More rumours on new expansion

[Flippant]

Well nothing official yet!

If the following is true, then there's some exciting new things coming along - with one huge exception - talk of another level cap increase. Seriously hope the level cap isn't increased again.

New rumors are coming in about the next World of Warcraft expansion, and yet again they involve the continent of Northrend. It's very important to keep in mind that these are just rumors right now, but there has been a feature list found(in German - presumably for the Games Convention in Leipzig) as well as a FAQ. The FAQ is in English, and I've pasted some of the more pertinent pieces below. You'll want to check out wowszene.de for the full FAQ.

Features

• The continent of Northrend added to the world of Azeroth. Northrend is about the size of Outland.
• Content for players level 68 and up.
• Level cap increased from 70 to 80.
• Brand new abilities and talents introduced.
• New "Hero" class added - the Death Knight; this class will need to be unlocked through certain criteria before it becomes available.
• New Profession: Inscriptions - allowing you to permanently enhance spells and abilities.
• Siege Weapons and Destructable Buildings added to the PvP landscape, as well as a new Battleground.
• A plethora of new Dungeons, including 25-player Raid Dungeons and Heroic variants.
• An abundance of new quests, monsters, items, and recipes.

FAQ for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
What are the features of the new expansion?
Wrath of the Lich King builds on the rich foundation established in World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade, providing a wealth of new content for players to explore. The harsh, forbidding continent of Northrend, home of the Lich King and his undead minions, will be uncovered on the world map, and to contend with the new challenges found there, players will be able to advance to level 80, acquiring potent new abilities and talents along the way.

In addition, Wrath of the Lich King will introduce the death knight hero class to World of Warcraft. Once certain criteria are met, players will be able to create a new death knight character, which will start at a high level. Furthermore, player-vs.-player battles will reach a new level of intensity with the addition of siege weapons and destructible buildings, not to mention a new battleground. There will also be an abundance of new quests, dungeons, monsters, items, and recipes -- as well as a new profession, inscription -- for players to try out. The expansion will include some additional character-customization options for players as well. We'll be going into more detail on all of these features in the months ahead.

How will the death knight class fit into the game?
The death knight combines martial prowess with dark, necromantic energies. Players might be familiar with the death knight from previously released Warcraft games -- most recently, in the campaigns for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and the Frozen Throne expansion, the former paladin Arthas became a death knight and wreaked havoc across Azeroth and Northrend before fusing with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King. The death knight is the first hero class in World of Warcraft; once certain criteria are met, players will unlock the ability to create a new death knight character, which will begin play at a high experience level. We're currently exploring various options for how the death knight will play and the types of abilities at its disposal, and we'll be revealing more information about this new class as we get further along in development.

What role will the death knight play in groups and raids?
In general terms, the death knight can be considered a type of class that combines damage dealing and tanking, but naturally it will have an array of unique abilities as well.

What races will be allowed to play death knights?
We haven't yet made a final determination about which races can be death knights. However, the class will be available to both the Alliance and the Horde.

What is the story background of the expansion?
Players last visited Northrend in the Warcraft III expansion, when Arthas Menethil fused with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King, one of the most powerful entities in the Warcraft universe. He now broods atop the Frozen Throne, deep in Icecrown Citadel, clutching the rune blade Frostmourne and marshaling the undead armies of the Scourge. In Wrath of the Lich King, the greatest champions of the Alliance and the Horde will do battle with the Scourge amid Northrend's howling winds and fields of jagged ice, and ultimately face the Lich King himself.

Will players actually get to encounter Arthas himself?
Players will be skirmishing with the minions of Arthas from the moment they set foot on Northrend. He will be a constant presence as players progress through the expansion content -- which will culminate in a showdown with the dread Lich King himself.

What can you reveal about Northrend?
The first area of Northrend we're showcasing is the Howling Fjord, a region of grasslands overlooking massive cliffs at the southeastern edge of the continent. This, along with the Borean Tundra, is the front line of the war against Arthas, and players will come face to face with his minions as soon as they set foot on Northrend. Eventually, as players progress further, they will explore the Grizzly Hills, Dragonblight, and more. We'll be showing off some of these new areas in the months ahead.

[Sveyn]

What role will the death knight play in groups and raids?
In general terms, the death knight can be considered a type of class that combines damage dealing and tanking, but naturally it will have an array of unique abilities as well.

Yeah, that sounds totally non-imba. I can imagine the developers meeting now.

"The Death Knight will be loud, angry, and have access to a time machine."

"When the Death Knight is not in the raid, all the other classes should be standing around asking 'Where's the Death Knight?'"

[gruffalo]

Soo its a warrior then? 
Tho we can't do tanking AND dps at the same time....

OK so its a feral druid!

[Acka]

Bah, I don't believe it much...

Death Knight??
Its like you have to become Arthas to defeat Arthas???

