"There was nothing personal about it." - New WoTLK interview from 1Up

The folks at World of Raids linked to this fascinating and disturbing interview with the folks at Blizzard about the upcoming expansion. Disturbing in a good way, to my mind, in that they talk about making the journey from 70 to 80 one of tough moral choices and twisted encounters with the Lich King himself, and fascinating because it talks about what the design team for the expansion learned from The Burning Crusade.

Blizzard vice president of creative development Chris Metzen seems to be apologizing for it. "It had a lot of high-concept ideas, high-concept environments," he says, calling to mind the psychedelic mushrooms of Zangarmarsh, the tragic majesty of Tempest Keep, "but other than some really nice moments, there was nothing really personal about it."

There's a lot more substance in the interview, although some of it is stuff we've seen before - Lake Wintergrasp PvP, flying mounts not working right away, Death Knights - but the insight into what they've learned and how they're approaching the mood and feel of the new expansion is, I think, worth a read in of itself. The way they intend to weave Arthas' journey into each player's experience, if it works, will be one of the most interesting things any MMO has ever done.

New Wrath of the Lich King Screenshots

We've just added two new screenshots to the Wrath of the Lich King Screenshot Gallery.

World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King Preview

We're still playing far too much of The Burning Crusade -- but, for some reason, Blizzard vice president of creative development Chris Metzen seems to be apologizing for it. "It had a lot of high-concept ideas, high-concept environments," he says, calling to mind the psychedelic mushrooms of Zangarmarsh, the tragic majesty of Tempest Keep, "but other than some really nice moments, there was nothing really personal about it." Never mind that MMOs are inherently aloof. Try as you might, you can't really personalize "killing" Illidan for the 17th time with 24 Ventrilo voices arguing over Family Guy reruns and whether the Crystal Spire of Karabor is meant for "Shammies" or "Pallies."

Or can you? Wrath of the Lich King, the second World of WarCraft expansion, opens up the icy continent of Northrend in Azeroth and -- if Metzen meets his new narrative goals -- a moral can of worms for players. The story picks up the loose ends left by the WarCraft III expansion The Frozen Throne ("It's an indirect sequel," says Metzen), as the Alliance and the Horde set sail to deal with a menace they've left unchecked for far too long: Arthas Menethil, once the noble crown prince of Lordaeron and Paladin of the Silver Hand -- now the all-powerful Lich King, bent on turning the entire world into an army of zombie slaves. And he could, if he so chose -- push the figurative button, and every man, woman, and child in the world would be part of his army of the damned. So what's stopping him, really?


"Arthas thinks it'd be funny if we all did it for him," says Metzen, hinting that the quest chains, the dungeon crawls, and the narrative hooks of Wrath may all just be part of Arthas' master plan. "He fought the good fight, fought as hard as he could, and ultimately he went nuts up in the far north. And the bad guy used him as the hammer. The bad guy sent him home to kill his dad and kill his people...and loose the Plague on everything he ever fought to protect. And all these crusading heroes, with all their epic gear and all their good intentions and all their nobility and all that horses***, flood into the far north...and he's pretty much [there to] reel 'em in."

The idea's certainly an enticing one. And as quick as Metzen is to point out that "this ain't Shakespeare," there's definitely something literate here: a narrative nod to the fact that in MMOs, the designers really are pulling the strings. "We want to add some layers of psychology that put you in strange moral situations of how you fight the good fight that mimic some of Arthas' own experiences.... By the time you reach level 80 [the expansion's new level cap], by the time you stand toe-to-toe with this bastard, do you still have your pretty principles and highfalutin morality, or is it a mirror reflection? Arthas is after that as much as global domination. It's a hook that makes it personal that Burning Crusade didn't have."

And it's not just quest text and WoWWiki entries that support the notion. A new Caverns of Time instance based on Arthas' infamous culling of Stratholme lets you literally follow in his footsteps, and WOW's first Hero Class -- the Death Knight -- lets you play as the anti-Paladin archetype that Arthas made infamous.


The Glaciers of Northrend - Cold Country

Unlike Outland, no great Dark Portal opens up to grant you entry into Northrend -- the day the expansion comes out, players level 68 and higher will simply be able to hop on a boat and sail north to the harsh new frontier.

And while we're used to Outland's surreal alien landscapes and Netherstorms, the thought of grinding from 70 to 80 on glaciers and permafrost leave us -- and Blizzard -- more than a bit cold.

"We wanted to make it really clear to players right off the bat that just because we're doing Northrend you're not going to play through all ice and snow zones," says lead level designer Cory Stockton. "When you go from zone to zone, they don't all need to look like Winterspring...they all need to have a different look and feel. Obviously, snow is a huge part of Northrend, but there are still ways to break that up for the players without just doing a whole bunch of icy zones." So while gray and white will certainly be among Wrath of the Lich King's primary colors, you can expect some variety -- burning forests, magical points of ancient power, and ruins of civilizations long thought lost. "It doesn't feel alien like Outland," says lead game designer Tom Chilton, "but it has its own character visually. The way we do these cliffs [is] different [from] the way we do cliffs in the Old World...throughout Northrend you'll see visual elements that are unique and different."
The new continent will be slightly larger than Outland, though the landmass is divided into more zones. "One of the things we're not doing this time is adding a playable race," says senior producer J. Allen Brack, leaving more bandwidth for a larger endgame area. For transportation, a series of seaports connect points along the lower shore of Northrend, with boats leaving regularly to take you from one end of the continent to the other. The usual flight points will shuttle you between friendly cities you've already visited, but how flying mounts earned in Outland fit into Northrend is still up in the air.

"We're still discussing how that's going to work," says Chilton. "We're not sure if you'll actually be able to use your flying mount right away. You might have to earn your 'Northrend flying badge' at a later level...learn how to defrost the wings, ya know? And whaddya know, you can only do that at, oh, level 78." While denying a privilege (even for a little while) that took some folks -- especially those who dropped a small fortune on epic flyers -- months to earn will undoubtedly outrage some players, for the designers, it's a necessary evil.


"It's fairly important to us when we introduce a new area that we're able to use level design to flow you from one place to another," says Chilton. "There are gameplay reasons to restrict your methods of travel. But it's not like your flying mount became useless...you're not going to have to pay 5,000 gold again to ride it."

And when you can't go overland? Go under, through the underground cavern of Azjol-Nerub, home of the spiderlike Nerubian race that was one of the first to succumb en masse to Arthas' Scourge (old-school WarCraft players know them as Crypt Fiends and Crypt Lords). "It's going to be exterior terrain, but underground," says Stockton of World of WarCraft's first subterranean zone. "It'll feel like you're in a cave, but it'll be gigantic. Buildings, temples -- a look and feel very similar to Naxxramas, since [the Nerubians] are where the Scourge stole that architecture from."

