Lich King Preview Movie: Guided Tour

Recently we here at Curse had Kody visit Blizzard's HQ for some hands on of Wrath of the Lich King. Here's our interview if you missed it. One of the things Blizzard gave us was a brand new preview video that showcase many areas in the upcoming expansion to World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King.

Many of you have already seen it, since it has a pretty high number of views. However, we never really posted it as a news anywhere and courtesy of World of Raids we can now provide a Guided Tour of the video as well! View the video itself and the guided tour just below the video.

Wrath of the Lich King Preview -- May 9th, 2008

Howling Fjord

[0:08] - Vengeance Landing

Vengeance Landing is a Forsaken-controlled settlement in the Howling Fjord, northeast of Daggercap Bay and Utgarde Keep. Its main feature is its zeppelin tower, which is the Horde's main point of arrival in eastern Northrend. The landing is not directly connected by foot to New Agamand, the main settlement of the Forsaken in the zone - which is located on the other side of Daggercap Bay.

[0:17] - Vengeance Lift

That's one of the huge elevators taking players up and down the cliffs. The lift takes you up to an area that is close to a couple of the Vrykul towns, Baleheim and Nifflevar [0:25].

[0:25] to [0:38] - Vrykul Towns

You can see a group of longhouses with carved wooden dragons above the lintels. This was one of the Vrykul villages. The Vrykul are a race of half-giant warriors native to the Howling Fjord located in southeastern Northrend. It is said that in ancient times the vrykul inhabited the land, founding a vast and prosperous civilization. Then one day, without warning or explanation, the vrykul vanished, leaving behind only deserted villages and abandoned temples. Due to the settlement of Valgarde [0:46], the vrykul have recently returned.

[0:46] - Valguarde

This is the settlement of Valguarde, Alliance will be getting to valguarde in howling fjord by boat from menethil.

[1:22] to [1:46] - Utgarde Keep

Utgarde Keep is the first dungeon hub appearing in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. It is located on the shores of Lake Cauldros in the Howling Fjord of Northrend. Utgarde will be inhabited by the vrykul (led by King Ymiron), a Viking-like race bent on proving their strength to the Lich King, who will raise the most worthy of their warriors to serve him beyond the grave. The first of three wings, known as the Utgarde Catacombs. It is suitable for a 5-man level 70-72 party.

The second wing, Utgarde Pinnacle, will be a 5-man instance for level 80 players.

The third wing, a 25-man raid, was revealed but no details were given.

[1:48] - The Gondola

This is Gondolwrench , a place where characters can hop on a gondola that is lowered down past various mobs on ledges to an icy island, called the Isle of Spears [1:57].

[1:57] - Isle of Spears

The Isle of Spears is an island west of the Howling Fjord zone in Northrend. There is the nearby Tuskarr village of Kamagua. From this area, players can take a boat over to Borean Tundra.

Borean Tundra

[2:24] - Tuskarr Villages

This is probably Kaskala, located in the Borean Tundra in southwestern Northrend, it's the capital of the tuskarr. The tuskarr capital is a collection of villages, none of them with more than 400 people but clustered so close together they create one larger unit.

[2:34] - Valliance Keep

Valliance Keep is the Alliance starting area. The storyline playing out there is that reserves are being called out to help in the battle against Arthas.

[2:49] - Warsong Hold

Warsong Hold is the Horde starting area, it has a new-look design which houses the Horde's aggressive leader in their assault on Arthas -- Garosh Hellscream, son of Grom Hellscream. "Horde players will have an epic entrance to the expansion as well," said Kaplan.

[3:10] - The Nexus

The Nexus is located in Coldara (a sub-zone of Borean Tundra) is a three-wing dungeon for 70s, 80s and a short Onyxia-style raid against Malygos himself. The Nexus is structurally a broken tower with rotating rings surrounding a column of blue energy. During some of the boss encounters, players will actually free drakes to fly around the ring. Using the game's new vehicle technology, players will be able to engage in free flight around the dungeon and use some of the drake's abilities to take on some of the dungeon's challenges.

