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World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

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Main articles: World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, Gameplay of World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Developer(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)Activision Blizzard
SeriesWarcraft
Platform(s)Mac OS X, Windows
ReleaseNovember 13, 2008[1][2]
Australia - November 14, 2008
Genre(s)MMORPG
Mode(s)Online

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is the upcoming second expansion for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade. It is set in the land of Northrend, home of the Lich King, Arthas Menethil/Ner'zhul. It was confirmed on the first day of BlizzCon 2007, August 3, 2007.[3][4]

The expansion began beta testing on July 17, 2008, while opt-in beta test keys were sent out starting on August 4, 2008. Wrath of the Lich King is due to be released on November 13, 2008.[2] On October 10th, 2008 Blizzard announced that Wrath of the Lich king has gone gold and discs are in the manufacturing stage.

Features

Some of the features announced at BlizzCon 2007 include:

  • Level cap raised to 80
  • Battle with the Lich King at the Frozen Throne
  • One new playable class: Death Knight
  • A new continent: Northrend
  • The creation of a new profession: Inscription
  • Profession level cap raised to 450
  • New items, quests, dungeons, creatures, spells and weapons
  • Siege weapons and destructible buildings (for PvP)
  • New character-customization options, including new hairstyles
  • First completely PvP zone (regardless of what kind of server you play on)
  • Improved Graphics Engine (applied to shaders, flame effects, water appearance and detailed shadows)
  • New factions including the Tuskarr (Walrus-men), Frenzyheart (Wolverine-men), The Oracles (evolved form of murlocs) and the Taunka, a racial cousin to the Tauren

Subsequent features announced or confirmed by Blizzard include:

  • Achievements for both the expansion and existing content
  • New non-inventory storage for Mounts, Vanity Pets, and various tokens.
  • Built-in threat meter
  • New Calendar feature
  • Ability to link professions via chat

Beta test

The 2007 World of Warcraft Trading Card Game world championship included beta keys for Wrath of the Lich King amongst its prizes.[5] A competition was also created to make a fan art picture of Arthas wielding the legendary Frostmourne, and amongst the prizes was the main prize of the Frostmourne sword and a guaranteed invite to the entry of WOTLK beta test. 2 runners up also received guaranteed entries.[6]

As of July 3, 2008, an opt-in service for the WotLK closed beta has begun.[7] Players who wish to participate in the closed beta test may enter their account on the official website for a chance to be selected for participation. Opt-in keys began being distributed on August 4th, 2008. Additional keys will be distributed over time as the beta expands.

It has been reported that beta keys and invites have been sent to some European players on July 17th, 2008. Additionally, a beta registration page went live allowing those who had received a beta key to activate a new account and download the beta client. Notably, there is no NDA governing the opt-in beta, so participants are free to discuss their experience openly.

For North American testers there are currently three servers online for the beta: one PVE and one PVP server for normal character transfers; one separate PVP server for premade level 80 templates; all of which require a separate temporary account has to be created to connect. In Europe, there is one PVE server online, which does not require a temporary account to connect. [8]

Northrend

File:Wrath of the Lich King screenshot (resized).jpg
Grizzly Hills, one of the new zones introduced in the expansion.
File:World Of Warcraft Map with Northrend.jpg
World of Warcraft Mainland Map, showing Northrend in the top center

Northrend is a crescent-shaped continent in northern Azeroth.[9] 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 only parts of the continent will be frozen over.[10] Northrend will feature approximately eleven zones with content for levels as low as 68, though players may travel to Northrend at any level.[11] Players will land by boat either at the Howling Fjord or the Borean Tundra zones, located at opposite ends of the continent, when they first arrive. Howling Fjord is home to evil half-giants called the Vrykul as well as Utgarde Keep, the first dungeon to be described in the expansion. The Dragonblight and Grizzly Hills zones are located in the southern central part of the continent, and the ursine Furbolgs reside in the forested Grizzly Hills. The Dragonblight features graveyards of dragons who came to die. [12] Lake Wintergrasp will be the first completely player versus player (PvP) zone in World of Warcraft, even on player versus environment (PvE) servers.[13]

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 called "New Agamand" in the Howling Fjord.

The magi of Dalaran have also relocated to Northrend to deal with the rising threat of the Blue Dragonflight and Arthas. The city of Dalaran will function as the neutral sanctuary city for the continent, similar to Shattrath City in Outland. Dalaran is levitating at great heights but can be accessed by either foot (via a gem that will teleport the player) or flying mount.[12]

According to Blizzard game designers, Arthas Menethil and Ner'zhul, combined as the titular Lich King, is the main focus of the entire expansion.

