---
title: 'Why Wrath of the Lich King Was Great'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=8_9s6alOuFA'
video_id: '8_9s6alOuFA'
date: 2026-06-17
duration_sec: 0
---

# Why Wrath of the Lich King Was Great

> Source: [Why Wrath of the Lich King Was Great](https://youtube.com/watch?v=8_9s6alOuFA)

## Summary

This video analyzes why World of Warcraft's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is considered one of the game's best. It covers the expansion's key features, including the death knight class, the achievement system, raid changes, and the compelling story of Arthas Menethil. The video argues that Wrath struck a successful balance between accessibility for casual players and challenge for hardcore players, leading to the game's peak subscriber count of 12 million.

### Key Points

- **2008 Context** [0:28] — In 2008, World of Warcraft was at its peak with the Burning Crusade expansion, and the video sets the stage for the release of Wrath of the Lich King.
- **Golden Era and New Threat** [1:21] — The Burning Crusade is considered the golden era, but a new threat emerges: Arthas Menethil, the Lich King, who is stirring in Northrend with his Scourge army.
- **Alliance and Horde Unity** [2:18] — The Alliance and Horde must unite to face the world-ending evil of the Lich King, with the floating city of Dalaran serving as a neutral bastion.
- **Announcement at BlizzCon 2007** [4:29] — The Wrath of the Lich King expansion was announced on August 3rd, 2007 at BlizzCon, following the success of Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.
- **Core Features** [5:25] — The expansion continued trends from Burning Crusade, including more levels, new spells, talents, class balance, zones, dungeons, and raids. A major selling point was the new death knight class.
- **Death Knight Class** [5:42] — The death knight was a new hero class, starting at level 55, with a unique starting zone. It was designed to be 'epic but equal' but ended up being overpowered in both PvE and PvP.
- **Achievement System** [8:53] — The achievement system was introduced, tracking and publicly recording player accomplishments, offering points and cosmetic rewards like pets, mounts, and titles.
- **Siege Vehicles and Wintergrasp** [10:02] — Siege vehicles were introduced for PvP and PvE, notably in the new PvP zone Wintergrasp, which aimed to revive world PvP but had mixed reactions due to queues and balance issues.
- **Inscription Profession** [12:09] — The inscription profession was added, allowing players to create glyphs that altered abilities, adding another layer of character customization.
- **Raid Evolution** [13:00] — Raids evolved with the introduction of 10-man and 25-man modes, with scaled-down loot for 10-man. Hard modes were introduced in Ulduar, later standardized as heroic modes.
- **Release and Starting Zones** [15:02] — The expansion released on November 13, 2008. It featured two starting zones (Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord) to split the player base and add replayability.
- **Story Focus on Arthas** [17:53] — The expansion heavily focused on the story of Arthas Menethil, from his fall from grace to becoming the Lich King, with quests and cutscenes driving the narrative.
- **Wrath Gate Cutscene** [26:12] — The Wrath Gate cutscene was a historic moment, using in-game models in a machinima style, inspired by fan-made content on YouTube.
- **Raid Accessibility** [29:20] — Blizzard made raiding more accessible with easier 10-man modes and the introduction of hard modes, balancing challenge for both casual and hardcore players.
- **Dungeon Finder** [33:10] — The dungeon finder was added post-release in patch 3.3, allowing players to queue for dungeons. While well-received, it later became controversial for reducing social interaction.
- **Impact of Achievements** [34:19] — Achievements made the game more goal-oriented, fostering a checklist mentality that diminished intrinsic joy and social experiences for some players.
- **Dual Spec Feature** [36:49] — Dual spec was added, allowing players to switch between two specializations for a fee, a highly requested quality-of-life improvement that promoted experimentation.
- **Activision Acquisition** [39:07] — The expansion coincided with Activision's acquisition of Blizzard's parent company, raising concerns about future monetization and studio shutdowns.
- **Final Encounter with Lich King** [39:39] — The expansion ended with an iconic encounter with the Lich King at Icecrown Citadel, featuring a memorable cutscene where Bolvar Fordragon becomes the new Lich King.
- **Legacy and Peak Subscribers** [43:34] — Wrath of the Lich King is regarded as one of the best expansions, with the game hitting its peak of 12 million subscribers due to its compelling narrative, refined gameplay, and broad appeal.

