Original Link: http://www.wowhead.com/news=208409/wowheads-patch-5-1-guide

Wowhead's Patch 5.1 Guide

posted 1 day ago by perculia

Patch 5.1 is live today and we've got you covered on all the changes! While there's no new raids or dungeons this patch, there's plenty of things to keep players busy. There's a completely new way to increase the ilvl of your gear, new factions to grind reputation with for gear and mounts, dozens of new pets to collect, and solo PvE challenges with the Brawler's Guild. And if you've been curious to get back to the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde, new questlines and scenarios will cover these factions clashing on the shores of Pandaria.

We've got summaries of all the new content below, as well as links to blue posts and Wowhead's comprehensive PTR coverage.

Patch Notes and Overview

Two new factions offer new gear rewards and mounts while developing the Alliance and Horde conflict in Krasarang Wilds.
Players can permanently increase the ilvl of their gear through currency. Wowhead has developed several tools to display these stat increases for you.
The Brawler's Guild lets players fight challenging solo bosses for vanity rewards and achievements.
Five new scenarios cover the escalating conflict between the Alliance and the Horde.
Many new pets have been added--both wild pets and drops from classic raid bosses. Players can also upgrade the quality of their pets with Battle-Stones.
Wrathion has new legendary quests.
Commendations that increase reputation gains have been added.
Darkmoon Faire and Sunsong Ranch have new rewards and additional perks.
Below you'll find Blizzard's Official Patch Notes and Hotfixes for November 27th.

Originally posted by Blizzard (Official Post | Blue Tracker)Expand

New Factions

There are two new factions in 5.1: Operation: Shieldwall and Dominance Offensive. Check out our visual preview of these areas.
The Alliance hub, Lion's Landing, is located in eastern Krasarang, while the Horde hub, Dominance Point, is located in western Krasarang.
After a brief introductory quest series where you help your faction leader land on the beach, you unlock two types of quests: dailies and an epic storyline culminating in a mount reward ( Grand Gryphon/ Grand Wyvern) and Operation: Shieldwall/ Dominance Offensive.
This epic storyline centers around the Horde trying to get their hands on a deadly yet potent Mogu artifact, and the Alliance trying to stop them. Along the way, many faction leaders get involved. Check out our preview of these quests.
Check out the full list of dailies for Operation Shieldwall and Dominance Offensive, and our PTR preview.
Each base has objectives for the enemy team to capture like graveyards and towers, commissions to earn that can recruit guards to protect your new territory, and daily questsgivers.
Players can loot Domination Point Commission and Lion's Landing Commission from enemy NPCs, and turn them into Provisioners for temporary items that buff your faction's base. Check out the full list of purchasable items here.
These hubs also have rare faction mobs the other side can kill for epic trinkets and Brawler's Guild Invitations.
Reputation rewards have been added for both factions: rings, feet, belts, and trinkets. In addition, at Exalted, players can purchase Grand Armored Wyvern/ Grand Armored Gryphon.

Upgrading Gear Through Currency

The majority of gear upgrades in 5.1 will come through a new currency-based upgrade system. Players can permanently increase the ilvl of their 458+ gear by visiting a new Ethereal and cashing in spare currency.

We've also developed some features at Wowhead to help you plan your upgrades!

Each item's page has toggle options to display upgraded stats.
An Upgrade column has been added to search result pages. This displays all the upgrade versions for an item in icon form, similar to dynamic quest rewards. Mousing over these icons will display the upgraded versions.
A new search filter has been added: Can Be Upgraded, under General.
Advanced tooltip code has been added so you can display a specific upgraded item's tooltip.

Item Type	Currency	Stat Increase	Upgrades
PvE Rares: Justice Point Rewards, Heroic Dungeon Gear	1500	+8 ilvls	1
PvP Rares: Dreadful Gladiator	1500	+8 ilvls	1
PvE Epics: BoEs, LFR, Normal, Heroic Raids, Valor Point Rewards, Crafted Gear	750	+4 ilvls	2
PvP Epics: Malevolent Gladiator	750	+4 ilvls	2

Upgrading your gear is as simple as visiting the new NPC at your faction's Pandaria capital and clicking the upgrade button. The UI has a handy preview of the stat increases, so you can compare the strength of several items before deciding which upgraded version you like the best. In-game tooltips also display how much an item has been upgraded, for easy reference.

Brawler's Guild

The Brawler's Guilds are fighting rings set up in Stormwind and Orgrimmar where players engage in solo PvE challenges by queuing up and fighting challenging bosses in a large pit. Winning increases your rank within the Brawler's Guild, making you eligible for more and more rewards. The areas are set up so that players fight in a central pit while spectators are encouraged to watch on the sides. We tested out some bosses on the PTR and have information and screenshots up.

