ZERQ
Legacy Member
The following has been compiled through curse, gamespy, eurogamer and world of raids.
WotLK in General
* Players will be able to unlock their flying mounts (e.g. use them in Northrend) at level 77
* Outland flying mounts will be available for use in Northrend
* New flying mounts will be added
* Mounts in WotLK will be buffed in speed, equivalent to the armored netherdrake (310%) from the Arena
* Players will most likely be able to carry passengers on their new mounts. This will also be available in the old world, granted that the player is using a land mount (can't fly in Azeroth yet!)
* The Northrend in Wrath of the Lich King is a bit larger than Outland, the area explored by players in Burning Crusade. That means not only are there larger numbers of zones to explore, many of them are so large that they've been divided into "sub-zones," much like Terrokar Forest and the Auchindon Waste in Outland.
* The new "vehicle" system will enable characters to "drive" an object around. One example Blizzard gave them: 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.
* The final encounter with Arthas won't be until the final patch of the Lich King cycle, some time after release. Players will though meet him for the first time in the Dragonblight zone.
* There's three zones we don't know anything about yet: Crystal Song Forest, The Storm Peaks, and Icecrown Glacier. We do however know that the Icecrown Citadel will be (inside?) the Icecrown Glacier, which will be the final zone/dungeon for WotLK where players will face off against Arthas.
Raiding
* ZERO raid bosses has been designed so far
* Heroic mode for 5 man instances will persist through WotLK as with Burning Crusade
* All 25 man instances will also have a 10 man version. The feature is named "two-tier" dungeons.
o The 10 and 25 man instances will not depend on each other in terms of progression
o Both will also have their own progression paths
o No keys or attunements will be needed from 10 man versions in order to enter a 25 man version
* 25 man instances will reward better items than 10 man
Coldara
* Coldara is a three-wing dungeon for 70s, 80s and a short Onyxia-style raid against Malygos himself
* Coldara is structurally a broken tower with rotating rings surrounding a column of blue energy.
* Coldara is a sub-zone of Borean Tundra, outside Warsong Hold. It's the first zone thats involved in the primary plot threads.
* It's a lightning-torn region filled with blue dragons and blue dragon-kin.
* Dalarin's Kirin Tor faction is investigating the area and the blue dragonflight. Due to Malygos, leader of the blue dragonflight has gone crazy and is waging a war against al who use magic.
* During some of the boss encounters, players will actually free drakes to fly around the ring.
* Using the game's new vehicle technology, players will be able to engage in free flight around the dungeon and use some of the drake's abilities to take on some of the dungeon's challenges.
Dragonblight
* Dragonblight is a snowbound region of icy forests and cracked mountains, punctuated by the grandiose shrines of the five Dragonflights and Wyrmrest Temple, where the Chamber of Aspects will offer a series of different single-encounter short raids with dragon bosses.
* Players will meet Arthas for the first time in this zone
* The Scarlet Crusade will make a (violent) comeback here.
Drak'Theron Keep
* Dinosaurs, Scourge Necromancers, Undead trolls roam the keep.
* The Argent Dawn faction returns in Zul'Drak.
Grizzly Hills
* Grizzly Hills provides a pure hit of early-level nostalgia, a flashback to classic WOW. Special guests include the endearing, troublesome Furbolg and Kobolds, human characters that hark all the way back to low-level Westfall, the exploitative Venture Company, the Worgen werewolves led by a resurrected Arugal, and a shattered, evil sister city to the Alliance capital, Ironforge.
Naxxramas
* Naxxramas returns as a low-end dungeon
* Naxxramas will be the first "two-tier" (10 man/25 man) dungeon people can enter
* All old Naxxramas bosses will return
* All bosses will be tuned for both 10 man and 25 man, each with their own set of loot (as described above)
Sholazar Basin
* A lush tropical oasis in the midst of Arctic wastes, reminiscent of the original game's Un'Goro Crater
* Players will be able to take part in a faction-reputation war between the Wolvar (sentient wolves) and Oracles ("next evolution" of the Murlocs)
* Players will be able to pick sides (and defect)
Uthgarde Keep
* Uthgarde is one of the first instances
* Uthgarde is a 5 man instance
* Uthgarde is a two-wing instance, one a "low-level" 70 location and a "high-level" 80.
