Why Wrath of the Lich King Was Great

[00:00] Heat. Heat.

[00:20] [Music]

[00:28] is warning that some are becoming

[00:30] addicted to online gaming and it's

[00:32] affecting their studies and their

[00:33] health. The warning comes as the latest

[00:35] version of the hit fantasy game World of

[00:38] Warcraft has been last night. Thousands

[00:41] queued on Oxford Street in London to buy

[00:43] the first copies of technology

[00:44] correspond. year is 2008 and World of

[00:48] Warcraft is riding high off of its first

[00:50] expansion, The Burning Crusade. As you'd

[00:52] know if you saw episode 4 of the series,

[00:54] it was an expansion that soared to New

[00:56] Horizons, and it showed the player base

[00:58] the possibilities of what an expansion

[01:01] pack could be. 10 more levels, new

[01:03] zones, dungeons, raids, redefined class

[01:06] balance, two races, flying mounts, and

[01:09] the thrill of arena PvP to name just a

[01:12] few. It just built on the foundation of

[01:15] a game that had already taken the world

[01:16] by storm. And it would break

[01:18] subscription numbers month after month.

[01:21] And it is at this point that many

[01:22] consider the game to be firmly in its

[01:24] golden era. But eventually, every

[01:27] chapter closes to open another one. And

[01:30] Blizzard Entertainment showed that there

[01:32] was far more story to tell and

[01:34] challenges to conquer by unveiling their

[01:37] second expansion, The Wrath of the Lich

[01:39] King. Following the events of the

[01:41] Burning Crusade, a darker threat loomed.

[01:43] Arthus Manithal, once a prince, now a

[01:46] deathless tyrant, stirring in the frozen

[01:48] wastess of North End. His scourge army

[01:51] swelled, unleashing plagues and undead

[01:54] horrors across Azeroth. From the howling

[01:56] fjords to the icy peaks of Ice Crown,

[01:59] North Rend beckoned, a harsh and haunted

[02:02] continent of Viking inspired tribes,

[02:05] ancient Titan relics, and the looming

[02:07] shadow of Ice Crown Citadel. This was no

[02:10] mere skirmish. The Alliance and the

[02:13] Horde would unite, however uneasily, to

[02:15] face this world ending evil, with the

[02:18] floating city of Doran serving as their

[02:20] neutral bastion. And unlike the Burning

[02:22] Crusade, at this point, the player base

[02:25] had an idea of what to expect from an

[02:27] expansion. The Doomsayers were silenced,

[02:29] and there's now this set standard and

[02:32] expectation for what their $50 got them

[02:36] after soaring into the heavens in the

[02:37] Burning Crusade. There's just one

[02:39] question. Could The Wrath of the Lich

[02:41] King even match, let alone surpass the

[02:43] quality of the adventure into the

[02:45] Outland?

[02:49] [Music]

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[04:16] I'm very pleased to tell you that the

[04:18] dev team's been hard at work on the

[04:20] second expansion for World of Warcraft,

[04:22] Rical Expansion.

[04:29] On August 3rd, 2007 at Blizzcon, the

[04:33] announcement was made. The next

[04:34] expansion was The Wrath of the Lich

[04:36] King. Of course, at this point in time,

[04:39] Warcraft 3 and its expansion, the Frozen

[04:41] Throne, hit store shelves and quickly

[04:43] became one of the fastests selling PC

[04:45] games of all time, even breaking their

[04:47] own record set by Diablo II. In the

[04:50] events of the frozen throne, players

[04:52] learned of the story of Prince Arthus

[04:53] Menithol, where driven by a quest for

[04:56] vengeance takes up the cursed blade

[04:58] Frost, eventually leading him down the

[05:00] path to becoming the new Lich King, who

[05:03] is the ruler of all undead in Azeroth.

[05:06] After gathering his forces from the

[05:08] lands of Northrand, he begins invading

[05:10] the Eastern Kingdoms and Calumdor and

[05:13] spreading his influence across the land.

[05:15] and it's up to you, the player, to stop

[05:18] him at his home turf in Northrand

[05:20] itself, which was now conveniently

[05:22] mapped out by Azeroth's ctographers.