The Horde area is located in the Valley of Honor and resembles the Ring of Blood--a large circular pit encased in wooden spikes. The Alliance area we think wins on style points--it's got a hidden entrance in the Deeprun Tram, an underground bar, and unique lighting. Check out our PTR visual preview of these two new areas, as well as a look at some of the fun Horde NPCs.

Participating in the Brawler's Guild may be a bit exclusive at first, since only players with

Blood-Soaked Invitation can join. 10 invitations are on the Black Market Auction House daily, and they also drop from select Alliance and Horde NPCs. Players with invitations can invite 10 friends a day.

Anyone can purchase the following items, regardless of reputation with the Brawler's Guild:

Potion of Brawler's Cunning: Increases Intellect by 4000 for 25 sec. Only usable in a Brawl arena. (1 Min Cooldown)
Brawler's Healing Potion: Restores 60000 health. Only usable in a Brawl arena. (1 Min Cooldown)
Potion of Brawler's Deftness: Increases your Agility by 4000 for 25 sec. Only usable in a Brawl arena. (1 Min Cooldown)
Potion of Brawler's Might: Increases your Strength by 4000 for 25 sec. Only usable in a Brawl arena. (1 Min Cooldown)

Players can voice their displeasure by throwing these rotten items:

Rotten Apple,

Rotten Banana,

Rotten Watermelon,

Expired Blackout Brew.

The following items require some rank:

Clock'em: Companion pet
Brawler's Razor Claws: Heirloom Fist weapon for 2175.

In addition, there are some vendor trash rewards found in

Brawler's Purse and

Bulging Brawler's Purse, like

Golden Platter. Check out our rewards preview for the full list.

New Scenarios

The escalating conflict between the Alliance and Horde is most dramatically seen in new questlines and scenarios.

Assault on Zan'vess is a new scenario both factions can participate in. The Mantid are working with the corrupt Horde to bolster defenses in the Dread Wastes.

Each side has two faction-specific scenarios:
Alliance:

Krasarang Wilds: The Alliance find their base under attack by the Horde, and players must work with SI:7 and other Alliance NPCs from Jade Forest questlines to save the territory. Click here to read Wowhead's preview.
A Little Patience: The Horde have set up defenses at the Temple of Chi-Ji in Krasarang Wilds, and Varian and Tyrande are planning an attack. Tyrande wants to charge right in, while Varian senses a Horde trap and builds additional defenses. Click hereto read Wowhead's preview.

Horde:

Dagger in the Dark: In this scenario, players help Vol'jin investigate the dark origins of the Saurok, and then assist him in his subsequent betrayal by the Horde. Click here to read Wowhead's preview.
The last Horde scenario, Domination Point, was not available to test on the PTR.

Scenarios also have a few additional bonuses in 5.1. Dungeon Finder queue features have been added, such as leaders, backfill, vote to kick, and deserter debuffs. In addition, there is a chance to get ilvl 463 weapons as a reward for completing a scenario.

Pet Battles

Several new wild pets have been added, mostly to fill out pet families that were scarce on capturable pets, like Mechanicals and Dragonkin. Click here for a full list of all the new wild pets, their locations, screenshots, and abilities.

To get players revisiting some well-loved dungeons, Blizzard added 12 BoE pets that drop from select bosses in Blackwing Lair, Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, Molten Core, andNaxxramas. Check out the full list here! Collecting them all rewards players with

Raiding with Leashes and

Mr. Bigglesworth.

There are several Pet Battle UI improvements, including improved sort features, wild pet levels indicated on zone maps, several tooltip improvements, and wild pet quality displayed in the UI. Check out our screenshots and preview of all the changes.

Players can upgrade the quality of their pets with Battle-Stones.

Flawless Battle-Stones upgrade pets to rare quality. There is a general-purpose stone ( Flawless Battle-Stone) as well as stones that are family-specific.
Flawless Battle-Stone is BoE and can be sold on the AH, but family-specific stones are BoP. These are acquired by battling pets of the same family, or from Pet Tamer daily quests.
When using a stone on a pet, their levels decrease in a similar manner to capturing a wild battle pet: no levels lost from 1-15, one level lost from 16-20, two levels lost from 21-25.
Polished Battle-Stone upgrades pets to uncommon-quality and is available for 1000.