* Heroic Mode will be available as with all 5 man dungeons
Zul'Drak
* Zul'Drak is a single giant ziggurat
* As the name suspects it's a zone filled with trolls
Death Knight Information
* Players will need a level 55 character to unlock the Death Knight
* Players will keep their original racials. No double racials here!
* Only ONE Death Knight per realm, per account
* Death Knights can be any race (Gnome Death Knights!!!)
* Death Knights can be either a highly viable "magic" tank or a melee based DPS class
* Death Knights will be a viable main tank for any raiding guild
* Death Knights have the ability to summon undead combat pets, such as a ghoul
* Death Knights can summon a Deathcharger which will be available through quests (like Warlocks and Paladins)
* When you create a Death Knight you'll go through a bunch of quests that will introduce the class and the story behind it
* Three types of runes will be the main resource behind Death Knights
o The three types will be Blood, Frost and Unholy
o Runes allow Death Knights to cast spells and use abilities combined with the specific runes
o Runes will refresh after a set amount of time, similar to rogue's energy bars
o Deciding which runes to use will be customizable
o Blood runes is the more tanking-type runes
o Frost runes as more of a crowd-control type of runes
* Six slots will be available on rune blades for socketing runes
o Blade configuration will impact the frequency of spell use. [[It's reasonable to assume that if you're a tanking Death Knight, you'll end up with one or two different blade configurations. If you're a melee-damage dealer, you'll end up with two or three different configurations, the same with PvP. But it won't be everyone just picking at random, there'll be optimal blade configurations for each role - Quoted from Tigole]]
* Talent specialization will to some extend dertermine a Death Knight's blade configuration.
* Talent trees correlate to the three types of runes (blood tree, unholy tree, frost tree) - That doesn't mean that every spell in those tree's will use that specific rune type though.
* When a Death Knight uses runes it will generate Runic Power
o The more runes used the stronger the Runic Power spell will be
o Runic Power will decay over time if it's not used, such as with a warrior's rage bar
* Death Knights have three different presences, similar to Paladin Auras: Blood, Frost, and Unholy
Death Knight Abilities [via curse]
* Death Coil -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing 600 damage to a non-Undead target, or healing 900 damage on a friendly target.
* Death Grip -- This is the Death Knight's "taunt" ability. It also pulls the target to the Death Knight, forcing them to attack the Death Knight for a short amount of time. Yes, I said pulls the target; Blizzard is going to allow players to move mobs in the expansion both with Death Grip, and other knockback/pull abilities. This works on players too, so PvP balance ahoy!
* Chains of Ice -- Roots the target in place. When the spell fades, it places a snare on the target that reduces in potency as the duration runs out.
* Raise Dead -- Raises a nearby corpse to fight for the Death Knight for 2 minutes. If used on a player corpse, the player has the option to play as the ghoul for the duration -- gaining access to the ghoul's abilities.
o The ghoul has the ability to do the following:
o Leap to the target
o Rend for decent damage-over-time
o Stun target, and of course more
o Death Pact -- Sacrifices the raised ghouls to heal the Death Knight.
* Death and Decay -- Targeted, AoE Damage-over-time which pulses similar to the Paladin spell Consecration. Anyone affected by Death and Decay has a chance to be feared.
* Frost Presence -- Increases Armor by 45% and allows the Death Knight to generate 25% more threat. Only one presence can be active at any time.
* Unholy Presence -- Increases Attack Speed and Movement speed by 15%. Only one presence can be active at any time. This was described by Tom Chilton as the "PvP" presence.
