Patch 4.1 Patch Notes (March 1, 2011)

Here are the patch notes for patch 4.1. All patch notes are subject to change!

General

Flying mounts can now be used in Ghostlands.
Resilience scaling has been modified for linear returns, as opposed to increasing returns. Under the new formula, going from 30 resilience to 40 resilience gives players the same increase to survivability as going from 0 to 10. Resilience now scales in the same way armor and magic resistances do. A player with 32.5% damage reduction from resilience in 4.0.6 should see their damage reduction unchanged in 4.1. Those with less than 32.5% will gain slightly. Those with more will lose some damage reduction, increasingly so as their resilience climbs.
Classes: General

All non-damaging interrupts off the global cooldown will now always hit the target. This includes Pummel, Shield Bash, Kick, Mind Freeze, Rebuke, Skull Bash, Counterspell, Wind Shear, Solar Beam, Silencing Shot, and related player pet abilities.
Death Knights

Dark Simulacrum now works on numerous additional spells in dungeon encounters.
Raise Ally has been redesigned to be a battle resurrection, analogous to Rebirth. It is instant cast, but costs 50 Runic Power to use, and has a 10-minute cooldown. It shares the same global battle resurrection cap with Rebirth and Soulstone.
Talent Specializations
Blood
Blood Shield now only works while in Blood Presence.
Death Strike self-healing no longer generates threat.
Frost
Blood of the North (passive) now permanently converts both Blood Runes into Death Runes. There is no longer any proc interaction with Blood Strike required to activate Death Runes.
Frost Strike now deals 130% of weapon damage, up from 110%.
Howling Blast damage has been increased by 20%. To compensate, the area-of-effect splash now does 50% of the single-target damage, down from 60%. The net result of this change leaves the area-of-effect damage roughly the same as 4.0.6 numbers.
Glyphs
Glyph of Raise Ally is now Glyph of Death Gate, and makes Death Gate cast 60% faster.
Druids

Cyclone duration has been reduced to 5 seconds, down from 6.
Efflorescence has a new spell effect.
Lifebloom's bloom effect has been reduced by 20%.
Stampeding Roar's duration has been increased to 8 seconds, up from 6. The movement speed effect has been increased to 60%, up from 40%.
Swipe (Bear) cooldown has been reduced to 3 seconds, down from 6.
Talent Specializations
Balance
Starsurge damage has been reduced by 20%.
Solar Beam is now more responsive when enemies move into or out of it.
Restoration
Gift of Nature (passive) also reduces Tranquility’s cooldown by 2.5/5 minutes.
Hunters

Deterrence no longer requires a melee weapon to be equipped.
Explosive Trap now has a new spell effect.
Master's Call now has a new spell effect.
Tame Beast now tames pets to match the hunter's level, rather than 3 levels below.
Mages

Talent Specializations
Fire
Ignite is no longer triggered from periodic critical effects.
Paladins

Word of Glory now has a 20-second cooldown.
Talent Specializations
Holy
Aura Mastery: This ability no longer increases the benefit granted by Crusader Aura.
Walk in the Light (passive) removes the cooldown of Word of Glory.
Protection
Divine Guardian cooldown is now 3 minutes, up from 2.
Retribution
Divine Storm now generates 1 point of Holy Power if it hits (i.e. successfully lands on) 4 or more targets.
Sacred Shield's internal cooldown has been increased to 60 seconds, up from 30.
Priests

Divine Aegis duration has been increased to 15 seconds, up from 12.
Dispel Magic can only be used on the casting priest as a baseline effect.
Holy Word: Sanctuary has a new spell effect.
Inner Will and Inner Fire now last until canceled.
Power Word: Shield duration has been reduced to 15 seconds, down from 30.
Talent Specializations
Discipline
Absolution (new passive) enables priests to use Dispel Magic on up to 2 harmful effects on friendly targets.
Power Word: Barrier's cooldown has been increased to 3 minutes, up from 2, and its effect has been reduced to 25%, down from 30%.
It is now possible to remove Weakened Soul effects that were a result of another priest's Power Word: Shield through Strength of Soul.
Holy
Absolution (new passive) enables priests to use Dispel Magic on up to 2 harmful effects on friendly targets.
Rogues