"There are still pockets of Nerubians down there literally fighting for their lives," adds Metzen, spilling that not every Nerubian heeds the call of the Lich King. "And we have any number of plans about how they play into things. What are they about? Are they principled, or even worse in some ways than the Scourge itself?"

Northrend will also play host to WOW's firstever outdoor PVP zone, Lake Wintergrasp, a (completely optional) center of Horde-versus- Alliance combat in the middle of the continent, which Chilton describes as a sort of noninstanced Battleground with destructible buildings -- and siege weapons for destroying them. "We're building different siege weapons for different races," says Chilton. "Meat Wagons, Steam Tanks, all that sort of stuff -- and we intend for them to have slightly different game mechanics...."


"The siege weapons don't move at a really high velocity," he continues, meaning a Steam Tank will be no substitute for a mount when trying to traverse the zone. "We want to encourage people to fight still," says Stockton. "We don't want them in the siege weapons the entire time." Cooperative driver/gunner mechanics were discussed but then quickly dismissed as a likely bore for either party.
"The two outdoor PVP concepts we felt really worked in The Burning Crusade were the Auchindoun spirit tower mechanic and the Halaa Nagrand PVP," says Chilton. PVP objectives completed in Lake Wintergrasp will have farreaching world effects: Capture a specific point, for example, and your faction will receive a longlasting buff that provides a worthwhile, but not necessarily essential, benefit. (Think Auchindoun's PVP spirit towers, which, when captured, allowed players in dungeons to collect special spirit shards from downed bosses.) "One of the things we liked about Auchindoun PVP was it lasted a significant amount of time," adds Stockton. "Six hours, so when you put in the commitment, it was there."
Caverns of Time: StratholmeBlizzard will be adding a new instance to the Caverns of Time, the dungeon in Tanaris that lets players actively participate in some famous (and infamous) moments in WarCraft history. The latest instance will let you follow in the footsteps of Arthas as he slaughters the town of Stratholme -- and, if other Caverns of Time instances are any indication, your goal won't be to stop him, but to make sure he finishes his task. Morally oogy, yes -- but how far is too far?
"It's the same kind of problem as in WarCraft III," says Metzen, who admits he hasn't figured out the exact mechanics of the encounter. "My first pitch for the [WC3] mission was that they weren't plagued yet -- so it's kind of a design dilemma. We don' t want to have players feel dirty....we don't want to put players in the situation where they' re hurting innocent people arbitrarily."
Arthas' appearance in the Caverns of Time won't be an isolated event. "We wish we [had] involved Illidan a bit more in the quest process from level 60 to 70," says lead game designer Tom Chilton. And so Arthas -- more than just a raid boss -- will check in on players repeatedly as they quest their way to level 80.
"When is a game more than a game?" says Metzen. "When it's making you feel creepy or elated or heroic -- it's not just a mechanical experience of clicking and looting and killing and raiding. We want to provide as much context and fiction and psychology as possible, at least the first time -- you'll probably roll this dungeon 80 times -- but the first time was a hoot!" A morally oogy hoot.

The Death Knight - WOW's first Hero Class

World of WarCraft's first new class is also its first ever Hero Class -- though the implementation may not be exactly what you were expecting. "One of the ideas we had for the Death Knight was that you'd convert your character into a Death Knight," says lead game designer Tom Chilton. "That you would stop being a level 80 Mage or whatever and become a Death Knight. But when we were running that around the team, it was too common a sentiment to feel like, well, I don't want to lose my existing character. What I'm going to actually do is create a level 1 Hunter that I intend to turn into a Death Knight, and power him to level 80...and this would become a weird hoop you were going to have to jump through."
So instead, you unlock the ability to create a Death Knight by finishing a quest chain -- comparable in difficulty to the Warlock's epic mount quest -- with any of your existing level 80 characters, at which point you can make an entirely new, wholly separate Hero Class character starting somewhere close to level 60 (the exact number hasn't been decided). "Some ideas that are still under consideration are that you'd start in Stratholme and have to break your way out of there," says Chilton. "Maybe you've come to your senses and said, 'Wait, I don't want to serve the Lich King.'"

Mechanically, the plate-wearing Death Knight fills a hybrid DPS (damage per second)/tanking role ("People are always looking for tanks and healers," says Chilton), though they have no mana, rage, or energy bar. Instead, Death Knights have a "rune sword" interface element beneath their health that displays six different runes of three different types -- Blood, Frost, and Unholy -- that you can mix and match whenever you're not in combat. Different Death Knight spells and abilities require different numbers of runes, and using a spell darkens the required runes for a set cooldown time. An ability called Army of Dead, for example, summons a small army of undead to pull aggro -- and that might require one Unholy rune. Death and Decay, an area-effect spell Blizzard is planning, may require one Unholy and one Blood.
"The current idea we're playing with is you have a fixed time, say 10 seconds, for a rune to fade back in and become usable again," says Chilton. "And there are potentially things you can do to speed that up or immediately light up runes. We have this one idea for an ability called Blood Boil -- it's a damage-over-time ability, and after the end of the duration, it lights up two of your Blood runes."
In general, Blood abilities are damageoriented, Frost is control-oriented, and Unholy contains utility and damage-over-time mechanics, but that's not a hard and fast rule. "We don't want to pigeonhole it to the point where when you're tanking you use all Frost runes, or when you're DPSing you use all blood runes.... There are inherently good reasons to use a mix, and even if you have at least one rune type on the bar, you'll have access to all your abilities should it become necessary."
What we still don't know: what talents they'll have, what races you can be, or whether you'll be able to make multiple Death Knights across multiple servers by completing the quest just once. But the Death Knight -- and likely any other Hero Classes Blizzard introduces later -- won't be more powerful than the existing classes...just different. An advanced alt, sans low-level grinding.
New Profession: InscriptionBurning Crusade introduced Jewelcrafting, which allowed players to customize their gear; Wrath's new profession, Inscription, lets you customize the abilities and skills in your spellbook. "You're permanently changing your spell kit," says lead game designer Tom Chilton. "You might find a couple different recipes to inscribe your Fireball with increased crit chance, or increased damage, or faster cast time, or lower mana cost -- so it's almost like a talent system within the profession system. Only it's more based around choices you make for an individual spell rather than affecting your character as a whole." Unlike Enchanters, Inscribers will be able to sell physical product (creating tradeable "scrolls," for example, from ink, paper, and other reagents). Only a handful of core spells will be customizable in this fashion.don.t expect to extend the range of your Priest's Mind Vision; do expect to extend the duration of your Hunter's Freezing Trap.

Night of the Dragon - Richard Knaak interview

Our friends at Blizzplanet have a video interview up with Richard Knaak, author of the Warcraft novels Day of the Dragon, the War of Ancients trilogy and the upcoming Night of the Dragon, as well as the Sunwell Trilogy and upcoming Burning Crusade manga. For those of us who can't watch video due to work or other issues, they've even thoughtfully presented a transcript of the interview here.