### Conclusion

Wrath of the Lich King is celebrated for its compelling story, refined gameplay, and successful balance between accessibility and challenge, which led to World of Warcraft's peak subscriber count of 12 million. Its legacy endures as a high point in the game's history.

## Transcript

Heat. Heat.
[Music]
is warning that some are becoming
addicted to online gaming and it's
affecting their studies and their
health. The warning comes as the latest
version of the hit fantasy game World of
Warcraft has been last night. Thousands
queued on Oxford Street in London to buy
the first copies of technology
correspond. year is 2008 and World of
Warcraft is riding high off of its first
expansion, The Burning Crusade. As you'd
know if you saw episode 4 of the series,
it was an expansion that soared to New
Horizons, and it showed the player base
the possibilities of what an expansion
pack could be. 10 more levels, new
zones, dungeons, raids, redefined class
balance, two races, flying mounts, and
the thrill of arena PvP to name just a
few. It just built on the foundation of
a game that had already taken the world
by storm. And it would break
subscription numbers month after month.
And it is at this point that many
consider the game to be firmly in its
golden era. But eventually, every
chapter closes to open another one. And
Blizzard Entertainment showed that there
was far more story to tell and
challenges to conquer by unveiling their
second expansion, The Wrath of the Lich
King. Following the events of the
Burning Crusade, a darker threat loomed.
Arthus Manithal, once a prince, now a
deathless tyrant, stirring in the frozen
wastess of North End. His scourge army
swelled, unleashing plagues and undead
horrors across Azeroth. From the howling
fjords to the icy peaks of Ice Crown,
North Rend beckoned, a harsh and haunted
continent of Viking inspired tribes,
ancient Titan relics, and the looming
shadow of Ice Crown Citadel. This was no
mere skirmish. The Alliance and the
Horde would unite, however uneasily, to
face this world ending evil, with the
floating city of Doran serving as their
neutral bastion. And unlike the Burning
Crusade, at this point, the player base
had an idea of what to expect from an
expansion. The Doomsayers were silenced,
and there's now this set standard and
expectation for what their $50 got them
after soaring into the heavens in the
Burning Crusade. There's just one
question. Could The Wrath of the Lich
King even match, let alone surpass the
quality of the adventure into the
Outland?
[Music]
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I'm very pleased to tell you that the
dev team's been hard at work on the
second expansion for World of Warcraft,
Rical Expansion.
On August 3rd, 2007 at Blizzcon, the
announcement was made. The next
expansion was The Wrath of the Lich
King. Of course, at this point in time,
Warcraft 3 and its expansion, the Frozen
Throne, hit store shelves and quickly
became one of the fastests selling PC
games of all time, even breaking their
own record set by Diablo II. In the
events of the frozen throne, players
learned of the story of Prince Arthus
Menithol, where driven by a quest for
vengeance takes up the cursed blade
Frost, eventually leading him down the
path to becoming the new Lich King, who
is the ruler of all undead in Azeroth.
After gathering his forces from the
lands of Northrand, he begins invading
the Eastern Kingdoms and Calumdor and
spreading his influence across the land.
and it's up to you, the player, to stop
him at his home turf in Northrand
itself, which was now conveniently
mapped out by Azeroth's ctographers.
Wrath would continue the trends started
by the Burning Crusade, and it held what
many now consider to be gold standards
of an expansion, more levels of
character progression, new spells,
talents, updated class balance, as well
as new zones, dungeons, and raids to
conquer. Perhaps one of its biggest
selling points, however, was the death
knight. Funny enough, a remnant of
vanilla World of Warcraft back from
2004. Well, sort of. There were actually
three vanilla classes that didn't make
it. The first being the demon hunter,
but more importantly, the rune master,
which was a casting class that used
runes as a resource as opposed to mana,
and also necromancers, who raised the
dead and casted plagues. Eventually, the
latter two classes would merge and
become its own class called the Death
Knight. Lorewise, they were created by
the Orc Warlock Guldan during the Second
War. Seeking to bolster the Horde's
forces, he used the dark magic to bind
the souls of fallen orc warriors into
reanimated human corpses, which created
powerful undead warriors loyal to the
Horde. These early death knights, such
as Terrant Giend, were necroantic
entities wielding shadow magic, and they
were quite distinct from later
iterations. In Wrath, however, they were
reimagined as a playable class tied to
the Lich King's rise. After the events
of Warcraft 3, the Lich King, which was
Nerzul, and later Arthus, refined the
process, raising powerful heroes and
champions who died in his service or
were forcibly converted. They were then
imbued with necroantic powers, wielding
rune blades and commanding the powers of
unholy, frost, and blood magic. They
were then bound to the Lich King's will,
and they served as elite enforcers of
the scourge. As for the expansion
itself, it introduced death knights as
former heroes of the Alliance or Horde
that were freed from the Lich King's
control after the events at Light Hope
Chapel, where the Argent Dawn weakened
his grip.
