Goblin Racial Nerf
It wasn't a stealth nerf. It was a bug fix to make the goblin racial function as stated. This is the racial description:
"Always receive the best possible gold discount, regardless of faction."
What this means is you will get the exalted discount from faction vendors regardless of your standing with that faction. There was a bug, however, which allowed the discount to go beyond the maximum (exalted) discount provided to all other races.
We fixed the bug so that the goblin racial now functions as advertised. If you're friendly with, say Kirin Tor, you will receive the same discount as a tauren would who is exalted with that faction. If you're both exalted, you'll still receive the same discount.
So it was previously stacking with other things, like the guild bonus and such? And now it's fixed?
That's correct.
This is hardly even a racial now. What does it give Goblins that everybody else doesn't have access to now? What other races have a racial that everybody else can be on-par with by putting in a little effort?
Best Deals Anywhere explicitly states you get the best possible gold discount from vendors, not more of a discount than any other race can possibly get.
We’re not trying to nerf fun here, but the goblin racial package is very powerful even if you ignore Best Deals Anywhere completely. It’s a fine line between making racials fun and interesting, and making players feel like they can only pick a certain race. (
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Leaving instances in combat
I'd agree it can be annoying, and even costly, but I don't think a restriction of not allowing people to leave during combat would achieve much. Generally people leaving at those moments are doing so on some type of 'principle'. You're pulling too slow, the healer has a fishing pole equipped, etc. etc. and it would be just as productive for them to stand there doing nothing and either wiping the group or just making it a tougher pull. Unlikely they'd think "Oh, I guess they really need me" and jump into combat. They'd just wait until everyone died, feeling justified in their ability to kill the group, and then leave.
There are also situations where being able to leave while in combat wouldn't be the 'wrong' thing to do. For example if someone decided to pull the instance in hopes of wiping everyone. (
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)