Are Portable MMOs the Future?
by Loral on July 22, 2007
In my last article I talked about three gross stereotypes in gamers: the true casual gamer, the hobbyist gamer, and the hard core gamer. I spent most of the article focusing on the attitudes and drive of the hobbyist gamer when compared to the powerful hard core gamer. However, the market for the casual gamer stands to be far greater in number and profit than either the hobbyist or the hard core gamer. Games built for hobbyist or hard core gamers may sell up to ten million copies worldwide for the most popular games released such as Halo 2 and World of Warcraft. Casual games, however, have the potential to sell to everyone else.
World of Warcraft changed the market of MMOs by many orders of magnitude. With its simple gameplay, low system requirements, extremely accessible quest system, and fast level increases; World of Warcraft brought in ten times as many players who had never played massive online games as any previous game published in the U.S.
It is unlikely another game will make as significant an impact on the PC as World of Warcraft. Other games may, in time, achieve the same numbers but it will require an incredible amount of work, a powerful infrastructure, and a lot of luck. Lord of the Rings Online had the most popular fantasy world, a tested infrastructure, and a lot of development. It came out strong and will do well for a long time, but it has no where near the numbers of players that World of Warcraft has. No doubt developers and publishers look at the market for MMOs and realize they have no way to make a dent.
Fertile lands lay open for those with the money, experience, and drive to seed it. The latest generation of gaming consoles all include the infrastructure for successful online games. Microsoft showed how successful a market built around online console gaming can become with Xbox Live. Yet no massive online game has successfully penetrated this market. Publishers have released a few MMO titles on consoles in the past but none have hit enough sales or subscribers to push the market forward. While this is likely due to poor marketing, a poor subscription model, or simply a poor game; publishers no doubt point to these few titles as an example of how MMOs overall would perform on consoles. Doing so is akin to pointing at the first few first-person shooters on consoles and saying a game like Halo can never work.
MMOs will likely make a significant impact on consoles in the next two years. It will only take one or two well done MMOs to push consoles into the realm of powerful massive online gaming. This doesn't, however, impact casual gamers. In order to tap into the market of massive online games for casual gamers, an entirely different platform must be considered.
There are over forty million Nintendo DS portable consoles in the world today. Even three years after release, the Nintendo DS outsells all other consoles. The top selling games on the Nintendo DS are often games with very simple mechanics, very little story, and often on focused game world. Games like Brain Age, Planet Puzzle League, and Nintendogs are hardly considered games by most gamers, yet they successfully tap into markets that games like Halo and Everquest can never touch.
The Nintendo DS has all of the hardware requirements needed for massive online gaming. It has voice input and output. It has built-in wi-fi. It has enough controls, including the touch screen, to accomplish a relatively complex game. Nothing prevents a publisher from releasing a MMO on the Nintendo DS except business and marketing decisions.
Even with 40 million consoles available, the Nintendo DS is dwarfed by a much larger infrastructure of inter-connected platforms: cell phones. There are over one billion cell phones in the world today. They cross all classes and all cultures. They have no pre-defined demographic. Release a game for a cell phone and you can reach just about anyone.
Not all phones have the capability to play games at all, much less network games. The platform varies so greatly that designing any game for all cell phones might prove impossible. However, as very popular phones proliferate like the Motorola Razor and the iPhone, this platform may stabilize.
A MMO for cell phones would hardly resemble any MMO we've seen so far. They'd be more like an online chat program or SMS client than they would a game. People may have avatars that represent them and might be able to engage other players in very simple games, but a full fledged roleplaying game is unlikely. Given the successes of casual games on the PC, game consoles, and portable systems, it is unlikely a casual gamer wants a traditional role playing game anyway. They are more likely to gravitate towards social networking and simple gaming. Over time, however, these games may become richer and richer, letting casual gamers escape into online worlds that shift from the abstract worlds of online chat to more defined worlds like Middle Earth, the worlds of Harry Potter, or more likely Poke'mon.
Now for some predictions.
I predict that in 2008 Microsoft will announce a Halo massive online game for the Xbox 360. The game will be released in 2009 and sell as many copies as Halo 2 and Halo 3. It will have as many if not more subscribers than World of Warcraft and it will begin a new age of massive online gaming on game consoles. Dozens of other console MMOs will be released within 2009 and 2010 but none of them will do nearly as well. All of the articles we've seen about World of Warcraft wrecking the MMO market on the PC will be rewritten to address Halo ruining console MMOs.
