Blizzard just announced the next step for the WoW classic by bringing back the wildly popular Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Initially launched in 2008, Wrath of the Lich King was a revolutionary expansion in so many ways.
In case you need a quick refresher, the game tasks players with pushing toward the tower of Icecrown to deal with the Lich King, who sits on his frozen throne with power over death itself.
In terms of subscription number, Blizzard's MMORPG peaked with the expansion. It also introduced added achievements, the perfect villain, and the game's first hero class in the Death Knight. They served as the perfect base to build a whole new expansion around while stealthily laying the foundation for the modern version of the game.
This new Classic will mirror the version that fans loved, although not without some changes. In terms of small but meaningful changes, many adjustments will be made to character depictions and in-game texts to improve inclusivity and sensitivity further. The new human racial ability known as "Every Man For Himself" in Lich King will be known as "Will to Survive," like the current WoW versions. The Barbershop, which was another element in the original Wrath of the Lich King, will cost WotLK Classic Gold and not real money, including the ability to change the gender of your character.
Classic Wrath for Modern MMO Players
There has been a lot for World of Warcraft fans to get excited about in recent times. Players will soon be able to relive the expansion as they venture into Northrend to square off against the Lich King and the Undead scourge. Wrath of the Lich King Classic will have to strike that perfect balance between classic nostalgic experience and modern convenience to keep players interested.
Although the expansion will return to its original state, while we even expect the same euphoria around its release as in old times, it won't be the same as 14 years ago. We'll try to include most of them in this post-in-depth as much as we can.
Modern MMORPGs have changed a lot, and World of Warcraft had a massive role to play in that. The role that World of Warcraft Classic plays is to bring back that retro MMORPG feeling to modern gaming, and Wrath of the Lich King aims to keep that going while learning and improving on past mistakes. One way this will happen in Wrath of the Lich King is the exclusion of some features and the addition of new and hopefully better ones.
What Changes Should You Expect?
According to Blizzard, a lot of quality of life changes will come with Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Changes that'll prove just how much Blizzard's mindset has evolved since the first classic release in 2019. Wrath of the Lich King Classic will excite both newcomers and veterans with a host of content to explore and improved features:
Death Knight
An interesting change straight away is the Death Knight class coming as part of the pre-patch. Originally, players had to play catchup days after the expansion's release if they wanted to play a Death Knight, as the class started at level 55.
No Dungeon Finder
One major change is the absence of the dungeon finder system that was added in the 3.3.5 patch. We believe this particular change was made to keep the spirit of the WoW classic audience. The developers reasoned that having the system counters hinders good neighborhood participation amongst guild members, hence, the dramatic decision to remove the feature.
Although there will not be a dungeon finder tool, the developers are still putting a tool together that won't sacrifice our treasured human-to-human interaction. The new tool will be similar to the modern World of Warcraft premade group finder and Burning Crusade Classics' LFG tool for ideas and inspiration.
According to Blizzard software engineer Kevin Vigue, "A large part of the "core of classic" is the social aspect. I've met people in random dungeons who have gone on to become life-long friends. According to him, the decision to remove the automatic dungeon finder in the WoW classic was unanimous. And in place, we decided to come up with a bunch of revamps and improvements for a new tool. A tool that will still help players find groups and like-minded people who'd like to run the same content as them, but still has that social element, traveling to the dungeon, and conversing along the way."
Also, the perky pug which was originally awarded through an achievement using the dungeon finder, will now be achievable through an in-game activity relating to grouping.
Raid Lockout Changes
Another shocking change coming to Wrath of the Lich King Classic is the raid lockout changes. Blizzard is trying to tackle the number of required runs players might feel obligated to do once heroic raids are available. For example, you could run Trials of the Crusader four times weekly, both 25 and 10 men, normal and heroic. Now, Blizzard will make both normal and heroic share a lockout, but the heroic version of the raid won't be available until the Phase where the Trial of the Crusader is introduced.
Barbershop Upgrade
Also, players can now get WotLK Classic gold to make changes to their characters however they like. The Barbershop was originally introduced in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and it was a barebone system initially. All you could do with it were changes to facial hair, hairstyle, piercings, markings, etc. Now, Blizzard is planning to add way more customization to the Barbershop. Changes you could make in the Wrath expansion through ordering a customization service will be easy to do in the Barbershop with your gold.
