World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

File:WrathoftheLichKingHeader.png

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

Content highlights include the increase of the level cap from 70 to 80, the introduction of the Death Knight Hero Class, the 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]

A public beta has been announced, but no date has been given ^[2]; the game itself is scheduled to be released during the second half of 2008.^[3]. The Friends and Family Alpha began for the expansion on May 19—note that people admitted to the Friends and Family Alpha test are affected by an NDA and therefore not authorized to release any information publically.

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 exceed 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 springtime Howling Fjord and the jungle-like Sholazar Basin.

Flying mounts will also be usable in Northrend; currently the plan is to allow players to fly at level 77 instead of at 70^[5]. 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." ^[6] There may be new flying mounts introduced with the expansion that will provide a very slight increase in speed and, also as yet finalized, these new mounts may be able to carry more than one passenger. ^[7]

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.^[8] 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 Valiance Keep for Alliance.

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

Zones and their planned levels^[9]:

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 (Neutral Capital City)

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.

Faction Grinding

A new faction tabard system will be implemented called "Championing", where wearing a tabard of a certain faction will give you rep with that faction for kills in instances on top of the existing faction rep an instance. This is to combat the feel that gaining rep with factions is a long grind and that there is no flexability for players to choose which factions they gain rep with.

Dalaran and the Kirin Tor

Dalaran is to move from its current 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.^[10] However, as with Shattrath, there will be no class trainers or auction houses.^[11] The effect on the current location of Dalaran is unknown.

Malygos and the Blue Dragonflight

Malygos has started a war with the mortal races for their reckless use of magic. Using his flight, Malygos now seeks to divert Azeroth's ley lines to his own home, the Nexus, by the use of giant constructs known as Surge needles, and send the energies out in the Twisting Nether. This whould have disastrous consequences for Azeroth, so the Kirin Tor have joined forces with the Red Dragonflight to neutralize Malygos.

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 seek to avenge Arthas' destruction of Lordaeron and the plague of undeath that transformed them. 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. They also have Kamagua, a settlement in the Howling Fjord. Moa’ki Harbor is situated in The Dragonblight

The Vrykul

The Vrykul are a race of half-giant warriors native to the Howling Fjord. The Vrykul have grandly decorated armor with adorned items attached, such as skulls. 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 Nerubians

A race of Spider-humanoids that once controlled all of Northrend before the coming of the Lich King. Now, they live mainly in the lower reaches of their destroyed kingdom Azjol-Nerub and other scattered conclaves. It is speculated that they serve the Old God within their city.

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 sets foot in Northrend.

Dungeons and end-game content

Mapofworldwithnorthrend — The WoW Alpha map with Northrend added

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 all 25-man raids can also be completed as a 10-man group due to the popularity of Karazhan.^[12] Note: Despite speculation, solo dungeons are not being planned.^[13] Eyonix has spoken about the possibility of account-based or guild-based raid attunements for the expansion. This would mean if your guild completed the keying quest or one of your characters has, everyone in your guild or all the characters in your account would also become attuned.^[14]

There will be 3 raid dungeons and 12 5-man dungeons (8 for leveling up and 4 max-level, each with heroic versions) at release. Heoric access will also no longer require any faction reputation. All 5-man dungeons will be designed to last around an hour.

New and original

Utgarde Keep (two 5-man 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 consists 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 wings, lvl 70 & 80, and a 10/25-man raid wing): 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). ^[15]; A level 80, 5-man instance, that lets you fight on magical rings that float above the ground.; A 10/25-man raid, similar to Onyxia. A rift in the sky where you will battle Malygos.^[16]

Drak'Tharon Keep (two 5 man wings between levels 72-76): A fort where Arthas found the Frostmourne, located on the border between Grizzly Hills and Zul'Drak. Drak'Tharon Keep contains 2 instances with 1 entrance in Grizzly Hills for level 72-74 players and the other accessed from Zul'Drak for level 74-76 players.

Gundrak (10/25-man raid): The capital of the Ice Trolls where players will face off against the Ice Troll King. ^[17]

Chamber of the Aspects (10/25-man raid): A single encounter raid instance where players will face-off against a dragon.^[18]

Ulduar (two 5-man wings, lvl 70 & 80, and a 10/25-man raid wing)

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

Halls of Stone, a level 77-79 instance
Halls of Lightning, a level 80 instance
Ulduar Raid, a 10/25-raid. Planned as the next progression step from Naxxramas.

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 (10/25-man raid): Culminating the expansion with a direct confrontation with the Lich King himself. Is to be released in the final major patch of the expansion pack.

Returning, but in another form

Dalaran: Will have 1-2 instances inside the city similar to Stormwind and Orgrimmar.^[19]

Naxxramas II (level 80, 10 and 25-man raid): The instance will be retuned to level 80 and included as a 25-man dungeon at an entry-level difficulty with no attunement.^[20]^[21]

If one looks at the video on the area of Dragonblight, it seems Naxxramas is floating above the frozen landscape.^[22]

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, during the break of his insanity, against Mal'Ganis to purge the city of Stratholme of its citizens, who are infected by the undead plague.^[23] ^[24] The Infinite Dragonflight storyline will continue here.

