World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Overview

In Blizzard's 2nd expansion for World of Warcraft, players travel to the frozen continent in the northern wastes of Azeroth. The Lich King Arthas has set in motion events that could lead to the extinction of all life on Azeroth. With the armies of the Undead Scourge and the necromantic power of the plague threatening to sweep across the land, only the mightiest heroes can oppose the Lich King's will and end his reign of terror for all time.

Players are able to travel through 10 zones in total; however many of them are restricted by the player's level. Wrath of the Lich King introduces many new features, including the increase of the game's level cap to 80, hundreds of new items, quests, creatures, and spells, as well as siege weapons, new character customization options, updated graphics and special effects, new factions, and more. Additionally, Blizzard is debuting the Hero class, Death Knight. It is designed to start at level 55 and fills the role of either a damage dealer or a tank but players are limited to one Death Knight per account per server.

Northrend

The continent of Northrend features 10 new zones for players to traverse through during their adventures against the Lich King Arthas and his enormous army of the Undead Scourge.

Howling Fjord

Howling Fjord is the home of the menacing Vrykul who have recently heard the call of the Lich King. In order to face this new foe, the Alliance has taken over the former encampment of Prince Arthas called Valgarde. The undead Forsaken have also set up a new base that features brand new Forsaken architecture called Vengeance Landing. Both camps will be one of two entrance ways in which players will enter by their own faction's transportation. The zone features tons of new quests which have players battling against this new ally of the Lich King. Two dungeons are also located in this area: Utgarde Keep and Utgarde Pinnacle.

Borean Tundra

Borean Tundra is the home of the Tuskarr, a race of walrus-like men who inhabit the area. Along with the Tuskarr, the Naga and the Blue Dragonflight make their presence known in the land. The Naga are mysteriously draining the water from the zone for a devious plan. The Blue Dragonflight inhabit a region of the zone known as Coldaara which contains The Nexus. The Nexus contains two dungeons where players fight against the Blue Dragonflight and ultimately come face to face with the Blue dragon aspect, Malygos. This is the second zone in which players will choose to enter Northrend in Wrath of the Lich King.

Grizzly Hills

Grizzly Hills is a woodland area that is home to the Furbolgs and their home city, Grizzlemaw. A band of Ice Trolls from Drak'Tharon Keep have been entering the zone to cause havoc on the land. Drak'Tharon Keep is the main dungeon in this zone. Here you will meet Drakuru, which has a central and sprawling quest chain through Zul'drak.

Dragonblight

Dragonblight is the zone where old dragons near death come to die. It features all 5 dragonflights in their own shrines in the zone but most notably is a titan building called Wyrmrest Temple which has been taken over by the Red Dragonflight to be used as a embassy for all dragonflights. The shrines themselves have come under attack by the undead Scourge to raise new undead dragons to serve the Lich King and build his army. The Scarlet Onslaught, previously known as the Scarlet Crusade, have set up a base of operations in this zone to drive the scourge out of the land. In order to take the fight against the Lich King and his forces, the Alliance and the Horde have set up two bases which surround the entrance to Icecrown, Angrathar the Wrath Gate, to prepare for their siege towards Arthas' doorstep. This zone houses the necropolis, Naxxramas, which has returned from its campaign against the living in the Eastern Plaguelands.

Zul'drak

Zul'drak, home of the Ice Trolls, features glorious troll architecture and the strongest troll warriors. The zone features two central plots. In the Western section of Zul'Drak players will work with the Knights of the Ebon Blade in order to take down Drakuru's scourge operation from the inside. As the player heads East he will come in contact with several corrupted troll temples to different animal god's starting with a snake then a cat. At the very end of this lies the dungeon of Gundrak where the largest temple lies and several troll bosses.

Lake Wintergrasp

Lake Wintergrasp is the brand new world PvP zone in Wrath of the Lich King. Players will battle in this zone to earn new rewards and benefits for their faction as well as embark on brand new quests. If any of the two factions control the main stronghold, they will have the opportunity to face various bosses that have been added according to each specific major patch. With the count up to 5 bosses, the newest being Toravon the Frost Lord, dropping Tier 10 (Hands and Legs) pieces as well as the respective PvP pieces and 2 Frost Emblems.

