Northrend the next expansion?
- Thread starter Tinie
- Start date
reets
New Member
Wow, this is exciting 
I feel like reading some WoW books now that are sitting on my shelf.
I feel like reading some WoW books now that are sitting on my shelf.
Tinie
New Member
Wrath of the Lich King 100% confirmation
Earlier Today Thursday at 6am EST, the title of the second World of Warcraft expansion pack : Wrath of the Lich King appeared on the Blizzard Entertainment copyrights page at US Patent and Trademark Office Website.
http://www.worldofraids.com/news/expansion/100.jpg
The title confirms the next expansion is based on the Northrend Continent, if you didnt purchase the World of Warcraft RPG books World of Warcraft RPG: Lands of Mystery, you probably missed important expansion materials, the book contains lore and map of Northrend. The continent of Northrend is divided in ten regions:
* Coldarra
* Crystalsong Forest
* Grizzly Hills
* Howling Fjord
* Icecrown Glacier
* Sholazar Basin
* The Borean Tundra
* The Dragonblight
* The Stormpeaks
* Zul'Drak
We suggest you to head to Blizzplanet to access their summary page describing each region within Northrend and the Northrend map taken straight from the Lands of Mystery RPG Book.
Teza
WoR reporter
Earlier Today Thursday at 6am EST, the title of the second World of Warcraft expansion pack : Wrath of the Lich King appeared on the Blizzard Entertainment copyrights page at US Patent and Trademark Office Website.
http://www.worldofraids.com/news/expansion/100.jpg
The title confirms the next expansion is based on the Northrend Continent, if you didnt purchase the World of Warcraft RPG books World of Warcraft RPG: Lands of Mystery, you probably missed important expansion materials, the book contains lore and map of Northrend. The continent of Northrend is divided in ten regions:
* Coldarra
* Crystalsong Forest
* Grizzly Hills
* Howling Fjord
* Icecrown Glacier
* Sholazar Basin
* The Borean Tundra
* The Dragonblight
* The Stormpeaks
* Zul'Drak
We suggest you to head to Blizzplanet to access their summary page describing each region within Northrend and the Northrend map taken straight from the Lands of Mystery RPG Book.
Teza
WoR reporter
Tinie
New Member
Daire
New Member
Tinie
New Member
Blizzard Entertainment News & Articles
BlizzCon Dungeons and Raids Panel
Blizzard Entertainment: 5 hours | by Kody | Category: Events & Matches
The Dungeons & Raids Panel was a great panel to sit in on. From the insight Jeff Kaplan gave on the core design of a dungeon to the details Scott Mercer provided on encounter design, to some hot new info on upcoming dungeons and UI features to support raids.
A quick recap:
A new raid dungeon harder than Black Temple will be added before the expansion. Expect this to be the Sunwell Plateau with the final boss being Kil'Jaeden.
Blizzard would like to add another 5-person dungeon before the expansion.
Level cap of original WoW was first going to be 70, with Northrend and Outland included, but Blizzard realized their ambitions were bigger than both their budget and time allowed.
There will be one less max-level 5-person instance in WotLK compared to TBC because Jeff Kaplan feels that Heroics greatly supliment the need for an abundance of max-level dungeons.
Blizzard wants to do more 10-person instances in the future.
Blizzard wants to re-introduce Naxxramas in Northrend as a molten core level dungeon so more players can experience one of the best raid dungeons created.
"A lot more" Heroic badge rewards, better than current rewards, will be added with the Zul'Aman patch to help off-spec classes out with itemization gaps.
Jeff Kaplan would like to see the new Siege Weapons and Destroyable Buildings added to PvE content as well, but it's not something 100% yet.
Major UI Additions
Blizzard wants to add all of the following to the base UI:
Built-in itemrack-like system that allows you to swap gear sets quickly. One thing Blizzard will be able to offer that addons can't is real storage space for resist gear with this system.
Built-in threat meter for players so that managing threat is a bit easier.
Built-in Deadly Boss Mods-style boss warning system to allow better warnings for crucial situations.
http://news.curse.com/details/2592/
BlizzCon Dungeons and Raids Panel
Blizzard Entertainment: 5 hours | by Kody | Category: Events & Matches
The Dungeons & Raids Panel was a great panel to sit in on. From the insight Jeff Kaplan gave on the core design of a dungeon to the details Scott Mercer provided on encounter design, to some hot new info on upcoming dungeons and UI features to support raids.
A quick recap:
A new raid dungeon harder than Black Temple will be added before the expansion. Expect this to be the Sunwell Plateau with the final boss being Kil'Jaeden.
Blizzard would like to add another 5-person dungeon before the expansion.
Level cap of original WoW was first going to be 70, with Northrend and Outland included, but Blizzard realized their ambitions were bigger than both their budget and time allowed.
There will be one less max-level 5-person instance in WotLK compared to TBC because Jeff Kaplan feels that Heroics greatly supliment the need for an abundance of max-level dungeons.
Blizzard wants to do more 10-person instances in the future.
Blizzard wants to re-introduce Naxxramas in Northrend as a molten core level dungeon so more players can experience one of the best raid dungeons created.
"A lot more" Heroic badge rewards, better than current rewards, will be added with the Zul'Aman patch to help off-spec classes out with itemization gaps.
Jeff Kaplan would like to see the new Siege Weapons and Destroyable Buildings added to PvE content as well, but it's not something 100% yet.
Major UI Additions
Blizzard wants to add all of the following to the base UI:
Built-in itemrack-like system that allows you to swap gear sets quickly. One thing Blizzard will be able to offer that addons can't is real storage space for resist gear with this system.
Built-in threat meter for players so that managing threat is a bit easier.
Built-in Deadly Boss Mods-style boss warning system to allow better warnings for crucial situations.
http://news.curse.com/details/2592/
Tinie
New Member
BlizzCon Day 1 Recap (thanks Virtuous)
WRATH OF THE LICH KING
Blizzard announced its new expansion to World of Warcraft today - Wrath of the Lich King.
