After the presentation by Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton, we were immediately shown to PCs with Wrath pre-loaded. I kept notes on everything I experienced as I tested out the expansion in its current state of development.
You may notice a time stamp like this [6:15] next to a place or other item from the game, this indicates that you can see what I’m referring to in the official movie that Blizzard gave us to take away at the end of our day spent with them. The number on the time stamp is the moment in the movie I am referring to, eg. 6 minutes 15 seconds. The whole movie can be seen over on WoWTV. So, on with the report!
We could play either a Horde or Alliance character, and there was a selection of level 70 tanks, DPS or Healing characters to chose from. Sadly, there weren’t any Death Knights available to play. Once the chosen character was selected, we were taken to one of the starting areas in Northrend, either at Howling Fjord [0:01], or Borean Tundra [2:10]. I chose a Horde character, so I started at the Forsaken town, Vengeance Landing [0:08].
As Kaplan had explained in the presentation, this is the first ever town with Forsaken architecture. The buildings have a very Gothic feel to them, as seen in the pictures below. Unsurprisingly, there were multiple quest givers here so I grabbed a couple of quests and headed off into the surrounding countryside to try them out.
Not far out of town and down towards the water’s edge, I came across a new metal ore called Cobalt, which had the same graphics as Adamantite, but this will probably change before the game is released, and a few of the mobs I killed in in that area dropped a cloth called Frostweave, so it’s likely that will be the Northrend version of Netherweave.
My pre-made character was equipped in a mixture of Blues and Greens, and the first quest I handed in offered some Green trousers as a reward. I noticed the stats were considerably better on these new trousers than the trousers I had on, but a lack of level requirement on the tooltips meant I couldn’t see if there was a huge jump in stats on this Northrend gear. I suspect that there will be a bit of a leap in item stats though, even if it’s not as severe as the Azeroth > Outland jump.
Not far from Vengeance Landing is Vengeance Lift [0:17], one of the huge elevators taking players up and down the cliffs. The lift takes you up to an area that is close to a couple of the Vrykul towns, Baleheim and Nifflevar [0:25]. The Vrykul I came across in and around these towns were level 68-70 [0:35]. Not far beyond these towns is the first instance hub that players who start in Howling Fjord will come across - Utgarde Keep [1:22]. Players have to battle through the Vrykul to get to this towering building, which looms over the landscape.
{pagebreak}
The Keep is nestled right in the center of Howling Fjord, so you can’t miss it as you approach it from any angle. Watch out for the Shovel Tusk stags - the herds of the animals look peaceful enough, but the Stags are aggressive and they have a nasty charge ability on a fast cooldown, so give them a wide berth if possible.
South West from Utgarde Keep, and still in the lands of the Vrykul, there’s Gondolwrench [1:48], a place where characters can hop on a gondola that is lowered down past various mobs on ledges to an icy island, called the Isle of Spears [1:57]. This is the place that, during the earlier presentation, Jeff Kaplan had joked was named after Britney, but that she wasn’t actually present on the island (maybe later we’ll see a female Tuskarr named Spitney Brears…). Anyway, there is the nearby Tuskarr village of Kamagua. From this area, players can take a boat over to Borean Tundra [2:10].
Heading North from Howling Fjord, players enter Grizzly Hills [5:19]. This zone has a Redwood Forest feel about it, but the higher places of Grizzly Hills are covered in snow. I was particularly interested in coming here because I wanted to check out the huge felled tree that Kaplan had pointed out in the presentation. He had called it “a failed attempt at a world tree”, and it didn’t take long to find “Grizzlemaw” [5:55] as it is known, because it is actually signposted at the junctions of roads in this zone. You can see the remains of the tree from quite a distance due to its size (see the middle picture below). It’s actually a tree stump, presumably the rest of the tree has been cleared away, which is just as well, because it would have taken up most of the zone judging by the size of the stump in which the Furlbog are living. The Furlbog here are hostile and are around level 73-75, but in the earlier fly-over, we saw that there is a Furlbog town inside the hollow stump.
Another place of interest in Grizzly Hills is Thor Modan [6:15]. This place is crawling with some new bad guys, the Iron Dwarves [6:02]. They are defending their town from the Earth Giants, who are intent on crushing it by hurling boulders and logs down upon it. If you fight your way inside, you can see the uncanny similarities between Thor Modan and Ironforge. Unfortunately, most of it has been destroyed, or has caved in, so only a small part is on show.
{pagebreak}
North of Thor Modan is the zone Zul’Drak [6:35], home to more new bad dudes, the Ice Trolls. This whole zone is completely constructed, meaning that it’s a totally built-up area of stone and temples. At the border of this zone and Grizzly Hills is the mid-level instance, the gate house to Zul’Drak - Drak Theron Keep, which Blizzard have shown quite a lot of in official screen shots, and it also features heavily in the short movie [6:43].
