WoW: Wrath of the Lich King

[tranceMiNuS]

EDIT - Official site up:

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

In the cold, harsh northlands...
The Lich King Arthas has set in motion events that could lead to the extinction of all life on Azeroth. With the armies of the undead and the necromantic power of the plague threatening to sweep across the land, only the mightiest heroes can oppose the Lich King's will and end his reign of terror for all time.

Blizzard Entertainment's latest expansion to World of Warcraft – Wrath of the Lich King – adds a host of epic content to the existing game world. Players will achieve soaring levels of power, explore a vast new continent, and battle other high-level heroes to determine the fate of Azeroth. As you pit yourself against the dangers of the north, prepare to:
Features

* Master the necromantic powers of the Death Knight - World of Warcraft's first Hero class.
* Quest to level 80, gaining potent new abilities and talents along the way.
* Learn the craft of spell augmentation with the new Inscription profession.
* Brave the harsh new continent of Northrend, the icy domain of the Lich King.
* Engage in epic siege warfare, deploying mighty siege engines to lay waste to destructible buildings in your path.
* Transform your hero's look with new character-customization options, including new hairstyles and dances.
* Explore perilous new dungeons filled with some of the deadliest creatures -- and greatest treasures -- on Azeroth.
* And much, much more...

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EDIT - As of 8/3/2007 this has been confirmed:



WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Revealed news from 1UP.com:

It's official: The next World of WarCraft expansion is coming; it's called Wrath of the Lich King, and will open up the continent of Northrend to players of level 68 and above. This second expansion will focus on the return of Arthas Menethil, a.k.a. the Lich King, ruler of the Scourge, and one of the most powerful beings in all of Azeroth. This semi-sequel to the saga of Arthas (from WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) is intended for experienced players with a couple level 70 characters in their pockets.

The September issue of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine (on sale soon) has tons of details, but for now here's a quick rundown of what's in store....

Level Cap: 80
Skill Cap: 450
Continent: Northrend
Number of Zones: 10 (tentatively), for levels 68 and above
Profession: Inscription
Class: Death Knight (first-ever Hero Class)
Features: Outdoor PVP zone with siege weapons and destructible buildings.
Release Date: You're kidding, right?

The biggest news for existing players is the introduction of the Death Knight, the first new class since WOW's launch -- and, coincidentally, its first Hero Class, too. Other big new features include the introduction of siege weapons and destroyable buildings in both a new Battleground and a brand-new outdoor PVP zone. What Wrath of the Lich King won't have is any content for new characters: no new races, no new level-1-to-20 zones back in the old world, and little change to the old world.

Here's what we know so far:

The Story
Having cleaned up Outland (or at least having set things in decent enough order for now), the Alliance and Horde turn their heads northward to the continent of Northrend, where a terrible threat has gone unchecked for far too long: that of Lich King and his undead army, the Scourge. On the day Wrath of the Lich King launches, players will be able to set sail from various points in old Azeroth and join the fight against Arthas Menethil.

New Continent: Northrend
Having learned a valuable lesson about funneling 8.5 million players into once single starting zone with The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King lets players pick a zone on either side of the continent to start from: Borean Tundra in the west or Howling Fjord in the east. Each zone has level-equivalent quests (appropriate for approximately level 68 through 72) and one Hellfire Peninsula-style instance hub with multiple dungeon wings for level 70 characters, level 80 characters, and raiders. While Northrend immediately calls to mind ice and snow, Blizzard doesn't want to make those themes dominate Northrend completely-expect as much variety as ever, only not quite as weird and wild as Outland.

Northrend's indigenous inhabitants include a Viking-like race called the Vrykul: 15-foot-tall humanoids with a strong Norse influence. Most Vrykul you encounter will be your enemies, as they've been in Northrend so long that the Lich King holds a lot of sway over them. Another friendly race -- the walrus-like Tuskarr -- will serve as a cute little counterpoint to the lumbering undead-loving oafs.

New Zone Type: Outdoor PVP
One of Northrend's 10 new zones (final count still tentative) is an outdoor PVP zone that introduces the concept of siege weapons (Meat Wagons, Steam Tanks, etc.) and destructible buildings. Blizzard describes the outdoor zone as basically a "non-instanced Battleground" where completing objectives earns world-wide bonuses for your side (Think Spirit Shard buff in Auchindoun instances). The PVP zone is entirely avoidable (if you're the carebear type), and seige weapons won't be useable outside their designated PVP area.

New Hero Class: Death Knight
World of WarCraft's first Hero Class is a plate-wearing tank/DPS hybrid that works a little something like this: When players hit level 80, they'll be able to embark on a quest (similar in difficulty to the Warlock's epic mount quest, back before the level cap was raised to 70) that unlocks the ability to create a Death Knight character. The Death Knight starts at a high level (somewhere around 60 or 70, though Blizzard isn't certain yet), so you won't have to grind your way back up all over again. It's intended as an alternative, advanced class for end-game use only.

