Take it with a grain of salt, but... many things in here were things Blizzard has talked about already on their forums.
World of Warcraft Client Patch
(Disclaimer: These patch notes are for the Public Test Realm and the content of the patch is subject to change.)
World of Warcraft Client Patch 1.12.0 (06-??-??)
--World PvP!
Battle for control of key towers in Eastern Plaguelands to gain an advantage against the ruthless undead, and collect valuable resources for the war effort in the face of fierce resistance in the scorching deserts of Silithus. War rages across Azeroth once more!
--Cross-Realm Battlegrounds!
For the first time in the history of World of Warcraft, you will be able to face off against players from other realms in the Battlegrounds. Cross-realm PvP Battlegrounds will link Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch, and Arathi Basin so that players from several realms will be combined into one huge matchmaking pool. Replenish your mana, sharpen your blades, and get ready for some brand-new challengers!
--Group Dueling!
Players can now hone their skills in PvP with the new Skirmish option! This option is available to players in a party, and can involve a maximum of five players per side.
--Alternate Itemization
We have re-evaluated itemization for classes outside of their traditional roles in parties and raids. Previously, certain talent builds and playstyles were limited by their available itemization because it was not viable to add a great deal of drops that benefited only one segment of a certain class. In this patch, we have introduced many new items and new sets with stats and bonuses that cater towards alternate playstyles. This new approach towards itemization has also brought about a new focus on the token quest system, a mechanism through which players can obtain loot by turning in tokens or prerequisite items that drop from various encounters. While many such quests have already been implemented in the game, players will find that a greater number of class specific items from this point on will be obtained through this system.
--General
Your Friends List and Ignore List has been expanded to hold 100 players.
Total +spell power from items for each school of magic will be calculated and displayed in the character panel for appropriate classes.
Spell critical chance will now be displayed in addition to melee critical chance in the skills panel.
You can now view health, mana, and attributes when inspecting other players.
The range at which you can inspect other players has been increased.
Players will now receive an error message when trying to use items that restore health/mana/energy/rage when at full health/mana/energy/rage.
Players using dual video card setups will now have their graphic options optimized by default.
The mail system is now much more responsive.
Reputation loss from killing NPCs has been drastically decreased across the board, and applies only to the players responsible, rather than to their entire party or raid.
It is no longer possible for players to take damage that is unreported in the combat log while not in combat.
Player buffs will now reflect talent improvements.
Honor, reputation, and experience will no longer be gained or loss when a pet kills an NPC or player character without aid.
Fixed a bug that caused the sound level to increase when alt-tabbing in and out of the World of Warcraft client.
NPCs that cast spells or used abilities that hit multiple targets will no longer affect stealthed players.
Attempting to link loot that does not exist on the server at that moment will no longer disconnect the player; instead an error message will be reported and the loot will not be linked.
Fixed a bug that would sometimes result in player names being magnified.
Guards now give directions to more locations than before (e.g. reagent vendors, faction leaders, nearest repair NPCs etc.)
It is no longer possible for players who have died in an instance and zoned back in to lose access to loot.
More typos fixed.
You will no longer be erroneously flagged for combat if a critter resists or evades your area of effect spells.
--Macintosh
Fixed a stack overflow error that would occur occasionally while zoning into certain raid instances.
Fixed a graphics issue for users with outdated versions of certain ATI video card drivers.
--Honor System
The percentage of players that may reach ranks 11 through 14 has been increased. Global improvements to the Honor System itself are forthcoming with the release of the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion.
Dishonorable Kills now apply only to players responsible, rather than to their entire party or raid.
There is now an option that shows estimated honor points over enemy corpses after an Honorable Kill.
Owners of PvP rewards purchased before updates to stats in previous patches will have their items retroactively brought in line with current rewards for this patch. Owners will be able to upgrade their rewards through quests in future updates.
Many PvP rewards have been upgraded with PvP-specific procs, effects, or properties that work only against player characters of the opposite faction.
--Battlegrounds
You will now be placed in a raid upon entering a battleground. Players can apply for leader before the battleground starts, with the position going to the player with the highest Honor rank. In addition, the party leader can issue commands to the raid through the map, such as attacking or defending locations, and promote assistant leaders with similar powers.
The Join as Group function will ensure that players who join as a group will end up in the same battleground instance, but all players will still be placed in the main raid.
Players can now see how many battleground instances are running, but are not able to choose specific instances to join.
Battlegrounds will no longer start until both sides reach full capacity.
You can now leave a battleground from an option on the scoreboard at any time. Doing so before the battleground ends will still give you a Deserter Debuff.
