Blizzard Does it Again

Wrath of the Lich King, a true casual gamer expansion

By Adam Dolge

Few games in history have created as much buzz as World of Warcraft. On November 13 Blizzard released its latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, to the Goliath of online games. While 2008 was the year for many “David” wannabes, so far no other MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game) has had a stone to throw at the giant that is WoW.

The expansion broke records, selling more than 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours, making it the fastest selling PC game in history. It continued to break records after its initial release, selling 4 million copies in the first month.  It’s not hard to believe that the previous title holder to these two records was WoW’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade.

What to Expect

Wrath of the Lich King has several new features that’ll attract the hardcore raiders and lasso back the previously retired casual gamers, myself included. There’s a lot to like about the expansion, but Blizzard left itself some work, hopefully fixable with forthcoming patches. WotLK is a casual gamer’s paradise, with a decrease in experience needed to level resulting in faster progression, stunning new 5-man dungeons, and for the first time, a story that flows as you progress to the new 80 level cap.

The new area of Northrend looks impressive, a skiers paradise with its gigantic sprawling snowy mountains, huge valleys with sparsely dotted towns and villages, dense forests, and a new capital city for the Horde and Alliance called Dalaran — a floating city.

There are so many reviews of WotLK and all things WoW, that I decided to give you a true “casual gamer” look into the game. I work fulltime as a writer, play in a band, have a steady girlfriend, and the basic responsibilities that come from being an “almost 30-year-old.” The guild I play with, and have played with for a few years, fits my play style — most of them are married, with kids, have fulltime jobs, military duties, and coach little league for their kids. We come from all throughout the US, some are stationed in Europe, but by far the biggest contingent is from Texas and the Northeast. As casual gamers, on average we play a couple hours a day, more on weekends, and we go on a two hour raid in the evening after work and dinner.

The Death Knight

I was late to WotLK, hesitant to start playing WoW again after a year hiatus. After seeing previews, watching commercials, and reading reviews, I was drawn back, needing my junky fix. I started a Death Knight, the first Hero Class introduced with the expansion. All you need is a level 55 character to start a Death Knight.

My new Death Knight can do pretty much anything other dps (damage per second) classes can do. It’s said that the Death Knight has the most instant cast abilities in the game, and I can see why. One of the most fun abilities is death grip, which is sort of like the “Get Over Here” move from Scorpion in Mortal Kombat. I’ve seen videos of several Death Knights playing catch with an unexpecting lowbie. There’s no doubt that many veteran players are frustrated with how powerful Death Knight are, however; it takes skill to play the class effectively. On a few hairy situations in heroic dungeons, my army of dead ability, which unleashes several ghouls that run around taunting and attacking everything in their path, was a true lifesaver.

The opening set of quests for a Death Knight is unlike any other starting quests in the game. It’ll teach you the basics of the Death Knight, the use of runes and several of your main abilities. The best part is you start at level 55, so it shouldn’t take long to catch up to your friends who are already parked in Dalaran.

This is where the storyline really starts to take off. I wont spoil too much, but it’s worth saying the developers deserve praise for bringing the Death Knight class to life through this starting zone. It’ll take you through three levels, and along the way you’ll acquire your mount, allocate talent points, and release yourself from the grip of the Lich King. This starter zone also introduces some of the best quest changes to the game.

Questing for Perfection

One of my biggest gripes with WoW, and MMORPGs in general, is the level grind and the repetitive quests required to attain end game potential. I can’t tell you how sick of quests that made you pick up stuff some stupid NPC left on the ground, or killing random animals to get their fur so another NPC could make something with it. If you found yourself sick of these quests in classic WoW or the previous TBC expansion, you’re in luck, sort of. These quests still exist, in mass quantities, but Blizzard has added some notable twists to questing.

The biggest change is phasing, or instancing, which alters the world around you based on your actions. This isn’t necessarily new, as other MMORPGs already implemented this process. But in WoW, it’s done on an epic scale. For instance, one quest line has you set fire to a small enemy village. Once you complete the quest chain, the buildings burn, and burn, and burn. It’ll never look the same again. This process lets you feel like you have an impact in the world around you, that your actions can change the course of your gaming experience. Some cities show up nearly out of nowhere as a result of a few simple quests.

Other quests have you take control of giants and robots, fly drakes or airplanes, even play match maker as you try to boost the seal population by, well… you get it. In general, questing in WotLK is desirable. Again, not to spoil anything for those who haven’t gone through the content, but two quest chains in particular are worth mentioning. One quest took me from a cut scene battle in Northrend, the first cut scene I’ve seen in WoW, and back to my capital city of Undercity. Along with the Horde leader, Thrall, we took back Undercity in an epic battle that would’ve made Tolkien giggle with joy. The second quest reminded me of God of War, and required me to jump from flying drake to drake, ripping off enemies along the way.

Blizzard added an enormous amount of new content, quests, and loot. The old reputation system is revamped, resulting in getting that coveted exalted gear much easier. Once you achieve friendly status with the new factions in Northrend, you can buy a tabard. Wearing these tabards in level 80 dungeons and heroic dungeons gives you added rep. You can also complete daily quests, which give you a fair amount of gold and bonus reputation.

Expect to find lots of different mounts flying and riding through the wintry setting of Northrend. You’ll find drakes, magic carpets, motorcycles and huge woolly mammoths, to name a few. Some players will work very hard to get as many mounts as they can muster.

And this in turn is one of the few gripes I have with the game. The end game content is relatively limited for real hardcore gamers. Sure you can’t please everyone, but Blizzard needs to provide some new raid dungeons and pvp rewards for the real hardcore gamers or else that 11.5 million gamers could shrink. It has a long way to shrink before we stop hearing about everything WoW.

But for the first few months of the expansion, everyone will be happy. All the characters had a massive overhaul, some more than others. I was surprised to see that warriors can now duel wield two-handed weapons, if specced correctly.

No End in Sight

Writing a review for a game like WoW is extremely difficult since the experience is different for everyone. Video games are the most interactive form of media. You sit and watch movies, you listen to music, but for video games, you play a hand in telling the story. When it comes to MMORPGs, the interactive nature is nearly limitless, and therefore, everyone will experience the game in their own way.  

Blizzard does not appear to be slowing down or letting go of the 11.5 million WoW gamers with the release WotLK expansion. There is still so much more for me to discover so I consider this only a partial review. Our guild has been through a few of the raid dungeons, but I have yet to take part in Wintergrasp — a new pvp zone that has siege weapons and battles on a mass scale. However, given my few weeks played through the game, I consider this a huge achievement for Blizzard. Keep up the good work.

I’ll see you in Northrend.

Porge, level 80 Death Knight (Wicked Shadows), on Laughing Skull server