World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Disappointingly, we don't see any destructibility first-hand. Something else we don't see - but do talk about - is the new profession, Inscription. Inscribers will create glyphs that allow players to modify their spells and abilities. Going by the first recipe, which requires Peacebloom, they'll rely on the herbalist gathering profession. Every player will get a new spell book page to which they can add six glyphs - currently, four major and two minor.

Major glyphs will be effective in combat - adding damage over time or stun to a physical attack, for example - while minor glyphs will give convenient or cosmetic improvements, removing the need for some spell reagents. Like jewels and enchants, they'll be useful to every player; unlike enchants, they can be sold on the auction house, and indeed plans are afoot to allow enchanters to use auctions to sell their wares as well.

One rather important new feature of Lich King remains to discuss: the first new character class since WOW launched, and the first Hero class, the Death Knight. This plate-armoured undead warrior will specialise either in dealing damage or taking it (tanking), and is available to every race. We didn't get to play it for ourselves, but we did see it in action and hear more about it, and were frankly amazed. Show-stopping, inventive, and designed for fun before balance, this is WOW class design at its best.

Contrary to initial plans, the only requirement for creating a Death Knight, which starts at level 55, is another character at 55 or above. But they don't need to be on the same server, making the Death Knight a sensationally welcome fast-track to the later levels if you want to join new friends. Another barrier lifted. The Death Knight has its own starting zone and quest line, gets a Death Charger mount as a quest reward, and has an accelerated learning curve - you start with six skills and gain two every level for the first few levels at least.

Its twin resource mechanic of runes (in a customisable combination of six, used to cast spells) and runic power (built up over time to unleash finishing moves) is a fair bit more involved than anything else in the game - not for novices, but with fascinating potential. There are three "presences", aligned with three talent trees: Blood, Unholy and Frost. Frost deals damage, Blood is for tanking - caster tanking especially - and Unholy has a PVP focus, with increased movement and attack speeds.

Notable skills include the abilities to heal undead characters, convert magical damage into runic power, perform pulls and knock-backs, and summon powerful Ghoul minions which can leap, stun and be sacrificed for health. The Death Knight can even resurrect other players as Ghouls, with a temporary set of bespoke Ghoul abilities. The Tauren Death Knight we saw in action was a rampaging force of nature, much more showy and reckless than a Warrior, and we can't wait to get our hands on one.

Like so much of Wrath of the Lich King, the Death Knight is a bold, grand gesture; in both its design, and the way it's made available, it changes big things about WOW, and does so for good. Expected it might have been, but conservative it isn't, and what's more, it has a perfect thematic link to the new geographical and story elements of the expansion.

But it's that geography, and that story, that look like being Lich King's greatest achievements. Everything about this expansion has a momentous, epic sweep to it; the music is spine-tingling, the environmental art is breathtaking, the zones lead smoothly into each other. Even the shortest, most throwaway quest lines seem to take you somewhere interesting; while the pervasive main plot inspires a sense of grand adventure, of common purpose, that should finally bring WOW's disparate players together, and respond to the new benchmark in MMO storytelling set by Lord of the Rings Online.

If Burning Crusade was a wild explosion of ideas, then Lich King is shaping up to be a smoothly orchestrated crescendo of them. It brings to mind the elegance, coherence and sense of direction of the Blood Elf starting areas - perhaps the jewel in Burning Crusade's crown - only achieved across an entire continent.

"Northrend's been kind of a coming home," lead designer Jeff Kaplan told us. Despite the fact that Blizzard has been working on WOW non-stop for some eight years now, he maintains that his team is currently "in love with it". As surprising as that it is, we don't doubt it for a second. In every aspect of Wrath of the Lich King, it shows.