With around 12 million subscriptions, Wrath of the Lich King marks the pinnacle of World of Warcraft’s success story. This is partly due to the continuation of the story about the fallen paladin Arthas Menethil, which began in the Warcraft 3 RTS series, and partly to the balance of the game systems and the legendary raids Ulduar and Icecrown Citadel. The “retro” entry with Naxxramas was also well placed and very successful.
One never had the feeling that – as is usual today – content was artificially lengthened in order to save development costs and push online times – the game was a sure-fire success. For example, anyone who wanted to catch the time-lost proto-drake in the Storm Peaks and wrestle his mount from him had to farm for hours. Just as time-consuming was camping as a hunter in the Sholazar Basin, home to the first and most beautiful spirit beast to date, Loque’nahak. Loque’nahak could even cast Moonfire as a special ability in his original. Today all that is passé – instead of super rare mounts there are “Bares für Rares” (vignette mobs for everyone) and standardized hunter companions without any surprises worth mentioning.
Of course, not everything was sunshine and roses in Wrath of the Lich King either. For example, after the grandiose Ulduar raid, the Crusader raid disappointed as a vile battlefield with bosses on the assembly line, and the Icecrown Citadel ran far too long with the release date December 9, 2009 until the Cataclysm launch on December 7, 2010. On the other hand, Wrath of the Lich King offered a lot of content and variety with a total of 16 dungeons from the Nexus to the Pit of Saron and 8 raids from Naxxramas to Ruby Sanctum. For comparison: The current extension Shadowlands has 8 dungeons and 3 raids with a duration of at least 2 years. The Wintergrasp battlefield, with its strong focus on vehicle combat, was also not well received – but vehicle combat and its crude mechanics are a contentious issue in their own right.
WoW WotLK Classic: Death Knight – Starting Area Quests (1) [Quelle: Buffed]
On Tuesday, April 19, 2022 Blizzard wants to present the 10th expansion “Dragonflight”. A release is definitely not expected before the end of the year, rather in spring 2023. WotLK Classic, which could be announced at the same time as Dragonflight, will probably step into the breach. To get in the mood for the upcoming alpha/beta for the third part of the classic trilogy, the author rummaged through his photo archive and selected a number of original screenshots, including the death knight, the first new WoW class at the time, which is still very large today enjoyed popularity. Also present are the Kalu’ak with their epic fishing rod, the ice trolls of Zul’drak, Hemet Nesingwary, the new druid forms, the spirit beast Loque’nahak and of course the time-lost proto-drake. Have fun!
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