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    World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

    Game » consists of 10 releases. Released Nov 13, 2008

    Travel to the arctic continent of Northrend in Blizzard's second expansion to the most popular MMORPG ever made.

    Review of Wrath of the Lich King

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    deactivated-135098

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    After playing Wrath of the Lich King for a few good hours, I felt I may as well take the liberty to write a quick rundown/review of the game for those who have not yet plunged into the icy island of Northrend yet.

    Being a prominently 360 gamer myself, World of Warcraft has always been my vice. The game itself pretty much refutes everything console gaming stands for, so I've received quite a bit of ridicule from my console-gaming and (even pc-gaming) friends. It's the carrot-on-a-stick philosophy that tends to be the focal point of the game. You always want that new piece of gear or recipe, and you don't care how many hours of ceaseless grinding you will need to devote. Nevertheless, it keeps you coming back to the game. And this has not changed in WOTLK.

    But WOTLK does in fact change a few things for the better. I noticed the pace of the combat has changed significantly, particularly in instances. The combat moves a lot more quickly and seamlessly, and it enhances the action-game feel that WoW has always been famous for. Some concrete changes include, obviously, the new continent of Northrend and a whole new set of quests. It can be argued that the Burning Crusade's hubris was the fact that it recycled so many environmental aspects from its predecessor, but Northrend seems to be almost 100% original. Most importantly, it's a beautiful place, with a gritty yet majestic atmosphere that permeates throughout its tall mountains and dark beaches.

    Another change is shorter instances. I ventured into Utgarde Keep and Azjol Nerub, and both were completed in less than 30 minutes (depending on wipes). The bosses and trash mobs were nothing new, but the dungeons themselves were. The instances are a lot less static than some of the Burning Crusade's were, and I found myself straying away from my group looking at all the neat details which were put into the design.

    Last but not least, the addition of the Death Knight class is probably the heftiest change, and from my experience the most impressive.  The abilities of the Death Knight are based on a rune system -- 2 blood runes, 2 frost runes, and 2 unholy runes -- which are required to use most abilities and, when used, enter a short cool down time and can be used again. Most abilities, such as Heart Strike, cost 1 rune to use, but some can cost more. In addition, the Death Knight gets a Runic Power meter, which is effectively like a warrior's rage meter. It is used to activate some spell effects; the only spell which I have seen runic power in use is Deathcoil, which unleashes a large amount of shadow damage onto the enemy. Even though they cannot dual wield, the damage unleashed by the Death Knight is similar to a rogue's. It is unleashed in short bursts rather than massive blows, so stick to a mortal strike warrior or retribution paladin if you want massive critical strikes.

    The Death Knight is a great class because it can give veterans of the game, like me, who have been saddened by the noobifications of WoW a complex and entertaining experience. What's just as magnificent as the class itself is its quest line. The Death Knight quest line, beginning in Eastern Plaguelands, carries more immersion than any other previous WoW quests. You really feel like a bad guy when you're sent out to murder innocent villagers and steal horses from the stable. What's also great is that there are barely any nonsensical killing or fetch quests. Pretty much all quests in the Death Knight zone are carried out for a reason.

    So Blizzard has done it again. They've created a phenomenal expansion pack that may re-instill the desire to play within veteran WoW-ers who were just about to take this horribly addictive game off their hard-drives. If you're dead-set on the fact that you hate WoW, WOTLK won't change your mind. But if you're on the edge, it may be worth a look. Just don't expect to leave Northrend for the responsibilities of real life anytime soon.

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    PureRok

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    #2  Edited By PureRok

    The only real thing that annoys me is the fact that you can only make one Death Knight per realm which I find ridiculous.

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    deactivated-5e0e0ee2ea170

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    I got bored at level 6 cause I done a few quests and it was all "kill 10 of these" and really why the fuck do I want to be someones slave? I want to order other people around and be my own Hero.... don't wanna be collecting boar tusks for some farmer.

    So if they wanna attract me they'll have to make an expansion that enhances level 1 - 55 content and make it like the Death Knight stuff which I heard about on Legendary Thread.

