The level cap for the expansion is raised to 80. The reasoning behind this is that players like various elements of this. Blizz feels this is a big feature, since players love new talents and abilities and improving/progressing their characters.
Players will be interacting with Arthas from the very beginning of the expansion. The entire expansion is very story-driven, so the interaction with the major NPC characters is frequent.
There appear to be 10 zones; the map clearly has 10 zones at this moment.
The Death Knight can, in fact, summon undead minions to fight for him/her.
This is the “Army of the Dead” ability. The summoned creatures “run around and attack things at random”, according to Tom Chilton.
The new profession, Inscription, adds unusual features to a class’s abilities and spells. Fireball, for example, can be Inscribed to add knockback, more direct damage, or other abilities.
There will be two points of entry for Northrend, so it’s not overcrowded upon release. This is a lesson learned from the release of the Burning Crusade.
While the entire expansion has a icy theme, every zone isn’t ice-based. There is a lot of variety. The Borean Tundra, for example, has a more island-like feel which is cold, but not completely glaciated. The Grizzly Hills are also very forested and, though chilly, the zone is not snowy or frozen.
The Dragonblight zone is dragon-oriented. Dragons go to Dragonblight to die; it’s the dragon graveyard.
Northrend is a northern continent between the two existing continents. It’s got frozen forest and a bunch of ice caves in which to adventure. A special “ice cave” rendering technology was developed for this zone, to make sure the look is right.
Dalaran is the capital city of Northrend. Yes, it’s going to move. The presentation was very funny about this, as they dragged and dropped it (via Powerpoint) into Northrend.
An in-game video was shown featuring many of the zones. They have a very Viking-like feel to them; cold, snowy, with a lot of blowing wind.
PvP Specifics:
- Siege weapons will be added. They affect both the game overall, as well as battlegrounds.
- Seige weapons can be acquired and driven around. They can also be destroyed by your opponents.
- A new outdoor PvP zone will be added called Lake Wintergrass. It’s a PvP zone, even if you’re on a PvE server. Be careful if you enter; it’s dangerous even for PvE players! It’s also centrally located; the side that owns it influences the rest of Northrend.
- A new battleground will be introduced. The goal is to blow up/destroy the enemy base. There are 15 people per side, and the game will last 30 to 40 minutes each.
The Death Knight Specifics:
- Arthas appears to be the model for the Death Knight class.
- As such, a shield isn’t necessary. DKs don’t use them.
- DKs use 2h weapons or they dual wield.
- They use “runed weapons”. They have a “relationship” with their weapon (though we weren’t sure, exactly, if this was simply a turn of phrase or a description of one of the nuances of the class). At this state in development, bladed weapons are emphasized. It doesn’t appear that blunt weapons are used. Axes and swords were specifically mentioned and DK art was shown with DKs using those.
- Plate armor is used by DKs.
- The DKs can tank without a shield.
- They are a hybrid: A combo of a tanking and a DPS class.
- A mix of spells and abilities are used regularly by the DK.
- The DK is not a warrior with some spells; it’s more caster oriented (in a sense), and has a different feel.
- “Army of the Dead” was the only DK spell Tom mentioned.
- It’s a “hero class”. This means that you can’t be level 1 death knight. You have to unlock it. This isn’t done by raiding (people seemed pleased with this statement).. It’s done by a quest chain; you do it like the warlock’s mount quest. It’s got some story elements to it, and it has to do with Arthas.
- You’ll start off as a high-level character: 55, 60, or 70 (it’s undecided at this point) on the day you unlock it.
- This same mechanic used on the DK (completing a high level quest chain to unlock the new class) is planned to be used when introducing other hero classes. Tom stated that eventually, this means that your favorite WCIII hero characters will be playable as hero classes.
- Death Knights use a Rune Resource System instead of mana or rage. The runes are Unholy, Frost, or Blood.
- As a DK, you carve runes into your weapon; this acts as your mana. The mana bar on the DK IS actually your weapon blade, with the runes you’ve carved onto it. Your spells “consume” the runes you’ve carved into your blade. These runes recharge over time, like mana. Any combination of Unholy, Frost, or Blood runes can be on your blade. If you have a lot of Unholy runes, you can cast a lot of Unholy abilities, but few Frost or Blood abilities. You spec out your blade according to what abilities you want to use.
- Rune cooldown is modified by talents and attributes.
- Certain spells will have the ability to “activate” (possibly recharge?) runes.
The Q&A about the Expansion
Tom opened the floor up to questions. Here’s a few samples:
- Possibly high level characters may be able to level 1-60 more quickly once a player maxes out a character; this is to encourage alts for maxed out players.
- There will be 51 point talents. Blizz wants them to be powerful, but not overpowered. In a nutshell, these aren’t supposed to be more powerful than other talents, but compelling nonetheless. Thus a balanced spec (or a tri-spec) is a viable option, even if you don’t take any 51 point talents.
- Your old character isn’t destroyed by becoming a death knight. A new character is unlocked, and made available to you.
- The item level progression we saw in Burning Crusade will be continued in Northrend. Very high level gear in the game now will be viable “for a while” even in Northrend. Green drops won’t supplant your purples, at least right away.
- The wings of your current mount may need “de-icing,” in the new expansion (a joke?) but the mount will still work in the new expansion. New flying mounts will be introduced in the expansion.
- The level grind from 70 to 80 will take about the same amount of time that 60 to 70 took.
- An increased number of “daily quests” will be introduced into the expansion. There will be a cooking daily quest available, and this received cheers from the crowd (oddly).
- Both Horde and Alliance can play DKs. They may have factions immediately opposing them due to their evil alignment.
- They expect raid content, or other old content, to age out of the game. They aren’t planning on upgrading it to keep it current.
- Even though it’s a tanking class, the new DK won’t be “better” than other tanking classes. It’ll be a slightly differently flavored tanking, just like the other tanks.
- All races can become DKs.
Hero Classes (by Tom Chilton, though these concepts come from the class discussion forum)
And that’s what we know at this point, friends. Stop by again later, and we’ll certainly have more for you!
