World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

	; World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment; Team 2
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment; Activision Blizzard
Designer(s)	Tom Chilton; Jeff Kaplan
Composer(s)	Russell Brower; Derek Duke; Glenn Stafford
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Release	NA/EU: November 13, 2008; AU: November 14, 2008; CN: August 31, 2010;
Latest release	3.3.5a
Genre(s)	Expansion pack
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
	Standard; Collectors;
Expansion packs chronology

"Wrath of the Lich King" redirects here. For other uses, see Wrath of the Lich King (disambiguation).

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (abbreviated as WotLK, WLK or Wrath) is the second World of Warcraft expansion and was officially announced on 3 August 2007 at BlizzCon 2007. The majority of the expansion content takes place in Northrend and centers around the war against the undead Scourge and their leader, the Lich King.

Content highlights include the addition of Northrend, the continent where players would reach the newly raised level cap of 80. The death knight, the game's first hero class, was added. Additionally, new PvE and PvP content, such as raids and dungeons. No additional playable races were added, though many new NPC races were featured.^[4]

Opt-ins for the public beta began on 3 July 2008; which began on 17 July. On 10 October, Blizzard announced that Wrath of the Lich King had gone gold and discs were being manufactured for sale;^[5] the game itself was released to the public on 13 November 2008. For the first time, the normal version of the game (as opposed to the Collector's Edition) was installable through one single DVD disc.

This expansion was offered in two versions: Standard Edition and Collector's Edition.

On 13 September 2012, the expansion was integrated into the basic World of Warcraft package, granting all subscribers access to all of the content and features of the expansion at no additional cost.^[6]

Lore

The official box of Wrath of the Lich King.

From the official site:

For years, the heroes of the Alliance and Horde have fought against the evils in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, against the demons of the Burning Legion in Outland, and against each other - all the while unaware that a threat more dangerous than any they had yet encountered was preparing to make its move in the icy continent of Northrend. Now the Lich King, Arthas Menethil, has emerged from Icecrown Citadel to claim the world as his own. Heroes of the Alliance and Horde gather in Northrend to make a stand against the malevolent being that dares to declare himself Azeroth's one true king...and seeks to scour all life from the world.^[7]

Northrend

Main article: Northrend

Map of Northrend.

Layout map of initially planned zones in Northrend.

Classical map of Northrend. The differences are clearly visible.

The expansion introduced a new continent on Azeroth — the harsh, icy Northrend under the control of the Lich King, and is home to the majority of the expansion's new content.

Northrend is an arc-shaped continent in northern Azeroth. The continent is roughly half the size of the Eastern Kingdoms, but exceeds Outland in length and width. Although Northrend is known for its snow and ice, parts of the continent are not frozen over, such as the lush Howling Fjord and the jungle-like Sholazar Basin.

Flying mounts are also usable in Northrend; Players were required to level to 77 and obtain [Cold Weather Flying] to unlock this feature.^[8] Blizzard said they want to "keep us grounded and guide us on foot for a while", so that players can enjoy all the hard work they put into the land and not just "fly over it."^[9] Master riding, the fastest flight speed at the time, was introduced for only hard-to-obtain mounts like the [Violet Proto-Drake]. The expansion also introduced passenger mounts.

Zones

To alleviate some of the problems experienced at the launch of the Burning Crusade expansion, players are able to choose where to enter Northrend more freely. Both Howling Fjord to the east and the Borean Tundra to the west featured introductory level 68+ content, with more than enough quest XP regardless of option. Both zones feature a Hellfire Citadel-style instance hub with dungeon wings for level 70 and level 80 characters.^[10] Horde players access Howling Fjord via zeppelin from Undercity to Vengeance Landing; Alliance players can get there by boat to Valgarde from Menethil Harbor. Borean Tundra is accessed via zeppelin to Warsong Hold from Orgrimmar for Horde, and by boat to Valiance Keep from Stormwind City for Alliance.