I predict that Nintendo or a third-party publisher will release a simple social online game with a persistent world for the Nintendo DS. The game will be similar to Poke'mon Diamond and Pearl except with persistent online play. Most hobbyist and hard core gamers will dismiss the game as overly simple but the sales will outstrip any PC-based MMO. It will also be the first online MMO to capture male and female non-gamers over the age of 30.
I predict that Apple will build an in-house game development team for the iPhone. As iPhone sales continue to increase, Apple will begin to release small and simple games designed for the iPhone. In late 2008, one of these games will include multiplayer and in 2009 Apple will release a massive multiplayer environment akin to online chat mixed with casual games. Again hobbyist and hard core gamers will dismiss this as a rich AOL chat client rather than a game yet it will outsell computer MMOs by a factor of ten.
I predict that computer MMOs will continue to be released but with decreasing sales and decreasing numbers. By 2010 most gamers will have gravitated towards console games for massive online games.
By 2020 over a billion people will be interconnected through portable massive online communities. Hundreds of different games from dozens of different players will let people interact and interconnect in the worlds and environments they find most comfortable. Such environments may be as sterile as an AOL chat room or as rich as Middle Earth. Portable systems will include enough resolution, enough control, and enough bandwidth to let people interconnect in text, voice, and image anywhere on the planet.
By 2030 we'll all be driving across a desert wasteland in supercharged muscle cars in search of gasoline. Our rugged off-road tires will crunch over the billion portable devices that have long since gone dark.
By 3051 robotic alien probes will land on earth and harvest all of the silicone and broken glass to build intergalactic starships.
Or perhaps that is just a MMO I'm about to play.
Loral Ciriclight
22 June, 2007
loral@loralciriclight.com
Comment Posted by: Aarkan on July 23, 2007 02:00 PM
Please, Loral, we all know the world ends in 2012. Though I'll humor you and say that in 2 and a half years I'm gonna be emailing and mailing my resume and setting up interviews with Microsofts budding MMO department. You know, the one they're NOT gonna fuck up.
Comment Posted by: anonymous on July 23, 2007 02:48 PM
Good article.
I predict there are interesting times ahead.
Comment Posted by: Pharone on July 25, 2007 12:53 PM
I am sorry, but I don't buy that for even one second. Yeah you are burned out on MMORPGs right now... hell I am too. That's what happens to people like us that have been playing MMORPGs for 8 or more years. You get burned out.
That doesn't mean that MMORPGs are doomed just cause you are burned out right now. The fact still remains that the single most powerful gaming experience available is the home PC. Console machines get close to caught up with each new version released, but they are out of date the second they leave the factory. And, cell phones... please. If you don't recall, the last cell phone that tried to pretend to be a game machine failed misserably.
Yes. There will be some multi-player games for the iPhone eventually. And, yes. Some people will like them. But, no. MMORPGs will not migrate to the iPhone nor any cell phone and ever compete directly with those MMORPGs that will exist on our home PCs.
Now what will happen is that our MMORPGs will become more available to us through our cell phones and internet web sites. That doesn't mean you will be actually playing your characters through these media formats, but you WILL be access your character's in-game auctions, in-game stores, etc.
Comment Posted by: Loral on July 25, 2007 09:00 PM
Pharone said:
"That doesn't mean that MMORPGs are doomed just cause you are burned out right now."
I'm not saying they're doomed at all. I'm not even saying PC MMOs are doomed. There just won't be nearly as many people playing them as games evolve to new platforms.
"The fact still remains that the single most powerful gaming experience available is the home PC."
Yet Nintendo sold almost ten million Wiis, the lowest power of the three current gaming consoles. Most people don't care about power, they care about fun.
A lot of the arguments about the capability of a console to play a good MMO are similar to the arguments against FPS games moving to the console. And then there was Halo.
"Now what will happen is that our MMORPGs will become more available to us through our cell phones and internet web sites. That doesn't mean you will be actually playing your characters through these media formats, but you WILL be access your character's in-game auctions, in-game stores, etc."
That's true and that's pretty exciting all on its own. But if they have some sort of game element, some decent connectivity to their friends, and some sort of progression, people may play the cell phone version more than the console.
Nintendo sold ten million Wiis but it is still dwarfed by the number of people with Nintendo DSs.
