WoW Expansion

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2007-08-03 05:10pm

http://www.blizzard.com/press/070803-2.shtml

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- August 3, 2007 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for the second expansion to World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Unveiled at the company's BlizzCon™ gaming festival before an audience of more than 8,000 gamers, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King™ will open the forbidding wasteland of Northrend to exploration by the hardiest adventurers. New levels of power, challenging new dungeons and encounters, an exciting new character profession, and the game's first hero class are just some of the new features awaiting players in Wrath of the Lich King.

"This expansion will add some of the most infamous characters and settings from the Warcraft® universe to World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. "In addition to new story content, Wrath of the Lich King will introduce a number of features specifically requested by players over the past couple of years. We're looking forward to sharing further details with everyone as development progresses."

Players last visited Northrend in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne™, when Arthas Menethil fused with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King, one of the most powerful beings in the Warcraft universe. He now broods atop the Frozen Throne deep in Icecrown Citadel, clutching the rune blade Frostmourne and marshaling the undead armies of the Scourge. In Wrath of the Lich King, the forces of the Alliance and the Horde will venture into battle against the Scourge amid Northrend's howling winds and fields of jagged ice.

Building on the foundation established in World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King will add a rich variety of content to an already massive game. New features coming with the game's second expansion include:

* Death Knight Hero Class: Create a high-level Death Knight character -- the game's first hero class -- once certain challenges have been met.
* Increased Level Cap: Advance to level 80 and gain potent new talents and abilities along the way.
* Northrend: Explore the harsh new continent of Northrend, packed with new zones, quests, dungeons, monsters, and items -- and do battle with the undead armies of the Lich King.
* "Inscription" Profession: Learn this exciting new profession and gain unique ways to permanently enhance spells and abilities in the game.
* Siege Weapons and Destructible Buildings: Take the battle to another level with new player-vs.-player game mechanics and new battlefields to wage war on.
* New Character Customization: Change how characters look and express themselves, with different hairstyles and dance animations.

Who's excited?

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2007-08-03 05:23pm

...The fuck? Death Knight hero class? Because yes, the champions of light and justice and fucking over the armies of the Undead should have as their only opportunity for hero class advancement a Death Knight. Idiots.

ThatGuyFromThatPlace · Post by **ThatGuyFromThatPlace** » 2007-08-03 05:26pm

I didn't realize they'd actually finished the first expansion yet

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2007-08-03 05:29pm

Fuck, they haven't balanced the original WoW yet. When it comes to actual programming support for all it tries Blizzard can't find its ass with two hands, a map, a searchlight and an expert spelunker. I wonder how many long time players this expansion will drive out for another horde of mindless 14 year old spambot morons.

Rawtooth · Post by **Rawtooth** » 2007-08-03 06:09pm

White Haven wrote:...The fuck? Death Knight hero class? Because yes, the champions of light and justice and fucking over the armies of the Undead should have as their only opportunity for hero class advancement a Death Knight. Idiots.

Note they said "first hero class", which leads me to believe that others are also going to be in the expansion, they just haven't revealed them yet. However I'm not particularly keen on this. As Hellion pointed out, things still need to be fixed from base WoW, nevermind the Burning Crusade.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2007-08-03 06:15pm

Oh yay...so I can get my Arena set 4-6, and see Arthas about seven to eight months after the expansion releases?!

Hold me back. Currently WoW isn't much except 15 Arena matchs a week for me, and I'm two pieces away from Full Merciless. I've told my guild I don't care where they are in the BT, I'm never raiding again.

All in all, nothing much left...though I may try to wrangle friends to get a bear mount in the upcoming ten man.

As for the preview, all I see is

"New Greens to outdo everything!!!": Ok
"Stuff we promised in orginal WoW!!!!!": Fucking Finally, though that will need tweaking...fuck knows the Death Knight will be some lovechild of Pally/Warlock.
"Level cap raised!!!": Oh goody, so when I see a warrior with 30K HP and 33/27 build, I'll remember to sit down and die as he unleashes new hell upon me.

Though I wonder if they'll ever fix threat? Pshaw, old world stuff is for newbies and morons.

So all in all?

Meh. I'll likely not get it unless a few friends are, and even then they are getting WoWed out.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2007-08-03 08:42pm

I got wowed out back when they announced the first expansion and stuff that were promised in wow originally were coming out in the expansion. The second race was the final thing that made me decide that they're a bunch of retards and will continue to be so. They fucked up the story line and then went "ups, my bad, lol... oh well too late we already started merchandising and we waited to tell you guys for so long to try to make it into a major surprise that we told you too late for it to be fixed". It's kind of sad that it was able to be pushed through without any of them realizing that conflicted with their own story line but once it was published the members of the community were able to immediately catch it.