[05:25] Wrath would continue the trends started

[05:26] by the Burning Crusade, and it held what

[05:30] many now consider to be gold standards

[05:31] of an expansion, more levels of

[05:33] character progression, new spells,

[05:35] talents, updated class balance, as well

[05:38] as new zones, dungeons, and raids to

[05:41] conquer. Perhaps one of its biggest

[05:42] selling points, however, was the death

[05:45] knight. Funny enough, a remnant of

[05:47] vanilla World of Warcraft back from

[05:49] 2004. Well, sort of. There were actually

[05:52] three vanilla classes that didn't make

[05:54] it. The first being the demon hunter,

[05:56] but more importantly, the rune master,

[05:59] which was a casting class that used

[06:00] runes as a resource as opposed to mana,

[06:03] and also necromancers, who raised the

[06:06] dead and casted plagues. Eventually, the

[06:08] latter two classes would merge and

[06:11] become its own class called the Death

[06:13] Knight. Lorewise, they were created by

[06:15] the Orc Warlock Guldan during the Second

[06:18] War. Seeking to bolster the Horde's

[06:20] forces, he used the dark magic to bind

[06:23] the souls of fallen orc warriors into

[06:25] reanimated human corpses, which created

[06:28] powerful undead warriors loyal to the

[06:30] Horde. These early death knights, such

[06:33] as Terrant Giend, were necroantic

[06:36] entities wielding shadow magic, and they

[06:38] were quite distinct from later

[06:39] iterations. In Wrath, however, they were

[06:42] reimagined as a playable class tied to

[06:45] the Lich King's rise. After the events

[06:47] of Warcraft 3, the Lich King, which was

[06:50] Nerzul, and later Arthus, refined the

[06:52] process, raising powerful heroes and

[06:54] champions who died in his service or

[06:57] were forcibly converted. They were then

[06:59] imbued with necroantic powers, wielding

[07:02] rune blades and commanding the powers of

[07:04] unholy, frost, and blood magic. They

[07:07] were then bound to the Lich King's will,

[07:10] and they served as elite enforcers of

[07:12] the scourge. As for the expansion

[07:14] itself, it introduced death knights as

[07:18] former heroes of the Alliance or Horde

[07:20] that were freed from the Lich King's

[07:22] control after the events at Light Hope

[07:24] Chapel, where the Argent Dawn weakened

[07:26] his grip.

[07:29] That day is not today.

[07:31] Ferion

[07:36] [Applause]

[07:46] led by Darien Mgrain. These death

[07:48] knights formed the Knights of the Eban

[07:50] Blade, which sought redemption and

[07:53] vengeance. Players started as death

[07:55] knights in a unique starting zone called

[07:58] Atrisis the eb and hold and experienced

[08:00] their break from the Lich King and

[08:02] joined either faction to fight against

[08:04] him in Northrand. They had the then

[08:07] wholly unique property of starting at a

[08:09] high level 55 which at the time was just

[08:13] 25 away from the new cap 80. Because of

[08:16] this, there may have been plans at some

[08:18] point that in order to create one, a

[08:21] player would actually have to sacrifice

[08:23] another character with a minimum level

[08:25] of 55, but this was either a rumor or it

[08:29] just ended up being scrapped, and the

[08:31] only restriction ended up being that you

[08:33] could only make one per server.

[08:35] Regardless, this would end up being one

[08:37] of the expansion's major selling points,

[08:39] as it was the first new class that

[08:41] players saw in 4 years, and many

[08:44] questions circulated around them, such

[08:46] as what races can play them, what roles

[08:48] do they fit, and just how powerful would

[08:51] they be? Another big feature was the

[08:53] achievement system, which would be a

[08:56] completionist's dream. Of course, just

[08:58] with any MMO, there are many things to

[09:00] do. There are dungeons to run, raids to

[09:03] complete, professions to level, gold to

[09:05] earn, players to kill. But with all of

[09:08] them, what you would have to show for it

[09:10] usually were just some memories and some

[09:13] loot. In Wrath, however, this changed as

[09:16] it was when Blizzard added this new form

[09:18] of character progression where the game

[09:19] would now track and publicly record what

[09:22] were called achievements. They varied

[09:25] quite wildly in every stretch of the

[09:27] game, such as dungeons, raids, PvP,

[09:30] economy, reputations,

[09:32] pretty much everything, even silly

[09:34] random side activities that no one would

[09:37] do aside for the sake of the achievement

[09:39] itself. As a reward for each

[09:41] achievement, the player would receive a

[09:43] certain amount of points, and in some

[09:45] cases even rare cosmetic rewards such as

[09:47] pets, mounts, and even titles. Some

[09:50] people find it surprising today that

[09:52] siege vehicles were a highly touted

[09:55] feature. Siege weapons

[10:02] and buildings that can be destroyed with

[10:03] those siege weapons.

[10:07] These would be vehicles that players

[10:08] would control to wreak havoc, giving

[10:11] them powerful abilities. and they

[10:13] primarily appeared in various quests

[10:15] throughout North Rend, but also in some

[10:17] more pivotal activities such as the

[10:20] second raid tier, Old War and also the

[10:22] new PvP zone, Winter Grasp. As useful as

[10:26] flying was in the Burning Crusade, one

[10:28] of its undeniable downsides was that it

[10:30] hurt world PvP, they tried to dampen

[10:33] this by adding some side PvP objectives

[10:35] in many of the zones. Hala and Arand

[10:38] probably being the most major that

[10:40] people remember. But when players can

[10:43] simply zoom away at a 300% speed flying

[10:46] mount, it's much harder to get a natural

[10:48] and organic war started like the classic

[10:51] Tanel versus Southshore battles from

[10:53] vanilla WoW. So Winter Grasp was an

[10:56] attempt to rectify this. It was

[10:58] essentially this whole dedicated zone

[11:00] where everyone is flagged for PvP.

[11:03] Flying is disabled and throughout the

[11:06] day, the battlefield would become active

[11:08] and the two sides would fight for

[11:09] control of the winter grass keep which

[11:12] gave access to vendors, items, and even

[11:15] an entire raid. The winner of the battle

[11:17] would be the defender on the next stage

[11:19] and the loser the attacker. and they

[11:22] would have to use siege vehicles to

[11:23] attack and defend the keep within a

[11:25] certain amount of time in this attempt

[11:27] to reinvigorate world PVP back into the

[11:30] game. These siege vehicles would also

[11:32] see use in two completely new

[11:34] battlegrounds, the Strand of the

[11:36] Ancients and the Aisle of Conquest,

[11:39] where with the former, similarly, the

[11:41] two factions would take turns attacking

[11:42] and defending a keep through their use

[11:44] of catapults and turrets and good

[11:46] oldfashioned ground combat. whichever

[11:49] 15-man side that captured it in the

[11:51] fastest amount of time was the winner.