What I found especially interesting are the little hints Knaak dropped in the interview about Malygos, Rhonin and his role with the Kirin Tor, what effects the characters of the upcoming Burning Crusade manga have on Wrath of the Lich King, and the sputtering response to the Diablo 3 question. Is there something fishy going on there? (Probably not.)

Additional tidbits of note: we will probably see Vereesa again, and no, she's not big on the Blood Elves (may we dream of a sisters Windrunner family reuinion?), Knaak would like to use a Draenei in the upcoming book, no word yet on if Hakkar the Houndmaster was an eredar or what relation he has to Hakkar the Soulflayer (perhaps identical cousins?) and finally, Knaak's contracts with Blizzard keep him from saying too much, which for a lore junkie like myself is very maddening.

Should Death Knights get one runeblade for life?

Drustal over on the European WoW forums has a good observation: death knights have always had a special relationship with their runeblades, using the same weapon for their whole life. Arthas is the classic example, since he and his sword, Frostmourne, are forever associated with one another. Could you imagine Arthas starting out as a level 55 death knight and then gradually replacing his low-level Frostmourne with something better? How then, could it work out with our player character death knights? Shouldn't they have their own sword for life too?

Obviously though, working this out with the game's character progression would be difficult. You can't give an epic sword to a new character, nor can you keep an experienced character stuck with a non-upgradable, outdated weapon. There are many suggestions as to how to keep one blade throughout the character's life. Have a look at the original poster's favorite suggestion after the jump:

Death Knight loots weapons as normal. Upon looting the weapon, the Death Knight has some ability to "DE" [or disenchant] the weapon, granting them an essence of sorts that they then apply to their runeblade. Runes should probably still only work on the runeblade itself, preventing the DK from using the other weapons without first DEing and applying them to his own Runeblade. Essentially, the loot game and itemization is still in place, but the Death Knight is able to maintain a consistent runeblade. They simply absorb the powers of other weapons into their own blade. Each time the absorbing happens, the runeblade is 'wiped clean', just like gems... the new stats would replace the old stats, they don't add to them.

IE, you loot Lionheart Blade, DE Lionheart Blade, apply Lionheart Blade Essence to your Runeblade, your Runeblade maintains the looks you chose at the beginning of the game, but now has the stats of Lionheart Blade.
Unfortunately, though, it looks like Blizzard doesn't have any plans to let death knights form such a relationship with one blade over their entire career (though perhaps they only read the post before that favorite suggestion was edited in). As Salthem says:

We haven't fully decided on this at this time, we will try things out in the beta, but at the moment we are thinking that death knights can probably inscribe any weapon with runes.

Personally, I like this idea too, but taking weapon drops out of the equation for death knights removes a big chunk of the itemisation side of the game from them - it would have to be something pretty special to replace the feeling you get with your first epic weapon.

Not to mention the awkwardness this could cause in balancing loot tables as Ilsevele pointed out.
Do you think death knights should be able to have one blade permanently bonded to them? How do you think a sensible character progression could work out if that were the case? Or, on the other hand, do you think it would get boring just using the same weapon graphic for ever without being able to mix it up with newer, bigger, better weapons over time?

Breakfast Topic: Make up your own mounts

A poster on the forums asked about whether people would like to see spider mounts in the game. It's true he was just asking out of boredom, but to me this actually an interesting question. We have the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal, of course (pictured here, courtesy of Wowhead), but that's more or less impossible to get now, and it's not exactly a spider in any case.

What sorts of new mounts will there be then? Nethaera responded: "I couldn't tell you what possible new mounts there will be. :( Perhaps a little further along we'll have information on more of the fun features that are getting added in with Wrath of the Lich King."

What mounts would you ask Blizzard to put in the new expansion? Flying machines are already going in at some point, and bats and hippogryphs have already been mentioned. How about rideable owls? For land mounts, maybe you could ride on the shoulders of your very own yeti! Better yet, what if we could pilot our own slow, yet moveable siege weapons?

New WotLK screenshots on the official site

Two new screenshots have landed on the official Wrath of the Lich King page, and they look pretty different from anything we've seen about the next expansion so far. You can click on the pic above to see the first one full, and here's the second.

Now clearly both show a forested, lush area, and there is only one forest that we know of is Northrend so far: Grizzly Hills, supposedly a redwood type of forest home to the Northern Furbolgs. This forest, however, looks a little greener than that-- it may be the Sholazar Basin, which we haven't seen screenshots of yet. Obviously the creature above is some new kind of Dryad, so that means we may see traces of Cenarius in Northrend, and when you mention Cenarius, you have to mention the Emerald Dream. So we may find out more about that line of lore in Northrend as well. Very interesting.

A Death Knight is Your Friend!

Bornakk reminds us about Death Knight lore we should already know from the Lore & Quest panel at this year's BlizzCon:
The idea is that a character goes to become a Death Knight, is trained as a Death Knight, but then realizes they doesn't want to go through with the evil acts they are instructed to perform. So the character finds a new Alliance or Horde home who accept them as a necessary evil (like warlocks) to help them fight their enemies.

WoW Moviewatch: Rise of the Lich King

Rise_of_the_Lich_King.wmv

We know that the new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, will take us to Northrend to fight Arthas. But if you haven't played Warcraft 3 and The Frozen Throne and seen the story of how Arthas became the Lich King, you may well wonder what all the fuss is about. Blizzard released a three part series of short stories about the Rise of the Lich King, (and we have our own summary here at WoW Insider) but now there is a movie version as well. This is a compilation of machinima before machinima was an art form for the masses -- Blizzard used their own animated sprites within the game to tell the story, with good actors providing their voices in between (and sometimes during) battles. Sylvictus has recorded these scenes from Warcraft 3 and presented them here for us over at Warcraft Movies. Even though it clocks in at a whopping 52 minutes, Sylvictus said that he had to cut a lot of things out in order to keep the story even that short:
Fall of Sylvanas and her freedom which lead to the founding of the Forsaken.
Sylvanas betrayal and failed murder attempt on Arthas.
The 3 dreadlords that takes control over Lordaeron as well as their war with Sylvanas.
The perils Arthas and Anub'Arak faces in Azjol-nerub.
The scenes with Sapphiron, most Muradin clips etc.Although I agree it's probably better to keep the movie to a manageable size, I would have personally liked to see this extra footage too. Perhaps one day Sylvictus will do an expanded version, or a movie all about Sylvanas. Keep in mind that you'll want to skip this if you intend on playing through Warcraft 3 and enjoying the story experience first hand. If you don't have the time or interest, however, you may enjoy this taste of what it's like.

