The latest Call of Duty kill-fest has overtaken Amazon’s previous pre-order record holder, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Activision Blizzard and its shareholders must be so pleased.

In other Modern Warfare 2-is-selling-well news, Amazon tosses us another figure, saying that release-date delivery pre-orders for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 surpassed total orders for Wrath of the Lich King at the company. Which must mean this “release-date delivery” thing at Amazon is working out for them.

The only downside to this consumer love-in is the PC version of Modern Warfare 2’s customer rating at Amazon.com, currently suffering from a revenge score of one-and-a-half stars. Hey, you can’t win ‘em all.

Blizzard’s World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion for MMORPG World of Warcraft, is having problems getting approved for Chinese release.

The fastest selling computer game of all time, Wrath of the Lich King sold 2.4 million copies in its first day on sale. The demand and interest in China is high, but the government is blocking the game.

It has been rejected two times by Chinese officials as the game’s content did not meet requirements. Questionable content includes a city raid as well as skeleton characters.

The game has undergone changes specific to these requirements in hoping of receiving approval.

Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich King [GamePolitics]

The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is an art book any WoW fan would be proud to have in their home. Here are some fashionable suggestions about what to do with it when you get it.

In the latest episode of Blizzard’s Blizzcast, World of Warcraft lead game designer, Jeffrey Kaplan reveals that the Death Knight was one of three out of twenty-nine hero classes considered for the recent expansion.

The Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack flooded the World of Warcraft serves with Death Knights, but it might not have wound up that way had one of the other two hero classes that made the final cut had been chosen.

“We were talking for a while about a Necromancer. He would kind of be a range caster, do a lot of corpse explode, that sort of thing. Things we ended up incorporating into the Death Knight.

“We also had a cool idea for a Rune Master. That was going to be more of a melee type – think rogue or monk type character. But Death Knight ultimately fit.”

While I would have personally killed someone with my bare hands for a monk class in World of Warcraft, I think they ultimately made a wise choice, even if no one knows how to play a Death Knight yet.

Blizzcast Episode 7 [Blizzard via Eurogamer]
image link

The first patch since The Wrath of the Lich King has just hit Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, bringing fixes, class changes, and perhaps most importantly – a complete revamp of the clam system.

While the ability to create a Death Knight on any server is nice, and the fact that damage over time spells that don’t immediately damage monsters now tag the critters as yours anyway is a great boon for several casting classes, WoW Insider’s Guide to Patch 3.0.8 highlights the greatest change the patch has delivered.

Players can now open clams while riding a vehicle, sitting, mounted, stealthed, and invisible.

You hear that rumbling? That is the sound of hundreds of thousands of lapsed WoW players rushing to their computers. This changes everything.

About clams.

WoW Insider’s Guide to Patch 3.0.8 [WoW Insider]

As mentioned in the Test Realm patch notes we posted on last month, a blue Blizzard post confirms that they are indeed removing restrictions to allow players to create Death Knights on any server.

Previously you could only create a Death Knight on a server which housed a level 55 or higher character on your account. The next update takes away that restriction, allowing Death Knights to pop up all over the place…well, almost.

With the next minor content update for World of Warcraft, we will be opening up death knight character creation so that if the account you play already has a level 55 or higher character in World of Warcraft, you will be able to create a new death knight on any realm within your region. Please keep in mind that restrictions still apply to new, non-transfer realms such that death knights cannot be created on those realms until you level a character to level 55 on that realm or until transfer restrictions are removed.

Those of you who paid US$25 to transfer a 55+ character to a friend’s server in order to play Death Knights with them before this announcement remain completely screwed.

Account-Wide Death Knight Creation [World of Warcraft Forums via WorldofWar.net]

Two months after announcing the jump to 11 million subscribers, Blizzard has decided to start incrementing its milestones, announcing that the tally is now up to 11.5.

That extra .5 million is the focus of Blizzard’s press release today, earning top billing over the much more impressive news that the Wrath of the Lich King sold 4 million copies in the first month, breaking the monthly PC sales record previously held by The Burning Crusade. Barring some sort of global awakening I suspect we can just save these press releases and change out the names and numbers once the next WoW expansion hits.

