This week Blizzard had invited a bunch of sites such as Gamespy, 1up, eurogamer and Curse to visit the Blizzard HQ; which has revealed a whole lot about the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Check inside for massive Death Knight information and much more..
Blood Presence -- DPS Presence which increases damage and heals the Death Knight slightly when attacked.
Unknown Name (Death Coil like ability) -- It consumes all the runic power but grants the Death Knight immunity to stun effects and significantly increases their armor for 12 seconds.
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.
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 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 match 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.
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.
Players will meet Arthas for the first time in this zone
The Scarlet Crusade will make a (violent) comeback here.
Frost runes as more of a crowd-control type of runes
Six slots will be available on rune blades for socketing runes
Blade configuration will impact the frequency of spell use. [[It's reasonable to assume that if you're a tanking Death Knight, you'll end up with one or two different blade configurations. If you're a melee-damage dealer, you'll end up with two or three different configurations, the same with PvP. But it won't be everyone just picking at random, there'll be optimal blade configurations for each role - Quoted from Tigole]]
Talent specialization will to some extent dertermine a Death Knight's blade configuration.
Talent trees correlate to the three types of runes (blood tree, unholy tree, frost tree) - That doesn't mean that every spell in those tree's will use that specific rune type though.
Players will keep their original race racials. No double racials here! ;)
Players will be able to unlock their flying mounts (e.g. use them in Northrend) at level 77
Outland flying mounts will be available for use in Northrend
New flying mounts will be added
Mounts in WotLK will be buffed in speed, equivalent to the armored netherdrake (310%) from the Arena
Players will most likely be able to carry passengers on their new mounts. This will also be available in the old world, granted that the player is using a land mount (can't fly in Azeroth yet!)
Northrend in Wrath of the Lich King is a bit larger than Outland, the area explored by players in Burning Crusade. That means that not only is there a larger number 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 : 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.
The final encounter with Arthas won't be until the final patch of the Lich King cycle, some time after release. Players will meet him, though, for the first time in the Dragonblight zone.
There are three zones we don't know anything about yet: Crystal Song Forest, The Storm Peaks, and Icecrown Glacier. We do however know that the Icecrown Citadel will be (inside?) the Icecrown Glacier, which will be the final zone/dungeon for WotLK where players will face off against Arthas.
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.
Raiding
ZERO raid bosses have been designed so far
Heroic mode for 5 man instances will persist through WotLK as with Burning Crusade
All 25 man instances will also have a 10 man version. The feature is named "two-tier" dungeons.
The 10 and 25 man instances will not depend on each other in terms of progression
Both will also have their own progression paths
No keys or attunements will be needed from 10 man versions in order to enter a 25 man version
25 man instances will reward better items than 10 man
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.
Coldara
Coldara is a three-wing dungeon for 70s, 80s and a short Onyxia-style raid against Malygos himself
Coldara is structurally a broken tower with rotating rings surrounding a column of blue energy.
Coldara is a sub-zone of Borean Tundra, outside Warsong Hold. It's the first zone thats involved in the primary plot threads.
It's a lightning-torn region filled with blue dragons and blue dragon-kin.
Dalaran's Kirin Tor faction is investigating the area and the blue dragonflight. Due to the fact that Malygos, leader of the blue dragonflight has gone crazy and is waging a war against all who use magic.
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.
Dragonblight
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.
Players will meet Arthas for the first time in this zone
The Scarlet Crusade will make a (violent) comeback here.
Drak'Theron Keep
Dinosaurs, Scourge Necromancers, Undead trolls roam the keep.
The Argent Dawn faction returns in Zul'Drak.
Grizzly Hills
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.
Naxxramas
Naxxramas returns as a low-end dungeon
Naxxramas will be the first "two-tier" (10 man/25 man) dungeon people can enter
All old Naxxramas bosses will return
All bosses will be tuned for both 10 man and 25 man, each with their own set of loot (as described above)
Sholazar Basin
A lush tropical oasis in the midst of Arctic wastes, reminiscent of the original game's Un'Goro Crater
Players will be able to take part in a faction-reputation war between the Wolvar (sentient wolves) and Oracles ("next evolution" of the Murlocs)
Players will be able to pick sides (and defect)
Uthgarde Keep
Uthgarde is one of the first instances
Uthgarde is a 5 man instance
Uthgarde is a two-wing instance, one a "low-level" 70 location and a "high-level" 80.
Heroic Mode will be available as with all 5 man dungeons
Zul'Drak
Zul'Drak is a single giant ziggurat
As the name suggests it's a zone filled with trolls
Death Knight Information
Players will need a level 55 character to unlock the Death Knight
Players will keep their original racials. No double racials here! ;)
Only ONE Death Knight per realm, per account
Death Knights can be any race (Gnome Death Knights!!!)
Death Knights can be either a highly viable "magic" tank or a melee based DPS class
Death Knights will be a viable main tank for any raiding guild
Death Knights have the ability to summon undead combat pets, such as a ghoul
Death Knights can summon a Deathcharger which will be available through quests (like Warlocks and Paladins)
When you create a Death Knight you'll go through a bunch of quests that will introduce the class and the story behind it
Three types of runes will be the main resource behind Death Knights
The three types will be Blood, Frost and Unholy
Runes allow Death Knights to cast spells and use abilities combined with the specific runes
Runes will refresh after a set amount of time, similar to a rogue's energy bars
Deciding which runes to use will be customizable
Blood runes are the more tanking-type runes
Frost runes as more of a crowd-control type of runes
Six slots will be available on rune blades for socketing runes
Blade configuration will impact the frequency of spell use. [[It's reasonable to assume that if you're a tanking Death Knight, you'll end up with one or two different blade configurations. If you're a melee-damage dealer, you'll end up with two or three different configurations, the same with PvP. But it won't be everyone just picking at random, there'll be optimal blade configurations for each role - Quoted from Tigole]]
Talent specialization will to some extent dertermine a Death Knight's blade configuration.
