Author Topic: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King  (Read 13485 times)

Offline idolminds

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New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« on: Friday, August 03, 2007, 11:32:08 AM »
It's all official. I'll post details as I find them. Going to copy and paste some stuff from shacknews:

11:26: Mentions Wrath of the Lich King. A few discernible boos. "Arthas has set events in motion that could threaten all life in Azeroth. As soon as you set foot in Northrend, you're going to be interacting with Arthas in one form or another. It's gonna be really cool. Now Arthas is no chump, so we'll be raising the level cap to 80."

11:27: PVP features: New arenas, new battlegrounds, siege weapons, destructible buildings. New profession called Inscription. Permanently enhances player spells and abilities. The crowd oohs and ahhs at that.

11:28: Northrend plans: New zones, 5 man dungeons, 10 man raids, 25 man raids, hundreds of new quests, monsters, and items. "That stuff's all good, but even more exciting, for the first time in World of Warcraft, we're introducing the Death Knight hero class."

11:29: Showing video. Northrend looks rocky. Paladins looking up to the sky, dragon fies overhead. "It's begun. You all realize, I was once like you." Forests that are burning constantly. Some cool flame effects in dungeons, skull with fire pouring out. "The land itself can rise up against you. Long forgotten terrors will smother your courage." Giant snow creature attacks player.

11:30: "All that awaits you is death." Death Knight--paladin transforms into Death Knight, surrounded by enemies, kicks ass with black/purple magic. Ballista fires a giant projectile in siege combat. "For in the final hour, all must serve the one true King." Arthas shown briefly, glowing and stuff.

Offline iPPi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #1 on: Friday, August 03, 2007, 02:45:37 PM »
Death knight is a cross between a paladin and warlock.

So let's just hope they don't get divine shield, deathcoil, and fear, and heals. 

Offline idolminds

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #2 on: Friday, August 03, 2007, 04:15:12 PM »
Shacknews has the trailer. I saw some screens as well...god damn I love Blizzards art.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #3 on: Friday, August 03, 2007, 06:33:19 PM »
Idol, I say we wait until this comes out and the price on Burning Crusade comes down... or maybe they come out in a pack or something.  Then we go back in guns blazing and just tear up both packs.  Maybe Pyro will be on a new cycle by then too, haha

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline idolminds

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #4 on: Friday, August 03, 2007, 06:56:36 PM »
That sounds like a plan.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #5 on: Friday, August 03, 2007, 08:40:38 PM »
Though the more I "think" about it, the more I wonder whether or not Hellgate: London might surpass WoW for me...

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline W7RE

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #6 on: Friday, August 03, 2007, 09:16:59 PM »
Unfortubnately, Death Knight works like Jedi did originally in SWG. You follow some quest (probably really long and annoying), and then get to create a NEW character as a Death Knight, which starts at like level 63 (I guess cuz  level 5 Death Knight would be a noob, and seem weak). I think I even read that it will only be available to certain classes or races.

EVERYONE will want to be a Death Knight. Those who can't unlock it with their current class will have to reroll, get to 80, unlock it, then finally get their DK. Yes, there will be more hero classes, but not quite yet. It would have made more sense to release at least 2-3 hero classes together so there's at least some variety, and more people have access to it without rerolling to get there.

Offline idolminds

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #7 on: Friday, August 03, 2007, 09:51:30 PM »
Though the more I "think" about it, the more I wonder whether or not Hellgate: London might surpass WoW for me...
Thats a pretty glowing review of Hellgate, because I know how much you enjoyed WoW. I hope like hell that Hellgate works as well as WoW did on dialup.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #8 on: Saturday, August 04, 2007, 12:54:00 AM »
Unfortubnately, Death Knight works like Jedi did originally in SWG. You follow some quest (probably really long and annoying), and then get to create a NEW character as a Death Knight, which starts at like level 63 (I guess cuz  level 5 Death Knight would be a noob, and seem weak). I think I even read that it will only be available to certain classes or races.

EVERYONE will want to be a Death Knight. Those who can't unlock it with their current class will have to reroll, get to 80, unlock it, then finally get their DK. Yes, there will be more hero classes, but not quite yet. It would have made more sense to release at least 2-3 hero classes together so there's at least some variety, and more people have access to it without rerolling to get there.

Where did you hear about this? This sounds horrible and would just destroy all balance that Blizzard tried to create amongst the other classes. Arenas will be pointless. The only way I see it working is if they severely restricted this class, like have it only be usable in Northrend. I mean really, what is the purpose of a hero class? I guess it could be useful in raiding the bigger instances, but other than that its just an excuse for further cheap ganking for people with asshole complexes.