Eastern Plaguelands: A new area will be added to the Eastern Plaguelands, accessible by Death Knights when they start.

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.

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.^[25]
Uldum: Another Titan-related dungeon – located in southern Tanaris. There are no announced plans of Uldum being included^[26] It was on the original list of dungeons to be added, but it is now unsure.^[27] However this latest statement may have been from confusion with Ulduar on the part of Blizzard staff, but they did call it 'old world content'.
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.

PvP additions

Battlegrounds

The currently planned battleground refered to as Northrend Battleground will have siege vehicles, 10 or 15 people in each team, and games will last 30 to 40 minutes.^{[citation needed]}

The issue with battelgrounds starting with unbalanced teams, caused by multiple queueing and the grace period for joining, will be addressed. The reporting system is also being further tuned to allow players to better police abuse of the PvP to gain easy marks of honor.

Arenas

Two new Arenas will also be introdcuded in the expansion. One in the currently unused Orgrimmar Arena and the other in a new Dalaran Arena in Dalaran's sewers. These arenas will introduce moving objects such as pillars and waterfalls, and damaging objects such as spikes in arenas and other such mechanics to create dynamics with line of sight and gameplay. Orgrimmar Arena will also be the first and only arena to allow mounts.

World PvP

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 that all bosses in instances will drop a token, similar to Spirit Shards in Bone Wastes, when your faction holds the keep everyone is fighting for. Players will be able to use these tokens to purchase gear.^[28]

Siege Weapons

The expansion will also introduce siege weapons, destructible buildings to PvP in both Lake Wintergrasp the the new Northrend battleground.

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

World of Warcraft's first hero class, the Death Knight will be accessible to players after having a character reach level 55. Once unlocked, the Death Knight will then complete a series of quests that will explain their defection and background. The Death Knight will start at level 55.^[29]

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 recharge rate is at 10 seconds, for now).

Bard (April Fool's Joke)

Armed with a trusty axe, killer riffs, and a ton of attitude, the guitar-wielding bard excels both as a solo performer and as part of a solid group lineup, able to front in roles as varied as his musical repertoire.

The Bard class was touted as an April Fool's day Hero class for WotLK. The link for the class may be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/features/bard/bardclass.xml

Professions and skills

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

Developers consider a possibility to make enchanters able to sell their enchants in the Auction House.^[30]

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).^[31]

Blizzard are planning to have more professions represented with rare recipe drops as well as making them accessible, such as being on earlier bosses.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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, as well.

Bestiary

New monsters have been announced in the official

Wrath of the Lich King Bestiary .

Nerubian vizier
Plague eruptor
Shovel tusk
Iron Dwarf
Taunka
Magnataur
Jormungar
Flesh giant
Darkfallen No info on the site yet.
Ice Troll No info on the site yet.
Proto-dragon No info on the site yet.
Wendigo No info on the site yet.

Characters

Levels, spells and talents

The expansion will allow characters to level to 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. Blizzard are also working on a new method of allowing players to switch between 2 different talent specs.

Extended character customization

Players will also be able to customize their characters using new hairstyles and skin colors, as well as change hairstyles of existing characters. However, players will not be allowed to change their characters' face, body shape or size.^[32] New dances are also being added^[33], as are new skin color variants^[34] and possibly tatoos and earrings^[35]. There is also the possiblity of other feature customization, eg. tauren horns.

Dances

A Dance studio is being worked on to allow players to add and change dance animations. The amount of variety is dependent on the amount of development time they can devote to it closer to release. The animations will be race specific.

Voice Emotes

Death Knight voices will be modulated for each race, so they sound deeper.

Items

Blizzard is considering introducing Legacy Items with the expansion. Essentially, these items will be bound to the player's account, with the ability to ship the items between characters on the realm the item was discovered.^[36]

PvP armor will be different from the PvE armor entirely in looks and colors.^[37]

25-man raids will drop more loot than 10-man versions and be seperated a full tier of item stats.

The token system will remain for PvE. [Spirit Shard] like tokens will be award from all instances to players in the faction that controls Lake Wintergrasp. They will be used to purchase basic PvP gear from doing PvE content.

Blizzard are making a design shift to pevent the issue of how many items they can design and unwanted drops being wasted, with the aim of having more classes using the same items. This is being done by reducing the amount of varied stats different classes and specs need. Their aim is to have 3 classes share the same items.

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. Blizzard are in the process of reevaluating the way distances, line of sight and collision are calculated to address some bugs and exploits with spells and add improved mechanics. This may not all be completed in time for release however. In addition, the art for the expansion will look more like "classic Warcraft" (gothic fantasy), and less like Outland art (high fantasy).^[38]

Blizzard are also looking at improvements to the engine to better handle the impact of large amounts of players in one area in anticiptaion of Lake Wintergrasp. A suggested solution is for the area around the player that recieves updates (can see, events recieved etc.) will be dynamically reduced based on the amount of players in an area to lessen the impact on the client (though this also reduces the impact on the servers too).

