn bragging rights by testing their solo PvE mettle against some of the toughest creatures found in World of Warcraft.
• Players will prove their skill, and increase their rank with the Brawler's Guild, as they win matches against some of the most difficult solo encounters in World of Warcraft.
• Entry into the brawler’s guild is by invitation only. Invitations can be found on the black market auction house, by invitation from somebody within the guild, and occasionally as drops from certain Horde and Alliance NPCs.
• As their Brawler's Guild rank increases, players will unlock additional rewards and activities within the Brawler’s Guild.
• Brawlers on a realm will gather together into the blood spattered ring to watch as their peers face down their own opponents. They can watch the battles in progress to learn from hardened Brawler's Guild veterans as they wait for their own turn to fight.
• If this is your first night at Brawler's Guild, you have to fight.
• Lesser Charms of Good Fortune no longer take up bag space, and are now recorded in the currency tab of the Character Sheet.

Classes

• The durations of all disarm effects have been reduced to 8 seconds.
• The Weakened Blows effect has a new icon.
  
   Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >Damage received from players (or player-controlled sources) no longer counts towards increasing the healing done by Death Strike.
   Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >A new passive ability has been added: Tooth and Claw. This ability causes autoattacks to have a chance to empower the Druid's nextMaul. Empowered Maul reduce the damage dealt by the target's next autoattack. Guardian Druids obtain this ability at level 32.
  Omen of Clarity now has a different visual effect for Feral Druids.
  Symbiosis:
  Mass Dispel mana cost has been increased to match the Priest version, and its cooldown has been increased to 60 seconds.
  The cast time of Symbiosis has been reduced to 2 seconds.
  Survival Instincts is once again granted to Brewmaster Monks and now costs 2 Chi to use.
  Might of Ursoc is once again granted to Blood Death Knights, and now costs 30 Runic Power.
  Savage Defense is once again granted to Protection Warriors, but now only provides a 30% increase to dodge.
  Barkskin is once again granted to Protection Paladins, and now costs 1 Holy Power.
  The cooldown of Stampeding Shout provided by Symbiosis has been reduced to 5 minutes.
  The duration of Solar Beam provided by Symbiosis now displays correctly as 4 seconds.
  Glyphs
  The Glyph of Solar Beam has been changed, and now increases the radius of Solar Beam to 10 yards (was 10 yards).
  The duration of Solar Beam has been reduced to 8 seconds.
   Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >Careful Aim now increases the critical strike chance of Steady Shot and Aimed Shot by 75% on targets who are above 80% health, down from 90%.
  The duration of Steady Focus has been increased to 20 seconds, up from 10 seconds.
  Aspect of the Fox has been removed.
  Steady Shot, Cobra Shot, and Barrage can now always be cast on the move.
  Lynx Rush has been changed. Lynx Rush is now a bleed effect that causes damage every 3 seconds over a period of 15 seconds, and stacks up to 9 times.
  Bestial Wrath no longer grants Hunter pets immunity to crowd control effects, and instead now breaks existing crowd control effects when activated.
  Glyphs
  < >The Glyph of Icy Solace has been renamed to Glyph of Solace, and now causes both Scattershot and Freezing Trap to remove all damage over time effects from the target.
  Glyph of Scattering has been removed.
  A new Major Glyph has been added: Glyph of Aimed Shot. This glyph allows Aimed Shot to be used while moving.
   Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >The damage buff from Arcane Charge has been increased from 22% to 24%.
  Rune of Power duration now shows in the UI, and no longer has a cooldown (was 6 seconds).
  Ring of Frost now has a 45 second cooldown, up from 30 seconds, and can no longer affect more than 10 targets.
  The duration of Deep Freeze has been reduced to 4 seconds.
  Frost Bomb will now detonate after 6 seconds, up from 5 seconds). Detonation speed is still affected by haste.
  Mage Armor now reduces the duration of harmful Magic effects by 25%, down from 35%).
  The damage absorbed by Ice Barrier has been reduced by 25%.
  Combustion periodic damage is now based only on the current Ignite, instead of both Ignite and Pyroblast. Damage has been increased to bring it up to approximately the same level as before.
  Blazing Speed may now be triggered after recieving damage in any amount.
  The mana cost of Spellsteal has been increased to 21% of base mana for Fire and Frost mages, up from 7%.
   Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >Spear Hand Strike now costs 10 energy (was 30).
  All healing spells which cost mana have had their mana cost increased by 10%.
  The energy costs of Legacy of the Emperor, and Legacy of the White Tiger have been reduced to 20, down from 50.
  The energy cost of Healing Sphere has been reduced to 40, down from 60.
  The Tiger Power provided by Tiger Palm now reduces target armor by 30% with a single application and no longer stacks.