Offline idolminds

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #9 on: Saturday, August 04, 2007, 03:47:01 PM »
Heres something interesting:
Quote
One big tidbit that they dropped was the fact that The Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack may require you to have the Burning Crusade as well. Blizzard isn't sure if this will require an additional purchase, or if they will bundle it in at no extra cost. When asked how retailers might react to this, no one had any idea. If you're Joe Retailer and selling copies of Burning Crusade pretty well, will you want to put something on the shelf that will cannibalize those sales, or will you just stop carrying the older title altogether?
Blizzard is in a tricky spot here. You pretty much have to have BC to play the new content, right? How else would you level from 60 to 70 so you can then move into the 80 range. Now requiring BC is pretty much a given, but bundling it with Lich King? While awesome for those of us that havent played BC yet, it would suck for the people that did shell out for it.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #10 on: Saturday, August 04, 2007, 05:53:19 PM »
I don't see that as that big of an issue.  Bunches of other games have done similar things with expansions and content packs, and I don't recall players or retailers making a fuss over it.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline angrykeebler

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #11 on: Saturday, August 04, 2007, 06:37:41 PM »
just got back from Blizzcon..

i played both this and starcraft 2 there..

im tired though so sleepy time
Suck it, Pugnate.

Offline W7RE

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #12 on: Sunday, August 05, 2007, 07:07:38 AM »
Well, I just watched the whole WotLK panel on youtube and got some more info on Death Knights (some stuff I hadn't seen pointed out in summaries I've read from the panel).

First, they aren't meant to be more powerful than any of the other classes just because they're a hero class. Apparently the term "hero class" is going to mean "directly from Warcraft lore". DKs will be available to any race/class combination. Anyone can do the quest to unlock one. It was said in the panel that pretty much anyone who can get to level 80 will be able to do the Death Knight quest line, and he loosely compared it to the warlock epic mount quest line.

I'd love to hear from Keebs, especially about getting to trying out the expansion. 8)

Offline angrykeebler

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #13 on: Monday, August 06, 2007, 10:45:09 AM »
they only let me play it for 20 minutes at a time so it was tough to see much. i used a pre-generated rogue, hunter and priest and it was pretty shitty because they didnt have trainers. (wtb higher ranked Aimed Shot)

The new zone looked outstanding though. It was a grassy/forest land with no snow. I killed some of these huge hunchback guys that seemed to be everywhere. Then I swam into the ocean and killed some orca whales with horns. Those were really neat looking. They didn't let you use flying mounts because i guess they didn't want you wandering out of the zone so it was hard to get around because of all the cliffs.

I went with only 2 people so we tried to 3 man the first instance. We took a tank, druid and rogue so with Sap we managed to get a little bit in before it got too difficult. The first instance kinda reminded me of Blood Furnace but no flames and those same huge hunchback guys instead of orcs.
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Offline Jedi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #14 on: Sunday, August 12, 2007, 12:37:51 AM »
Just been playing WoW as a new Blood Elf Warlock, (I've also got a 61 Rogue in the Outlands) and boy the new content is pretty sweet. In particular the new race areas are well thought out and the quests keep you moving in the right direction with little to no down time (read: walking long distances to do the one quest).
Anyway WoW could use some new mid game content; they've got new starting/race zones and new content for 60 to 70 and soon 70 to 80. But if you start a new character, BE or Dar, once you hit ~20 you don't se anything new again until 60, and personally I'm bored with the original zones (once I lvl this BE Lock I never want to see the barrens again and I've said similar things about STV). I just feel that one or two good ranging zones would be great; they don't have to carry you all the way from 20 to 60 or anything but another STV like zone would be awesome.

Offline W7RE

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #15 on: Sunday, August 12, 2007, 03:21:05 AM »
I haven't heard anythign about them adding new content to the 1-60 areas, but I have heard that in the expansion they'd like to speed up the 1-60 progress, maybe even the 60-70 grind too.

Offline iPPi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #16 on: Monday, August 13, 2007, 07:31:45 AM »
The 60-70 grind is pretty quick.  I got my mage from 60-70 in 2 weeks and that was during my final exams :P

I'd like to see 1-60 a little faster though, particularly the 30-50 zones, as they tend to be a little slow with lots of running around.

Offline angrykeebler

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #17 on: Monday, August 13, 2007, 10:47:14 AM »
just cause its been a while since i've seen any of your characters
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Tichondrius&n=Annarchy

is me..

p.s when i am not in tanking gear, i am smacking fools with my Stormherald.

p.p.s yeah yeah..i know about my 5 man but i haven't even played any games with them. we're still looking for a paladin before we start getting serious.
Suck it, Pugnate.