Comment Posted by: Skuz Bukit on July 26, 2007 02:41 AM
As sure as apples grow on tress, where there's a market companies will try to develop a product to sell to it, the technology is currently very diverse, but once there is some kind of industry standard across enough of the mobile phone networks & the handsets themselves, then you'll see companies try to develop across that broad user-base.
Interesting predictions, I think the PC MMO market won't necessarily suffer, it may even benefit from the appeal the phone side of the MMO market, just depends who ties it with what franchises.
Comment Posted by: Stamp on July 26, 2007 05:44 PM
I remember a quote from an eletion that said "It's the economy Stupid!", but when it comes to MMO's a more fitting quote may be "It's the Social Network Stupid!" People may clammor about graphics or gameplay, but the real thing that makes MMO's are the other people who play them.
Until they make it as easy to Comunicate on a Console as a PC, I can't see it happening. A phone on the other hand may have some chance(slim but more than a console) Since there more about Social Networking than PC's.
Comment Posted by: PekkaR on July 26, 2007 08:01 PM
TibiaME and Pocket Kingdom have been running since 2004. I'm keeping tabs on Elven Legends and waiting for it to arrive to the West. I know at least one other mobile phone MMO but cannot recall the name right now.
You sound like there are none so far... But yeah, once mobile MMOs mature further, they'll play more to the strengths of their platform (Voice and photo input? Personal, always on, always with you?) and resemble current MMOs less.
Comment Posted by: Aarkan on July 27, 2007 02:05 AM
The MMO market has grown far beyond the original MMORPG which was Ultima Online and EverQuest. The MMO just stands for Massive Multiplayer Online and that can just be a chat room with 100 people in it. There is not to say the various MMORPGs for the PC will not still grow and that will not continue to mature but more MMO games will be released, even new types like MMO action or fps and the more we see the better they will be. We can see the progression from Planetside and Auto Assault to Tabula Rasa and Huxley. There is a bright future to the Massive Genre, which is almost a decade old or so in its current form. Remember, this genre grew from text based MUDs, there is infinite potential at our fingertips.
Comment Posted by: Redhenna on July 27, 2007 03:46 AM
I've had Playboy: Hefner Mansion on my DS for almost a year now and I can tell you it does the job.
Comment Posted by: Skuz Bukit on July 27, 2007 11:03 AM
"Text-based MUD's"
I can't think of a better platform for a text-based MUD than the mobile-phone, could be the ideal place to rebirth that idea.
Though these days there's no reason not to embellish the idea to take in genre's other than fantasy-rpg, SoE's "The Agency" is a new spin on the mmorpg only using the world of espionage, spies & gadgets as it's backdrop, costumes decide the class you're playing at any given moment...which is a neat take on the almost insatiable desire of a lot of gamers to change the image of their avatar.
Imagine a mobile-phone tie-in with World of Warcraft or Everquest, could feasibly be used as supplemental or even "feeder" game/utility to the pc counterparts, though i suspect a new record-breaking franchise developed/marketed soley on mobile phones is possible (with possible pc-conversion/cross compatibility later)I think connecting to existing or future pc/console titles could offer up some interesting possibilities.
Comment Posted by: Ghost of Zek on July 27, 2007 01:02 PM
Loral,
I would have to agree with you that the mobile device market shows a great deal of potential.
When you factor in that my newest phone a Motoroal RAZR V3xx has 240 x 320 display with 262000 colors, 60.0 MB base memory, and expandable memory slot for mini SD cards (1Gig plugged in at the moment), with a 312mhz processor.
In a nutshell, those specs pretty much beat out what most of us where using when the first MMO's came out.
The one major draw back I see is the interface issue.
Comment Posted by: Pharone on July 27, 2007 03:07 PM
Yeah I do see your point about console machines being massively accepted in the home. The point I was trying to make is that no matter how good console machines or cell phones get, PCs will always be at least one step ahead of them in technology.
Either way, I will say this much about cell phone MMORPGs. I will stop playing MMORPGs on my PC and start playing them on my cell phone when I am able to use a wire-less headset with at MINIMUM 1280x1024 resolution, able to talk to others in game via the microphone in my headset, and able to control my character with a keyboard and mouse OR comparable input devices.
I just can not accept the idea of playing a MMORPG like Everquest II, World of Warcraft, or Vanguard on a 3" cell phone screen and using the little buttons on the cell phone to control my character.