  Stance of the Fierce Tiger now increases the Monk's movement speed by 10% in addition to its other effects. This movement speed increase stacks with other effects.
  The healing provided by the Healing Sphere base spell has been increased by 20%.
  The chance to generate 1 Chi while channeling Soothing Mist and Crackling Jade Lightning has increased to 35%, up from 25%.
  The Power Strikes talent now grants the Power Strikes effect every 22 20 seconds, which causes the Monk's next attack to generate 1 additional Chi.
  The Healing Elixirs talent now grants the Healing Elixirs effect every 18 seconds, which causes the next Brew or Tea consumed toHeal the Monk for 10% of maximum health.
  Mistweaver
  Enveloping Mist is now available at level 16, down from level 34.
  The healing provided by Chi Burst and Chi Wave has been reduced by 25%.
  You now have a chance equal to your crit chance to generate double the amount of Mana Tea Charge.
  Renewing Mist now travels to 2 additional targets (was 3 targets).
  The mana cost of Soothing Mist has been reduced by 33%.
  Haste for Mistweavers is now 50% more effective through Stance of the Wise Serpent.
  The healing provided when detonating Zen Sphere has been reduced by 25%.
   Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >Turn Evil is now effective against Aberrations.
  Hand of Salvation has been changed. This ability now removes all of a target's threat for 10 seconds.
  Holy Paladin: The 4 piece bonus now reduces Holy Shock cooldown by 2 seconds, up from 1 second.
  Retribution Paladin: The 4 piece bonus now reduces Avenging Wrath’s cooldown by 65 seconds, down from 85 seconds.
   Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >Atonement healing range has been increased to 40 yards, up from 15.
  Chakras now persist through death and zoning.
  Discipline Priests can once again learn Focused Will. This ability is obtained at level 30.
  Spells affected by Inner Focus cast while Spirit Shell is active now fully apply critical effect Heal to the shield provided.
  Chakra: Chastise now increases the damage dealt by Shadow and Holy spells by 50% (was 15%), and reduces mana costs by 90% (was 75%) while the ability is in effect.
  Chakra: Serenity now increases single target healing by 25%, up from 15%.
  Chakra: Sanctuary now increases area healing by 25% up from 15%.
  Psyfiend Psychic Terror cast time has been increased to 2 seconds, up from 1.5 seconds.
  The Psyfiend health has been reduced to 10% of the controlling Priest's health, down from 30%.
   Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >The energy cost of Kick has been reduced to 10 (was 15).
  Seal Fate will now only be activated by melee combo point generating abilities.
  Shuriken Toss now deals double damage when used against targets further than 10 yards away.
  The cooldown of Blind has been reduced to 90 seconds, down from 3 minutes.
  The energy cost of the Burst of Speed talent has been reduced to 50 energy, down from 60 energy.
  Wound Poison now deals 33% more damage.
   Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >Aura of the Elements and Aura of Enfeeblement can now be dispelled as Magic effects.
  Demonic Gateway must now be activated by the player wishing to teleport.
  Kil'jaeden's Cunning now longer imposes a cast time penalty.
  Banish is now effective against Aberrations.
  Kil'jaeden's Cunning snare has been increased from 10% per stack to 15% per stack.
  Rain of Fire
  Rain of Fire no longer causes a stun after hitting a target three times.
  Aftermath will now grant Rain of Fire damage over time effect a chance to generate Burning Embers.
  Rain of Fire no longer requires Immolate to be present to generate Burning Embers.
  Rain of Fire damage over time will now hit every 1 second, down from 2 seconds. The damage animation for the damage over time effect will no longer always display.
  Removed the ranged Melee attack from Demonology Warlocks in Metamorphosis form, and increased the damage of Doom by 25% to compensate.
  Conflagrate now generates Burning Embers.
  Demonic Gateway duration has been increased to 20 15 minutes, and it will no longer despawn if the Warlock moves too far away. In addition, this ability can no longer be used in any capital city.
  Glyphs
  A new Minor Glyph has been added: Glyph of Gateway Attunement. This glyph will cause a Warlock's Demonic Gateway to transport them immediately when they step on it.
   Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  < >Avatar no longer grants immunity to movement impairing effects, and instead now instantly breaks movement impairing effects. This ability also no longer generates addiitonal Rage while active. Its duration has increased to 24 seconds (was 20 seconds).
  The cooldown of Intimidating Shout has increased to 90 seconds, up from 60 seconds.
  The Silence provided by Glyph of Gag Order is no longer effective against players.
   Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • All totems are now considered spells, and summoning totems can be prevented by silencing effects. Searing Totem, Magma Totem, and Fire Elemental Totem fall into the Fire school, while all other totems fall under the Nature school.

