05/11/2008 Update 5: WotLK taxi mounts, 2 new arenas and Lake Wintergrasp (via Worldofwar)
WotLK taxi mounts
• WotLK flying mounts will be a little bit faster, more like the speed of the Pheonix Mount or the Armored Netherdrake. One of the things we're talking about right now, it's not finalized, but we're talking about the ability for those mounts to carry a passenger, so if your friend doesn't have an epic flying mount or if they are a lower level or whatever, they'd be able to jump on your mount and off you go.
Arenas
• There will be 2 new arenas for WotLK, one could be set in Dalaran and the other might be the Orgrimmar Arena which players have always asked about (we might make that available for arena combat with some modifications).
Lake Wintegrasp
• The faction that dominates Lake Wintergrasp might get a buff for the entire continent of Northrend.
05/10/2008 Update 4: New Death Knights abilities from Ten Ton Hammer and Worldofwar reports, also added class & item info taken from multiple interviews.
05/09/2008 Update 3: The new WotLK videos/screenshots have been sorted by zone, we also included info for each zone. (See the "World" section added at the bottom of the wotlk info summary) Update 2: New info about Arthas, Dragonblight and factions. Update 1: We added new info to the WotLK preview summary and used the patch notes layout for a better readability.
This week, several websites have been invited to Blizzard HQ to have an insight of the upcoming expansion Wrath of the Lich King, we will keep this news updated with every new piece of info released by these sites.
The following is a compilation of information from Curse , Gamespy and Eurogamer using the patch notes layout, for a better readability.
General
• Players will unlock their flying mounts at level 77
• You can use your Outland flying mount, and Blizzard will have new flying mounts for players to get as well
• WotLK flying mounts will be a little bit faster, more like the speed of the Pheonix Mount or the Armored Netherdrake. One of the things we're talking about right now, it's not finalized, but we're talking about the ability for those mounts to carry a passenger, so if your friend doesn't have an epic flying mount or if they are a lower level or whatever, they'd be able to jump on your mount and off you go.
• The Northrend in Wrath of the Lich King is considerably larger than Outland, the area explored by players in Burning Crusade. That means not only are there larger numbers of zones to explore, many of them are so large that they've been divided into "sub-zones," much like Terrokar Forest and the Auchindon Waste in Outland.
• The new "vehicle" system will enable characters to "drive" an object around. One example Blizzard gave them: Players will fly over a human settlement being overrun with the Scourge, lowering a ladder down to pull up and rescue civilians. In one dungeon instance, players will be able to "liberate" some blue dragons that they can mount up and fly around, fighting their way up a massive tower.
Old Azeroth contents used in Northrend
• There are quests and content relating to the Worgen and the sons of Arugal (from Silverpine Forest) and everyone's favorite religious fanatics, the Scarlet Crusade (called the Scarlet Onslaught in Northrend).
• They're also advancing the Forsaken storyline, adding in uniquely Forsaken building architecture and giving the player more chances to help in their Wile E. Coyote-like quest to kill every living thing on Azeroth.
Factions
• The Argent Dawn faction returns in Zul'Drak.
• In Sholazar Basin, players will take part in a faction-reputation war between the Wolvar (sentient wolves) and Oracles ("the next evolution of the Murlocs"). A much lighter take on reputation gaming is promised here, with players actively encouraged to defect to the other side at will.
Professions
Blacksmithing
• Blacksmithing may be able to put Gem slots on items that didn't have them before
Inscription
• Inscribers will create glyphs that allow players to modify their spells and abilities.
• The first recipe is going to requires Peacebloom, thus they'll rely on the herbalist gathering profession.
• Every player will get a new spell book page to which they can add six glyphs - currently, four major and two minor.
• Major glyphs will be effective in combat - adding damage over time or stun to a physical attack, for example - while minor glyphs will give convenient or cosmetic improvements, removing the need for some spell reagents.
• Glyphs can be sold on the auction house.
Dungeons & Raids
• Similar to World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, all 5-person dungeons will have a Heroic mode, and the loot tables for the 2 modes will be totally separate. Heroic dungeons will have their own "Tier" of armor completely unique to that level dungeon.
