A Smooth Launch, and an Exciting Expansion for World of Warcraft
By Candace Holly
Today, World of Warcraft launched their new expansion; Wrath of the Lich King. The expansion features a new hero class for players to experience. It also features new zones, instances, leveling areas, professions and the level cap has been raised to level 80. Blizzard has learned a lot from the launch of World of Warcraft, and from the shaky launch of The Burning Crusade. Wrath of the Lich King is by far the smoothest I have seen in some time.
The Burning Crusade brought us plenty of downtime, server lag, and server restarts. Not to mention the starting zone for all level 60’s was located in one place; Hellfire Peninsula. Wrath of the Lich King changed all of that. Two starting areas are available for the players - the Borean Tundra and the Howling Fjord . Players concerned about server lag, and camped questing spots will breathe a sigh of relief. The new zones being split have allowed for more room, less lag, and less camped areas.
Another smart move with the launch of Wrath of the Lich King was Blizzard adding elements of the game a month in advance. Patch 3.0 gave us some new features to World of Warcraft. Stormwind Harbor was opened which linked all the major Alliance cities. The new zepplin towers near the Undercity also showed up, giving players promised passage to Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord. Barber shops, offering players new hairstyles and better character customization were also offered in the patch.
