World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King  is the upcoming second expansion for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade. It is set in the land of Northrend, home of the Lich King, Arthas Menethil/Ner'zhul. It was confirmed on the first day of BlizzCon 2007, August 3, 2007.

The expansion began beta testing on July 17, 2008, while opt-in beta test keys were sent out starting on August 4, 2008. Wrath of the Lich King is due to be released on November 13, 2008. On October 10th, 2008 Blizzard announced that Wrath of the Lich king has gone gold and discs are in the manufacturing stage.

Features
Some of the features announced at BlizzCon 2007 include:
 * Level cap raised to 80
 * Battle with the Lich King at the Frozen Throne
 * One new playable class: Death Knight
 * A new continent: Northrend
 * The creation of a new profession: Inscription
 * Profession level cap raised to 450
 * New items, quests, dungeons, creatures, spells and weapons
 * Siege weapons and destructible buildings (for PvP)
 * New character-customization options, including new hairstyles
 * First completely PvP zone (regardless of what kind of server you play on)
 * Improved Graphics Engine (applied to shaders, flame effects, water appearance and detailed shadows)
 * New factions including the Tuskarr (Walrus-men), Frenzyheart (Wolverine-men), The Oracles (evolved form of murlocs) and the Taunka, a racial cousin to the Tauren

Northrend


Northrend is a crescent-shaped continent in northern Azeroth. The continent is roughly half the size of the Eastern Kingdoms, but is expected to match Outland in length and width. Although Northrend is known for its snow and ice, developers stated that only parts of the continent will be frozen over. Northrend will feature approximately eleven zones with content for levels as low as 68, though players may travel to Northrend at any level. Players will land by boat either at the Howling Fjord or the Borean Tundra zones, located at opposite ends of the continent, when they first arrive. Howling Fjord is home to evil half-giants called the Vrykul as well as Utgarde Keep, the first dungeon to be described in the expansion. The Dragonblight and Grizzly Hills zones are located in the southern central part of the continent, and the ursine Furbolgs reside in the forested Grizzly Hills. The Dragonblight features graveyards of dragons who came to die. Lake Wintergrasp will be the first completely player versus player (PvP) zone in World of Warcraft, even on player versus environment (PvE) servers.

The Forsaken and their Banshee Queen, Sylvanas, have also arrived with a new contagion that they hope will prove to be effective against the undead minions of the Lich King. The Forsaken are seeking vengeance for being subjected to Arthas's magic. They have recently created a settlement called "New Agamand" in the Howling Fjord.

The magi of Dalaran have also relocated to Northrend to deal with the rising threat of the Blue Dragonflight and Arthas. The city of Dalaran will function as the neutral sanctuary city for the continent, similar to Shattrath City in Outland. Dalaran is levitating at great heights but can be accessed by either foot (via a gem that will teleport the player) or flying mount.

According to Blizzard game designers, Arthas Menethil and Ner'zhul, combined as the titular Lich King, is the main focus of the entire expansion.

Instances
Several new instances will be included in the expansion pack. Another instance will appear in the Caverns of Time, set during the human campaign of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, in which Prince Arthas massacred the townspeople of Stratholme because they were infected by the plague. Many new 5-man, 10-man, and 25-man dungeons will be located in Northrend, including:
 * Utgarde Keep - An instance in the Howling Fjord filled with the Vrykul, a Viking-like race devoted to serving the Lich King. It has two wings - Utgarde Keep, and Utgarde Pinnacle.
 * Azjol-Nerub - The contested capital of the Nerubian race of spider-people.
 * Icecrown Citadel - Players will battle Arthas the Lich King, the ruler of the Undead Scourge.
 * Naxxramas - An updated version of the original Naxxramas, redesigned to cater for 10 and 25 man content. It has been stated that Naxxramas will be the entry level raid of WotLK at level 80.

Blizzard has also confirmed a new instance hub called the Nexus, home of the Blue Dragonflight, which will contain at least three instances. The first, a low 70s instance set in Ice Caverns, the second a high level instance seeing the player and their group face enemies on floating rings, and a final raid instance against the Blue Dragon Aspect Malygos, which takes place in a rift in the sky. It has also been confirmed that all raid instances included with the expansion will be both 10-man and 25-man versions. It has been stated that the quality of loot in 10 and 25 man versions will differ (i.e. 10 man version will be Tier 7, 25 man would be Tier 8)

Hero class
At BlizzCon 2007, Blizzard also announced the debut of Hero classes, a long awaited feature to World of Warcraft. Hero classes will consist of classes from Warcraft III that were too strong to play from level one or could not fit a primary class role. Currently, Blizzard has confirmed only one Hero class: the Death Knight. In an interview with one developer, he said that for the time being there is only one hero class, though more will be introduced in future expansions.

