World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
As per the press release from Blizzard Entertainment:

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- August 3, 2007 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for the second expansion to World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Unveiled at the company's BlizzCon? gaming festival before an audience of more than 8,000 gamers, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King? will open the forbidding wasteland of Northrend to exploration by the hardiest adventurers. New levels of power, challenging new dungeons and encounters, an exciting new character profession, and the game's first hero class are just some of the new features awaiting players in Wrath of the Lich King.

"This expansion will add some of the most infamous characters and settings from the Warcraft® universe to World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. "In addition to new story content, Wrath of the Lich King will introduce a number of features specifically requested by players over the past couple of years. We're looking forward to sharing further details with everyone as development progresses."

Players last visited Northrend in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne?, when Arthas Menethil fused with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King, one of the most powerful beings in the Warcraft universe. He now broods atop the Frozen Throne deep in Icecrown Citadel, clutching the rune blade Frostmourne and marshaling the undead armies of the Scourge. In Wrath of the Lich King, the forces of the Alliance and the Horde will venture into battle against the Scourge amid Northrend's howling winds and fields of jagged ice.

Building on the foundation established in World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King will add a rich variety of content to an already massive game. New features coming with the game's second expansion include:

* Death Knight Hero Class: Create a high-level Death Knight character -- the game's first hero class -- once certain challenges have been met.
* Increased Level Cap: Advance to level 80 and gain potent new talents and abilities along the way.
* Northrend: Explore the harsh new continent of Northrend, packed with new zones, quests, dungeons, monsters, and items -- and do battle with the undead armies of the Lich King.
* "Inscription" Profession: Learn this exciting new profession and gain unique ways to permanently enhance spells and abilities in the game.
* Siege Weapons and Destructible Buildings: Take the battle to another level with new player-vs.-player game mechanics and new battlefields to wage war on.
* New Character Customization: Change how characters look and express themselves, with different hairstyles and dance animations.

Since launching in November 2004, World of Warcraft has become the world's most popular MMORPG, with a subscriber base of more than 9 million players. The game's first expansion, The Burning Crusade, broke PC-game sales records in North America and Europe by selling nearly 2.4 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability and approximately 3.5 million copies in its first month. World of Warcraft is available in seven different languages and, in addition to North America and Europe, is played in mainland China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

For more information on World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, please visit Blizzard's official website at www.WorldofWarcraft.com. To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions -- more information on available career opportunities at Blizzard can be found at http://jobs.blizzard.com.

World of Warcraft's Subscriber Definition
World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft and the Warcraft, StarCraft®, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Vivendi Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard's track record includes ten #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

I'm giddy like a school girl right about now...

EDIT:

Blizzard's website for the new expansion: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
I'd link all the post saying that hero classes had been shelved for the game, but I need to sleep this weekend.
 

Noema

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2005
2,974
0
0
Originally posted by: Wheelock
Hero class*

* 25% of the server population will also be playing as a death knight.

>75% if Night Elf Death Knight is possible.

At least maybe this will stop all the 12 year olds from playing Paladins and running around like they are Lancelot.
 

caivoma

Senior member
Sep 3, 2004
957
0
0
I quited Wow a while ago along with a bunch of people from my guild. I will get the expansion and it will be fun for a while but i doubt that anything will change with WOW, i.e. : raid or else.
 

caivoma

Senior member
Sep 3, 2004
957
0
0
Originally posted by: Anubis
whens it comming out

Probably November again, since Black Temple is the last raid instance in WoW and it already been beaten. Also, Warhammer is coming next year so i doubt they will release the expansion near a major game like warhammer.
 

jlarsson

Golden Member
Jul 31, 2001
1,050
0
0
Originally posted by: Noema
Originally posted by: Wheelock
Hero class*

* 25% of the server population will also be playing as a death knight.

>75% if Night Elf Death Knight is possible.

At least maybe this will stop all the 12 year olds from playing Paladins and running around like they are Lancelot.