That day is not today.
Ferion
[Applause]
led by Darien Mgrain. These death
knights formed the Knights of the Eban
Blade, which sought redemption and
vengeance. Players started as death
knights in a unique starting zone called
Atrisis the eb and hold and experienced
their break from the Lich King and
joined either faction to fight against
him in Northrand. They had the then
wholly unique property of starting at a
high level 55 which at the time was just
25 away from the new cap 80. Because of
this, there may have been plans at some
point that in order to create one, a
player would actually have to sacrifice
another character with a minimum level
of 55, but this was either a rumor or it
just ended up being scrapped, and the
only restriction ended up being that you
could only make one per server.
Regardless, this would end up being one
of the expansion's major selling points,
as it was the first new class that
players saw in 4 years, and many
questions circulated around them, such
as what races can play them, what roles
do they fit, and just how powerful would
they be? Another big feature was the
achievement system, which would be a
completionist's dream. Of course, just
with any MMO, there are many things to
do. There are dungeons to run, raids to
complete, professions to level, gold to
earn, players to kill. But with all of
them, what you would have to show for it
usually were just some memories and some
loot. In Wrath, however, this changed as
it was when Blizzard added this new form
of character progression where the game
would now track and publicly record what
were called achievements. They varied
quite wildly in every stretch of the
game, such as dungeons, raids, PvP,
economy, reputations,
pretty much everything, even silly
random side activities that no one would
do aside for the sake of the achievement
itself. As a reward for each
achievement, the player would receive a
certain amount of points, and in some
cases even rare cosmetic rewards such as
pets, mounts, and even titles. Some
people find it surprising today that
siege vehicles were a highly touted
feature. Siege weapons
and buildings that can be destroyed with
those siege weapons.
These would be vehicles that players
would control to wreak havoc, giving
them powerful abilities. and they
primarily appeared in various quests
throughout North Rend, but also in some
more pivotal activities such as the
second raid tier, Old War and also the
new PvP zone, Winter Grasp. As useful as
flying was in the Burning Crusade, one
of its undeniable downsides was that it
hurt world PvP, they tried to dampen
this by adding some side PvP objectives
in many of the zones. Hala and Arand
probably being the most major that
people remember. But when players can
simply zoom away at a 300% speed flying
mount, it's much harder to get a natural
and organic war started like the classic
Tanel versus Southshore battles from
vanilla WoW. So Winter Grasp was an
attempt to rectify this. It was
essentially this whole dedicated zone
where everyone is flagged for PvP.
Flying is disabled and throughout the
day, the battlefield would become active
and the two sides would fight for
control of the winter grass keep which
gave access to vendors, items, and even
an entire raid. The winner of the battle
would be the defender on the next stage
and the loser the attacker. and they
would have to use siege vehicles to
attack and defend the keep within a
certain amount of time in this attempt
to reinvigorate world PVP back into the
game. These siege vehicles would also
see use in two completely new
battlegrounds, the Strand of the
Ancients and the Aisle of Conquest,
where with the former, similarly, the
two factions would take turns attacking
and defending a keep through their use
of catapults and turrets and good
oldfashioned ground combat. whichever
15-man side that captured it in the
fastest amount of time was the winner.
And as for the aisle, this was a larger
40 vers40 battleground that similarly
had a focus on siege vehicles and
breaking through gates to Russia keep.
Although in this one, both teams would
be both attacking and defending at the
same time. Just as how the Burning
Crusade released the new jewel crafting
profession, Wrath had inscription which
could make stat boosting scrolls,
vellums for enchanters to turn into
consumable enchants, and most
importantly, they could also make
glyphs, which were another new feature.