* Anti-magic Shield -- Reduces the damage of the next magical spell cast on the Death Knight by 75%. It also converts the damage reduced into Runic Power.
* Strangulate -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing minor damage and silencing the target for up to 5 seconds.
* Summon Deathcharger -- Allows the Death Knight to summon a Deathcharger mount. This mount is acquired through quests, similar to the Paladin and Warlock land mounts.
Vehicles in WoW? [via eurogamer]
Yup it's true! With WotLK Blizzard will introduce some new technology that will enable vechicle physics and handling characteristics - including inertia, turning circle, grip and suspension bounce - to land and airborne vehicles and special mounts.
* Vechicles will be able to carry up to eight passengers
* A new special bar will be introduced in order to control a vehicle
* Players will be able to use vechicles together, for example one player driving another using a turret
* PvP Siege weapons for Lake Wintergrasp (outdoor PvP zone) will include Dwarven steam tanks, Forsaken plague spreaders and Orc demolishers.
* Quest designers, however, got carried away with other ideas, introducing crazy vehicle quests that are an exponential evolution of Burning Crusade's bombing runs - throwing flaming oil at Worgen from horseback, airlifting supplies in a gyrocoptor, and yes, mammoth wrangling. We also see tanks and parachutes, and there's even talk of allowing players to take a passenger on regular ground or flying mounts.
New Profession: Inscription
* People with the inscription profession will be called inscribers
* They'll be able to create glyhps that allow players to modify their spells and abilities
* Inscription will rely on herbalism for making gylphs
* A new spell book page will be added for inscribers, where they'll be able to add (currently) six glyphs, for now four major and two minor.
o Major glyphs is for combat-use, adding for example damage or stuns
o Minor glyphs is for cosmetic improvements or other "convenient" areas, such as removing the need for some spell reagents.
* Glyphs can be sold via the auction house
Enchanting
There's 1 big change coming in regards to enchanting:
* Enchanters will most likely be able to sell their enchants via the auction house
WotLK in General
* Players will be able to unlock their flying mounts (e.g. use them in Northrend) at level 77
* Outland flying mounts will be available for use in Northrend
* New flying mounts will be added
* Mounts in WotLK will be buffed in speed, equivalent to the armored netherdrake (310%) from the Arena
* Players will most likely be able to carry passengers on their new mounts. This will also be available in the old world, granted that the player is using a land mount (can't fly in Azeroth yet!)
* The Northrend in Wrath of the Lich King is a bit larger than Outland, the area explored by players in Burning Crusade. That means not only are there larger numbers of zones to explore, many of them are so large that they've been divided into "sub-zones," much like Terrokar Forest and the Auchindon Waste in Outland.
* The new "vehicle" system will enable characters to "drive" an object around. One example Blizzard gave them: 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.
* The final encounter with Arthas won't be until the final patch of the Lich King cycle, some time after release. Players will though meet him for the first time in the Dragonblight zone.
* There's three zones we don't know anything about yet: Crystal Song Forest, The Storm Peaks, and Icecrown Glacier. We do however know that the Icecrown Citadel will be (inside?) the Icecrown Glacier, which will be the final zone/dungeon for WotLK where players will face off against Arthas.
Raiding
* ZERO raid bosses has been designed so far
* Heroic mode for 5 man instances will persist through WotLK as with Burning Crusade
* All 25 man instances will also have a 10 man version. The feature is named "two-tier" dungeons.
o The 10 and 25 man instances will not depend on each other in terms of progression
o Both will also have their own progression paths
o No keys or attunements will be needed from 10 man versions in order to enter a 25 man version
* 25 man instances will reward better items than 10 man
Coldara
* Coldara is a three-wing dungeon for 70s, 80s and a short Onyxia-style raid against Malygos himself
* Coldara is structurally a broken tower with rotating rings surrounding a column of blue energy.