Items

• Spirit of Harmony can now be purchased for 600 Conquest Points at the Conquest Quartermaster.
• Item Enhancements
  • The Dancing Steel, Jade Spirit, Colossus, and River’s Song enchantments now use the Real PPM system utilized by Windsong and Elemental Force.

Pet Battles

• A new item has been introduced that can be used to upgrade the quality of Battle Pets: Battle-stones.
  < >Battle-stones are available in two basic types, general purpose Battle-stones that can be used to upgrade the quality of any pet, and family specific Battle-stones, which can only be used to upgrade pets of a specific pet family. Pets over level 15 upgraded in this way can lose up to two levels in the process.
  Battle-stones are available in two qualities: Flawless Battle-stones can upgrade pets directly to Rare quality, while Polished Battle-stones will upgrade a pet to Uncommon quality.
  Players will have a very small chance to obtain a general purpose and family specific Flawless Battle-stone after winning a match against wild pets; defeating higher level opponents increases the chances of obtaining a stone. Family specific Flawless-Battlestones will be of the same family as the pets that were defeated. These valuable items are not soulbound, and can be sold on the Auction House.
  Family specific Flawless Battle-stones can be found in the Sack of Pet Supplies obtained from performing Pet Trainer quests, and are Bind on Pickup.
  General purpose Polished Battle-stones can be purchased for 1000 Justice Points.
  Pet Journal
  < >The quality of each pet is now visible in its slot in the Pet Journal.
  Pets can now be filtered by name, type, rarity and level, and filters will remain in place each time the Pet Journal is viewed.
  It is now possible to search locations in the Pet Journal. For example, searching “Westfall” will display all the Battle Pets that can be found in Westfall.
  Pet Battle music is now more appropriate for the type of match being fought.
• Several new Pet Battle PvP areas have been added to the world.
• Several classic Raid bosses now have a chance to drop new Battle Pets. The new pets can be obtained from bosses in Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj, and Naxxramas.
• Abilities that have been used will now continue to cool down for pets when they are not the active pet in a battle.
• Right clicking a pet's portrait will now offer the option to look it up in the Pet Journal.
• Players can now keep up to 650 pets.
• Battle Pet tooltips will now display whether a pet is owned, and how many pets of that type are owned.
• Pet Quality is now displayed in battles, and will be visible on portraits, names and tooltips.
• The level of battle pets in a zone can now be seen on the map, and it’s now possible to see the strength of wild pets relative to your team at a glance.
• Backline pets now display debuffs affecting them as well as the remaining duration of these effects.
• The experience multiplier obtained by all seven Grand Master pet trainers in Pandaria has been increased to x5 from x3.5.
• The experience multiplier obtained by defeating Pet Trainers Julia Stevens, Old Macdonald, Zunta, and Dagra the Fierce has been reduced to x2.5 from x3.5.
• Macros have been added that allow for summoning random pets and random favorite pets.
• The achievement Taming the World now awards the Safari Hat, which increases pet experience gained from Pet Battles by 10%.
• Pets previously removed from the Safari achievements have been added back to the criteria of those achievements now that they're back in the wild.
• The I Choose You achievement has been added for defeating Zen Master Aki. The reward for this achievement is 3000 gold.
• Players that defeat Aki the Chosen at the culmination of the Battle Pet quest lines can now follow a new line of Battle Pet quests and associated daily quests that allows players to battle against Pandaren spirits.
• A new Master Pet Tamer offering daily quests has been added to the Darkmoon Faire. Completing quests for the new trainer will offer the chance to acquire a new pet: the Darkmoon Eye.
• The Dragon Kite can now be used in Pet Battles.
• The Imperial Silkworm and Imperial Moth pets can now be created by Tailors.
• A number of pets that could previously only be found accompanying other pets into battle can now be found roaming the world.
• A number of new capturable pets can be found in the world from pet families that were once more sparsely populated.
• Two new Battle Pets now roam Darkmoon Island waiting to be caught.
• Fixed an issue that would prevent some pets captured in Pet Battles from correctly saving their skin color once added to the Pet Journal.
• Player versus Player Pet Battles now award more experience.
• Large plants and bushes in the environment that interfered with visibility during Pet Battles while now fade out of view during the match.
• Fixed an issue where the Gazelle would join pet battles.

