Gamespy: Wrath of the Lich King New Info and Reaction

Gamespy just unveiled a whole bunch of new information about the upcoming WoW expansion. There’s a lot more information about the Death Knight, Northrend, and instancing in general.

Northrend

  • Players to have optional and different starting zones
  • "Not just be a land of ice and snow."
  • Way bigger than Outland
  • Un’Goro makes a return
  • Flying mounts unlocked at level 77
Matt’s Reaction

Good. It was hard enough for me to kill stuff as it as a Disc/Holy Priest when I turned 70 in Hellfire without having all my kills get tagged. These screenshots are beeeeautiful. I always thought of Northrend as a big giant popsicle. Glad to see Blizz is varying up the location. Flying mounts will be used for levelling at 77+.

Raiding and Instancing

  • All raid instances will have both 10 person and 25 person versions
  • 10 and 25 versions will be on separate cooldowns (Can play in a 10 man earlier in the day and a 25 later)
  • At level 80, every major encounter and boss fight can be experienced with a group of 10
  • Heroic dungeons in WotLK will have separate loot tables than their non-heroic versions
  • Another Troll instance or zone: The temple of Zul’Drak
Matt’s Reaction

Very good move by Blizzard. Karazhan is the most popular raid instance in the game by sheer difficulty level and accessibility. It is a lot more difficult to find players for a 25 player instance than a 10. I don’t see what the high end guilds will have to complain about. If anything, there is now more stuff for them to do. The 25 player loot will be substantially be more greater than the 10s. I’m curious to see how that will be pulled off. But either way, loot is loot. This will provide a great alternative from having to farm copious amounts of "Frozen Primals" or something.

In any case, us elitist Guilds still get our fun and challenge. The casual players will get their fill by being able to experience every raid dungeon in the game. You can even 10 man Arthas.

I’m also glad Blizzard learned more about their badge system. It was a great idea to have in TBC, but the incentives were just bad. Magister’s Terrace proved that Blizzard is willing to adapt new principles by separating loot tables.

Lore

  • Malygos, dragon leader of the Blue flight, makes an appearance
  • Worgen and sons of Arugal return
  • New encounter based on a Warcraft III mission (Helping Arthas destroy Stratholme?)
  • P.E.T.A. makes an appearance known as D.H.E.T.A.
Matt’s Reaction

Eh, I approve. I’ve always liked Blizzard lore. I’ve followed a lot of it since the original Warcraft. I wonder what other easter eggs we’ll see in the game. Hopefully we’ll get to see some SG-1 references at some point.

Death Knight

  • Can apparently turn dead teammates into ghouls (Necromancers in Guild Wars)
  • Starts at Level 55, available to any player with a 55+ character
  • Starts at a Necropolis over EPL
  • Can Dual Wield
  • Are not double racials (Undead/Gnome, for instance)
  • Every race can be a Death Knight
  • The Tanking DK relies on parrying (2H tank for real?)
Matt’s Reaction

2 Hand tanking. This is going to be amazing. Just about everyone in the Guild will have a Death Knight now. The ghoul ability can even be used in arena. Imagine a team with Druids, Hunters, Mages, and other classes with pets (or the stupid mini Gnome trinket). The alternative will be an Enhancement Shaman variation. This will be very good news for Guilds with cheap tanks. Now they don’t have to spend copious amounts of gold to constantly respec their character. They can simply load up the right runes in order to satisfy whatever role they need to fulfill.

Vehicle System

  • Ability to drive stuff around and interact with people or objects
  • Gamespy Example: 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.
  • You can ride a mammoth which has it’s own combat abilities
Matt’s Reaction

This has to be the most coolest part of the expansion. Have you wished that you were able to shoot missiles at other players on their mounts? It seems like this might be possible in the expansion.

I’m really excited about the expansion now. I can’t wait!

24 thoughts on “Gamespy: Wrath of the Lich King New Info and Reaction”

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  3. The argument that “everyone will have a Death Knight tank” is simply not true. Tanks are available via 3 classes. If someone wanted to tank, they would have one already and not wait until they roll a DK. Tanking is the hardest job in the game–people aren’t going to roll a DK just to be able to do it. 😉

    None of this is a criticism of what you said–merely a point that has been made in the tanking community since Blizzcon. The initial reaction was–ZOMG i’m unemployed! Now it’s bfd the ones who want to tank are already doing it.

    The rest of the info is awesome and thank you very much for not just providing a link as I’m at work and it gets blocked. 😀

    Reply
  4. Overall, it’s going to be a great improvement. But we still have to wait on the impact 10 new levels are going to have on ye aulden classes.

    And shouldn’t DHETA be GETA?

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  5. “Very good move by Blizzard. Karazhan is the most popular raid instance in the game by sheer difficulty level and accessibility. It is a lot more difficult to find players for a 25 player instance than a 10. I don’t see what the high end guilds will have to complain about. If anything, there is now more stuff for them to do.”

