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When we decided that we wanted to cover Wrath of the Lich King, we determined that an expansion review like this one would only really be useful to people who are still playing World of Warcraft--or people who played a lot of it and stopped, but might be interested in coming back. Since the four of us haven't played World of Warcraft in ages, we decided to enlist the assistance of the upstairs technical crew. Andy McCurdy has been playing World of Warcraft since the beginning with no serious breaks, so we figured he'd be the best guy to figure out if the new stuff Blizzard added is worth your time.
Give or take, Wrath of the Lich King marks World of Warcraft's fourth birthday. Think back to what you were doing in 2004. You were probably into the Xbox or PlayStation 2, and perhaps you were really excited about that Halo sequel that all the kids were playing. Maybe you were a little ahead of the curve and were waiting patiently for God of War, which would ship the following Spring. Point being, it's been a long time since World of Warcraft's initial release. But over those four years, Warcraft has changed. It's almost turned into a platform unto itself, with the kind of monthly improvements that other MMO developers have often talked about but never get around to implementing. But Blizzard's good ideas have a way of actually making it into their game, a trend that continues with this latest expansion. Wrath of the Lich King implements a mess of cool improvements, pushing the game forward and further cementing World of Warcraft's place at the very top of the genre.
The Lich King Arthas beckons you to his icy realm of Northrend. While there are plenty of meaty gameplay changes to consider, the most major improvement that Wrath brings to the world is in its story. This expansion elevates the delivery of lore in World of Warcraft via a new set of real-time cinematics, player-perspective landscapes that change as a result of your actions, and inventive new quest designs. A large number of the newly available quests surround the story of Arthas, the fallen knight who originally appeared in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and the land of Northrend. The game doesn't expect you to remember the events of Warcraft III, though; a suitable amount of backstory on these events is also included.
One of the most exciting elements of Lich King's quests is that some them give you the feeling that you're actually changing pieces of the landscape. One quest produces an in-game cinematic of an epic fight with the Scourge, the fall of an Alliance hero, and the devastation of a town. From then on, players who have completed this quest see the area as completely devastated from the battle, while others continue to see the land whole, as it was previous to the encounter. This epic feeling of taking part in larger world events continues as you fight alongside notable computer-controlled faction leaders, rampaging and invading a player-controlled town. This is a key point--Lich King actually makes you care about the fates of the world's NPCs by having you fight alongside them against other human players. These NPCs are further fleshed out and made meaningful via some terrific voice acting from key characters in the more-meaningful quests. These elements add a lot of character to the experience.
