Only a few days now until the latest content patch is upon us – Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands. Quite a bit of stuff is included in the patch, from class changes across the board to brand new quests, zones, interface changes, a caster DPS legendary staff and a raid instance (and of course all the shiny new gear that comes with that!) The patch is scheduled to go live on the 28th of this month, so in order to be ready to go as soon as the servers come up (because I know some of you will be ready and waiting) there’s a few things you might want to do beforehand.

4.2 introduces two new daily quest hubs – the first at the Sanctuary of Malorne in Mount Hyjal (also known as The Regrowth) and the second being the Molten Front in the new Firelands zone. The quests at the Regrowth lead to unlocking the path to the Molten Front so you’ll need to start there. However, to get access to the Regrowth dailies you must have completed at least part of Hyjal’s standard quest chain. Specifically, you want to have completed the quest Aessina’s Miracle, which results in the area known as The Flamewake in Hyjal getting an infusion of life and becoming the Regrowth. This quest is about halfway through Hyjal’s chain and is pretty quick to get to and through.

Once you have completed Aessina’s Miracle, a new quest will be available at the Sanctuary of Malorne. This begins the chain that will eventually lead you to the Firelands.

But what about the raid? Good news for those of you that hate questing – you don’t need to do the dailies to get into the Firelands raid. The raid entrance portal is located in Mount Hyjal at Sulfuron Spire. You can see the portal in-game now, it’s just behind a gate.

Caster DPS will be salivating at the thought of finally being able to get their hands on a legendary weapon, and it’s definitely a shiny one. Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest will be available in 4.2, though it won’t be easy to get. Blizzard estimates it will take around four months for a guild to complete their first staff, and that’s with the focus being on just one person in the guild getting it. We will indeed be giving the first staff to a specific person, though that person has yet to be determined. For those of you that are keen to get the chain started (and I suggest you do if you are at all interested in getting the staff), there are requirements:

In order to begin the process of assembling the staff, players must first kill a Molten Lord in the Firelands, or have completed any of the achievements Bastion of Twilight, Blackwing Descent, or Throne of the Four Winds. Once any of these achievements have been unlocked, players can accept the quest A Legendary Engagement from Ziradormi in Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar, or Coridormi atop the Wizard’s Sanctum in Stormwind (players who have already completed any of these achievements are immediately eligible for this quest).

Source: 4.2 Patch Notes

Some of you will already be eligible from downing Cho’gall, others may still have a bit of work to do. We will still be running the older raids, and with the considerable nerfs being applied to them (20% reductions in damage and health for the most part) it should be easier to get us through them.

Since there’s a new tier of gear coming with 4.2, there’s going to be a lot of changes coming for the current gear. The major change is seeing all current items purchasable with Valor points being instead available for Justice points. This should make acquiring the gear considerably easier in preparation for Firelands (and for finishing off the BoT, BWD and TotFW). To go with this change, all your current Valor points will be downgraded to Justice points, up to a limit of 4000 JP. Anything over 4000 JP will be converted to gold (at a rate of 47 silver per point). What this means is if, for example, you currently have 2500 Justice Points and 2000 Valor Points, when 4.2 hits you would have 0 Valor Points and 4000 Justice Points, and receive 235 gold in exchange for the 500 excess points. If gold isn’t an issue for you, your best bet is to make sure you have no more than 4000 points between your VP and JP when the patch hits. I would strongly advise against spending Valor Points in order to even your points out, as anything currently available for Valor will be available for Justice after the patch, and JP are much easier to come by.

For those of you that PVP, the same thing is happening with Conquest Points and Honor Points, but at a rate of 35 silver per excess point.

For lore junkies (like me!) there’s a fantastic new quest chain being added with 4.2 that focuses around Thrall. An NPC at the Eastern Earthshrine in Stormwind (aka portal island) starts you on the chain, sending you to meet with Thrall in Hyjal. I’m not going to spoil the quest for you, but there’s some quite dramatic occurrences and is a lot of fun. And you end up with an ilevel 365 epic at the end of it.

There’s a bunch of other changes coming in the patch including as I mentioned many class changes, as well as the new Dungeon Journal UI feature, but I’ve outlined the big ones that require a bit of preparation beforehand above. For more on the patch check out Blizzard’s guide to Patch 4.2 as well as the patch notes. But beware of spoilers!