After the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King was announced, the BlizzCon audience erupted in applause, clamoring for more. To oblige its loyal fanbase, Blizzard held a demo, showing the world what was in store for its new World of Warcraft expansion.

The Wrath of the Lich King takes players to a new area in northern Azeroth, Northrend, where the fallen prince Arthas plots and schemes on a way to wreak havoc on the world. As soon as players enter the new area, they'll be thrown into a new world of trouble that includes an original storyline, a level 80 cap, new skills, abilities, dungeons, gear, an extra profession and a brand new hero class, providing an added level of longevity to the world's most popular MMO.

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: RPG
Release: TBA

The crowd was greeted by Jeff Kaplan, Corey Stockton, Tom Chilton and Lee Sparks as they thanked the audience for their continued support of the game and promised that the best is yet to come.

First thing discussed during the overview was the new areas contained inside of Northrend. The area is set up to be fairly friendly to those just entering, as Blizzard has included two entry points into the continent's design: one in the eastern zone of Howling Fjord and another in the western zone of Borean Tundra. Both will have the same level range, so you can start on either area and have a unique experience while leveling up.

Northrend was designed to be an icy, mountainous area, but the creative team felt that approach would quickly become tedious, so rather than just having a series of bleak, icy areas, there will be some variety interspersed through Northrend. Howling Fjord will be a mix of forests and bleak, arid mountain areas complete with fiery wreckage of ruined airships found strewn throughout the area, reflecting the home of the evil Viking-type race that calls the zone home.

The Borean Tundra is a contrasting zone, with an icy environment that is, at the same time, being melted, so the area will have frigid areas, while others will be water-logged. Another distinct zone is Grizzly Hills, which is just north of Howling Fjord in the east, which is the homeland of the Furbolgs found throughout the game. Reflecting the native inhabitants, this zone is described as a sort of redwood forest and it's certainly something that hasn't been seen before in WoW. The area looks like it came straight out the end scenes of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, where the areas included snowy mountain areas mixed with a warmer, more inviting lush forest area.

The area that leads a bit more heavily into the game lore and the Arthas storyline is Dragonblight, as it acts as the segue between the starting zones and the end level segments of the game. As the game lore would have Dragonblight act as the place where dragons go to die, this arctic tundra type area is a very bleak and intimidating zone and is littered with the giant skeletons of the deceased dragons. This zone leads into Zul'Drak and other higher level areas of the game, making it act as a common hub for the continent.

Just north of Dragonblight is the contintent's new capital city, Dalaran. This magic proficient city moved itself from the Hillsbrad Foothils over to Northrend to be on the front line against the forces of the scourge. As such, the various end game trainers and merchants will be in Dalaran. The city itself will still be protected by the magic dome and will be hovering in the air above the zone. Players will still be able to reach it from the ground, but the city will also have the usual flight paths and will also be accessible by the flying mounts.

With the expansion comes new PvP improvements and additions, including the new siege weapons, that will allow for players to destroy various in-game structures. In fact, there will be a new battleground dedicated to the destruction of enemy structures in what the programmers are hoping to be a 15 man battle ground with the pace of Arathi Basin - that is to say it's aiming to be a quick, fun 30(ish) minute match where the goal is just to destroy the enemy base. The more structures you demolish, the more honor you get.

Along with the new battleground comes a new arena season, complete with new gear and a new map. Also on its way is a non-instanced PvP zone called Lake Wintergrasp, dedicated to PvP action similar to what's found in the Eastern Plaguelands or the Hellfire Peninsula. While you're questing in this new area, should the desire to get some quick non-instanced honor arise, this is where you'll want to be.

To compliment all of these new bits of gear and new zones comes the new inscription profession. This profession is sounding like it will change bring a new depth to the already deep game, as it will allow you to alter spells to have extra abilities, similar to what jewelcrafting did with weapons. This will allow players to potentially their skills and spells alter along the lines of having a fireball with a knockback and stun ability, which could assist in the their characters becoming that much more unique.

Finally, perhaps the largest announcement of the day lies with the new class, the death knight. This new class is in fact the first hero class in World of Warcraft, and as such, it'll take some doing before you can use it in the game, but it's sounding like the effort will be worth it. The death knight is designed to be a hybrid class, combining the traits of tank and dps classes, doing away with some of the redundant things from both gameplay styles.