Dirext3D 9 & 11 + shader model 3,4,5:

Although it may seem like the new shader model 4/5 may be a dx10 ability, in WoW it only operates through the dx11 pipeline. Shader model 4/5 is needed for the water and sunshafts to operate at its best. Thus, the best possible graphics output can be achieved only in dx11 mode. Although you may be able to "max out" the settings in d3d9, it will not really be maxed out for the simple reason that the highest shader model available for d3d9 is shader model 3. I have also confirmed this with 2 people on the WoW Cata beta forums, and a quick search on Google shows that a blue could confirm this on the wow-forums as well.

Basically, until WINE gets its d3d11 api going, the best possible graphics output for WoW through WINE's direct3d api is that which dx9 is capable of... which is only up to shader model 3.

In case you're interested in a Linux port of Blizzard Games/installers:
Although it should be noted that, knowing their history since WC1 was released, Blizzard does not react to petitions, you can always sign this here if you're interested in Linux installers for Blizzard games:
www.petitiononline.com/ibpfl/petition.html

European Suggestions thread (for WoW port to Linux):
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.htm … p;pageNo=1

Do not get your hopes up though. Its going to take a lot more than this to convince them. Please do continue to contribute to WINE by testing WoW thoroughly, submitting bugs, helping others with problems, releasing patches to fix problems (if you're a WINE contributor), and so forth. The OpenGL HW Cursor has already done wonders for WoW on Linux.