Zone listings include both the level at launch, and the modern level post level squish:

Howling Fjord (68-72, now 10-30)
Borean Tundra (68-72, now 10-30)
Dragonblight (71-74, now 15-30)
Grizzly Hills (73-75, now 15-30)
Zul'Drak (74-77, now 20-30)
Sholazar Basin (75-78, now 20-30)
The Storm Peaks (76-80, now 25-30)
Crystalsong Forest (77-80, now 25-30)
Hrothgar's Landing (77-80, now 25-30)
Icecrown (77-80, now 25-30)
Wintergrasp (77-80, now 25-30) (Outdoor PvP)
Dalaran (Sanctuary)

Areas added to old world Azeroth

Acherus: The Ebon Hold and the Scarlet Enclave: A new area in the easternmost parts of the Eastern Plaguelands, near Tyr's Hand, where the death knight starting experience takes place.
Stormwind Harbor: Western Stormwind City had a new harbor added which provides naval transport to Northrend and to Darkshore, Kalimdor.
Dalaran Crater: An enormous crater where Dalaran once stood, encased with a violet-colored magical shield orb.
Shaper's Terrace: A new titan-related area in Un'Goro Crater, accessible by waygate from Sholazar Basin.
Old Stratholme: A level 80 wing of the Caverns of Time that takes players back to Arthas's Culling of Stratholme, orginially seen in Warcraft III.

Factions and organizations

Various organizations, factions, and new races are highlighted in the expansion.

Reputation grinding

A new faction tabard system was implemented called "Championing" where wearing a tabard of a certain faction gives you rep with that faction for kills in level 80 instances in lieu of existing faction rep (which would only be the Alliance Vanguard or Horde Expedition meta-factions). This is to combat the feeling that gaining rep with factions is a long grind and that there is no flexibility for players to choose which factions they gain rep with.

Nexus War

When Malygos regained his senses, he quickly realized what had happened during his absence. The mortal races had manipulated magic and used it for their own personal gain. As a result, the Burning Legion had nearly been summoned again by the reckless Kael'thas Sunstrider and his felblood elves. Confident that there is no other solution, Malygos has declared war on every spell-caster and wishes to annihilate their kind and drain all of Azeroth's magic. However, there are groups that oppose him and fight for their own survival or for that of others.

Kirin Tor: The Kirin Tor - a group of powerful wizards - have moved their capital Dalaran to Northrend to fight off the blue dragonflight, along with the Undead Scourge. Being dedicated magic-users, they are directly influenced by the war Malygos has begun. Not only does he slowly drain all Azeroth's magic, but he also intends to slay all casters. The Kirin Tor oppose him directly in his assault and fight for the fate of their world.

Blue dragonflight: The Aspect of Magic and the leader of the blue dragonflight - Malygos - has started a war with the mortal races for their reckless use of magic. Using his flight, Malygos now seeks to divert Azeroth's ley lines to his own home, the Nexus, by the use of giant constructs known as Surge needles, and send the energies out in the Twisting Nether, so no one will be able to use it anymore. He has not only ordered his fellow Blue dragons to slay the mortal spellcasters but also to take down all that would help these "criminals".

Wyrmrest Accord: As the overseers of Life on Azeroth, the red dragonflight closely watches all wars and observes all conflicts. While they usually do not interfere they now deem it necessary to enter the front lines themselves. Malygos's plan, to remove all magic from Azeroth, would have disastrous consequences for the entire world. Such catastrophes would cost countless lives, much more than all those that have fallen during the Nexus War. Thus Alexstrasza - the leader of the Red Dragonflight - has called upon the Wyrmrest Accord, a union between all Dragonflights to find a way to end Malygos's insanity and stop his reckless crusade.

Horde Expedition

Horde Expedition is the combined force of the Horde in Northrend, spearheaded by the Warsong Offensive.

Warsong Offensive: Garrosh Hellscream commands the Horde's main expeditionary forces as they make their way into Northrend to face Arthas and the armies of the Scourge.

The Hand of Vengeance: The Forsaken tasked by Sylvanas Windrunner with enacting Undercity's vengeance against Arthas by delivering the latest strain of their deadly Plague of Undeath.

The Taunka: These hardy people are cousins of the tauren and have become valuable scouts for the armies of the Horde as they march northward.

The Sunreavers: Traditionally barred from Dalaran, the Horde has been accepted into the city through the efforts of Archmage Aethas Sunreaver. His blood elf followers have taken up his name and watch over the ward known as Sunreaver's Sanctuary.

Alliance Vanguard

Provoked by the attack on Stormwind, the Alliance has gathered its forces to march upon Icecrown Citadel and put an end to the Lich King's reign.

Valiance Expedition: The main armies of the Alliance have arrived upon the shores of Borean Tundra, where they reinforced Valiance Keep with their sheer numbers.

