The second expansion in Blizzard's wildly popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game brings an assortment,
B
ack to the Cold Dark with You
The face of WoW has changed, and it is darker, more evil, and slightly undead. With the introduction of the first Hero Class, Blizzard has brought a new vitality to their party structure and to their gameplay. The Death Knight is a character deeply rooted in the themes that run throughout the Wrath of the Lich King expansion; after all, the ultimate villain of the expansion, Arthas Menethil, was the first Death Knight.
The class play style is richly diversified between three distinct talent trees, but each feels truly epic. Obviously Blizzard is still tweaking their abilities, but the Death Knights by and large are a valuable addition to any group, with the Blood trees healing abilities, the Unholy mass damage, and the Frost Death Knights ability to take huge hits. Although the expansion has only been out a month or so, there are several Death Knights raiding successfully at max level, providing ample melee dps in groups small and large. At the mid-levels instance gear is largely missing for the D
eath Knight, but
the level 70 thru level 80 instances have definitely opened up their welcoming arms and showered gifts upon WoW's newest class.
By far the most delightful quest chain in the game to date, the Death Knight starting area is reason enough to purchase Wrath of the Lich King. Not only is the story solid, it's dark and brooding and entirely representative of the class you are learning to play. While the Death Knight runeweaving system enables the class to augment any blade with their own brand of enchantment, I was disappointed that a Death Knight completely loses their signature Rune Blade once they upgrade their equipment. As the Death Knight is bound body and soul to their weapon, it seems to me to be a large break in the story to then forgo your trusty blade for whatever else happens to drop.
Putting the Art in Game Design
So much about Wrath of the Lich King speaks to the maturity of the Blizzard development team. While they haven't yet hit their peak, the stunning visuals in Northrend coupled with the richly textured quest structures certainly prove that this team has honed their skills over the last four years. Each zone in Northrend is outstanding in its esthetic beauty. Gone are the cracked and dying landscapes we sloughed through in The Burning Crusade. With Wrath of the Lich King, there is beauty even in the devastated areas, in ruins of the once great Zul'Drak, or the hauntingly decay of Azjol-Nerub. Everywhere you look there is something extraordinary to discover, and each brilliantly painted canvas is wrapped in its own ethereal soundtrack. The music of Dragonblight in particular took me aback, so lovely and yet so cold at the same time.
Stunning visuals can only take you so far, and if you are playing a game with a boring quest structure even the most ornate of backdrops will eventually fall flat. While I couldn't tell you exactly what advances have been made, it appears that Blizzard has tossed several new tools into their quest design kit, and each of them has been used intelligently to enhance the player's gameplay experience. Rescue missions where those you save stay to help you fight, collection quests which open up flight points on the map, kill quests which clear out an area and conquer it for your faction: these are just small examples of the maturity that is evident in each layer of Wrath's quest design. And through it all, Blizzard's trademark sense of humor shines through bright and clear.
Not a Newbie's Expansion
I am honest when I say that my few criticisms of the expansion lie in philosophy of design rather than in execution. One of the hallmarks of World of Warcraft's success as an MMORPG is its accessibility. The low system requirements meant that just about anyone with a PC was able to play the game, perhaps with the settings turned down, but at least they could experience the beauty of Mulgore and Elwynn Forest without having to purchase an HP Blackbird. When the first expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, hit shelves, little or no upgrade was required to experience the stunning vistas of Nagrand.
Then Wrath of the Lich King arrived, with its dynamic shadows, its densely textured city of Dalaran, and everything went to pot. Players who were raiding through even the top end content are finding that their rigs aren't "uber" enough for the amount of visual information pouring into their graphics cards. While the necessary upgrades are still fairly reasonable, they are a gating factor for the casual gamer, who may now have to purchase a gaming-quality rig in order to play their favorite game.
If someone were to ask me if they should buy this expansion for their gamer at home who hasn't played WoW, I would tell them no. There is nothing in Wrath of the Lich King for a newbie player. With The Burning Crusade a gamer new to WoW could buy the expansion pack, load both the original game and expansion, and start out enjoying the expanded content from day one. This accessibility is not possible with Wrath of the Lich King, as all the content is extending the end-game experience, i.e. those who have played from level 55 on. It takes a considerable amount of effort for a new player to level through the original content in order to experience what Wrath of the Lich King has to offer, and when someone new to WoW powers through the original content, they miss all the previous lore in an effort to hit the requisite level so they can roll a Death Knight.
The conscious decision to create an expansion purely for the end-game player creates an exclusivist mentality that is both a good and a bad thing. When there are special sections of the game meant only for those who have put in their time, there is naturally a drive for the lower players to want to get into the "in-club" as it were. On the other hand, this alienates the casual or the newer player who hasn't hit the previous level cap, and should this sort of expansion strategy continue, will lead to a plateau in new player subscriptions. At some point in the future, it will simply be too difficult to level from the beginning of WoW through to the levels where you can see the new content, and people don't want roadblocks in their MMO content.
The Bottom Line
While it isn't a game for every type of player, or every type of computer, Wrath of the Lich King is the best game Blizzard has put out to date. The richness of the storyline blends seamlessly with the breathtaking beauty of the visual design to create a deeply engaging, if brief, gameplay experience. Innovative use of technological advances allow for a fresh take on questing in an MMO, and each instance is a nugget of lore-based love just waiting to be explored. Wrath of the Lich King proves, once again, why Blizzard is called the king of the MMO mountain.