diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b8c8298..de30557 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,7 +4,27 @@ All notable changes to `mod-gold-rush` will be documented in this file.
 
 ## [Unreleased — hallsworth fork]
 
+### Added
+- Per-zone resource nodes. `GoldRush.ZonePool` entries can now carry their own
+  node and bonus pools (`ZoneName|NodeEntries|BonusEntries`) instead of every
+  hotspot drawing from one global list -- an event in Un'Goro spawns Un'Goro-
+  appropriate herbs/ore, Sholazar spawns Northrend resources, etc. `gold_rush.conf.dist`
+  ships with all ~57 valid WotLK 3.3.5a open-world zones pre-populated (see
+  `docs/zone-specific-resources-spec.md` for how each zone's resource list was
+  derived and verified). New `GoldRush.BonusChancePercent` (default 15) config
+  controls how often a spawn pulls from a zone's rarer bonus pool instead of its
+  normal one. A zone left without node/bonus data still falls back to the
+  global `GoldRush.NodeEntries` pool exactly as before.
+
 ### Fixed
+- Event start/end announcements no longer crash the server. `StartEvent()` and
+  `EndEvent()` both used `ChatHandler(nullptr).SendWorldText(...)` to broadcast
+  server-wide -- `ChatHandler::SendWorldText` assumes a real session and calls
+  `GetSession()->SendPacket()` unconditionally, so a null session was an
+  immediate null-pointer crash. Confirmed via a symbolized backtrace against a
+  captured coredump on the live server (two crashes within ~24h). Replaced with
+  `sWorldSessionMgr->SendServerMessage(SERVER_MSG_STRING, text)`, the session-free
+  broadcast path the built-in `.announce` GM command uses.
 - Bot routing is no longer a silent no-op. `Engine::ChangeStrategy` dispatches on the
   first character of the strategy name and ignores anything without a `+`/`-`/`~`/`?`
   prefix, so the bare `"new rpg"` calls did nothing. Now sends `"+new rpg"`, and only
diff --git a/src/GoldRush.cpp b/src/GoldRush.cpp
index b501420..782c530 100644
--- a/src/GoldRush.cpp
+++ b/src/GoldRush.cpp
@@ -186,7 +186,17 @@ public:
         _config.SpawnRadius = sConfigMgr->GetOption<float>("GoldRush.SpawnRadiusYards", 25.0f);
         _config.BonusChancePercent = std::min<uint32>(100, sConfigMgr->GetOption<uint32>("GoldRush.BonusChancePercent", 15));
         _config.NodeEntries = sConfigMgr->GetOption<std::string>("GoldRush.NodeEntries", "191133;190176;190171;190172;189973");
-        _config.ZonePool = sConfigMgr->GetOption<std::string>("GoldRush.ZonePool", "Un'Goro Crater|Fire Plume Ridge; Winterspring|Frostfire Hot Springs; Eastern Plaguelands|Terrorweb Tunnel; Sholazar Basin|River's Heart");
+        // No hardcoded fallback zone list here on purpose: the real default lives in
+        // gold_rush.conf.dist (the full 57-zone v2 pool from
+        // docs/zone-specific-resources-spec.md). That file uses the 2-segment
+        // ZoneName|NodeEntries|BonusEntries format; a hardcoded fallback string here
+        // previously still used the old ZoneName|AreaLabel format, which the current
+        // parser reads as NodeEntries and silently fails to parse as node IDs (safe --
+        // BuildNodeEntries uses a non-throwing parse -- but pointless). If ZonePool is
+        // ever missing from the loaded config entirely, an empty pool here just means
+        // no configured hotspots, matching the "eligible live-player zones" fallback
+        // path already used elsewhere in this module rather than a stale example.
+        _config.ZonePool = sConfigMgr->GetOption<std::string>("GoldRush.ZonePool", "");
         _config.Blacklist = sConfigMgr->GetOption<std::string>("GoldRush.Blacklist", "Stormwind City; Orgrimmar; Dalaran");
         _config.StartMessage = sConfigMgr->GetOption<std::string>("GoldRush.StartMessage", "A seismic anomaly has exposed a massive vein of rich minerals in {}!");
         _config.EndMessage = sConfigMgr->GetOption<std::string>("GoldRush.EndMessage", "The Gold Rush in {} has been exhausted.");