Offline iPPi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #18 on: Monday, August 13, 2007, 11:32:27 AM »
My armory links are in my signature.

My mage is obviously my main, and he's usually in his 'everyday' gear when I log.  That's not what I wear to arenas, though it's pretty close.  I just equip an offhand with stats, the pvp cloak, and the Netherwing trinket with +45 stam, and the pvp trinket for arenas.  I site at 9753 hp unbuffed for arenas at the moment, and am saving for my arena weapon.

I got PVE gear as well, and am 3/5 in tier 4.

My priest is getting healing gear slowly, but it's difficult to work on more than one character at a time.

Offline W7RE

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #19 on: Tuesday, August 14, 2007, 01:22:31 PM »
My rogue is still my main, always has been:
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Arthas&n=Fleshfeast

That's my pvp/arena/questing gear. I wear pvp gear everywhere because I'm always looking for a fight.

My PvE gear takes a bit longer to explain. I'd switch to it on the armory, but my server is down for 48 hours. I have tier 6 gloves, chest/ring/weapons from Black Temple, shoulders from Hyjal, legs from Kael'thas, and a few pieces from kara/gruul I still need to replace. My total stats in pve gear look something like this:

1800 attack power
25% crit
240 hit rating
9% passive melee haste



My paladin is my only level 70 alt:
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Arthas&n=Bloodritual

I pretty much only log him on for daily quests, then send all the money/pots to my rogue.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #20 on: Monday, September 15, 2008, 06:55:41 AM »
The release date is official: 11.13.08

Offline iPPi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #21 on: Monday, September 15, 2008, 09:55:01 AM »
It will probably get delayed a bit, but I'm probably gonna reserve it.  I want a Collector's Edition.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #22 on: Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 02:50:49 AM »
You think so? I mean yea Blizz games usually get delayed a number of times but when there are delays there was never really any date set for it, just speculation of which quarter of the year it would come. The beta has been around for a bit, plus the 3.0 patch is rolling out soon.

Offline iPPi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #23 on: Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 07:37:02 AM »
The 3.0.2 patch just hit PTRs.  Considering the vast amount of content, it will stay on PTRs for a while before seeing live servers.  There are still a lot of class changes that are still occurring every day.

Offline MysterD

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #24 on: Wednesday, October 08, 2008, 01:15:34 PM »
Updated system specs revealed for WoW: Wrath expansion

Quote
We have updated computer system specifications required to run World of Warcraft in preparation for our next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Please also note the recommended specifications, which, while certainly not required, generally provide a more optimal gaming experience.


PC System Requirements

OS: Windows XP (Service Pack 3), Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)

Processor:

    * Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+

    * Recommended: Dual-core processor, such as the Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2


Memory:

    * Minimum: 512 MB RAM (1GB for Vista users)

    * Recommended: 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)


Video:

    * Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM
      Such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better

    * Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM
      Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better



Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card or motherboard sound capability



Mac System Requirements

OS: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer

Processor:

    * Minimum: PowerPC G5 1.6 GHz or Intel Core Duo processor

    * Recommended: Intel 1.8GHz processor or better


Memory:

    * Minimum: 1 GB RAM

    * Recommended: 2 GB RAM


Video:

    * Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 64 MB VRAM
      Such as an ATI Radeon 9600 or NVIDIA GeForce Ti 4600 class card or better

    * Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM
      Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA 7600 class card or better



All Platforms

Controls: A keyboard and mouse are required. Input devices other than a mouse and keyboard are not supported.

Connectivity: You must have an active broadband Internet connection to play.

Mouse: Multi-button mouse with scroll wheel recommended.

Hard Drive Space: 15 GB free hard drive space

Offline W7RE

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #25 on: Wednesday, October 08, 2008, 01:35:34 PM »
They must have just put more detail into the Northrend zones and armor or something, or it's just that the new shadow settings kill the preformance that much on lower end machines. I play on the beta (though it was early beta), and the player models and such were still the same super low detail ones that we saw at WoW's launch like 4 years ago, with only head and shoulders physically changing your character's model. Now that I have a beefier system, I'd love for them to update the graphics a bit. I mean really, they seemed low rez and low detail when the game was released.

Yea, I have Lich King preordered and fully paid off, even though I bought Warhammer. I'm enjoying WAR more as a game, but my friends all refuse to leave WoW. =/

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #26 on: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 03:18:47 PM »
Well I just have another night of work to kill before the expansion. I took time off for tomorrow night and I am scheduled to have thursday off so that worked out.