• The regular five-man instances take around one hour or less to beat (this probably won't be the case for the heroic versions)
• Zero raid bosses have been designed at this point
• PvE ladders on the official armory are possible in the future
New "two-tier" raiding system
• All raid dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King will have both 25-person and 10-person versions
- 25-person raiding progression is not dependent on 10-person raiding; players will not have to obtain keys or attunements in 10-person raids to participate in 25-person raids
- 10- and 25-person raids both have their own, independent progression paths
• Players will receive more, higher level rewards for completing the 25-person raid dungeons over the 10-person version
Dragonblight
• Players will interact with Arthas for the first time at a relatively low level, around 71-74 in Dragonblight - the final encounter with him won't be until the final patch of the Lich King cycle, some time after release.
• The Chamber of Aspects in Dragonblight will offer a series of different single-encounter short raids with dragon bosses.
The Nexus
• The Nexus is located in Coldara (a sub-zone of Borean Tundra) is a three-wing dungeon for 70s, 80s and a short Onyxia-style raid against Malygos himself.
• The Nexus is structurally a broken tower with rotating rings surrounding a column of blue energy.
• During some of the boss encounters, players will actually free drakes to fly around the ring. Using the game's new vehicle technology, players will be able to engage in free flight around the dungeon and use some of the drake's abilities to take on some of the dungeon's challenges.
Death Knights
A quick description of some of the spells:
• Blade Strike - Applies disease to the target in addition to doing damage.
• Blood Strike - Does an amount of damage based on how many diseases are on the target.
• Death Coil -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing 600 damage to a non-Undead target, or healing 900 damage on a friendly target.
• Death Grip -- This is the Death Knight's "taunt" ability. It also pulls the target to the Death Knight, forcing them to attack the Death Knight for a short amount of time. Yes, I said pulls the target; Blizzard is going to allow players to move mobs in the expansion both with Death Grip, and other knockback/pull abilities. This works on players too, so PvP balance ahoy!
• Chains of Ice -- Roots the target in place. When the spell fades, it places a snare on the target that reduces in potency as the duration runs out.
• Mind Freeze - This ability interrupts casting.
• Raise Dead -- Raises a nearby corpse to fight for the Death Knight for 2 minutes. If used on a player corpse, the player has the option to play as the ghoul for the duration -- gaining access to the ghoul's abilities.
- The ghoul has the ability to do the following:
-- Leap to the target
-- Rend for decent damage-over-time
-- Stun target, and of course more
• Death Pact -- Sacrifices the raised ghouls to heal the Death Knight.
• Death and Decay -- Targeted, AoE Damage-over-time which pulses similar to the Paladin spell Consecration. Anyone affected by Death and Decay has a chance to be feared.
• Blood Presence - DPS. Increases DPS and heals the DK slightly when attacked.
• Frost Presence -- Increases Armor by 45% and allows the Death Knight to generate 25% more threat. Only one presence can be active at any time.
• Unholy Presence -- Increases Attack Speed and Movement speed by 15%. Only one presence can be active at any time. This was described by Tom Chilton as the "PvP" presence.
• Anti-magic Shield -- Reduces the damage of the next magical spell cast on the Death Knight by 75%. It also converts the damage reduced into Runic Power.
• Strangulate -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing minor damage and silencing the target for up to 5 seconds.
• Summon Deathcharger -- Allows the Death Knight to summon a Deathcharger mount. This mount is acquired through quests, similar to the Paladin and Warlock land mounts.
• Name Unknown - it consumes all the runic power but grants the Death Knight immunity to stun effects and significantly increases their armor for 12 seconds.
