Wrath of the Lich King FAQ

[Waldonnis]

I wanted to start putting together a generic FAQ for the guild about the expansion that can be reposted/moved to the Base Camp on release day. Feel free to reply with comments and things to add Happy Birthday! I'll be editing this main post as I work through the replies and come up with more stuff to add. Also, once I get the bulk of the info down, I'll be rewriting the phrasing to make it more "in character"...kinda like a post I did for TBC's release that was in the forum of an interview by a goblin correspondent

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King, many questions are certain to come up over and over...and over. To help everyone, those of us in beta decided to put together this Frequently Asked Questions list to help ease the transition and assist our Clan (and friends who stop by).

General Expansion Information:

At what level should I go to Northrend?

Northrend is designed for characters that are level 68 or above. While you could probably get away with being there prior to that (and may even be able to kill some of the things there), most of the starting quests will not be available to you.

How do I get to Northrend?

New zepellin towers have been erected outside of Undercity and Orgrimmar, each taking you to one of the two "introductory" zones in Northrend. The zepellin tower oustide of Undercity is next to the existing tower and will carry you to Howling Fjord. The tower outside of Orgrimmar is west of the entrance (as you exit Orgrimmar, go to your right) and will carry you to Borean Tundra. Note that the Orgrimmar tower is in the opposite direction and quite far away from the existing tower.

Two starter zones? Which do I pick? Do I have to do them both?

To ease the strain on everyone, Blizzard was kind enough to make two different starter zones in Northrend. Each has its own terrain, quest flavour, and even different types of enemies compared to the other. Neither is "better" than the other, so it doesn't matter which you decide to go to. Also, you are not required to do both at all if you choose not to. The level curve is designed around the completion of only one of them.

I noticed that there were instances in both Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord. Can I do both or does my choice of starter zones affect which I can do?

There are indeed two instances designed for 70-72 players. The Nexus, located in the Coldarra section of Borean Tundra, and Utgarde Keep in Howling Fjord. While quests involving those instances are confined to their respective zones, you are not restricted at all from running both if you choose.

Where do I go after I finish Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord?

Your final quests in each will lead you into Dragonblight. After that, just go where the quests take you

How about my professions? Are the trainers for those in both Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra?

Yes, each of the two zones has trainers for all of the professions that can teach the new "Grand Master" level skills and recipes, including secondary professions. Not all of the trainers may be located in the initial areas of Vengeance Landing and Warsong Hold, though, so you may have to poke around the zones' towns to find them.

What happened to my healing gear? My bonus healing number is lousy!

All healing gear was converted to "spell power", and the healing spells adjusted to provide the same (if not slightly better) healing amounts that you saw previously. What this means is that while your bonus healing number may be lower, your heals should be the same as they were. A nice side-effect to this is that your healing gear is likely better than most of the old "spell damage" gear that you may have kept around for solo times and questing.

Dalaran Information:

I've heard a lot about Dalaran. Isn't that supposed to be in the Alterac Mountains? What is it and how do I get there?

Dalaran is the home to the Kirin Tor, a group of powerful mages. It was previously located in the Alterac Mountains, protected by a magic dome, but the threat from the Lich King forced the Kirin Tor to relocate the city to Northrend (and set aside their isolationist ways) in order to help fight the Lich King's growing power. The city is now floating above Crystalsong Forest in Northrend. Access to Dalaran is restricted to players that have completed a quest line in Dragonblight, usually at level 74. Mages get a personal teleport spell at 71, but they do not get a portal spell for the city until level 74. Getting into Dalaran prior to completing the entry quest requires a mage portal or a warlock summon.

Are there trainers in Dalaran? Portals to the cities too? What exactly is in that floating city?

There are no class trainers in Dalaran except for mage trainers. Being an organisation of mages, it was natural that they would help instruct other mages, but they don't have any other class trainers in their ranks. There are, however, portals to all of the major cities (including Shattrath) located within the city. There are trainers for all professions though (as well as their respective specialties) located in Dalaran for easy access. One personal favour that I do ask is that players not pester level 74 mages for portals. There's no reason to rush to get to Dalaran and you will have access quickly enough anyway.

Death Knight Information:

How do death knights work? Do I have to start at level one again?

Any player that has a level 55+ character can create a death knight, but can only create one per realm. Death Knights begin their "lives" at level 55 and have a rather unique (and very fun) starting area. Unlike other classes, all death knights begin in the same starter area regardless of race selection.

Starting at level 55 sounds great, but why aren't I just started at 58 so I can go into Outlands? Do I have to deal with the Plaguelands and Silithus again?

Death knights may begin at 55, but by the time you complete the starting quest lines, a new death knight should be level 58 and ready for Outlands (complete with a really nice set of armour that's on par with tier 2-3).

So let me get this straight, I have to do Outlands again? That will take forever...

Actually, it shouldn't. The experience required to gain levels 60-70 has been reduced and should allow for much faster progression into Northrend for death knights. My personal observation was that most death knights hit level 68 and were ready for Northrend midway through Blade's Edge Mountains or even Nagrand questing.

Death knights are supposed to be able to tank, but I can't use shields? How does that work?

Death knights are designed to not require shields, and get some abilities and benefits to make up for not being able to use one. It may seem strange at first, but seeing (or being) a death knight tanking with a big two-handed weapon or dual-wielding will become more common before you know it.