From what I gathered from people here everyone that is still playing WoW is getting it at the midnight release. Those of you that have multiple level 70s, which one are you leveling first? For me its my warrior, I leveled a rogue first but ever since I rolled a warrior Ive been loving him ever since, plus Im like the main tank of the guild.

Offline iPPi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #27 on: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 03:44:56 PM »
Mage.

Though I have considered making other toons my main, my mage is what I've played since beta and I'm really liking the direction of the mage class right now.

I'm also going to be rolling a death knight. 

I have no idea how many toons beyond my mage I will get to level 80.  Managing multiple level capped characters is too time consuming.

Offline angrykeebler

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #28 on: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 04:05:53 PM »
Resto druid! I have Naxx a week after release  :o
Suck it, Pugnate.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #29 on: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 04:24:07 PM »
Wait you guys are expected to hit 80 and raid Naxx in a week?

Offline iPPi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #30 on: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 04:53:56 PM »
Resto druid! I have Naxx a week after release  :o

My guild is also intending to start 10 man raids the Monday immediately after the release of Wrath, and 25 mans on Dec 2.  There is no way in hell I am going to be 80 by then. 


Offline W7RE

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #31 on: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 05:05:57 PM »
Naxx 7 days after release doesn't seem that far fetched to me. It took me 3-4 days to get to 70 in TBC, and from what I've heard leveling in WotLK might actually be faster. If the guild is in BT/Sunwell gear then they can probably manage the early Naxx fights in their existing gear.


I sold my horde rogue and paladin for $1250 a month or two back. I recently leveled a human paladin on a new server with some in game friends, and plan on rerolling Death Knight. My friends will give me 24-48 hours to get from 55 to 68 so we can all start on Northrend. They plan on powering me through a lot of the Outlands quests to make things faster and keep me from getting ganked.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #32 on: Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 02:07:13 AM »
Jeez, Im glad im in a non raiding guild. I actually want to enjoy the game and take everything in, I couldnt stand being in a situation where Im pressured to rush through everything.

Offline angrykeebler

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #33 on: Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 02:57:45 PM »
I'm gonna level my druid quickly but I will take my time leveling on my warrior and enjoy the sights and sounds of northrend.
Suck it, Pugnate.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #34 on: Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 11:36:18 PM »
Does anybody have it? Picked it up not too long ago, still installing.

Offline W7RE

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #35 on: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 03:09:09 AM »
Yea I got it. My death knight is 61.5 and about to head to Outland. I see 4 other 61 DKs, and one 62, so I'm not far behind. :P

I would have been further ahead, but I had trouble installing. I live on the east coast, so that gave me a 3 hour head start on west coast people, but I had troubles with the intaller and didn't get logged in until 1:30. =/

Offline angrykeebler

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #36 on: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 04:30:44 AM »
DING! 71!
Suck it, Pugnate.

Offline iPPi

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #37 on: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 09:25:35 AM »
Got it last night at midnight release.  I have to work though so I can't play until later tonight.

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #38 on: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 09:01:10 PM »
Well while I am waiting in line to get into my server, I thought Id post the screens I took.

I have to say the very first zone of Northrend is very beautiful. Compared to say Hellfire Peninsula from Outlands where everything was red and firey, the Borean Tundra is a mixed of all sorts of various landscapes. Even the alliance town Valiance Keep is one of the most unique towns as it doesnt use the same building layouts as other Alliance towns. Speaking of which, when arriving to Northrend its where you dock into harbor to.



Here is when I was first coming into Northrend, there was actually a big group on the boat, they were just on the lower deck.



This is a shot of Valiance Keep from afar.



This city ruins was a little bit outside of the Keep.



This was from a cliff and the huge building in the distance is a horde town, Warsong Hold.



Heres another shot of Warsong Hold away from the cliff area.



The cliffs seperate the Borean Tundra with another land mass apart of the zone which is where the first instance is. Theres no way over there except from a post at the top of the cliff where Dalaran mages and a red dragon that will fly you there. Which leads to the most breathtaking moment so far...



Thats the Nexus, I havent explored the area around just yet, but I made sure I got a shot of it.



Then much further north is a gnomish Alliance point, Fizzcrank Airstrip.

And thats about all of it. So far Im really impressed with what all they did here, cant wait it move further into Northrend.
Oh yea, almost forgot, I got to ride a woolly mammoth!


Offline angrykeebler

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Re: New expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
« Reply #39 on: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 10:39:19 PM »
standard UI is gross
Suck it, Pugnate.