This was something that was akin to the
talent tree system where players could
add another layer of customization by
placing both minor and major glyphs on
their character that altered their
abilities in various ways. For example,
hunters could get one that reduced the
cooldown of their aimed shot or
increased the duration of their serpent
sting as major glyphs or mend pet
increases pet happiness as a minor
quality of life glyph in this attempt to
add more agency in build customization.
And last, but certainly not least, raids
actually underwent a significant
evolution with the introduction of
another raid size 10men. Initially,
World of Warcraft, of course, launched
with the quite ambitious 40man size,
which certainly delivered an epic
experience as players teamed up with 39
others worldwide to tackle colossal
bosses. But, as you would know if you
saw the Burning Crusade episode, this
size posed challenges, including, but
not limited to complex raid compositions
and design constraints. Creating
environments large enough for 40 players
and a boss proved quite difficult and
sometimes even leading to entire raid
cancellations. Consequently, The Burning
Crusade reduced the standard raid size
to 25. This 15 player reduction was
wellreceived for its convenience, which
prompted Blizzard to offer an even
smaller 10-man option in Wrath. This
flexibility was certainly welcomed, but
there was one string attached, and
that's the fact that they yielded scaled
down loot as Blizzard aimed to keep
25man raids as the primary focus of the
raiding scene. So, there was still some
reluctance clearly in rewarding the best
loot for such a downsized activity.
[Music]
And so the stage for another expansion
was set. Most of this news came during
the Burning Crusade, of course. So
players not only had their hands full,
but they also had a plethora of new and
exciting content to look forward to.
They blasted through the fallen black
temple and battled in the dangerous
halls leading to the Sunwell with very
few actually finishing the expansion
before the date arrived.
[Music]
November 13th, 2008, the release of
World of Warcraft second expansion, The
Wrath of the Lich King. This was still
the era of physical media, which I
always like to mention. Today with
digital downloads, it's as simple as
sitting at your computer and clicking a
button. But back then, if you wanted to
be one of the first to explore the new
zones, you had to wait in line at Best
Buy or whatever retailer that you
preferred and sit with a bunch of
unbathed nerds in eager anticipation of
this worldwide cultural phenomenon. It
really hearkens back to the old days of
Blizzard with this huge sense of
community and really just this
celebration of this combined love and
addiction. So you'd pick up a copy, your
social energy completely spent for the
day, rush home and install it. But
today, computers aren't even typically
sold with disc drives anymore. Just
another relic of a bygone era. And so
the boats and zeppelins leading to
Northrand officially launched and the
player began their campaign into the
Lich King's doorstep. Something unique
with the expansion that was noticed
immediately was that for the first time
players could choose between two
starting zones. Whereas the Burning
Crusade followed this more linear style
of progression with the Hellfire
Peninsula and then Zanger Marsh Terraar
and so on. Both of these starting zones,
the Boran Tundra and the Hauling Fjord,
led to their own follow-up zones, which
had several advantages. The first being
simply splitting the massive player base
up. As exciting expansion launches are,
an annoyance, especially back in the
day, is that there's maximum competition
for quest NPCs, and players often find
themselves sitting around racing to take
critical spawns in time. While this
still definitely happened in Wrath, it
was dampened a bit by the player base
essentially being split in half between
these two starter zones. It also had the
advantage of adding replay-ability. By
this time in the game's life, many
people had alternate characters that
they would play on the side. So where
they first maybe went through the borian
tundra on their alt they could do the
hauling fjord instead which led into the
grizzly hills offering a completely
unique experience between its unique
quests and dungeons. If you did manage
to see the Burning Crusade episode, you
may remember that I mentioned that Wrath
is when they really started to focus on
the story element of the MMO RPG genre.