[11:54] And as for the aisle, this was a larger

[11:56] 40 vers40 battleground that similarly

[11:58] had a focus on siege vehicles and

[12:00] breaking through gates to Russia keep.

[12:03] Although in this one, both teams would

[12:04] be both attacking and defending at the

[12:06] same time. Just as how the Burning

[12:09] Crusade released the new jewel crafting

[12:11] profession, Wrath had inscription which

[12:14] could make stat boosting scrolls,

[12:17] vellums for enchanters to turn into

[12:19] consumable enchants, and most

[12:22] importantly, they could also make

[12:23] glyphs, which were another new feature.

[12:25] This was something that was akin to the

[12:28] talent tree system where players could

[12:30] add another layer of customization by

[12:32] placing both minor and major glyphs on

[12:35] their character that altered their

[12:36] abilities in various ways. For example,

[12:39] hunters could get one that reduced the

[12:41] cooldown of their aimed shot or

[12:44] increased the duration of their serpent

[12:46] sting as major glyphs or mend pet

[12:48] increases pet happiness as a minor

[12:51] quality of life glyph in this attempt to

[12:53] add more agency in build customization.

[12:56] And last, but certainly not least, raids

[13:00] actually underwent a significant

[13:02] evolution with the introduction of

[13:04] another raid size 10men. Initially,

[13:08] World of Warcraft, of course, launched

[13:10] with the quite ambitious 40man size,

[13:13] which certainly delivered an epic

[13:14] experience as players teamed up with 39

[13:17] others worldwide to tackle colossal

[13:19] bosses. But, as you would know if you

[13:22] saw the Burning Crusade episode, this

[13:24] size posed challenges, including, but

[13:26] not limited to complex raid compositions

[13:29] and design constraints. Creating

[13:32] environments large enough for 40 players

[13:35] and a boss proved quite difficult and

[13:37] sometimes even leading to entire raid

[13:40] cancellations. Consequently, The Burning

[13:42] Crusade reduced the standard raid size

[13:44] to 25. This 15 player reduction was

[13:48] wellreceived for its convenience, which

[13:51] prompted Blizzard to offer an even

[13:53] smaller 10-man option in Wrath. This

[13:55] flexibility was certainly welcomed, but

[13:58] there was one string attached, and

[14:00] that's the fact that they yielded scaled

[14:02] down loot as Blizzard aimed to keep

[14:04] 25man raids as the primary focus of the

[14:07] raiding scene. So, there was still some

[14:10] reluctance clearly in rewarding the best

[14:12] loot for such a downsized activity.

[14:16] [Music]

[14:27] And so the stage for another expansion

[14:30] was set. Most of this news came during

[14:32] the Burning Crusade, of course. So

[14:35] players not only had their hands full,

[14:37] but they also had a plethora of new and

[14:39] exciting content to look forward to.

[14:42] They blasted through the fallen black

[14:44] temple and battled in the dangerous

[14:46] halls leading to the Sunwell with very

[14:49] few actually finishing the expansion

[14:51] before the date arrived.

[14:55] [Music]

