Wrath of the Lich King: Too Much Information?

Although November may seem like a long way off, those of us waiting for the second WoW expansion do have something to occupy our time. Between a flood of information on GameSpy, the World of Warcraft website and miscellaneous forums, WoW lovers may well find themselves reading up on the expansion up until it comes out–so let’s start now.

We all know the basics of the expansion: a new level cap at 80, the first Hero class (a necromantic Death Knight), a new profession (Inscription), another new continent, new dungeons, siege warfare and even more customization of your characters. So what else would you want or need to know?
Well, how about that the Death Knight will be a melee/tank character that automatically starts out at level 55 (imagine skipping over all the Chuck Norris chat!), or that there’s a new zone, DragonBlight, where the dragons are born? (Or just that there will be Lich Dragons in general?)

Personally, I like the idea of skipping the Chuck Norris chat, but if that’s not enough for you, there’s plenty more to read up on. Blizzard broke the dam, and instead of letting a trickle of information out, they flooded the Blood elf village at the bottom of the river. So, if you want to know something about Wrath of the Lich King, you’re bound to find it.

But just to make sure you’ve got a good idea of what you’re bound to find anyway, here’s a quick summary. WoW lovers are likely to see:

-no fewer than twelve new monsters (including Flesh Giants and Iron Dwarves)
-at least two new dungeons: The Nexus and Utgarde Keep
-four environments: Dragonblight, Grizzly Hills, Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord
-new factions, including the walrus-looking Tuskarr
-new gameplay features (new quest mechanics for the higher levels, Heroic dungeon features, new flying mounts, etc)
-and obviously, the Death Knight

From all reports (including an interview with J. Allen Brack), Wrath of the Lich King seems to be returning to the heart and roots of the Warcraft series. It steers away from the extreme sci-fi/fantastical environments seen in Burning Crusade, and returns the game to the slightly more realistic basis that it originally had. In addition, the storyline is one that most gamers are familiar with (the Lich King is nothing new to Warcraft fans), and the expansion should feature many gamer favorites from past games (like the Hero class).

So if you’re at level 70 and just waiting for the newest addition to WoW, I suggest you spend the next few months reading and wading through the information Blizzard has kindly drowned us in. It will definitely take you that long.

And for those of us busy working towards 70? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.