News

• Wrath sound files point to World Event
  Heavy spoilers here: before we step into the new expansion, our old world is going to change a bit.
• Wrath cinematic trailer unveiled
  Blizzard showed the cinematic for the first time at Leipzig. Arthas has left his throne and now he's summoning dragons.
• Sylvanas finally gets her makeover
  The most famous (former) High Elf in the game now looks the part.
• Engineering fun builds up in Beta
  Some excellent Engineering crafted items make their debut.
• Blizzard announces pre-Wrath content patch
  We're going to get a look at Wrath on the live realms even before the game comes out.

Features

• Ten things I hate about the Wrath beta
  Not in the beta? Here's a few reasons why you might want to wait for the live realms anyway.
• WoW Insider and WoW TCG Loot give away a Tabard of Flame
  All this week is your chance to win a hot (pun intended) in-game tabard.
• Ask a Beta Tester: Don't want to look like a clown edition
  AABT is our one-stop shop for all your beta testing questions.
• Hybrid Theory: Yet another Spell Power discussion
  Spell Power is one of the biggest changes coming -- find out exactly what it means to hybrids.
• The Care and Feeding of Warriors: When words are insufficient
  Our Warrior writer is speechless with joy over what's happening to his class in the expansion.

Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King's opening cinematic will premiere at the Leipzig Games Convention. The clip will be shown this Thursday, August 21, at 1PM German standard time (7AM Joystiq time).

We'd speculate about what Blizzard has in store for a big reveal at Blizzcon, but with Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 and WoW in play, who knows what the company could announce. We'll see what happens on October 11.

[Via WoW Insider]

It was a hell of a week in the World of Warcraft. Not only did we get a flood of information about the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion, but Blizzard announced that they are in fact having another BlizzCon this year -- and as you can see from the picture above, last year's was just plain awesome. For info about BlizzCon and everything else WoW, count on Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider.

News

• The Death Knight class revealed
  Blizzard drops the goods on the game's first Hero Class.
• More Death Knight news and clarifications
  Clearing up players' questions and concerns about what the Death Knight is for.
• Is it really OK for Arthas to be 10-mannable?
  The game's baddest bad guy (mortal, anyway) is going to be able to be taken down by 10 players. Are we really that powerful?
• More Wrath of the Lich King impressions and information
  Lots more news about the new zones in Northrend and what we'll find up there.
• Blizzard cracks down on Arena win trading
  Cheaters never win... trade. At least not anymore.

Features

• Around Azeroth: Grand Theft Azeroth
  Our daily screenshot column mixes up Liberty City and the World of Warcraft with wacky results.
• Arcane Brilliance: Level 70 checklist
  Things to do for Mages at the highest level in the game.
• Scattered Shots: Why certain pet families are popular
  Why do some Hunters choose bears and others go for boars? Find out here.
• Spiritual Guidance: 30 If statements that priests should adhere to
  You might be a priest if... most of your Showbiz pizza tickets came from Whack-a-mole.
• Guildwatch: Going too far
  You don't have to be in a guild full of drama to love our scandalous weekly column about how mean people are to each other in game, but it helps.

Like a burning crusade marching across the planet, World of Warcraft continues to expand with a population of 9.3 million subscribers. In late July, Blizzard announced that WoW reached the 9 million subscriber mark. All this player retention is fantastic for the game, but World of Warcraft is still an anomaly in the commercial MMORPG genre. If Lord of the Rings Online is in the number two spot like Turbine claims, they have yet to announce even hitting one million subscribers (they cover it smoothly by saying they have four million characters). Although, in all fairness, LotRO hasn't expanded into Asia yet -- that's where the real MMO money is.

Blizzard's parent company Vivendi continues to reap the financial rewards of WoW's success as their sales continue to rise. With such massive retention rates on an MMO, we can only imagine what happens when Wrath of the Lich King, the next expansion for WoW, releases sometime next year.