I see that death knights have spells. Do they need spell power gear too?

While death knights do have spells and a portion of their damage comes from magical effects, spell power gear does nothing for a death knight. All death knight spell damage is tied to their attack power and strength.

[Holyssa]

Q: How much will it cost me to upgrade my professions above 375?

A: 35g to upgrade Primary Professions (Blacksmithing, Alchemy, etc.), and 100g to upgrade secondaries (First Aid, Cooking, Fishing).

Q: Where did all of my pets and mounts go?

A: Under the Character Tab is a new entry labeled "Pets", split into two subcategories: Companions (those little friends people show off for flair, like Mojo), and Mounts (these include mounts purchased from faction vendors, summoned rides, and flying creatures).

When you acquire a new pet or mount, you click it and "learn" how to call it as if it were a spell. You then enter one of the new tabs mentioned above, and drag the newly learned ability to your hotbar.

Q: Does Dalaran have an Auction House?

A: Nope, for similar reasons as to why Shattrath lacks one: Blizzard still intents on having players return to the old lands so they still have some degree of life left in them, and to promote trade within the original cities. On the other hand, Dalaran does include banks, guild storage, trainers, Arena/PvP Battlemasters, and portals to every faction city (including Shattrath).

Q: Are Alliance and Horde able to level side-by-side in the Death Knight starting areas?

A: Nope. As odd as it may look, the two factions are kept in separate "instances", most likely to prevent the factions from duking it out. You won't actually encounter someone from the opposite side of the faction fence until you finish the starting area's chains, and enter Eastern Plaguelands.

Q: Can I still do BC quests for gold & experience?

A: Yes, but because you will no longer be at the level cap upon WotLK's launch, the rewards pale in comparison to doing quests in the new land. Go to Northrend, do stuff, and you'll see a fairly considerable jump (some quests on average giving about 6g & 20,000XP per step!).

Q: How do Crushing Blows work in the expansion?

A: You can now only become Crushed by a monster four levels above your own. Raid bosses (displayed as L??) are still considered three levels above your own.

Q: How do I use my flying mount in Northrend?

A: At L77, a quest was previously available to players which would "unlock" the ability. Currently there is a trainer in Dalaran offering to teach players Cold Weather Flying for a fee of 950g. Don't let the money sink scare you though. It is rather easy to make said amount via the first four levels of Northrend questing alone!

[Holyssa]

Q: What will Wrath's system requirements be?

A: Assuming you still aren't using a dinosaur to play PC games with (and you've successfully deleted all that old pr0n to make room)...

PC System Requirements

OS: Windows XP (Service Pack 3), Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)

Processor:

* Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+

* Recommended: Dual-core processor, such as the Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2

Memory:

* Minimum: 512 MB RAM (1GB for Vista users)

* Recommended: 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)

Video:

* Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM

Such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better

* Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM

Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better.

Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card or motherboard sound capability

Mac System Requirements

OS: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer

Processor:

* Minimum: PowerPC G5 1.6 GHz or Intel Core Duo processor

* Recommended: Intel 1.8GHz processor or better

Memory:

* Minimum: 1 GB RAM

* Recommended: 2 GB RAM

Video:

* Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 64 MB VRAM

Such as an ATI Radeon 9600 or NVIDIA GeForce Ti 4600 class card or better

* Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM

Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA 7600 class card or better

All Platforms

Controls: A keyboard and mouse are required. Input devices other than a mouse and keyboard are not supported.

Connectivity:You must have an active broadband Internet connection to play.

Mouse: Multi-button mouse with scroll wheel recommended.

Hard Drive Space: 15 GB free hard drive space.

Don't be fooled: just because you can run BC or the Beta Client doesn't mean it's the same ol' game! Compared to Burning Crusade, this game just screams "That's a huge b*tch!".

To see the old system requirements for Burning Crusade for comparison's sakes, go here (Blizzard's FAQ, scroll down a bit) or here (Wikipedia entry).

Q: What items will be removed/changed by the expansion?

A: The only items being removed are the Amani War Bear (the prize from completing Zul'aman's timed chest race, which will be gone from the chest's loot table), and the titles "Hand of A'dal" & "Champion of the Naaru". The quests to achieve these titles will still exist, however. Currently the 4th chest contains the same reward as the 3rd chest (a high level ring), but this is subject to change.

Other mounts which are rare boss drops (Deathcharger's Reins, Zulian Tiger, Reins of the Raven Lord) will still exist and drop from their respectful encounters.

Q: *looks up in the sky* Hey! Where is Naxxramas?

A: The skies above East Plaguelands are now occupied by nothing but dreary clouds. To find the new, L80 entry-level raid version of Naxxramas, travel to Dragonblight.

Q: Does WotLK have a Badge of Justice system? What can I do with my old Badges?

A: Blizzard has introduced two new types of Badges in the expansion:

Emblem of Heroism: The most common type of Badge you will probably see during endgame life. These drop from 5-man Northrend Heroics and 10-man dungeon raids.

Emblem of Valor: Similar to the Heroism emblem, but these drop from 25-man Raid encounters only.

Blizzard has confirmed they have no plans to alter the original Badges of Justice from Outland. Spend them wisely!

EDIT: Fixed a few boo-boos. Oops.

Edited October 8, 2008 by Holyssa