Knight of the Silver Hand and heir to the throne of Lordaeron, Prince Arthas Menethil was forced to watch masses of his people succumb to a plague which converts innocent people into the mindless undead scourge armies controlled by the Lich King. Growing obsessed with vengeance, Arthas travels to Northrend to take up the legendary runeblade Frostmourne, a sword of eternal power given at the cost of one’s soul. Wielding Frostmourne, Arthas is able to gain his vengeance on the dreadlord Mal’Ganis but in doing so is consumed by Frostmourne and forms a bond with the Lich King. Arthas returns home to Lordaeron with his undead army, murders his father and sets the scourge loose. Easily what I have always considered to be the climax to the Warcraft universe, the doors to the Icecrown Citadel have finally opened and the Lich King will be brought to justice.

The opening of the Icecrown Citadel includes a brand new 5-man dungeon and the 10/25-man raid I have been looking forward to since Warcraft III.  The dungeon, known as Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls is split into three wings known as The Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and the Halls of Reflection which will be traversed with Jaina Proudmoore(Alliance) and Sylvanas Windrunner(Horde) for the ultimate goal of a showdown with the Lich King himself.  Alternatively, raiders are treated to a massive raid environment known as Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Throne which sprawls across three wings before challenging Arthas himself, much reminiscent of the layout of Naxxramas.  Among the patch update is a long overdue quest tracking system with map integration and a new legendary weapon called “Shadowmourne”.

It makes me sick to think about how much time I have invested in World of Warcraft upgrading my character to Tier 7.5 equipment and rather disappointed that this new patch will be introducing Tier 10 which, for those bad at math, means I will need to upgrade through two full gear sets until I am ready to even step foot in the new content. This wouldn’t even be that big of a deal if not for the fact that I no longer have a good guild to help me out, so I am literally starting at point zero unless I can recognize someone’s moniker from almost a year ago to get me started. I imagine, on best-case scenario basis, it will take approximately three or four weeks of raids to get up to the point where I can start contributing in a guild again and it makes me wonder if I even have the time for such a commitment again or the patience(the worst part of World of Warcraft has always been the other players).