The Scourge is Spreading, But Is The King... Dead...?

By Will Barker

World of Warcraft's northern reaches beckon

Enjoy the video, beware of eye strain

New quests in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack will take players to wondrous fortified ports

Okay, so there's like 9,000,000 people who have played World of World of Warcraft. That's a lot of people by anyone's measure, and to call the game a snowballing success story of titanic proportions may even be understating it somewhat.

Most avid WoWsers will be well informed as to the impending launch of the the second expansion pack for the game, which will incorporate a new area to explore, an icy, frigid, and ultimately deadly land with poor quality hip hop beats not unlike Norway.

Prepare yourselves for Northrend!

Blizzard used it's 'Blizz-con' convention in California, USA, to officially announce the new addon for World of Warcraft, arguably the world's most popular MMO (massively multiplayer online game).

The new expansion pack will bring new abilities, skills and talents into the mix, and will raise the level cap from 70 to level 80. Best of all there will even be a new hero class; the Death Knight. 

Cue the Benny Hill theme song.

Speculation that it will be a combination fighter-warlock have reached places as far North as Argentina, and the expansion pack will include destructible buildings and siege weapons. Nice.

Anyways, the new addon is called Wrath of the Lich King and as everyone knows, a Lich is a type of coffee from Western Prussia, so who knows what this next saga will be about.

Oh, some new information has just come to hand. Apparently it's got nothing to do with digital recording devices, but we do know that it isn't expected to be released until 2008, and will probably be pushed back to 2009 if the previous expansion is any guide.

Wrath of the Lich King, or WoLK as we like to call it here at Cadbury's, will involve an all new story arc that unfurls in the frozen lands of Northrend. 

Once called Prince Arthas, but now known as the Lich King after a nasty accident with a meat grinder and a barrel of tripe, he wants revenge on the living world and it's up to the guilds of WoW to stop him.

Warcraft 3 gamers may remember Northrend and Arthas commands the undead armies of the Scourge

"It's begun..." says the Lich King at the start of the trailer. "Young heroes: I was once like you. You have come to this place seeking to bring judgement on the damned." 

He goes on, but I kind of tuned out after that and decided to listen to Enya instead.

The WoLK expansion will provide two starting areas in the icy lands of Northrend, and judging from the teaser trailer the overall land mass won't be barren tundra and frozen wastelands but what appears to be dense forests, rolling mountains, and plenty of rickety rope bridges.

The eastern starting point is called the Howling Fjord, which is home to quasi-viking race and features an abundance of wrecked airships and possibly some phased plasma couplings. The downed airships lend credence to reports that one of the siege weapons may be a flying vessel of some sort that drops fiery doom from the heavens. 

The siege weapons will play a large role in the new PvP (player vs player) games, which will be the means by which buildings are destroyed. It is expected that the new PvP games types involving siege weapons will charge teams with protecting various buildings and will add an extra element of team play to the whole PvP dynamic.

The western starting point meanwhile will be called the Borean Tundra, and looks a little less interesting than the Howling Fjord, what with half-melted ice and wide open plains. There will be many new zones within which to become lost, fight new creatures in 5, 10 and 25 player instances, and plenty of new quests besides.

The reason for the two starting points is believed to be in response to the chaos that some players/servers experienced when only one entry to the Outlands was available (the Hellfire Peninsula) shortly after the first expansion pack was launched. This resulting in heavy traffic congregating in one area and the lag wasn't very cheery.

Blizzard has also revealed the major city in Northrend, Dalaran. It is a floating city not unlike Venice, except without the water, algae and rampant narcotics production. It will be one of the major staging points for the battle against Arthas, aka the Lich King, aka L. Kiddy.

The new hero class, Death Knight, needs to be unlocked via a quest before you can use him, and will available to both Alliance and Horde players. The Death Knight class can be taken up by any race as well, so expect some amusing combinations. The Death Knight will be a Tank/DPS class but won't necessarily require a shield to beef up his defenses. It makes sense then that his favoured weapons are two-handed and dual wielding. 

We also understand the new Death Knight will have three schools of magic - ice, blood, and unholy. But here's the intriguing bit: unlike all other spell casters in the game, the DK won't be beholden to mana. Instead the DK will use the Runeblade feature to channel his magix. Various runes can be carved into his weapons which can then be used during combat.

the WoLK expansion will also add new items and also a new profession called 'inscription'. Inscribers will be able to permanently alter spells/skills, and this augmentation technique is expected to be in high demand for healers and such. It's being likened to jewelcrafting for spells and adds another level of customisation for characters to indulge in.

Blizzard says the Lich King will be an incredibly tough coalescence of non-living demonic energy, and thence nefarious to combat, and indubitably that is why the level cap has been raised to 80. Other extra features that WoLK will add will be largely cosmetic, including new hairstyles to further differentiate characters (here's hoping for the cobra/rats-tail/mullet) and new dance moves. 

Well, that's pretty much all we know thus far, but it's more than enough to whet the appetite. Feel free to send us a letter if you have any comments on the upcoming expansion pack, and as they say at Scientology meetings, "I preach, and I vote".