Had it been another couple of months (and better sales for the original version), Raven might have turned this latest Quake 4 patch into an actual expansion pack: it's that full of new content. Not only does it bring a slew of gameplay changes and fixes, but it also adds some brand new elements, such as a new multiplayer weapon - the Napalm Launcher, a new game mode - called DeadZone - with 4 revized maps to support it, and 8 new "professionally made" maps. Here's a bit about it from developer Raven:

"We've been working hard and playing harder to bring you the release of version 1.3 for Quake 4. This update includes a host of new and community requested features such as: more agile player movement, weapon balance adjustments, a single ambient light option, improved rendering and cpu peformance and much more. (...)

The 1.3 update affects pure server and protocol consistency. Therefore, players who update to 1.3 from ANY previous version will only be able to connect and play against other 1.3 users. Save games and demos created on any previous version of the game will not be compatible with the 1.3 update."

I guess that last remark is pretty damn important for any multiplayer freak out there. And MOD creators should also take note that, due to the vast number of updates and new functionality in the 1.3 Point Release, MODs will have to be updated to the 1.3 code by each respective MOD author in order to run correctly on the 1.3 version of Quake 4. Information regarding MODs and news related to the Quake 4 SDK can be found here.

There's naturally a whole bunch of files accompanying the 1.3 version of Quake 4, from retail patches, Linux clients, servers, and a new SDK. You can reach any of them from this list of download mirrors compiled on Blue's News. Patching from version 1.2 eats up 141 MB worth of bandwidth, and the full v1.3 patch for Windows weighs in at 235 MB.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)