World of Warcraft : Wrath of the Lich King World of Warcraft : Wrath of the Lich King ( colloquially known as " WotLK " or " Wrath " ) is the second " World of Warcraft " expansion and was officially announced on August 3 , 2007 at BlizzCon 2007 . The majority of the expansion content takes place in Northrend and centers around the plans of the Lich King . Content highlights include the increase of the level cap from 70 to 80 , the introduction of the death knight Hero class , and new PvP / World PvP content . No additional playable races have been added , though many new NPC races were featured . Opt - ins for the public beta began on July 3rd , 2008 ; the beta began on July 17th . On October 10th , Blizzard announced that " Wrath of the Lich King " had gone gold and discs were being manufactured for sale ; the game itself was released to the public on November 13 , 2008 . For the first time , the normal version of the game ( as opposed to the ) was installable through one single DVD disc ( as opposed to the 5 CD - set of original World of Warcraft , however those who got the World of Warcraft Collector ' s Edition got a DVD disc ) . Lore . From the official site : " For years , the heroes of the Alliance and Horde have fought against the evils in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms , against the demons of the Burning Legion in Outland , and against each other - all the while unaware that a threat more dangerous than any they had yet encountered was preparing to make its move in the icy continent of Northrend . Now the Lich King , Arthas Menethil , has emerged from Icecrown Citadel to claim the world as his own . Heroes of the Alliance and Horde gather in Northrend to make a stand against the malevolent being that dares to declare himself Azeroth ' s one true king . . . and seeks to scour all life from the world . " Northrend . The expansion introduced a new continent on Azeroth — the harsh , icy Northrend under the control of the Lich King , and is home to the majority of the expansion ' s new content . Northrend is a croissant - shaped continent in northern Azeroth . The continent is roughly half the size of the Eastern Kingdoms , but exceeds Outland in length and width . Although Northrend is known for its snow and ice , parts of the continent are not frozen over , such as the springtime Howling Fjord and the jungle - like Sholazar Basin . Flying mounts are also usable in Northrend ; Players must level to 77 and obtain Cold Weather Flying to unlock this feature . Blizzard said they want to " keep us grounded and guide us on foot for a while " , so that players can enjoy all the hard work they put into the land and not just " fly over it . " There may be new flying mounts introduced with the expansion that will provide a very slight increase in speed . The expansion also introduced mounts that are able to carry more than just one passenger . A character that is level 80 will be able to purchase the heirloom Tome of Cold Weather Flight to allow another character on your account to fly in Northrend at level 68 , so you don ' t have to walk through Northend multiple times on multiple characters . The tome costs 1000 gold , the same as training it the traditional way at level 77 . Zones . To alleviate some of the problems experienced at the launch of the " " expansion , players are able to choose where to enter the continent more freely . Both Howling Fjord to the east and the Borean Tundra to the west feature level 68 + content , and it is possible to level all the way to 72 without visiting both . The continent is designed to allow players to level from level 68 to 80 . Both zones feature a Hellfire Citadel - style instance hub with dungeon wings for level 70 and level 80 characters . Horde players access Howling Fjord via zeppelin from Undercity to Vengeance Landing ; Alliance players can get there by boat to Valgarde from Menethil Harbor . Borean Tundra is accessed via zeppelin to Warsong Hold from Orgrimmar for Horde , and by boat to Valiance Keep from Stormwind City for Alliance . Zones and their levels : Factions and organizations . Various organizations , faction s and new races are highlighted in the expansion . Note that no new playable races have so far been implemented . Reputation grinding . A new faction tabard system was implemented called " Championing " where wearing a tabard of a certain faction gives you rep with that faction for kills in level 80 instances in lieu of existing faction rep ( which would only be the Alliance Vanguard or Horde Expedition meta - factions ) . This is to combat the feeling that gaining rep with factions is a long grind and that there is no flexibility for players to choose which factions they gain rep with . Nexus War . When Malygos regained his senses , he quickly realized what had happened during his absence . The mortal races had manipulated magic and used it for their own personal gain . As a result , the Burning Legion had nearly been summoned again by the reckless Kael ' thas Sunstrider and his felblood elves . Confident that there is no other solution , Malygos has declared war on every spell - caster and wishes to annihilate their kind and drain all of Azeroth ' s magic . However , there are groups that oppose him and fight for their own survival or for that of others . Horde Expedition . Horde Expedition is the combined force of the Horde in Northrend , spearheaded by the Warsong Offensive . Alliance Vanguard . Provoked by the attack on Stormwind , the Alliance has gathered its forces to march upon Icecrown Citadel and put an end to the Lich King ' s reign . Dungeons & End - game Content . The expansion added group content in a similar fashion to " The Burning Crusade " , and the " heroic dungeon " format was preserved . Many new 5 - man , 10 - man , and 25 - man dungeons are located in Northrend . The expansion has as many 5 - man instances as the previous expansion and all 25 - man raids can also be completed as a 10 - man group due to the popularity of Karazhan . Despite speculation , solo dungeons have not been implemented . There are no lengthy attunement s for any dungeon . There were three raid dungeons and twelve 5 - man dungeons ( eight for leveling up and four max - level , each with heroic versions ) at release . Heroic access also no longer requires any faction reputation and are available simply by reaching level 80 . All 5 - man dungeons were said to have been designed to last around an hour , but this seems to be incorrect as some instances ( especially The Violet Hold ) can easily be completed in nearly half the time . Returning instances . " Returning , but in another form . . . " PvP additions . Battlegrounds . Strand of the Ancients is a new siege warfare - style battleground south of Dragonblight featuring siege weapon s . 