[15:02] November 13th, 2008, the release of

[15:05] World of Warcraft second expansion, The

[15:08] Wrath of the Lich King. This was still

[15:10] the era of physical media, which I

[15:12] always like to mention. Today with

[15:14] digital downloads, it's as simple as

[15:16] sitting at your computer and clicking a

[15:19] button. But back then, if you wanted to

[15:21] be one of the first to explore the new

[15:23] zones, you had to wait in line at Best

[15:25] Buy or whatever retailer that you

[15:28] preferred and sit with a bunch of

[15:30] unbathed nerds in eager anticipation of

[15:33] this worldwide cultural phenomenon. It

[15:36] really hearkens back to the old days of

[15:37] Blizzard with this huge sense of

[15:40] community and really just this

[15:43] celebration of this combined love and

[15:45] addiction. So you'd pick up a copy, your

[15:48] social energy completely spent for the

[15:51] day, rush home and install it. But

[15:54] today, computers aren't even typically

[15:56] sold with disc drives anymore. Just

[15:59] another relic of a bygone era. And so

[16:02] the boats and zeppelins leading to

[16:04] Northrand officially launched and the

[16:06] player began their campaign into the

[16:09] Lich King's doorstep. Something unique

[16:11] with the expansion that was noticed

[16:13] immediately was that for the first time

[16:16] players could choose between two

[16:17] starting zones. Whereas the Burning

[16:19] Crusade followed this more linear style

[16:21] of progression with the Hellfire

[16:23] Peninsula and then Zanger Marsh Terraar

[16:26] and so on. Both of these starting zones,

[16:28] the Boran Tundra and the Hauling Fjord,

[16:31] led to their own follow-up zones, which

[16:34] had several advantages. The first being

[16:36] simply splitting the massive player base

[16:39] up. As exciting expansion launches are,

[16:42] an annoyance, especially back in the

[16:44] day, is that there's maximum competition

[16:46] for quest NPCs, and players often find

[16:50] themselves sitting around racing to take

[16:52] critical spawns in time. While this

[16:54] still definitely happened in Wrath, it

[16:57] was dampened a bit by the player base

[16:59] essentially being split in half between

[17:01] these two starter zones. It also had the

[17:03] advantage of adding replay-ability. By

[17:05] this time in the game's life, many

[17:07] people had alternate characters that

[17:09] they would play on the side. So where

[17:12] they first maybe went through the borian

[17:13] tundra on their alt they could do the

[17:15] hauling fjord instead which led into the

[17:18] grizzly hills offering a completely

[17:20] unique experience between its unique

[17:23] quests and dungeons. If you did manage

[17:26] to see the Burning Crusade episode, you

[17:28] may remember that I mentioned that Wrath

[17:30] is when they really started to focus on

[17:33] the story element of the MMO RPG genre.

[17:36] While I'd say that this started to ramp

[17:38] up in the Burning Crusade with its large

[17:41] focus on major lore characters like

[17:44] Illan Storm Rage and Keelth Sunstrider,

[17:46] this is really when they kicked it into

[17:48] maximum overdrive with its focus on the

[17:51] new Lich King, Arthus Menithol. He was

[17:53] made the primary focus from the

[17:55] beginning to the end. And he was

[17:58] referenced in quests. He made

[18:00] appearances at the end of major quest

[18:02] chains or dungeons. And although I won't

[18:05] go over his full story, I'll leave that

[18:07] to the professionals like Noble, I did

[18:09] want to briefly cover Arthus' arc

[18:11] because it is so important to the

[18:14] identity of the expansion. So this

[18:16] episode will have a little bit of extra

[18:18] lore here. So, Arthus Menithol, born the

[18:22] heir to the throne of Lordon, grew up in

[18:24] a golden age of peace under his father,

[18:27] King Tyrannis Menithol. Trained as a

[18:29] warrior and paladin of the Silverhand

[18:32] under the legendary Uther the

[18:34] Lightbringer, Arthus embodied courage

[18:36] and devotion with his heart set on

[18:39] protecting his people. His charm and

[18:41] resolve won the affection of Jana

[18:43] Proudmore, a gifted mage. And as a young

[18:46] man, Arthus carried the weight of his

[18:48] kingdom's future, and his life was

[18:50] steeped heavily in duty and promise. But

[18:53] as always, darkness loomed over Lord

[18:56] Ron. A mysterious plague began to

[18:58] spread, turning villagers into mindless

[19:00] undead, and Arthus, tasked with

[19:03] defending his homeland, discovered the

[19:05] plague's origin. It was orchestrated by

[19:07] the Scourge, the undead army controlled

[19:10] by the Lich King, who at the time was

[19:12] Nirzul. Investigating the outbreak,

[19:15] Arthus confronted the necromancer

[19:17] Kelazad, slaying him. But in the

[19:20] process, he learned of a dreadlord named

[19:22] Malganis, who was the one that

[19:24] orchestrated the scourge's advance. His

[19:27] pursuit of justice led him to the city

[19:29] of Stratholm, where the infected

[19:31] populace was on the verge of turning. In

[19:34] a fateful decision, Arthus ordered the

[19:36] city to be purged, slaughtering its

[19:38] citizens to halt the plague spread.

[19:40] What? How can you even consider that?

[19:44] There's got to be some other way. Jana

[19:46] and Uther, horrified by the act,

[19:48] abandoned him, leaving Arthus isolated

[19:51] and his moral compass beginning to

[19:53] falter. Driven by pure vengeance. Now

[19:56] Arthus chased Malganis to the frozen

[19:58] wastess of Northrand, and it was there

[20:00] he encountered the cursed blade

[20:02] Frostorn. Its icy whispers promising the

[20:05] power to defeat his enemy. Ignoring the

[20:08] warnings of its soulstealing curse,

[20:11] Arthus claimed the blade and its dark

[20:13] power consumed him. He ended up

[20:15] vanquishing Melanis, but at a terrible

[20:18] cost. Frostorn had bound his soul to the

[20:21] Lich King, and he returned to Lord Ron

[20:24] as a death knight, murdering his father

[20:26] and plunging his kingdom into chaos. He

[20:29] then resurrected Kelazad as a lich and

[20:33] he led the scourge in a rampage,

[20:35] destroying the elven kingdom of Qualas

[20:37] and corrupting the Sunwell they were

[20:39] protecting. As the Lich King's champion,

[20:42] he waged war against the living. But the

[20:45] Lich King's power waned when Illan Storm

[20:47] Rage attacked the Frozen Throne in

[20:49] Northend. Arthus then journeyed to

[20:51] defend his master, defeating Illan in a

[20:54] fierce duel outside of Ice Crown

[20:56] Citadel. And then at the frozen throne,

[20:58] he dawned the helm of domination, which

[21:01] merged him with the spirit of Nurzul,

[21:03] the original Lich King. Their

[21:05] consciousness now fused with Arthus'

[21:08] world dominating. He became the new Lich

[21:10] King, a tyrant enthroned in ice, and

[21:13] commanding the scourge from Ice Crown

[21:16] Citadel. Which brings us to the events

[21:18] of the wrath of the Lich King, where he

[21:20] finally unleashed the scourge upon

[21:22] Azeroth. He attacked cities directly,

[21:25] raised monstrous lieutenants like the

[21:27] dragon Synindraosa, and forged new death

[21:30] knights to serve his will. Yet, a

[21:32] flicker of his humanity remained,

[21:34] restraining the scourge's full

[21:36] devastation. Today, in the current

[21:39] expansions, the story is such a huge

[21:41] focus of the game. All of the plot lines

[21:44] are intertwined with some form of main

[21:46] quest. There exists external lore books

[21:49] as well as a plethora of in-game

[21:51] cutscenes. The first of which was

[21:53] encountered in none other than wrath

[21:55] with the wrath gate where Bolvar for

[21:58] dragon and some orc doucher who cares

[22:00] about his name have a brief encounter

[22:02] with the lich king himself. Bulvar take

[22:06] the light for the order for the

[22:08] alliance.