Talent trees correlate to the three types of runes (blood tree, unholy tree, frost tree) - That doesn't mean that every spell in those tree's will use that specific rune type though.
When a Death Knight uses runes it will generate Runic Power
The more runes used the stronger the Runic Power spell will be
Runic Power will decay over time if it's not used, such as with a warrior's rage bar
Death Knights have three different presences, similar to Paladin Auras: Blood, Frost, and Unholy
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.
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.
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.
Mind Freeze -- This ability interrupts casting.
Blood Presence -- DPS Presence which increases damage and heals the Death Knight slightly when attacked.
Unknown Name (Death Coil like ability) -- It consumes all the runic power but grants the Death Knight immunity to stun effects and significantly increases their armor for 12 seconds.
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.
Yup it's true! With WotLK Blizzard will introduce some new technology that will enable vechicle physics and handling characteristics - including inertia, turning circle, grip and suspension bounce - to land and airborne vehicles and special mounts.
Vechicles will be able to carry up to eight passengers
A new special bar will be introduced in order to control a vehicle
Players will be able to use vechicles together, for example one player driving another using a turret
PvP Siege weapons for Lake Wintergrasp (outdoor PvP zone) will include Dwarven steam tanks, Forsaken plague spreaders and Orc demolishers.
Quest designers, however, got carried away with other ideas, introducing crazy vehicle quests that are an exponential evolution of Burning Crusade's bombing runs - throwing flaming oil at Worgen from horseback, airlifting supplies in a gyrocoptor, and yes, mammoth wrangling. We also see tanks and parachutes, and there's even talk of allowing players to take a passenger on regular ground or flying mounts.
New Profession: Inscription
People with the inscription profession will be called inscribers
They'll be able to create glyhps that allow players to modify their spells and abilities
Inscription will rely on herbalism for making gylphs
A new spell book page will be added for inscribers, where they'll be able to add (currently) six glyphs, for now four major and two minor.
Major glyphs are for combat-use, adding for example damage or stuns
Minor glyphs are for cosmetic improvements or other "convenient" areas, such as removing the need for some spell reagents.
Glyphs can be sold via the auction house
Enchanting
There's 1 big change coming in regards to enchanting:
Enchanters will most likely be able to sell their enchants via the auction house
Questing
There's this whole quest chain in Howling Fjord where you learn how to train falcons. You do a number of quests where you get a falcon pet and you send it out and it has to kill things and then come back to you; you learn the basic controls of the falcon. Then it has this great climax where you get to go to the edge of the cliff and actually control the falcon from his point of view and then you have to steal these eggs that are down on a cliff that are heavily protected.
There's another quest where you get to assume the form of an iron golem and there are these huge jump pad runes all over a very vertical... it's in Howling Fjord, that zone with the huge cliff walls... there are these runes all over the cliff wall and you get to control this iron golem as he's doing these giant jumps up and down the cliff walls to give you a more visceral, gamey, platformey feel to it.
The Dalaran wizards here play a major role that ties into one of the early dungeons called the Nexus. First you have to do a few chores for them, like a quest to capture an enemy magic user and drag him back to the Dalaran camp. There's then a torture sequence where you repeatedly zap the prisoner with lightning bolts from a special quest item until he cracks and divulges information necessary for the quest to continue.
Blizzard also mentioned you'll able to fly around in planes and have you pick up passengers or pick them off, as well as fly around in helicopters, pick up and deliver cargo, and parachute out.
If anyone catches an important piece of information in any of the articles or interviews please post it in comments and we'll add it to the lists! Thanks!
Well Blood magic usually means things like life leeching etc. I think it could probably have something to do with that. Maybe when hit the Death Knight gains health or something along those lines. I have to say though I am REALLY intrigued now. I was gonna level one as an alt and stick with my mage, but I may just re-roll one.. along with everyone else
Coldara sound awesome. I believe this will be the first time that we have acutally fought an aspect of a Dragonflight? By the way Nessaj keep adding info! I am bored at work
#11 I think I read on the forums that someone said January 2009. I personally would like to see it for christmas, but even if they did release a date it would get pushed back anyway. As you know Blizzard don't release things until they are 100% ready.
#13 Nessaj 9 May 2008, 03:24 PM
The one with all the power
Added some more about Naxxramas and Uthgarde Keep. Nothing spectacular for now though.
@ # 12 Thanx bro, i havent seen everything about it, i was just in a game store the other day and they said they we starting to take pre-orders on it. Lol, i didnt even hesitate. about 3 days later i went back in to purchase something else and all the pre-orders were filled.
Haha carrying players on your mount. It's a cool idea and I aren't knocking it, but you have to agree it's kinda pointless unless your gonna be carrying low levels around for money or something.
EDIT: #19 No problem. I wouldn't take that as an exact date though. You just have to think how many times TBC was pushed back. I aren't suprised it was pre-ordered though. They aren't even pre-ordering it in the UK yet :/. A lot of people were disappointed with TBC (myself included). I think WotLK promises some nice features this time round. Could be a major factor I guess.