Rather than using rage, energy, or mana, Death Knights have a special "rune sword" displayed beneath their health bar, onto which the player can etch six different runes (choose between Frost, Blood, and Unholy). Different abilities require different mixes of runes, and using abilities consumes the requisite runes until a cooldown timer causes them to be available again. Stuff like talents, spells, and other specifics are still being finalized. So are key questions like what races can be a Death Knight (start a Gnome petition now) and whether unlocking the Hero Class on one server means you can create a Death Knight on any server.

New Profession: Inscription
Wrath of the Lich King will introduce a new profession called Inscription that will let players customize individual spells and abilities in their spell book -- to change the cooldown timer on a Fireball, for example, or alter the crit rate of a healing spell.

There's lots more in the upcoming September issue of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, on sale in the next couple weeks, including candid insight from the developers, details on some of the new dungeons not shown at BlizzCon, and word that The Burning Crusade ain't over yet...there's more BC content coming beyond Zul'Aman.

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Old post:

Proof to support this is that if you attempt to navigate to World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, you will get a "forbidden" message, while if you try to go to any other "non-existent" site on their network, you will get a "not found".

World of Raids :: Index:

More Wotlk (Wrath of the Lich King) leaked infos by WoWszene.de


WoWszene.de came up with a massive amount of leaked infos on the next WoW Addon: Wrath of the Lich King

We asked to WoWszene.de the permission to post the translation (thanks MyM|Leniya) of the german part of their article ; there it is:

WoW-Szene.de presents you the most important contents about the new addon by Blizzard- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Last night you could see those informations shortly on an underpage of the officially EU-WoW Website and got confirmed to WoW-Szene.de by other sources, among others the official FAQ to WotLK.


What to expect from the Expansion :


*It is going to Northrend! With level 80 and new abilities! If some Objects are achieved, you can create a new Character. The Death Knight. He starts straight in High Level Area.
*In PVP there will be finally be the long-ago announced siege weapons available and there will be destroyable buildings, plus a new battleground
*The Deathknight will be a kind of Damage Dealer and at the same time a Tank with so far non existant new abilities. He will be playable by Alliance and Horde, but it will be just certain Races who will have the possibility to create a Death Knight. He is the first Hero class and other will probably come in the following Expansions.



More summaries of the of the FAQs:


* New possibilities of designing your Character.
* You will fight against the Lich King Arthas!
* Leveling from 70 to 80 will take as much time as leveling from 60 to 70.
* Howling Fjord will be the first area you will arrive to. Afterwards there will be areas following like Grizzly Hills and Dragonblight.
* The first Dungeon will be Utgarde Keep. You will be able to enter it at level 70 and it will be a 5-man Instance. 25er Dungeons will still be existant, just as well as Heroic Instances.
* New Profession: Inscription – Enduring amplification of spells and abilities.
* There will be a Cinematic Intro.
* Northrend will be about as big as Outlands.


Other contents like screenshots could sadly not be saved since the page went offline straight.

The complete FAQ with other Informations in English can be read at wowszene.de.

Teza
WoR reporter

Link to german infos page: wow-szene.de: Exklusiv: Antworten zum neuen Addon

[Asmadai]

Oh why the hell not. Had a thread for each other rumor didn't we?

Lets turn this into a three-way expansion discussion, shouldn't be too bad.

[Vatoreus]

this belongs in the northrend thread imo.

[darkblue]

Perhaps combine the three threads?

[tranceMiNuS]

I imagined this wouldn't really qualify as a rumor, more as a solid information leak, and that it would get lost just being thrown into any of the other threads.

[Draegan]

It was already posted twice in the Northrend thread. So Hooray for a third time.

[vynde]

if you start out as a level 70 DK when you create the character that would be awesome. even 60 wouldn't be that bad. but i wonder what kind of horrible rep grind is needed for this...

[Tirinal]

I really wish they would stop adding incentives for rerolling when the process of rerolling is so mindless.

[Kodylan]

Originally Posted by vynde

if you start out as a level 70 DK when you create the character that would be awesome. even 60 wouldn't be that bad. but i wonder what kind of horrible rep grind is needed for this...

I'm sure it'll require defeating Arthas and acquiring Frostmourne. Then you too can become corrupted by its powers and be a Death Knight!

[elrich]

Nah, you'll just need to sacrifice your character's soul.

And by soul, I mean 25,000 gold.

[audiocord]

* New possibilities of designing your Character.

does that mean we can finally change our characters face and hair etc?

[Vagoo]

.

[tranceMiNuS]

Originally Posted by audiocord

does that mean we can finally change our characters face and hair etc?

On the german site:

In what ways will players be able to further customize their characters in the expansion?

In addition to the numerous new character-customization options that will be available with all of the new weapons and armor added by the expansion, we'll be offering some fun ways to alter both existing and new characters with regard to dances and hairstyles, but we're not ready to go into more detail just yet.

[Moontayle]

This is a bit different from some of the previous leaked info in that the German version of the ESA requires game trailers to have ratings as well as the games. A game rating popped up a few days ago for the Leipzig conference that was attached to Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard is mum on everything of course, they're saving the "Official" announcement for this weekend, but that's about as proof positive as you can get for the existance of the game. Now, whether or not the features are spot on is another thread.

[Quineloe]

wowszene.de is pretty worthless though, they've been dead wrong before.