Recuperate base effect now heals 3% per tick, up from 2%.
Stealth base cooldown has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 10, and the movement penalty from being in Stealth has been removed.
Tricks of the Trade now has a 100-yard range, up from 20.
Talent Specializations
Combat
Improved Recuperate now adds 0.5%/1% to the health restoration effect of Recuperate, down from 1%/2%.
Subtlety
Nightstalker now reduces the cooldown of Stealth by 2/4 seconds, and instead of negating the movement penalty from Stealth, it adds a 5/10% movement speed bonus (stacking with other effects) while Stealthed.
Shaman

Fire Nova has been redesigned and decoupled from shaman Fire totems. Instead, it now pulses the Fire Nova effect from each target that is afflicted by the shaman's own Flame Shock debuff. It now damages all enemies except the target hit by Flame Shock. The ability's cooldown has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 10.
Magma Totem now lasts for 60 seconds, up from 21.
Stoneclaw Totem's area-of-effect threat pulse no longer affects critters.
Talent Specializations
Elemental Combat
Earthquake is no longer a channeled spell. It now has a 2-second cast time, lasts for 10 seconds, and has a 10-second cooldown. Its damage has been reduced by 40% from its channeled version.
Enhancement
Improved Fire Nova has been redesigned and replaced by a talent called Seasoned Winds. When an enemy spell cast is successfully prevented with Wind Shear or Grounding Totem, the shaman gains magical resistance (in an amount equal to what a protection totem/aura would grant, stacking with such buffs) to the spell school(s) of the interrupted spell (except for Holy spells), lasting 10 seconds.
Warlocks

Talent Specializations
Affliction
Haunt damage has been increased by 30%.
Shadow Mastery (passive) has been increased to 30%, up from 25%.
Demonology
Mana Feed now restores more mana (four times as much) when the warlock is using a Felguard or Felhunter.
Pets
Doomguard's damage has been increased by 50%. The Doomguard is intended to be the best guardian for single-target damage, and the Infernal the best when there are multiple targets.
Shadow Bite (Felhunter) damage and effect has doubled.
Warriors

Charge and Intercept no longer have diminishing returns on their stun effects.
Colossus Smash now ignores 70% of an opponent's armor, down from 100%.
Heroic Throw is now available from trainers at level 20.
Inner Rage is now available at level 56.
Intercept now has a 1.5-second stun, down from 3 seconds.
Overpower damage has been increased to 140% weapon damage, up from 125%.
Pummel is now usable in all stances.
Rallying Cry (new ability) is available from trainers at level 83. It temporarily grants the warrior and all party or raid members within 30 yards 20% of maximum health for 10 seconds. After the effect expires, the health is lost. It has no cost, no stance requirements, and is not on the global cooldown. It has a 3-minute cooldown, but also shares a cooldown with Last Stand.
Shield Bash has been removed from the game.
Spell Reflection cooldown has been increased to 25 seconds, up from 10.
Whirlwind now has its cooldown reduced by 6 seconds when it deals damage to 4 or more targets. The Whirlwind effect caused by Bladestorm remains unchanged.
Talent Specializations
Arms
Improved Hamstring now reduces the global cooldown on Hamstring by 0.5/1 seconds in addition to its current effects.
Improved Slam increases Slam damage by 20/40%, up from 10/20%.
Juggernaut no longer adds 2 seconds to the Charge stun, but instead lowers the cooldown of Charge by 2 seconds (to 13 seconds total without the glyph).

Lambs to the Slaughter now causes Mortal Strike to refresh Rend in addition to its current effects.
Mortal Strike damage has been increased to 175% weapon damage, up from 150%.
Strikes of Opportunity damage has been increased by 10% to keep stat parity with other strike changes.
Fury
Flurry haste bonus has been doubled to 16/32/50%.
Raging Blow damage has been increased back to 120% weapon damage, up from 100%.
Unshackled Fury now only grants 2 base points of mastery, down from 8. This change offsets the Flurry boost to better control Fury burst damage.
Protection
Shield Mastery no longer affects the cooldown of Spell Reflection, however, it now allows Shield Block to proc a second aura that reduces magic damage by 7/14/20% for 6 seconds.
Gag Order now only affects Heroic Throw.
Glyphs
Glyph of Spell Reflection reduces the cooldown of Spell Reflection by 5 seconds, up from 1 second.
Dungeons & Raids