    I have to disagree that this is a “very good move.” I am not saying it will but this has the potential to destroy 25 man raiding for everyone but the most hardcore players. It really depends on how it is implemented.

    1. How will Naxx10 be different than Naxx25 other than loot? They will have to reduce the bosses health and such of course but will it basically be the same fight just with 10 or 25 people? My point is it could be very hard to get people to do the 25 mans if they can do it on the 10 man. Sure the loot will be better but it can’t be drasticly better.

    2. How will they teir the gear also? Will 10-man #2 have gear equal to Naxx25? If so what is the point of going back to Naxx25? If not whats the point of doing the 10 mans at all?

    This could work out great, but I have a feeling that this will be one of Blizzards worst ideas for the expansion.

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  6. One thing for sure …..there will be a lot of “Noob Death Knights” that is certain and guaranteed!

    But of course I will roll one, after i get my main to 80 seeing the new content first and in my spare time level a DK.

    Lots i hear so far sounds quite interesting. However i do like that you can do 10 man content all the way to the new endgame in WotLK. My personal preference is in 5 & 10 man teams. Nothing against 25 man teams as maybe get to do those someday but do like the idea of having 10 man Raid Options as a choice. How will that affect 25 man content, who knows but we will sure see the effects of 2 paths to the new endgame.

    Now I can have my very own 10 man strike team working on WotLK content and maybe say Hello to Arthas 🙂

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  7. I agree wholeheartedly that the 10 man option is the way to go. I love the “strike team” description. In my 10 man raids I have 5 real life friends. That makes it a lot more fun. In a 25 man raid we would just be another fish in a big sea.

    Combine that with 1) the logistics of 25 man raids and 2) the amount of time needed to do 25 man content I think it really is unfair to non-hardcore raiders (who make up the bulk of the readership here I’m sure) who want to compete endgame.

    I hope they also find a way to 1) make professions more pertinent and 2) make professions more competetive for non hardcore raiders. I shouldn’t have to kill Illidan to be the best BS I can be.

    I can understand making the top 5% available only to hardcore raiders. But the bulk of WoW players have families and jobs. Blizzard has been doing a great job lately making sure WE still have options in WoW.

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  8. Eh, i love 25 man content. of course i am in a good 25 man guild, and trust me, you arent just another face, that might have been true in the days of the 40 man, but many of the encounters in 25 man content require everyone. if you aren’t up to snuff people will know, and by that token people are tighter knit than one might expect.

    just the 2 copper of a prot turned holy pally ::cring:: on feathermoon

    Tego

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  9. Unfortunately I also cannot access the site from work, but I’m sure checking it out when I get home!

    I love the 10man/25man concept. Unless I’m reading it incorrectly I’m assuming this is only for the new expansion and not being applied retroactively to existing 25man content as Graylo has implied above.

    I’ve also had a hard time getting a group of friends together that can enjoy 10 man content let alone get 25, so this is a huge plus for me.

    They can always address motivation to do 25 man content with different loot much like they are planning with heroics. That’ll get ppl into 25 mans.

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  10. “I love the 10man/25man concept. Unless I’m reading it incorrectly I’m assuming this is only for the new expansion and not being applied retroactively to existing 25man content as Graylo has implied above.”

    As far as I can tell it is only for the new raid content released in WotLK. However, I did not imply at all that they would make the change retro actively.

    I think the confusion is coming from my use of Naxx10 and Naxx25. In case you didn’t know they are moving Naxx from EPL to Northrend and retuning it to be the first raid dungion of the new expantion. This has been stated by Blizzard many times. So accourding to this anouncement there will be two Naxx raids in the new expantion, but there has been no indication that there will be two raids for any of the BC raids or any other pre-bc raid other than Naxx.

    The point I was trying to make is that the presense of 10 man raids doing he same content as 25 man raids reduces the motivation to do the 25 man content. Sure the loot is better but almost every serious raiding guild says they don’t want people that are in it for the loot.

    In my opinion, unless they structure it really well and balance the instances perfictly you are going to see a majority of the player base gravitate to one form of raid over the other. Since 10 mans are much easier to put together in general, by guess is that this could seriously hurt people that want to do the larger raids.

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  11. Graylo: No, I don’t believe it will. Just because you get access to the same zones doesn’t necessarily mean the difficulty will be relatively the same. I’m guessing the various bosses in 25 and 10 man Naxx will have similar but different abilities.

    The two versions of raid instances are perfect because this will not destroy Guilds. The organizations like mine that have already been pre-established do not have to make cuts to the roster or anything like that in order to raid.

    I believe it was also stated in the various interviews that the loot drops from the 25 versions of raid instances will be far more superior than the 10 mans.

    The main point here is that this allows casual gamers who don’t have the time and dedication to be able to experience the new instances without having to worry about finding 24 other players to do it with.

    For a Guild like mine which is already stable with 25 active raiders, there *IS* no point in raiding the 10’s. I might go in there on a Friday night if I have nothing to do, but it certainly won’t be an active part of the raiding rotation. I have no reason to do 10’s for progression because I have the opportunity of getting better loot and a better challenge from the 25s.