And it looks too cheap in my opinion... Make a warrior, that will have some abilities of dps classes (warlock most probably)...
And that think about unlocking Death Knight class that will be level 70 (or whatever) right away?

I would love to see Northrend, but these new things, I'm not very excited about them. Half of them are same as in TBC and second one is just not interesting for me.

[Rowain]

I cannot imagine how they could increase the level cap without ruining the existing raid content. Very few guilds can go to the high-end raids (Mount Hyjal, Black Temple) at the moment, they surely want to give them more time playing through them.

If the next expansion comes early 2008, I can imagine new classes, new zones, dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, professions, skill, talent revamps, but increasing the level cap again is disruptive I think.

[Kempos]

Yes, I think raising the level cap again will be a mistake. They are making it harder and harder for new players to join the game. But then again, it seems slike WOW has a large population of players already, and they might consentrate on pleasing their existing players rather than recruiting new ones.

And yes, raising the level cap will again make the current raid dungeons less relevant. This is probably the most important reason for not raising the level cap. My feeling is that if they raise the level cap again, this will cause people to start leaving the game.

[Acka]

Actualy I can't real problem with raids, yes it was problem from 60 to 70 as old raids was 40-man and new ones are 25-man... but from 70-80 all they need to do is "UPDATE raid_monsters SET level=level+10" in their database

[Flippant]

Increasing the level-cap just excludes more of the so-called casual-players from the older content; as they'll be levelling and re-working their equipment over a longer period again. And for the so-called hard-core; really can't see this as a winner, what's the rational? Ruin all of my hard-earned items... again?

As for the death knight thing, kinda thinking if that is true then they could be something like the those elves in Outlands with instant shadow damage and mana burns.

[Flippant]

Wish this bit was actually about making long-duration scrolls

New Profession: Inscriptions - allowing you to permanently enhance spells and abilities.

[gruffalo]

The thing is: there is no point in working too hard to do all the high end hardcore endgame stuff (like black temple etc) as when the level cap goes up again (as it surely will at some point) it's all wasted. Not to mention the fact that the effort-reward balance becomes ever worse as you get into these big raids..

However, I am surprised that they would be thinking of raising the level cap again so soon: I would have expected 1.5 - 2 years of level 70 - in this time, everyone who wants to raid high end stuff could have done so and got their gear and got bored, whereas if they did it early next year most people havent got there even if they have the willpower/obsessive drive, and those who have will want some time to enjoy having the best gear in the game...

On the other hand, for casual non-raiding players, once you hit 70 and grind for your extra fancy rep reward epic flying mount and maybe some pvp gear, theres not alot to do. So yeah, I would expect the next expansion if it comes this winter to feature some more quests/areas/items/activities (minigames etc) to keep casuals playing, maybe some more raids like zul'aman for semi-casuals but not to alienate the hardcore raiders by making all their gear rubbish overnight.

[Flippant]

It could be could be 6-months or more before any expansion comes along I hope...

[gruffalo]

I reckon they'll try and release one for this christmas, or shortly after (January like TBC perhaps- though I'm sure the Blizzard accountants would prefer it to be out for christmas). I remember somewhere reading that they will try and have an expansion every year from now on...

But I think they should only increase the level cap every 2nd expansion (every 2 years or so) or it gets silly, as I said above.

I wonder if they will make WoW 2 anytime soon? (I know we're on version 2, but I mean a proper sequel). I expect they have people working on it (they would be stupid not to) but I wonder if they will milk WoW until its dead before replacing it... It's a tricky one, because WoW makes alot of money, and if they release WoW 2 any time soon they're basically competing with themselves for market leader, which is silly   I expect they will wait til WoW is less popular and they lose players to other MMOs..

[Blazul]

I`m opposed to a new lvl cap. No point as 70 is allready almost too high and the instances would need a buff again. Also the Deathknight is as fake as a 2m gnome playing in the nba. What would allys get? a Lifeknight? Who would be a healer that could fight melee... oh wait those are Paladins 

I think blizz would more probably just throw a new instance or two as it is said in the belf region, fix a thing or two in outland and maybe... just maybe actually include the so called "ghost zones" that allready exist empty in Azaroth. 

Thoe... Blizzard`s gold team has changed to suits in the past years so I don`t exclude the new addon possibility. 9 million subscribers + new content equals at least a new banana republic for blizz to govern and the breaking of Korea`s economic regime.

[Acka]

So its official now (http://www.wow-europe.com/wrath/ watch trailer

I would like to see what you will have to do to become DeathKnight, because if it won't me hard enough we will see more deathknights then bots in plaguelands in few months after release...

EDIT: I just found out:

Transform your hero's look with new character-customization options, including new hairstyles and dances.

Yay!

[Rayearth]

Well, Bliz announced it on their site.

The level cap will be increased to 80, but I guess until the convention one never knows.

And I just hit 70...

*cries in the corner*