[Via Massively]

A Spectral Tiger from the World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game recently sold on eBay for $2000. If we'd have known that the Spectral Tiger that WoW Insider gave away last month would sell for $2000, we would have said. "Contest be damned! We're going to Vegas baby!" The reason the card is so special is because it also gives you a rare mount inside of WoW once you input a code.

Another reason the card sold for so much is that the card set it comes form, Fires of Outland, won't even be out until August 22nd. Beyond that, it's still apparently a rare card. As WoW Insider points out, $2000 is 11 years of game time -- and yes, that's the way they think about these things. Of course, like all things WoW, people go nuts and spend all this money and time on something to only have to be made completely uncool and pointless by something else a month later. But, you know, you're still World of Warcraft cool for a whole month.

If there is anything that the World of Warcraft trailer pretty much said outright, it's that hair styles and new dances are important to many in the WoW community. The fact that Wrath of the Lich King would have new hairstyles and new dances were bullet points number five and six after some major game changing information. Having been witness to people getting rid of characters they've been working on due to their hairstyle, a little trip to the beauty shop to see Miss Latifah could have prevented such needless deletion.

WoW Insider opens up the creepy questions like wondering if there will be quests for dances and hairdos. We fear the idea of an epic hairdo quest. All that grinding for reputation with some faction just to have that '80s punk hairstyle we've always wanted. Although, an epic hairdo would probably stand out just as much as an armor set without all that pesky raiding. We're just happy to know that no more senseless toons will be dipped because their owner got tired of their hairstyle.

There may not be an official Blizzard date for Wrath of the Lich King, or even technically a price, but there is a name ... and where there's a name, there's a pre-order! GameStop has opened up pre-orders for the next expansion in the World or Warcraft that'll bring it back to the old skool Warcraft III plot line and have adventurers heading to Northrend to kill (or maybe bring redemption to) Prince Arthas.

The price for the expansion is currently listed at $39.99, which is a safe bet considering that was the cost of The Burning Crusade. Although who are we to fight if Blizzard decided to drop that price by a measly $10. It's not like they need the money.

WoW Insider covered BlizzCon 2007 for the World of Warcraft junkies like Nutella covers our toast: rich, thick and with a constant need for more. They've now put up their info dump of everything new they've learned about WoW at the convention. All hard facts, no speculation. They even put it in alphabetical order for quick reference enjoyment so WoW players can go back to getting that eighth alt to lvl 70.

If there is anything WoW Insider missed on their list, just let them know in their comments thread. Unlike The Burning Crusade, Northrend and the Wrath of the Lich King represents a continuation of the plot line from Warcraft III, something that many fans of the RTS series, who also play WoW, have been begging for. With any luck we'll get a release date soon, as things stand right now the time line could be very similar to The Burning Crusade and Blizzard may actually keep its every year expansion word -- give or take a few months.

Before we proceed, please take this with a brick of salt -- ready? Let's go. WoW Insider received information from an anonymous tipster that the Video Games Live orchestra will be performing three pieces called "Northrend 1, 2,and 3" at next week's BlizzCon. WoW Insider dug deeper and found the track names do not appear on Warcraft II, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft or the Burning Crusade soundtracks. This could mean the continent of Northrend will finally come into play in the next expansion and gamers will be able to take on Warcraft III's anti-hero/villain (depending on your perspective), the fallen Prince Arthas, who now sits on The Frozen Throne.

World of Warcraft has left two major sections of Warcraft III's story open, one of which, if the information is solid, will hopefully be tied up in a battle with Arthas. The other being the glowing pink sparkly bubble protecting the city of Dalaran, which has taunted WoW players for over two years. Then again, Blizzard can take its sweet time, it's not like they're hurting for players, and introduce The Emerald Dream or take on the expansive ocean in the next expansion. BlizzCon starts next weekend and Joystiq, along with WoW Insider, will be there covering it to let you know about the latest from Blizzard's franchises.