Explorers' League: Eager to find out more about their past, the Explorers' League was quick to travel to Northrend. They're especially interested in the titan city of Ulduar which is said to hold much information about the ancestors of the dwarves, gnomes, and humans alike. In addition, they've opened up several dig-sites in an attempt to reveal what's hidden in the earth.

Frostborn: The Frostborn are a faction of a newly discovered dwarf, the frost dwarves. This mysterious race of dwarves makes its home in the Storm Peaks. They've recently befriended members of the Explorers' League and welcome Alliance members within their settlements. Their leader Yorg Stormheart seems to suffer from a strange amnesia; it is rumored that he used to be an important member within the Alliance.

Silver Covenant: Disgusted and outraged by the founding of the blood elven race, the remaining high elves have united under the banner of Vereesa Windrunner as the Silver Covenant. The Covenant consists primarily of a militant core that has joined forces with the Alliance in Northrend.

Undead Scourge

Dragonflayer Clan: The Dragonflayer Clan is one clan of vrykul, a race of half-giant warriors native to the Howling Fjord. They have recently allied themselves with the Scourge and wish to join its ranks. These formidable warriors have begun attacking Horde and Alliance settlements, and many of the vrykul are pouring out of the fortress of Utgarde Keep.

Opposition of the Scourge

Argent Crusade: The Knights of the Silver Hand and the soldiers of the Argent Dawn have merged into this new organization, headed by the re-inspired Highlord Tirion Fordring. They seem to be capable of something neither the Alliance nor the Horde could fulfill; they're fighting at the front lines of Icecrown.

Knights of the Ebon Blade: A counter to the Knights of the Silver Hand, the Knights of the Ebon Blade are an order of renegade death knights who have broken away from the Scourge. They are led by Highlord Darion Mograine, the son of Alexandros Mograine.

The nerubians: A race of spider-humanoids that once controlled all of Northrend before the coming of the Lich King. Now, they live mainly in the lower reaches of their destroyed kingdom Azjol-Nerub and other scattered conclaves. It is speculated that they serve the Old God, Yogg-Saron, within their city. However, conversations with Kilix the Unraveler and Archmage Lan'dalock seem to imply they are at odds with him and his servants, the faceless ones.

Natural inhabitants

Kalu'ak: The Kalu'ak are tuskarr, a humanoid walrus people that lives in Northrend. Although seen throughout Northrend, they make their homes primarily in the Borean Tundra. Their capital city is Kaskala and it is a fishing area. They also have Kamagua, a settlement in the Howling Fjord. Moa'ki Harbor is situated in the Dragonblight.

Sons of Hodir: The Sons of Hodir are a faction of frost giants located in Storm Peaks. They are a war-like race that makes its home in Dun Niffelem.

Dungeons and End-game Content

The Azeroth world map with Northrend added.

The expansion added group content in a similar fashion to The Burning Crusade, and the "heroic dungeon" format was preserved. Many new 5-man, 10-man, and 25-man instances are located in Northrend. The expansion has as many 5-man dungeons as the previous expansion and all 25-man raids can also be completed as a 10-man group due to the popularity of Karazhan.^[11] Despite player speculation, solo dungeons were not considered for implementation in Wrath.^[12] There are no lengthy attunements for any dungeon.

There were three raid dungeons and twelve 5-man dungeons (eight for leveling up and four max-level, each with heroic versions) at release. Heroic access also no longer requires any faction reputation and are available simply by reaching level 80. All 5-man dungeons were said to have been designed to last around an hour.^{[citation needed]}

Dungeon listings include both the level at launch, and the modern level post level squish.

New instances

Utgarde Keep (two five-player wings, now 10-30)

An instance hub in the Howling Fjord filled with the vrykul, a Viking-like race devoted to serving the Lich King. It is the home of two dungeons:

Utgarde Keep, a level 70-72 (now 10-30).
Utgarde Pinnacle, a level 80 instance (now 20-30).

The Nexus (two five-player wings, and a 10/25-player raid wing)

Located in Coldarra, it features the blue dragonflight as the enemy. The red dragonflight is aiding the players.

The Nexus, a level 71-73 (now 10-30) five-player instance.
Oculus, a level 80 (now 20-30) five-player instance, that lets you fight on magical rings that float above the ground.
Eye of Eternity, a 10/25-player raid, similar to Onyxia. A rift in the sky where you battle Malygos.

