My Thoughts on Wrath of the Lich King

Yeah, no posts recently because of very little playtime for me. You can blame my job, or more specifically my co-worker's wife for having a baby. I've been scoring some serious OT since we have been understaffed. Bah, you don't want to hear about my work problems, so on with my first impressions of the next expansion: Wrath of the Lich King.

Level Cap Raised to 80

No surprise here. I see this as a perfectly logical progression from the BC. I think by the time WotLK is actually released, many people will be ready to say goodbye to Outland. I will be more than happy to replace my purple goodies with BOE greenies. However, I am the type of person that welcomes change.

Death Knight Hero Class

I guess this is a good thing. I like the idea of unlocking the character with a lengthy quest chain at level 80. That your Death Knight will be a separate character is really awesome. I'd hate to sacrifice my Druid only to hate the way a DK plays. I see the Rune mechanic feeling very different from everything else in the game. The playerbase as a whole could use more tanks, so another tanking class is a welcome addition.

I am not so sure I like the class starting out at a high level. I think we will see way too many DKs a few months after WotLK is released. Blizzard also gets to dodge the numerous requests for new mid-level content by starting the DK in Outland or Northrend. On a selfish note, I like where Feral Druids are at the moment, so I am fearful to see how the playerbase will change with the influx of more tanking characters. Will there be another healer shortage? Will Druids feel increased pressure to go back to healbotting? Those are my personal reservations to the introduction of another tanking class.

New Hairstyles and Dances

A small touch that will make many people happy. You cannot keep players interested in the game without adding a little polish here and there. Some people will yawn at the new uber raid instances, but will go crazy for a barbershop. New dances will add flavor to the game as well. I just hope I can change the way I dance in bear form.

New Profession: Inscription

The ability to enhance spells and abilities will be cool. I like this profession because it will be usable by all classes. I like having more options to customizing my character. The only problem I saw was the finite number of abilities people have. You don't get new spells once you hit 80, so once they have been inscripted you are done. I know the Devs hinted at another aspect to Inscription, so I will just sit back and wait for more details.

Seige Weapons in PVP

Now we are talking! This was my favorite feature revealed at Blizzcon. A Seige Weapon is ultimate equalizer. Your spec and your gear do not matter once you get behind the wheel of one of these. Anyone can raise some Hell, and I think that is going to be a great addition to WoW.

Overall

I think this expansion is underwhelming right now. I don't think people are ready to move on yet, but over time the excitement level will build. I do not see this thing coming out until the second half of 2008 based on how much was shown at Blizzcon.

There are still missing pieces. No mention of new additions to Old World. I can't see them releasing an expansion without adding at least one thing to the classic WoW zones. At the very least, we should get some new Caverns of Time instances. I would love to see a new mid-level zone, but I'm not sure how much interest Blizzard has in giving that to us. Lots of closed off areas to be added to game, so all we can do is wait and see.