From: http://www.worldofwar.net/n/413356/breaking-news-blizzards-wrath-of-the-lich-king-presentation
Earlier in the week, worldofwar.net were invited to attend a Wrath of the Lich King presentation at Blizzard's offices in Irvine, California. Once there, we were shown Northrend in its current state of development, a Death Knight in action, given several hours to play the expansion for ourselves, and were also permitted interview sessions with three of Blizzard's top developers - J. Allen Brack, Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton.
Blizzard dished the dirt on a whole range of things about Wrath, and you can read all about the trip in our Wrath Presentation Article, as well as articles covering all we learned about Death Knights, filmed interviews with the game producer and designers, a tour of the Blizzard campus and museum and much much more. We've gone into great detail on all of this, but for now, here are the most exciting things we learned from Blizzard about the coming expansion:
General
All 25 man raids in Wrath will also be available to complete with 10 players. This is so that more players will get to see end game content (Even the Arthas encounter will be available as a 10 man raid).
There will be completely different loot tables for the two different raid types. They will also be on separate cool downs, so players could fight in both the 10 man and 25 man raid on the same day if they wish.
The mounts available to buy in Wrath will probably be able to take passengers. These mounts will also work in the old world (Provided they are land mounts), so players can give low-level characters a ride! The new mounts will also be slightly faster, around the speed of the Armored Netherdrakes.
All 5-man instances in Northrend will feature Heroic modes, and the loot tables for the 2 modes will be totally separate. Heroic dungeons will have their own "Tier" of armor completely unique to that level dungeon.
Death Knights
Death Knights will be available to players who have a character level 55+ on the same realm. There is no other requirement at this time.
Players are allowed 1 Death Knight per realm that they have a level 55+ character on.
Death Knights will be "born" in a floating Necropolis over the Eastern Plaguelands, similar to Naxxramas.
Death Knights will start at level 55.
A Death Knight's starting armor will be a mixture of green and blue quality items. The first few quests that they encounter will provide upgrades to these starting items, and these upgrades will be armor specific to Death Knights.
Death Knights can dual wield.
One Death Knight spell is Raise Dead, which converts a fallen unit into a ghoul for a time to serve the Death Knight, similar to a Hunter's pet. If the spell is used on a fallen friendly player, the player will be presented with an option box similar to a resurrection message, and if they accept, they will take control of the ghoul and will be able to use its abilities for the period of time that it is active. This can work as a sort-of battle res, and Chilton stated it may be available in Arenas.
Northrend
Northrend is Huge. It is larger than Outland by a couple of zones, and some of the zones in Northrend are bigger than the largest zone in Outland.
During the hour-long presentation by Blizzard, Tom Chilton showed us a Death Knight in action for the very first time. We saw on the character selection screen as the PC operator scrolled through a few random races, that Taurens, Orcs and Dwarves were available as Death Knights. I later saw a Gnome Death Knight on another machine, which backs up the statement Blizzard have made in the past that all races will likely have access to being a Death Knight.
Right at the start of Chilton's presentation, he confirmed that the only thing players will need to be eligible for a Death Knight on their account, is a level 55+ character. Players will be limited to one Death Knight per realm. Death Knights will start at level 55, they will have a regular land mount called a Death Charger, which will be upgraded to an epic mount through a quest chain quite soon afterwards, and we found out later in interviews with Chilton, Kaplan and Brack that the Death Knights will start off in a floating necropolis in the Eastern Plaguelands, much like Naxxramas in its current location. They will then go on to level in a dedicated area East of Tyr's Hand and the Noxious Glade, where they will learn more about the background of Death Knights.
Chilton explained that the DK will be given a series of quests that teach the player how to play the character, why the character became a DK and how it came to escape Arthas' grasp and gain free will. These quests will also provide the character with better, Death Knight specific, gear. We were then shown a demonstration of the Death Knight in action.
Death Knights have a unique resource system. They have runes inscribed on their weapons, which are used up as players use spells. This particular DK had 2 Blood runes, 2 Unholy Runes and 2 Frost Runes. The runes are used up in combat, but they regain power over the space of a few seconds. Which runes are used, and how many get used up depends on the spell, some spells only require one frost Rune, others may need 2 Blood runes.