Drak'Tharon Keep (five-player): A former stronghold of the Drakkari now overrun by the Scourge, located on the border between Grizzly Hills and Zul'Drak. Drak'Tharon Keep contains one instance for level 74-76 (now 15-30) players.

Gundrak (five-player): The capital of the Ice Trolls where players face off against the High Prophets of the Drakkari's loa, located in the northeastern corner of Zul'Drak. A five-player instance for level 76-78 (now 20-30) players.

Violet Hold (five-player): The prison of Dalaran, a five-player instance for level 75-77 (now 15-30) players.

Chamber of Aspects (10/25-player raids)

Designed to have various encounters with all five Dragonflights, only two have been implemented so far.

Obsidian Sanctum; A single encounter raid instance where players face-off against Sartharion.
Ruby Sanctum; A raid instance introduced in Patch 3.3.5, with Heroic modes available for both 10 and 25 player groups. You defend the Red Dragonflight's home against the twilight dragon Halion.

Vault of Archavon (10/25-player raid): A raid dungeon found in Wintergrasp Keep. Players may only enter the dungeon while their faction controls Wintergrasp. Four giants reside here - Archavon, Emalon, Koralon and Toravon.

Ulduar (two five-player wings, and a 10/25-player raid wing)

Located in The Storm Peaks. A titan-related dungeon where secrets of Azeroth's history are revealed.

Halls of Stone, a level 77-79 (now 20-30) instance
Halls of Lightning, a level 80 (now 20-30) instance
Ulduar, a 10/25-raid, introduced in Patch 3.1.0, one step above Tier 7 content.

Azjol-Nerub (two wings)

The ancient subterranean kingdom of the nerubian race.

Azjol-Nerub, a level 72-74 (now 15-30) instance with Anub'arak as a boss.
Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom a level 73-75 (now 15-30) instance.

Crusaders' Coliseum (five-man dungeon, 10/25-man normal and heroic raids)

Introduced in Patch 3.2.0. Adventurers will test their mettle inside the Coliseum before their final battle against the Lich King.

Trial of the Champion, a level 80 (now 25-30) instance
Trial of the Crusader, a 10/25 raid, one step above Tier 8 content. Heroic incarnation of the instance is known as Trial of the Grand Crusader.

Icecrown Citadel (three 5-player wings, and a 10/25-player raid wing)

Introduced in Patch 3.3.0. Culminating the expansion with a direct confrontation with the Lich King himself. All dungeons listed are for level 80 (now 25-30) characters.

The Frozen Halls, the complex which wings are being unlocked after beating the previous one.
- Forge of Souls, the first wing with two encounters.
- Pit of Saron, the second wing with three encounters.
- Halls of Reflection, the third and final wing with two encounters.
Icecrown Citadel, a 10/25 raid, Tier 10 content. It does have Normal and Heroic modes for both 10 and 25 player versions, and it is the very last raid instance of the expansion pack.

Returning, but in another form

Naxxramas (level 80, 10 and 25-player raid): The instance has been returned to level 80 and included as a 10/25-player dungeon at an entry-level difficulty with no attunement.

Onyxia's Lair (level 80, 10 and 25-player raid): The instance has been returned in honor of World of Warcraft's 5th anniversary in Patch 3.2.2.

Additions to Azeroth

Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme (level 80, 5-player instance): A new wing of the Caverns of Time where players fight alongside Arthas, during the break of his sanity, against Mal'Ganis to purge the city of Stratholme of its citizens, who are infected by the Plague of Undeath. The infinite dragonflight storyline continues here.

PvP additions

Wintergrasp, seen from above.

Battlegrounds

Strand of the Ancients is a siege warfare-style battleground south of Dragonblight featuring siege weapons. Fifteen people are on each team, and games can last a maximum of twenty minutes if neither side captures the Titan Relic. Players can mount up in Siege Engines, a four-passenger vehicle with spots for the driver, gunner and two passengers with all passengers protected from incoming fire. Players on foot can also take part in the siege by using Seaforium Charges to attack the walls and mountable turrets to defend the walls.

Isle of Conquest, a battleground introduced in patch 3.2.0, Call of the Crusade, pitches teams of up to 40 players against each other in a massive battle over this small island off Northrend's northern coast. To win, teams will need to make use of the island's unique strategic locations including an oil refinery, a siege workshop, and a fully equipped gunship hangar. Players deploy devastating siege weaponry on the field; Light have mercy on anyone caught between the adventurers and your ultimate target, the general holed up in the enemy keep.

