Among some of the things discussed by J. Allen Brack and Gamespy:

• Flying Mounts are gone until level 77, at which point you will either complete a quest or a visit a trainer to be able to use them again. You will still not be able to use the mounts in the old world, so even though Naxxramas is on Azeroth, your flying mount will not be able to cross back over the sea to visit the old stomping grounds. The Old World was designed using too many graphical shortcuts in places people were not meant to access to allow flying mounts.
• They have recieved massive positive feedback so far about the return to Azeroth and the old traditional fantasy as opposed to the sci-fi feel of the Burning Crusade. In that same vein, they are bringing back many familiar sights and storylines from Old Azeroth. Sholozar Basin will be Un'goro 2.0, complete with crystals and pylons. No word on whether it will also contain more Land of the Lost and Nintendo references. It will also contain some of the flavors of Stranglethorn and the old Netherstorm biodomes, says J. Allen.
• In a similar vein, we can expect to see more of the ever-popular Scarlet Crusade, this time in the form of the Scarlet Onslaught. The Worgen are back in homage to the Sons of Arugal and Shadowfang Keep.
• While the city of Dalaran will be headed up to WoTLK, don't expect to see nothing but a hole in the ground where it used to be in Alterac. J. Allen reveals that they do have plans for the spot, and the concept drawings they have for it look very cool.
• The Dragonblight, J. Allen Brack said, is probably his favorite new piece of content for the expansion. It is where the Dragons were born, where they recieved sentience from the Titans, and where they come to die, and where the Lich King has been twisting Dragon corpses to serve him as Frost Wyrms, so there's a lot of great lore and history there. It will include a raid instance called the Chamber of the Aspects, and while no bosses have been designed for it yet, it will probably have bosses representing each of the Dragonflights.

It sounds like the developers are nearly as excited about WoTLK as we are, which is usually a good sign of things to come. We hope you've enjoyed all this awesome new information we've found for you tonight. There may be more to come, so stay tuned as we scour all the latest news.

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Wrath of the Lich King is still some time away, it's true. Many gaming stores and websites seem to be anticipating an October or November release, but Blizzard's keeping mum on the exact date so far.

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Arthas Menethil is a relatively new addition to the Warcraft Series -- he only appeared in Warcraft III and its expansion. Nevertheless, Arthas's impact on Azeroth is so profound that he remains one of the biggest names in WoW, even though he's never appeared in the game itself ... yet.

Who: Prince Arthas Menethil, Crown Prince of Lordaeron, Knight of the Silver Hand, and Lich King.

What: Human at first, kinda undead later.

History: Arthas was the son of King Terenas Menethil, ruler of Lordaeron. As a youth, he trained in the art of combat and joined the Silver Hand, a group of paladins. He became known for his exploits in battle. He also briefly dallied with a young mage named Jaina Proudmoore, but it didn't work out because long-distance things never end well. They decided to remain friends, which is as big a sign of impending doom as one can get.

Arthas and his trainer, Uther Lightbringer, were sent to the orc internment camps near Lordaeron to quell uprisings. Arthas defeated the orcs with the use of a magical fire weapon, but soon discovered that a plague of undeath was sweeping the northern villages of Lordaeron. The now-evil wizard Kel'Thuzad had transported the plague, originally the brainchild of the Lich King Ner'Zhul, to the towns of Brill and Stratholme through some infected grain. (Sorry for all the links to WoWWiki, but we're sort of joining the story in the middle here and all the names can get confusing.) Arthas and Jaina went on a totally platonic mission to stop the plague, which Arthas accomplished by killing Kel'Thuzad. Arthas then headed north to Stratholme to kill the demon Mal'Ganis.

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MMO Champion

• As we heard at BlizzCon, Northrend isn't all a snow-covered wasteland-- there are forests (including one full of Furbolgs) and other terrain types to find up there.
• We've also heard this before, but it's worth repeating again: Arthas will play a much bigger part in the day-to-day Northrend than Illidan did-- lots of people, both raiders and casuals, will have a chance to "interact" with him.
• Here's something new-- there will be two entry points, and previously we'd assumed that one would be for Horde and another would be for Alliance. But that's not the case-- instead, each of the zones (the Borean Tundra and the Howling Fjord) will have an entry point for each faction. So there will actually be four ways into the expansion.
• Alliance get to choose a battle in the Howling Fjord or a massive stronghold (complete with a brand new faction leader) and a giant steamship
• And Horde either go into the Forsaken's new lands (with new architecture-- we saw it at BlizzCon), or into Garrosh Hellscream's (son of Grom) Warsong Fortress.