Will there be MMORPGs on the cell phone? Yes. I totally agree with you that there will be. I just don't buy that cell phones will be what the majority of people use to play MMORPGs.
The consoles are a much more viable medium for playing MMORPGs then cell phones. And, that being said, the main reason a lot of people give for playing FFXI on a PC rether then on the Playstation 2 or XBOX360 is because the game looks and runs better on their PC.
Don't get me wrong Loral. I do think you are on to something here. I just don't agree the cell phone MMORPGs will compete with traditional MMORPGs. I feel like the cell phone MMORPGs will be more on the line of MMOAGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Action Games).
Ps. I was just curious... here lately your stories have been non-centered on any particular MMORPG. Did you stop focusing on individual games and just start talking about the industry? I miss all of the Everquest patch rants and stuff =(
Comment Posted by: N olrog on July 27, 2007 07:41 PM
Fan Faire is next week. Where's the evil agenda???
Comment Posted by: Loral on July 27, 2007 09:13 PM
"I just can not accept the idea of playing a MMORPG like Everquest II, World of Warcraft, or Vanguard on a 3" cell phone screen and using the little buttons on the cell phone to control my character."
I agree completely. I don't think the cell phone or portable MMORPGs will be anything like what we're used to playing on PCs.
"Will there be MMORPGs on the cell phone? Yes. I totally agree with you that there will be. I just don't buy that cell phones will be what the majority of people use to play MMORPGs."
I think that the industry will finally figure out how to make an accessible MMO on a portable device and will find widespread popularity.
"The consoles are a much more viable medium for playing MMORPGs then cell phones. And, that being said, the main reason a lot of people give for playing FFXI on a PC rether then on the Playstation 2 or XBOX360 is because the game looks and runs better on their PC."
That's because it is designed for both with a slant towards the PC. I think a game maker will eventually figure out how a console MMO should be different and it will do very well. Just as Halo took FPS games to the console, so will some future MMO that gets it right.
"Don't get me wrong Loral. I do think you are on to something here. I just don't agree the cell phone MMORPGs will compete with traditional MMORPGs. I feel like the cell phone MMORPGs will be more on the line of MMOAGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Action Games)."
I agree again. I think traditional MMOs will be eventually shadowed by larger, simpler, and more popular MMOs on portable devices. I don't think traditional PC MMOs are doomed by any means, but there's a new market for portable games that has a lot of potential.
"Ps. I was just curious... here lately your stories have been non-centered on any particular MMORPG. Did you stop focusing on individual games and just start talking about the industry? I miss all of the Everquest patch rants and stuff =("
I still play EQ three times a week. I haven't played a lot of WoW recently. These articles usually focus on whatever happens to be in my head. Everquest doesn't take up a lot of space in my head these days. I'll likely keep writing about it but I'm sort of interested in the future of gaming overall these days too.
"Fan Faire is next week. Where's the evil agenda???"
I'm not actually going to the Fan Faire. I'm going to GENCON in a couple of weeks instead. I'll write all about it. I'll also have an evil agenda to hand to Brenlo at Gencon.
Comment Posted by: Pharone on July 29, 2007 07:51 PM
"I'm not actually going to the Fan Faire. I'm going to GENCON in a couple of weeks instead. I'll write all about it. I'll also have an evil agenda to hand to Brenlo at Gencon."
There's the Loral we know and love! haha...
Comment Posted by: Teremar on July 30, 2007 02:15 PM
I've been hearing about the immanent demise of the PC as a gaming platform for a long time now. It always sounds plausible, but never quite seems to happen. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see MMO's take off in the console arena, but I don't think that will lead to a decline in PC MMOs.
Now a couple predictions of my own...
I predict that the first MMO to make it big on cell phones won't use a special client program. It will use a web browser. What's more, cell phones will be just one supported platform. The game may have client programs on other platforms though, which brings me to...
I predict that within three years, an otherwise conventional MMO will allow you to participate in some aspects of the game using a web browser (or other lightweight client). You could argue that EQIM already did, but I'm thinking of something that allows you to affect the game world directly.
The obvious choice right now would be the bazaar/auction house, and one can easily imagine a game with a more complex economy where you could spend lots of time simply buying and selling (heck, some people do now). But anything that doesn't require 3D graphics and involves briefly but periodically "checking in" would be a good candidate, and going forward I suspect we'll see games designed for that. For example, you might have people online fighting, while their "general" periodically checks on the strategic situation and then assigns objectives and allocates resources via the web. Or you might check on your SimCastle throughout the day and then finally log in at night to sort out the dragon that's been chasing your peasants around (and if you can't log in, you might send a message to your guild asking for help or put a bounty on its head in hopes of getting other players to do your dirty work for you).