What we know so far:
- Level cap will be increased to 80
- New spells and abilities will be added for every class
- New talents (up to 51-point tier) will be added for every class
- New battlegrounds and arenas will be implemented
- Siege weapons and destructible buildings will be a part of PvP (possibly used in PvE - unknown at this time)
- New profession: Inscription. Inscription allows the inscriber to permanently enhance the recipient's spells (e.g. by Tigole - Fireball could be a shorter cast time, more direct damage, more DoT damage, etc.)
- New (and changeable) hairstyles, new dances
- New 10- and 25-man raids
- New Hero Class (made available by epic end-game quest): Death Knight
- Set in Northrend
- More zones than Outland
- NO new races
- Will include Nerubians
- Features Arthas/The Lich King as main villain
- Two 'points of entry' (a la Hellfire Peninsula): Borean Tundrea (Horde) and Howling Fjord (Alliance)
- Other known zones: Grizzly Hills, Dragonblight
- Main city in WotLK is Dalaran (now floating above Northrend)
- Flying mounts are usable in Outland
- At least one new 15+ man battleground (estimated time to finish it: 30-40 min)
- Outdoor PvP zone (flagged as PvP even on PvE servers) - Lake Wintergrasp
- New Arena season, including new gear and maps
DEATH KNIGHT
- Hybrid Tank and DPS
- Tanks using 2H or DW
- Can only use 'bladed' weapons (known: Swords, Axes)
- Referred to as "Rune Weapons"
- Wears plate armor
- Blend of melee and some spellcasting
- Known spell:
"Army of the Dead" - raises several temporary minions
"Unholy Embrace" - Instant Cast. 5 min cooldown
Target is embraced by a silhouette of darkness for 12 seconds, corrupting any healing spells and effects cast upon or currently affecting the target to cause damage for 50% of their healing potential instead of restoring health. Any damage shields cast upon or currently affecting the target will also be instantly consumed, dealing 50% of their absorption potential in damage. Once afflicted with Unholy Embrace, the target cannot be afflicted with Unholy Embrace again for 1 minute."
- Is a Hero Class
- Unlocked by an epic questline (no raids involved) at level 80
- Will allow you to start a new character as a Death Knight at a higher level (told to expect between 55 - 70). Will not overwrite previous character.
- More Hero classes may be to come - will continue to be based on Warcraft III Heroes
- Death Knight does not use rage or mana - will use a new mechanic, 'Runes'
- Rune schools (similar to Death Knight talents) split up into Blood, Frost, Unholy
- Runes are carved into the Death Knight's weapon - 6 slots total, any combination of runes (e.g. 2 of each, 4 Blood/2 Frost, 6 Unholy, etc.)
- Rune cooldowns will be modified by talents taken, etc.
- Certain spells will reactive runes; spells can consume more than one rune
NEW INFO
- A team is currently working on redoing the 1-60 game
- 51-point talents are under construction
- There will be at least 1 new Caverns of Time instance
- Grim Batol is likely to be a WotLK raid
- New post-BT raid pre-WotLK (likely either Sunwell related or Kil'Jaeden)
- 70-80 to take similar amount of time/work as 60-70
- Outdoor zones in WotLK will be primarily solo
- More daily quests coming in 2.2, as well as integrated voice chat
- Paladin tanking is being worked on
- Any class/race can unlock the Death Knight
- Players will still not be able to use flying mounts in "old" Azeroth
- New post-BT dungeon to have 8 bosses
- Blizzard is working on a system on the wow default interface like Outfitter and Item Rack, so we can get real space to store the extra junk (resist gear)
- They will add a threat meter into the game, they are also talking about adding a Deadly Boss Mods element into the game
CLASS BALANCE
- Tree Form Druids to get more abilities in form (Decurse suggested)
- Ret Pallies to get improved sustained DPS
- Prot Pallies to get additional health (deep Prot talent suggested)
- Holy Priests to see improvements to Spirit of Redemption, Lightwell, and Circle of Healing
Additional links:
- Wrath of the Lich King Trailer (Streaming)
- Wrath of the Lich King Trailer (Direct Download)
Teza
WoR reporter
http://boards.worldofraids.com/topic-6217-1.html
WRATH OF THE LICH KING
Blizzard announced its new expansion to World of Warcraft today - Wrath of the Lich King.
What we know so far:
- Level cap will be increased to 80
- New spells and abilities will be added for every class
- New talents (up to 51-point tier) will be added for every class
- New battlegrounds and arenas will be implemented
- Siege weapons and destructible buildings will be a part of PvP (possibly used in PvE - unknown at this time)
- New profession: Inscription. Inscription allows the inscriber to permanently enhance the recipient's spells (e.g. by Tigole - Fireball could be a shorter cast time, more direct damage, more DoT damage, etc.)
- New (and changeable) hairstyles, new dances
- New 10- and 25-man raids
- New Hero Class (made available by epic end-game quest): Death Knight
- Set in Northrend
- More zones than Outland
- NO new races
- Will include Nerubians
- Features Arthas/The Lich King as main villain
- Two 'points of entry' (a la Hellfire Peninsula): Borean Tundrea (Horde) and Howling Fjord (Alliance)
- Other known zones: Grizzly Hills, Dragonblight
- Main city in WotLK is Dalaran (now floating above Northrend)
- Flying mounts are usable in Outland
- At least one new 15+ man battleground (estimated time to finish it: 30-40 min)
- Outdoor PvP zone (flagged as PvP even on PvE servers) - Lake Wintergrasp
- New Arena season, including new gear and maps
DEATH KNIGHT
- Hybrid Tank and DPS
- Tanks using 2H or DW
- Can only use 'bladed' weapons (known: Swords, Axes)
- Referred to as "Rune Weapons"
- Wears plate armor
- Blend of melee and some spellcasting
- Known spell:
"Army of the Dead" - raises several temporary minions
"Unholy Embrace" - Instant Cast. 5 min cooldown
Target is embraced by a silhouette of darkness for 12 seconds, corrupting any healing spells and effects cast upon or currently affecting the target to cause damage for 50% of their healing potential instead of restoring health. Any damage shields cast upon or currently affecting the target will also be instantly consumed, dealing 50% of their absorption potential in damage. Once afflicted with Unholy Embrace, the target cannot be afflicted with Unholy Embrace again for 1 minute."
