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.

The launch of TBC brought us two new races; the Blood Elves (Horde), and Draenei (Alliance). Both starting zones were packed during launch of the Burning Crusade, causing lag and disgruntled players who wished to play the new races. The Death Knight starting zone is a bit different. The entire starting area is separate from the rest of the zone, and also phased. This allows players to experience the new hero class with a bit less lag, and less of a crowded starting area.

The launch of TBC brought us two new races; the Blood Elves (Horde), and Draenei (Alliance). Both starting zones were packed during launch of the Burning Crusade, causing lag and disgruntled players who wished to play the new races. The Death Knight starting zone is a bit different. The entire area is instanced, separating it from the other areas of the server. The starting area is also phased, allowing players to experience the new hero class with less server lag and a little less of a crowded area.

Death Knights begin their training at level 55, a large step up from a level 1 character. The Scarlet Enclave is the area they start out in, just near Tyr’s Hand in the Eastern Plaguelands zone. Death Knights will experience aide during their beginning quests, where they are spoken to and told how to use their abilities. The Death Knights have three separate talent trees; Frost, Blood and Unholy. All players in the current game use mana, rage or energy in order to make their abilities work. Death Knights are introduced to a new form which is “runic power”.

I have personally been in-game since the midnight launch of Wrath of the Lich King. Though I was expecting the same type of server lag, and camped areas that I experienced during The Burning Crusade, I was very happy to see none of this happen. Blizzard has impressed me with the launch of this new expansion. They learned from the minor mistakes of the previous launch, and did not repeat those mistakes a second time. I’m looking forward to eventually reaching level 80, and visiting Prince Arthas in Wrath of the Lich King.