New dungeons available for partial testing.
Zul'Aman has returned as a level-85 5-player Heroic dungeon featuring a revamp of the original dungeon and improved loot!
Zul'Gurub has returned as a level-85 5-player Heroic dungeon featuring all-new encounters, achievements, and improved loot!
Both dungeons will be in a new Dungeon Finder difficulty tier above the current level-85 Heroic dungeons and offer epic-quality item level 353 loot.
These dungeons may only partially be available for testing at this time. Stay tuned for additional updates.
Blackwing Descent
Flash Bomb (Golem Sentry ability) now has a more clear warning visual.
Magmaw now triggers a raid emote when summoning Lava Parasites.
Further improvements have been made in the Maloriak encounter to avoid Flash Freeze targeting the tanks.
The gold amounts on the following encounters have been substantially reduced: Flame Leviathan, Magtheridon, Gruul the Dragonkiller, Doom Lord Kazzak, and all encounters in Karazhan.
Guilds

The Guild Perk, Cash Flow, no longer prints out text to the Chat Log. Instead, the daily amount deposited is shown in the Guild Vault Money Log. In addition, players can view the weekly contribution in a new window at the bottom of the Money Log.
We have added two new custom guild tabards as Guild Rewards. The tabards are account bound and offer a bonus to gaining guild reputation.
Items

The PvP Horde and Alliance trinkets have a new spell effect.
Item Sets
The current damage-dealing death knight 4-piece raid set bonus now also grants increased attack power when Killing Machine triggers, as well as when the death knight gains Death Runes).
The current Holy paladin 4-piece raid set bonus now grants 540 Spirit for 6 seconds after casting Holy Shock.
Professions

All major cities will now have every type of profession trainer and their associated trade supply vendors.
PvP

Battlegrounds
The Focused Assault and Brutal Assault buffs have changed.
After 3 minutes of both teams having the flag, both flag carriers will get Focused Assault, which increases damage taken by 10%.
Every minute afterward, an additional stack will be applied to increase damage taken by an additional 10%.
After 7 minutes, Brutal Assault will be applied in place of Focused Assault. In additional to the damage debuff, this debuff also caps the player's movement speed at 100%. The damage taken debuff works the same and will add 10% to the debuff up to a maximum of 100% damage taken.
The Battle for Gilneas
Graveyard Changes
Players who die at a control point that they own will now be teleported to the next closest graveyard, instead of the one at which they died.
If a player's team owns the Mine and Waterworks, and dies at Waterworks, they will be teleported to the Mine.
If an Alliance player's team only owns Lighthouse, and dies at Lighthouse, they will respawn at their base.
If a Horde player's team owns Waterworks and Mine, and dies at Lighthouse, they will respawn at Waterworks.
Twin Peaks
Graveyard Changes
Players will now only spawn at their base graveyard when they die in the enemy base.
Defending players will respawn at the middle graveyard.
Midfield players will respawn at the middle graveyard.
Attacking players will respawn at their base graveyard.
Quests & Creatures

A handful of quests have been added to Northern Barrens to provide more level 18-20 content. Look for new quests at Nozzlepot's Outpost and Darsok's Outpost.
Races

The gnomish racial ability, Escape Artist, is no longer affected by the global cooldowns triggered by other abilities.
The human racial ability, Every Man for Himself, has a new spell effect.
User Interface

Work has begun on a new Looking for Guild system. Further details will be provided when we are ready for feedback.
Like the Focus Frame, the character Unit and Target Frames can now be unlocked and moved to one's content.
Spells bound to a key now start to be cast when the button is pressed down by default, instead of waiting for the key to go up. This is an option that can be turned off in the Interface menu under Combat. Mouse clicking has not changed and operates on mouse click up.

What is a patch?

A patch is an update to make the game better. In patches they tend to add new content or new class changes.

What is the most useful thing on this patch?

The most useful thing in this patch is that they are bring back 2 old raids that the took out of the game and turning them into 5 man Heroics. Both raids will have a chance to drop at least one pretty mount.

Like this:
http://media.mmo-champion.com/images/news/2011/february/razzashiraptor.jpg

Edit Only link included because image is HUGE.