While I'd say that this started to ramp
up in the Burning Crusade with its large
focus on major lore characters like
Illan Storm Rage and Keelth Sunstrider,
this is really when they kicked it into
maximum overdrive with its focus on the
new Lich King, Arthus Menithol. He was
made the primary focus from the
beginning to the end. And he was
referenced in quests. He made
appearances at the end of major quest
chains or dungeons. And although I won't
go over his full story, I'll leave that
to the professionals like Noble, I did
want to briefly cover Arthus' arc
because it is so important to the
identity of the expansion. So this
episode will have a little bit of extra
lore here. So, Arthus Menithol, born the
heir to the throne of Lordon, grew up in
a golden age of peace under his father,
King Tyrannis Menithol. Trained as a
warrior and paladin of the Silverhand
under the legendary Uther the
Lightbringer, Arthus embodied courage
and devotion with his heart set on
protecting his people. His charm and
resolve won the affection of Jana
Proudmore, a gifted mage. And as a young
man, Arthus carried the weight of his
kingdom's future, and his life was
steeped heavily in duty and promise. But
as always, darkness loomed over Lord
Ron. A mysterious plague began to
spread, turning villagers into mindless
undead, and Arthus, tasked with
defending his homeland, discovered the
plague's origin. It was orchestrated by
the Scourge, the undead army controlled
by the Lich King, who at the time was
Nirzul. Investigating the outbreak,
Arthus confronted the necromancer
Kelazad, slaying him. But in the
process, he learned of a dreadlord named
Malganis, who was the one that
orchestrated the scourge's advance. His
pursuit of justice led him to the city
of Stratholm, where the infected
populace was on the verge of turning. In
a fateful decision, Arthus ordered the
city to be purged, slaughtering its
citizens to halt the plague spread.
What? How can you even consider that?
There's got to be some other way. Jana
and Uther, horrified by the act,
abandoned him, leaving Arthus isolated
and his moral compass beginning to
falter. Driven by pure vengeance. Now
Arthus chased Malganis to the frozen
wastess of Northrand, and it was there
he encountered the cursed blade
Frostorn. Its icy whispers promising the
power to defeat his enemy. Ignoring the
warnings of its soulstealing curse,
Arthus claimed the blade and its dark
power consumed him. He ended up
vanquishing Melanis, but at a terrible
cost. Frostorn had bound his soul to the
Lich King, and he returned to Lord Ron
as a death knight, murdering his father
and plunging his kingdom into chaos. He
then resurrected Kelazad as a lich and
he led the scourge in a rampage,
destroying the elven kingdom of Qualas
and corrupting the Sunwell they were
protecting. As the Lich King's champion,
he waged war against the living. But the
Lich King's power waned when Illan Storm
Rage attacked the Frozen Throne in
Northend. Arthus then journeyed to
defend his master, defeating Illan in a
fierce duel outside of Ice Crown
Citadel. And then at the frozen throne,
he dawned the helm of domination, which
merged him with the spirit of Nurzul,
the original Lich King. Their
consciousness now fused with Arthus'
world dominating. He became the new Lich
King, a tyrant enthroned in ice, and
commanding the scourge from Ice Crown
Citadel. Which brings us to the events
of the wrath of the Lich King, where he
finally unleashed the scourge upon
Azeroth. He attacked cities directly,
raised monstrous lieutenants like the
dragon Synindraosa, and forged new death
knights to serve his will. Yet, a
flicker of his humanity remained,
restraining the scourge's full
devastation. Today, in the current
expansions, the story is such a huge
focus of the game. All of the plot lines
are intertwined with some form of main
quest. There exists external lore books
as well as a plethora of in-game
cutscenes. The first of which was
encountered in none other than wrath
with the wrath gate where Bolvar for
dragon and some orc doucher who cares
about his name have a brief encounter
with the lich king himself. Bulvar take
the light for the order for the
alliance.
[Music]
[Applause]
Back you mindless wretch.
Fight on brothers.
Rise up, sons of the horde. Blood and
glory await us.
[Music]
Tar
for the
I was wondering if you'd show up. I
couldn't let the Alliance have all the
fun today.
[Music]
Arus,
the blood of your father, of your
people, demands justice.
Come forth, coward, and answer for your
crimes.
You speak of justice, of cowardice.
I will show you the justice of the grave
and the true meaning of fear. Enough
talk. Let it be finished.
You will pay for all the lives you've
stolen, traitor. Boldly stated, but
there is nothing you can do.
What
did you think? We had forgotten.
Did you think we had forgiven?
Behold now the terrible vengeance of the
forsaken.
Sylvanas.
Death to the scourge and death to the
living.
[Music]
This
isn't
over.
Now
all can see. This is the hour of the
forsaken.
[Music]
We're finished.
No escape
for any of us.
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
This was a really historic moment. in
its history and it marked this sort of
evolution into the modern era. It wasn't
a full-on cinematic like with the
official trailers. It was more of the
then very popular machinima style where
it used in-game models and animations
for the most part. At this point in
2008, YouTube had started to really gain
a lot of popularity. And out of all of
the World of Warcraft related content on
the website, some of the most popular
were called machinimas, which were
fan-made animations and stories and
adventures within the World of Azeroth.
