Thursday's release of Wrath of the Lich King brings a host of changes to World of Warcraft. Here are the big reasons why the massively multiplayer online game's 11 million subscribers will all want to upgrade their experience.
Whether you're a constant fan of the series who never stopped raiding, or a former player who grew tired of the endless grind, Lich King is just the thing to keep you interested. From the new Death Knight character class to the vastly expanded virtual landscape, we've compiled a list of the Big Four new features that transform the world of Warcraft.
1. Death Knights
The most heralded addition to Wrath of the Lich King is WoW's
latest player class: the Death Knight. These malevolent hybrid characters combine the damage potential of the Warrior class, the self-sustaining powers of the Warlock and the damage absorption of a
Paladin to create, in the opinion of many who played the beta version, the most useful characters in the game.
Offering long-time fans a leg up on the road to the new, higher level cap, each Death Knight begins life at level 55, within a specially designed new starting area geared directly toward their relevance in the added lore of Wrath of the Lich King. Between meeting the Lich King only moments into their lifespan and acquiring gear that would be the envy of many similarly leveled character classes, a new Death Knight is only minutes away from feeling like a powerful, malevolent force within Blizzard Entertainment's newly expanded game.
2. Northrend
Northrend, the newly added frozen tundra resting far to the north of the old Azerothian landmasses, is Blizzard's largest single content addition to date. Not only does the entire expansion dwarf WoW's earlier The Burning Crusade expansion, Northrend itself comes packed with areas that are each larger than any zone found in the the earlier version of the game. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to traverse these new areas even with the fastest ground-based mounts from the game's prior iteration. Despite their size, each zone exhibits Blizzard's hallmark attention to detail.
Howling Fjord, one of the two major entry points to Northrend, starts players off in a ramshackle port town before sending them off in a number of directions toward a scorched forest, an icy tundra, the towering spires of Utgarde Keep or the gigantic cliffs of the east that plummet a few hundred feet to the tumultuous sea.
Included in each zone are many new enemies. Though a few are entities you could encounter in the older areas of Azeroth, the newly added Vrykul barbarians, the metallic Iron Dwarves and the anthropomorphic Tuskarr walrus people make even this early zone wildly different from anything players have seen before. As you venture beyond the starting areas, the arctic/Nordic theme grows even more distinct.
3. It's WoW 3.0
Though no longer strictly a part of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the upgrades brought to WoW by Blizzard's 3.0 patch offer players a chance to dig into many of the additions and fixes that the patch promised specifically to those who have been playing WoW for years.
From an upgraded graphical system that adds real-time shadows to every character and enemy in the game to an in-game calendar offering characters a chance to plan their virtual life, these many small changes are the sort of thing players didn't realize they absolutely needed before they were added to WoW.
Mimicking the success of the Xbox 360's Achievement system, Blizzard has implemented a similar score-keeping element. The addictive qualities of this meta-game only amplify the draw of WoW, especially since players are offered tangible in-game benefits for completing these meta-quests. Dedicated cooks and fishermen, for instance, are granted a special title, while a hyper-rare black dragon mount is offered to dedicated dungeon raiders.
And although it was added with 3.0, the new Inscription profession really shines with the additions added to it in Lich King. Essentially, Inscriptions offer players a new way to upgrade their characters' powers and abilities – think of it as Enchantment, but for the characters themselves instead of their items. It may not be enough to pull in new players, but it does offer a whole new level of intrigue for those who have grown tired of WoW's older content.
4. Vehicular Player-versus-Player Combat
Like Burning Crusade before it, Wrath of the Lich King brings new player-versus-player arenas for those who enjoy slaying other people instead of computer-controlled beasts. Not content to merely add new landscapes for the bloodshed, Blizzard finally offers players the chance to pilot vehicles that either serve as mobile weapons or transports for large groups of allies. While they don't quite replicate the real-time vehicular warfare of online first-person shooters, Blizzard vehicles will completely alter the way the game's PvP devotees have to approach things.
Long-time WoW fans are absolutely ecstatic about the wealth of new content on offer in Wrath, but it remains to be seen if all the additions will draw in even more players for Blizzard's MMO.
With 11 million active subscribers and the game still growing, one wonders when Blizzard will finally have exhausted its possible market, or if adding new content in this way is enough to guarantee that WoW will be the leading online virtual world for the foreseeable future.
Images courtesy Blizzard
Correction: The Death Knight begins at level 55.
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