Players have made good arguments for other expansions that have more impact on WoW’s development and history, most notably Burning Crusade. But Wrath of the Lich King has always been the most beloved WoW expansion, and it all has to do with the era, that little window between late 2008 and the release of Cataclysm in late 2010, when it felt like everyone you knew was it. playing WoW and MMOs couldn’t get any better than this. For some, they never did.
It didn’t feel like it at the time, but Wrath of the Lich King was a grand final act for the World of Warcraft that Blizzard was planning to make. Many players will tell you it was the last time WoW “felt” the way WoW should, especially when it comes to the social side, while others will point to the excellent Death Knight class and arguably the best storyline WoW ever had. has had.
Wrath of the Lich King has now returned as part of WoW Classic, a game that is an ongoing and fascinating exercise to recapture different eras. WotLK is a barrel of mixed memories, different things for different players, and the way WoW Classic has timed its expansions evokes a bizarre nostalgia for the time once spent waiting.
We all know what WotLK is now, but if you’re interested in WoW, chances are you remember the sweltering anticipation for it leading up to its release, helped immeasurably by the decision to make some improvements to the expansion. sow (and the Death Knight) in vanilla WoW in the month before the full release. There were certain key pieces of art that you would see again and again, and you started to notice that the office Azeroth junkies – the ones who said they were clean – started shivering in anticipation of the sweet release that they definitely wouldn’t indulge in.
Wrath of the Lich King was a definitive end to one journey, an adventure many players had experienced since Warcraft 3. In that game and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, the player had to control Arthas on his arc of hero of light until finally the undead Lich King, and that’s where it ended. No subsequent WoW expansion would have such a core character to this world at its heart, nor include them so prominently.
The expansion not only positions this character as the main antagonist, but is also at the center of the main story. Arthas not only appears at the end of WotLK as a big old boss, though he does, of course, but is a constant presence on your character’s quest.
living history
When players talk about this story as one of, if not the most memorable of Warcraft arcs, it’s not just Arthas, but the fact that players have lived part of his story and are now the key figures to take him down – this had impact, it felt like players were saving Azeroth for once, and it felt like you were in the middle of it instead of an all-powerful NPC. Later expansions felt to me like players were being relegated to support roles while Warcraft greats played predetermined roles, but here the stakes were high and it was all up to your little band to deliver.
Northrend was also a joy to revisit, with Blizzard at the top of its game in how it reimagined the environment while retaining familiar elements, managing to deliver something that felt both fresh and undeniably nostalgic. One particular masterstroke was how Northrend in WoW is shaped by the events of Warcraft 3, and a constant stream of in-game Easter eggs about what came before it. It’s funny to think about revisiting an expansion that got much of its impact from being a repeat in the first place.
Exploring Northrend with a crew was a joy, from awe-inspiring sights like Coldarra and Zul-Drak to complete curveballs like finding a tropical jungle (Sholazar Basin) in the middle of the Arctic. The PvE side of WotLK was built for strumming and searching in long, lazy sessions, and the quality of life changes it brought to the game were all about simplifying this process with things like a scavenger hunt tracker. This process would eventually lead to the Dungeon Finder Tool arriving midway through WotLK’s lifecycle, an infamous moment in WoW and one of the big questions for Classic – which currently has no plans to implement it.
The Dungeon Finder Tool is loved and loathed in equal measure. This is because, when people reminisce about the WotLK experience, it’s not so much that the expansion was the best thing since sliced bread (although it was), but that overall WoW felt like it was a good place with abundant content. had achieved exciting new mechanics (such as being able to finally dual spec characters), and commonality.
Image 1 from 5
Going to the pub to try and find a Tauren in the mood for a bang was once a much bigger affair, and it’s easy to see why some miss it.
That last point is where the disagreement about the Dungeon Finder Tool comes from. There was a time in WoW where, if your group was a night short and you needed some extra fuel, you would go to the local tavern or somewhere in town and start chatting with other players. This in itself was a nice distraction when your little gang spread out and started harassing people, and it was always great when you’re the one who manages to get some tough guys on board. The Dungeon Finder Tool is incredibly useful – it automatically searches for and groups you with suitable random players – and more or less killed interactions like this one.
I don’t have strong feelings about it, especially since when I play WoW it’s usually with the same small group, and I appreciate the usefulness of the Dungeon Finder Tool. But there’s this interesting question of what players get from convenience versus what they get from a little friction. Having a decent crew in WoW, not to mention high-level Raids, was once part of the standard experience. Going to the pub to try and find a Tauren in the mood for a bang was once a much bigger affair, and it’s easy to see why some miss it.
Wrath of the Lich King’s early period was this mythical golden age, the time when memories cast Azeroth in a warmer, kinder hue. I’ve always been more of a PvE WoW player and while PvPers will tell you that WotLK was great for that side of the game too, it’s that sequence of stone cold classic areas, like the reworked Naxxramas and the Icecrown Glacier with the menacing Citadel, that still burns brightly in memory.
Returning to WotLK will never be the same. Mistakes were ironed out afterwards: Death Knights were notoriously OP for the longest time after launch, while the developers say the high-end Raids have been reworked in some way. We also know what to expect, and you will never experience the thrill of seeing a flying mountain again.
But then WotLK never stood alone. It’s so fondly remembered because it felt like WoW at the pinnacle of the game, delivering more and better to an audience that eagerly devoured it. World of Warcraft was the biggest MMO because it outperformed the competition in most things, and this was WoW blazing with all its weapons – executing an epic storyline with panache and brilliance.
0 Comments