- Is a Hero Class
- Unlocked by an epic questline (no raids involved) at level 80
- Will allow you to start a new character as a Death Knight at a higher level (told to expect between 55 - 70). Will not overwrite previous character.
- More Hero classes may be to come - will continue to be based on Warcraft III Heroes
- Death Knight does not use rage or mana - will use a new mechanic, 'Runes'
- Rune schools (similar to Death Knight talents) split up into Blood, Frost, Unholy
- Runes are carved into the Death Knight's weapon - 6 slots total, any combination of runes (e.g. 2 of each, 4 Blood/2 Frost, 6 Unholy, etc.)
- Rune cooldowns will be modified by talents taken, etc.
- Certain spells will reactive runes; spells can consume more than one rune
NEW INFO
- A team is currently working on redoing the 1-60 game
- 51-point talents are under construction
- There will be at least 1 new Caverns of Time instance
- Grim Batol is likely to be a WotLK raid
- New post-BT raid pre-WotLK (likely either Sunwell related or Kil'Jaeden)
- 70-80 to take similar amount of time/work as 60-70
- Outdoor zones in WotLK will be primarily solo
- More daily quests coming in 2.2, as well as integrated voice chat
- Paladin tanking is being worked on
- Any class/race can unlock the Death Knight
- Players will still not be able to use flying mounts in "old" Azeroth
- New post-BT dungeon to have 8 bosses
- Blizzard is working on a system on the wow default interface like Outfitter and Item Rack, so we can get real space to store the extra junk (resist gear)
- They will add a threat meter into the game, they are also talking about adding a Deadly Boss Mods element into the game
CLASS BALANCE
- Tree Form Druids to get more abilities in form (Decurse suggested)
- Ret Pallies to get improved sustained DPS
- Prot Pallies to get additional health (deep Prot talent suggested)
- Holy Priests to see improvements to Spirit of Redemption, Lightwell, and Circle of Healing
Additional links:
- Wrath of the Lich King Trailer (Streaming)
- Wrath of the Lich King Trailer (Direct Download)
Teza
WoR reporter
http://boards.worldofraids.com/topic-6217-1.html
Tinie
New Member
Tigole chats (irc) with Xfire: Read
BlizzCon Day 2 Report
BlizzCon UI Panel: Video
BlizzCon Classes Panel
- Moonkin itemization in PvE is being worked on
- Priest Ability "Lightwell" will get some scaling from gear
- Death Knights will have their own Rune Resource system
Mana regen is a flawed mechanic for Mages and Shamans and Hunters, people don't have mana and that's why there are so many Shadow Priests. Real mana regen needed
The Spirit stat in general will be improved for WotLK.
Will the ability to force groupmates to change targets be implemented or something like?
They will not be given an ability to force people to change targets when the new target is taunted.
CC for Shamans?
Evaluating CC options for the Shaman in levels 71 to 80.
Priest racials?
Fear Ward will be spread around. Otherwise, they are being looked at but not a high priority.
Tauren cat form druid is also broken along with Night Elf cat form?
Cat form range must be tuned. The Night Elf cat form's bug has to be fixed but the range will be tuned overall.
Hunters for 2v2 and 3v3 under represented?
Looking into very closely for patch 2.3. Many changes for Hunters will be implemented in 2.3. There are some line of sight issues in Arenas, but they won't be changed. Some more utilities for arena battles and group utility are planned.
The first thing Mages have to do in a raid is make water. There are Soulwells. Will there be a Muffin factory?
Yes. Water and muffin creation like the Soulwell is incoming.
Shamans are low population and the totem system needs reworking -- inferior to pally auras, cost mana?
Blessings, auras and totems are supposed to be different. But the totems are being looked at. The Mana Spring totem will be a lot stronger than it is. Some other totems will also be made stronger.
BlizzCon PVP Panel
The future of Battlegrounds
- In AV, players won't spawn in the cave until there's nowhere else to spawn
- They are going to give the players ability to report other players for being AFK, like the spam reports (Once enough players have reported that person, and a debuff appears that only goes away when they show up in combat. If they don't get into combat, another debuff which makes them have no honor gain.)
- Honor distribution will change-- more honor gain near end of the BG, which should push people forward.
- They will reintroduce queueing as a group for AV.
- They're considering going toward a model where players can choose different sizes of the same battleground-- 15v15 or 20v20.
- They are thinking about Guild Battlegrounds-- letting guilds challenge each other, and joining up a battleground as a guild, even tracking a rating for the guild in a certain BG.
Arenas
- There's going to be a rating requirement to buy an arena weapon (might be season 3).
- With season 3, you'll see season 1 gear become available through the honor system.
Creating 19 and 29 Arenas?
We're considering it-- the problems are rewards for it, and player demand for it.
Rewards for turning in Battleground marks?
The marks are really there to encourage people to move around from BG to BG. We'll probably add more things that you can get for your marks. Rep probably won't be one of them, because we don't think right now that the rep is worth much.
Where is the arena server where we have pregenerated character and can choose our opponents?
We're doing that with actual tournaments-- pregenerated characters that can play any kind of match you need. What we may integrate is allowing teams to match up their choice to practice, as a skirmish.
Why is resilience missing on the Paladin PvP sets?
Season 3 set does have resilience. We won't change the older sets, because players bought them knowing what they were.
Make rogues more viable for 5v5?
We're going to include mobility improvements, and more utility. Sap is useless there, and we'll look at that.
BlizzCon Professions and Items Panel
Things to come
- Free spell damage for healers
- Legendary ranged weapon in the next 25-person raid dungeon.
- Zul'Aman (they showed 2 ZA weapons, see below)
2h sword, 128.4 dps, 3.70 speed, 49 stamina, 45 haste rating and 120 atp
1h dagger, 98.6 dps, 1.80 speed, 21 agility, 40 atp and ignores ~154 armor.