Illegal Danish will be ours. It's
unmistakable that Blizzard drew much
inspiration from them in the making of
the Wrath Gate cutscene. This focus on
the story would also be quite heavily
influenced by the entire quest campaign
as well as key dungeons such as for
instance the calling of Stratholme where
you witnessed firsthand that fateful day
where Arthus made the decision to kill
the entire civilian population and face
off against Malganis. But as for the
more flashy things like the features,
starting with the death knight from the
beginning, although they were
technically labeled a hero class, the
developers made it clear that they
wouldn't be more powerful than the rest
of the classes in the game. One of the
goals with the death knight was epic but
equal. So epic in how you obtain it,
epic in how it feels, but not any more
powerful than any other classes. Spoiler
alert, they were incrediblying
overpowered. Like seriously, it was
ridiculous. Even to this day, people
disregard an entire arena season because
they were just so absolutely
overpowered. They're essentially all
three roles mixed into one. Tank, DPS,
and healer if you count self-heals and
all guarded by heavy plate armor. Their
blood specialization focused primarily
on survivability and self-healing. Their
frost was more magic based, buffing
frost related attacks, and undead was
more necromancy, increasing the potency
of plagues and diseases, as well as
undead minions. All three were used for
their own purposes, but no matter what,
they were incredibly powerful in both
PvE and PvP. As for their actual
gameplay, they were kind of a hybrid of
the warriors rage and the rogu's energy
systems mixed into one with runes and
runic power. Some abilities cost runes
which regenerated over time much like
energy and generated runic power much
like the warrior's rage and others
typically more powerful abilities
consumed that runic power once again
much like the warrior. And although all
three specializations were unique from
each other, they were all designed for
both tanking and DPS with a surprising
amount of self-healing. So despite
whatever the developers claimed, they
were the god class and they were heavily
overpop populated as a result. Some
people even speculated that it was done
intentionally in order to sell more
expansions. As mentioned, another huge
feature were the changes tied to the
raids as they mark a really huge change
in the endgame design of the game. I
mentioned this in the Burning Crusade
episode, but in regards to its raid
difficulty, if you couldn't clear it,
you simply couldn't clear it. And the
only two options were to either play
better or wait for a nerf. At that
point, there was no easy difficulty mode
to retreat to to see the content in its
entirety. But this all changed with the
Wrath of the Lich King expansion. At
first, with the new 10-man mode, they
weren't just easier logistically in
gathering players. They were just plain
easier, which is reflected in the lower
quality loot. And even then, compared to
the extreme difficulty of the Burning
Crusade raiding scene, 25man mode was
also made to be more accessible. The
expansion actually started off with a
re-release, Nex Ramis, which was the
final raid tier 4 vanilla World of
Warcraft. The reasoning for this was
that since so few players ended up
seeing it in vanilla, it was pretty much
a new raid for 99% of the player base.
The only difference being bosses were of
course upscaled to level 80, and some
mechanics changed and were added here
and there. The raid itself was mostly
the same as its original release, except
for one thing. its difficulty, which was
far easier. It was clear between the
difficulty level and logistics. Blizzard
wanted rating to be more accessible, but
at the same time, they also didn't want
to forget the more hardcore players. And
they sought to rectify this by adding
the first version of hard modes to the
game with the second raid tier, Aldoir,
where many of the fights had these
optional challenges to complete that
intensified both their difficulty and
the quality of loot. again trying to
serve both hardcore and casual players
and providing a viable option for both.
Although this was quite wellreceived,
they would eventually settle on what
would become standard for the game for
the next decade, and that's heroic mode
with their next raid tier, the trial of
the crusader, where for both sizes,
players could set the difficulty to the
much more intense heroic mode, where
bosses have more health, they deal more
damage, and sometimes even have added
mechanics to deal with. The challenge
was back full force back to the Burning
Crusade levels, I would say, but it was
now a toggled option instead of the only
option. They would, of course,
eventually take this even further with
the LFR mode later introduced in the
next expansion, the Cataclysm. But it
was indeed Wrath is where they started
pursuing this philosophy of making
raiding much more accessible for the
more casual players. As for the
dungeons, they were as well-designed as
ever. From the Viking halls of the
Otgard Pinnacle to the Lost Titan vaults
of the Halls of Stone or the
timetraveling culling of Stratholme,
there was as much variety as ever. As
for their actual difficulty, similar to
raiding, they were more accessible in a
few different ways. Heroics in general
were much easier compared to their
Burning Crusade counterparts, and they
no longer required reputation farming to
even enter them, although the
reputations tied to them were still
crucial for the various enchants.
