Blizzard Announces World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

As part of its Blizzcon convention, Blizzard has announced the latest World of Warcraft expansion to follow its Burning Crusade, with Wrath of the Lich King, promising new levels of power, dungeons, encounters, and character professions, as well as the game’s first hero class. The new Wrath of the Lich King opens a wasteland known as Northrend last seen in Blizzard RTS Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne which is overseen by the Lich King, which Blizzard calls "one of the most powerful beings in the Warcraft universe." Blizzard says the Lich King "broods atop the Frozen Throne deep in Icecrown Citadel, clutching the rune blade Frostmourne and marshaling the undead armies of the Scourge," with players of both the Alliance and the Horde factions going into battle against the Scourge. The developer has detailed a number of the new features and new content shipping with the expansion in addition to the Northrend territory, including the Death Knight Hero Class, allowing players to create the high level character "once certain challenges have been met," and an increased level cap, allowing players to advance to level 80 and gain new talents and abilities. Players can also take on the new “Inscription” profession, gaining "unique ways to permanently enhance spells and abilities in the game," and utilize new siege weapons against destructible buildings with new PVP mechanics and new battlefields. Finally, Blizzard says the expansion will introduce new character customizations with players now able to change the appearance and expressions of their characters with different hairstyles and dance animations. Said Blizzard president and cofounder Mike Morhaime, “This expansion will add some of the most infamous characters and settings from the Warcraft universe to World of Warcraft. In addition to new story content, Wrath of the Lich King will introduce a number of features specifically requested by players over the past couple of years. We’re looking forward to sharing further details with everyone as development progresses.”