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• Northrend isn't just all snow, for example the Howling Fjord is completely green and modelled after the Redwood Forest while the Borean Tundra (2nd starting zone) has typical autmun colours.
• Devs really feel they were too protective of Illidan and want players to interact with Arthas a lot more, you will talk to him, have moments with him, and you won't have to be a raider to see him. There is also the new CoT instance letting you "clean" Stratholme with him in the past.
• There are four points of entry for Northrend (two for each side).
Howling Fjord
• Alliance players will enter the zone by boat through the Fjord walls and arrive in the middle of a big battle. (Note : See Valgarde)
• Horde players will arrive in an area with a brand new Forasken architecture with a nice "Tim Burton feel". (Note : See New Agamand)
Borean Tundra
• Alliance players comes into a giant Alliance stronghold with a brand new leader that devs are currently building up, and a massive alliance steam ship. They plan to launch an expeditionary force to get to the Icecrown Citadel and defeat Arthas.
• Horde players comes into the Warsong Fortress ruled by Garosh Hellscream, son of Grom Hellscream. The Warsong base is said to be "absolutely huge and epic".

• Why did you pick Death Knight for the new class?
  They have a connection to Arthas and Northrend, and we needed more tanks. The playable DKs will be allied with the Horde or Alliance, fighting against Arthas.
• What will adding another tanking class do to the group/raid game?
  We want all tank classes to be equally good in general, so you can use any of them for a 5-man, but we want them to have distinct raiding roles. (They also took this opportunity to reiterate for the nth time that "hero class" doesn't mean it's more powerful than other classes, just more different.)
• How is the DK different from other tanks?
  No shield, powerful melee abilities, magic attacks. The devs are making sure they have the core tanking abilities of keeping aggro and mitigating damage, while still making the DK feel like its own thing.
• Will we see some classic DK spells and abilities?
  Yes, we're taking a lot from previous Warcraft material. One thing that will set them apart as a new class, but still tie them into WC3 DKs, is the rune system.


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• Part of the lore behind the Wrath of the Lich King expansion has Arthas trying to seduce players to the dark side, both Alliance and Horde.

• Part of the Death Knight lore will have them "break away" from the Lich King influence to be free agents, the way the Forsaken have broken away from being mindless undead.

• Death Knights will "probably" be able to inscribe any weapon with their Runes that give them power.

• Ulduar is going to be a new raid instance. It's controlled by storm giants and is a fortress of the Titans like Uldaman and Maruadon according to WoW lore.


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• On the Sunwell, it seems the Burning Legion is using the Mana Forges in Netherstorm to power the Sunwell and summon Kil'Jaeden. The instance will have 6-8 bosses, and Kil'Jaeden will not be fully summoned when you fight him (which is supposed to explain how 25 level 70s can drop him).
• Dalaran will have one or two instanced dungeons in it (!), and will not have Auction Houses. It will have portals, including maybe one to Shattrath.
• There's some good Death Knight info, including a new AoE spell called Death and Decay. Blood runes will be damage oriented, Unholy runes will be utility and DoTs, and Frost runes will be CC-ish abilities.
• Finally, Inscription will give players the ability to sell scrolls (is it just me, or did the developers clearly say at BlizzCon that inscribers wouldn't sell scrolls?), and they will only be able to update "core spells"-- Priest's Mind Control no, Hunter Freeze Traps yes. Get ready for a round of QQing about what "core spells" are.


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Games for Windows magazine

• Howling Fjord (68-72)
• Borean Tundra (68-72)
• The Dragonblight (71-75)
• Zul'Drak (73-76)
• Grizzly Hills (74-76)
• Azjol-Nerub (74-78)
• Sholazar Basin (75-78)
• The Storm Peaks (77-80)
• Icecrown Glacier (77-80)
• Lake Wintergrasp (Outdoor PvP)

• We already know about the L70 instance called Utgarde Keep in the Howling Fjord zone. Now we learn that there will be a second wing of the instance for L80 players called Utgarde Pinnacle. Both dungeons will have Normal and Heroic modes. Yay for key grinding! Anybody?

• The new Inscription profession will do more than increases effectiveness of spells and abilities. Devs are playing with the concept of using Inscription to improve other elements like range, duration, etc.