15 people are on each team , and games can last a maximum of 20 minutes if neither side captures the Titan Relic . Players can mount up in Siege Engine s , a four - passenger vehicle with spots for the driver , gunner and two passengers with all passengers protected from incoming fire . Players on foot can also take part in the siege by using Seaforium Charges to attack the walls and turrets to defend the walls . Isle of Conquest , a battleground introduced in patch 3 . 2 . 0 , Call of the Crusade , pitches teams of up to 40 players against each other in a massive battle over this small island off Northrend ' s northern coast . To win , your team will need to make use of the island ' s unique strategic locations including an oil derrick , a siege workshop , and a fully equipped airship hangar . You will deploy devastating siege weaponry on the field ; Light have mercy on anyone caught between you and your ultimate target , the general holed up in the enemy keep . Arenas . Two new Arenas are also introduced in the expansion . One in the Orgrimmar Arena and the other in a new Dalaran Arena in Dalaran ' s sewers . These arenas introduce moving objects such as pillars and waterfalls , and damaging objects such as spikes in arenas and other such mechanics to create dynamics with line of sight and gameplay . World PvP . PvP mechanics are extended in WotLK , with the addition of a dedicated PvP zone ( even on PvE servers ) in central Northrend called Wintergrasp . There is no requirement to visit the zone , but the benefit is that all bosses in instances drop a token , similar to Spirit Shard s in Auchindoun , when your faction holds the keep everyone is fighting for . Players are able to use these tokens to purchase gear . Siege weapons are the predominant method of attack and defense as there are no Seaforium Charges to be found . Players start off with the Catapult , an anti - personnel weapon that does minimal siege damage to buildings . Upgrades include the Demolisher , a vehicle with a ram attack and turret controlled by a single player , and the siege engines from Strand of the Ancients . Previews of the zone also included aerial vehicles , the flying machine and gnomish bomber , as well as the anti - aircraft goblin Shredder , but these have yet to be implemented due to balance issues . Wintergrasp itself is a no - fly zone and will dismount aerial players wishing to fly through it . Additionally , control of Wintergrasp confers access to the Vault of Archavon , a quick onyxia - style encounter capable of dropping Tier 7 loot or equivalent PvP gear . An additional boss was added in Patch 3 . 1 . 0 who drops Tier 8 or equivalent loot . Koralon the Flame Watcher being added in Patch 3 . 2 . 0 with Tier 9 , and Toravon the Ice Watcher in Patch 3 . 3 . 0 with Tier 10 . Hero classes . The expansion introduced the long - awaited concept of Hero classes to " World of Warcraft " . Hero classes will generally consist of classes from " Warcraft III " that were too strong or did not make sense as a level 1 . " Wrath of the Lich King " ' s Hero class is the death knight . Death knight . " World of Warcraft " ' s first hero class , the death knight is accessible to players after having a character reach level 55 . Once unlocked , the death knight , starting at level 55 , will then complete a series of quests in and the Scarlet Enclave that will explain their defection and background . Originally , death knights were only allowed to be created on a realm with a preexsisting level 55 character for that account , but now , as long as there is a level 55 present on the account , a death knight can be constructed on any realm . A single death knight is allowed per realm . The death knight is a plate - wearing DPS / tank class ( albeit one that is unable to use a shield ) that uses a brand new resource system based primarily on cooldowns . Rather than the existing mana / rage / energy mechanics , the death knight uses six runes , two runes each of three types , frost , blood , and unholy , which are refreshed on a ten second timer . Death knights also have access to runic power , which is generated much in the same way as rage . Professions and skills . Professions can be leveled to 450 skill points from the " Burning Crusade " ' s 375 skill cap , while leveling professions from 300 - 375 has been made easier . Continuing in the tradition of " The Burning Crusade " of introducing a new profession with an expansion , " Wrath of the Lich King " ' s new profession is inscription . Inscription . The inscriber creates scroll s , vellum , glyph s and other paper paraphernalia . Scrolls are direct analogues of the various scrolls dropped from mobs ( like ) . Vellum are used as a target for an enchanter ' s spells ( / ) such that the vellum themselves ( now " also " called scrolls ) can be used to enchant items and are sold on the Auction House . Glyphs come in two varieties , major and minor . Major glyphs are used to augment a player ' s combat spells and abilities , such as increasing the damage multiplier on Ice Lance ( ) or clearing polymorph ed targets of damage over time effects ( ) . Minor glyphs are used for cosmetic effect ( ) , to reduce the mana cost of buffs ( ) or remove reagent requirements ( ) . Characters . Levels , spells , and talents . The expansion allows characters to level to 80 , adding 10 additional talent point s to their disposal and extending the talent trees further to allow for 51 - point talents . Leveling from 70 to 80 takes approximately the same amount of time as leveling 60 to 70 . You can now switch between two pre - set talent specializations freely after visiting your class trainer and paying a one - time fee of 1000g for Dual Talent Specialization . Respeccing within either of those specs will still cost the normal respec fee . Character customization . Character customization has been extended to allow players to change hairstyles of existing characters using barber shops . However , players are not allowed to change their characters ' body shape or size . As of December 10 , 2008 , you are able to re - customize your characters ' facial attributes and gender for $ 15 here . Voice emotes . Death knight voices are modulated for each race so that they sound deeper and have an echo . Mounts . In the expansion , mounts no longer take up space in your bag ; they can be retrieved from the pet tab . Lost mounts and pets can be restored from a stable master . Here is a listing of the new mounts : Technical information . The expansion enhanced the " World of Warcraft " ' s graphical engine ; for example , a new shading system was used in ice caves , while flame animations are noticeably more detailed . In addition , the art for the expansion looked more like " classic " Warcraft " " ( gothic fantasy ) , and less like Outland art ( high fantasy ) . in Mandarin which means forgot to open .