November 13! Lock the door, take the phone off the hook, stock up on food and mana potions! After torturing their loyal fans for almost a year now, Blizzard gave an official date for the release of Wrath of the Lich King, the next expansion pack to the hugely popular MMPOG World of Warcraft.
Not so suprisingly, this news comes just before one of WoW’s only real competitors, Warhammer Online goes live on Thursday. While a bit of a transparent marketing ploy, it’s also understandable that Blizzard wants to keep their almost 11 million subscribers (and the nearly $100 million dollars a month they bring in) focused on their product and not a rival’s.
Warcraft’s previous expansion, The Burning Crusade, allowed players to travel through the fabled Dark Portal to the Orc homeland of Draenor. This time around players will be returning to Azeroth and heading for the frozen climes of Northrend.
As indicated by the title, players will meet up with the undead legions commanded by the former fallen paladin (boo to snooty paladins!) Prince Arthas, now the massively powerful Lich King. Some of the new features will include an increased level cap (80), new mounts, new talents, player-controlled siege weapons (at last!) and a new crafting profession. Best of all however, there’s even a new class, the Death Knight, a dual-weilding, necromantic death-dealing fiend. So now, I pretty much know where my free time for the next year is going.