A quick recap of the information they were told about the Death Knight:
• Death knights will be available to all players with level 55 characters
• Players can create one death knight per realm, per account
• Death knights can be any of the races
• Once created, death knights can undertake a series of quests to introduce the player to the new class and its associated lore
• Death knights utilize a rune system as their resource mechanic
- Three different rune types are available: Unholy, Frost, and Blood
- These runes allow death knights to cast spells and abilities; spells can cost any combination of these runes
- Spent runes automatically refresh after a set period of time, similar to a rogue’s energy bar
- The death knight will have the ability to customize which array of six runes is currently available
• As rune abilities are used, the death knight also generates another resource called Runic Power
- The death knight will have several abilities that cost all available Runic Power, with varying levels of effectiveness based on total Runic Power spent
- Runic Power decays over time if it’s not spent, similar to a warrior’s rage bar
• The death knight has three different presences to use: Blood, Frost, and Unholy; each presence grants the death knight a unique buff that will allow him or her to fulfill different roles in combat
• The death knight can serve either as a tank or as a melee-based damage-dealing class
• Death knights are designed to be highly viable tanking, magic-using characters
• Death knights will have the ability to summon undead guardians to fight by their side
• Death knights will have the ability to summon a Deathcharger mount.
Class
• It's quite likely that somewhere for a couple different classes we'll probably make use of the knockback mechanic in Wrath of the Lich King.
PvP
Arenas
• There will be 2 new arenas for WotLK, one could be set in Dalaran and the other might be the Orgrimmar Arena which players have always asked about (we might make that available for arena combat with some modifications).
Lake Wintegrasp
• The faction that dominates Lake Wintergrasp might get a buff for the entire continent of Northrend.
Items
• Tier level will start off at like tier 7 quality gear, or tier 8. It depends on whether or not you consider Sunwell to be sharing another tier of gear, and then Ulduar beyond that will be another tier of gear. There are even tiers within that for the 10 and 25-person, so while the art is shared between the 10 and 25-person instances, there are color variants of it, so for example you'll be able to see the difference, but thematically it's the same. Also the sets within that tier, within that instance, work with each other. So a lot like right now the Season 1 Gladiator, Season 2, Season 3 are all part of the same armor set, you can mix and max the pieces and still get the set bonuses. That will be the case for 10 and 25 man instances, so with Naxxramas 10 and 25, if you have the leggings from the 10 man zone and the chest piece from the 25-person zone, you'll be able to wear them together and get the set bonus.
World
Borean Tundra
• Video
• Both the eastern zone of Howling Fjord and western entry points of Borean Tundra will be accessible to Horde and Alliance. Each of them also sports creatures of similar level ranges along with starter dungeons players can access almost from the first moment they set foot on the continent.
• That zone contains the goofy-looking Tuskar. These are basically friendly sentient walruses whose villages will be welcome safe zones in Northrend. These simple fisher folk will also represent a new reputation faction for players to ally with.
• This is also where you'll find The Nexus, a new instance with level 70, level 80 and raid wings. This airborne spiral of ice, crackling with lightning, is home to the evil Blue Dragonflight, and one of its wings will use the vehicle combat system to allow whole parties of players to fly drakes through it, bombarding the enemy.
Dragonblight
• Video
• Dragonblight is a snowbound region of icy forests and cracked mountains, punctuated by the grandiose shrines of the five Dragonflights and Wyrmrest Temple, where the Chamber of Aspects will offer a series of different single-encounter short raids with dragon bosses. You'll also come up against Arthas for the first time here - the final encounter with him won't be until the final patch of the Lich King cycle, some time after release - and be reunited (violently) with the insane Scarlet Crusade.
Grizzly Hills
• Video (1:09 into the movie)
• Grizzly Hills provides a pure hit of early-level nostalgia, a flashback to classic WOW. Special guests include the endearing, troublesome Furbolg and Kobolds, human characters that hark all the way back to low-level Westfall, the exploitative Venture Company, the Worgen werewolves led by a resurrected Arugal, and a shattered, evil sister city to the Alliance capital, Ironforge.
Howling Fjord
• Video
• Howling Fjord is a wooded plateau above towering cliffs, peopled by angry ten-foot Vikings (the Vrykul). It's connected by boat to Borean Tundra, a vast, otherworldly wilderness with rolling dunes and a haunted shoreline plunged into an eerie, grey, flickering half-light. Here, we help out the Tuskar walrus-men and join D.E.H.T.A. - Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals - in their campaign against the rapacious dwarf hunter Hemet Nesingwary, eventually riding a mammoth into battle and deploying its devastating charge, trample and bellow attacks.