Things we want to do more
- Improve Professions only items (e.g: alchemists getting specific pots only them can use)
- Create Great Leveling Gear: up to lvl 80 gear usable in Northrend
- Provide what's missing: Crafting should be able to fill itemization gaps
Things to improve
- Engineering is going to get some love
- Transmute: Change to a daily cooldown
- Discoveries: They will make some easier to get
- Vendor Recipes: No longer vendor camping, it will be random but not campable
New Profession: Inscription
- Not Alchemy or Enchanting: no scrolls
- Inscribe Spells and Abilities with power: Enhancing your spells and abilities to make them more powerful (e.g: mortal could deal more dmg, kidney shot could last longer)
- Create Completely New Items: They can't talk about it but there will be a whole other side to inscription than making spells and abilities more powerful.
Coming Soon
- Profession Daily Quests
- New Crafter Only Gear: More of the best in slot stuff, Jewelcrafter only gems, Alchemist only potions.
- Smooth out Progression 275 to 300 gap particularly
New Enchant: Executioner -- Zul'Aman
- Armor Penetration proc (proc rate similar to mongoose)
Use: Learn how to permanently enchant a Melee Weapon to occasionally ignore 840 of your ennemy's armor. Requires a level 35 or higher item.
New Cooking Recipes
- melee hit food, spell crit food
http://boards.worldofraids.com/topic-6217-1.html
BlizzCon Day 2 Report
BlizzCon UI Panel: Video
BlizzCon Classes Panel
- Moonkin itemization in PvE is being worked on
- Priest Ability "Lightwell" will get some scaling from gear
- Death Knights will have their own Rune Resource system
Mana regen is a flawed mechanic for Mages and Shamans and Hunters, people don't have mana and that's why there are so many Shadow Priests. Real mana regen needed
The Spirit stat in general will be improved for WotLK.
Will the ability to force groupmates to change targets be implemented or something like?
They will not be given an ability to force people to change targets when the new target is taunted.
CC for Shamans?
Evaluating CC options for the Shaman in levels 71 to 80.
Priest racials?
Fear Ward will be spread around. Otherwise, they are being looked at but not a high priority.
Tauren cat form druid is also broken along with Night Elf cat form?
Cat form range must be tuned. The Night Elf cat form's bug has to be fixed but the range will be tuned overall.
Hunters for 2v2 and 3v3 under represented?
Looking into very closely for patch 2.3. Many changes for Hunters will be implemented in 2.3. There are some line of sight issues in Arenas, but they won't be changed. Some more utilities for arena battles and group utility are planned.
The first thing Mages have to do in a raid is make water. There are Soulwells. Will there be a Muffin factory?
Yes. Water and muffin creation like the Soulwell is incoming.
Shamans are low population and the totem system needs reworking -- inferior to pally auras, cost mana?
Blessings, auras and totems are supposed to be different. But the totems are being looked at. The Mana Spring totem will be a lot stronger than it is. Some other totems will also be made stronger.
BlizzCon PVP Panel
The future of Battlegrounds
- In AV, players won't spawn in the cave until there's nowhere else to spawn
- They are going to give the players ability to report other players for being AFK, like the spam reports (Once enough players have reported that person, and a debuff appears that only goes away when they show up in combat. If they don't get into combat, another debuff which makes them have no honor gain.)
- Honor distribution will change-- more honor gain near end of the BG, which should push people forward.
- They will reintroduce queueing as a group for AV.
- They're considering going toward a model where players can choose different sizes of the same battleground-- 15v15 or 20v20.
- They are thinking about Guild Battlegrounds-- letting guilds challenge each other, and joining up a battleground as a guild, even tracking a rating for the guild in a certain BG.
Arenas
- There's going to be a rating requirement to buy an arena weapon (might be season 3).
- With season 3, you'll see season 1 gear become available through the honor system.
Creating 19 and 29 Arenas?
We're considering it-- the problems are rewards for it, and player demand for it.
Rewards for turning in Battleground marks?
The marks are really there to encourage people to move around from BG to BG. We'll probably add more things that you can get for your marks. Rep probably won't be one of them, because we don't think right now that the rep is worth much.
Where is the arena server where we have pregenerated character and can choose our opponents?
We're doing that with actual tournaments-- pregenerated characters that can play any kind of match you need. What we may integrate is allowing teams to match up their choice to practice, as a skirmish.
Why is resilience missing on the Paladin PvP sets?
Season 3 set does have resilience. We won't change the older sets, because players bought them knowing what they were.
Make rogues more viable for 5v5?
We're going to include mobility improvements, and more utility. Sap is useless there, and we'll look at that.
BlizzCon Professions and Items Panel
Things to come
- Free spell damage for healers
- Legendary ranged weapon in the next 25-person raid dungeon.
- Zul'Aman (they showed 2 ZA weapons, see below)
2h sword, 128.4 dps, 3.70 speed, 49 stamina, 45 haste rating and 120 atp
1h dagger, 98.6 dps, 1.80 speed, 21 agility, 40 atp and ignores ~154 armor.
Things we want to do more
- Improve Professions only items (e.g: alchemists getting specific pots only them can use)
- Create Great Leveling Gear: up to lvl 80 gear usable in Northrend
- Provide what's missing: Crafting should be able to fill itemization gaps
Things to improve
- Engineering is going to get some love
- Transmute: Change to a daily cooldown
- Discoveries: They will make some easier to get
- Vendor Recipes: No longer vendor camping, it will be random but not campable
New Profession: Inscription
- Not Alchemy or Enchanting: no scrolls
- Inscribe Spells and Abilities with power: Enhancing your spells and abilities to make them more powerful (e.g: mortal could deal more dmg, kidney shot could last longer)
- Create Completely New Items: They can't talk about it but there will be a whole other side to inscription than making spells and abilities more powerful.
Coming Soon
- Profession Daily Quests
- New Crafter Only Gear: More of the best in slot stuff, Jewelcrafter only gems, Alchemist only potions.
- Smooth out Progression 275 to 300 gap particularly
New Enchant: Executioner -- Zul'Aman
- Armor Penetration proc (proc rate similar to mongoose)
Use: Learn how to permanently enchant a Melee Weapon to occasionally ignore 840 of your ennemy's armor. Requires a level 35 or higher item.
New Cooking Recipes
- melee hit food, spell crit food
http://boards.worldofraids.com/topic-6217-1.html
Tinie
New Member
From the Xfire interview with Tigole:
Ambryana
Member
Woohooo!!