CubicleGestapo · Post by **CubicleGestapo** » 2007-08-03 08:51pm

Link with trailer vid

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/index.xml

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2007-08-03 11:16pm

Trailer's not as cool as the Burning Crusade one was. I still love the art in these games, though. Check out the Easter Island-style Tuskarr statues; genius! I don't know if I'll start playing again, though (stopped well before BC came out). I probably won't have the money even if I wanted to...

Post by **Broomstick** » 2007-08-04 02:32am

Whine, whine, whine.

Maybe I'm just easily amused, but I'm still enjoying WoW. Maybe I will continue to do so. Maybe I'll get bored in a year. I dunno.

It's a game. I don't expect perfection. I don't expect overmuch continuity, either. Just entertain me for awhile.

Not planning to buy an expansion until I get more characters running around Outland.

Dorsk 81 · Post by **Dorsk 81** » 2007-08-04 05:13am

Ghost Rider wrote:fuck knows the Death Knight will be some lovechild of Pally/Warlock.

They won't be mana users though, reading what's out about them at the moment it seems they'll have a new system (i.e. not rage/energy/mana), something about engraving runes on your weapon to give you abilities which all have varying CDs... or something.

On another forum a bunch of idiots were screaming "ZOMG!!!111 ALFA CLASSS!!!111 WTF UNBALANCED???//!!!111" even though no where does it say they'll be anything more than a DPS/Tank, and there are two other classes that can do both those (I refuse to include Paladins, as Retri is a joke for DPS right now) and they aren't screaming Alpha class about them. They must either be former SWG players, or have heard horror stories about post Pub9 Jedi.

Meest · Post by **Meest** » 2007-08-04 07:54am

Sounds to me like they're nervous about Warhammer releasing, hope they don't try to match release dates. Majority of people haven't even seen the new BC content let alone close to finishing it.

Lancer · Post by **Lancer** » 2007-08-04 09:25am

Well, did anyone not expect the next expansion to take place in Northrend?

CycloneRider052 · Post by **CycloneRider052** » 2007-08-04 10:00am

Welcome to the world of MMO's. When they announced BC, Blizzard said they were going to do a new expansion every year, which makes me wonder why everyone is so surprised with this? I think the majority of the player-base that's up in arms has never played an MMO before and doesn't really understand how the model works. Not that I'm glad that they're releasing an expansion every a year...

The most irritating thing to me is that WoW was/is marketed to casuals, yet most of the stuff that actually has to do with the story is only able to accessed by the poop-sockers who turn the game into a full time job. During my heyday, I played between 2-4 hours a day for the better part of two years and ended up with 4 60's and a 70, and my extent of endgame experience is a full clear of ZG, some BWL and AQ20, an aborted attempt at Gruul, and a full clear of Kara. Consider the amount of time invested, and now consider the small amount of progression. Some of this comes from getting bored and re-rolling a new class (Though 3/5 of those characters are Paladins) but the majority of it comes from refusing to give up 5-6 hours a night EVERY night to raid.
I love raiding, I love PVE because I love the teamwork it requires to down the bosses. However what I hate is having to put together groups of 20-40 people just to do this. The EQ poopsockers are ruining the casual game. Think of how many more people would get to experience all the game has to offer if the raids were designed for 10-15 people. 25 was a good direction to take as more people than before are getting into raid content, but how about instead of punishing those that don't have the time/desire to play all the time, you let them see the content that they're paying for. I'm not saying you should make the game ez-mode, if anything lowering the number of players would make things even more challenging as there would be absolutely no dead-weight and the encounters could be even more precisely tailored. Give the casuals our game back damnit!

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2007-08-04 10:12am

Dorsk 81 wrote:
Ghost Rider wrote:fuck knows the Death Knight will be some lovechild of Pally/Warlock.
They won't be mana users though, reading what's out about them at the moment it seems they'll have a new system (i.e. not rage/energy/mana), something about engraving runes on your weapon to give you abilities which all have varying CDs... or something.

On another forum a bunch of idiots were screaming "ZOMG!!!111 ALFA CLASSS!!!111 WTF UNBALANCED???//!!!111" even though no where does it say they'll be anything more than a DPS/Tank, and there are two other classes that can do both those (I refuse to include Paladins, as Retri is a joke for DPS right now) and they aren't screaming Alpha class about them. They must either be former SWG players, or have heard horror stories about post Pub9 Jedi.

I think the reason most people are doing the bitching of Jedi Class is you have to do some series of quests or some shit.

Though Alpha? Pfft, how short their memories. My god, I remember reading what those classes were like as well as watching a friend play. Fuckers were beyond dominant. If a Death Knight is anything close to a Beta Warrior or Paladin he's be a near supreme character.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2007-08-04 10:14am

Meest wrote:Sounds to me like they're nervous about Warhammer releasing, hope they don't try to match release dates. Majority of people haven't even seen the new BC content let alone close to finishing it.

I doubt that much. Last Blizzcon they annouced BC, and that did take them a few extra months even from the supposed original release date in November for TBC.