Speaking of this, reputation hubs, which
were just introduced in the previous
expansion, were being expanded upon at
this point. Many of the factions had
these hubs where players would return to
daily to farm reputation. And as you may
know, if you watched other episodes,
these daily activities would eventually
take over the game in many ways. But in
Wrath, most would say that they were
still quite tame. But the dungeons
themselves are also quite important to
talk about because they are tied to
another major design shift with the
introduction of the dungeon finder which
was added post-release in patch 3.3.
Discounting battlegrounds. This was the
first cued instance finder for the game
where with a click of a button you would
be paired up with other players for any
Northrand dungeon of your choosing. In
its initial release, you are locked to
players on your server and your server
only. But they would eventually make it
cross server. And as wellreceived as it
was at the time, it would later become
quite controversial and named as one of
the main reasons why the game eventually
lost its social atmosphere. By skipping
the group forming process and talking to
people, traveling to the dungeon,
helping each other find the actual
location. a lot of the interaction was
removed and the experience became less
social because eventually you were just
teleported immediately to the dungeon
with people on another server that
you'll probably never interact with
again. So there was very little reason
to engage with each other. All of this
kind of dampened the social experience
and that's something that many today
claim to be one of its most appealing
traits being an MMO RPG. Additionally,
another major design shift were
achievements. And these two were very
wellreceived at the time. It gave people
goals, things to chase, and it was a
very time-consuming form of character
progression aimed towards
completionists. The tasks were extremely
varied. Some were trivial, some were
very challenging, and even today they're
respected as a form of vetery and
commitment as they were later removed as
the new expansions came out. But what it
also did was it made the game more goal
oriented and it fostered a culture where
players increasingly sought tangible
rewards for every action which in a way
unintentionally diminished the intrinsic
joy of just playing it for its own sake.
Activities like exploring the world,
role- playinging, or engaging in
spontaneous group content became less
common as players now started to focus
on optimizing their time to unlock
achievements. This pursuit of points and
rewards creates a checklist mentality
where actions without an associated
achievement or reward felt less
worthwhile. And none of this is really
to say that this is an objective
negative. Many in fact prefer this
philosophy. What it was undeniably is
that it was a major shift in its design
philosophy and it made the game feel
less wholesome for some as the sense of
wonder and communitydriven experiences
gave way to a more transactional and
goal-driven mindset. prioritizing
efficiency and rewards over immersion
and organic fun, which only did more to
diminish the social structure, which
combined with the dungeon finder had
taken a sizable hit in this expansion.
As for the classes, they were refined
even further than their Burning Crusade
versions. And there's now virtually no
spec that was completely useless in
every corner of the game. Whether it was
PvE or PvP or maybe solo farming, they
had their usefulness in some way and
each spec began to feel more unique from
each other and they really started to
carve out their own identity. Toolkits
and talent trees had really began to
balloon at this point. So much so that
Blizzard felt like they had to address
it in the next expansion. But it's a
popular opinion today that people
consider the overall class balance and
design to be in a pretty good spot for
both PvE and PvP. And again, another
huge change in this aspect was the
addition of dual spec, where players
could pay a thousand gold at any class
trainer to unlock the ability to switch
between two different specializations.
This was an absolutely huge quality of
life feature that had been requested for
many years, ever since vanilla. Up until
this point, if a player ever wanted to
switch, they would have to return to
town, pay a respec fee, and then
manually reorganize their action bars.
and in many cases gear accordingly which
was both expensive and cumbersome. And
while this does have its own benefits
such as serving as a constant gold sink
to keep the economy in check at this
point many deemed it to be archaic and
clunky. So this was received
extraordinarily well especially now that
the specs really started to stand out
from one another and offer more unique
experiences. It also had the advantage
to promote experimentation and support
cross-pollination as PvEers began to PvP
more and PvPers would PvE more. Speaking
of PvP, as for Winter Grasp, it did see
mixed reactions. Many would praise the
attempt to bring back world PvP and the
new siege vehicle system was pretty
exciting and fresh and the stakes were
quite high even for PvPers as the winner
would gain access to the Vault of
Archavan raid which held highle loot for
both PvE and PvP. It did have some
issues since the stakes were so high.