[22:12] [Music]

[22:13] [Applause]

[22:18] Back you mindless wretch.

[22:27] Fight on brothers.

[22:38] Rise up, sons of the horde. Blood and

[22:41] glory await us.

[22:46] [Music]

[22:48] Tar

[22:50] for the

[22:53] I was wondering if you'd show up. I

[22:56] couldn't let the Alliance have all the

[22:58] fun today.

[23:02] [Music]

[23:10] Arus,

[23:11] the blood of your father, of your

[23:15] people, demands justice.

[23:19] Come forth, coward, and answer for your

[23:23] crimes.

[23:38] You speak of justice, of cowardice.

[23:42] I will show you the justice of the grave

[23:46] and the true meaning of fear. Enough

[23:51] talk. Let it be finished.

[24:07] You will pay for all the lives you've

[24:10] stolen, traitor. Boldly stated, but

[24:15] there is nothing you can do.

[24:20] What

[24:23] did you think? We had forgotten.

[24:28] Did you think we had forgiven?

[24:32] Behold now the terrible vengeance of the

[24:36] forsaken.

[24:38] Sylvanas.

[24:41] Death to the scourge and death to the

[24:45] living.

[24:55] [Music]

[25:05] This

[25:07] isn't

[25:09] over.

[25:14] Now

[25:16] all can see. This is the hour of the

[25:22] forsaken.

[25:25] [Music]

[25:27] We're finished.

[25:29] No escape

[25:31] for any of us.

[25:44] [Music]

[25:51] [Music]

[26:08] [Music]

[26:12] This was a really historic moment. in

[26:14] its history and it marked this sort of

[26:16] evolution into the modern era. It wasn't

[26:19] a full-on cinematic like with the

[26:21] official trailers. It was more of the

[26:24] then very popular machinima style where

[26:26] it used in-game models and animations

[26:29] for the most part. At this point in

[26:31] 2008, YouTube had started to really gain

[26:34] a lot of popularity. And out of all of

[26:37] the World of Warcraft related content on

[26:39] the website, some of the most popular

[26:41] were called machinimas, which were

[26:43] fan-made animations and stories and

[26:46] adventures within the World of Azeroth.