The Storm Peaks

The Storm Peaks features the continuation of the Titan storyline in Wrath of the Lich King with theraid of Ulduar open to all adventurers that are willing to brave the halls of the ancient Titan base. Features famous names in Warcraft lore such as a Brann and Muradin Bronzebeard, unlocks the Sons of Hodir daily hub, featuring the Frost Giant Jokkum as well as Thorim, a titan that would soon become a future boss in Patch 3.1; Secrets of Ulduar.

Sholazar Basin

Sholazar Basin is similar to Un'Goro Crater, having a lot of exotic animals and jungles. Home to the warring tribes of The Frenzyheart and The Oracles, a species of Wolvar and Gorlok respectively. Also the new home to the respected hunter, Hemet Nesingwary where players can take on the iconic quests of killing X mobs.

Icecrown

The base of operations for the undead Scourge. It is here in Icecrown where the Lich King sits atop his mighty throne and orders his troops to do his bidding. Heroes that set foot upon this zone will face creatures stronger than they have ever faced before. Those who wish to battle the Lich King in person must be ready for perilous journey they must undertake to step face to face with death itself.

Dalaran

The magical city of Dalaran has moved north. Leaving its former settlement in the Eastern Kingdoms, the Kirin Tor, led by Rhonin, has risen Dalaran from the ground and moved it to Northrend to face against the Blue Dragonflight and their crusade to rid the world of all magic-users. In Wrath of the Lich King, Dalaran will become the new Shattrath of Northrend and will feature all that Shattrath had to offer in Outland including portals to cities and battleground masters to both Alliance and Horde. To access Dalaran you need to use a portal below the city, which is hovering in the sky, or use a flying mount. Do note that flying mounts are restricted throughout most of Dalaran.

Death Knight Hero Class

This new expansion introduces the first Hero class, unlockable if a player has a level 55 character on the server you wish to create your character. It is designed to start at level 55 and fills the role of either a damage dealer or a tank but players are limited to one Death Knight per account per server.

The first hero class introduces a new concept, the new two part resource mechanic: runes and runic power; Most of the classes abilities use these runes of which there are 3 types. Your character portrait offers a deadly sword with 3 pairs of these different runes which represent the different runic powers of Blood, Frost and Unholy and each with a different color representation. Although these slots show 3 lots of pairs, similar to the socket system these are only guides as you could at times need 4 or 5 slots using blood powers so If a person wants four Blood and two Unholy runes then they can do so. Abilities use up these runes and take 10 seconds to charge up so while the class will have non runic standard abilities they can use many of their special and more powerful abilities will use these runes.

This offers a unique game mechanic meaning not only do you choose the talent trees of your class which represent once again frost, blood and unholy trees but to adopt what runes you will use in your available slots for the situation you are in and then to use these runes wisely and at the right times to ensure you can use them again once they are recharged. However, at any time in which you use a runic ability that has an enemy as the target, it’s going to build up this runic power. The Runic power fills up in your weapon and is represented in the character portrait where the backdrop sword visually shows these charges of energy. If a player does not use this runic power for what ever reason it will deteriorate over a given time similar to the warrior's rage mechanic.

As mentioned the Death Knight is a tank and damage dealing class but not only this the Death Knight will tank through its damage and will do this through dual wielding weapons removing the need for a shield in the class but to correctly tank the class needs to maintain its damage and thus introducing the key point to its success as a tank by the player. Although Death Knights are generally looked upon as a melee class, they do have a lot of powerful spells at their disposal. An example of this is how a Death Knight, using the ability Raise Ally, can raise a fallen party member as a Ghoul. The party member that has been raised as a ghoul can still control their character and that way help the party get past the obstacle. Death Knights can also use the ability Raise Dead, which raises a Ghoul to fight for the Death Knight. Raising a Ghoul using this ability requires a humanoid corspe or the reagent "Corpse Dust".