There had to be some enforcement of
balance so that one side wouldn't just
heavily outnumber the other, meaning
that in order to even enter the zone
while a battle was active, you would
have to enter a queue. So, this combined
with the fact that it was also objective
based. To many, it felt like world PvP
in name only as it lacked that complete
unadulterated freedom that was core to
the activity. Essentially, it was a
battleground out in the world. Also,
even with forced balancing, some servers
were still so imbalanced that it was
virtually impossible for one faction to
win, which meant that they would be
locked out of raid content, which
definitely didn't sit well, especially
considering that this was also the era
of the cash shop where you could buy a
number of services, including a paid
faction change. Funny enough, although
the game was at the height of its
popularity, it did come with some
troubling news, as this was when
Activision had acquired Blizzard's
parent company, Vivventi. Activision at
this point had already gained a
reputation of acquiring and subsequently
shutting down game studios, and the ones
that weren't shut down had intrusive
cash shop elements forced into them to
increase their profitability at the
expense of gameplay. So when they
started to sink their claws into one of
the most beloved developers in the
industry at the time, many thought that
it was only a matter of time before it
would see a similar fate. Appropriately,
the expansion ended with a final
encounter with the Lich King at top the
Ice Crown Citadel in one of Blizzard's
most complex and impressive fights to
date. Tyrion and the adventurers ended
up victorious with Arthus having a
moment of clarity in his final moments.
and one of the most iconic cutscenes in
the game's history.
[Music]
Father,
is it over?
At long last,
no king rules forever, my son.
I see
only darkness
before me.
[Music]
Without its master's command, the
restless scourge will become an even
greater threat to this world.
Control must be maintained.
There must always be
unleash kings.
[Music]
[Music]
The weight of such a burden.
It must be mine. For there is no other
Tyrion.
You hold the crim destiny in your hands,
brother, but it is not your own. Bulva,
[Music]
by all that is holy. The dragon's flame.
Seal my fate.
The world of the living can no longer
comfort me.
Place the crown upon my head, Tyrion.
Forever more, I will be the jailer of
the damned. No, old friend. I cannot do
it, Tyrion.
You and these brave heroes have your own
destinies to fulfill.
This last act of service
is mine.
[Music]
You will not be forgotten, brother. I
must be forgotten, Tyrion. If the world
is to live free from the tyranny of
fear, they must never know what was done
here today.
[Music]
Tell me that the Lich King is dead and
our dragon died with him.
Now go, leave this place and never
return.
And so a new Lich King is born. The
threat halted for now as the adventurers
turn to a new threat looming back home
in the Eastern Kingdoms and Calumdor. In
the end, Wrath was a great expansion,
and for many, its shortcomings were
vastly overshadowed by its many
strengths, and this is reflected by its
subscription numbers. is where the game
hit its peak player count at 12 million.
There's a reason why it's so often
regarded as one of the most beloved
expansions in the game's history, and
it's largely due to its compelling
narrative, refined gameplay, and it's
broad appeal to both casual and hardcore
players. The story of Arthus Menithol,
whose tragic arc from the fallen prince
to a malevolent overlord, resonated
deeply with fans of the Warcraft lore.
The Northrand continent with its
hauntingly beautiful zones provided a
visually stunning and immersive backdrop
that enhanced that storytelling and it
was all supported by a soundtrack that
was appropriate and memorable. The
rating experience, its flexible
difficulty and size and memorable
environments like Nixramisoir
and Ice Crown Citadel go down today as
particularly well done. Old War
especially is often cited as the
pinnacle of raid design due to its
creative mechanics and immersive lore.
The introduction of death knights,
despite being completely overpowered,
added a fresh and edgy play style, and
it appealed to players eager for
something new. And lastly, its
additional features like the achievement
system kept players engaged outside of
raids, while its quality of life
improvements such as dual spec or the
dungeon finder made it more accessible
as a whole. From its launch to its
conclusion, Wrath was a story of finding
the right balance between accessibility
and challenge and appealing to a wide
audience during its peak popularity. And
it's quite easy to recognize why many
thought that World of Warcraft's second
expansion, The Wrath of the Lich King,
was great.
[Music]
Farewell for now, mortalists. We hope
you enjoyed today's video. See you again
soon.