Sunsong Ranch

• A new Seed has been added: Portal Shards
  • A mage who fell on hard times back in Dalaran has found a new home on Pandaria. Barnaby Fletcher will occasionally visit Halfhill Market to peddle a new type of seed – and take advantage of the Tillers’ hospitality.
  • Portal Shards grow into consumable items which can be used to open a portal from Sunsong Ranch to a major faction city.
• Seeds now stack to 50.
• Runty crops now have a spell visual to help call attention to themselves.
• Growing crops now display the duration until the crop is ready to harvest.
• Characters who have earned the “Friends on the Farm” achievement will no longer find gifts while harvesting Cooking Ingredient crops – instead, they have a chance to find special seeds such as Magebulb, Enigma Seed, Songbell, and more.

Raids, Dungeons and Scenarios

• Non-boss enemies in Mogu'shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, and Terrace of Endless Spring now respawn much more slowly.
• Raid groups are no longer necessary to enter pre-Mists of Pandara raid dungeons. Enemies in these raids that previously required more than one player to defeat are now more easily dealt with by players battling alone.
• The Statistics page now tracks and displays 10-player and 25-player raid boss kills separately.
• Cooldown timers greater than 5 minutes will now reset between attempts on Challenge Mode dungeons.
• Scenarios
  • New level 90 Scenarios have been added, including additional faction specific Scenarios:
    • Assault on Zan'Vess
    • Alliance
      • Lion's Landing
      • A Little Patience
    • Horde
    • Domination Point
    • Dagger in the Dark
  • Scenarios now include Dungeon Finder queue features, including leaders, backfill, vote to kick, and deserter debuffs. Roles are still not required.

PvP

• The growing conflict between the Horde and the Alliance has spilled across the face of Azeroth: level 90 players can now queue for Wintergrasp and Tol Barad via the PvP tab to battle one another in these epic conflicts.
• Arena matches now have a 25 minute time limit (was 45 minutes).
• Rated Battlegrounds now share the same spell restrictions as Arenas.

Professions

• Cooking
  • A cooking profession bag has been added, and can be purchased with Ironpaw Tokens from Nam Ironpaw.
• Mining
  • All mineral nodes will now despawn one minute after they are mined, even if items remain in them.

UI

• Justice, Valor, Honor and Conquest Point quartermasters are now signified by new minimap icons.
• A new banner will appear when a player is subjected to an effect that causes them to lose control of their character. The effect that caused the loss of control and remaining duration will be displayed. Configuration options are available in the “Combat” section of the “Interface Options" menu.
• A search bar has been added to the mount section of the Mount and Pet Journal.
• The Mount and Pet Journal remembers which tab you were last using.

Bug Fixes

• Swooping Plainshawks no longer use abilities from the Bird of Prey Hunter pet family.
• Fixed an issue that could cause crops to fail to appear when players entered Sunsong Ranch while several hundred yards up in the air.
• Players who have learned the Terrible Turnip pet can now continue to find Ominous Seeds when harvesting Cooking Ingredient crops.
• Classes
  • The responsiveness of many abilities and effects has been improved, including: Renewing Mist, Halo, Rogue Poisons, Revealing Strike,Rime, Killing Machine, Maelstrom Weapon, Sudden Doom, Ultimatum, Scent of Blood, Crimson Scourge, and Sudden Death.
  • The following spells now display less intense visual effects for other players: Earthquake, Hellfire, Death and Decay, Hurricane, Astral Storm, and Explosive Trap.
  • All spells that cause Forebearance can no longer be applied simultaneously.
  • Hunters
    < >The snare provided by Ice Trap is now more responsive when enemies enter or leave the area of effect, and its effective area more closely matches the visual effect.
    Lock and Load will now activate correctly when Ice Trap is triggered by an immune target, as long as a susceptible target is within the area of effect.
    Fixed several issues involving Trap Mastery, Entrapment, Glyph of Black ice, and Glyph of Ice Trap.
    The Growl pet ability will no longer cause diminishing returns against bosses that are immune to its effect.
    Glyph of Black Ice now correctly benefits from the increased duration provided by Trap Mastery.
    Glyph of Ice Trap now causes the visual effect of Ice Trap to match the increased area of effect provided by the glyph.
    Mages
    < >Fixed an issue with Glyph of Icy Veins that could prevent all three bolts from firing.
    Fixed an issue with Glyph of Icy Veins that could prevent the affected abilities from doing the correct damage.
    Warlocks
    < >The Feguard and Wrathguard pet ability, Threatening Presence, will no longer be auto-cast by default.
    Pandemic no longer smooths the damage when extending dots with different amounts of spellpower.
    Warriors
    < >Execute damage with high amounts of Vengeance is now capped at the Warrior's maximum health to prevent it from reaching excessive numbers.
    Professions
    • Banquet of the Steamer and Great Banquet of the Steamer now correctly provide Intellect to damage based casting classes. Healers will continue to gain Spirit from these foods.