Fixed a bug that caused players to resurrect with less than full health and mana in battlegrounds when wearing items that granted random item attributes.
Capturing resource nodes, towers, and other objectives in battlegrounds will now be sped up when more players of the same faction are in proximity to the objective.
Fixed various terrain issues in Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch.
A small amount of quest experience is now rewarded for winning a battleground.
It is no longer possible to enter a finished battleground.
--Druids
A Druid Cat Form quest is now available at level 20 from Dendrite Starblaze in Moonglade.
Moonfury (Balance Talent): Now increases the damage done by your arcane and nature spells by 10%. This change allows the talent to be applied after +damage from items has been calculated.
Moonkin (Balance Talent): This form can now cast all Balance and Restoration spells except healing spells. Moonkin aura now increases spell damage by 3% in addition to spell critical hit chance.
Leader of the Pack (Feral Combat Talent): Now increases melee and ranged damage by 3% in addition to melee and ranged critical hit chance.
The damage done by Ferocious Bite and Rip is now modified by your attack power.
Fixed an error where players with the Furor talent were not gaining the extra energy when shifting to cat form.
Threat reduction modifiers such as Blessing of Salvation and Tranquil Air Totem are no longer applied to Cower.
Various spells and abilities should now play their correct sound when used.
Cat Form now has a flat threat reduction modifier.
Fixed an issue with Cat Forms melee attack range.
Soothe Animal is now instant cast.
--Hunters
Natural Armor (Rank 10) and Greater Stamina (Rank 10) are now in their correct positions in the Beast Training UI.
Distracting Shot has a new icon.
Eagle Eye will now function more consistently and last as long as intended.
Fixed several pet animations.
--Mages
Casting Polymorph on a player that is currently immune in PvP now displays the Immune flag over the target, and no longer resets the 15 second diminishing returns cooldown.
Fixed an issue where two consecutive frost or fire spell critical hits could cause Master of Elements to proc only once.
Spending talent points in Arcane Mind will no longer visually fluctuate your mana level.
The damage over time portions of Fireball and Pyroblast are now considered magic debuffs as intended.
--Paladins
Reckoning no longer resets the auto-attack timer.
Holy Light no longer sends two messages to your combat log.
Libram of Divinity will now give the correct healing bonus to Flash of Light.
The added armor from Lay on Hands no longer appears on the character sheet as a permanent armor value.
--Priests
Spirit of Redemption will now work properly with Twisting Nether.
The Power Word: Shield icon will now display properly while in Shadowform.
Mana Burn will no longer disrupt flag captures.
--Rogues
Due to significant talent changes, Rogues will have all talent points refunded and can be respent. Training costs for all talent ability replacements have been significantly reduced.
Adrenaline Cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
The damage done by Eviscerate, Garrote, and Rupture is now modified by your attack power.
Eviscerate now has a new rank (Rank 9).
Garrote has been increased in damage for all ranks.
Expose Armor will now reduce a targets armor by a percentage per combo point.
Vanish will now remove effects that allow the caster to see through the Rogues stealth (e.g. Hunters Mark, Mind Vision etc...)
Players will now receive the proper error message when attempting to stealth under the effects of Faerie Fire.
Threat reduction modifiers such as Blessing of Salvation and Tranquil Air Totem are no longer applied to Feint.
--Warlocks
Spending talent points in Demonic Emrace will no longer visually fluctuate your health level.
Shadow Mastery now affects Siphon Life.
Fixed an error where Warlocks could have Demonic Sacrifice and a pet active at the same time.
Fixed the tooltip of Rank 2 of Improved Firebolt.
--Shaman
There is now a UI that displays active totems and allows the Shaman to destroy totems.
Fixed several casting animations.
Chain Heal Now bounces to any nearby raid member who needs it regardless of whether it was initially cast on a party member or raid member outside of your party.
Respeccing to the Two-Handed Axes and Maces talent will no longer cause your equipped weapon to break until re-equipped.
Water Walking will now produce the correct sound when walking on water.
Improved Reincarnation is now properly reflected in the tooltip.
The range of Tremor Totem with Totemic Mastery is now properly reflected in the tooltip.
--Warriors
The mechanics of rage generation has been re-evaluated to bring the scaling of Warriors from levels 1-60 and beyond more in line with that of the other classes. Previously, Warriors gained rage from dealing damage based on a formula that took into account damage dealt and character level. Warriors will now generate a flat amount of rage per hit based on a new formula that takes into account the type of weapon (two-handed, mainhand, or offhand) and character level. Warriors from 1-60 should see more reliable rage generation, while Warriors with endgame itemization will see their rage generation brought down to more manageable levels. We have deemed this change necessary to preserve game balance as we move towards the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade and the increased level cap that will arrive with it.