Instances

Several new instances will be included in the expansion pack. Another instance will appear in the Caverns of Time, set during the human campaign of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, in which Prince Arthas massacred the townspeople of Stratholme because they were infected by the plague. Many new 5-man, 10-man, and 25-man dungeons will be located in Northrend, including:

  • Utgarde Keep - An instance in the Howling Fjord filled with the Vrykul, a Viking-like race devoted to serving the Lich King. It has two wings - Utgarde Keep, and Utgarde Pinnacle.
  • Azjol-Nerub - The contested capital of the Nerubian race of spider-people.
  • Icecrown Citadel - Players will battle Arthas the Lich King, the ruler of the Undead Scourge.
  • Naxxramas - An updated version of the original Naxxramas, redesigned to cater for 10 and 25 man content. It has been stated that Naxxramas will be the entry level raid of WotLK at level 80.[14]

Blizzard has also confirmed a new instance hub called the Nexus, home of the Blue Dragonflight, which will contain at least three instances. The first, a low 70s instance set in Ice Caverns, the second a high level instance seeing the player and their group face enemies on floating rings, and a final raid instance against the Blue Dragon Aspect Malygos, which takes place in a rift in the sky. It has also been confirmed that all raid instances included with the expansion will be both 10-man and 25-man versions. It has been stated that the quality of loot in 10 and 25 man versions will differ (i.e. 10 man version will be Tier 7, 25 man would be Tier 8)

Hero class

At BlizzCon 2007, Blizzard also announced the debut of Hero classes, a long awaited feature to World of Warcraft. Hero classes will consist of classes from Warcraft III that were too strong to play from level one or could not fit a primary class role. Currently, Blizzard has confirmed only one Hero class: the Death Knight.[15] In an interview with one developer, he said that for the time being there is only one hero class, though more will be introduced in future expansions.

Death Knight

The Death Knight is the first announced Hero class for World of Warcraft. Death Knights, according to Blizzard developers, will be able to fulfill the tank and DPS roles sufficiently. Death Knights can use plate armor and new rune weapons like Runeswords and Runeaxes, but they cannot use shields. According to an interview, a Death Knight's summoned pets will be more similar to a Priest's Shadowfiend, a Mage's Water Elemental, or a Druid's Treants in that they are pets with a set duration. In the current beta stage death knights that have put a specific number of talent points into the Unholy Tree are granted full control over their ghoul like a hunter's or a warlock's pet (currently this also makes the ghoul a permanent pet). The Death Knight will also be gaining the use of a relic called a sigil which will be similar to Shaman totems, Paladin librams, and Druid idols.

Players who purchase Wrath of the Lich King will not be able to create a first-level Death Knight. Instead, players will be able to create one level 55 Death Knight on the realm they have a level 55 character on. Players who already meet this requirement will be able to create Death Knights at launch; others will be able to create one as they level to 55 on their other characters. Newly created Death Knights will begin with a full arsenal of spells and abilities.[16] Both the Alliance and Horde factions will have access to the class, and may be of any race.

Instead of relying on rage, energy, or mana, the Death Knight will use a new resource system: runes, which will be displayed under the player portrait.[17] The Death Knight has two of each rune available for use and after they are used they enter a ten second "cooldown" period before they can be used again. With specific talents the Death Knight can also turn their runes into Death Runes which can be used as any of the three separate runes.

The Death Knight will also require an additional resource called Runic Power to cast some of their more powerful spells. Runic Power works similar to a warriors Rage in that it slowly builds up during combat (unlike warriors the Death Knight must cast spells requiring runes to gain runic power) and will decay over time when out of combat.

Inscription

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 "Scribe" could take the Fireball spell, and give it the ability to knockback or daze an enemy.[18]. Scribes will accomplish this by creating Glyphs that other players can put into their glyph spots. The Glyph tab is reached by opening up the players spellbook and clicking on Glyphs. Glyphs can range from increasing the duration of Sap, reducing the cool down for Sprint, increasing the critical strike chance of Eviscerate etc. (all examples are for the rogue class)

Graphical improvements

Blizzard has announced that they will be revamping World of Warcraft's graphics engine to some degree with the release of the new expansion. For example, the developers are experimenting with a new shader to use in areas containing ice,[19] also the fire effects and shadows in the game will be improved to seem more realistic.[citation needed]

System Requirements

The current system requirements released by Blizzard are said to be the same as the Burning Crusade expansion, however lower frame rates have been reported by numerous beta testers during the Wrath of the Lich King beta testing. Blizzard has not yet officially announced the system requirements for the full version of the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

Collector's Edition

It has been announced by Blizzard that there will be a Collector's Edition of Wrath of the Lich King available.

~Bornakk of the Wrath of the Lich King Forums "Wrath of the Lich King will be available in both a standard edition and a special Collector's Edition (in select areas)."

The Collector's Edition has a suggested retail price of a $69.99, making its price $30 higher than the Standard Edition.

