Wrath of the Lich King, released in 2008, is World of Warcraft’s most successful expansion, adored by players globally. Its innovations are now commonplace, making it hard to amaze current players. Yet, many still cherish the memories from that era. Why go back to Northrend in 2023 and battle the Lich King once more?
This game has an exciting plot and unique quests. Starting to play, you are immersed in history. You are the key character in the game and influence events. There are also many atmospheric locations to explore in the Northern Kingdom. WotLK innovated the gameplay by improving mechanics and introducing new elements. Many players feel nostalgic for the times when they first discovered this world. They return to the game again and again, buy wotlk gold, complete missions, and fight in epic battles. Moreover, with the development of boosting platforms, it is now possible to develop many times faster, skipping missions and activities that are uninteresting to the player. But let’s take a closer look at the reasons that encourage players to return to the game.
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Plot presentation and quests
The game has 91 points on Metacritic and the add-on would not be so exciting and catchy if not for Blizzard’s new approach to presenting the plot itself. The changes affected both the script techniques and the technical part. Wrath of the Lich King introduced a huge number of unusual story quests, in which we were allowed to look into the past or take on the role of another famous character.
The story of the game no longer unfolds only in raids or in the text description of tasks – we were able to become part of it from the very first steps in Northrend while leveling up. At the same time, events in different locations, although they had their local problems and conflicts, were still connected with the general narrative and the Lich King. The developers immersed us in the plot and made us important characters in what was happening (after a couple of additions this trend will already be annoying when our hero turns almost into the messiah and the main person on the planet, but in WotLK everything was appropriate and in moderation).
At the same time, the authors, through the main plot, also revealed secondary characters, their relationships, as well as the origins of the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance, which previously only occurred between the players themselves. At the same time, there were more cinematics in Wrath of the Lich King, each of which played an important role in the plot and added intensity and drama to the events.
Atmospheric zones
Lately, players have often complained about a crisis of imagination among Blizzard designers. In each new location, gamers see what they already managed to study and run far and wide. However, during Wrath of the Lich King, the authors still knew how to surprise the community by creating something new and original.
The locations of Northrend are truly unique, large-scale, and at the same time rich. Often, before this, zones in World of Warcraft were predominantly kept in the same style. Conventionally: if we are in an elven forest, it means that there will only be trees, hills, animals and bear-people wandering around the location, and all this under approximately the same lighting and color scheme.
In Wrath of the Lich King, the locations are more diverse and changeable. They now have more objects of interest, intricate structures, and different inhabitants. Probably the most striking example here is the Howling Fjord. Several dozen fascinating stories unfold in this zone. There are excavations of dwarves, huge fortresses, showdowns with pirates, clashes between factions, and the insidious Scourge with all its abominations, and snow people. Also Read – How You Can Become a Professional Online Gamer
You simply won’t be able to get tired of the location, because each new quest chain will lead you to a new corner of it, which will be different from what you have already seen. And most importantly, each location has its indescribable atmosphere. Surely many people fondly remember Gray Hills – an island of comfort and tranquility in this crazy world. It would seem that most of the location is forests with the same bear people, but color correction, soundtrack, or just a glance at a bear catching fish from the river (even if this bear now has to be killed) created that very thick atmosphere that everyone so wants to find in games, but cannot describe it in words. Northrend turned out to be different, but in it, everyone could find their favorite corner, where it was simply pleasant to be (and look for ore).
The things we have mentioned are just formalities. Many of us want to go back to the time of Wrath of the Lich King not to kill Arthas again (you can do that on private servers every day), but because of nostalgia. It’s like trying to hold on to our lost childhood or youth – the times when we could spend hours in raids without getting upset about failing.
