User:Varghedin/Northrend Idea

Whispers of the Scourge is the second expansion for World of Warcraft, released on November 8th, 2008 in North America, Europe and Australia, November 25th, 2008 in Korea, and January 25th, 2009 in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The main features include an increase of the level cap, the introduction of the goblins and the furbolgs as playable races and the addition of the continent of Northrend, along with many new zones, dungeons, items, quests, and monsters.

Release information
In preparation for Whispers of the Scourge, Blizzard released Patch 3.0.1 in North America and Europe on October 1st, 2008. The patch introduced some Whispers of the Scourge content prior to the expansion itself - including a revamp of the battlegrounds, player housing, and a new talent system.

The expansion was released in standard as well as Collector's Edition packages. The Collector's Edition of Whispers of the Scourge includes a bonus Behind-The-Scenes DVD, an in-game Penguin pet and many other exclusive extras.

System requirements for both editions was raised somewhat compared to the original World of Warcraft, notably with upped requirements and recommendations for graphics cards, CPU speed and RAM memory. Blizzard has stated that the change was due to the upgraded in-game graphics.

New races
The Whispers of the Scourge expansion contains two new playable races:
 * Goblin -- The ingenious people of Kezan join the Horde in the expansion. They are led by Trade Prince Dozik Redblade, a defecting member of the neutral pact struck by the goblin oligarchy. The goblin capital is Undermine. Their racial mount is the armadillo-like groundskipper and their language is Goblin.
 * Furbolg -- A faction of uncorrupted furbolgs join the Alliance. They are led by High Mystic Jora. The furbolg capital city is Barrowhome. Their racial mount is the wooly droa beast and their language is Ursine.

The expansion also features the long-awaited hero classes to be added to the original nine classes, creating a unique versatility and specialization of the former classes. Hero classes are only available to characters at level 75 or higher. 

New mounts
Each new race received its own new mount:
 * Goblin -- a groundskipper. These mounts can be found for sale at the Glowstone Market inside Undermine.
 * Furbolg -- a droa beast ("a creature with a resemblance to a shaggy rhinocerous" - GameSpot). These mounts can be found outside the entrance to Barrowhome.

New mounts are also available via drop from high-end instances such as Uldum.

Flying mounts

 * Main article: Flying Mounts

Flying mounts are useable in Northrend at level 80. In addition to the flying mounts obtainable in Outland, the Horde and Alliance also have the bat and hippogryph, respectively, as obtainiable mounts. The epic mounts are the armored bat and armored hippogryph.

In addition, there are rare mounts such as the rimelasher (epic ground mount) and the cloudlasher (epic flying mount). A cloudlasher can be obtained by ranking first at the end of a Battleground Siege season, and the rimelasher can be obtained through a series of quests.

Priests receive Spirit Life at level 78 that offers the ability to fly through the use of a spell, and has a speed equivalent to a level 80 flying mount. . Druids may obtain a quest at level 80 to obtain a level 80 epic flight form.(since patch 3.1 ) Purchasing riding skill 375 is a requirement for the quest. 

New spells and talent tree system
In the expansion, Blizzard added five to six new spells for the 70-80 level range to each class in order to round out the classes better. The old talent tree system was also replaced by a cross-feed system, and all classes have additional talents leading up to a 51 talent point ability..

Since hero classes are available from level 75, Blizzard added new abilities to each class to further specify their roles in the game and to build up to the change into hero classes. Information about changes and additions for several of the other classes is available from the official site.

See each class's respective page for more specific information regarding new spells and talents.

New starting areas
The goblins have three new starting areas located in the South Seas:
 * Deeping Vale - Level 1-10
 * Isle of Kezan - Level 10-20
 * Southsea Islands - Level 20-30

Similarly, the furbolgs have three starting zones in north-central Kalimdor:
 * Echobole|The Echobole - Level 1-10
 * Mistshear Wildlands - Level 10-20
 * Hyjal - Level 20-30

New continent
The expansion heralds the addition of Northrend, an entirely new continent, reachable by skyship (Alliance) and zeppelin (Horde) from Hyjal and Isle of Kezan, respectively. You may find an interactive map of Northrend here and a detailed map here.

Northrend contains the following zones:
 * Howling Fjord - Level 68-71
 * Grizzly Hills - Level 70-73
 * The Dragonblight - Level 71-74
 * Borean Tundra - Level 73-75
 * Zul'Drak - Level 74-76
 * Crystalsong Forest - Level 75-77
 * The Storm Peaks - Level 76-78
 * Sholazar Basin - Level 77-79
 * Coldarra - Level 78-80
 * Icecrown Glacier - Level 79-80

New high-level dungeons
The expansion has added several dungeons, including many in Northrend and Azeroth. The dungeons contain a plethora of new equipment including Tier 7, Tier 8 and Tier 9 armor pieces.

Kalimdor

 * Uldum in Tanaris
 * Barrow Deeps in Hyjal
 * Fall of Lordaeron in Caverns of Time

Northrend

 * Drak'Tharon Keep in Grizzly Hills
 * Azjol-Nerub in the Dragonblight
 * Riplash Ruins in Borean Tundra
 * Gundrak in Zul'Drak
 * Ulduar in the Storm Peaks
 * The Nexus in Coldarra
 * Icecrown Citadel in Icecrown Glacier