Arenas

Two new Arenas are also introduced in the expansion. One in the Orgrimmar Arena and the other in a new Dalaran Arena in Dalaran's sewers. These arenas introduce moving objects such as pillars and waterfalls, and damaging objects such as spikes in arenas and other such mechanics to create dynamics with line of sight and gameplay.

World PvP

PvP experiences are iterated on in WotLK, with the addition of a dedicated PvP zone (even on PvE servers) in central Northrend called Wintergrasp. There is no requirement to visit the zone, but the benefit was that all bosses in instances used to drop [Stone Keeper's Shard], a token similar to Spirit Shards in Auchindoun, obtained when any one faction holds Wintergrasp Fortress. Players were able to use these tokens to purchase gear.

Siege weapons are the predominant method of attack and defense as there are no Seaforium Charges to be found. Players start off with the Catapult, an anti-personnel weapon that does minimal siege damage to buildings. Upgrades include the Demolisher, a vehicle with a ram attack and turret controlled by a single player, and the siege engines from Strand of the Ancients.

Previews of the zone also included aerial vehicles, the flying machine and gnomish bomber, as well as the anti-aircraft goblin Shredder, but they were not implemented. Wintergrasp itself is a no-fly zone and will eventually dismount aerial players wishing to fly through it.

Additionally, control of Wintergrasp confers access to the Vault of Archavon, a quick one-boss encounter capable of dropping Tier 7 loot or equivalent PvP gear. An additional boss was added in subsequent patches - patch 3.1.0 brought Emalon the Storm Watcher, who drops Tier 8 or equivalent loot. Koralon the Flame Watcher was added in patch 3.2.0 with Tier 9, and Toravon the Ice Watcher in patch 3.3.0 with Tier 10.

Hero classes

Main article: Hero class

The expansion introduced the long-awaited concept of high-level Hero classes to World of Warcraft. Wrath of the Lich King's Hero class is the death knight.

Death knight

An early version of a death knight, seen in the WotLK trailer.

Main article: Death knight

The death knight was originally accessible to players after having another character on their account reach level 55. Once unlocked, the death knight, starting at level 55, will then complete a series of quests in Acherus: The Ebon Hold and the Scarlet Enclave with a story involving their defection from their creator, the Lich King. Originally, death knights were only allowed to be created on a realm with a pre-existing level 55 character for that account, but now, as long as there is a level 55 present on the account, a death knight can be constructed on any realm. Only a single death knight was allowed per realm.

The death knight is a plate-wearing class that can both be a DPS and a tank, and uses its own unique resource system based primarily on cooldowns. The death knight at launch used six runes, two runes each of three types, frost, blood, and unholy, which were refreshed on a ten-second timer. Death knights also have access to runic power, their secondary resource.

Professions and skills

Wrath professions upon implementation could be leveled to 450 skill points, from the Burning Crusade's 375 skill cap, while leveling professions from 300-375 were made easier.

Continuing in the tradition of The Burning Crusade of introducing a new profession with an expansion, Wrath of the Lich King's new profession is inscription.

Inscription

Main article: Inscription

An inscriber creates scrolls, vellum, glyphs, and other paper paraphernalia. Scrolls are direct analogues of the various scrolls dropped from mobs (like [Scroll of Intellect]). Vellums are used as a target for an enchanter's spells ( [Armor Vellum]/ [Weapon Vellum]) such that the vellum themselves can be used to enchant items and are sold on the Auction House.

Glyphs came in two varieties, major and minor. Major glyphs were used to augment a player's combat spells and abilities, such as increasing the damage multiplier on [Ice Lance] ( [Glyph of Ice Lance]) or clearing polymorphed targets of damage over time effects ( [Glyph of Polymorph]). Minor glyphs were used for cosmetic effects ( [Glyph of the Penguin]), to reduce the mana cost of buffs ( [Glyph of Arcane Intellect]) or remove reagent requirements ( [Glyph of Slow Fall]).

