Vaneras on the EU forums this morning responded to some criticism that everyone is already 80, etc... He makes a few interesting points.

First, he notes that they have internal numbers that the majority of players don't yet have a level 80 character. This might be a known or assumed fact by some, but for many of us it's interesting to hear Blizzard extrapolate on the issue.

Vaneras goes on to point out an important tidbit – don't assume just because all your friends are 80 that everyone else is as well. People that play all the time tend to gravitate towards other people that play all the time, and folks that only log on once or twice a week gravitate towards each other as well.

This means that just because everyone on your friends list is 80 doesn't mean the whole server is yet. I know that for myself nearly everyone's main is either 80 or high 70s now, and most have alts quickly getting up there in level too.

But then I'm reminded of my brother, who just dinged 77 a couple days ago.

This is also good to know as it means battlegrounds and Wintergrasp will be filling up more as a greater number of folks ding. That's only going to lead to more fun for everyone.

With the bonanza of upcoming changes coming out, there are a few categories that don't have enough changes to merit posts of their own. These are their stories.

• We're adding new relics to support all talent trees in patch 2.3 for Shaman, Paladins and Druids. In addition, (not that this will sweep you off your feet), most of the arena-system relics have been renamed so there is a more consistent naming convention. (Eyonix)
• Those who completed the [Tempest Keep] attunement process will have access to the title "Champion of the Naaru". Also, the plan is to hard-cap it at 70, meaning you can't go back at 80 and "cheese" the title. (Eyonix)
• We're looking into potential improvements for earth shield, and even lightning shield (Eyonix)
• Fear Ward will be available to all priests at level 20, but there are some changes in addition. Current plans are to reduce duration to 3 minutes, and increase the cooldown to 3 minutes.
  To give the dwarves and draenei something else to even it out, they'll see a new ability called Chastise (also given at level 20) which will cause holy damage and incapacitate the target for 2 seconds. (Drysc)
  

Yay! Fear Ward for all! Racials are still a stupid idea, in my opinion, but this takes some of the sting out of them. A new title, and some new relics are both very welcome; the current relics are in many ways a bit silly.

Back at Blizzcon, some improvements were previewed for Enhancement shammies that were going to go in "a future patch". It has become apparent as things progress that this patch is probably going to be 2.3, and now we have confirmation of that from Eyonix. Specifically, the details he confirmed for patch 2.3 are as follows:

• Shamanistic rage will also reduces all damage taken by 30% for the duration of the ability (30 seconds), in addition to its current effect
• Spirit Weapons will also reduce melee threat by a total of 30% rather than 15% (source)
• There will be changes that benfefit [sic] the elemental and restoration shaman as well. And yes, more enchancement improvements are absolutely going into patch 2.3. (source)
• Yes, all shaman will be able to equip 2-handed axes and maces (proper training required of course), without having to spend a talent. In it's place, a seemingly solid replacement talent called elemental focus. Basically, what it offers is this -- after landing a melee critical strike, you'll enter a "focused state". The focused state will reduce the mana cost of your next shock spell by 60%. (source)

There is some confusion over whether Spirit Weapons' threat reduction affects yellow damage; Eyonix reports that extensive internal testing shows that it affects white damage and Stormstrike and Windfury procs. He also promises to drop in on a thread discussing Elemental improvements, so keep an eye out for that.

The 2.1 news just keeps coming. As well as boatloads of profession changes and new Darkmoon cards, now there is information on two new graveyards and some new flight points and flight paths:

New Graveyards

Two new graveyards have been added to Blade's Edge Mountains.

New Flypaths
New flight points:
Felwood, Emerald Sanctuary (Both)
Ashenvale, Forest Song (Alliance)

New flight paths:
Stormwind <-> Thorium Point
Grom'gol Base Camp <-> Flame Crest
Ratchet <-> Gadgetzan, Astranaar, Brackenwall Village
Brackenwall Village <-> Ratchet, Camp Taurajo, Freewind Post
Thunderbluff <-> Zoram'gar Outpost
Evergrove <-> Toshley's Station
Honor Hold <-> Shattrath

In addition, many flight paths have been adjusted to be shorter, faster flights.

I must say, I'm pretty apathetic about flight paths these days. Now that I have my epic flying mount, it's easier just to aim myself towards my destination, fly high, hit runlock, and go AFK. No finding a flight master, no fee, and I can go anywhere. Epic mounts: the only way to fly. Still, these improvements are great for anyone that doesn't yet have the epic, including of course my eight zillion alts. And the new paths and points are all long overdue (very long, for the Azeroth ones).