It will be 100% of the people who hit level 80, since I've read the quest to unlock the death knight class will be similar in difficulty to the warlock epic mount quest.
 

jlarsson

Golden Member
Jul 31, 2001
1,050
0
0
Originally posted by: caivoma
Originally posted by: Anubis
whens it comming out

Probably November again, since Black Temple is the last raid instance in WoW and it already been beaten. Also, Warhammer is coming next year so i doubt they will release the expansion near a major game like warhammer.

Doubt it. They have said that there will be one more raid instance after Zul'aman (which isn't even out yet) which would finish off TBC content.

TBC had roughly 6 months worth of beta testing before being released. I'd say best case would be a Q1 2008 release.
 

caivoma

Senior member
Sep 3, 2004
957
0
0
Originally posted by: jlarsson
Originally posted by: caivoma
Originally posted by: Anubis
whens it comming out

Probably November again, since Black Temple is the last raid instance in WoW and it already been beaten. Also, Warhammer is coming next year so i doubt they will release the expansion near a major game like warhammer.

Doubt it. They have said that there will be one more raid instance after Zul'aman (which isn't even out yet) which would finish off TBC content.

TBC had roughly 6 months worth of beta testing before being released. I'd say best case would be a Q1 2008 release.

Hmm, then it will go directly against Warhammer then. It will be interesting to see if they are going to fix the problems in the game first or created more problem by adding 1 hero class (aka JEDI in SWG).
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
I know I'm going to end up making a Death Knight... well, I do need one of every class and that's a class, so I must make one! I also think it'd be an interesting mix as it's a mix between a warrior and a necromancer (essentially). You most likely won't have any healing spells except the one that Arthas had in WarCraft III where you kill one of your undead minions for health. I believe it was "Death Pact", but I can't be certain... been so long!

Originally posted by: lupi
I'd link all the post saying that hero classes had been shelved for the game, but I need to sleep this weekend.

I'm kind of thinking the original idea for hero classes was tossed out... as in players upgrading to heroes. The one thing I like about these hero classes is you start out at a high level. It gets quite boring leveling up from 1-60 (or 70, I don't know where they start you), so this will be a huge time saver.
 

Vortex22

Diamond Member
Sep 6, 2000
4,976
1
0
Originally posted by: caivoma
I quited Wow a while ago along with a bunch of people from my guild. I will get the expansion and it will be fun for a while but i doubt that anything will change with WOW, i.e. : raid or else.

Err, that's not even how it is now. You raid if you want to get the best PvE gear and you do arenas if you want the best PvP gear. Top end raiders can't dominate PvP like they did in the past and vice versa.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,716
417
126
tbqhwy.com
Originally posted by: Vortex22
Originally posted by: caivoma
I quited Wow a while ago along with a bunch of people from my guild. I will get the expansion and it will be fun for a while but i doubt that anything will change with WOW, i.e. : raid or else.

Err, that's not even how it is now. You raid if you want to get the best PvE gear and you do arenas if you want the best PvP gear. Top end raiders can't dominate PvP like they did in the past and vice versa.

actually most of the people who have 2000+ arena ratings also are in raiding guilds that are pretty damn progressed

same as it has always been
 

Reckoner

Lifer
Jun 11, 2004
10,851
1
81
Maybe I'm just growing out of MMORPG's, but I don't know how these games can hold people's interest for multiple years. After hitting 70, farming for the epic flying mount, and grabbing the spellfire/spellstrike set, there wasn't sh!t to do in the game. I look back on it all as a colossal waste of time. And to do it all again in the next xpac? 10 more levels, and more good ol' epeen raiding? No thanks.

Dark Age of Camelot was one of the few online games that had me sucked in for a few years. And that was without raising the level cap over and over again. They probably had the best PvP system in an online game I've seen. Which is probably why I'll make the mistake of getting sucked into Warhammer :p

 

Newfie

Senior member
Jun 15, 2005
817
0
76
While I am interested, I probably will not get it. I thought TBC changed WoW for the worse and i'm thinking of quitting soon. I want to see class balances, better PvP mechanics (PvP is shit in WoW), upgraded BG's (rep rewards included), before they release another expansion. There are many things that need to be fixed and until then I will avoid it.