Sales of the core game and the World of Warcraft Burning Crusade Battle Chest also jumped during the month as Lich King mania drove more holdouts over the edge, helping bring in those extra 500 thousand subscribers so that Blizz could issue the press release version of a 6-month anniversary.

World of Warcraft® Subscriber Base Reaches 11.5 Million Worldwide
Wrath of the Lich King™ expansion fuels growth with record first-month sales of more than 4 million

IRVINE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now played by more than 11.5 million subscribers worldwide. This new high was reached following the November 13 release of the game’s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King™.

Within its first 24 hours of availability, Wrath of the Lich King sold more than 2.8 million copies, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. In addition to winning a number of editor’s choice awards from major gaming publications, the expansion has now gone on to sell more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new record for monthly PC-game sales. Both sales records were previously held by World of Warcraft’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade®.*

“We’re pleased to welcome the new and returning players who have helped World of Warcraft reach these new milestones, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and support that the game’s global community has continued to show,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. “We look forward to providing all of them with an excellent entertainment experience for a long time to come.”

“Not only is Wrath of the Lich King still doing well, the base World of Warcraft game and the World of Warcraft Battle Chest® are performing better than last year,” said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop. “That type of traction is very impressive for a game that is going into its fifth holiday season and speaks to the enthusiastic player base Blizzard Entertainment products have.”

To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs. More information about the latest World of Warcraft expansion is available at the official Wrath of the Lich King website: www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath.

World of Warcraft’s Subscriber Definition

World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.

While there are indeed a great deal of tweaks coming for the game’s first hero class, the changes certainly don’t represent the massive nerf that players in general chat seem to think is in order. If anything the changes mainly serve to balance out the various Death Knight builds, rather than tone down power across the board. They’ve traded off some of the bonus damage from Rune Strike in favour of more threat, reduced the duration of a few abilities, but for the most part the changes are positive, including the best change of all – Death Knights will be able to be created on any server, not just the one your level 55+ character resides on.

Other big changes in the patch include the removal of racial restrictions from mounts (Tauren chocobo time!) and the fact that any aggro-inducing abilities will now tap monsters, meaning no more dotting a mob only to have it yanked away before the first tick. Hit up the link for the full patch notes.

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.0.8 [World of Warcraft via Blue's News]

The talking plush murlocs that were all the rage at BlizzCon 2008 are now available in limited quantities at Jinx.com for $39.99 as part of their newly unveiled winter lineup. Along with the fishy plushies comes a new line of World of Warcraft t-shirts and accessories for men and women, featuring some of the nicest work I’ve seen from the company so far. I particularly love the faux sports team shirts, which include the Teldrassil Shadowmelders, Undercity GraveDiggers, and the Darnassus Nightsabers. Anyone reading the site searching for Fahey gift ideas might want to pay special attention to the Arcane Intellect ball cap. Just make sure you opt for the Horde wrapping paper, or you could be risking my ire.

Hit up the link for the full winter WoW lineup, or check out their other winter releases for one damn spiffy Pac-Man shirt.

Jinx Warcraft Winter 2009 Launch [Jinx.com]

The ambitious new expansion pack gives players access to the icy continent of Northrend, home to the Lich King, the ungodly powerful melding of former Draenor warchief Ner’zhul and former crown prince of Lorderon, Arthas Menethil. Along with new lands to explore and new quests to fulfil, Wrath of the Lich King also introduces the game’s first Hero Class in the form of the dreaded Death Knights, plate-wearing wielders of runic power.

I’ve spent a significant amount of time exploring all that’s new in Azeroth. Was it just a temporary visit, or does Wrath pack enough punch to lure me back in full-time?

Loved
More Better Quests: Continuing the trend started with The Burning Crusade, quests in The Wrath of the Lich King are even more dynamic and enthralling that ever, with new mechanics to keep things fresh. Sure, you’ll still find plenty of kill X number of Y quests, but you’ll also find yourself flying rickety planes to remote locations, launching cannon attacks on huge creatures, or participating in giant battles that leave you giddy afterwards.