* Coldara is a sub-zone of Borean Tundra, outside Warsong Hold. It's the first zone thats involved in the primary plot threads.
* It's a lightning-torn region filled with blue dragons and blue dragon-kin.
* Dalarin's Kirin Tor faction is investigating the area and the blue dragonflight. Due to Malygos, leader of the blue dragonflight has gone crazy and is waging a war against al who use magic.
* During some of the boss encounters, players will actually free drakes to fly around the ring.
* Using the game's new vehicle technology, players will be able to engage in free flight around the dungeon and use some of the drake's abilities to take on some of the dungeon's challenges.
Dragonblight
* Dragonblight is a snowbound region of icy forests and cracked mountains, punctuated by the grandiose shrines of the five Dragonflights and Wyrmrest Temple, where the Chamber of Aspects will offer a series of different single-encounter short raids with dragon bosses.
* Players will meet Arthas for the first time in this zone
* The Scarlet Crusade will make a (violent) comeback here.
Drak'Theron Keep
* Dinosaurs, Scourge Necromancers, Undead trolls roam the keep.
* The Argent Dawn faction returns in Zul'Drak.
Grizzly Hills
* Grizzly Hills provides a pure hit of early-level nostalgia, a flashback to classic WOW. Special guests include the endearing, troublesome Furbolg and Kobolds, human characters that hark all the way back to low-level Westfall, the exploitative Venture Company, the Worgen werewolves led by a resurrected Arugal, and a shattered, evil sister city to the Alliance capital, Ironforge.
Naxxramas
* Naxxramas returns as a low-end dungeon
* Naxxramas will be the first "two-tier" (10 man/25 man) dungeon people can enter
* All old Naxxramas bosses will return
* All bosses will be tuned for both 10 man and 25 man, each with their own set of loot (as described above)
Sholazar Basin
* A lush tropical oasis in the midst of Arctic wastes, reminiscent of the original game's Un'Goro Crater
* Players will be able to take part in a faction-reputation war between the Wolvar (sentient wolves) and Oracles ("next evolution" of the Murlocs)
* Players will be able to pick sides (and defect)
Uthgarde Keep
* Uthgarde is one of the first instances
* Uthgarde is a 5 man instance
* Uthgarde is a two-wing instance, one a "low-level" 70 location and a "high-level" 80.
* Heroic Mode will be available as with all 5 man dungeons
Zul'Drak
* Zul'Drak is a single giant ziggurat
* As the name suspects it's a zone filled with trolls
Death Knight Information
* Players will need a level 55 character to unlock the Death Knight
* Players will keep their original racials. No double racials here!
* Only ONE Death Knight per realm, per account
* Death Knights can be any race (Gnome Death Knights!!!)
* Death Knights can be either a highly viable "magic" tank or a melee based DPS class
* Death Knights will be a viable main tank for any raiding guild
* Death Knights have the ability to summon undead combat pets, such as a ghoul
* Death Knights can summon a Deathcharger which will be available through quests (like Warlocks and Paladins)
* When you create a Death Knight you'll go through a bunch of quests that will introduce the class and the story behind it
* Three types of runes will be the main resource behind Death Knights
o The three types will be Blood, Frost and Unholy
o Runes allow Death Knights to cast spells and use abilities combined with the specific runes
o Runes will refresh after a set amount of time, similar to rogue's energy bars
o Deciding which runes to use will be customizable
o Blood runes is the more tanking-type runes
o Frost runes as more of a crowd-control type of runes
* Six slots will be available on rune blades for socketing runes
o Blade configuration will impact the frequency of spell use. [[It's reasonable to assume that if you're a tanking Death Knight, you'll end up with one or two different blade configurations. If you're a melee-damage dealer, you'll end up with two or three different configurations, the same with PvP. But it won't be everyone just picking at random, there'll be optimal blade configurations for each role - Quoted from Tigole]]
* Talent specialization will to some extend dertermine a Death Knight's blade configuration.
