This Persistent Life: Lich King Predictions

Amidst all the hubbub about WoW's second expansion, we make three predictions that are sure to get you thinking.

Yes, this week's column is yet again about WoW. I know I've been writing about it a great deal lately, but given the recent announcement of the second expansion, I feel I have to strike while the iron is hot. The game is on a lot of people's minds, my own included, and it simply wouldn't do to not hit it at this crucial moment.

So, Wrath of the Lich King... it's official, and it's huge. With the second expansion will come siege warfare, hero classes, and a 10-level increase to the cap. It's big stuff, and while it's far enough away to not immediately invalidate efforts to progress in the current iteration of the game, there's enough solid info out there to speculate about.

In this installment of This Persistent Life, I'm going to make three predictions based on what little we know. Though I pride myself on having a brain that's in tune with the cosmic mathematics, my crystal ball is sometimes cloudy. So please, if some of this turns out to be BS, keep your lolz mostly to yourself.

So here they are: three predictions, short and sweet.

The inscription profession will radically change PvP

...or, at the very least, make it much more complex than it currently is. From the sounds of it, you're going to be able to customize your character's core abilities--think adding a stun effect to Mortal Strike, or a snare to Aimed Shot. Depending on how deep they allow players to go with the profession, the ramifications for PvP can be monumental. We don't have much to go on, currently; the only example Blizzard has given so far was in the form of an off the cuff remark during the expansion's Blizzcon demo where lead designer Tom Chilton mused about how cool it would be for a mage's Fireball spell to have an added knock-back effect. If this is reflective of the way it's going to work, then yeah, we're looking at something potentially huge.

Here's one complication that I could see arising: what if, say, the most powerful inscription recipes are only available in raid instances? Would PvPers who choose not to raid be denied access? Depending on the profession's mechanics, this could very well be the case.

Blizzard established a precedent with the implementation of jewelcrafting in the first expansion. In my opinion, it was a positive one; there isn't a gem in the game that can single-handedly turn the tide of an encounter. Hopefully, inscription will be implemented as carefully as jewelcrafting was.

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