![[7F]LarryBoy](/forums/data/avatars/m/1/1106.jpg?1442680067){kind=avatar}
[7F]LarryBoy
New Member
Indeed, that news made me all fuzzy. I'm looking forward to it.
Alias
New Member
as exciting as this is, I'm also rather annoyed by it. I'm gonna be expected to drop another $50 for this expansion, and I've hardly even gotten to scratching the surface of all the content in TBC. Although, theres no mention of time-frame,I suppose its not really in the 'near-future'...
faust
New Member
I will not be pleased if this xpac comes out before the end of 2008, and personally I would prefer it not be available until 2009. I think 2 years is an appropriate amount of time between xpacs... especially when the level cap is increased. Otherwise what's the point of raiding if by the time you get leveled up and do the initial raid the new content is out and everything you could hope to raid for is already out of date.
I knew that there is always the extremely dedicated who are just now finishing up with the toughest content out there... but that is only representative of a very small minority (less than 1%) of the total player base. I don't think Blizzard is doing it's customer base any favors setting their release timetables to the progression of a very few, if indeed that is what they are doing.
I am also not crazy about the idea of the death knight. Maybe the details will win me over, but I think the space of magic+melee is already pretty well crowded in this game. We already have paladins, shaman, and druids occupying this space. One could almost put hunters into that catagory too... as they are in one sense a ranged melee class.
If blizzard feels that there is a void in the melee/magic space, I would argue that perhaps they should look into revisiting the shaman class before introducing a new class into this space. For example shaman have a number of talents that are tanking oriented, but due to their inability to wear plate, or make mail armor as tough as plate (like druid's dire bear form does for leather), they are worthless in any off tanking role come end game today.
I am also not convinced that we need yet another tanking class in this game, we currently have 3 and admittedly one of them (paladin) Blizzard recognizes needs a bit of fine tuning for end game tanking.
Still that's Blizzard's call... and in the end it's a bit early to get too excited about anything yet, since we really don't have a clue as to how the new class will really play out in game.
I knew that there is always the extremely dedicated who are just now finishing up with the toughest content out there... but that is only representative of a very small minority (less than 1%) of the total player base. I don't think Blizzard is doing it's customer base any favors setting their release timetables to the progression of a very few, if indeed that is what they are doing.
I am also not crazy about the idea of the death knight. Maybe the details will win me over, but I think the space of magic+melee is already pretty well crowded in this game. We already have paladins, shaman, and druids occupying this space. One could almost put hunters into that catagory too... as they are in one sense a ranged melee class.
If blizzard feels that there is a void in the melee/magic space, I would argue that perhaps they should look into revisiting the shaman class before introducing a new class into this space. For example shaman have a number of talents that are tanking oriented, but due to their inability to wear plate, or make mail armor as tough as plate (like druid's dire bear form does for leather), they are worthless in any off tanking role come end game today.
I am also not convinced that we need yet another tanking class in this game, we currently have 3 and admittedly one of them (paladin) Blizzard recognizes needs a bit of fine tuning for end game tanking.
Still that's Blizzard's call... and in the end it's a bit early to get too excited about anything yet, since we really don't have a clue as to how the new class will really play out in game.
[7F]LarryBoy
New Member
My guess would be Jan 2008, as Blizz reps have said in the past that they'd like to have an annual release schedule. Of course, that was then, and things may have changed.
I certainly expect that Blizzard will maintain their stance of not releasing product until it meets their strict quality standards, and so they will delay it as long as they need to. You will recall that they never announced The Burning Crusade's release date until shortly before it came out.
I certainly expect that Blizzard will maintain their stance of not releasing product until it meets their strict quality standards, and so they will delay it as long as they need to. You will recall that they never announced The Burning Crusade's release date until shortly before it came out.
moxie
New Member
My thoughts on this expansion are mixed. On one hand, I know that you have to keep adding new content and new areas to a game to keep it fresh. I'm excited about the character customization options and the new areas/new quests, and I'm DEFINITELY excited about the new profession. Even the level cap raise is fine with me.
However I don't care for the DK class, I think it's an intriguing idea, but I'm curious to see how it's implemented. And probably the worst part is that given all the attunements required for the current end-game and the time needed to get multiple characters attuned and ready to get thru that content, then to do it all over again when the expansion comes out, it seems rushed. Raising the level cap once a year? GREAT! Then remove the attunement requirements to allow more people to get to that content before the expanision comes out.
All that said, will I buy the expansion? Oh yeah...
However I don't care for the DK class, I think it's an intriguing idea, but I'm curious to see how it's implemented. And probably the worst part is that given all the attunements required for the current end-game and the time needed to get multiple characters attuned and ready to get thru that content, then to do it all over again when the expansion comes out, it seems rushed. Raising the level cap once a year? GREAT! Then remove the attunement requirements to allow more people to get to that content before the expanision comes out.
All that said, will I buy the expansion? Oh yeah...
Kevin
New Member
agreed, as a casual gamer, it is next to impossible...we have one thread considering a mostly gruul raid for TF, and we are quite a large guild, albeit not a very hardcore one...if we can't even clear the first 25-man raid before the next xpac comes out, perhaps Blizz would do well to slow it down a tad.
Tinie
New Member
Blue FAQ on the Death Knight
Vaneras (Blue Poster) just posted a summary of recently given information about the Death Knight:
There are a lot of things still being worked out with the Death Knight class such as specific spell abilities. Unlike a traditional caster type however, a Death Knight's spell power comes from runes that are etched into their blade. Think Warcraft III when you think about the possibilities of abilities for the Death Knight. I say possibilities because things are still in process for the development of the class and there will be (of course) a lot of testing for balance done. Given that this is our first Hero class we're unveiling, you can be sure we're going for the coolest of the cool for this class.
Runes and Mana pool
Is the Death Knight going to have a mana pool? The pictures from BlizzCon show spells using mana.
The runes they inscribe on their weapons are their mana pool (of a sort). As they use their abilities, the runes will be exhausted. After a period of time the runes will refresh. So, they don't have a traditional type of mana pool. You'll most likely see some screenshots of it, but the Death Knight (at current) has three different types of runes that they can inscribe on their weapon: Blood, Frost, and Unholy. Runes can only be inscribed out of combat ( all of this is subject to change as development continues.)