[26:48] Illegal Danish will be ours. It's

[26:51] unmistakable that Blizzard drew much

[26:53] inspiration from them in the making of

[26:56] the Wrath Gate cutscene. This focus on

[26:58] the story would also be quite heavily

[27:01] influenced by the entire quest campaign

[27:04] as well as key dungeons such as for

[27:06] instance the calling of Stratholme where

[27:08] you witnessed firsthand that fateful day

[27:10] where Arthus made the decision to kill

[27:13] the entire civilian population and face

[27:15] off against Malganis. But as for the

[27:18] more flashy things like the features,

[27:20] starting with the death knight from the

[27:23] beginning, although they were

[27:24] technically labeled a hero class, the

[27:26] developers made it clear that they

[27:28] wouldn't be more powerful than the rest

[27:29] of the classes in the game. One of the

[27:31] goals with the death knight was epic but

[27:33] equal. So epic in how you obtain it,

[27:35] epic in how it feels, but not any more

[27:38] powerful than any other classes. Spoiler

[27:40] alert, they were incrediblying

[27:43] overpowered. Like seriously, it was

[27:46] ridiculous. Even to this day, people

[27:49] disregard an entire arena season because

[27:52] they were just so absolutely

[27:54] overpowered. They're essentially all

[27:56] three roles mixed into one. Tank, DPS,

[27:59] and healer if you count self-heals and

[28:02] all guarded by heavy plate armor. Their

[28:04] blood specialization focused primarily

[28:07] on survivability and self-healing. Their

[28:10] frost was more magic based, buffing

[28:12] frost related attacks, and undead was

[28:15] more necromancy, increasing the potency

[28:17] of plagues and diseases, as well as

[28:21] undead minions. All three were used for

[28:23] their own purposes, but no matter what,

[28:26] they were incredibly powerful in both

[28:28] PvE and PvP. As for their actual

[28:31] gameplay, they were kind of a hybrid of

[28:33] the warriors rage and the rogu's energy

[28:36] systems mixed into one with runes and

[28:39] runic power. Some abilities cost runes

[28:42] which regenerated over time much like

[28:44] energy and generated runic power much

[28:47] like the warrior's rage and others

[28:49] typically more powerful abilities

[28:51] consumed that runic power once again

[28:54] much like the warrior. And although all

[28:56] three specializations were unique from

[28:58] each other, they were all designed for

[28:59] both tanking and DPS with a surprising

[29:03] amount of self-healing. So despite

[29:05] whatever the developers claimed, they

[29:07] were the god class and they were heavily

[29:10] overpop populated as a result. Some

[29:12] people even speculated that it was done

[29:15] intentionally in order to sell more

[29:17] expansions. As mentioned, another huge

[29:20] feature were the changes tied to the

[29:22] raids as they mark a really huge change

[29:25] in the endgame design of the game. I

[29:27] mentioned this in the Burning Crusade

[29:29] episode, but in regards to its raid

[29:31] difficulty, if you couldn't clear it,

[29:34] you simply couldn't clear it. And the

[29:36] only two options were to either play

[29:38] better or wait for a nerf. At that

[29:40] point, there was no easy difficulty mode

[29:43] to retreat to to see the content in its

[29:46] entirety. But this all changed with the

[29:49] Wrath of the Lich King expansion. At

[29:51] first, with the new 10-man mode, they

[29:53] weren't just easier logistically in

[29:56] gathering players. They were just plain

[29:58] easier, which is reflected in the lower

[30:00] quality loot. And even then, compared to

[30:03] the extreme difficulty of the Burning

[30:05] Crusade raiding scene, 25man mode was

[30:08] also made to be more accessible. The

[30:10] expansion actually started off with a

[30:12] re-release, Nex Ramis, which was the

[30:15] final raid tier 4 vanilla World of

[30:17] Warcraft. The reasoning for this was

[30:19] that since so few players ended up

[30:21] seeing it in vanilla, it was pretty much

[30:23] a new raid for 99% of the player base.

[30:26] The only difference being bosses were of

[30:28] course upscaled to level 80, and some

[30:30] mechanics changed and were added here

[30:33] and there. The raid itself was mostly

[30:35] the same as its original release, except

[30:38] for one thing. its difficulty, which was

[30:41] far easier. It was clear between the

[30:44] difficulty level and logistics. Blizzard

[30:47] wanted rating to be more accessible, but

[30:49] at the same time, they also didn't want

[30:51] to forget the more hardcore players. And

[30:54] they sought to rectify this by adding

[30:56] the first version of hard modes to the

[30:58] game with the second raid tier, Aldoir,

[31:00] where many of the fights had these

[31:02] optional challenges to complete that

[31:04] intensified both their difficulty and

[31:07] the quality of loot. again trying to

[31:09] serve both hardcore and casual players

[31:12] and providing a viable option for both.

[31:15] Although this was quite wellreceived,

[31:17] they would eventually settle on what

[31:19] would become standard for the game for

[31:21] the next decade, and that's heroic mode

[31:23] with their next raid tier, the trial of

[31:25] the crusader, where for both sizes,

[31:28] players could set the difficulty to the

[31:30] much more intense heroic mode, where

[31:33] bosses have more health, they deal more

[31:35] damage, and sometimes even have added

[31:38] mechanics to deal with. The challenge

[31:39] was back full force back to the Burning

[31:42] Crusade levels, I would say, but it was

[31:44] now a toggled option instead of the only

[31:47] option. They would, of course,

[31:48] eventually take this even further with

[31:51] the LFR mode later introduced in the

[31:53] next expansion, the Cataclysm. But it

[31:56] was indeed Wrath is where they started

[31:58] pursuing this philosophy of making

[32:00] raiding much more accessible for the

[32:02] more casual players. As for the

[32:04] dungeons, they were as well-designed as

[32:06] ever. From the Viking halls of the

[32:08] Otgard Pinnacle to the Lost Titan vaults

[32:11] of the Halls of Stone or the

[32:13] timetraveling culling of Stratholme,

[32:15] there was as much variety as ever. As

[32:17] for their actual difficulty, similar to

[32:19] raiding, they were more accessible in a

[32:22] few different ways. Heroics in general

[32:23] were much easier compared to their

[32:25] Burning Crusade counterparts, and they

[32:28] no longer required reputation farming to

[32:30] even enter them, although the

[32:31] reputations tied to them were still

[32:33] crucial for the various enchants.

[32:36] Speaking of this, reputation hubs, which

[32:38] were just introduced in the previous

[32:40] expansion, were being expanded upon at

[32:42] this point. Many of the factions had

[32:44] these hubs where players would return to

[32:47] daily to farm reputation. And as you may

[32:50] know, if you watched other episodes,

[32:52] these daily activities would eventually

[32:54] take over the game in many ways. But in

[32:57] Wrath, most would say that they were

[32:59] still quite tame. But the dungeons

[33:01] themselves are also quite important to

[33:03] talk about because they are tied to

[33:05] another major design shift with the

[33:08] introduction of the dungeon finder which

[33:10] was added post-release in patch 3.3.