New creatures

Humanoids

Giants

Beasts

Arcane wyrm
Bloodworm
Celestial Steed (as a purchasable mount) (3.3.3)
Condor
Jormungar
Lion seal
Magic Rooster (a TCG loot card mount)
Mammoth
Nerubian flyer
Nerubian spider
Orca
Penguin
Rhino
Saber worg
Shoveltusk
Spirit beast
Turkey

Undead

Dragonkin

Elemental

Mojo elemental
Revenant

Mechanical

Aberration

Faceless one
- C'Thrax

(3.1)

Some of the new creatures were showcased in The Wrath of the Lich King Bestiary an official article by Blizzard Entertainment. Two creatures that were showcased existed before, but in another form: Wendigo which received a new model type and Ice troll which received a new unique model. The San'layn were also originally introduced as the "Darkfallen" in there.

Characters

Levels, spells, and talents

Owning the expansion allowed characters to level to 80, adding 10 additional talent points to their disposal and extending the talent trees further to allow for 51-point talents. Leveling from 70 to 80 took approximately the same amount of time as leveling 60 to 70. Players had the new option to switch between two pre-set talent specializations freely after visiting their class trainer and paying a one-time fee of 1000 for Dual Talent Specialization. Unlearning talents within either of those specs would still cost the normal fee.

Extended character customization

Players became able to change hairstyles of existing characters using barber shops, but were unable to change their characters' body shape or size, which still required the purchase of the Appearance Change service.

Voice emotes

Death knight voices are modulated for each race so that they sound deeper and have an echo.

Items

Blizzard introduced Heirloom gear with the expansion. These items were bound to the player's account, giving them the ability to mail the items between characters on the realm the item was discovered.

PvP armor was notably different from the PvE armor entirely in looks and colors.

25-man raids drop more loot than 10-man versions and are separated with a full tier of item stats.

The token system remained for PvE. [Stone Keeper's Shards] were awarded from all instances to players in the faction that controlled Wintergrasp. They were used to purchase heirlooms, Jewelcrafting designs, gems, shoulder enchants and mounts.

Blizzard made a design shift to reduce the number of items they must design and to prevent unwanted drops being wasted. The end result was that more classes use the same items. This was accomplished by reducing the amount of varied stats different classes and specs need so that 3 classes can share the same items.

Players became able to “learn” a mount or non-combat pet much like learning a spell, recipe, or new ability, which would remove the item from the bag then show up on a new interface tab within the Character Info section of the interface. Players were able to access and preview their learned mounts and vanity pets through this tab, and add them to the hotbar as normal.

Mounts

A forsaken riding a mammoth mount in Dalaran.

In Wrath, mounts could be retrieved from the pet tab. Lost mounts and pets could be restored from a stable master.

Notable new mounts:

[Ice Mammoth] and [Grand Ice Mammoth] are available to purchase when players have Revered and Exalted reputation with the Sons of Hodir faction.
[Black War Mammoth] which could be purchased in Wintergrasp for 300 [Stone Keeper's Shards].
[Traveler's Tundra Mammoth] and [Armored Brown Bear] vanity mount for sale from the exotic pet vendor Mei Francis in Dalaran for 20,000 and 900 respectively, although the price is reduced with reputation. The fact that Tundra Mammoth "is a very fast three person mount that carries vendors" was noteworthy.
The [Flying Carpet] and [Swift Flying Carpet] mounts can be crafted with 380 and 420 tailoring respectively.
[Acherus Deathcharger], the death knight class mount.

Graphical information

Wrath enhanced the WoW's graphical engine; for example, a new shading system was used in ice caves, while flame animations became noticeably more detailed. In addition, the art for the expansion took on more like "classic Warcraft" (Gothic fantasy) feel, and looked less like Outland art (high fantasy).^[13]

System requirements

Main article: System requirements § Wrath of the Lich King

Gameplay features

These are directly from the site.

Paradigm Shift: Dungeons and Raids

Heroic dungeons were one of the most popular innovations of the previous expansion, so it’s no surprise Heroic mode will return in Wrath of the Lich King. Just as in The Burning Crusade, every five-person dungeon will have a Heroic variant that will present players with an added challenge and improved rewards.

One exciting new feature in Wrath of the Lich King is that all raid content will be available as either a 10- or 25-person dungeon with completely independent progression paths. Both the 10- and 25-person versions will be the same dungeon; the look, layout, and design of the dungeon will remain the same. However, each will be adjusted, tuned, and balanced for its respective player size.