The rune types don't dictate a new damage type, they're simply a resource that spells and abilities will use when you activate them. The spells and abilities won't necessarily be "blood, unholy, or frost" damage.
Imagine it being three different energy pools which you can change the size of before you get into combat.
About weapons
There's no final decision or announcement on how multiple weapons would be etched, or how weapon switching may affect the etched runes. What has been discussed to some degree is that the main-hand weapon would be etched and that's it, but it's too early to say what would be allowed in the final game.
Which level?
Also, we haven't decided on what level you will start as your Death Knight, but it seems that it should be easy enough for someone who has leveled a character to level 80 and done the quest to be able to adapt to a Death Knight fairly well. It's not quite the same as handing it over to someone who is still learning the game. There are lots of opportunities for someone to solo and group to learn how to play the class.
Which race?
It's true that the current plan has been heavily discussed to go ahead with all races, but no final decision has been made. After talking to Chris he wasn't totally sold on the idea. Both are technically correct in that the current plan of some of the developers is to go ahead with all races, there's been no final decision made and no real work has progressed to force a decision just yet. The FAQ is more accurate at this time, in my opinion.
Lore-wise there's really no reason why a specific race couldn't become a Death Knight.
All races can be challenged mentally and physically, their will dulled, and be cast down into madness ... and darkness. Their souls drawn into the runeblade they wield.
Compared to other classes
They are not planned to be more powerful, them being a hero class simply means they're introduced at a higher level, and in general will reference the more powerful hero types of Warcraft history.
It's out intention to integrate them into the current classes, balance them appropriately, and have them provide an additional - but equal - role in groups and raids as compared to other classes.
Will there be other hero classes?
Yeah, well that kind figures in to the new definition of what a hero class is. It allows us to add new classes that start at higher levels, keeping players relatively kept up as we continue to release expansions and raise the level cap, and ultimately it really fits to use the heroes from past Warcraft games as inspiration. Some other hero classes could definitely be things like Demon Hunter, Blademaster, etc.
Additional link related to this news:
- New Death Knight forum
Teza
WoR reporter
http://boards.worldofraids.com/topic-6305-1.html
Vaneras (Blue Poster) just posted a summary of recently given information about the Death Knight:
There are a lot of things still being worked out with the Death Knight class such as specific spell abilities. Unlike a traditional caster type however, a Death Knight's spell power comes from runes that are etched into their blade. Think Warcraft III when you think about the possibilities of abilities for the Death Knight. I say possibilities because things are still in process for the development of the class and there will be (of course) a lot of testing for balance done. Given that this is our first Hero class we're unveiling, you can be sure we're going for the coolest of the cool for this class.
Runes and Mana pool
Is the Death Knight going to have a mana pool? The pictures from BlizzCon show spells using mana.
The runes they inscribe on their weapons are their mana pool (of a sort). As they use their abilities, the runes will be exhausted. After a period of time the runes will refresh. So, they don't have a traditional type of mana pool. You'll most likely see some screenshots of it, but the Death Knight (at current) has three different types of runes that they can inscribe on their weapon: Blood, Frost, and Unholy. Runes can only be inscribed out of combat ( all of this is subject to change as development continues.)
The rune types don't dictate a new damage type, they're simply a resource that spells and abilities will use when you activate them. The spells and abilities won't necessarily be "blood, unholy, or frost" damage.
Imagine it being three different energy pools which you can change the size of before you get into combat.
About weapons
There's no final decision or announcement on how multiple weapons would be etched, or how weapon switching may affect the etched runes. What has been discussed to some degree is that the main-hand weapon would be etched and that's it, but it's too early to say what would be allowed in the final game.
Which level?
Also, we haven't decided on what level you will start as your Death Knight, but it seems that it should be easy enough for someone who has leveled a character to level 80 and done the quest to be able to adapt to a Death Knight fairly well. It's not quite the same as handing it over to someone who is still learning the game. There are lots of opportunities for someone to solo and group to learn how to play the class.
Which race?
It's true that the current plan has been heavily discussed to go ahead with all races, but no final decision has been made. After talking to Chris he wasn't totally sold on the idea. Both are technically correct in that the current plan of some of the developers is to go ahead with all races, there's been no final decision made and no real work has progressed to force a decision just yet. The FAQ is more accurate at this time, in my opinion.
Lore-wise there's really no reason why a specific race couldn't become a Death Knight.
All races can be challenged mentally and physically, their will dulled, and be cast down into madness ... and darkness. Their souls drawn into the runeblade they wield.
Compared to other classes
They are not planned to be more powerful, them being a hero class simply means they're introduced at a higher level, and in general will reference the more powerful hero types of Warcraft history.
It's out intention to integrate them into the current classes, balance them appropriately, and have them provide an additional - but equal - role in groups and raids as compared to other classes.
Will there be other hero classes?
Yeah, well that kind figures in to the new definition of what a hero class is. It allows us to add new classes that start at higher levels, keeping players relatively kept up as we continue to release expansions and raise the level cap, and ultimately it really fits to use the heroes from past Warcraft games as inspiration. Some other hero classes could definitely be things like Demon Hunter, Blademaster, etc.
Additional link related to this news:
- New Death Knight forum
Teza
WoR reporter
http://boards.worldofraids.com/topic-6305-1.html
Tinie
New Member
Naxxramas 25man in Northrend: Tigole interview
Tigole in a Q/A interview for mmo-gamer, answered about taking Naxxramas to Northrend and retune it for 25 man raid size lvl 80:
Q: On the subject of raids, I obviously don’t know the exact numbers, but there are rumors floating around on the internet that only something like under two percent of players in WoW actually make use of the end-game raiding content. How do you respond to the notion that you are catering to a small, vocal minority, while ignoring the large majority of casual players?
A: I think that’s kind of a misconception that we’re only creating content for a small group of players. First of all, our statistics show that our most popular instance is Karazhan, that’s getting done by more players right now—each day we get statistics that show what our most popular instances are, and each day it comes back Karazhan, so a lot of people are doing that. We’re coming out with Zul’Aman in direct response to the popularity of Karazhan.