WoW Moviewatch: Rise of the Lich King

The dynamics of Death Knights and Warriors

Over on the forums, poster Berzork makes an interesting point: if both Death Knights and Warriors are designed to be damage-dealers and tanks wearing plate, how will they peacefully co-exist? Though we don't yet have full details on the Death Knight class, it seems as though there's potential for a lot of overlap -- and the big question is how Blizzard can release a class like the Death Knight while continuing to allow Warriors a viable role. And on my end, I have to wonder if throwing another tanking class into the game mix is going to solve any problems -- many Warriors want to DPS rather than tank (see many previous posts on the subject), and can we expect Death Knights to be any different? Bornakk attempts to calm everyone's fears by simply stating:

By adding another dps/tanking class, the Death Knight will give players and groups more options for what they need to complete their objective(s).

Some Druids tank, some Paladins tank, some Warriors tank -- and hopefully some Death Knights will pick up the mantle of tank as well.

WoW Under Development page (finally) updated

If you've been keeping up with the news here on WoW Insider, you already know the information that has been updated on the WoW Under Development page. But it's nice to see it in black and parchment.Under Almost Ready, Blizzard lists the highlights of Patch 2.2: Voice Chat, Mac Movie Capture and the Improved Chat Interface. They also include a link to the current PTR Patch notes. These changes will be released in the next major patch, which unfortunately looks like it will be a while. The Coming Soon section lists things that will be in upcoming patches, presumably before the expansion. They don't link to any further official info for this section, but I've provided links to WoW Insider details:
Zul'Aman - A high-level 10-player instance located in the Ghostlands
Guild Banks
Sunwell Plateau - A high-level 25-player instance located north of Silvermoon CityThe On the Horizon section is all about Wrath of the Lich King. The highlights they list are the new level cap, Inscription, Northrend, Death Knights and Character Customization. For more info, they link to the official WotLK website.I was hoping for more official info on the Coming Soon topics -- and something more than just 3 items. I don't expect the expansion to be here for another year, so an official sneak preview of some more of the free goodies we're going to get in the meantime would be nice.What are you most looking forward to being added to the game before the expansion? Or will nothing satisfy you except for new hairstyles, ten new levels and another continent?

Enchants on the AH in WotLK

On the French-language EU forums, Blizzard poster Thyvene gives enchanters a hint of news on something they've been wanting for a long time: the abilitity to sell their enchants on the auction house. For those of you attempting to confirm on the site, but failing your language skill check, Thyvene's comments approximately translate to:

The developers plan to give to enchanters the possibility to sell their enchantments at the auction house, nevertheless this shouldn't be implemented into the game before the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

Of course, without knowing an official release date for Wrath of the Lich King, this change could still be a year off. However, I'm certainly looking forward to a time when my enchanter won't have to stand around in a major city spamming macros in oder to market and sell my wares.

Wotlk Cartoons

Utgarde Keep Map from Games for Windows

Utgarde Keep (pronounced oot-guard) is the first dungeon hub appearing in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. It is located on the shores of Lake Cauldros in the Howling Fjord of Northrend.

Utgarde will be inhabited by the Vrykul, a Viking-like race bent on proving their strength to the Lich King, who will raise the most worthy of their warriors to serve him beyond the grave. Therefore, it can be expected that this instance will feature at least some Undead.

The second wing, Utgarde Pinnacle, will be a 5-man instance for level 80 players.

GC 2007 wrap up

Pre-WotLK

* 1-60 content will be revamped, some specifics have been announced such as all quest xp bumped up 30%. The overall experience needed for each level between 20-60 will be reduced, however, there is no word yet on the exact amount. Also, dustwallow marsh will have a new town added with a quest hub and instances like uldaman may see a revamp to give players a new experience.
* Zul’aman will be on the PTR as soon as the voice chat patch comes out.
* There will be new heroic badge items and armor sets added to the vendors in patch 2.3
* Sunwell Plateau will not be out until patch 2.4, which is quite a ways off. There will be 2 parts, one will be a 25 player raid instance harder than the black temple, the other part will be a 5 player instance that will have both regular and heroic modes.

Wrath of the Lich King

* Naxxramas will be revamped and retuned for 25 person raids and will be in the new expansion. They plan to continue the story of ashbringer and reuse the tier 3 sets with updated stats.
* Stratholme will be added to the caverns of time for a level 80 group instance
* The Nexus will also be a group of instances, including one for 70-71 players, a level 80 instance, and a raid instance where you run into Malygos.
*The Woodworking profession is being considered, this would allow hunters to create weapons and arrows.
*In the demo players found that the priest talent “Pain Suppression” has changed to a 1 minute cooldown and you can cast it on friendly players within 20 yards

New Interface in WoTLK?

Salthem from Blizzard chimes in a bit on the question if the next xpack will ship with a new interface...
I don't know about planned changes to the User Interface, I'd imagine it's still too early to tell, but I doubt we'll see a dramatic completely new User Interface, generally we prefer to implement more gradual changes or options to the existing interface. There are alot of players who are used to the standard interface and changing it dramatically overnight would be unfair to them. If players want a completely different interface there will always be addons to accommodate that.We are constantly looking to improve the interface in various ways though and I think the developments in addons by players is very helpful in giving ideas for improvements for the default interface.On the subject of bags, I think that any one-bag or self sorting bag system would be somewhat counter intuitive to any new players finding a new bag for the first time, and it's the sort of feature that is easily handled by addons for more advanced players who are looking for some automated organisation. (Personally, I tried auto sorting and 1 bag systems and just found them awkward - preferring my own manually bagging.)

Death Knights' "rune" system might take some skill

"Oh my frikkin dog, everybody and their second cousin is gonna wanna be Death Knights!" was the cry heard throughout Outland when the new Hero Class was announced. WoW players everywhere had visions of dungeons and raids filled with only Death Knights; as well as Alliance and Horde cities alike all filled wall-to-wall with thousands of players who abandoned their original class to become Death Knights, only to discover (along with rogues and hunters) that it ain't so easy being uber-cool and powerful when everyone else is uber-cool and powerful too -- because everyone else is taking your raid spot.

Well Drysc has a ray of light to shed on this despair... or, in the case of Death Knights, perhaps that should be a big tank of unholy frozen blood to spill on it (assuming that would help):

I expect just about everyone is going to want to try one, but is everyone going to want to drop their long-time proffered class for one? I seriously doubt it. Also there's some amount of self regulation that will really be required to keep group composition equalized.

Not only will the other 9 classes still be needed to succeed in any group effort, but the tactics involved in playing a Death Knight might be too hard for the average Stanley Noobsauce to master. In response to one player who felt that the rune system Death Knights will be using seemed "clunky and not fun," Drysc responded:

In its current design, at least as far as I've seen, it's like having three different energy pools that can be made smaller or bigger before each fight for what you think you may need. I would kind of also liken it to some systems used in space sims where you throw more power into your shields, weapons, hull, etc. While the rune system is designed to be a pre-combat setup, there's the possibility of there being some on-the-fly swapping abilities for re-proportioning your rune distribution.

