Video Game Preview: Wrath of the Lich King for the PC

Recently, Blizzard announced that a new expansion would be released for their hugely popular pc game, World of Warcraft, based on the frozen continent of Northrend, where players would be able to fight the next big enemy in the Warcraft series, Arthas. They also included such features as the Inscription profession, and the first Hero Class. With all of these features, and more, the Wrath of the Lich King could be a bigger sell than the Burning Crusade. But what is a Hero Class? What is Inscription? And will Northrend just be a big chunk of ice? These are the questions this preview will attempt to answer.

Wrath of the Lich King will add a whole new continent to Azeroth. Northrend is a huge, frozen wasteland, although Blizzard says that the whole continent will not be frozen over. There will be areas like the Borean Tundra, where the naga are attempting to melt the ice, and the Dragonblight, where old dragons came to die, and have been revived from the dead.

There have been several instances announced, such as Azjol-Nerub, the fallen home of the undead, spider-like Nerubians, Grizzlemaw, the home of the Furbolgs of Northrend, Utgarde Keep, the home of the Vrykul, a vampiric, half giant race based heavily on the Vikings, who serve the Lich King. And finally, players will be able to go to Icecrown, home of the Frozen Throne, where players will be able to fight the Lich King Arthas himself.

One of the biggest of the new features is the Deathknight Hero class, the first of its kind. You will be able to play a Deathknight, a warrior of the Undead Scourge. He will be able to, according to rumors, summon undead, and he will be able to do a lot of Death based abilities. He will be able to use plate armor, and likes to use bladed weapons, like special runeswords and runeaxes. He will not be able to use shields, but he can duel wield. Blizzard says that they will have their own mount, and that they will start at a high level, although it is unknown what level exactly.

The Deathknight uses a different source for his abilities, other than Mana, Rage, or Energy. Instead, he chooses six Blood, Frost, or Unholy runes out of combat, and he uses them for casting his spells. Players can unlock this class by completing a lengthy, high level quest somewhere is Northrend. Deathknights can be any race, so those of you who want to be an evil gnome will have their chance.

Another neat feature they plan on introducing is destroyable buildings, and siege weapons to destroy them with. Whether these will be a Battlegrounds feature, or something implemented into the main world, we do not know yet. But it promises to be a fun and interesting experience, either way.

A new profession is being implemented in Wrath of the Lich King. Inscription is similar in basic theory to Enchanting, but instead, it permanently increases the attributes and stats of player's spells and abilities. This could mean anything from increasing the damage, to adding new effects to spells.

Wit all of these features, and the promise of many more to come, Wrath of the Lich King is going to provide us with a lot of anticipation, just like the Burning Crusade did. But will Wrath of the Lich King freeze the Burning Crusade it its tracks, or will Wrath's popularity pale in comparison to the Crusade? That is a question that can only be answered when the Wrath of the Lich King is finally released. And given Blizzard's unwillingness to release a game that isn't well-tested and polished, it will be a long wait for us all.