Now, in regards to some of the more difficult raid content, like Naxxramas, or like Black Temple, I think there is some validity to what you’re saying, that not enough people are getting to see the content. In direct response to that, we want to take Naxxramas, what we felt was possibly one of our best dungeons in terms of game design, in terms of cool encounters, great art, it had some of the best music out of any of our zones, and a lot of people missed it, and I think they missed it for a couple reasons: One, it was super hardcore, it was our hardest dungeon of original World of Warcraft, the other reason is that it came only a few months before The Burning Crusade. I think a lot more people would have gotten the chance to experience it if they had the time to progress, but since they didn’t, they missed it.
So what I want to do in Northrend is to take Naxxramas in all of its glory, scale it down to the 25 man raid size, and then take the difficulty and retune it—obviously we’d tune for level 80, it would no longer be tuned for level 60, since that would be a little silly and it wouldn’t be a lot of fun for people at that point—but I want to put rewards in there that are very exciting to level 80 players, but make it the entry-level raid, very accessible, tune the encounters so that there’s something for everybody to do, and let the majority get a chance to see that content that they hadn’t seen before.
Source
Teza
WoR reporter
Tigole in a Q/A interview for mmo-gamer, answered about taking Naxxramas to Northrend and retune it for 25 man raid size lvl 80:
Q: On the subject of raids, I obviously don’t know the exact numbers, but there are rumors floating around on the internet that only something like under two percent of players in WoW actually make use of the end-game raiding content. How do you respond to the notion that you are catering to a small, vocal minority, while ignoring the large majority of casual players?
A: I think that’s kind of a misconception that we’re only creating content for a small group of players. First of all, our statistics show that our most popular instance is Karazhan, that’s getting done by more players right now—each day we get statistics that show what our most popular instances are, and each day it comes back Karazhan, so a lot of people are doing that. We’re coming out with Zul’Aman in direct response to the popularity of Karazhan.
Now, in regards to some of the more difficult raid content, like Naxxramas, or like Black Temple, I think there is some validity to what you’re saying, that not enough people are getting to see the content. In direct response to that, we want to take Naxxramas, what we felt was possibly one of our best dungeons in terms of game design, in terms of cool encounters, great art, it had some of the best music out of any of our zones, and a lot of people missed it, and I think they missed it for a couple reasons: One, it was super hardcore, it was our hardest dungeon of original World of Warcraft, the other reason is that it came only a few months before The Burning Crusade. I think a lot more people would have gotten the chance to experience it if they had the time to progress, but since they didn’t, they missed it.
So what I want to do in Northrend is to take Naxxramas in all of its glory, scale it down to the 25 man raid size, and then take the difficulty and retune it—obviously we’d tune for level 80, it would no longer be tuned for level 60, since that would be a little silly and it wouldn’t be a lot of fun for people at that point—but I want to put rewards in there that are very exciting to level 80 players, but make it the entry-level raid, very accessible, tune the encounters so that there’s something for everybody to do, and let the majority get a chance to see that content that they hadn’t seen before.
Source
Teza
WoR reporter
faust
New Member
Interesting bit about Naxx.
I still doubt that even 1/4 players will see the inside of SSC/TK (tier of dungeons above kara, gruul, and magtheridon) before Northrend comes out... if indeed the xpac comes out at the end of this year.
I would actually wager to guess that maybe 5% of the player base would see these instances by that time. Oh, and there is a whole other tier of dungeons above those two.
TBC Instances
I still doubt that even 1/4 players will see the inside of SSC/TK (tier of dungeons above kara, gruul, and magtheridon) before Northrend comes out... if indeed the xpac comes out at the end of this year.
I would actually wager to guess that maybe 5% of the player base would see these instances by that time. Oh, and there is a whole other tier of dungeons above those two.
TBC Instances
Tinie
New Member
Blue Summary on Northrend
Salthem (Euro Blue Poster) posted a summary of recently given information about Northrend in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion:
Disclaimer: This thread and everything posted in it is still in development and is subject to change based on further development and testing.
Northrend is the icy northern most continent of Azeroth. Formed during the War of the Ancients, and initially introduced in Warcraft III, players will be returning to it in The World of Warcraft Expansion: The Wrath of the Lich King.
Geography:
Northrend will have zones of a comparable size to those in outland, it will also have more zones, but the exact number has not been finalised yet.
Players can start from two different zones: Howling Fjord & Borean Tundra.
Howling Fjord:
Your first chance to go up against the ancient Vrykul in their instance Utgarde Keep.
Borean Tundra:
The home to the Tuskarr.
Parts of Borean Tundra are being melted down for water by the Naga
Garrosh Hellscream has established a base of operations at Warsong Hold.
Grizzly Hills:
The home of Furbolgs and their city of Grizzlemaw.
Also home to the ancient Dwarven City of Thor Modan.
The land is largely covered in forests - an example of our desire to make sure that not all zones are just snow and ice.
Dragonblight:
The home of Wyrmrest Temple, the ancient meeting place where dragons go to die.
Lake Wintergrasp:
A new non-instanced PvP zone with Siege Weapons, destructible buildings and multiple objectives with lasting effects. Players on Normal realms will automatically be flagged for PvP when entering this zone.
The Storm Peaks:
Containing Ulduar, the ancient Titan city in the Far North.
Capital City:
The Kirin Tor, led by Rhonin, have moved Dalaran to Northrend as a final front in their war against the Blue Dragon Flight. The Blue Dragon Flight, following a strengthened Malygos, are now attempting to purge all magic users from Azeroth.
It will act as the central neutral city floating above Northrend - a Shattrath of the North.
Races of Northrend:
Taunka – An ancient offshoot of the Tauren, who have a considerably different outlook on the world.
Tuskarr – The Nomadic Fisher Walrus men make a return from Warcraft III.
Iron Dwarves – There is a great deal to be discovered about the history of Azeroth through their story.
Naga – Pursuing their material interests further in Northrend.
Vrykul – The ancient giant vikings of the Howling Fjord
Furbolgs – The Furbolgs live in the city of Grizzlemaw in Grizzly Hills.
Nerubians – The Nerubian spiderlords are related to the silithid of Silithus and are followers of the Old Gods in Northrend.
Famous Faces:
Players will interact with Arthas right from the beginning in Northrend.
