Blizzard Entertainment reveals the Warlords of Draenor cinematic and release date.
The fifth World of Warcraft expansion finally has a release date. World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor will be released November 13, 2014. During a live streamed event today, Blizzard announced the release date for the expansion and premiered the game’s cinematic, a return to classic Warcraft featuring a battle between Grommash Hellscream and the demon Mannoroth. Blizzard also introduced the first episode of the animated lore mini-series Lords of War, starring the warlord Kargath Bladefist. The five episode mini-series will be released on YouTube over the next few weeks.
Mike Morhaime, Blizzard CEO and co-founder, says, “This expansion takes World of Warcraft back to the roots of Warcarft. You’ll explore the orc homeworld, and establish your own base of operations as you fight for the future of Azeroth.” The expansion is currently in beta, and raises the level cap to 100. Ion Hazzikostas, lead game designer, provided some more information about the level 90 boost. Boosting a character to level 90 will trigger an introductory area, similar to how Death Knights are treated. This will give new players or players trying out new classes a chance to adjust to the abilities before facing the new content.
Brian Holinka, senior game designer, spoke about the new cross-realm PvP zone Ashran. The zone supports two hundred player combat, with each side supported by reinforcements. Players can complete numerous PvP and PvE challenges to help their faction win the battle in Ashran. Success is rewarded with Ashran fragments, a new currency gained in the zone. Ashran fragments can be turned in to complete repeatable quests and to activate special features for each faction. “If you kill another player, you can loot half their Ashran fragments,” says Holinka.
Warlords of Draenor was announced at BlizzCon 2013. The expansion will add garrisons, a permanent fortress for players that can be customized with buildings and followers. Auction houses will be merged in the new expansion, meaning that Horde and Alliance players will be able to sell to each other using any auction house. The eight original character models, including humans, are also getting a complete redesign.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment