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.

New Gameplay Features

Spectators

The ability to spectate arenas is still on the list of things Blizzard want to do, but they are being careful about it. They would also like to add this ability to raids too, but in both cases it would be an opt-in feature only.

These are directly from the site.

Paradigm Shift: Dungeons and Raids in Wrath of the Lich King

Heroic dungeons were one of the most popular innovations of the previous expansion, so it’s no surprise Heroic mode will return in Wrath of the Lich King. Just as in The Burning Crusade, every five-person dungeon will have a Heroic variant that will present players with an added challenge and improved rewards.

One exciting new feature in Wrath of the Lich King is that all raid content will be available as either a 10- or 25-person dungeon with completely independent progression paths. Both the 10- and 25-person versions will be the same dungeon; the look, layout, and design of the dungeon will remain the same. However, each will be adjusted, tuned, and balanced for its respective player size.

In Wrath of the Lich King, players can expect both 10- and 25-person raid progression paths to get increasingly difficult as they adventure to their final battle with Arthas. This new gameplay mechanic will allow more players to enjoy the raid content of Wrath of the Lich King in their preferred play style. Because it takes more effort to get 25 people together than it does for 10, players who participate in the 25-person raid progression path will receive higher quality and more loot than those who play the 10-person versions.

In addition, players will never be required to attune in a 10-person raid to progress to a 25-person raid in the progression path. Raid lockouts are same-size as well, so joining a 25-person raid for a dungeon will not lock a player out from the 10-person version of the same dungeon. This freedom of choice between raid-progression paths will let personal preference play a much bigger role in how players experience the raid content of Wrath of the Lich King.

New Quest Mechanics

The quest designers are hard at work to make sure that the road to level 80 will be paved with quests unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. The Burning Crusade innovated with bombing runs and daily quests, and Wrath of the Lich King will continue this trend with still more unique and varied adventures to undertake.

Just one example of the new mechanics you can expect from the expansion is the new vehicle-based content, which puts an interesting spin on some of the concepts originally developed for PvP siege gameplay. Certain types of vehicles and mounts can now carry passengers, making it possible for players, for example, to break a prisoner out of a tightly guarded compound by attempting a daring escape on horseback. While the NPC steers the horse, the player lobs explosives at a pack of pursuing worgen. In another quest, the roles are reversed as the player takes to the skies in a flying machine to track down and rescue survivors of a catastrophic event. Even beyond the ability for vehicles to hold passengers, Wrath of the Lich King introduces an aerial combat system that will add a new dimension to gameplay.

Materials

A New metal is Cobalt
New cloth is [Frostweave Cloth]

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
Dragonblight Coast
Arthas LichKing Throne.JPG

Arthas/Lich King, on the Frozen Throne
Utgarde Keep - note the improved quality of the flames
Tuskarr camp in the Borean Tundra
Howling Fjord
Howling Fjord
A new Horde town, Grizzly Hills
The dragonblight
A new dryad Model
Dryad Tree spirits or a shrine in Howling Fjord?
An Alliance port, Valiance Keep
A lighthouse outside Valiance Keep
Valgarde in Howling Fjord
Fort Wildervar in Howling Fjord?
Shovel tusk in Howling Fjord
A Plague erupter in an unknown dungeon

Concept art

People

Concept of a female Vrykul.
An Iron Dwarf.
A monster.
Another one.
The tuskarr preparing whale meat.
Artwork of a Vrykul from the WoW - WotLK site
Death Knight 2, from the BlizzCon Press CD
Tuskarr Concept Art.jpg

Tuskarr concept art
A Fjord giant.
A Frost giant.
A Frost serpent.
A giant worm living in Northrend, the dreaded Jormungar.
Mutatedfishcreature1.jpg

An Oracle
And another one?
A "Shovel Tusk" (Shovelhorn Stag). Shovel-shaped tusks for digging through tundra.
A male taunka.
An image of a Taunka, a "winter Tauren".
A tuskarr hunter.
Northrend creature.
An undead Whale.
Northrendcorruptshark.jpg

An undead Shark.

Places

Nifflevarconc.jpg

Nifflevar concept art.
Scenery deep within Northrend.
Sholazar Basin.
A "winter tauren" (or taunka) hut.
Ulduar, a Titan monument far to the north, located at the Storm Peaks.
Corridor within Ulduar.
Wotlkunkconc.jpg

An unknown mausoleum.
Wotlkunkconc2.jpg

Another unknown mausoleum.
Utgarde Keep, located between Daggercap Bay and Lake Cauldros
Utgardeconc1.jpg

Utgarde Keep interior.
Artwork1.jpg

Utgarde Pinnacle.
Lush vegetation in Grizzly Hills.
Unknownconcept.jpg

Grizzly Hills.
Grizzly Hills.
Azjol-Nerub Entrance
A concept of a hive on one of multiple floors within the kingdom of Azjol-Nerub.
Orc buildings.
Nerubian building.
Nerubian building.
An Utgarde hallway.