No More Mining Fails
In Wrath of the Lich King Classic, you cannot fail Mining or Gathering Herbs; and nodes will give all of their contents for mining just once. This will make mining much more efficient and leveling your gathering profession quicker. It could sometimes be a little frustrating when you have to pound on Thorium veins multiple times for example, or fail to pick a Peacebloom.
Riding Changes
In Wrath of the Lich King Classic, you only need to be a level 20 to learn how to get your 60% move speed mount, and at a lower cost, which should be around four gold. Also, epic mounts will be available at level 40 for a fraction of the previous cost. This will open up mounts for everyone to move around faster.
Change in Requirements for Using Summoning Stones
Summoning stones require level 15 to use and no other level range requirement other than that. Summoning stone was introduced in TBC, and it allowed you to be able to summon your group without a Warlock. This was really helpful, but with level range restrictions. These restrictions, however, were hard to determine without the use of add-ons. So Blizzard decided to remove these requirements, and all you need is to get to level 15 in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. It's also quite interesting as level 15 is also the minimum level to use the dungeon finder, and without that in the game, maybe summoning stones will be used more in Wrath of the Lich King Classic because of the absence of the dungeon finder.
Other Quality of Life Changes
Enchanters can now enchant on enchanting vellum, which captures your enchant onto a scroll, and anyone can use it to add a buff to their gears. You can keep enchanting vellums and throw them up in the auction house for sale or trade. You won't have to spam trade chats or open trade windows to utilize your profession.
Another nice addition is the currency tab. There are a number of more currencies in the Wrath of the Lich King Classic. You've got the cooking tokens, jewel crafting tokens, different emblems to collect, new battleground called strand of the ancient with its own new mark of honor. To avoid them cluttering your inventory, there's a new currency tab that will list all of your currencies and amounts in one place, making it convenient to look at.
Like the currency tab, there's also a pet tab for mounts and non-combat pets. Instead of keeping them as items in the inventory with currencies, they are now added to a pet tab where you can easily summon them and make it easy for collectors to visualize what they have easily.
Also, with profession linking, you can let everyone know what you're able to make by providing a clickable link that brings anyone who clicks the link over to your profession.
Finally, there is the heirloom gear which is a gear that grants increased experience from mobs and quests and gets better as you level. It changes your leveling experience making it faster; although you'll have to keep it on always.
How Can You Prepare for Wrath of the Lich King Classic Now?
To prepare for Wrath of the Lich King Classic, for returning classical players and TBC players, there are some things you need to start getting to prepare for Classic Wrath.
Leveling Speed
Northrend is about 50% larger than outland, so you need to have your epic 100% speed ground mount while leveling from level 70 - 77. Once you get to level 77, you can buy the cold weather flying to navigate Northrend.
Also, in addition to that, having some TBC level 70 epic gear such as the phase 4 or phase 5 badge of justice gear which just got introduced into the game with the Sunwell plateau patch, and weapons such as Sunflare, Hand of the deceiver, Apolyon will help you level faster in Wrath Classic.
Removed Items and Quests
Some items and quests will be removed when the Wrath of the Lich King Classic pre-patch comes out.
Attunement quest chains that grant both the , Hand of A'dal and , Champion of the Naaru titles will not be accessible in Wrath Classic. Although you can still complete them now if you're interested in having those titles.
Items from level 60 of Naxxramas such as the Corrupted Ashbringer, Atiesh, and Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad. You will need to get these items immediately as you won't be able to get them soon.
Also, the Amani War Bear from Zul'Aman will be removed. If you're a mount collector and it interests you, you'll need to earn the mount before it's removed.
Gold, Gold, and More Gold
The next Wrath of the Lich King Classic preparation is gold. Classic wrath is a very expensive version, and there are a lot of things you're going to want to buy. Some you don't have to buy, while you'll definitely want to get some. Cold Weather Flying, for example, allows your character to fly and navigate Northrend and costs 1000 gold. There are also mounts such as the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, which can carry two vendors or players and costs up to 20,000 gold. You can always buy WotLK Classic Gold from MmoGah.com or just go ahead and do dailies to get gold. But whatever you decide to do, you need to get your stack ready for Classic Wrath.
Wrapping Up
Wrath of the Lich King Classic should drop sometime in 2022. WoW Classic has succeeded in the past and even now, regardless of its future. Wrath Classic promises to deliver yet another retro MMO experience to its players. Although there is enough buzz around the launch, Classic Wrath still has big shoes to fill if it's to live up to its original release in 2008.
