PREVIEW: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

Wrath of the Lich King is the next expansion for Blizzard Entertainment's smash hit MMORPG, World of Warcraft. If you haven't heard of WoW, where have you been for the last three years? The game currently has 10.9 million subscribers worldwide, and is still growing. Based on WoW's huge popularity, and the massive success of its previous expansion 'The Burning Crusade', Wrath of the Lich King is expected to break sales records all over the world, and boost WoW's subscribers well past the 11 million mark.

The expansion is currently in the beta stage, with hundreds of players testing the new content and reporting back with more exclusive information nearly every day.

Wrath of the Lich King will bring many new features to WoW, which will improve game-play for current subscribers, and will provide more entertainment for new ones.


Level Cap

One of the main highlights for existing players is that the level cap will be raised from 70 to 80. Ten more levels means players can improve their characters' stats, making them more efficient killing machines than ever before. With new levels come more talent points, which can be allocated on talents already in the game, along with new ones that will be added as part of the expansion.


WoW's First Hero Class

The next biggest thing about WotLK is the introduction of a new class, WoW's first Hero class no less – the deadly Death Knight. Players with a character that is level 55 or above will be able to create one of these sinister new beings.

Death Knights can be any race, male of female. They start at level 55 and get their very own starting zone. Players have to complete a series of quests alongside fellow fledgling DKs to join the rest of WoW's population. By the end of the training period, they are around level 57 and are decked out in high quality armor, weapons and an epic ground mount. See the comprehensive Death Knight Starting Guide over on worldofwar.net for details of this training period on the beta.

The only benefit as a hero class is that DKs begin the game at level 55. From that point onwards, they are not superior to other classes in any way, but the expectation is that after the general release of the expansion, the servers will be flooded with this new class, as everyone will want to try them out.

Death Knights wear plate, so are therefore primarily a melee class, but they can also cast a number of spells that include inflicting diseases upon a target, drawing a target within melee range and resurrecting a fallen friend or foe as a ghoul.


New Skills and Talents

Blizzard will introduce many new spells and abilities for players to use. The introduction of new skills is always something players look forward to greatly, and with good reason. For example, Warriors, the plate-wearing melee class, will receive the new talent 'Titan's Grip', which will permit them to dual-wield two-handed weapons, at a cost of attack speed. All the Classes will be receiving impressive new abilities to play with, and some will significantly change how the class plays over all.