We attended three of the worldwide launch midnight openings to bring fans coverage through photos, videos and interviews. At the New York event hosted by Best Buy, Frank Pearce shared his thoughts about the worldwide launch and certain features of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
Medievaldragon: What challenges has the Blizzard Team faced to launch of Wrath of the Lich King around the world?
Frank Pearce: Yea, it’s actually a huge challenge to coordinate a worldwide launch, because we have to deal with different requirements in terms of the ratings for the game, the approvals for the game in the different countries. And then we have to coordinate the localization of the game; because we are launching World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King simultaneously in six countries. Except in Mainland China.
We are sending representatives around the world to support the launch. So that’s a challenge upon itself, because we have got people important to the organization of the game out of the office traveling to support this multiple expansion launch around the world. So there are many numbers of challenges associated with this launch.
 Anaheim |  New York |  London |
Medievaldragon: With the Burning Crusade you had a challenge when launching the expansion in Mainland China. They have new regulations to promote a healthy and harmonious online environment, and skeletons were censored in the game. In Wrath of the Lich King, the main theme is the Undead Scourge; and Arthas the Lich King is surrounded of by skeletons everywhere in his armor (shoulders, belt, knees). What are you going to do for the launch of Wrath of the Lich King in Mainland China?
Frank Pearce: We are still going through the process of iterating on that, working with the different government authorities responsible for that, so we don’t actually know specifically what we are gonna change, if anything. We want to make the experience as identical as possible around the world, but we also have to accommodate the local requirements, so we’ll see what happens.
Medievaldragon: What do you personally recommend fans to do once they start reaching the Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord to better improve their initial gaming experience, especially those who engage in power leveling by killing mobs rather than doing the quests?
Frank Pearce: I recommend they get started doing quests, because there are some cool quests associated with the storyline for Wrath of the Lich King; and immediate opportunities to interact and immerse oneself with the Arthas’ storyline.
Medievaldragon: Do you actually have plans to develop new Battlegrounds and Arenas for upcoming content patches after the launch of Wrath of the Lich King?
Frank Pearce: We are still talking about what the upcoming content patches are going to include. We have got some great ideas. Definitely its at the top of the list: new raid dungeons, new Battlegrounds and Arenas; but we don’t have specific plans to talk about at this time.
Medievaldragon: What can you tell us about the new phase technology used often throughout various regions of Northrend? It’s a very cool feature introduced in Wrath of the Lich King.
Frank Pearce: It is something new that we have created, the phase techonology, and we have only just started using it. The quest designers certainly think it is cool as well, and we are going to be using it more often in the future.
