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Wrath of the Lich King
From WoW: IncGamers World of Warcraft Wiki
The expansion: Wrath of the Lich King was announced at BlizzCon 2007. It will feature many new items and content, it will raise the level cap to 80, and will enable players to eventually face Arthas the Lich King in his home, Northrend. A new class - the Death Knight will be un-lockable once players have reached level 80. The Death Knight will be the first Hero Class available in the game.
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World Map
The world map has significantly changed for this expansion. The continent shapes for both Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor have both changed and there is now the addition of Northrend at the top centre of the map. The main city for Northrend is Dalaran.
Northrend
New Continent, made accessible with the expansion: Wrath of the Lich King, expected to be available sometime in 2008.
Northrend is the home of Arthas the Lich King, who featured in Warcraft III. Due to it's geographical position it is a cold land, parts covered with ice and snow.
Northrend will have two points of entry for people starting their exploration of the continent. This is different to Outland which only has one entry point, because there were several draw-backs to that approach - the area was extremely busy when The Burning Crusade was released, and quests were sometimes hard to complete because everyone needed to collect the same items or kill the same monsters. Also, if a player has more than one character to level past 70, they can have a completely new experience levelling their second character in a different area than their first.
Both starting areas will be equal in terms of quests and trainers, so neither one is "better".
Dalaran
The position of Dalaran is in the centre of Northrend, so it is accessible for everyone while adventuring in the new continent. Like Shattrath, it will house the various end game trainers and vendors.
The need to move Dalaran in it's position just north of Dragonblight from Hillsbrad Foothills was due to the Blue Dragonflight's recent objection to magic users. Dalaran is a protected city, where the races can practice their magic without any external interference.
The move was announced at BlizzCon 2007 and demonstrated on screen by simply dragging and dropping it to its new location.
Death Knight
Once achieved players will then receive a new character while retaining their old character, this can be thought of as a character copy. The level at which players can become a Death Knight has yet to be set by Blizzard.
A “Rune Resource System” will be implemented instead of Mana or Rage. A DK can inscribes runes onto his/her weapon; these runes are from the Unholy, Frost, or Blood trees. Instead of a mana bar, your weapon blade with the runes carved into it appears beneath your character icon on the interface. This is really just a minor interface change. The real innovation is that the 6 runes that appear on the blade get used up when a Death Knight casts spells or uses abilities. They runes then recharge just like mana, rage, or energy. Use a minor spell, and only one rune is consumed. Use a major nuke and 3 or more runes will be used up. It's an interesting alternative to what Blizzard has done before.
The runes recharge over time and and any combination of the Unholy, Frost, or Blood runes can be included on the blade. This flexibility means you can mix and match the three attributes depending on what you want to do. If you inscribe a lot of Blood runes on your blade, you'll be able to cast more Blood spells and use more Blood abilities. However, you'll have a reduced ability to cast Frost or Unholy abilities, since you chose to emphasize your Blood runes.
Character Customisation
Players will now be able to customise their character further with new hairstyles and new dances are being added to the game.
Professions
A new profession, called Inscription will become available. Inscription will allow spells to be modified, for example, applying a rune to increase the range of a frostbolt, or perhaps adding a rune to increase the healing done by a heal spell.
PvP
Siege weapons will be added. They affect both the game overall, as well as battlegrounds. These can be acquired and driven around but can also be destroyed by your opponents.
A new outdoor PvP zone will be added called Lake Wintergrasp, and will contain Siege Weapons, destructible buildings and multiple objects with lasting effects. In this zone, players are auto-flagged for PvP the moment you enter, even if you're on a PvE (Normal/RP) server. There will be multiple objectives and a meaningful, persistent effect as your side wins. Blizzard intend to include as many of the well known siege weapons from earlier Warcraft games as possible, such as Steam Tanks and Meat Wagons. Siege weapons are intended not as a player owned item, but to be tied in to specific objectives or events. They will also be a slow way to travel, so there should be plenty of action around the siege engines as they move about the area.
A new battleground will be introduced. The goal is to blow up/destroy the enemy base with new Siege weaponry. There are 15 people per side, and the game will last 30 to 40 minutes each.
A new arena map will be introduced. As it is now, new arena “season rewards” will constantly be introduced.
Bestiary
A list of beasts in Wrath of the Lich King:
- Darkfallen
- Flesh Giant
- Ice Troll
- Iron Dwarf
- Jormungar Wyrm
- Magnataur
- Nerubian Vizier
- Plague Eruptor
- Proto-Dragon
- Shovel Tusk
- Taunka
- Wendigo
Factions
Known factions of the new Northrend continent include:
- The Kalu’ak (Tuskarr)
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