This zone wasn’t populated when I was exploring it, so I got to see pretty much all of it. Kaplan told us earlier that the Ice Trolls are fighting the Scourge, and you can see evidence of the Scourge’s presence here over Drak Theron Keep, as a huge necropolis is hovering over the area. If you head straight to the furthest part of Zul’Drak, you come to the instance Gun’Drak [7:39], where you’ll fight the boss of the the Ice Trolls. I also spotted an aqueduct, and remembered Kaplan saying in the presentation that the quest developers were working hard to try and get a water slide quest into the storyline; I hope there was some seriousness to that!
I didn’t stick around long in Zul’Drak because Blizzard have only done a first pass over the area, so there wasn’t a lot to see other than the beautifully created architecture of the place [7:16]. I headed North West and stumbled upon Crystalsong Forest, which is still in the early stages of development. Just at that moment, a Blizzard rep came over to speak to me and noticed where I was, and I was asked to turn around and head back to Zul’Drak because we weren’t supposed to see that yet. I didn’t get to see much, but the zone looked like it will be pretty stunning. The only thing that I got a good look at were some really cool white glittering trees, like they were completely covered in frost.
{pagebreak}
I eventually found my way out of Zul’Drak and into the next zone, Dragonblight [4:11]. This is one of the biggest zones in Northrend, but unlike some large zones in Azeroth, Tanaris for example, this zone is filled with points of interest. First off, I stumbled upon a camp called Light’s East Trust, with a familiar old flag flying by the tent - that of the Argent Dawn. No NPCs were there, but it’s possible that Blizzard haven’t got round to that part yet. I’m interested to see what they are doing there though. Sadly, as I was limited to Horde characters on the account I had been given, I couldn’t explore the huge Alliance base here [5:10], with Naxxramas hovering over it [5:16]. I did pass by though, and got to see how big the town was. This area looked fantastic.
Further west, near to the center of the zone, there was a roaming Giant, around the size of a Felreaver, but in the shape of a male Titan similar to the female versions we’ve seen before, like the first boss in Uldaman and the Maiden of Virtue in Karazhan. He was named Jotan
and was neutral, so he will probably feature in a quest.
Right in the middle of the zone is Wyrmrest Temple. There’s a Flight Master here, which is the dragon, Nethestrasz. This isn’t surprising, as Wyrmrest is the main meeting place for the Dragonflights, but the whole zone is covered with the gigantic skeletons of the beasts, as their shrines are here also. These shrines are the places Dragons go to die, and there’s one shrine for each flight. I saw the Bronze shrine [4:54], which again was void of any NPC or action, but the Red shrine [4:58] was the complete opposite. The Scourge are attacking the Reds, and the entrances into the shrine itself are the scene of battles between Scourge forces and NPCs from the Alliance (I didn’t see any Horde). There will be quests to help the Red flight, as Kaplan said earlier.
South of here is a Horde base, Agmar’s Hammer. The Orc, Overlord Agmar - Lord of Agmar, is present in the main hall, dressed in the same gear we saw the Death Knight wearing in the presentation, so he may be a Death Knight.
Other points of interest that I got to see in Dragonblight were the Pit of Najul, which was over-run with spiders and creatures similar to the bugs in Silithus and Un’Goro Crater, and there was also Icemist Village, which is another town that is under attack by the spider race, the Nerubians. This place used to be inhabited by the Winter Taurens.
{pagebreak}
I’d finally worked my way across Northrend and found myself at the other starting zone, Borean Tundra [2:10]. The East side of this zone features a huge Scourge town, the Temple of En’Kilah [4:01]. I worked my way inside past various necromancers and abominations. Right at the top of the town is a tower called the Spire of Blood. This area is guarded by NPCs in Tier 3 lookalike armor, which we know will make a return in the updated Naxxramas raid, back in Dragonblight.
West of this town are The Geyser Fields, and a large area on the bed of a salt lake. There are Gnomish robots patrolling here, and close by is the Alliance base, Fizzcrank Airstrip, a Gnome town [3:48]. In the hills behind the Airstrip, you can see a crashed Necropolis (reminiscent of the crashed ships in the film Independence Day) [3:52], which looks a lot like others we have seen floating menacingly in the sky, including Naxxramas. You can go inside and fight the mobs in here solo from level 70 onwards, which is extremely cool.
Further East, I discovered a little area called Winterfin Retreat, home to a group of neutral Murlocs. The thing that got my attention first though, was an NPC in a Murloc Costume, like the ones given away at the last BlizzCon. This NPC, named “King Mrgl-Mrgl”, revealed he is a member of the group D.E.H.T.A, and was sent to observe the Murlocs in disguise. However, a natural disaster forced him to help them out, and now they have adopted him as their “king”. He offers a quest to help the Murlocs. I was interested in this D.E.H.T.A., because Kaplan had mentioned them in the presentation, so I went looking for their camp.