However, you never know. WotLK may be what WoW needs to fix those problems (funny, I said the same for TBC).
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
Big shocker, more leveling, more areas to farm.

Siege weapons sound interesting, if they dont just jack DAOCs system.

Im very glad i sold my account last week :p
 

Rangoric

Senior member
Apr 5, 2006
532
0
71
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Vortex22
Originally posted by: caivoma
I quited Wow a while ago along with a bunch of people from my guild. I will get the expansion and it will be fun for a while but i doubt that anything will change with WOW, i.e. : raid or else.

Err, that's not even how it is now. You raid if you want to get the best PvE gear and you do arenas if you want the best PvP gear. Top end raiders can't dominate PvP like they did in the past and vice versa.

actually most of the people who have 2000+ arena ratings also are in raiding guilds that are pretty damn progressed

same as it has always been

Um, but that doesn't say "Raid or Die" just that most of the best PvPers also Raid.

And since they are doing well in the arena they raid with other people who know what they are doing. Or at least listen.

That listening part is what makes them good.
 

Vortex22

Diamond Member
Sep 6, 2000
4,976
1
0
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Vortex22
Originally posted by: caivoma
I quited Wow a while ago along with a bunch of people from my guild. I will get the expansion and it will be fun for a while but i doubt that anything will change with WOW, i.e. : raid or else.

Err, that's not even how it is now. You raid if you want to get the best PvE gear and you do arenas if you want the best PvP gear. Top end raiders can't dominate PvP like they did in the past and vice versa.

actually most of the people who have 2000+ arena ratings also are in raiding guilds that are pretty damn progressed

same as it has always been

I'm in a 2000+ arena team and I'm unguilded.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
From what I remember back during the honor ranking system, most PVP'ers just achieved their highest rank (usually GM or HW) and then went on to PVE, because PVP could never fill all the slots. But other than that, there were typically PVP guilds and then sometimes a raiding guild would just get a group together on the weekend or whatever.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,716
417
126
tbqhwy.com
Originally posted by: Aikouka
From what I remember back during the honor ranking system, most PVP'ers just achieved their highest rank (usually GM or HW) and then went on to PVE, because PVP could never fill all the slots. But other than that, there were typically PVP guilds and then sometimes a raiding guild would just get a group together on the weekend or whatever.

during my run to GM, most of the people i ran with were also in a raiding guild, myself included, we raided 4 days a week and were into Naxx with everything besides C'thun down when i hit GM, most of the others that hit it on that server were the same way, there were 3 from the top Horde guild and they were even more progressed then we were, and then there were a few that just PVPed and never slept
 

Drift3r

Guest
Jun 3, 2003
3,572
0
0
***Warning This Is Strictly My Own Opinion.***

Nothing like having to jump back into the same old tired hamster wheel to grind up another 10 levels to do what you were already doing 10 levels prior. Oh and no "new content" does not have equal a level cap increase before anyone else chimes in with "Thats how all MMO's are like.".

UO, DAOC, old-SWG, Saga of Ryzom, EVE etc.... are examples of how MMO's can offer up new content and rewarding content that does not require a jump into the hamster wheel of extra level grinding and then new faction grinding and then raid grinding. This expansion just proves that Blizzard learned nothing from BC IMHO. All that faction grinding and raid gear you got in BC is going to be worthless.

It would of been nice if they would of continued fleshing out the original world and made it worth going back too. There are so many areas where they could of improved the game and made it fun and rewarding without raising the level cap IMHO. PvP will also always remain a joke with no impact in the game world in WoW as usual. Thinking about the mindless grind in this expansion just makes me want to puke.

WoW = Waiting On Warhammer....at least for me it does.