To enter the instance before level 77 players must first do a quest line for a Red Dragon who then flies you to the entrance.

[3:48] - Fizzcrank Airstrip

This is the Alliance base, Fizzcrank Airstrip, a Gnome town which is overshadowed by a crashed Necropolis [3:52] (top left corner).

[4:01] - Temple City of En'Kilah

Temple of En'kilah is a huge Scourge base in the Borean Tundra, close to a crashed Necropolis.

Dragonblight

[4:54] - Bronze Dragonshrine

These shrines are the places Dragons go to die, and there's one shrine for each flight.

[4:58]- Ruby Dragonshrine

This is the Ruby Dragonshrine. The Scourge will be attacking the Reds, and the entrances into the shrine itself are the scene of battles between Scourge forces and NPCs from the Alliance. There will be quests to help the Red flight, as Kaplan said.

[5:02] - The Scarlet Onslaught

The Scarlet Onslaught were once the Scarlet Crusade and have traveled to the Dragonblight of Northrend in their hopes of defeating the Lich King.

[5:10] - Besieged Alliance Base

This an huge Alliance base here , with Naxxramas hovering over it [5:16].

[5:16] - Naxxramas

Naxxramas will be moving back to Northrend, where it will be retuned to be the first raid dungeon where it, as well as all other raid dungeons will have a 10/25 man version.

Grizzly Hills

[5:22] - Redwood Forest

[5:35] - Venture Co.

The exploitative Venture Company!

[5:48] - Worgen Town

The Worgen werewolves led by a resurrected Arugal.

[5:55] to [6:00] - Grizzlemaw

You can see the remains of the tree. It's actually a tree stump in which the Furlbog are living. The Furlbog here are hostile and are around level 73-75, we can see that there is a Furlbog town inside the hollow stump.

[6:02] to [6:23] - Iron Dwarves and Thor Modan

Another place of interest in Grizzly Hills is a dwarven settlement called Thor Modan. This place is crawling with some new bad guys, the Iron Dwarves. They are defending their town from the Earth Giants, who are intent on crushing it by hurling boulders and logs down upon it. If you fight your way inside, you can see the uncanny similarities between Thor Modan and Ironforge. Unfortunately, most of it has been destroyed, or has caved in, so only a small part is on show.

Zul'Drak

[6:35] - Zul'Drak

North of Thor Modan is the zone Zul'Drak. Zul'Drak is a single, giant ziggurat, the broken civilisation of the ice trolls, who've gone mad after sacrificing their animal gods in an attempt to fight off the Scourge. This whole zone is completely constructed, meaning that it's a totally built-up area of stone and temples.

[6:43] to [7:14] - Drak Theron Keep

Drak'Theron will be a two-zone feature, and will have two wings - one accessable from the Grizzly Hills for level 72-74 players, and one accessable from Zul'Drak for level 74-76 players. There's also a giant T-Rex boss, which was included mainly because Blizzard thought T-Rexes are cool, which they are. Eventually you'll move outside of the dungeon and into outdoor courtyards, then up the keep's ramparts to a final boss encounter atop a tower.

[7:39] - Gun Drak

If you head straight to the furthest part of Zul'Drak, you come to the instance Gun'Drak , where you'll fight the boss of the the Ice Trolls.

Sholazar Basin

Sholazar Basin is a lush tropical oasis in the midst of Arctic wastes, reminiscent of the original game's Un'Goro Crater. Here you'll take part in a faction-reputation war between the Wolvar (sentient wolves) and Oracles ("the next evolution of the Murlocs" - a worrying thought). A much lighter take on reputation gaming is promised here, with players actively encouraged to defect to the other side at will.

[7:54] - Hemet Nesingwary's Camp & Ship

You might recognize famed hunter Hemet Nesingwary, who's crashed his ship in this zone and is actually being opposed by an environment-friendly group called D.E.H.T.A. (Druids for the ethical and humane treatment of animals).

[8:28] - Vehicle Combat Demonstration

Air to Air Combat !