Defensive Stance will no longer protect you from environmental damage.
Fixed an issue where Shield Slam sometimes removed all buffs from a target.
Charge and Intercept should no longer cause disconnects.
Fixed the Death Wish tooltip.
--Items
Epic quest series have been added for all classes with the exception of Hunters and Priests (who already had epic quest series in the game).
Health Regen Every 5 Seconds: Items with this bonus have been fixed so that the health regeneration occurs during combat again (really!).
New unique item effects have been introduced, such as PvP-only bonuses and form specific bonuses (e.g. Druid shapeshift forms, Priest Shadowform, Warrior stances, etc).
Many class specific quest rewards for ZulGurub, Ruins of AhnQiraj, and Temple of AhnQiraj have had their reputation requirements reduced or removed and their quest turn-in prerequisites increased, or vice versa.
Key ring slot sizes have been expanded.
Level 1-39 = 6 slots
Level 40-49 = 12 slots
Level 50-60 = 18 slots
The following keys can now be stored in key rings: Bamboo Cage Key, Benedicts Key, Burnished Gold Key, Crescent Key, Dead-tooths Key, Executioners Key, Kolkar Booty Key, Maurys Key, James Key, Panther Cage Key, Relic Coffer Key, Skeleton Key, all Stratholme postbox keys, Tazans Key, Viewing Room Key, and Wooden Key.
Cured Heavy Hides will now stack properly at 20.
All Tier 1 and Tier 2 Class Armor sets are now Bind on Acquire.
New relics have been added to Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Ruins of AhnQiraj, and Naxxramas.
Items that grant additional attack power when fighting specific creature types will now function as intended.
The Dartol's Rod of Transformation used in the fourth part of Raene's Cleansing now has a limited number of charges the quest line was meant to be finished . This change will not retroactively affect players who already have the quest item.
Quivers will no longer disappear when acquired by a player with a full inventory.
Players will be relieved to learn that many helm graphics no longer remove hair.
Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker no longer has incorrect textures for some video cards.
The set bonus of Nightslayer Armor that increases the Rogues maximum energy by 10 is now a 3-piece bonus. The 5-piece bonus now reduces the cooldown of Vanish by 40 seconds.
The 3-piece Dragonstalker Armor set bonus no longer persists after pieces are unequipped.
The 3-piece Cenarion Raiment set bonus to damage and duration for Thorns will not persist after pieces are unequipped.
The 5-piece Felheart Raiment set bonus will now always grant the Demonic Ally buff.
The prefix of the spell critical hit bonus of the PvP reward Marshals Silk Leggings is now Equip: rather than Use:
Idol of Brutality is now marked properly as Bind on Equip.
Gyromasts Key will now be removed from your inventory after the quest Gyromasts Revenge has been completed.
Using the Jom Gabbar trinket will no longer trigger a cooldown on other trinkets.
Thick Obsidian Breastplate will now proc properly off spells from all schools of damage.
Strikers Pauldron will now render correctly under different lighting conditions.
Conquerers Helm no longer clips male Gnome models.
Venomous Totem will now report the correct message in the combat log.
Blooddrenched Mask will no longer remove the characters hair.
The tooltip of Burrowers Shell now indicates that it absorbs physical damage.
Sickle of Unyielding Strength will now display correctly on characters.
--Professions
Cooking
Recipes for drinks that restore mana have been added. These recipes will require water from different sources (e.g. Redridge Lake spring water) that can be collected with bottles that are sold from vendors.
Enchanting
Disenchanting now requires Expert Enchanting for rare items, and Artisan Enchanting for items of epic quality or higher.
Engineering
Schematics of Safety first versions of many items have been added, which are less effective than their counterparts but have lower backfire rates.
There is now a schematic for a Portable Repair Bot that can repair one players items.
Engineers can now create leather, mail, and plate versions of Gnomish Rocket Boots and Goblin Rocket Boots.
Leatherworking
Players will now receive a message when learning the Leatherworking recipe for Onyxia Scale Cloak.
--Quests
Quests that increase reputation will now list reputation gain as a quest reward if you have already discovered that faction.
Quest items in several quests are no longer labeled as No Text when opening them.
The Fate of the Kingdom quest is now working as intended.
The Shadows of Doom quest is now properly labeled as an elite quest.