Pet Tamers:

Defeating the Grand Master tamer rewards you with I Choose You and a sack of 3,000 in the mail!
New Pet Tamer has been added for Pandaren Spirit Tamer, which turns into four daily quests. Defeating these trainers rewards you with a choice between these four pets: Pandaren Air Spirit, Pandaren Earth Spirit, Pandaren Fire Spirit, Pandaren Water Spirit. If you want to collect all four, there's a chance to get them in Pandaren Spirit Pet Supplies, plus they're BoE. To learn more about these pets, check out our preview of the Pandaren Spirit Tamer.

Vanity Items

Achievements have been added for collecting 150 mounts: We're Going to Need More Saddles. The reward is a Jade Pandaren Kite String.
Wakener is a new achievement that awards the title <The Wakener>.
There are thirteen new BoE pets from Raiding with Leashes and over a dozen new wild battle pets.
There are two new mounts for each faction as part of the Pandaren Campaign: Grand Gryphon and Grand Armored Gryphon for Alliance, Grand Wyvern and Grand Armored Wyvern for Horde.
There are four elemental pets as part of the Pandaren Spirit Tamer dailies.
Two new pets can be crafted by Tailors: Imperial Silkworm and Imperial Moth.
Several pets were added to the Darkmoon Faire.
Swift Windsteed was featured on Blizzard's facebook a few weeks ago--it most likely is a Blizzard Store mount.

Legendary Chain

Legendary gems are upgraded by +50 stats with 5.1's questline: Refined Crystallized Dread, Refined Crystallized Horror, Refined Crystallized Terror.
Eye of the Black Prince allows you to add another gem socket to your Sha-Touched weapon, similar to Living Steel Belt Buckle. These are for regular gems, not additional legendary gems.
In 5.1, you'll need to hit Revered with Wrathion by killing NPCs along the coast of Krasarang Wilds ( The Prince's Pursuit). You'll also have to PvP a little in The Lion Roars.
To see the full legendary questline, check out our preview.

Class Changes

General

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: Hellfire, Death and Decay, Hurricane, Astral Storm, and Explosive Trap.
Earthquake's sound effect is now quieter.

General Changes

Blizzard changed the layout of their in-game tooltips: secondary stats are all displayed in green, the Upgrade level is displayed at the top, and basic information such as the level requirement has changed position. We've updated Wowhead's own item tooltips to reflect these changes.
The Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel, Enchant Weapon - Jade Spirit, Enchant Weapon - Colossus, and Enchant Weapon - River's Song enchantments now use the Real PPM system utilized by Enchant Weapon - Windsong and Enchant Weapon - Elemental Force.
Raid groups are no longer necessary to enter pre-Mists of Pandara raid dungeons. Bosses requiring multiple people were nerfed to better facilitate soloing.
Lesser Charm of Good Fortune no longer take up bag space: they are now displayed on the Currency tab on the Character sheet.
Cooldown timers greater than 5 minutes will now reset between attempts on Challenge Mode dungeons.

Reputation Changes

To help with alts and reputation farming, in 5.1, each faction now has a special commendation that can be purchased at Revered from quartermasters which unlocks a 100% bonus reputation gain for all characters on the account. The primary character at Revered also earns double reputation as they work towards Exalted.

So far only Mists of Pandaria reputations are affected by this system, and no word if gaining Friendship with Tiller NPCs will be affected by this.

Check out more of the blue posts in Wowhead's 5.1 Reputation Preview.

PvP

Blizzard recently wrote a Dev Watercooler on upcoming PvP changes and possible ideas. Here are the changes that made it into 5.1:

Loss of Control UI: An improved UI will show when your character is crowd-controlled in the center of your screen.
Honor and Conquest Points can be used to upgrade PvP gear.
Spirit of Harmony can now be purchased for 600 Conquest Points at the Conquest Quartermaster.
Level 90 players can now queue for Wintergrasp and Tol Barad via the PvP tab to battle one another in these epic conflicts.

Darkmoon Faire

Several new additions are coming to the Darkmoon Faire in 5.1.

A new carousel gives players the buff WHEE!, which increases experience and reputation gains.
Jeremy Feasel is a new pet tamer players can defeat in the hopes of obtaining Darkmoon Eye.
Many other new pets are available on the Isle, including ones bought with tokens and wild battle pets.
To learn more about the new pets and rides, check out our preview.

Sunsong Ranch

Players can now grow Unstable Portal Shard on their farms which turn into one of four capital city portals at random. Check out the complete details here.
Players can purchase Portable Refrigerator for 10 Ironpaw Token each.
Runty crops will look more visible in 5.1.
If you plant a vegetable crop and are already Best Friends with Tiller NPCs, you'll get useful bonus profession seeds instead of gifts you no longer need.