In addition to the rune system, DKs have a secondary resource, which is similar to the Rogues' system of combo points. Every time the DK uses a rune in combat, Runic Power is generated. After a while, enough Runic Power builds up to allow the DK to use an ability that requires that resource. Whenever a DK uses one of these special abilities, however, all Runic Power that has been stored is used up, but the more Runic Power there is, the more powerful the spell will be. Therefore, playing a DK will rely on making the most of the Runes, Runic Power and their cooldown times.
When a DK is created, they will begin with more spell mechanics and abilities than a regular level 1 character starts with. This is justified by the fact that the player has to have had a level 55+ character to be able to create the DK anyway.
In addition to the runes, we learned a few of the Death Knight spells and abilities. These were all we learned:
Death Coil - Unleashed all runic power you have, causing up to 600 Shadow Damage (at level 55) to a non-undead enemy, or healing up to 900 damage to a friendly undead target.
Chains of Ice - Immobilizes the enemy, then slows them, periodically returning some speed until the affected target is returned to normal.
Blade Strike - Applies disease to the target in addition to doing damage.
Blood Strike - Does an amount of damage based on how many diseases are on the target.
Grip of Death - Pulls the target towards you and forces them to attack you.
Raise Dead - Raise a Ghoul to fight for you for a limited time. This creature can perform a number of attacks including Fear, apply disease, stun, cause a target bleed and pummel. If cast on a fallen friendly player, the player is given an option to play as the ghoul for the length of the ghoul's life. (Presentation said the Ghoul was castable in the Arena).
Blood Presence - DPS. Increases DPS and heals the DK slightly when attacked.
Frost Presence - Tanking. Increases armor and threat.
Unholy Presence - PvP. Damage dealing. Increases attack speed, and increases the speed of your global cooldown.
During his explanation of the DK abilities, Chilton said that Blizzard were aware of the fact that many players who tank like to feel they are still dealing some decent damage. In the past, Blizzard has balanced the game so that tanks don't cause much damage compared to the high DPS classes, but he said that
Blizzard has realized that players need to feel their damage is a somewhat meaningful contribution, and they want players to feel they are actually dealing some decent damage whilst tanking in future.
Earlier in the week, worldofwar.net were invited to attend a Wrath of the Lich King presentation at Blizzard's offices in Irvine, California. Once there, we were shown Northrend in its current state of development, a Death Knight in action, given several hours to play the expansion for ourselves, and were also permitted interview sessions with three of Blizzard's top developers - J. Allen Brack, Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton.
Blizzard dished the dirt on a whole range of things about Wrath, and you can read all about the trip in our Wrath Presentation Article, as well as articles covering all we learned about Death Knights, filmed interviews with the game producer and designers, a tour of the Blizzard campus and museum and much much more. We've gone into great detail on all of this, but for now, here are the most exciting things we learned from Blizzard about the coming expansion:
General
All 25 man raids in Wrath will also be available to complete with 10 players. This is so that more players will get to see end game content (Even the Arthas encounter will be available as a 10 man raid).
There will be completely different loot tables for the two different raid types. They will also be on separate cool downs, so players could fight in both the 10 man and 25 man raid on the same day if they wish.
The mounts available to buy in Wrath will probably be able to take passengers. These mounts will also work in the old world (Provided they are land mounts), so players can give low-level characters a ride! The new mounts will also be slightly faster, around the speed of the Armored Netherdrakes.
All 5-man instances in Northrend will feature Heroic modes, and the loot tables for the 2 modes will be totally separate. Heroic dungeons will have their own "Tier" of armor completely unique to that level dungeon.
Death Knights
Death Knights will be available to players who have a character level 55+ on the same realm. There is no other requirement at this time.
Players are allowed 1 Death Knight per realm that they have a level 55+ character on.
Death Knights will be "born" in a floating Necropolis over the Eastern Plaguelands, similar to Naxxramas.
Death Knights will start at level 55.
A Death Knight's starting armor will be a mixture of green and blue quality items. The first few quests that they encounter will provide upgrades to these starting items, and these upgrades will be armor specific to Death Knights.
Death Knights can dual wield.