[33:13] Discounting battlegrounds. This was the

[33:15] first cued instance finder for the game

[33:18] where with a click of a button you would

[33:20] be paired up with other players for any

[33:22] Northrand dungeon of your choosing. In

[33:24] its initial release, you are locked to

[33:26] players on your server and your server

[33:28] only. But they would eventually make it

[33:31] cross server. And as wellreceived as it

[33:34] was at the time, it would later become

[33:35] quite controversial and named as one of

[33:38] the main reasons why the game eventually

[33:40] lost its social atmosphere. By skipping

[33:43] the group forming process and talking to

[33:45] people, traveling to the dungeon,

[33:48] helping each other find the actual

[33:49] location. a lot of the interaction was

[33:51] removed and the experience became less

[33:54] social because eventually you were just

[33:57] teleported immediately to the dungeon

[33:59] with people on another server that

[34:02] you'll probably never interact with

[34:04] again. So there was very little reason

[34:07] to engage with each other. All of this

[34:09] kind of dampened the social experience

[34:12] and that's something that many today

[34:14] claim to be one of its most appealing

[34:16] traits being an MMO RPG. Additionally,

[34:19] another major design shift were

[34:21] achievements. And these two were very

[34:24] wellreceived at the time. It gave people

[34:26] goals, things to chase, and it was a

[34:29] very time-consuming form of character

[34:31] progression aimed towards

[34:33] completionists. The tasks were extremely

[34:36] varied. Some were trivial, some were

[34:39] very challenging, and even today they're

[34:42] respected as a form of vetery and

[34:44] commitment as they were later removed as

[34:46] the new expansions came out. But what it

[34:49] also did was it made the game more goal

[34:52] oriented and it fostered a culture where

[34:55] players increasingly sought tangible

[34:58] rewards for every action which in a way

[35:01] unintentionally diminished the intrinsic

[35:04] joy of just playing it for its own sake.

[35:06] Activities like exploring the world,

[35:09] role- playinging, or engaging in

[35:12] spontaneous group content became less

[35:14] common as players now started to focus

[35:16] on optimizing their time to unlock

[35:18] achievements. This pursuit of points and

[35:21] rewards creates a checklist mentality

[35:24] where actions without an associated

[35:27] achievement or reward felt less

[35:29] worthwhile. And none of this is really

[35:32] to say that this is an objective

[35:34] negative. Many in fact prefer this

[35:36] philosophy. What it was undeniably is

[35:38] that it was a major shift in its design

[35:41] philosophy and it made the game feel

[35:43] less wholesome for some as the sense of

[35:45] wonder and communitydriven experiences

[35:48] gave way to a more transactional and

[35:50] goal-driven mindset. prioritizing

[35:53] efficiency and rewards over immersion

[35:56] and organic fun, which only did more to

[35:58] diminish the social structure, which

[36:01] combined with the dungeon finder had

[36:03] taken a sizable hit in this expansion.

[36:05] As for the classes, they were refined

[36:07] even further than their Burning Crusade

[36:09] versions. And there's now virtually no

[36:12] spec that was completely useless in

[36:14] every corner of the game. Whether it was

[36:16] PvE or PvP or maybe solo farming, they

[36:20] had their usefulness in some way and

[36:22] each spec began to feel more unique from

[36:24] each other and they really started to

[36:26] carve out their own identity. Toolkits

[36:28] and talent trees had really began to

[36:30] balloon at this point. So much so that

[36:33] Blizzard felt like they had to address

[36:35] it in the next expansion. But it's a

[36:37] popular opinion today that people

[36:39] consider the overall class balance and

[36:41] design to be in a pretty good spot for

[36:43] both PvE and PvP. And again, another

[36:46] huge change in this aspect was the

[36:49] addition of dual spec, where players

[36:50] could pay a thousand gold at any class

[36:52] trainer to unlock the ability to switch

[36:54] between two different specializations.

[36:57] This was an absolutely huge quality of

[37:00] life feature that had been requested for

[37:02] many years, ever since vanilla. Up until

[37:05] this point, if a player ever wanted to

[37:07] switch, they would have to return to

[37:09] town, pay a respec fee, and then

[37:11] manually reorganize their action bars.

[37:14] and in many cases gear accordingly which

[37:16] was both expensive and cumbersome. And

[37:19] while this does have its own benefits

[37:21] such as serving as a constant gold sink

[37:24] to keep the economy in check at this

[37:26] point many deemed it to be archaic and

[37:28] clunky. So this was received

[37:30] extraordinarily well especially now that

[37:32] the specs really started to stand out

[37:34] from one another and offer more unique

[37:37] experiences. It also had the advantage

[37:39] to promote experimentation and support

[37:42] cross-pollination as PvEers began to PvP

[37:45] more and PvPers would PvE more. Speaking

[37:49] of PvP, as for Winter Grasp, it did see

[37:52] mixed reactions. Many would praise the

[37:54] attempt to bring back world PvP and the

[37:57] new siege vehicle system was pretty

[37:59] exciting and fresh and the stakes were

[38:01] quite high even for PvPers as the winner

[38:04] would gain access to the Vault of

[38:05] Archavan raid which held highle loot for

[38:07] both PvE and PvP. It did have some

[38:10] issues since the stakes were so high.