Escort quests will now present a confirmation dialogue before starting if some players have not accepted or are not on the quest.
Dwarves will now spawn properly for the Of Forgotten Memories quest.
Fixed a bug where Shredder Operating Manual pages for the quest The Lost Pages were not able to be combined.
Frost Trap will now properly debuff Solenor the Slayer in Silithus.
Fixed a typo in the Mirages quest.
Resolved an issue that sometimes prevented players from receiving credit for scaring Quixxil in the quest Are We There Yeti?.
--Raids and Dungeons
Token systems have been implemented in Molten Core and Blackwing Lair. Tier 1 and Tier 2 Class Armor sets are now acquired like the Tier 3 sets are through turn-in quests. Bosses that previously dropped the armor have had their loot tables revised. In addition, new items that appeal to a greater variety of playstyles have been added to ALL raid instances as both quest rewards and drops!
Sunken Temple
Fixed a bug where Jammal'an the Prophet would sometimes ignore a mind controlled player if the party wiped.
Blackwing Lair
Chromaggus Brood Afflictions no longer target totems.
Ruins of AhnQiraj
Mobs will no longer come in more than one wave during the General Rajaxx encounter. In addition, it is no longer possible for players in the raid to be erroneously brought out of combat during the encounter.
Scarab Coffer Keys and Greater Scarab Coffer Keys will now drop with greater frequency.
Naxxramas
Fixed a bug where AnubRekhan would sometimes evade all attacks.
It is no longer possible to use Heigan the Uncleans room for wipe recovery.
--User Interface
Meeting stones no longer automatically search for party members. Instead, joining a meeting stone for a dungeon now adds you to an interactive list (sorted by name, level, class, etc) of players looking for a group. Groups can be formed by contacting players through this interface. The meeting stone queues for all dungeons can now be accessed from any meeting stone in the world.
A Guild Calendar has been added to streamline guild management. Upcoming raids and other events can be posted for all guild members to see.
There is now a Remember price option when creating auctions in the Auction House and sending
Cash on Delivery mail.
There is now a Reset search option when searching the Auction House.
Clicking on the background of an equipped bag will bring it to the forefront when browsing the Auction House.
Unique quest items can now be distributed through the Master Looter option.
NPCs that repair now have a Repair equipped items button.
There is now an option to display appropriate quest levels in the quest log.
The Raid Info button now shows the reset times of all raid instances. Instances that the player is not saved to are grayed out.
The /raidinfo command no longer opens the raid info window repeatedly.
Raid icons will no longer disappear after the UI is reloaded with the /console reloadui command.
Fixed an issue where the party interface would sometimes re-appear when Hide Party Interface in Raid option was selected in interface options.
The party leader or raid leader can now set a rule that players can not roll need on class specific items and other loot that they cannot use.
Players should now be able to whisper other players through an option on their portrait.
Players can now drag the status bars of individual players onto the gamefield from the raid UI.
Minimizing the interface to take a screenshot while in stealth will no longer leave the action bar stuck in stealth mode.
"Disable All Addons" will adhere to the character/all selection.
Fixed an error that resulted in incorrect displays when inspecting other players or using the Dressing Rom feature.
You can now bind button actions to special hotkeys on certain keyboards and mice.
SetInventoryItem() now respects the inspect distance limit.
Second variables that do not exist at the time of saving will now be written into the saved variables file as a nil values.
TargetByUnit() no longer works for pets, totems, or players of the opposite faction.
Addons can now send hidden chat messages to players in the party, raid or guild, using
SendAddonMessage("text", "PARTY"|"RAID"|"GUILD"). When players receive these messages, a new event "CHAT_MSG_ADDON" is sent, with arg1 being the text of the message, and arg2 being the name of the player that sent it. The combined length of prefix and message must be less than or equal to 254 bytes.
--World Environment
All civilians that previously assisted guards are either no longer labeled as civilians or no longer assist the guards.
Blink and other short range teleport spells used while in lava no longer cause you to go to the deepest end.
Blue Busters have rectified the problem of vanishing houses.
Garons Hutchins is no longer a vendor.
Fixed an issue with Tonks in the Darkmoon Faire.
Eladriel the Darnassus skinning trainer no longer sells shields.
Fixed several irregularities with final destination flight paths. Flight costs will now remain constant regardless of which other flight paths have been discovered.
The General Supplies vendor Chylina no longer clips through a wall in the inn.
The Horde flightpath from Stonard to Gromgol that paths through a tree has been fixed. The mischievous wyvern has been taken care of - sorry for all the cuts and bruises!