The Death Knight talent trees are of course, Blood, Frost, and Unholy. Each tree has its own way of dealing damage and tanking. Blood is the more self-sufficient talent tree that involves higher damage and self healing. Frost is main tree for those Death Knights that enjoy dual wielding, but it's also a very useful role in a raid group. Unholy is the pet oriented talent tree as they can gain the ability to have a permanent ghoul pet along with the ability to summon a gargoyle. The Unholy tree also increases the damage of diseases, and the Death Knight can also gain an extra disease.

Do keep in mind that there is no talent tree that is superior to any other, and all the different trees can be use to fullfill the roles of tanking and/or damage dealing.

New Features

Achievements

World of Warcraft's achievements system comes through many requests for more things to do other then grind, raid and PvP in WoW. Following the success of the Xbox Live achievement systems and Warhammer Online's Tomb Of Knowledge, Blizzard offers more than 931 individual achievements covering every aspect of gameplay, including world exploration, PvE, PvP, professions, and character development. Some achievements unlock game rewards such as guild tabards, pets and titles. All of the rewards are only cosmetic as the achievements system is NOT like arena or PVP points and will not offer you in game improvements to your character. This is an open system and easy to develop with and Blizzard plans to add more constantly after the launch.

Categories of achievements vary from simple action unlocks such as getting a haircut or defeating a member of each race in your opposing faction to progress achievements which consist of how many hugs you give out to how many times you die. Meta Achievements unlock when you complete other achievements such as exploration unlocks which will lead to the World Explorer title, quests, honorable kills and items in your position including skills and professions.

New Profession: Inscription

The key feature of the Inscription profession is the ability to create Glyphs. By installing them in their spellbook, players can use Glyphs to augment some aspect of their spells. Most glyphs offer a straight increase in potency or reduction in cast-time while some offer more cosmetic changes such as removal of a reagent requirement. One of the most popular glyphs, Glyph of the Penguin, changes the Mage's Polymorph spell - The vanilla spell changes the target into a sheep while the glyphed

version will cause them to become a penguin instead. Herbalism is Inscription's associated gathering profession with various herbs being ground into pigments and inks. The inks are then combined with parchments to create glyphs.

Inscription can be used to produce several other items besides glyphs.

• Shoulder Enchants - Much more powerful versions than those available to non-Inscriptionists
• Rare and Epic level off-hand items
• A Random Darkmoon Faire Card - These cards can be combined into sets which are then turned in for powerful trinkets.
• Scrolls - An inscriptionist can create the normal array of scrolls that have been dropping from mobs since the game was first released.
• Vellums - Vellums are special parchments which Enchanters can use as a target for their enchants. The Enchanter can then sell these enchanted vellums in the Auction House like a normal item.

Dungeons and Raids

One of the main new features in Wrath of the Lich King is that all raid content is available as either a 10 or 25-man dungeon, with completely independent progression paths.

Both the 10 and 25-man versions have the same layout and the design of the dungeon will remain the same. However, each will be adjusted, tuned, and balanced for its player size. This allows more players to raid the content of Wrath of the Lich King in their preferred play style. However players who raid in the 25-man dungeons receive higher quality and more loot than those who play the 10-person versions. The new expansion will add 3 new raid dungeons and 12, 5-man dungeons (8 for leveling up and 4 max-level, each with heroic versions) at release.

New Dungeons

• Azjol-Nerub (5-man)
• Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom (5-man)

• Utgarde Keep (5-man)
• Utgarde Pinnacle (5-man)
• The Nexus (5-man)
• The Oculus (5-man)
• Drak'Tharon Keep (5-man)
• Gun'drak (5-man)
• The Violet Hold (5-man)
• The Forge of Souls (5-man)
• Pit of Saron (5-man)
• Halls of Reflection (5-man)
• Ulduar: Halls of Stone (5-man)
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning (5-man)
• The Obsidian Sanctum (10 and 25-man)
• Naxxramas (10 and 25-man)
• Ulduar (10 and 25-man)
• Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme (5-man)

• Argent Coliseum: Trial of the Champion (5-man)
• Argent Coliseum: Trial of the Crusader (10 and 25-man)
• Argent Coliseum: Trial of the Grand Crusader (10 and 25-man)

• Icecrown Citadel (10 and 25-man)
• Ruby Sanctum (10 and 25-man)

Secrets of Ulduar - Patch 3.1.0

3.1.0 was the first major content patch for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

• Ulduar - level 80 10/25-man raid Instance featuring 14 new bosses, 800 new items, Tier 8 armor sets, and hundreds of achievements.

