Lets all pretend for a moment that we're actually surprised by this news. Okay, ready?

In the wake of some very revealing rumours of a new WoW expansion pack recently, Blizzard Entertainment revealed at this year's BlizzCon Convetion, BlizzCon 2007, that a new WoW expansion pack is indeed in production, officially titled World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

The World of Warcraft segment of the event, dedicated to the publisher / developer's record breaking MMORPG, was a very relaxed and friendly affair with plently of laughs, which continues to show Blizzard as a company that can understand and relate to it's customer base.

The presentation began with a basic runthrough of some upcoming additions for the current installment. This included Zuluman, the upcoming 10 man instance in the Ghost Lands, the highly sought after guild bank feature, and integrated voice chat, all welcome additions to the game.

Of course, things quickly progressed onto bigger news, After explain that the "dev team has been working on bigger things," Pierce officially unveiled Wrath of the Lich King. This expansion pack will open up the northern icey continent of Northrend, the fan favourite location first seen in Warcraft III, and home of the Lich King himself, the death knight Arthas.

The expansion pack's storyline will, of course, focus on the lich king Arthas Menethil, last seen in the Warcraft III expansion pack The Frozen Throne. Arthas Menethil has "merged with the spirit" of the previous lich king, Ner'zhul, the orc shaman and Undead Scourge leader introduced to the series in Warcraft II: The Tides of Darkness. Apparently, players will be introduced to the story as soon as they set foot into Northrend, and will in fact be interacting with Arthas himself (from a distance) throughout the story.

Okay, so what about gamplay details then? That's what you really want to know about, right?

- With the release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the level cap will be raised again, this time to level 80. Each class will receive new skills and abilies as they level up.

- There's unlikely to be any new races in this expansion pack, but there will be a new class. The Death Knight Hero Class will be unique in that you have to reach level 80 in order to gain access to it, and doing so will actually reduce your characters level to an undisclosed number. The reasoning behind this is assumed to be that it will allow you to play through the game in familiar locations, with accessunique quests that would otherwise not be available.

- A new profession will be introduced, called "Inscription." Inscribers will be able to create magical scrolls that can permanently enchance a players skills and abilities (example; a knock-back effect added to a fireball spell), as opposed to directly affecting your equipment as is the case with current professions.

- Character Customization. Character appearences will be alterable in-game even after you've created them, which includes such superficialities aspects as hairstyles and dances, amongst other possibilities aspects yet to be mentioned. A completely superficial addition to the title, but a very welcome one nevertheless.

- Northend will be made up of several zones, though it seems to much smaller in size than Outland. The expansion pack will also introduce numerous five-person dungeons, as well as 10- and 25-person raids.

- PvP will be expanded, with the capacity to use Siege weapons, and destructable buildings that can actually be destroyed using these weapons. New battlegrounds and arenas are also planned.

All in all, as impressive as some of these additions might sound, it seems to be much lighter on extras than the Burning Crusades expansion pack. Either this will be a much more limited expansion pack than Burning Crusades, or Blizzard are not willing to reveal all their secrets just yet.

It should be noted though, that the Burning Crusades wasn't released until 15 months after being introduced at BlizzCon 2005, so those fearful that they won't have enough time to enjoy Burning Crusades before moving onto Wrath of the Lich King shouldn't worry jtoo mch; Blizzard haven't announced a release date, but we likely won't be seeing Wrath of the Lich King on store shelves until early 2009.

It's begun.

Young heroes, I was once like you. You have come to this place, seeking to bring judgement upon the damned. You will venture deep into forgotten lands. You will see wonders beyond imagining. But be warned. The land itself will rise up against you. Long forgotten terrors will smother your courage. Sacrifice everything as the final darkness falls...in the end, all that awaits you is death. Only then will you understand, you've been following in my footsteps all along.

So come then, you heroes! Come in all your power and glory, for in the final hour all must serve the one true king.

- Lich King Arthas Menethil

Tags : Arthas Menethil : blizzard : Blizzard Entertainment : BlizzCon 2007 : Lich King : Northend : pc : World of Warcraft : World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King : WoW : Wrath of the Lich King

Comments

By: Lafinicus On: 05:43 Aug 4th, 2007 Offline	Raising the level cap again is irritating, considering I haven't even made it to 70 yet. The Death knight class sounds amazing, but more details on how you unlock it would be nice. I don't feel like leveling my dear rogue to 80, only to trade him in for a class I know nothing about, and then having to level THAT one back up to 80 again. Thanks, but I think I'll keep my little undead ganking machine.

By: Corrine On: 04:16 Aug 5th, 2007 Offline	Ehhhh, there just hasn't been enough time between when I got the game/expansion and the news of this new expansion for me to be excited. Some things sound pretty neat, but level 80?! I really don't know how long it's going to take me to get there... Bleh. Customization sounds cool, but we don't really need a whole expansion for that, just a nice big patch. The new class doesn't excite me in the least. Arthas Menethil is a sexy beast, but can he carry a whole expansion pack?

By: Evren On: 06:35 Aug 7th, 2007 Offline	OMG! A new WoW expansion!!! Not surprised at all. I dont know if Im really interested, I like WoW, but I've never really had a chance to sit there and play it.