My only beef? I hope when it comes out, it's all there as promised. Not missing Arthas for 5-6 months for Patch 3.1. I may never get to Illidan but having a incomplete game from what is advertised? That was shitty on their part.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2007-08-04 10:42am

WoW's strategy seems to be make a bunch of promises for in game content but leave out that it will be left for years, in a different expansion!

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-08-04 12:16pm

Well, so far, it seems to be making them a pile of cash.

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2007-08-04 12:52pm

But it is killing their hopes for really longterm gaming, because when the next big MMO comes out, they are going to go down hard. Right now there is no good competition, but if someone does make it many of the old school players are going to quite. Most of the hardcore raiders I knew despise the game, and only play because of their love of softcore MMOing and having no alternative that is as good. I played for half a year despite a deep hatred of so many aspects of the game because I couldn't get the layed back MMO atmosphere anywhere else, and I was in a guild of 100 or so people of whom half shared my sentiments. I would surmise that 50% of the players have no real loyalty to the game beyond time invested (which is sad considering how much time is invested) and another 25% would jump ship because they are mostly tied to community or economy.

Blizzard may be raking it in, but that doesn't mean the game is actually good, nor does it mean that it will last forever, it is simply the best soft MMO out there, and as such has the largest community. It is really a damn terrible game, but it isn't as shitty as other soft MMOs which are usually botfilled boredomfests.

Stormin · Post by **Stormin** » 2007-08-04 01:15pm

Okay, really. What sort of game are those people looking for? If WoW isn't for some people, why don't they look around because there are so many games out there that at least some that will pretty much fit their needs.
On many forums, it seems people don't want a game. They want a drug dealer to come to their house and for $15 a month inject them with a four week dose of happy juice so they don't have to do anything or think.

Edit: By forums, I am mostly meaning cess pits like VN boards.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2007-08-04 02:20pm

In some cases, it's teenage angst. Let's face it, not much will make a teen happy for any length of time. They don't have the attention span or the mature appreciation of strategy and game balance that someone older has. Hell, there's a lot of 50 year olds that impatient. Whiiiiiiine - you mean I have to WORK to level up? Why can't I get 10,000 experience points for killing a sickly gazelle out on the Barrens? But there aren't any vendors that sell iron buckles - I have to talk to another player to get those made? Whaaaaaa!

And in some cases someone sees how the game really could be better, however you define "better" - better balance, better backstory, better for the solo player, better for the radier, whatever. I'd prefer such individuals to either support games that are better, or go out and produce such a better game, though I suspect anyone attempting the latter will soon learn the necessity of compromise.

There are quite a few people such as myself who enjoy the game without expecting it to be the be-all and end-all of gaming, who like the mix of solo and team play, and appreciate that it doesn't need the very latest machine to run. In other words, it's good enough for a lot of people. Yeah, I'm probably not going to see the end-game the elite players see. Know what? It doesn't bother me. I'm having fun. If something better/more interesting comes along I'll jump ship but until then I'll have a good time.

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2007-08-04 02:53pm

This new announcement only confirms my decision to stop once I hit 70 back in winter. I was considering renewing my subscription and doing some fun stuff like arenas with my buddies since I'm currently on the summer break from university, maybe some non-raid pve content and such, but seeing how soon those that are still playing will go on to 80 (which entails yet another month long level grinding session) I think I'll just stop thinking about returning to WoW.

Oh, and the new trailer is utter shit. C'mon Blizzard, WoW is the goose laying golden eggs, is it that much to ask that you do a trailer with the same quality as the previous ones instead of lame in-engine shots?

Meest · Post by **Meest** » 2007-08-04 03:11pm

With their income would expect another CGI movie at least, and also hiring a bigger team to release promised content. That's why I mentioned them trying to make sure WAR doesn't soak up too many of their subscribers, a scripted ingame movie makes it seem more urgent than it should be.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2007-08-04 03:18pm

I had the impression that the video clip was of something still in the development process, in other words, this is NOT a nearly finished project.

Perhaps they should have waited until they had something more concrete and detailed to show you - it's not always a good idea to distribute storyboards and sketches to the general public while the idea is still in process.

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2007-08-04 03:41pm

Broomstick, the problem with WoW is that when you try to do anything beyond just messing around you realize how poor the system is. Crafting is boring as fuck (I spent at least 10 hours of my life figuring out shit to do while my little dude did the macarena making blasting powder) the trading system is barely improved of Diablo 2, and numerous other little things. Its not about the game being unfun, its a blast for a while, but frankly the hundredth enemy was boring, the thousandth was tedium, and the hundreds of thousands of fucking owlbears I killed didn't mean squat.

You spend way to much time doing literally nothing, and the game enviroment is no where near immersive enough for me to want to wander some boring ass plain in Mulgore for hours looking for the fucking keg of wonder. If I felt like the characters around me wanted me to do something signifigant other than kick the shit out of half a million of a specific type of coyote I would still be playing, but when a dozen days of game time is this bullshit where is the fucking replay value. Poor shit like that is why the game blows, but other games are the same shit only worse.