Blizzard confirms Wrath of the Lich King in World of Warcraft Classic. An expected announcement.
It was sewn with white thread. After the release of World of Warcraft Classic in 2019, followed by the first extension Burning Crusade in 2021, Blizzard will bring Wrath of the Lich King to WoW Classic. The American studio made the announcement on April 19, 2022, alongside the main announcement dedicated to the new Dragonflight expansion for World of Warcraft.
On this occasion, a new cinematic, evoking that of Wrath of the Lich King which caused a sensation at the time, was unveiled.
We thus distinguish the legendary sword Frostmourne, the weapon that Arthas handles in Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK), with the narration a succession of voiceovers from the different key moments of the extension. All accompanied by the much appreciated music full of melancholy that Blizzard had composed to announce WotLK in 2008.
Wrath of the Lich King: The Golden Age of WoW
The Wrath of the Lich King expansion is considered one of the best in WoW, if not the best. It’s spawned some of the best raids in gaming — Ulduar, Icecrown Citadel — some of the universe’s most charismatic and important characters (including, of course, Arthas), and introduced the high deeds.
Above all, WotLK certainly constituted the golden age of World of Warcraft. It was during this time that the massively multiplayer role-playing game was at its peak, with subscription numbers exceeding 10 million per month, and up to an all-time high of 12 million by the time the expansion ended. WoW has never found such an audience since.
WoW Classic also aims to allow those who have experienced this era to relive it – the business of nostalgia still works. Classic is indeed a service offered by Blizzard: relive the in-game experience when WoW Vanilla arrived, then the two expansions that followed: Burning Crusade in 2017 and WotLK in 2008.
It is not sure that Blizzard will continue the experience of Classic beyond, because the basics of the game have evolved considerably with the following expansion, Cataclysm. This is sometimes seen as a turning point, with the classical era before and the modern era afterwards. The release of Cataclysm was the occasion for an update of the structure of the game and old areas disappeared or were redesigned.
WotLK Classic will be an opportunity for those who want to relive the journey in Northrend to rediscover (or to discover, for the youngest) the class of death knights, the craft of calligraphy, achievements, the continent the further north of the world, raids and dungeons of the time. And to reconnect with the narrative of the game after Warcraft III.