I know the RP grognards will complain that that reduces immersion, and of course they'll be right. But it's will keep people thinking about the game throughout the day (gotta keep up the addiction), gives time-limited players a way to accomplish something in a very brief period, and reduces the load on the server by eliminating the need to track an avatar in the game world for activities that don't require one. And it's quite possible to make cities look inhabited without crowds of PCs standing around staring at nothing: Blizzard managed to make Shattrath nearly as laggy as Ironforge ever was, despite not having an auction house, just by putting in swarms of NPCs.
Comment Posted by: sunshadow on July 30, 2007 06:56 PM
Both console and Mobile MMO's will suffer one big disadvantage atm. And that is the rate which people update. Anyone looking at designing an MMO for these platforms would have to recoup all their costs fast due to the rate which this market reinvents itself. The PC market on the other hand is much more stable being controlled/constrained by Microsoft. So what we see are hardware advances mainly.
Comment Posted by: AenorVZ on August 1, 2007 03:48 AM
"What sorts of things do you think SOE should do to improve EQ over the next six months?"
To address your question from the previous thread, what SOE should do in the next 6 months is re launch the progression server with longer time locks and launch a progression PvP server. After launching the progression servers, Everquest had it's most profitable month in years. Score one for the EQ luddites! I played on the Sleeper, got the kill shot on the first Lord Yelinak after Velious was unlocked and guess what? I want to do it again!
I played through Velious when I originally played EQ and quit. I quite pre Luclin again on the sleeper, because that was all the content I was interested in. The Sleeper proved to me that EQ has replayabiity.
In order to launch a progression PvP server, however, SOE is going to have to code movement detection so that warp hacking and insta porting can be stopped. Nothing is more important to the integrity of the game.
Comment Posted by: Ghost of Zek on August 1, 2007 07:26 AM
I'd like to chime in on what AenorVZ said.
Re-launching a progression server would be one of the best business picks SOE could make at this point, but with a few quick notes.
1) Go through all trade skill recipies and remove those that are nto in line with an old world EQ, i.e. javalins *cough*
2) Perma-kill NPCs with drops and quests that result in items that are 500% better than anything else in "Classic" EQ. ie. the Freeport Sewers...
There's a fairly large number of similar issues (drastically under con'd vampire mobs in DL, for instance), that all need to be dealt with.
In short, if SOE where to take the time to do the job right this time, it would be a great idea.
That said, if they aren't willing to do it right, then for the love of all things dark and evil, please don't do it.
Comment Posted by: Invenium on August 3, 2007 03:29 PM
There is a lot of research currently being done on Augmented Reality, the use of handheld ubiquitus computing devices to interact with the users actual environment.
As mobile technology becomes more and more advanced, I fully expect MMOs to migrate to them. I don't, however, think they'll resemble much of what we'd call an MMO today. As it becomes possible to tie events and NPCs to real world locations, for example, "servers" might be actual geographic areas programmed as such.
Here are some examples of the work currently being done in AR:
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=harp
Comment Posted by: Ghost of Zek on August 4, 2007 04:17 AM
Okay, a while back, Smed made a comment on the economics of the MMO universe and implied that he envisioned in s few years time that the bulk of SOE's revenue would come via micro transactions. An MMO example of micro transactions would be games like Flyff.
Little would I have guessed that he'd announce http://legendsofnorrath.station.sony.com/rewards.vm?category=eq Legands of Norrath the online collectible card game.
My best guess, is given the success Wizards of the Coast has had with thier Online version of thier real world card game, and SOE previously launched two games, one based on Pirates, the other based on Stargate 1, that SOE apparently sees it's future in the online card game business.
To top it off... Loot Cards. That's right, now the wonders of the game will be found not in hard won fights in epic battles, but will instead be based on how many booster packs your willing to buy, or how much real world cash your willing to spend to "trade" for that card with the magic code to "give the loot to your character".
I honestly have no words to express my disbelief. That SOE is making a profit, I have no doubt. That they see a future in this new strategy I have no doubt. That it's simply not the kind of game that at least 9mil other people are looking to play, I also have no doubt.