"For millennia, Ulduar has remained undisturbed by mortals, far away from their concerns and their struggles. Yet since its recent discovery, many have wondered what the structure's original purpose may have been. Some thought it a city built to herald the glory of its makers; some thought it a vault containing innumerable treasures, perhaps even relics of the mighty titans themselves. Such speculations were wrong.

Beyond Ulduar's gates lies no city, no treasure vault, no final answer to the titan's mysteries. All that awaits those who dare set foot in Ulduar is a horror even the titans could not, would not destroy -- an evil they merely... contained. "

Beneath ancient Ulduar, the Old God of death lies, whispering.... Tread carefully, or its prison will become your tomb”.

• Dual Spec
  Dual Specialization allows the player to have two different talent specializations - action bar and glyph sets at once, and switch between them at the click of a button.

• The Argent Tournament
  The Argent Tournament is a new world event introduced to the game with Patch 3.1. It takes place at the north of Sindragosa's Fall in Icecrown in an area controlled by the Argent Crusade. The new Argent Tournament quest hub gives players the chance to ascend through the ranks and earn rewards in competitions and other trials of skill.

• Dungeon Maps
  Beginning with Secrets of Ulduar, players will be able to view maps of Wrath of the Lich King's dungeons, complete with layouts of each floor and indicators showing the locations of bosses and players in your party.

Call of the Crusade - Patch 3.2.0

Call of the Crusade (3.2.0), was the second major content patch for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

• Crusaders' Coliseum: The construction of the Coliseum on the Argent Tournament grounds will be complete. The Crusaders’ Coliseum will include: New level 80 10/25-man raid Instance and 5-player dungeon, with each encounter being unlocked one week at a time. Each of the Heroic mode instances has a new tribute system that will limit players on the number of attempts they get in the Coliseum each week to present a greater challenge.

• Isle of Conquest: The new battleground will pitch teams of up to 40 players against each other in a battle over this small island off Northrend's northern coast. Isle of Conquest uses a reinforcements system similar to that of Alterac Valley and siege-style gameplay from Wintergrasp.

• New Argent Tournament Updates: The Argent Tournament will be expanding with Two New Quest Hubs. A new Cult of the Damned camp now sits overlooking the Tournament grounds and Located on an island north of Icecrown, the former tuskarr village known as Hrothgar's Landing is a mist-shrouded staging point for Sea Vrykul raids upon the ships of the Silver Covenant and the Sunreavers in the waters between the island and Icecrown.

• Updated Druid Forms: New textures for two major forms, cat and bear. There will be five different designs for each of these forms for the Horde and Alliance. Each variation is tied to either hair color (Night Elves) or skin color (Tauren) and can be changed in barbershops in most major cities.

• Battleground Experience: In the 3.2 patch, players will now be able to gain experience within the Battlegrounds for completing objectives and actions that yield honor.

The Brood Mother Returns - Patch 3.2.2

In honor of the World of Warcraft 5-year anniversary, the dreaded brood mother Onyxia was revamped, as part of the 3.2.2 content patch.

• New items have been added to Onyxia loot table.
• Onyxia has been scaled to offer new challenges to level 80 players and is now available for 10- and 25- player modes.
• Adjustments have been made to the encounter to keep it fit for modern raiding, but the fundamental experience of fighting the Brood Mother will remain.
• Some classic items Onyxia offered level 60 players will have their stats adjusted appropriately for level 80 players.
• Brood of Onyxia, a very rare 310%-speed mount modeled after Onyxia herself will be available for the luckiest of challengers.

Fall of the Lich King - Patch 3.3.0

Fall of the Lich King (3.3), was the last major content patch for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

"All across the lands of Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and Horde first reached the frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward. Now Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target."