Death Knight
The Death Knight is the first announced Hero class for World of Warcraft. Death Knights, according to Blizzard developers, will be able to fulfill the tank and DPS roles sufficiently. Death Knights can use plate armor and new rune weapons like Runeswords and Runeaxes, but they cannot use shields. According to an interview, a Death Knight's summoned pets will be more similar to a Priest's Shadowfiend, a Mage's Water Elemental, or a Druid's Treants in that they are pets with a set duration. In the current beta stage death knights that have put a specific number of talent points into the Unholy Tree are granted full control over their ghoul like a hunter's or a warlock's pet (currently this also makes the ghoul a permanent pet). The Death Knight will also be gaining the use of a relic called a sigil which will be similar to Shaman totems, Paladin librams, and Druid idols.

Players who purchase Wrath of the Lich King will not be able to create a first-level Death Knight. Instead, players will be able to create one level 55 Death Knight on the realm they have a level 55 character on. Players who already meet this requirement will be able to create Death Knights at launch; others will be able to create one as they level to 55 on their other characters. Newly created Death Knights will begin with a full arsenal of spells and abilities. Both the Alliance and Horde factions will have access to the class, and may be of any race.

Instead of relying on rage, energy, or mana, the Death Knight will use a new resource system: runes, which will be displayed under the player portrait. The Death Knight has two of each rune available for use and after they are used they enter a ten second "cooldown" period before they can be used again. With specific talents the Death Knight can also turn their runes into Death Runes which can be used as any of the three separate runes.

The Death Knight will also require an additional resource called Runic Power to cast some of their more powerful spells. Runic Power works similar to a warriors Rage in that it slowly builds up during combat (unlike warriors the Death Knight must cast spells requiring runes to gain runic power) and will decay over time when out of combat.

Inscription
The profession of Inscription is similar to the profession of Enchanting. However, Inscription permanently enhances the attributes of players' spells and abilities. For example, an "Scribe" could take the Fireball spell, and give it the ability to knockback or daze an enemy. Scribes will accomplish this by creating Glyphs that other players can put into their glyph spots. The Glyph tab is reached by opening up the players spellbook and clicking on Glyphs. Glyphs can range from increasing the duration of Sap, reducing the cool down for Sprint, increasing the critical strike chance of Eviscerate etc. (all examples are for the rogue class)

Release of content patch
Blizzard released a content patch which includes many of the new features in the expansion. This is similar to the way patch 2.0 was applied before The Burning Crusade.

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King approaching, we wanted to provide you with some important information. In preparation for the expansion, we will be issuing a new content patch in the coming weeks. Much like the patch made available shortly before The Burning Crusade's release, this content patch is designed to bridge current game content with that of the expansion and will contain some exciting changes and additions.

We have outlined some of the larger features scheduled to release with the patch below:


 * New class spells and talents
 * Stormwind Harbor
 * Barbershops in capital cities
 * Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
 * Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
 * Guild calendar
 * Hunter pet skill revamp
 * New profession: Inscription

As mentioned above, this is not a comprehensive list, just some of the major highlights. We’ll post the full patch notes as soon as they’re available. Regarding Inscription, please note that all Burning Crusade players will be able to select Inscription as one of their two professions and level up to a skill level of 375 with it. Upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King, players who purchase and install the expansion will be able to continue leveling in Inscription and the other professions beyond 375.

"The New Plague" World Event
With the release of the new content patch, there were several new Non-Player Character's released into World of Warcraft in each major city, starting zone, and outpost by the name of "Argent Healer". These new characters are to help fight the New Plague that has been released in Azeroth from "Conspicous Crates" found in Booty Bay, a neutral faction city. Upon a player examining the crates, they would become infected with a disease. After 10 minutes, or until the player was killed, the Player would automatically resurrect as a zombie, and in turn, have his ability's changed to those to help spread the infection. As with the "Opening of the Dark Portal" world event for the release of Burning Crusade, this is the World Event for Wrath of the Lich King.