I eventually found a group of them on the far east of Borean Tundra. I spoke to the leader of the camp who offers you a quest:
“Is your cause righteous and your heart true? If so, you are welcome here, among the Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals. So long as you do not veer down the path of depravity and harm the animals that have allowed us to co-exist within their world, D.E.H.T.A will consider you an ally.”
Once you complete that quest, several more NPCs around the bonfire in the center of the camp offer you further quests. On closer inspection, I noticed the “bonfire” wasn’t a mere heat provider. It is a statue of Hemet Nesingwary, and is being burned by the D.E.H.T.A. members. The plaque on the statue reads as follows:
“Wanted: Hemet Nesingwary for crimes against Nature
[Picture of Nesingwary]
Artist’s rendition of “The Extinctionator” in his natural habitat: The burning hellfire of the underworld
Last wildlife holocaust location: Nagrand, Outland
Also known as: The Great Game Hunter, The Butcher of Badlands, The Stranglethorn Ripper, Old Man Death, Hemet, Nessie, Ol’ Dirty, Ol’ Dirty D, Father of the Bounty, The Extinctionator”
Quests offered by the group include the gathering of 15 Hemet Nesingwary’s Lackey ears, freeing 8 Mammoth Calves, killing 10 loot-crazed divers, killing an NPC calling himself the King of the Rhinos and his mad Rhino pet, and killing 8 Nesingwary Trappers.
Hemet himself, as told to us earlier by Kaplan in the presentation, is in the zone north of this spot, Sholazar Basin. But for now, I continued exploring the Borean Tundra.
{pagebreak}
Not far from the Winterfin Retreat with the D.E.H.T.A. member in disguise as a Murloc, there is an area known as the Ruins of Eldra’nath. There are some old buildings, occupied by a number of elementals that do a fair amount of damage if you pull more than one or two. I assume this is another quest area, so if you start over at Borean Tundra, no doubt you’ll experience this place at some point. In the distance, across a wide expanse of water, Caldarra can be seen. This island is the sub-zone that houses the Nexus [3:12], which is the starting instance for this side of Northrend. It looks pretty cool, but is surrounded by lots of the Blue Dragonflight, so it’s not easy getting in there as a solo level 70 character.
I travelled a bit further, and soon the impressive outline of Warsong Hold dominated the horizon [2:49]. This Horde base looks like it means business. The main building inside the base houses Garosh Hellscream, son of Grom. He is standing over a map of Northrend, and speaking to another huge Orc, Overlord Saurfang. Here’s what they are saying to one another:
Hellscream: “But surely you cannot think that those children were born into innocence? They would have grown up and taken arms against us!”
Saurfang: “I am not speaking solely of the children of our enemies. I won’t let you take us down that dark path again, young Hellscream. I’ll kill you myself before that day comes…”
Hellscream: “How have you managed to survive for so long Saurfang? Not fallen victim to your own memories?”
Saurfang: “I don’t eat Pork…” (spits)
The keep is surrounded by Narubians, with many NPC guards patrolling and fighting them off. There are also a lot of goblins and Orcs working away inside the keep. Players can jump on a zeppelin from the uppermost level of the keep, and travel to and from Orgrimmar here.
Having seen most of Borean Tundra, and coming to the end of my time checking out Lich King, I headed to the only other zone I was permitted to enter, Sholazar Basin [7:42]. It is similar to Un’goro Crater, in that it’s circular and is dipped down in the landscape. There are tropical plants covering the entire zone, and many lakes and rivers. I found Hemet Nesingwary’s crashed ship and his camp [7:54], but unfortunately, there were no NPCs or mobs in the zone at all, so I couldn’t check out either of the two new factions that Kaplan said would inhabit this zone, the Oracles - a Murloc race, and the Wolvar - a wolf-like race. Nevertheless, the zone is very bright, sunny and colorful, and I’m sure it will be popular with players once the expansion goes live.
Sadly, that was the end of my exploration and it was time to leave Blizzard. Having looked around Northrend, I can see how much work has gone into this, and can understand why it is taking Blizzard so long to complete. There is still a lot of work to do, but I’m sure they didn’t let us see everything they’ve done, some things have to be saved for release, right? Either way, Wrath of the Lich King is going to be huge, not just in size, but in terms of popularity. The return to the “classic” medieval feel is already proving to be a hit with players who have seen previews and in-game shots, and the welcome return of some old factions and names will only make this expansion feel like more of an extension, rather than an extra bit tacked on.
Good job so far Blizzard - now get a move on and finish it so we can all enjoy Wrath in its entirety!