It's definitely going to be more complex. I think there's going to be a clear definition (more so than other classes) of a good death knight player that manages and controls their runes and cooldowns well, and someone who doesn't.

So the official word is that Death Knights won't be able to do everything by themselves, and may in fact be pretty hard to play. Is this enough to allay fears of Death Knight overpopulation? Will we still have to hire Death Knight exterminators from the opposite faction to clear out our own cities?

Snuffles of Whisperwind server has used a web-based talent tree generator to speculate on WotLK druid talents. He proposes all sorts of class balance breaking goodness. A druid using these talents could probably solo Illidan. While AFK.Digging more into this talent tree generator, I found people have built all sorts of ideal talent trees. But the most interesting ones are what people would like to see for the Wrath of Lich King Hero Class, Death Knights. Fantasy talent trees range from the overpacked to the well thought out to the one in Korean I wish I could translate.What kind of talents would you like to see in the expansion for your class or the new Death Knight hero class?

Wrath of the Lich King Confirmed at BlizzCon

All of the rumors appear to have been dead-on as the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion has been officially confirmed via goodie bag.
BlizzCon Attendee’s got the inside scoop early with their Souvenir Show Guide briefly detailing the new expansion (shown above). Further details on the expansion will be released by Blizzard during the show.
What do we know so far?
The Death Knight class will be added to game for both Alliance and Horde as sort of a anti-Paladin necromatic warrior. This will be the games first Hero Class.
Aproximately 10 New zones for level 68+ players, quests, items and monsters all packed into the news Northrend continent, home of the Lich King.
No new lowbie zones, nor any changes to the existing 1-70 areas.
New Battlegrounds with seige engines and destructable buildings, at least one instanced, and one outdoor zone.
New profession, Inscription.
Expanded character customization options
Level Cap increased once again up to 80
Skill Cap increased to 450
The new Outdoor PvP Zone introduces new gameplay with seige weapons and destructable buildings. This will be a non-instanced battleground zone, but is completely avoidable for carebear types to go around and skip.
The first ever Hero Class Death Knight is a plate wearing badass hybrid for tanking and DPS. From what we understand so far this will be attainable by completing an epic quest that unlocks the ability to become a Death Knight. When the class is unlocked you’re expected to remain at the same level so grinding isn’t necessary.
Death Knights will not use rage, energy, or mana, instead you’ll be able to select and “etch” six different runes (Frost, Blood, Unholy) onto a rune sword status bar underneath your health bar. Using DK abilities will consume the runes until their cooldown timers are up, at which time you can use them again. Specifics such as talents and spells are not finalized yet, and race restrictions are still unknown (Gnome Death Knight anyone?).
The Inscription profession may sound a bit confusing for some at first, much better than expected this has nothing to do with inscribing items, but with the customization of spells and abilities. Those that have this profession will be able to tweak spells or abilities to increases damage, or reduce cooldowns, obviously with some penalties to balance their changes.

Tigole interview:about WotLK

Allvatar.com interviewed Tigole, and here is a small summary of the rather new information :

CoT : Stratholme and Naxxramas will be here to bring people back to the old continent.

Dustwallow Marsh will fill the lvl 35-45 gap in leveling.
Elite quests will be turned into normal quests in Alterac Mountains and Arathi Highlands.

Northrend will be larger than Outland. Zones will be smaller than the ones in Outland (except for Dragonblight)

There will be a "level up" instance for every level range. (Pretty much like Burning Crusade
WotLK will have at least two 10 man instance, with possibly a third one in a patch.
They don't plan to upgrade the engine to DirectX 10, they will just add a few improvements every now and then.

Randomization will be added to daily quests to make people feel like they do different quests each day.

Housing is still scheduled, but doesn't fit with the current development of WotLK. We'll have to wait quite some time before getting it.

Probable factions in Wrath of the Lich King

Jikiyami from Kul'tiras dropped a tip asking us about all the different factions that might be in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion when it comes out. Unfortunately, Blizzard hasn't completed design on most of Northrend, so I'd bet that the actual list of factions isn't really determined yet. But that won't stop us from speculating who you might be working for from level 70-80.

There will most likely be Horde and Alliance starting factions, just like Honor Hold and Thrallmar. For Horde, Forsaken seem to be taking the spotlight (according to what we saw in the playthrough), so an "Apothecaries' Guild" faction might be up there. For Alliance, I'm betting the Dwarves will lead, so an "Explorer's League" type of group might be a good guess.
Dalaran will be up there, of course, so we'll either see the Violet Citadel make a return, or another Mage-based faction.
The Tuskarr, a new race, are supposedly fighting against Naga trying to melt their grounds, so I bet we'll see a faction for them.
Lake Wintergrasp is a World PvP zone, so expect a Horde and Alliance faction for each side.
We know Gnomish flying machines will be available in the expansion, so I'd guess there's a Gnomish faction to rep up for in order to gain access to those.
In Dragonblight, the rumor is that Deathwing is setting up shop, so there may be a new faction fighting against him.
And that same faction may be situated around the Nexus, an instance hub in which Malygos is running things. Then again, we've heard that Dalaran is fighting Malygos' campaign against magic, so this may overlap with the Mages there.
Jikiyami points out, rightfully, that supposedly some Nerubians are fighting against Arthas, so outside Azjol-Nerub we may find a faction ready to give us rep for fighting in there.
And finally, someone's got to lead the battle against Arthas and his Scourge, right? Blizzard seemed kind of opposed to this at BlizzCon, but I would be very, very disappointed if the Argent Dawn didn't have some role to play near Icecrown Citadel or the new Naxx.
Or maybe Arthas will have his own rep to grind-- how else would we get access to a Death Knight?
So there's about ten guesses at different factions right there. And who knows if older factions might show up-- since so many players are now allied with the Scryer or the Aldor, will they come back through the Portal and have a place in Northrend? Either way, there'll be no shortage of rep to grind in the cold north.

New Info Straight From Tigole at Leipzig

We had a chance to talk with Tigole a bit this afternoon at the Leipzig Games Convention and he provided quite a bit of new information. We have a video in the process of being uploaded now, but unfortunately Nimloth is uploading it from his hotel in Germany, so it's a bit slow. In the meantime, we have some details from the interview to satiate everyone's hunger for details.

We first asked about Utgarde Keep, located in Howling Fjord. It's going to be a winged dungeon with two instances. One is a level 70 instance for players to level up in and the other - called "Utgarde Pinnacle" - will be for level 80 players. Both instances will of course have Normal and Heroic versions.

A bit later we asked if he could go into more details about the Inscription profession. It's being approached in a different manner than previous professions because the team doesn't want it to become a balancing necessity like "add 100 more spell damage" - something they quickly ran into with Alchemy in The Burning Crusade. Instead, they're leaning toward things such as Frost Nova having a wider radius, or the root portion lasting a bit longer(both examples which may not go in). Inscription will of course also work on melee abilities.