* Talent trees correlate to the three types of runes (blood tree, unholy tree, frost tree) - That doesn't mean that every spell in those tree's will use that specific rune type though.
* When a Death Knight uses runes it will generate Runic Power
o The more runes used the stronger the Runic Power spell will be
o Runic Power will decay over time if it's not used, such as with a warrior's rage bar
* Death Knights have three different presences, similar to Paladin Auras: Blood, Frost, and Unholy
Death Knight Abilities [via curse]
* Death Coil -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing 600 damage to a non-Undead target, or healing 900 damage on a friendly target.
* Death Grip -- This is the Death Knight's "taunt" ability. It also pulls the target to the Death Knight, forcing them to attack the Death Knight for a short amount of time. Yes, I said pulls the target; Blizzard is going to allow players to move mobs in the expansion both with Death Grip, and other knockback/pull abilities. This works on players too, so PvP balance ahoy!
* Chains of Ice -- Roots the target in place. When the spell fades, it places a snare on the target that reduces in potency as the duration runs out.
* Raise Dead -- Raises a nearby corpse to fight for the Death Knight for 2 minutes. If used on a player corpse, the player has the option to play as the ghoul for the duration -- gaining access to the ghoul's abilities.
o The ghoul has the ability to do the following:
o Leap to the target
o Rend for decent damage-over-time
o Stun target, and of course more
o Death Pact -- Sacrifices the raised ghouls to heal the Death Knight.
* Death and Decay -- Targeted, AoE Damage-over-time which pulses similar to the Paladin spell Consecration. Anyone affected by Death and Decay has a chance to be feared.
* Frost Presence -- Increases Armor by 45% and allows the Death Knight to generate 25% more threat. Only one presence can be active at any time.
* Unholy Presence -- Increases Attack Speed and Movement speed by 15%. Only one presence can be active at any time. This was described by Tom Chilton as the "PvP" presence.
* Anti-magic Shield -- Reduces the damage of the next magical spell cast on the Death Knight by 75%. It also converts the damage reduced into Runic Power.
* Strangulate -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing minor damage and silencing the target for up to 5 seconds.
* Summon Deathcharger -- Allows the Death Knight to summon a Deathcharger mount. This mount is acquired through quests, similar to the Paladin and Warlock land mounts.
Vehicles in WoW? [via eurogamer]
Yup it's true! With WotLK Blizzard will introduce some new technology that will enable vechicle physics and handling characteristics - including inertia, turning circle, grip and suspension bounce - to land and airborne vehicles and special mounts.
* Vechicles will be able to carry up to eight passengers
* A new special bar will be introduced in order to control a vehicle
* Players will be able to use vechicles together, for example one player driving another using a turret
* PvP Siege weapons for Lake Wintergrasp (outdoor PvP zone) will include Dwarven steam tanks, Forsaken plague spreaders and Orc demolishers.
* Quest designers, however, got carried away with other ideas, introducing crazy vehicle quests that are an exponential evolution of Burning Crusade's bombing runs - throwing flaming oil at Worgen from horseback, airlifting supplies in a gyrocoptor, and yes, mammoth wrangling. We also see tanks and parachutes, and there's even talk of allowing players to take a passenger on regular ground or flying mounts.
New Profession: Inscription
* People with the inscription profession will be called inscribers
* They'll be able to create glyhps that allow players to modify their spells and abilities
* Inscription will rely on herbalism for making gylphs
* A new spell book page will be added for inscribers, where they'll be able to add (currently) six glyphs, for now four major and two minor.
o Major glyphs is for combat-use, adding for example damage or stuns
o Minor glyphs is for cosmetic improvements or other "convenient" areas, such as removing the need for some spell reagents.
* Glyphs can be sold via the auction house
Enchanting
There's 1 big change coming in regards to enchanting:
* Enchanters will most likely be able to sell their enchants via the auction house