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• Change coming to daily Transmute cooldown-- will make it reset like a raid instance
• Discoveries will be easier to get

• AFKers are a huge problem and "will be dealt with," "going to be dealt with," "We have plans for those people."
• Players won't spawn in the cave until there is nowhere else to spawn
• Players will report AFKers, and when enough reports have gone down, AFKers will get a debuff that only disappears when they enter combat. When they don't, they get another debuff that keeps them from gaining honor that BG.
• Honor distribution will change-- more honor towards the end of the BG
• Pulling mechanics will change-- no more solo Vandar Stormpike pull
• Group queuing in AV will return
  

• New arena and gear coming in Season 3
• DoTs will be affected by resilience in 2.3
• Map gimmicks (ie Cyclones) are a bad idea, no more of those
• Rating requirement will be necessary to buy an arena weapon, so no more saving up points just for the weapon
• Fear isn't overpowered in 5v5, though it may be in 3v3 and 2v2

• Is not dead-- we may be able to separate him from the Lich King
• We will have interaction with him the whole time in Northrend, as early as 70
  
• Wants to turn players against the Alliance and the Horde just as he was turned against his own people
• Sylvanas and/or Jaina will probably join the actual fight against him
• Will do something really bad to Azeroth to send the Alliance and Horde after him
  
• "Every player, raider, grouper, soloer will ultimately determine whether he is defeated or whether he takes over."
• Arthas had a sister? She may come into play
  

• New BG coming in the expansion, will be 15v15 and take about 30-40 minutes to complete
• Will include siege weapons, which are player-controlled and can destroy certain buildings
• "Meat Wagons," "Ballistas," and "Catapults" are all listed as examples
  
• No name announced yet
• BGs are created as "Warcraft III meets Battlefield 1942"
• Alterac Valley was originally non-instanced, as Lake Wintergrasp will be
  
• Flag in EOTS was originally a 5th mobile objective
• Considering making variable sizes of battlegrounds-- playing same BG as a 15v15 or a 20v20
• Guild Battlegrounds are being considered, as well as a guild rating for each BG

• Daily quests coming in 2.3
• New recipes: Food that buffs melee and spell crit.
• Shockcops-- like Dragonbreath Chili, but with lightning damage

• WoW's first Hero Class
• Like an Anti-Paladin, can tank with 2h or dual wield (no shields)
• Wears plate, likes bladed weapons (runeswords and runeaxes)
  
• Will use a Rune resource system rather than Mana, Rage, or Energy-- choose six Blood, Frost, or Unholy runes out of combat that can be consumed for spells, or refreshed by spells and abilities
  
• Will have their own mount and itemization
• Will be Alliance and Horde, "unlocked" via a long quest at level 80, and that quest will supposedly explain how players can become Death Knights
• Once unlocked, starts off at a higher level (55, 60, 70, not sure yet)
  
• Spell: Army of the Dead: Summons ghouls. Not a pet class, but some abilities like that.
• Available to all races
  

• Moonkin itemization will get better
• Moonkin mana is being examined
• Decurse and Cure Poison coming in Treeform
  

• Will be able to craft a new flying machine
• Going to "get some love"
• Working on "reducing the selfishness" of the profession
  

• New enchant: Executioner. Occasionally ignore 840 of your opponent's armor. Power comparable to Mongoose.
  

• Death Knight will be the only one in the new expansion
• More are coming-- the idea is to put all WCIII Heroes in eventually
• Will be a completely separate character-- the devs said players who upgraded their character felt they were losing something by doing so
• Will start at a higher level and with "pretty good" gear
  
• No additions to character slot numbers
  

• Legendary ranged weapon coming
• Hunters having to buy two arena weapons is a problem, and prices are being reconsidered
• Hunter mana is being examined
• Hunter arena representation is being examined for 2.3
  

• New profession in WotLK
• Inscribe spells and abilities with extra power (example: Fireball gets knockback or extra damage)
• Create completely new items (not scrolls)
• Another side of inscription that is not yet announced

• Jewelcrafter only gems: +12 Spell Crit Y, +26 Healing R, +18 Stam B. Made from blue gems.
• New recipe: Steady Talasite, +4 Resilience and +4 Stam Y/B. Meant to raise prices of Talasite on AH.

• Non-instanced PvP zone in Northrend
• Will have multiple objectives (like AV), siege weapons, and a persistent effect (like the Spirit Towers)
  

• Rocks!


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• Will require the max level of Engineering.
• Schematic will be obtained through a series of quests.
• Is a flying siege weapon!
• Will require level 78 to use. (Claims likely will be changed to 80.)
• Will have durability like any other piece of gear, and will require occasional repairs.
  


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