[38:12] There had to be some enforcement of

[38:14] balance so that one side wouldn't just

[38:16] heavily outnumber the other, meaning

[38:18] that in order to even enter the zone

[38:20] while a battle was active, you would

[38:22] have to enter a queue. So, this combined

[38:24] with the fact that it was also objective

[38:27] based. To many, it felt like world PvP

[38:30] in name only as it lacked that complete

[38:33] unadulterated freedom that was core to

[38:35] the activity. Essentially, it was a

[38:38] battleground out in the world. Also,

[38:40] even with forced balancing, some servers

[38:43] were still so imbalanced that it was

[38:45] virtually impossible for one faction to

[38:47] win, which meant that they would be

[38:49] locked out of raid content, which

[38:51] definitely didn't sit well, especially

[38:53] considering that this was also the era

[38:55] of the cash shop where you could buy a

[38:57] number of services, including a paid

[38:59] faction change. Funny enough, although

[39:02] the game was at the height of its

[39:04] popularity, it did come with some

[39:05] troubling news, as this was when

[39:07] Activision had acquired Blizzard's

[39:10] parent company, Vivventi. Activision at

[39:12] this point had already gained a

[39:14] reputation of acquiring and subsequently

[39:17] shutting down game studios, and the ones

[39:20] that weren't shut down had intrusive

[39:22] cash shop elements forced into them to

[39:24] increase their profitability at the

[39:26] expense of gameplay. So when they

[39:28] started to sink their claws into one of

[39:30] the most beloved developers in the

[39:32] industry at the time, many thought that

[39:34] it was only a matter of time before it

[39:36] would see a similar fate. Appropriately,

[39:39] the expansion ended with a final

[39:41] encounter with the Lich King at top the

[39:44] Ice Crown Citadel in one of Blizzard's

[39:46] most complex and impressive fights to

[39:49] date. Tyrion and the adventurers ended

[39:51] up victorious with Arthus having a

[39:53] moment of clarity in his final moments.

[39:56] and one of the most iconic cutscenes in

[39:58] the game's history.

[40:00] [Music]

[40:11] Father,

[40:13] is it over?

[40:17] At long last,

[40:20] no king rules forever, my son.

[40:24] I see

[40:26] only darkness

[40:29] before me.

[40:38] [Music]

[40:48] Without its master's command, the

[40:51] restless scourge will become an even

[40:53] greater threat to this world.

[40:57] Control must be maintained.

[41:01] There must always be

[41:04] unleash kings.

[41:10] [Music]

[41:25] [Music]

[41:32] The weight of such a burden.

[41:36] It must be mine. For there is no other

[41:39] Tyrion.

[41:41] You hold the crim destiny in your hands,

[41:44] brother, but it is not your own. Bulva,

[41:49] [Music]

[41:51] by all that is holy. The dragon's flame.

[41:56] Seal my fate.

[41:58] The world of the living can no longer

[42:01] comfort me.

[42:07] Place the crown upon my head, Tyrion.

[42:10] Forever more, I will be the jailer of

[42:14] the damned. No, old friend. I cannot do

[42:18] it, Tyrion.

[42:20] You and these brave heroes have your own

[42:22] destinies to fulfill.

[42:24] This last act of service

[42:28] is mine.

[42:30] [Music]

[42:41] You will not be forgotten, brother. I

[42:43] must be forgotten, Tyrion. If the world

[42:46] is to live free from the tyranny of

[42:48] fear, they must never know what was done

[42:51] here today.

[42:53] [Music]

[43:14] Tell me that the Lich King is dead and

[43:18] our dragon died with him.

[43:25] Now go, leave this place and never

[43:30] return.

[43:34] And so a new Lich King is born. The

[43:37] threat halted for now as the adventurers

[43:39] turn to a new threat looming back home

[43:41] in the Eastern Kingdoms and Calumdor. In

[43:44] the end, Wrath was a great expansion,

[43:46] and for many, its shortcomings were

[43:49] vastly overshadowed by its many

[43:51] strengths, and this is reflected by its

[43:53] subscription numbers. is where the game

[43:55] hit its peak player count at 12 million.

[43:58] There's a reason why it's so often

[44:00] regarded as one of the most beloved

[44:02] expansions in the game's history, and

[44:04] it's largely due to its compelling

[44:06] narrative, refined gameplay, and it's

[44:09] broad appeal to both casual and hardcore

[44:12] players. The story of Arthus Menithol,

[44:15] whose tragic arc from the fallen prince

[44:17] to a malevolent overlord, resonated

[44:20] deeply with fans of the Warcraft lore.

[44:22] The Northrand continent with its

[44:24] hauntingly beautiful zones provided a

[44:27] visually stunning and immersive backdrop

[44:29] that enhanced that storytelling and it

[44:32] was all supported by a soundtrack that

[44:33] was appropriate and memorable. The

[44:36] rating experience, its flexible

[44:38] difficulty and size and memorable

[44:40] environments like Nixramisoir

[44:43] and Ice Crown Citadel go down today as

[44:46] particularly well done. Old War

[44:47] especially is often cited as the

[44:50] pinnacle of raid design due to its

[44:52] creative mechanics and immersive lore.

[44:54] The introduction of death knights,

[44:56] despite being completely overpowered,

[44:58] added a fresh and edgy play style, and

[45:01] it appealed to players eager for

[45:02] something new. And lastly, its

[45:04] additional features like the achievement

[45:06] system kept players engaged outside of

[45:08] raids, while its quality of life

[45:10] improvements such as dual spec or the

[45:13] dungeon finder made it more accessible

[45:15] as a whole. From its launch to its

[45:18] conclusion, Wrath was a story of finding

[45:20] the right balance between accessibility

[45:22] and challenge and appealing to a wide

[45:25] audience during its peak popularity. And

[45:27] it's quite easy to recognize why many

[45:30] thought that World of Warcraft's second

[45:31] expansion, The Wrath of the Lich King,

[45:34] was great.

[45:36] [Music]

[45:44] Farewell for now, mortalists. We hope

[45:47] you enjoyed today's video. See you again

[45:50] soon.