World of Warcraft Expansion 2: Wrath of the Lich King
BlizzCon 2007 has come and gone, and I regret the fact that I couldn’t make it - maybe next year. But juicy news about the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft has been making headlines.
Only six months after the release of The Burning Crusade, Blizzard Entertainment has released details about their next expansion: Wrath of the Lich King. Details, however, are somewhat limited, as it’s clear that Blizzard hasn’t finalized many aspects of WotKL.
Here’s some of what we know:
- Level cap raised to 80 - Some people are cying “yay!” and other “nooooo”. Personally, I’m in the “yay!” camp. Bring on more spells.
- Northrend - New continent featuring and 70+ content. Flying mount friendly. Will include the main city of Dalaran. New baddies, new zones (10 or so in its current state), new instances, new recipes, new mounts, new items, new PvP zones. Two main starting points (excellent news for those of us who battled through the lag and traffic jams at Hellfire Penninsula during the first weeks of TBC).
- Death Knight - The first in what Blizzard promises to be a few hero classes. The Death Knight class can be unlocked at level 80 by any race through a long quest chain that will be similar to the Warlock epic mount quests. The Death Knight will take up a character slot, and will not replace any of your current characters. It will also start at a higher level (somewhere between 55 and 70) and will start off with level-appropriate gear. It will also use a system of runes instead of mana/energy/rage.
- Inscription - New profession that will serve to enhance your spells and powers. Personally, I’m curious to see how this is going to work.
- No new races - Which Blizzard says has helped them focus more on the content in Northrend. More zones ftw.
WoW Insider did an awesome job of putting together a comprehensive list of all they learned at BlizzCon. Some features will be implemented before the expansion (such as the cooking daily quests), which is due to come out “whenever it’s ready”. My guess is sometime around November 2008 or so. Definitely before Warhammer Online goes live, as I’m sure Blizzard is keeping a close eye on their potential Competitor of Doom.
The WoWaddictedfangirl in me is bouncing in her chair with excitement at the thought of new content to explore, new xp to gain, new spells to learn, and the joy of finally dinging at another level cap.
There are many people, however, voicing their disapproval and concern over Blizzard upping the level cap whilst ignoring the mid-level content (which I must admit is in deperate need of revamping). Though Blizzard assured attendees at BlizzCon that mid-level content would be looked at, it’s clear that they have no intention of putting a lot of energy into freshening up the old lands. Heroic Deadmines, for example? Likely not. My guess is that they’re going to go back and examine xp distribution in the 30-60 bracket to make it a faster process for those just trying to grind their way up to TBC/WotLK content. More xp from baddies, more xp from quests. Something along those lines.
News about WotLK is likely to trickle out in bits and pieces from now until its “whenever” release, so more on that when there is more on that.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the new expansion? Good thing? Bad thing?
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POSTED IN: News, World of Warcraft
11 opinions for World of Warcraft Expansion 2: Wrath of the Lich King
Karine
Aug 8, 2007 at 1:36 am
I am super excited about a new expansion. It’s just not the same without gaining xp! Love discovering new areas and working through new quests.
I hope there’s more instances like Old Hillsbrads and Black Morass.
As for the old content… at least it makes getting to 58/60 rewarding. :)
Matt
Aug 9, 2007 at 1:13 am
While I’m excited for new content, the whole level cap being raised to 80 really bugs me. Is that the only way Blizzard can really think of adding more “challenge” to the game? I mean come on. People just spent months getting to 70, getting their heroic keys and getting keyed for places like Karazhan and now it’s all gonna be worthless. That tier 4 set you got? trash. Tier 5 you say? Time to vend it. It’s an absolute joke. Why should anyone spend their time doing instances trying hard to get that drop when it’s just gonna end up being worthless every time a new expansion comes out. I’m all for new content but this lack of forsight on Blizzard’s part is unacceptable.
Lish
Aug 12, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Ja, I agree with Matt. But we already knew how I feel about expansions. :p
God
Aug 13, 2007 at 7:55 am
I feel that the new expansion will be an amazing thing. But they really should make a new lvling zone. For instance, a new STV. Because it gets reallllllllllly old. Im on my 3rd character to 70 and its just ew. But the lvl cap will be nice. Lvl 80… just think about it. It’s LEVEL 80! Who doesn’t want that!
-God
Kai
Aug 14, 2007 at 3:37 pm
honestly im excited, but not about the 80 lvls=[
im trying so hard just to get to 70 and now its like even when im THERE its gonna be more lvls to endure. and im just a bit comfused about the death knight thingO_o
Sylvia
Aug 20, 2007 at 12:53 pm
i personally dont understand the inscription part: enchance spells how will you be able to make money and can you enchant other peoples spells? or will it be a mini job?
Shannon
Aug 21, 2007 at 3:26 pm
I agree with Matt. I wish theyd slow down the expansions and let us enjoy what we have earned a bit before it is useless. It seems the time it takes to get gear etc is much greater then the time they give you to appreciate it. I play this game to get the best gear and then world PVP …but it seems Im stuck getting gear and never able to world PVP. Time to look for a new game.
Andrew
Aug 27, 2007 at 4:11 pm
The mid level content is soooooooooo boring and worn out. I get high enough with a character that I start to want something new but the thought of dragging myself around Silverpine, Elwynn, Hillsbrad, or any other little bore-fest like that ruins it. I think 70 is enough, they can just make more with what they already have.
sincere
Aug 27, 2007 at 6:44 pm
i think its just stupid for people to say lvling to 80 is suck a bad thing i see they havent been playing games like this where u have to lvl to 99 i think its the best thing they could have done cuz now i get to pwn lvl 80
Duane
Aug 29, 2007 at 4:27 pm
It took them what? 7 years, 10 years? to come up with the first expansion. Now that they are talking about one less than a year after the release of BC, doesn’t mean it’s gonna be ready in a month. Don’t worry everyone, you’ll have at least a year from now to enjoy all that gear you worked so hard for. And believe me, I KNOW how hard it is to get it. I say relax, enjoy the game as it is now, and go with the flow. You’ll have lots of time to enjoy it before it changes.
God
Sep 6, 2007 at 2:33 am
I agree with Duane. It will all work itself out. Im mostly upset about there not being anything new for lvling from 1-60 thats where they should put their time. :)
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