One Death Knight spell is Raise Dead, which converts a fallen unit into a ghoul for a time to serve the Death Knight, similar to a Hunter's pet. If the spell is used on a fallen friendly player, the player will be presented with an option box similar to a resurrection message, and if they accept, they will take control of the ghoul and will be able to use its abilities for the period of time that it is active. This can work as a sort-of battle res, and Chilton stated it may be available in Arenas.
Northrend
Northrend is Huge. It is larger than Outland by a couple of zones, and some of the zones in Northrend are bigger than the largest zone in Outland.
During the hour-long presentation by Blizzard, Tom Chilton showed us a Death Knight in action for the very first time. We saw on the character selection screen as the PC operator scrolled through a few random races, that Taurens, Orcs and Dwarves were available as Death Knights. I later saw a Gnome Death Knight on another machine, which backs up the statement Blizzard have made in the past that all races will likely have access to being a Death Knight.
Right at the start of Chilton's presentation, he confirmed that the only thing players will need to be eligible for a Death Knight on their account, is a level 55+ character. Players will be limited to one Death Knight per realm. Death Knights will start at level 55, they will have a regular land mount called a Death Charger, which will be upgraded to an epic mount through a quest chain quite soon afterwards, and we found out later in interviews with Chilton, Kaplan and Brack that the Death Knights will start off in a floating necropolis in the Eastern Plaguelands, much like Naxxramas in its current location. They will then go on to level in a dedicated area East of Tyr's Hand and the Noxious Glade, where they will learn more about the background of Death Knights.
Chilton explained that the DK will be given a series of quests that teach the player how to play the character, why the character became a DK and how it came to escape Arthas' grasp and gain free will. These quests will also provide the character with better, Death Knight specific, gear. We were then shown a demonstration of the Death Knight in action.
Death Knights have a unique resource system. They have runes inscribed on their weapons, which are used up as players use spells. This particular DK had 2 Blood runes, 2 Unholy Runes and 2 Frost Runes. The runes are used up in combat, but they regain power over the space of a few seconds. Which runes are used, and how many get used up depends on the spell, some spells only require one frost Rune, others may need 2 Blood runes.
In addition to the rune system, DKs have a secondary resource, which is similar to the Rogues' system of combo points. Every time the DK uses a rune in combat, Runic Power is generated. After a while, enough Runic Power builds up to allow the DK to use an ability that requires that resource. Whenever a DK uses one of these special abilities, however, all Runic Power that has been stored is used up, but the more Runic Power there is, the more powerful the spell will be. Therefore, playing a DK will rely on making the most of the Runes, Runic Power and their cooldown times.
When a DK is created, they will begin with more spell mechanics and abilities than a regular level 1 character starts with. This is justified by the fact that the player has to have had a level 55+ character to be able to create the DK anyway.
In addition to the runes, we learned a few of the Death Knight spells and abilities. These were all we learned:
Death Coil - Unleashed all runic power you have, causing up to 600 Shadow Damage (at level 55) to a non-undead enemy, or healing up to 900 damage to a friendly undead target.
Chains of Ice - Immobilizes the enemy, then slows them, periodically returning some speed until the affected target is returned to normal.
Blade Strike - Applies disease to the target in addition to doing damage.
Blood Strike - Does an amount of damage based on how many diseases are on the target.
Grip of Death - Pulls the target towards you and forces them to attack you.
Raise Dead - Raise a Ghoul to fight for you for a limited time. This creature can perform a number of attacks including Fear, apply disease, stun, cause a target bleed and pummel. If cast on a fallen friendly player, the player is given an option to play as the ghoul for the length of the ghoul's life. (Presentation said the Ghoul was castable in the Arena).
Blood Presence - DPS. Increases DPS and heals the DK slightly when attacked.
Frost Presence - Tanking. Increases armor and threat.
Unholy Presence - PvP. Damage dealing. Increases attack speed, and increases the speed of your global cooldown.
During his explanation of the DK abilities, Chilton said that Blizzard were aware of the fact that many players who tank like to feel they are still dealing some decent damage. In the past, Blizzard has balanced the game so that tanks don't cause much damage compared to the high DPS classes, but he said that
Blizzard has realized that players need to feel their damage is a somewhat meaningful contribution, and they want players to feel they are actually dealing some decent damage whilst tanking in future.