Comment Posted by: Aarkan on August 6, 2007 01:11 AM
It's not about making a game that will have 9million players overnight, or even over the course of 3 years. It's about making a family of games that are able to stay afloat by themselves and each are able to attract an audience. It is unlikely that one game will come out and become the "WoW Killer" and thinking about any game as being a WoW killer or trying to kill any of these huge franchises is a mistake. Look at Vanguard. Look at Killzone trying to be the "Halo Killer." SOE has a new format that is working for them and they are working with it, if this new game gets a following within the EQ games it can do nothing but good for them.
Comment Posted by: Skuz Bukit on August 6, 2007 09:32 AM
Check out www.legendsofnorrath.com
Now there's a game that could easily transfer to a mobile phone & ties in to both eq & eq2.
Comment Posted by: Skuz Bukit on August 6, 2007 09:42 AM
I think I agree with what Aarkan is saying, Blizzard may well have brought WoW to 9 million players, though i doubt that number is actually active right now.
SoE is taking the "don't put all your eggs in one basket" approach & having a variety of games under one roof, victory through diversity perhaps?
SoE clearly make money, they also clearly enjoy what they do & care about each of their titles, I don't think they have any plans to kill off any of them, quite the opposite.
They see a niche in the market to supply additional features & in the case of LoN an entire gaming system that is stand alone but also connected to the franchises, which will be free if you want to play for free, but will give you the option to choose to buy if that's what you want to do.
If LoN takes off & does well, which i think it might do even if not to everyone's tastes, then expect further games to be available in a similar way.
EQ EQ2 being a "market stall" / "shop window" is an interesting move.
Comment Posted by: Nolrog on August 7, 2007 12:47 PM
>>> To top it off... Loot Cards. That's right, now the wonders of the game will be found not in hard won fights in epic battles, but will instead be based on how many booster packs your willing to buy
You don't have to buy any if you don't want to. Booster packs will also drop in game as loot from mobs.
Comment Posted by: Ghost of Zek on August 7, 2007 10:28 PM
Well it looks like my first initial fears regarding the new collectible card game are laid to rest. For those that would like to read the best interview on the topic that's floating on the "net" these days, please direct your browser to the following;
http://www.mmognation.com/2007/08/03/john-smedley-interview-on-legends-of-norrath/
In a nutshell, the gear that effects the game should be effectively cosmetic, i.e. it shouldn't really effect game play and certainly doesn't sould like it will effect any high end raids (at least not until the player base gets creative).
Most importantly to me for the health of any MMO, they've made the cards non-tradable. This means no farming cards by gold farmers for sale on one of Yant's many derivative step child sites. On the down side, as a collectible card game the inability to trade cards is definately a negative.
Only time can tell. For people that still play EQ, this looks to be a freebie. For those that done, it's probably not enough to get them to subscribe.
Comment Posted by: Teremar on August 8, 2007 02:48 PM
Sounds like they're mostly imitating the WoW card game. There was much complaining about a particular bonus card allowing you to get a mount in-game at level one--until the CM's explained that it was a turtle and moved at regular walking speed.
Comment Posted by: abe on August 8, 2007 07:39 PM
Off Topic:
WoW's upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion -
"The Lich King Arthas has set in motion events that could lead to the extinction of all life on Azeroth. With the armies of the undead and the necromantic power of the plague threatening to sweep across the land, only the mightiest heroes can oppose the Lich King's will and end his reign of terror for all time.
Blizzard Entertainment's latest expansion to World of Warcraft – Wrath of the Lich King – adds a host of epic content to the existing game world. Players will achieve soaring levels of power, explore a vast new continent, and battle other high-level heroes to determine the fate of Azeroth. As you pit yourself against the dangers of the north, prepare to:
FeaturesMaster the necromantic powers of the Death Knight - World of Warcraft's first Hero class.
Quest to level 80, gaining potent new abilities and talents along the way.
Learn the craft of spell augmentation with the new Inscription profession.
Brave the harsh new continent of Northrend, the icy domain of the Lich King.
Engage in epic siege warfare, deploying mighty siege engines to lay waste to destructible buildings in your path.
Transform your hero's look with new character-customization options, including new hairstyles and dances.
Explore perilous new dungeons filled with some of the deadliest creatures -- and greatest treasures -- on Azeroth.
And much, much more..."
I haven't been so excited about an upcoming release in a long, long time.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Email Mike at mike@mikeshea.net for more questions or comments.