And of course, the reduced leveling curse topic which everyone has been so frantic about over the past few days; Tigole gladly explained it a bit more. Levels between 20 and 60 are going to have the experience required per-level reduced. Not only that, though - the experience rewarded by quests is being increased by around 30%.

From there we asked him two questions directly related to Hunters, since the class has been somewhat neglected in recent interviews and discussions. Hunters rejoice; we asked about the possibility of the Woodworking profession being added to create arrows, and he says that it's an idea that they're seriously tossing around and it may see the light of day in the future.

Finally, Blizzard realizes that Hunters are a bit weak in arenas, especially in 5v5 when compared to other classes, so they're toying around with ideas of ways to improve their desirability. One idea is to give them a Mortal Strike-like shot that will reduce healing effectiveness on the target of the shot.

Jeff Kaplan from Blizzard: about WotLK

buffed.de is talking with Jeff Kaplan, Lead Designer World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

On the first day of the Leipzig Games Convention 2007, the buffed.de team had the opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft's second expansion with Blizzard's Lead Designer. In this exciting interview, Jeff gives away some details about the upcoming instance "The Caverns of Time: Stratholme", in which you, together with an old acquaintance, fight against the Scourge - and more.

Jeff: Your magazine cover looks really cool.
buffed: You have seen it already? We are very proud of it.
Jeff: Well you can be!

buffed: Did you have the opportunity to read out magazine already?
Jeff: Unfortunately no. Someone was walking around with the magazine and I only read "buffed", saw the cover and thought "Sweet"!

buffed: We have a pretty comprehensive section about BlizzCon in our magazine.
Jeff: Yes, you also have a picture of Sammy (Sam Didier, Senior Creative Director, Blizzard Entertainment). Have you seen Sammy already? He is around here somewhere. He is the front man of the Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftains.

buffed: Ah, you mean the picture in which he is on stage, with Mike Morhaime playing the bass right next to him. A cool photo.
Jeff: Yeah, a really good photo!

buffed: Now, to the topic: We heard a lot of things about Wrath of the Lich King at BlizzCon. Have there been any news since?
Jeff: There are a few things that we did not talk about at BlizzCon. The most important thing is the new Caverns of Time instance Stratholme. We wanted to return to the Caverns of Time concept because it is one of the coolest things we released for World of Warcraft: and we wanted to persue what the Bronze Dragon is up to. We want to show you some of the coolest moments of Warcraft. And now we chose Stratholme. Players of World of Warcraft already know Stratholme and many hardcore players are great fans of the old Stratholme instance. Warcraft 3 players however know Stratholme from a singleplayer mission, in which Arthas travels to the city and sets all buildings on fire, kills the citizens and fights Mal'Ganis. In Wrath of the Lich King you fight at Prince Arthas' side, by travelling through the Caverns of Time. We are giving you the opportunity of meeting Arthas at a time at which he was not a great villain yet. You are "cleaning" Stratholme and igniting buildings!

buffed: Awesome! For how many players is this instance designed?
Jeff: It will be a five player instance, but for level 80 characters. We think that players will not enter the Caverns of Time while they are levelling, but return to them at level 80.

buffed: Have you already decided which race the Death Knight will base on? If one plays a Gnome, will the Death Knight be a Gnome too?
Jeff: Yes, we have already made a decision. But do not be surprised if we decide to change our minds. You know, game design is a very flexible job. Right now, every race can become a Death Knight, even Gnomes. We have thought about some things since BlizzCon. Characters most likely will not have to be level 80 to unlock the Death Knight, it will probably be earlier. Levelling to level 80 like a maniac to unlock the Death Knight simply is not fun. It makes people rush through the game. That is why we will make it differently. We have many ideas, but we have not decided on one yet. Maybe the Death Knight will be unlocked between level 55 and 60. Then you create your Death Knight and face some challenges. If you have mastered them, you will get your Death Knight.

buffed: But the newly created level 55 to 60 character will not become a Death Knight, or will it?
Jeff: No, the old character stays. You just get an additional one. You know, many players give their characters names related to their class. There are many names specific to Druids...

buffed: You mean names like "ilove2spooch" in the World of Warcraft Southpark episode?
Jeff: (laughs) Yes, exactly. There are many names like that. And many just would not fit and that is why we are giving the players the chance to give their Death Knights a new, suitable name.

buffed: Can you give us some details about the Death Knight's abilities?
Jeff: Sure. The resourcing system is completely different and is based on runes. At Blizzard we are concentrating on making the characters differ from each other as much as possible. The best example are Rogue and Warrior. The Rogue uses combo points and the Warrior rage - quite a difference. When we started developing the Death Knight, we wanted it to feel distinct. That is why we gave him runes, which can be ingraved to his weapon, an axe or sword. There are three different types of runes: blood, unholy and frost. Depending on how you combine them, you get different abilities. The maximum you can have is six, and you can combine them in any way you want. For example: you could use two of each type of rune, or you could use four unholy runes and two blood runes, because you want to tank with your Death Knight. Or you could change your rune configuration for PVP battles. If you use your abilities you consume those runes, however. We have one skill called "Army of Dead", which summons Ghouls. Right now you need unholy and blood runes for that ability, I believe. If you only had frost runes ingraved on your weapon, you could not use that ability. We have developed a pretty cool system that makes the runes on your weapon glow if you change the combination.

buffed: Last question: the Death Knight is only the first of many hero classes. Which hero class would you like to introduce next?
Jeff: My favority? That is hard to say. I think the Demon Hunter would be extremely cool. The Arch Mage would be cool too...
buffed: (whispers) Blade Master!
Jeff: (laughs) There are many options, among them, of course, the fantastic Blase Master. We did a lot of brain storming and also thought about classes that were not present in Warcraft 3. But we wanted to advance slowly and introduce the Death Knight first in Wrath of the Lich King. And then we will see what is next.

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Revealed

It's official: The next World of WarCraft expansion is coming; it's called Wrath of the Lich King, and will open up the continent of Northrend to players of level 68 and above. This second expansion will focus on the return of Arthas Menethil, a.k.a. the Lich King, ruler of the Scourge, and one of the most powerful beings in all of Azeroth. This semi-sequel to the saga of Arthas (from WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) is intended for experienced players with a couple level 70 characters in their pockets.
The September issue of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine (on sale soon) has tons of details, but for now here's a quick rundown of what's in store....

Level Cap: 80
Skill Cap: 450
Continent: Northrend
Number of Zones: 10 (tentatively), for levels 68 and above
Profession: Inscription
Class: Death Knight (first-ever Hero Class)
Features: Outdoor PVP zone with siege weapons and destructible buildings.
Release Date: You're kidding, right?
The biggest news for existing players is the introduction of the Death Knight, the first new class since WOW's launch -- and, coincidentally, its first Hero Class, too. Other big new features include the introduction of siege weapons and destroyable buildings in both a new Battleground and a brand-new outdoor PVP zone. What Wrath of the Lich King won't have is any content for new characters: no new races, no new level-1-to-20 zones back in the old world, and little change to the old world.