Fall of the Lich King patch reveals the culminating story events and battles of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack. Players will be fighting together with the legendary heroes, Highlord Tirion Fordring, High Overlord Saurfang, Muradin Bronzebeard, Highlord Darion Mograine and King Varian Wrynn against the Scourge and their master, the Lich King.

Icecrown Citadel features 10- and 25-player versions of the raid dungeon, and each version has 12 encounters in addition to three new 5 player dungeons. Each encounter can be fought in either normal or heroic mode, and players can use a new user interface feature to toggle easily between difficulties.

• Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Throne
• Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls
• Tier 10 Armor Sets
• New Quest Feature
• New Dungeon System and Looking For Group system

Assault on the Ruby Sanctum - Patch 3.3.5

"For ages the red dragonflight and its noble matriarch, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, have dedicated themselves to preserving all life on Azeroth. Recently, the very heart of this virtuous dragonflight has come under threat.

An eerie silence has settled over the Ruby Sanctum, the red dragonflight's sacred lair within the Chamber of the Aspects. This troubling development has led to fears that the sanctum, home to Azeroth's largest clutch of red dragon eggs, has been breached by an unknown, sinister force. If these claims are true and immediate action is not taken, the benevolent red dragonflight might be crippled forever."

• New 10- and 25-player raid dungeon featuring normal and Heroic difficulties. Can be found below Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight.
• Battle.net Real ID.
• Various updates to the User Interface (Chat Frame) and Friends List.

Patch 4.0.1 - Cataclysm Systems

Patch 4.0.1 will be the final major patch before Cataclysm and players will gain access to a host of new systems features.

• Classes: revamped talent trees, updated hunter pet system, new druid, hunter, paladin, and warlock resources, new Mastery stat.
• User Interface: improved Spellbook, new Guild display options, updated PvP interface, expanded and enhanced Professions tab.
• Systems: glyph updates including all-new Prime glyphs.
• New Reforging ability to customize item stats. 40% of any one secondary stat on an item can be allocated to add a new secondary stat to the item.
• New PvP and PvE currency system.
• Cataclysm Launcher Update: allows game data to be stream while playning.
• Flexible Raid Lock System: the new system allows a character to defeat each raid zone’s encounters once a week. A character may now complete the encounters during the week with different raids of either 10 or 25 players.

Collector's Edition

As with The Burning Crusade expansion pack, Blizzard Entertainment has released a Limited Collector's Edition of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. The behind the scenes DVD offers developer interviews, trailers, cinematics and footage of the panel discussions from BlizzCon 2007.

The Limited Edition comes in a special box that contains many exclusives, including:

• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King on DVD-ROM.
• The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, a 208-page book featuring never before seen images from the game.
• An exclusive in-game pet: Frosty, the baby frost wyrm.
• A behind the scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, the Wrath of the Lich King intro cinematic with director’s commentary, and more.
• The official soundtrack CD, containing 21 epic tracks from the game, along with exclusive bonus tracks.
• A mouse pad featuring a map of the newly opened continent of Northrend.
• Two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game March of the Legion™ starter decks, along with two exclusive cards available only in the Collector’s Edition.

Soundtrack

The music of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is composed by Blizzard's Sound Department, and a CD of it is included in the Collectors Edition Bundle.

Tracklist

1. Wrath of the Lich King
2. Dragons' Rest
3. Arthas, My Son
4. Path of Tears
5. Crystalsong
6. Dalaran
7. God Hunters
8. Forged In Blood
9. Mountains of Thunder
10. Secrets Long Forgotten
11. The Kalu'ak
12. The Eye of Eternity
13. Garden Of Life
14. The Culling
15. Howling Fjord
16. Rise Of The Vrykul
17. Borean Tundra
18. Totems of the Grizzlemaw
19. The Wrath Gate
20. Angrathar's Shadow
21. Assault on New Avalon

System Requirements

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King uses an updated graphics engine, allowing the developers to use new special effects, shader, fire effects and realistic shadows in the game.

PC Specs

Mac Specs

ESRB

The ESRB rated the game Teen for Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence.