Changes: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

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World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, colloquially known as WLK, WotLK, or Wrath, is the second World of Warcraft expansion, officially announced on the 3rd of August 2007 at BlizzCon. The majority of expansion content takes place in Northrend, and centers around the plans of the Lich King.

Highlights include the increase of the level cap to level 80, introduction of the Death Knight hero class, new Inscription profession, as well as new PvP and world PvP content. No additional playable races are planned, though many new NPC races will be featured.^[1]

There is currently no announced date for its worldwide release; however, GameStop has a pre-release ship date of November 3, 2008.^[2]

Northrend

Main article: Northrend

The expansion introduces a new continent on Azeroth - the harsh, icy Northrend is under the control of the Lich King, and is home to the majority of the expansion's new content.

Northrend is a croissant-shaped continent in northern Azeroth. The continent is roughly half the size of the Eastern Kingdoms, but is expected to match Outland in length and width. Although Northrend is known for its snow and ice, developers stated that parts of the continent will not be frozen over, such as the jungle-like Sholazar Basin.

Flying mounts will also be usable in Northrend, currently the plan is to allow players to fly by level 78 instead of at 70^[3]. Blizzard said they want to "keep us grounded and guide us on foot for a while", so we can enjoy all the hard work they put into the land and not just "fly over it". ^[4] It is expected that green items in Northrend will be better than current Tier 4 equipment.

Zones

To alleviate some of the problems experienced at the launch of the Burning Crusade expansion, players will be able to choose where to enter the continent more freely - both Howling Fjord to the east and the Borean Tundra to the west feature level 68+ content, and it is planned that you can level all the way to 72 without visiting both. The continent is designed to allow players to level from level 68 to 80. Both zones will feature a Hellfire Citadel-style instance hub with multiple dungeon wings for level 70 characters, level 80 characters, and raiders.^[5] Players will access Howling Fjord via a Zeppelin for Horde from Undercity to Vengeance Landing and for Alliance by boat to Valgarde. Borean Tundra will be accessed via zeppelin to Warsong Hold for Horde and by boat to Justice Keep for Alliance.

NorthrendClassic — Classical map of Northrend. The differences are clearly visible.

Zones and their planned levels^[6]:

Howling Fjord (68-72)
Borean Tundra (68-72)
The Dragonblight (71-75)
Zul'Drak (73-76)
Grizzly Hills (74-76)
Azjol-Nerub (74-78)
Sholazar Basin (75-78)
The Storm Peaks (77-80)
Icecrown Glacier (77-80)
Lake Wintergrasp (Outdoor PvP)
Dalaran

Factions and races

File:PreorderWrath.jpg

Pre-order packaging.

Various organizations, factions and new races will be highlighted in the expansion. Note that no new playable races are planned.

Dalaran and the Kirin Tor

Dalaran is to move from its previous location in the Alterac Mountains to levitate at great height in the air north of the Dragonblight in Northrend. It will act as the neutral sanctuary city for the continent, similar to Shattrath City in Outland, under the guidance of Rhonin and the Kirin Tor. The Kirin Tor are responsible for the move, but the exact method is unknown - it is likely to be either by teleportation or transportation. It can be accessed by either foot or flying mount.^[7] However, as with Shattrath, there will be no class trainers or auction houses.^[8] The effect on the current location of Dalaran is unknown.

The Forsaken

The Forsaken and their Banshee Queen, Sylvanas, have also arrived with a new contagion that they hope will prove to be effective against the undead minions of the Lich King. The Forsaken are seeking vengeance for being subjected to Arthas's magic. They have recently created a settlement, New Agamand, in the Howling Fjord.

The Taunka

The taunka are an ancient offshoot of the tauren. They were thought to be lost until discovered by Garrosh Hellscream and his orc forces upon arriving in Northrend.

The Tuskarr

The tuskarr are humanoid walrus people who live in Northrend. Although seen throughout Northrend, they make their homes primarily in the Borean Tundra. Their capital city is Kaskala and it is a fishing area.

The Vrykul

The vrykul are a race of half-giant warriors native to the Howling Fjord. These formidable warriors have begun attacking Horde and Alliance settlements, and many of the vrykul are pouring out of the fortress of Utgarde Keep.

The Knights of The Silver Hand

The Knights of the Silver Hand will be making their return in Wrath of the Lich King, headed by the re-inspired Highlord Tirion Fordring. The order seems to be based out of Valgarde in the Howling Fjord.

The Lich King

It is planned for players to interact with the expansion's main antagonist, the Lich King, throughout the expansion, beginning as soon as the player steps foot in Northrend.

Dungeons and end-game content

Mapofworldwithnorthrend — Northrend added to the world map

The expansion adds group content in a similar fashion to the Burning Crusade, and the 'heroic dungeon' format will be preserved. Many new 5-man, 10-man, and 25-man dungeons will be located in Northrend. The expansion will have as many 5-man instances as the previous expansion and more 10-man instances due to the popularity of Karazhan.^[9] Note that, despite speculation, solo dungeons are not being planned.^[10]

New and original

Utgarde Keep (two wings, level 70 & 80): An instance hub in the Howling Fjord filled with the Vrykul, a Viking-like race devoted to serving the Lich King. It was the first dungeon introduced at BlizzCon; the dungeon is comprised of two wings.; The first wing, "Utgarde Catacombs" (level 70), was playable at BlizzCon.; The second, "Utgarde Pinnacle" (level 80), was announced as the second.

The Nexus (two 5-man and a 25-man raid): Located in Coldarra, it will feature the Blue Dragonflight as the enemy. The Red Dragonflight will be aiding the players.; A level 70, 5-man instance (Ice Caverns). ^[11]; A level 80, 5-man instance, that lets you fight on magical rings that float above the ground.; A 25-man raid, similar to Onyxia. A rift in the sky where you will battle Malygos.^[12]

Ulduar: Located in The Storm Peaks. A Titan-related dungeon where secrets of Azeroth's history will be revealed.

Azjol-Nerub: The ancient subterranean kingdom of the Nerubian race will contain several instances, with one featuring an Old God and the Faceless Ones.

Icecrown Citadel (level 80 25-man raid): Culminating the expansion with a direct confrontation with the Lich King himself.

Returning, but in another form

Dalaran: Will have 1-2 instances inside the city similar to Stormwind and Orgrimmar. ^[13]

Naxxramas II (level 80, 25-man raid): The instance will be retuned to level 80 and included as a 25-man dungeon at an entry-level difficulty.^[14]^[15]

Additions to Azeroth

Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme (level 80, 5-man instance): A new wing of the Caverns of Time, where you'll fight alongside Arthas, before his insanity, against Mal'Ganis to purge the city of Stratholme of its citizens, who are infected by the undead plague. ^[16]

Speculated instance content

This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.

Drak'Tharon Keep: A fort where Arthas stayed while searching for Frostmourne, located in the Grizzly Hills.
Grizzlemaw: A dungeon involving furbolgs, located in the furbolgs' home of Grizzly Hills.
Gundrak: The capital of the ice troll nation of Zul'Drak, although this was never mentioned at Blizzcon.
Riplash Ruins: Populated by the Naga, could perhaps be a dungeon.
Grim Batol: Has been suggested by Blizzard as a possible site of expansion content, though no mention of it being instanced. ^[17]
Uldum: Another Titan-related dungeon - located in southern Tanaris. May be included. It was mentioned as possible but undecided at BlizzCon.
Bloodmar: A Magnataur community located in The Dragonblight. Led by the mighty Grom'thar the Thunderbringer, they continue to build their numbers and gather resources in preparation for making war on the other races of the world.

Hero Classes

Main article: Hero Class

The expansion will introduce the long-awaited concept of Hero Classes to World of Warcraft. It is planned that the Death Knight (see below) will be the first of several "unlockable" hero classes, the only one available at launch, though no definite plans have been revealed. Hero classes will generally consist of classes from Warcraft III that were too strong to play from level 1 or could not fit a primary class role.

Nethaera posted on the new Wrath of the Lich King forums that the current plans are one new hero class per expansion pack.

Death Knight

Main article: Death Knight (hero class)

World of Warcraft's first hero class, the Death Knight will be accessible to players after having a character level 55-60 (the level is undecided at the moment), and after completing a quest chain similar in scope to the warlock epic mount chain. The Death Knight will start at a high level, around 55-60. There will be quests when you begin your Death Knight character to master the power of the Death Knight, and to learn to bend it to your own will.^[18]

The Death Knight is a plate-wearing dps/tank class (albeit one that is unable to use a shield) that uses a brand new resource system based primarily on cooldowns. Rather than the existing Mana/Rage/Energy mechanics, the Death Knight will be able to carve Runes into his/her weapon outside of combat, and then use those runes to power abilities (the runes recharge at a unknown rate over the course of battle).

Professions and skills

Professions will be allowed to level to 450 skill points from the Burning Crusade's 375 skillcap, whilst leveling professions from 300-375 will be made easier.

Note that at this time there are no plans to extend the [Riding Skill] further, nor to lower the cost of mounts and mount skills upon release of the expansion. This almost certainly means no new mount types will be introduced, but more variations of those we already have (i.e. epic land and flying mounts).^[19]

Inscription profession

Main article: Inscription

Inscription is a new profession that allows players to augment the power of their spells by increasing damage, reducing cooldowns or adding other effect, as well as new kinds of items.

The profession of Inscription is similar to the profession of Enchanting. However, Inscription permanently enhances the attributes of players’ spells and abilities. For example, an "Inscriber" could take the Fireball spell, and give it the ability to daze a target for 3 seconds, or give Shadowbolt a Nature damage bonus, like 50 Shadow damage, then 60 Nature damage over 10 seconds.

In a recent interview, Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan spoke more about Inscription, stating that the uses would be varied, and that the team are working to ensure there is not a single 'best' inscription, but rather a large choice. An example he gave was that a [Frost Nova] could be inscribed to either root targets in a larger radius, or to keep the target rooted for a longer period. He also mentioned that Inscription will work with melee abilities too.

Characters

Levels, spells and talents

The expansion will allow characters to level to level 80, adding 10 additional talent points to their disposal and extending the talent trees further to allow for 51-point talents. Leveling from 70 to 80 should take the same amount of time as 60 to 70.

In addition, before the expansion is released, the leveling curve from 20-60 will be made faster. There will be a reduction of the amount of experience required per level and amount of experience a quest grants will increase by 30%.^[20]

Extended character customization

Players will also be able to customize their characters using new hairstyles, as well as change hairstyles of existing characters. New dances are also being added.

Facial Reconstruction? | 2007-08-24 22:52 by Bornakk

The idea is that hair is something that makes sense to be changeable in the game and the cosmetic alteration can make a very positive impact for some players so we want to make this available to everybody. By making the hair styles change, it does vary by race what this does to the character, but we also have no plans at this time to exclude people from using a cosmetic feature like this. We are also looking into extending this to cover facial hair features as well, but this has not been finalized at this time.

We are also providing players the opportunity to learn new/different dances with the dance studio. Even if your character is scowling, this is another cosmetic change that can give your character a real positive attitude and people have shown great enthusiasm for.

However, plastic surgery is not planned for inclusion - no options are planned to change a characters face, body shape or size.^[21]

PvP additions

PvP mechanics will be extended in WotLK, with the addition of a dedicated PvP zone (even on PvE servers) in central Northrend called Lake Wintergrasp. There is no requirement to visit the zone, but the benefit will be an interesting reward affecting the whole region (or possibly continent).

The expansion will also introduce siege weapons, destructible buildings (with both appearing in Lake Wintergrasp) and at least one new battleground. The currently planned battleground will have siege vehicles, 15 people in each team, and games will last 30 to 40 minutes.

Technical information

The expansion is expected to enhance World of Warcraft's graphical engine - for example, a new shading system is being coded for use in ice caves, whilst flame animations are noticeably more detailed. In addition, the art for the expansion will look more like "classic Warcraft" (gothic fantasy), and less like Outland art (high fantasy).^[22]

System requirements have not yet been published, but are expected to be similar to that of the previous expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

Screenshots

Below are a variety of screenshots from the expansion. Many more can be found on relevant articles.

BlizzCon 2007 booklet
Arthas Artwork.jpg

A picture of Arthas
Borean Tundra zone (in-game)
Arthas LichKing Throne.JPG

Arthas/Lich King, on the Frozen Throne (in-game)
Utgarde keep.JPG

A screenshot from the WotLK site (in-game)
A screenshot from the WotLK site (in-game)
A screenshot from the WotLK site - note the improved quality of the flames (in-game)
A screenshot from the WotLK site (in-game)
A screenshot from the WoW - WotLK site (in-game)
A new dryad model
Dryad tree spirits?

Concept art

Template:Gallery Template:Gallery

References

External links

Official site

Official Wrath of the Lich King site

Unofficial sites

Forum thread Information About Expansion & 2.3/2.4

Unofficial Wrath of the Lich King site

Curse

PC.IGN.com

MMO-Champion

VideoGamesBlogger

WoW Insider

World of Blogcraft Wrath of the Lich King Announcement Post

World of Blogcraft Wrath of the Lich King Speculation

Wrathblog.com Discussions of Wrath of the Lich King Information

Videos

World of Blogcraft Wrath of the Lich King Trailer

Blizzcon 2007 Trailer

WoW Radio BlizzCon Wrath of the Lich King Keynote

Realm History BlizzCon 2007 Movies Collection

Realm History Wrath of the Lich King Leipzig Game Convention Screenshots

nl:World_of_Warcraft:_Wrath_of_the_Lich_King

[1] ttp://www.youtube.com/?v=1Q3W0v098sI

[2] ttp://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=647156

[3] ttp://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1230554758&pageNo=3&sid=1#52

[4] ttp://www.xfire.com/blog/blizzcon2007/14820/

[5] ttp://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=630.0

[6] ttp://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/26/wotlk-zone-list/

[7] ttp://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/03/liveblogging-the-blizzcon-expansion-demo-panel/

[8] ttp://wow.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=402753

[9] ttp://www.actiontrip.com/features/gc2007worldofwarcraftwrathofthelichking.phtml

[10] ttp://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1230503915&pageNo=2&sid=1#20

[11] ttp://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=394040237&pageNo=1&sid=1#0

[12] ttp://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=750.0

[13] ttp://boards.worldofraids.com/topic-6819-1.html

[14] ttp://www.mmo-gamer.com/?p=218

[15] ttp://www.egames.de/?ren=news_detail&news_id=65631

[16] ttp://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=735.msg7299;topicseen#new

[17] ttp://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/23/grim-batol-past-and-future/

[18] ttp://www.curse.com/articles/details/2842/

[19] ttp://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1230604291&pageNo=1&sid=1#18

[20] ttp://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/24/more-wrath-info-from-liepzig/

[21] ttp://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1230553915&pageNo=1&sid=1#11

[22] ttp://www.actiontrip.com/features/gc2007worldofwarcraftwrathofthelichking.phtml

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 {{tocright}}
-'''World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King''', colloquially known as '''WotLK''' or '''Wrath''', is the second World of Warcraft expansion, officially announced on the 3rd of August 2007 at [[BlizzCon]]. The majority of expansion content takes place in [[Northrend]], and centers around the plans of the [[Lich King]].
+'''World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King''', colloquially known as '''WLK''',  '''WotLK''', or '''Wrath''', is the second World of Warcraft expansion, officially announced on the 3rd of August 2007 at [[BlizzCon]]. The majority of expansion content takes place in [[Northrend]], and centers around the plans of the [[Lich King]].
 Highlights include the increase of the level cap to level 80, introduction of the [[Death Knight (hero class)|Death Knight]] hero class, new [[Inscription]] profession, as well as new PvP and world PvP content. No additional playable races are planned, though many new NPC races will be featured.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/?v=1Q3W0v098sI</ref>

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