Sholazar Basin
• Video
• Sholazar Basin is a lush tropical oasis in the midst of Arctic wastes, reminiscent of the original game's Un'Goro Crater. Here you'll take part in a faction-reputation war between the Wolvar (sentient wolves) and Oracles ("the next evolution of the Murlocs" - a worrying thought). A much lighter take on reputation gaming is promised here, with players actively encouraged to defect to the other side at will.
Zul'Drak & Drak'Theron Keep
• Video
• Zul'Drak is a single, giant ziggurat, the broken civilisation of the ice trolls, who've gone mad after sacrificing their animal gods in an attempt to fight off the Scourge. There's another stunning dungeon here, Drak'Theron Keep, where improbable dinosaurs roam and Scourge necromancers overwhelm players with waves of resurrected Trolls. The Argent Dawn faction returns in Zul'Drak.
"All raid dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King will have both 25-person and 10-person versions" If thats true thats the best news ever! It means we wont have to take 10-15 retards to raids just to fill spots while they do 400 dps.
Raid info is nice 10 & 25man versions, will be nice to see how this works out. Also good to hear they are carrying on the herioc 5man also, it seems to be popular.
Death Knight sounds imba, cant wait till its tested by some players. Reading he seems a little OP, but I guess if some of the stuff is from diff talent trees etc will be a good balance.
You also have to take in account that all current classes will get their talent trees expanded with another 2 tiers most likely. Which will probably place all these DK ability's more in perspective.
Other then that I don't know what to think of making all 25mans also 10man dungeons. If this means Blizzard will be giving us more raid content in Wrath of the Lich King then I can only be very happy.
Personaly thou I'm just afraid that this is just another step to making raiding even more casual friendly & furter destroying raiding guilds. Everyone that's been playing in a decent raiding guild (no pun intended) since TBC came out knows how hard it is to keep a guild together and my guess is it's only gonna be harder since ppl will be able to see all content in 10mans. Probably with a slight difference in ability's on a bosses etc but still...
PS: Over 3 years after the release WoW still looks good imo. It seems to me the graphics are kinda timeless.
Edited 1 times in total, last edited by MasterLoco, 09 May 2008, 9:44
10-mans version, blue drops hopefully, and the harder once drop epics.
25 mans vers, epics, tier and so on.
But i hope they make one or two instances 25 men only because how can you tune a Kael'thas 10 man? Illidan 10 man? Arthas 10 man? think you get me point, eh?
Flaskataurs's Flask of Pretty Good Power
"It's not supreme but it's not bad either"
We'll with the extrem epic inflation I think in both 10 an 25man Raids Epics will drop. I think there will be only an difference in the itemlevel. so for example:
Wotlk Tier 1 Raid:
10: 2 iLevel 180 Epics
25: 3 iLevel 195 Epics
(Sunwell/S4 is around iLevel 160 so I assumed ~20 iLevels for leveling from 70 to 80)
and so on.
It would be interessting to know if there are differences in the visuals of 10 and 25 man epics. An additional glow here and there for example.
And 10man Versions of Raidbosses, we'll Illidan for Example would be possible with 10 men, you only have to adjust his and the fire elementals health. tone the dmg of some abilities a little bit down. But Illidan really good changeable from the pure strategic side.
for Kael'thas Phase 2 and 3 would needed the most change I think.
And besides, I think they are keeping this 10/25 man thingy in mind while creating bosses. so its easier for them to create both versions.
and additionally: there dont have to be major similarities between 10 and 25 man. Of course there will be some "signature moves" which both versions have, but for example: Arthas25 could have masses of adds and Arthas10 has to be kitet by the tank, but has no adds. Both Versions sometimes use the "Frostmourne in ur face"-Signature Move (it does somethins fancy )
and I thought of all these points in like 3 minutes, so its not that hard to find a quity proper way.
Death Knights
