World of Warcraft news » Public Test Realm Patch 5.1 - Now Live

The first World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria patch of the year is in development and now available for testing on the Public Test Realms. This patch will include several updates to the ongoing conflict between the Horde and Alliance, the new Brawler’s Guild, Pet Battle improvements, assorted bug fixes, and more. If you'd like to help us test out this patch and provide feedback, you can start by copying your character over to a test realm. Once you've had a chance to try things out, be sure to visit our Public Test Realm forum to discuss the patch.

Note: Features mentioned in the 5.1 Patch Preview may not initially be available on the PTR, and could be included as testing progresses.

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 5.1.0

• 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. (Please note: The Alliance version of this quest is not yet complete, but will still unlock the new missions and features).
    • 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 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.

• 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.
    • 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 Flawless Battle-stone after winning a match against wild pets; defeating higher level opponents increases the chances of obtaining a stone. 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.
  • 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%.
  • The I Choose You achievement has been added for defeating Zen Master Aki. The reward for this achievement is 3000 gold.
  • 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.
  • Two new Battle Pets now roam Darkmoon Island waiting to be caught.
  • Fixed a bug where the Gazelle would join pet battles.

• UI
  • 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.

• Brawler's Guild
  • Underground fighting rings have sprung up in Stormwind and Orgrimmar that will give brawlers 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.
  • 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 fights 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.