Features

The currently known features that will come with the Collector's Edition include:

  1. World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King on DVD-ROM.
  2. The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, a 208-page book featuring never-before-seen images from the game.
  3. An exclusive in-game pet: Frosty, the baby frost wyrm.
  4. A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, the Wrath of the Lich King intro cinematic with director’s commentary, and more.
  5. The official soundtrack CD, containing 21 epic tracks from the game, along with exclusive bonus tracks.
  6. A mouse pad featuring a map of the newly opened continent of Northrend.
  7. Two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game March of the Legion™ starter decks, along with two exclusive cards available only in the Collector’s Edition.

For more information on Wrath of the Lich King: Collector's Edition visit http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/features/collector/index.xml

Release of content patch

On August 25 2008, Blizzard Poster Eyonix announced a release of a content patch which includes many of the new features in the expansion.[20] This is similar to the way patch 2.0 was applied before The Burning Crusade.

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King approaching, we wanted to provide you with some important information. In preparation for the expansion, we will be issuing a new content patch in the coming weeks. Much like the patch made available shortly before The Burning Crusade's release, this content patch is designed to bridge current game content with that of the expansion and will contain some exciting changes and additions.

We have outlined some of the larger features scheduled to release with the patch below:

  • New class spells and talents
  • Stormwind Harbor
  • Barbershops in capital cities
  • Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
  • Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
  • Guild calendar
  • Hunter pet skill revamp
  • New profession: Inscription

As mentioned above, this is not a comprehensive list, just some of the major highlights. We’ll post the full patch notes as soon as they’re available. Regarding Inscription, please note that all Burning Crusade players will be able to select Inscription as one of their two professions and level up to a skill level of 375 with it. Upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King, players who purchase and install the expansion will be able to continue leveling in Inscription and the other professions beyond 375.

The patch was released 14 October 2008 in the United States, and 15 October 2008 in Europe.

The patch has led to major problems. Most U.S. realms were not accessible again until seven hours later than Blizzard had predicted, and as of October 18th (four days later), most servers still suffer from regular down times and glitches.

"The New Plague" World Event

With the release of the new content patch, there were several new Non-Player Character's released into World of Warcraft in each major city, starting zone, and outpost by the name or "Argent Healers". These new characters are to help fight the New Plague that has been released onto Azeroth from "Conspicous Crates" found in Booty Bay, a neutral faction city. Upon a player examining the crates, they would become infected with a disease. After 10 minutes, or until the player was killed, the Player would automatically resurrect as a zombie, and in turn, have his ability's changed to those to help spread the infection. As with the "Opening of the Dark Portal" world event for the release of Burning Crusade, this is the World Event for Wrath of the Lich King.[citation needed]

Open play

Wrath of the Lich King was announced at BlizzCon 2007, and one zone and dungeon was playable hands-on to the participants there. Subsequently, a more complete version was available for play at BlizzCon 2008.

The 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational (June 28 and 29 2008) also offered hands-on play of Wrath.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Vivendi: Very Good First Quarter - 2008 Outlook Confirmed" (PDF). Vivendi. 2008-05-14.
  2. ^ a b "WORLD OF WARCRAFT®: WRATH OF THE LICH KING™ IN STORES STARTING NOVEMBER 13, 2008". Blizzard Entertainment. 2008-11-15. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
  3. ^ Rausch, Allen (2007-08-03). "World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King + (PC)". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-08-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Welcome to BlizzCon 2007". IGN. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "TCG World Championship and Darkmoon Faire in San Diego". 2007-11-26.
  6. ^ Blizzard - Frostmourne Fan Art Contest
  7. ^ "Wrath of the Lich King Beta Opt-in". 2008-07-03.
  8. ^ "Wrath of the Lich King Beta FAQ". 2008-08-04.
  9. ^ Torres, Robin (2007-08-03). "BlizzCon 2007 Opening Ceremony Liveblog!". WOW Insider. Retrieved 2007-08-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Revealed". 1up.com. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Blizzard Entertainment. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ a b Schramm, Mike (2007-08-03). "Wrath of the Lich King Demo panel: liveblogging from BlizzCon". WOW Insider. Retrieved 2007-08-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Shoemaker, Brad (2007-08-03). "BlizzCon 07: Wrath of the Lich King demo'd". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ The MMO Gamer » » BlizzCon: Interview With WoW Lead Designer Jeffrey “Tigole” Kaplan
  15. ^ Torres, Robin (2007-08-03). "Liveblogging the BlizzCon WoW Class Panel". Robin Torres. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Gerald Villoria (2008-05-09). "Enter the Death Knight". GameSpy.
  17. ^ Torres, Robin (2007-08-04). "BlizzCon Day 2 Class Panel notes and Q&A". WOW Insider. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Wrath of the Lich King Demo panel: liveblogging from BlizzCon - WOW Insider
  19. ^ Brad Shoemaker (2007-08-03). "BlizzCon 07: Wrath of the Lich King demo'd". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
  20. ^ "World of Warcraft Forums". Blizzard Entertainment. 2008-08-25. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ "Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008". Blizzard Entertainment. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-02-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)

Information on the Collector's Edition

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