Arthas is the avatar of the Lich King and is scheming to corrupt the players of the Horde and Alliance against their own people as he himself was corrupted against his own father by the Lich King.
Every player, whether a raider or solo player, will have a hand in whether Arthas is defeated or whether he ultimately dominates the entire world.
Garrosh Hellscream has moved to Northrend to lead the fight following in the steps of his father.
Lady Sylvanas is leading the Forsaken with their experimental plague against the scourge and Arthas
Highlord Bolvar Fordragon will be at the forefront of the campaign for the Alliance in a tumultuous storyline.
Brann Bronzebeard is the consummate explorer and finally makes an appearance in World of Warcraft helping the dwarves explore their origins in Northrend.
Tirion Fordring and The Order of the Silver Hand make a return, bringing with them the legend of the Ashbringer
Rhonin is now leading the Kirin Tor in their war against the Blue Dragon Flight.
PvP:
There will be a new mid-sized (e.g. 15 vs 15) battleground in which the goal is to blow up the enemy base using Siege Weapons. (Not yet determined if this is actually located in Northrend.)
There will be a new Arena Map and Season.
A new non-instanced PvP zone, Lake Wintergrasp, will contain Siege Weapons, destructible buildings and multiple objectives with lasting effects. Players on Normal realms will automatically be flagged for PvP when entering this zone.
Other threads related to the Wrath of the Lich King:
Videos from Blizzcon (thanks to Foolz):
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...89700&sid=1
Regarding the Deathknight:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...69665&sid=1
Arthas:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...=1&sid=1#16
Flying mounts:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...=1&sid=1#13
Developments to the Lore (thanks to Marlamin):
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...82716&sid=1
More on Dalaran and Malygos:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...90281&sid=1
We will update this thread with more content when we can. If there is something important we have missed please let us know and we will try to include it.
Source
Teza
WoR reporter
Salthem (Euro Blue Poster) posted a summary of recently given information about Northrend in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion:
Disclaimer: This thread and everything posted in it is still in development and is subject to change based on further development and testing.
Northrend is the icy northern most continent of Azeroth. Formed during the War of the Ancients, and initially introduced in Warcraft III, players will be returning to it in The World of Warcraft Expansion: The Wrath of the Lich King.
Geography:
Northrend will have zones of a comparable size to those in outland, it will also have more zones, but the exact number has not been finalised yet.
Players can start from two different zones: Howling Fjord & Borean Tundra.
Howling Fjord:
Your first chance to go up against the ancient Vrykul in their instance Utgarde Keep.
Borean Tundra:
The home to the Tuskarr.
Parts of Borean Tundra are being melted down for water by the Naga
Garrosh Hellscream has established a base of operations at Warsong Hold.
Grizzly Hills:
The home of Furbolgs and their city of Grizzlemaw.
Also home to the ancient Dwarven City of Thor Modan.
The land is largely covered in forests - an example of our desire to make sure that not all zones are just snow and ice.
Dragonblight:
The home of Wyrmrest Temple, the ancient meeting place where dragons go to die.
Lake Wintergrasp:
A new non-instanced PvP zone with Siege Weapons, destructible buildings and multiple objectives with lasting effects. Players on Normal realms will automatically be flagged for PvP when entering this zone.
The Storm Peaks:
Containing Ulduar, the ancient Titan city in the Far North.
Capital City:
The Kirin Tor, led by Rhonin, have moved Dalaran to Northrend as a final front in their war against the Blue Dragon Flight. The Blue Dragon Flight, following a strengthened Malygos, are now attempting to purge all magic users from Azeroth.
It will act as the central neutral city floating above Northrend - a Shattrath of the North.
Races of Northrend:
Taunka – An ancient offshoot of the Tauren, who have a considerably different outlook on the world.
Tuskarr – The Nomadic Fisher Walrus men make a return from Warcraft III.
Iron Dwarves – There is a great deal to be discovered about the history of Azeroth through their story.
Naga – Pursuing their material interests further in Northrend.
Vrykul – The ancient giant vikings of the Howling Fjord
Furbolgs – The Furbolgs live in the city of Grizzlemaw in Grizzly Hills.
Nerubians – The Nerubian spiderlords are related to the silithid of Silithus and are followers of the Old Gods in Northrend.
Famous Faces:
Players will interact with Arthas right from the beginning in Northrend.
Arthas is the avatar of the Lich King and is scheming to corrupt the players of the Horde and Alliance against their own people as he himself was corrupted against his own father by the Lich King.
Every player, whether a raider or solo player, will have a hand in whether Arthas is defeated or whether he ultimately dominates the entire world.
Garrosh Hellscream has moved to Northrend to lead the fight following in the steps of his father.
Lady Sylvanas is leading the Forsaken with their experimental plague against the scourge and Arthas
Highlord Bolvar Fordragon will be at the forefront of the campaign for the Alliance in a tumultuous storyline.
Brann Bronzebeard is the consummate explorer and finally makes an appearance in World of Warcraft helping the dwarves explore their origins in Northrend.
Tirion Fordring and The Order of the Silver Hand make a return, bringing with them the legend of the Ashbringer
Rhonin is now leading the Kirin Tor in their war against the Blue Dragon Flight.
PvP:
There will be a new mid-sized (e.g. 15 vs 15) battleground in which the goal is to blow up the enemy base using Siege Weapons. (Not yet determined if this is actually located in Northrend.)
There will be a new Arena Map and Season.
A new non-instanced PvP zone, Lake Wintergrasp, will contain Siege Weapons, destructible buildings and multiple objectives with lasting effects. Players on Normal realms will automatically be flagged for PvP when entering this zone.
Other threads related to the Wrath of the Lich King:
Videos from Blizzcon (thanks to Foolz):
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...89700&sid=1
Regarding the Deathknight:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...69665&sid=1
Arthas:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...=1&sid=1#16
Flying mounts:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...=1&sid=1#13
Developments to the Lore (thanks to Marlamin):
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...82716&sid=1
More on Dalaran and Malygos:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/t...90281&sid=1
We will update this thread with more content when we can. If there is something important we have missed please let us know and we will try to include it.
Source
Teza
WoR reporter