Level 80 and other major new highlights from the Beta [Updated]
by Adam Holisky 
Aug 21st 2008 at 11:05PM
Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan posted several new changes that are appearing in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta tonight. The highlights include:- Level cap raised to 80.
- Less XP required for 70 to 80*
- Storm Peaks zone available, Icecrown unavailable.
- Follow dungeons available:
- Halls of Lightning
- Halls of Stone
- Caverns of Time: Stratholme
- The Occulus
- Utgarde Pinnacle
- Heroic Nexus
*We did some rough calculations. Daniel's Hunter was approximately 50% of the way through level 70. His hunter is now 60% of the way through level 70. Thus, the XP required to level was reduced by approximately 20%. These are just rough estimates, and no official word on the percentage has came out yet.
Update 11:49 p.m. EDT: Zarhym has said that patch notes are still being compiled. We'll have them up as soon as Blizzard releases them.
Filed under: News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Darkthunder Aug 21st 2008 11:19PM
First heroic is now available?
Awesome, now we might finally see the good loot appearing on Wowhead :D
Whoopssa Aug 21st 2008 11:20PM
Hooray for some CoT: Strat spoilage!
Will the Infinite Dragonflight be involved? Stay tuned!
Zuldim Aug 21st 2008 11:24PM
Yaaay. Stratholme FTW.
I hope they have the living version of the mob who drops the piccolo of the flaming fire in the dungeon... With the same aura!
germ0nik Aug 21st 2008 11:30PM
Cool to see the estimated exp reduction.
And first heroic, most excellent.
ihealandkill Aug 22nd 2008 8:24AM
well pre patch 74-75 was 2.2m and after this patch it is 1.8m so a drop of 400k is very nice :p just checked it out this morning
epsilon343 Aug 21st 2008 11:47PM
Can't wait to see what Stratholme looks like as well as the purple loot.
Rissole Aug 22nd 2008 12:08AM
Tonnes of new engineering devices in this patch!
Gnomish Army Knife: Jumper cables, Gyromatic micro-adjuster, arclight spanner, skinning knife, mining pick, flint and tinder and blacksmithing hammer all in one!
(Also Bladed Pickaxe and Hammer Pick combos that can be made for non-engineers)
Gnomish X-Ray Specs: See players without clothing or armor!
Noise Machine: Trinket with +63 Spell Power and can proc a Sonic Shield when you take melee damage, absorbing 1100 dmg
Sonic Booster: Melee combat causes a proc increasing attack power by 430 for 10sec.
MOLL-E: Portable mailbox (5 min uptime, 1day cooldown)
Explosive decoys, new bombs, scopes, Epic gun, goggles and more!
Ametrine Aug 22nd 2008 1:48AM
God, I hope you're right...
Ichthus Aug 22nd 2008 2:23AM
Must have Gnomish Army Knife!
I also like the changes they've made to how Potion Injectors work. Now engineers don't have to worry about getting the potions themselves and can just sell the kits to make the injectors (which I imagine means more profit for the engineers).
Hudders Aug 22nd 2008 4:54AM
"Also Bladed Pickaxe and Hammer Pick combos that can be made for non-engineers"
lol, didn't I comment that this was needed yesterday??
I am Nostradamus, hear me roar!
Darkthunder Aug 22nd 2008 12:16AM
Over at MMO-Champion they've listed literally tons of cool new stuff... Including MOLL-E, an engineering-built portable mailbox :P
Drad Aug 22nd 2008 1:05AM
i hope that they release some mroe druid stuff. they said that they'd atleast look at the talent trees
Zakk Aug 22nd 2008 1:27AM
Kick ass. Can't wait to see some Storm Peaks screen shots. That's the zone I'm most excited for. And I'm very excited for the premades. Now I won't have to give away a BETA key if I ever get one. Couldn't level one of my toons from 70-80 and I couldn't just tool around for a few hours without a bunch of guilt for wasting my key.
twh Aug 22nd 2008 1:52AM
Wonderful, Warriors get buffed, paladins get nerfed. Just another day for Kalgan.
jbodar Aug 22nd 2008 5:56AM
Weren't Retadins "loving tenderly" pretty much everything on the test realms?
Veras Aug 22nd 2008 2:51AM
I'm quite looking forward to the gnomish swiss army knife. It'll save a lot of space, and it'd be nice if the chance of resurrection success is higher too.
I like that they're focusing on warriors more now, but still no glyphs for warriors. Just about everyone else has a glyph, save for Warriors and Death Knights.
I like that they're giving shield wall a buff on how much damage you absorb. However I am quite disappointed with some of the other changes.
Damage increase for a longer cooldown on thunderclap could be good, could be bad. If they're making it the warrior's consecration, great, but if it's a small damage buff then not so great. I'd much rather be able to spam it more often.
The massive increase on shield block is also rather annoying. 30 seconds before was fine. With the talent points it's only a 10 second cooldown. Now it's a 40 second cooldown, with a single block. They're making shield block situational now.
Veras Gunn Aug 22nd 2008 3:37AM
Oh, and I rather like the new tanking gun they've added. The gyro-balanced khorium destroyer was only a tanking gun because it had a lot of stamina, but the Nestingway 4000 is made for tanks, no way around it. A lot of stamina, a blue socket with a stamina bonus, defense bonus, and hit rating. It's beautiful.
Fletch Aug 22nd 2008 3:12AM
That is a hellish clump of content for one patch. Seems to me the release of WotLK will be sooner rather than later
Fooliecoolie Aug 22nd 2008 7:43AM
Barber shop and being able to mount in cities are fixed...
FireStar Aug 22nd 2008 9:43AM
I think you means : Less XP required 60 - 70