Here's what we know so far:

The Story
Having cleaned up Outland (or at least having set things in decent enough order for now), the Alliance and Horde turn their heads northward to the continent of Northrend, where a terrible threat has gone unchecked for far too long: that of Lich King and his undead army, the Scourge. On the day Wrath of the Lich King launches, players will be able to set sail from various points in old Azeroth and join the fight against Arthas Menethil.

New Continent: Northrend
Having learned a valuable lesson about funneling 8.5 million players into once single starting zone with The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King lets players pick a zone on either side of the continent to start from: Borean Tundra in the west or Howling Fjord in the east. Each zone has level-equivalent quests (appropriate for approximately level 68 through 72) and one Hellfire Peninsula-style instance hub with multiple dungeon wings for level 70 characters, level 80 characters, and raiders. While Northrend immediately calls to mind ice and snow, Blizzard doesn't want to make those themes dominate Northrend completely-expect as much variety as ever, only not quite as weird and wild as Outland.

Northrend's indigenous inhabitants include a Viking-like race called the Vrykul: 15-foot-tall humanoids with a strong Norse influence. Most Vrykul you encounter will be your enemies, as they've been in Northrend so long that the Lich King holds a lot of sway over them. Another friendly race -- the walrus-like Tuskarr -- will serve as a cute little counterpoint to the lumbering undead-loving oafs.

New Zone Type: Outdoor PVP
One of Northrend's 10 new zones (final count still tentative) is an outdoor PVP zone that introduces the concept of siege weapons (Meat Wagons, Steam Tanks, etc.) and destructible buildings. Blizzard describes the outdoor zone as basically a "non-instanced Battleground" where completing objectives earns world-wide bonuses for your side (Think Spirit Shard buff in Auchindoun instances). The PVP zone is entirely avoidable (if you're the carebear type), and seige weapons won't be useable outside their designated PVP area.

New Hero Class: Death Knight
World of WarCraft's first Hero Class is a plate-wearing tank/DPS hybrid that works a little something like this: When players hit level 80, they'll be able to embark on a quest (similar in difficulty to the Warlock's epic mount quest, back before the level cap was raised to 70) that unlocks the ability to create a Death Knight character. The Death Knight starts at a high level (somewhere around 60 or 70, though Blizzard isn't certain yet), so you won't have to grind your way back up all over again. It's intended as an alternative, advanced class for end-game use only.

Rather than using rage, energy, or mana, Death Knights have a special "rune sword" displayed beneath their health bar, onto which the player can etch six different runes (choose between Frost, Blood, and Unholy). Different abilities require different mixes of runes, and using abilities consumes the requisite runes until a cooldown timer causes them to be available again. Stuff like talents, spells, and other specifics are still being finalized. So are key questions like what races can be a Death Knight (start a Gnome petition now) and whether unlocking the Hero Class on one server means you can create a Death Knight on any server.

New Profession: Inscription
Wrath of the Lich King will introduce a new profession called Inscription that will let players customize individual spells and abilities in their spell book -- to change the cooldown timer on a Fireball, for example, or alter the crit rate of a healing spell.

There's lots more in the upcoming September issue of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, on sale in the next couple weeks, including candid insight from the developers, details on some of the new dungeons not shown at BlizzCon, and word that The Burning Crusade ain't over yet...there's more BC content coming beyond Zul'Aman.

WotlK Area: Howling Fjord

The Howling Fjord sits high above the Great Sea on the southeastern tip of Northrend. It is said that in ancient times the vrykul, a race of half-giant warriors, inhabited the land, founding a vast and prosperous civilization.

Then one day, without warning or explanation, the vrykul vanished, leaving behind only deserted villages and abandoned temples.

Now the Alliance and Horde have come to confront the malefic Lich King and put an end to the Scourge. The Alliance has established a staging area in the settlement of Valgarde, but their presence seems to have sparked off an unforeseen event: the return of the vrykul.

These formidable warriors have begun attacking Horde and Alliance settlements, and many of the vrykul are pouring out of the fortress of Utgarde Keep, not far from Valgarde. The vrykul's motives and their whereabouts for the past several thousand years remain a mystery. Regardless, there is no doubt that the vrykul's sudden resurgence has touched off an ongoing battle for control of the region.

Dwarven prospectors, in the meantime, have uncovered mysterious relatives whose skin is etched in strange runes. These iron dwarves may provide the missing link needed for the dwarves to piece together the mystery of their creation.

On the eastern shore, the Forsaken have arrived, carrying a plague of their own to unleash upon the Lich King. Queen Sylvanas has been methodically and patiently overseeing the formulation of this contagion for several years, and the time has come at last to test its effectiveness against the Scourge.

Before bringing the battle to the Lich King, both the Horde and Alliance must overcome the immediate threat of the vrykul and answer the questions that the warriors? reemergence has posed. Where have the vrykul been? What do they want? Most disturbing of all, what if they aligned with the Lich King?

Perhaps only time will tell. For now, the battle has just begun.

WotlK Area: Borean Tundra

The sprawling Borean Tundra lies at the far southwestern tip of Northrend, the icy continent also known as the roof of the world. In recent months the Horde has established a dominant presence here as the young and daringly aggressive Garrosh Hellscream has founded the rugged orc fortress of Warsong Hold.

Shortly upon arriving, the Horde met the tuskarr, a walrus-like race of nomadic fishermen. The two groups have since formed a bond, and the Horde has sworn to aid their new allies in any way possible. Garrosh and his orc forces have also discovered the enigmatic taunka, an ancient offshoot of the tauren race that up until now had been thought lost forever.

Beyond the Westrift Valley, which separates the tundra from the mountainous region of Coldarra, explorers have recently witnessed increased activity at a magical site known as the Nexus. Nestled within the valley of Coldarra, the Nexus is a column of magical energy surrounded by levitating earth-covered rings. This ancient site was created by the blue dragonflight, and many adventurers attribute the increased activity here to the reemergence of the blue Dragon Aspect, Malygos. Inhabitants of the region have also noted an increased tension among members of the blue dragonflight, especially regarding the use of magic.

The Alliance has established a smaller presence here as well, and as both factions prepare to launch an offensive against the Lich King and his undead armies, they must first address the more immediate threat: the naga. The sinister serpentine race is using massive generators to melt the surrounding glaciers and ice caps, threatening to flood the entire region.

The Alliance and Horde have journeyed from far and wide to reach Northrend. Yet for these intrepid pioneers, the true challenges still lie ahead.

FAQ for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

What are the features of the new expansion?