In Wrath of the Lich King, players can expect both 10- and 25-person raid progression paths to get increasingly difficult as they adventure to their final battle with Arthas. This new gameplay mechanic will allow more players to enjoy the raid content of Wrath of the Lich King in their preferred play style. Because it takes more effort to get 25 people together than it does for 10, players who participate in the 25-person raid progression path will receive higher quality and more loot than those who play the 10-person versions.

In addition, players will never be required to attune in a 10-person raid to progress to a 25-person raid in the progression path. Raid lockouts are same-size as well, so joining a 25-person raid for a dungeon will not lock a player out from the 10-person version of the same dungeon. This freedom of choice between raid-progression paths will let personal preference play a much bigger role in how players experience the raid content of Wrath of the Lich King.

Achievements

Main article: achievement

The Achievement system was introduced in Wrath of the Lich King. Many achievements for accomplishments before the systems implementation were awarded retroactively, but were not dated as such. Therefore, any achievement cannot be dated earlier than October 14, 2008, the launch of patch 3.0.2.

Materials

New Ores gatherable in Northrend

New Herbs gatherable in Northrend

New Cloth lootable in Northrend

[Frostweave Cloth]

Cut content

Azjol-Nerub was initially planned to be a questing zone for the game.
Crystalsong apparently had way more content planned for it. In The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the summary for Crystalsong Forest indicates that the Sunreavers and Silver Covenant are fighting for control of the Highborne ruins in the zone, though this plotline is never touched on in the game. The zone is also notoriously empty in comparison to other Northrend zones, and scarce on quests except those from the Argent Tournament.
A dance studio was also announced in the gameplay trailer, but never made it to the game.

Gallery

Screenshots

Below are a variety of screenshots from the expansion. Many more can be found on relevant articles.

Wrath of the Lich King Login screen
Northrend loading screen.
New Eastern Kingdoms loading screen.
New Kalimdor loading screen.
New Outland loading screen.
Dragonblight Coast.
Utgarde Keep — note the improved quality of the flames.
Tuskarr camp in the Borean Tundra.
Howling Fjord.
Howling Fjord.
A new Horde town, Grizzly Hills.
The dragonblight.
A new dryad Model.
Dryad Tree spirits or a shrine in Howling Fjord?
An Alliance port, Valiance Keep.
A lighthouse outside Valiance Keep.
Valgarde in Howling Fjord.
Fort Wildervar in Howling Fjord?
Shovel tusk in Howling Fjord.
A Plague eruptor at Gjalerbron

Concept art

People

Female Vrykul.
An iron dwarf.
A monster.
Another monster.
The tuskarr preparing whale meat.
Artwork of a vrykul from the WoW — WotLK site.
Death Knight 2, from the BlizzCon Press CD.
A tuskarr.
A "fjord giant".
A frost giant.
A frost serpent.
A giant worm living in Northrend, the dreaded jormungar.
A gorloc.
A fish-like creature. Another gorloc?
A "Shovel Tusk" (shovelhorn stag). Shovel-shaped tusks for digging through tundra.
A male taunka.
A male taunka.
A tuskarr hunter.
A furbolg.
An undead whale.
Another undead whale.
Another Northrend giant.

Places

Nifflevar concept art.
Borean Tundra.
Borean Tundra.
Sholazar Basin.
Sholazar Basin.
A "winter tauren" (or taunka) hut.
Ulduar, a Titan monument far to the north, located at the Storm Peaks.
Corridor within Ulduar.
An iron dwarf building.
Another iron dwarf building.
Utgarde Keep, located between Daggercap Bay and Lake Cauldros.
Utgarde Keep interior.
Utgarde Pinnacle.
Lush vegetation in Grizzly Hills.
Grizzly Hills.
Grizzly Hills.
Orc buildings.
Nerubian building.
Nerubian building.
An Utgarde hallway.
Grizzly Hills.
A glacier.
Unknown location, possibly Whisper Gulch or the Rainspeaker Canopy.
Unknown location, possibly titan, iron dwarf, horde or scourge structures.
Dragonblight.
Unknown location, though probably a scourge structure. Reminds of the Forge of Souls.
Unknown location, possibly somewhere in Sholazar Basin or troll ruins in Grizzly Hills.
Unknown location, possibly somewhere in Dragonblight.
Cemetery. Unknown location, possibly somewhere in Icecrown or Dragonblight.
Unknown location, possibly a tuskarr or vrykul fishing village.
The Azjol-Nerub entrance that never was.
Concept of a hive on one of multiple floors of Azjol-Nerub.
Concept art