Patch 4.0.3a is live!  Logged on this morning and found Deathwing sitting on top of my log-in screen!  Azeroth has been ripped apart, and when we log in for the first time this afternoon, it will be a strange new world!

I’m not sure what I plan on doing first, but me thinks my Tauren Paladin needs to emerge from the ashes of Deathwing’s devastation!  I’ll be keeping you guys as informed as  I can regarding changes to our gameplay, so stay tuned!

MMO Champion has the full patch 4.0.3a notes listed, and I have brought you specifics to what’s new and different with Retribution Paladins.

• Retribution Paladin Patch 4.0.3a
• Full Patch 4.0.3a notes at MMO CHampion

The following is a list derived from a WoW forums post by Sammew.  You can view the original post on the official WoW Forums [Source].

Also, here is what is NOT included in Patch 4.0.3a:

• Goblin and Worgen characters
• Goblin and Worgen starting zones
• New secondary profession: Archeology
• Prfoessions from 451+
• Guild leveling
• Guild achievements
• Flight in Azeroth.
• New Zones (80+)

Here is what you can expect to find in Patch 4.0.3a:

• Portals in Dalaran and Shattrath are gone, replaced by class trainers in Dalaran
• New race-class combinations (No Goblins or Worgen)
• New Gnome and Troll starting areas!
• Changes to existing zones and 1-51 leveling experience
• New Cataclysm load screens
• New Cataclysm intro cinematic
• New Cataclysm login screen
• New music
• City Quartermasters, with rep tabards
• Talent Tree resets for Druid, Paladin, Priest, and Shaman
• Experience required to gain levels 71 through 80 is reduced by 20%
• New tamable hunter pets (Monkey, fox, dog, and beetle, as well as new skins for existing pet classes.)

Here are the general notes in addition to the Paladin changes.  I have left off the other class notes, so head over to MMO if you want to see them!

Patch 4.0.3a Notes

The Shattering of Azeroth
In the frigid wastes of Northrend, the final battle against the merciless Lich King ended in victory for Azeroth’s defenders. Upon returning home, veterans of the unforgiving conflict against the Scourge were showered with praise for their valiant sacrifices, while the honorable dead were mourned. Yet as hope flared anew in the wake of the Lich King’s fall, Azeroth’s native elemental spirits grew confused and erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Horde and Alliance leaders scrambled for clues about the troubling state of the world, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.

Without warning, the corrupted Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, erupted from the stone heart of Deepholm, the domain of earth within the Elemental Plane. Jagged fissures were torn across the earth, and monstrous waves pummeled coastal regions. From Thousand Needles to the Blasted Lands, the surface of Azeroth was reforged through violent upheavals. Now, the Horde and the Alliance must defend their homes against Deathwing and his minions, burdened by the unsettling fact that the world as they know it has changed… forever.

Azeroth Shattered

• Deathwing’s return has had an immeasurable impact throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will notice drastically altered terrain, thousands of new quests from levels 1-55, and updated level ranges for some zones to improve the questing flow.

New Race/Class Combinations

• In the wake of a world on the brink of destruction, members of the Horde and Alliance have taken to new cultures and studies, mastering crafts previously foreign to them. Many existing playable races now have new class combinations. Check the official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website for a breakdown of the new combinations.

General

• The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematic trailer and login screen have been added to the game.
• Experience required to gain levels 71 through 80 has been reduced by 20%, which increases leveling rate by 25%.

Classes: General

• Due to several talent revisions for select classes, druids, paladins, priests, and shaman have had their talent trees reset.
• The damage and healing done by players from levels 1-79 has been retuned, with the base points of almost all spells and abilities reduced. This was done to bring combat times at low levels to a more reasonable length. For most abilities that deal weapon damage, the weapon damage percent now rises per level until level 80, and starts at a lower percent.
• Healing Rain, Efflorescence, Holy Radiance, Holy Word: Sanctuary now have a diminished effect when healing more than 6 players at once.
• Mortal Strike, Furious Attacks, Wound Poison, Widow Venom, Permafrost, Improved Mind Blast, Monstrous Bite, and Legion Strike now reduce healing by 10%, down from 25%.
• Effects which are broken from taking too much damage (Fear, Frost Nova, Entangling Roots, etc.) now break automatically from about half as much damage taken as before.