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  12. Ok no that is not what he meant. I think this is a real bad idea. IN theory i love it because i am a great player but i don’t get time enough to do 25 man raids during school year, + always too many hunters so i never can find a stable 25 man raid guild. But the main reason 25 man guilds do their raiding is not for loot but for progression. For bragging rights. That you are the better players, you have btter leadership, organization, and that you have the time to dedicate to the game to gain access.

    I don’t believe the average casual gamer deserves half the loot they get in this game. It sort of ruins the concept of what your supposed to reach in this game. This game is almost to the point where “Farm it, you got it” (In relation to the candystore honor gear, and the WTF t6 badge gear).

    Allowing the arthas fight to be 10 man accessible is stupid, its supposed to be an epic fight. And if it can be accessed by some random casual dudes who are bored one night…whats so epic about it?

    I am not a hardcore raider, but i believe that they deserve the online respect for what they achieve and put time in to.

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  13. The difference in gear between the 10 man versions and the 25 man versions will be kinda drastic.
    Essentially the 25 man stuff will be a full tier above the 10 man.

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  14. I am SO excited for the 10/25 change. Our group has had Kara on farm for a long time and we have downed ZJ and gotten 2 timers down in ZA. We simply don’t have the manpower with our current rules system to do 25 man events. Those of us that want to see that stuff pug it.

    This will give us content that we have wanted to see but didn’t have the manpower for and it will let us show progression across more than just 2 instances 😀

    The 10s and 25s are also going to be on different timers so if the 25 man guilds want to do the 10s on off nights they can. On the same note if a 10 man guild wanted to pull in some extra guildies and pugs and do the 25 mans they can do that too. I am sure there will be nuance differences between the two but having done it in one format should feed pretty well to the 2nd.

    They did say to expect the 10 mans to be VERY challenging. This won’t be the new UBRS. Much like many guilds had problems with the progression from Kara to ZA that had not run 25 mans, you will see those same guild have problems progressing in Wrath. For those of us who enjoy that challenge however, we won’t get stuck having to make choices between our friends/family and our progression.

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  15. I think the 10-man/25-man is an idea with an incredible amount of potential, but I will hold off anything besides very general judgments because, let’s face it, none of us know the details. The devil–and angels–are in the details. 😛

    Still, I highly doubt 25-man raiding will disappear.

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  16. Personally i am bit worried that 10man content will eat interest and manpower from 25mans.

    I like 25 mans, and i am in guild who is going to give a shot to Kael’thas today.

    Anyway i can’t not agree that many guilds don’t have manpower for 10mans and they prob deserve to get more than one or two raid instances to run. But i think there is 2 options where to choose. Either from 3-4 raid instances doesn’t exist 10man versions or loots should be dramatically better. Example that tier7 can be get from 10mans and higer from that needs to get from 25mans…

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  17. @Matticus

    No doubt 25 man raiding will still exist, because there are plenty of people that will want to be able to say they have cleared the game in 25 man content. However, I think there are quite a few people that run 25 mans purely to see stuff and won’t feel the need to run it on 25 mans. Sure active guilds will have a leg up, but they will be affected by this also. What happens when you need to recruit? This will definately reduce the number of possible applicants. Look through your guild roster. Are you sure none of them are busy enough to give up 25 man raiding if they could see
    it in 10 man content?

    Also I really don’t see how this helps casuals in the long run. I agree that 10 will be less difficult then 25 mans. They have to be, but who says that 10-man #2 won’t be a big step up from Naxx10. I look at Kara and ZA right now. There are a log of guild that can clear Kara easily but still can’t kill Hex Lord in ZA.

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  18. The only reason I’m in a 25 man raiding guild is because that’s the only raiding content left available to me. I much prefer raiding in ten mans. Heck my favorite instances are five man heroics, I doubt I’m alone in my preference.

    There are many guilds who do not progress beyond Kara because of the difficulties that are inherent in turning a ten man raiding guild in to a 25 man raiding guild. Props to the guilds that pull it off but most stagnate, implode or become breeding grounds for 25 man raiders. Allowing guilds to stay together to the end is a smart move.

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  19. One other misconception I’m seeing, that it will take less time commitment to raid 10 man content than 25 man content.

    Why? When I was raiding Kara we did it two to three nights a week until we learned it and could do it in one night. Now I’m in a 25 man guild and we’re raiding three nights a week.

    I accept that current end game content requires more time per week, we’re not there yet. Where is the evidence that the future 10 and 25 man raids will require different time commitments?

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  21. If nothing else, consider this about having 10 and 25 man variants on the same instance: greatly increased opportunity to provide “something for everyone” in loot itemization. For instance, try to find a good Druid tank shoulder or helm outside of T4+ drops. They don’t exist. Other slots abound as difficult to fill for other classes and specs. Adding all of these loot tables meand that somewhere, there will be a boss mob that drops a suitable item for that slot that you can never seem to fill. To me, that’s the best part of it.

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