Now with 10% fewer hairballs!

Oh JOY! Oh RAPTURE! Oh unbridled GLEE!

Have I got a treat for all of YOU!

I know not when, and I know not how, but there has been a small but glorious change to our beloved World of Warcraft that was not mentioned in the latest patch notes. I don’t know of this change was included when patch 2.4.3 was released or entered into the world in stealth, much like yours truly.

I noticed it last night after I was kindly included in a Gruul’s/Mags run. My mind was bleary with an oncoming sleep-deprivation headache, my eyes watered and crusted, crying out for blessed closure. But the night was still young, only 9pm or so. My guildmates and I were energized by the successes* incurred in those quick and dirty little 25-man instances and offers for heroic runs were flying far and wide.

The most popular offer, of course, was for Heroic Magister’s Terrace. I’ve never set foot in Mag-T, so that wasn’t an option for me. Well, thought I, I really should be farming for my Earthwarden. So I sent out a call to the guild asking if anyone would like to help me run Steamvaults on normal. You know, nothing too difficult. Excited though we were it was getting late and I didn’t quite feel up to executing my normal surgical pulls.

One person offered to come with to heal while I tanked. This was all well and good but unless I was tanking as a cat it wasn’t likely we’d be able to kill much, so a couple of DPSers hopped on board and before I knew it we had a full group and off we went.

THIS is when I noticed the GROUNDBREAKING change. Shammy-man and I were heading out to summon the others. I was flying, bird-form as I normally do, up above the twisted pipes leading to Lady Vasj’s dark lair. Same as always, I shifted out of bird and plummeted into the water (I enjoy making a splash). Then, quick as you could blink I was swimming as a seal down through the pipe. Then, once through I popped up out of the water, out of seal form, and onto land.

WAIT!

Let’s go over this again.

I shifted from bird, to cow, dropped into the water. Once in the water I shifted to seal and started swimming. I swam THROUGH the pipe, in it’s complete ENTIRETY in seal form and didn’t de-shift until I jumped out of the water.

Once again.

I didn’t de-shift until I was ALREADY THROUGH THE PIPE!

*GASP!* Rapture! Joy! Glee!

I don’t know when this change was implemented but THANK YOU BLIZZARD! Swimming through the pipe NO LONGER DE-SHIFTS DRUIDS!

It’s a small change, one that has very little impact on gameplay, yet for some odd reason makes me almost deleriously happy.

*note: yes, I did receive my very first piece of Tier 4 gear in the form of my greaves. I’m very deleriously happy about that as well.