Paladins

• Exorcism damage has been increased by approximately 50%.
• Holy Radiance now has reduced effectiveness on targets over 8 yards away from the paladin.
• Seal of Truth: periodic damage from Censure reduced by 25%.

Holy

• Beacon of Light now lasts 5 minutes, up from 60 seconds.
• Blessed Life: the effects of this talent cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds, up from every 2 seconds.
• Illuminated Healing absorb shield now absorbs 10% of the total amount healed, up from 8%. Each point of Mastery increases the effect by an additional 1.25%, up from 1%.
• Light of dawn has been redesigned. It no longer has an enforced cooldown, now costs Holy Power instead of mana, and scale in direct proportion to the amount of Holy Power used. In addition it now heals the 5 most injured group targets (including self) in a 30-yard frontal cone.
• Protector of the Innocent no longer triggers from self-heals.

Protection

• Divine Bulwark now grants 2.25% less block chance per point of Mastery, up from 2%.
• Holy shield no longer increases chance to block. Instead, it increases the amount blocked by an additional 10%, for a total of 40% damage blocked.
• Shield of the Righteous: Contribution of attack power halved (now 60% with full Holy Power) and base damage brought up so that a level 85 paladin in Heroic dungeon gear deals the same damage with no Vengeance, but Vengeance has less impact.
• Shield of the Templar now reduces the cooldown of Guardian of Ancient Kings by 40/80/120 seconds, down from 1/2/3 minutes.
• Wrath of the Lightbringer now increases Crusader Strike and Judgement damage by 50/100%, up from 30/60%.

Retribution

• Crusade now also has a proc on kill to increase the healing done by the paladin’s next Holy Light by 100/200/300% for 15 seconds, in addition to its current effects.
• Divine Storm: This ability has been redesigned. It no longer consumes Holy Power and instead costs 5% of base mana. It shares a cooldown with Crusader Strike and hits all nearby enemies for 60% weapon damage.
• Pursuit of Justice now has an 8-second internal cooldown, shared with Blessed Life.
• Rebuke no longer initiates Auto Attack.
• Sanctity of Battle now also causes Divine Storm’s cooldown to be reduced by Haste effects.
• Zealotry no longer consumes 3 Holy Power, but still requires 3 Holy Power to use.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Beacon of Light now makes Beacon of Light free, instead of increasing the duration by 30 seconds.
• Glyph of Divinity has been redesigned. It now grants the paladin 10% of maximum mana upon use.
• Glyph of Light of Dawn now increases the total number of most injured targets healed by 1.

Other

Achievements

• The Gladiator reward mounts now award Master Riding.
• What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been now awards Master Riding.

Items

• Mysterious Egg now takes only 3 days to turn into a Cracked Egg and has a slightly greater chance of awarding the Reins of the Green Proto-Drake.
• PvP set bonuses now provide 70 of stats such as Agility, Intellect, and Strength (down from 100) at 2 pieces, and 180 of these stats (down from 300) at 4 pieces.

Professions

• Perfect Gem Cutting and Mixology have been removed as trainable skills and are instead passives profession abilities. When players reach the appropriate skill levels, they will start getting bonuses from Mixology (they must know the recipe to gain the benefit) and/or cutting perfect gems (depending on their profession, of course).

Alchemy

• Alchemy recipes now require Crystal Vials. Deathwing broke all the others because he’s mean (or because he didn’t want alchemists to carry 5 different vials around with them).

Engineering

• The Engineering Tinkering enchants will no longer provide their bonus stats, but the activated effects will stack with other enchants. In 4.0.1 the stats were there (but hidden) and are now removed.

Bug Fixes

• Several epic gem transmutes that were missing from the trainer have been added back.

Bug Fixes

• Certain area-of-effect abilities are no longer ignoring the area-of-effect damage cap.
• Mobs and NPCs should no longer appear to randomly gain or lose health during combat.
• Re-summoning pets in Battlegrounds should no longer count towards a player’s total healing done.

Known Issues

• Some tooltips may not reflect the most recent changes to certain abilities.
• Worgen hunters are currently unable to learn Dual Wield.
• The achievement Explore Tol Barad will not be possible to complete upon release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.