Wrath of the Lich King builds on the rich foundation established in World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade, providing a wealth of new content for players to explore. The harsh, forbidding continent of Northrend, home of the Lich King and his undead minions, will be uncovered on the world map, and to contend with the new challenges found there, players will be able to advance to level 80, acquiring potent new abilities and talents along the way.

In addition, Wrath of the Lich King will introduce the death knight hero class to World of Warcraft. Once certain criteria are met, players will be able to create a new death knight character, which will start at a high level. Furthermore, player-vs.-player battles will reach a new level of intensity with the addition of siege weapons and destructible buildings, not to mention a new battleground. There will also be an abundance of new quests, dungeons, monsters, items, and recipes -- as well as a new profession, inscription -- for players to try out. The expansion will include some additional character-customization options for players as well. We'll be going into more detail on all of these features in the months ahead.

How will the death knight class fit into the game?

The death knight combines martial prowess with dark, necromantic energies. Players might be familiar with the death knight from previously released Warcraft games -- most recently, in the campaigns for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and the Frozen Throne expansion, the former paladin Arthas became a death knight and wreaked havoc across Azeroth and Northrend before fusing with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King. The death knight is the first hero class in World of Warcraft; once certain criteria are met, players will unlock the ability to create a new death knight character, which will begin play at a high experience level. We're currently exploring various options for how the death knight will play and the types of abilities at its disposal, and we'll be revealing more information about this new class as we get further along in development.

Will the death knight have any abilities from previously released Warcraft games?

The way we portrayed death knights in past Warcraft games is certainly a source of inspiration, but we are still determining how best to capture that feel within the mechanics of World of Warcraft, and haven't made any final determinations on specific abilities.

What role will the death knight play in groups and raids?

In general terms, the death knight can be considered a type of class that combines damage dealing and tanking, but naturally it will have an array of unique abilities as well.

What races will be allowed to play death knights?

We haven't yet made a final determination about which races can be death knights. However, the class will be available to both the Alliance and the Horde.

Will there be additional hero classes in the future?

Yes, we do intend to add more hero classes in the future, but right now our focus is on the current expansion.

What is the story background of the expansion?

Players last visited Northrend in the Warcraft III expansion, when Arthas Menethil fused with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King, one of the most powerful entities 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 greatest champions of the Alliance and the Horde will do battle with the Scourge amid Northrend's howling winds and fields of jagged ice, and ultimately face the Lich King himself.

Will players actually get to encounter Arthas himself?

Players will be skirmishing with the minions of Arthas from the moment they set foot on Northrend. He will be a constant presence as players progress through the expansion content -- which will culminate in a showdown with the dread Lich King himself.

Can you discuss some of the new talents and abilities that will be available from level 70 to level 80?

As with character advancement up to level 70, players will gain access to an array of potent and exciting new abilities and talents as they make their way from level 70 to level 80. However, it's still too early to get into specifics on these.

How long will it take to advance from level 70 to level 80?

We were pleased with the pacing from level 60 to level 70 in The Burning Crusade, and we intend to take a similar approach to pacing character advancement in Wrath of the Lich King. However, the specific amount of time that it will take players to reach level 80 will vary widely based on play style.

What can you reveal about Northrend?

The first area of Northrend we're showcasing is the Howling Fjord, a region of grasslands overlooking massive cliffs at the southeastern edge of the continent. This, along with the Borean Tundra, is the front line of the war against Arthas, and players will come face to face with his minions as soon as they set foot on Northrend. Eventually, as players progress further, they will explore the Grizzly Hills, Dragonblight, and more. We'll be showing off some of these new areas in the months ahead.

What's the level requirement to enter Northrend?

Players of any level who have purchased the expansion can visit Northrend. However, all of the content is designed for players level 68 and up.

How many new dungeons will be in the expansion?

The first dungeon players will enter is Utgarde Keep, which is intended for five players around level 70. Utgarde is inhabited by the Vrykul, a Viking-like race bent on proving their strength to the Lich King, who will raise the most worthy of their warriors to serve him beyond the grave. We intend to provide a variety of dungeons comparable to that in The Burning Crusade and will be revealing more details about some of these in the months ahead.

Do you plan to continue with the 25-player model for raids?

Yes, we've been pleased with the tactics, intensity, and variety of the 25-player raid model, and plan to continue with it.

In what ways will players be able to further customize their characters in the expansion?

In addition to the numerous new character-customization options that will be available with all of the new weapons and armor added by the expansion, we'll be offering some fun ways to alter both existing and new characters with regard to dances and hairstyles, but we're not ready to go into more detail just yet.

What can you reveal about the new profession coming with the expansion?

Inscription allows the player to permanently enhance their spells and abilities and to create mysterious items of power to use, trade, and sell.

What can players expect with regard to player-vs.-player combat in the expansion?

Players will be able to take control of siege weapons and use them to destroy opposing buildings, adding a new layer of complexity to PvP battles. Naturally, we'll be providing some fun places to put these new tools to good use, and we'll be revealing more information about them in the months ahead, in addition to the new battleground content being added.

Can you give a sneak peek at the new recipes and items in the expansion?

There will be hundreds of new recipes and thousands of new items available, but we're not ready to discuss specific examples just yet.

How many zones will be in the expansion?

Northrend will be roughly equivalent to Outland in terms of size and scope.

Will there be any new cinematic scenes?

Yes, our cinematics department is hard at work preparing a new intro movie for the expansion.

Release/Availability

Do you need to own the expansion to play with friends who have it?

There will be many aspects of the expansion that will be available to all players. However, in order to experience certain content, such as Northrend, or be able to play as a death knight, players must purchase the expansion.

Will there be an open beta test of the expansion?

We have not yet determined whether the expansion will require an open beta test. If we do decide to conduct a beta test, details will be posted on the official World of Warcraft website once we've gotten further along in the development process.

When will the expansion be released? How much will it cost?

We have not yet announced a release date for the expansion set. However, we expect to announce further details, including the release date and price, on our community website in the months ahead. Please stay tuned to [link] for more information.

Will there be a collector's edition?

We have not yet made any determination about whether there will be a collector's edition of Wrath of the Lich King. We'll be announcing details such as this closer to release.

Will a Mac version be available simultaneously with the PC version?

Yes. As with all of our games, Wrath of the Lich King will be compatible with and optimized for both the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

What are the system requirements?

We'll continue to ensure that the game is playable on a wide range of hardware. However, we have not made a final determination on the system requirements as yet.

Will the expansion be released globally at the same time?

We recognize that players throughout the world will be eager to experience all of the new content being added with Wrath of the Lich King, and we will make every effort to release the expansion simultaneously worldwide. However, there's always the possibility that unforeseen circumstances could delay the launch in any given region. We'll share the launch timing with players in each region as soon as the plans have been finalized.

What is the ESRB rating for the expansion?

The expansion has not yet been rated by the ESRB. However, we anticipate that it will receive the same rating that the original World of Warcraft received -- "Teen."