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    TomA

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    #4  Edited By TomA

    Just put some stuff for lower level's in there,so people don't get bored leveling.

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    xruntime

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    #5  Edited By xruntime

    Not to bring in WOW bashing to the topic, but I second Papa Lazarou's point.

    On the topic of WOTLK - many of my friends who were classic WOWers aren't coming back, they say the game has changed too much.

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    OGCartman

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    #6  Edited By OGCartman
    xruntime said:
    "Not to bring in WOW bashing to the topic, but I second Papa Lazarou's point.
    That you stopped playing after lvl 6?
    I went threw 3 trials between 2 years quiting early due to boredome.
    Then one day i just grinded threw it and found out how phenomenally fun it is.
    Speaking for most WoW players, the game starts at level 50.
    And to bash the game when u havent experianced anything is pretty fucking stupid.

    On the topic, you cant review this giant expansion the first day. But as for a quick review, good one OP.
    Level 80 dungeons, Northland and such.
    I for one are a big fan of ice terrain, so thats pretty cool but what interests me so much about this expansion are the new, epic dungeons, monsters to fight and quests to do.

    For the WoW players that know how extremely fun this world (of warcraft) is, and knows whats up with WOTLK, its epic.
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    deactivated-5e0e0ee2ea170

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    I'm sorry for not wanting to waste days of my life grinding to level 50, if the game starts at level 50 then why not just let me make a level 50 character from the start? To get to level 6 it took me about 1 hour and after then why would I want to continue playing when I'm bored?

    I woulda quit after 10 mins but my friends kept saying how great it was and I'm like....... I'm not seeing it.

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    Contra

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    #8  Edited By Contra
    PapaLazarou said:
    "I'm sorry for not wanting to waste days of my life grinding to level 50, if the game starts at level 50 then why not just let me make a level 50 character from the start? To get to level 6 it took me about 1 hour and after then why would I want to continue playing when I'm bored?

    I woulda quit after 10 mins but my friends kept saying how great it was and I'm like....... I'm not seeing it."
    I'm not quite like this.... but similar

    My and the 3 people I play most games with all decided to play.  We for to them mid 30's before we got bored with it.  Well its not that we were bored... we just has no motive to play.  We just didn't see a reason to play this game, that we were all told gets better once you get to higher levels, and by how often we all play together, it would have taken another 2 months to get there (it was only fun when we were together, lone... seriously boring), and we didn't want to wait that long when we could could spend that money now, and have fun right now; rather than down the line.

    We gave up that day. 

    A side note, we also played LotRO, which was found to more fun in most ways... but ended up hgaving the same issues
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    xruntime

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    #9  Edited By xruntime

    Cartman, grinding isn't fun. It's work. It's a job. I think it's a "pretty fucking stupid" waste of my time.

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    GioVANNI

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    #10  Edited By GioVANNI

    Great review, I'm currently grinding my way too 55 so I can get my DK.  >:D

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    Teaspoon83

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    #11  Edited By Teaspoon83

    I would say that for my first MMORPG, it is a great game and I've been a fan of Blizzard games since Warcraft 1.  But now playing the game for 4 years, killing so many of a mob to get enough livers is dissapointing.  In the end, I have a warrior at 80 and a rogue at 76 and I have lost the will to keep playing.  People might suggest that there is endgame but a person can only run instances and raids so many times that it does become a waste of time.  Scripted events aren't enjoyable. Not after 4 years.  I am now taking a break from the game.  360 and PC gaming, hopefully it can save me from Wow.

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    wowELF

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    #12  Edited By wowELF

    Now of course I love WoW : WoTLK but I must agree i find it ridiculous that only one DK can be made per realm. I hope that when the newest expansion comes out there are even more uber cool races and classes to choose from, but being able to make more than 1 DK in a realm would be good too.

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    Sticky_Pennies

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    #13  Edited By Sticky_Pennies

    All I ever hear about with WOTLK is that lolret is no longer lol, and Death Knights are obscenely overpowered. I'm glad I quit WoW so hard that I shattered my discs and obfuscated my account password now.

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