The Scenic Route: Northrend is far more than snow. You’ll find rolling hills, steep mountain slopes, ruined temples, and floating cities in the sky — along with a fair amount of snow. Zones in Wrath are gigantic, lovely to look at, and seem a great deal more vertical than what I’m used to in World of Warcraft. Expect to see many breathtaking sights on your first run through the frozen lands.

Multiple Starting Points: A large improvement over The Burning Crusade, Wrath gives both factions two-different areas to launch their expedition into Northrend from, rather than dumping every one in the same starting area so they can kill quest mobs to extinction. It also means that leveling multiple characters in the expansion isn’t quite as repetitive as it was in the previous expansion.

Open-World Instancing: Open-world instancing is a new technique they are using to effect changes to the game world without zoning you into your own private instance. It’s almost like having another instance of the same location layered on top of the first, only with changes to reflect the state of the quest you are in. It’s used to great effect in the Death Knight starting area, where different stages of a massive war are all played out in the same area. One moment you’re fighting to take over a human settlement, the next moment things seamlessly transition to the same settlement raised to the ground by your efforts. It really gives the illusion that your actions are making a difference.

The Knights Who Say Death: Blizzard introduces the first Hero Class to World of Warcraft in a truly epic fashion. The starting area for Death Knights is brilliantly executed, deftly weaving a tale of corruption and redemption over the course of a few hours. The aforementioned open-world instancing plays a large role in the starting experience, and the final battle at Light’s Hope is one of the most spectacular moments I’ve seen in the game. As for the Death Knights themselves, they make excellent additions to most parties, whether you play them as the far superior frost-build tank or the dime-a-dozen DPS unholy spec.

More Realistic Equipment: I’m really digging the dark and gritty look of the equipment drops I’ve managed to collect in the expansion so far. A far cry from The Burning Crusade’s Final Fantasy meets Sid and Marty Croft colorful glowing weapons, Northrend equipment looks more like something out of a Frank Frazetta or Brom painting.

Hated
Easy Mode: The main thing that Wrath of the Lich King lacks is any sort of significant challenge. The progression to level 80 is far faster than it should be, with even casual players in my guild already at or quickly approaching level 80. The new dungeons are particularly simple, even compared to the easy beginning dungeons from The Burning Crusade. I blazed through several of them with pick-up groups the first evening of release with little or no problem at all. I know World of Warcraft isn’t exactly famous for it’s difficulty, but I would have expected a steeper climb.

Not For Noobins: There is absolutely no reason to buy Wrath of the Lich King if you are new to the World of Warcraft experience. You cannot create a Death Knight unless you already have a character who is level 55 or more, and all of the new content is geared towards players level 68 and above. Not a problem for veterans, but new players won’t be missing out on anything should they give the expansion a pass for now.

The launch of a major expansion pack in an MMO always has its upsides and downsides, and Wrath of the Lich King is no different. It did flood Hellfire with hundreds of baby Death Knights looking for healers, fill the general chat channels were filled with players asking questions that could be easily answered by reading quest text, and there is some general bugginess in some of the new zones (hello, Zul’drak). Those few nagging issues are balanced by the excitement of discovering new things and the revitalization of guild dynamics as old players flock back to see what’s going on. After nearly two years of getting to know everything there is to know about The Burning Crusade, it’s good to feel like a total noob all over again, even if the feeling doesn’t last very long.

Wrath of the Lich King does what an MMORPG expansion should, adding tons of new content and refreshing the sense of wonder that drew players to World of Warcraft in the first place.

Wrath of the Lich King was developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, released in Australia on Nov. 13 for Windows PC and MAC. Retails for $59.95. Spent countless hours playing through expansion content, leveling a Death Knight to 70 and Mage to 75. Participated in multiple dungeons under both guises. Completed far too many quests to mention. Earned achievement for killing turkeys.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.