Wrath Of The Lich King Q&A
CVG's got an interview up with World of Warcraft lead designer Jeff Kaplan, who dished some dirt on the forthcoming second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Among other things, Kaplan explained the more creative presentation of the new content in-game, as well as lessons learned from The Burning Crusade:
We absolutely need to make the entry to Northrend epic. I mean, we originally had the entry to Burning Crusade's Dark Portal as a bunch of cohorts walking around, and people reacted badly. This really hammered home the fact that we needed to raise expectations on entering the expansions.
With the four points of entry (two for each side) we've gone out of our way to make them cool. With the Alliance you go to the Howling Fjord - you come down through the big Fjord walls, and there's big battle going on around you. For the Horde, in Howling Fjord, you enter an area with brand new Forsaken architecture.
Kaplan also delves into what the expansion will deliver, and for whom:
These medium-level players are not really hungry for the new features that Wrath of the Lich King brings. It's really about satisfying the players who have reached max level, whether they solo or whether they PvP, whether they raid or role-play.
And even gives us a taste of the kind of epic-NPC experience we can expect to enjoy:
We're giving all players going into the expansion interaction with Arthas. We were too protective of Illidan [the arch villain in The Burning Crusade] making sure we didn't waste the opportunity, so now you're interacting with him straight away.You're talking to him, having these moments with him, so you don't have to be a raider to see him.
Read the whole thing!
tiny dancer
Posted to Video Games on 8 January 2008
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: blizzard, jeff kaplan, world of warcraft, wow, wrath of the lich king
"...four points of entry..." eh? Sounds hot.
I realize that I'm picking at some awfully fine nits here, but isn't a lich by definition a king that's brought himself back to life? So isn't the title awfully redundant?
This is gonna keep me up all night.
@Freezair:
No. A lich is any person that has (usually) voluntarily transformed themselves into an undead in order to gain immortality (with the weakness of a philactery that if destroyed, means no more rebirth for them) and other powers.
It does usually take a very powerful person to do so, but it can be just an archmage or the like. It's not required to be a king. Also, it doesn't mean that they're a king after they become a lich either.
Wikipedia answers all: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lich
So, in the end, not so redundant. (Lots of D&D has taught me quite a bit about liches, one of my characters even became one.)
*cough* no equating all fantasy with lotr please *cough*