The town is quiet. Not a monster is stirring. The villagers stare straight ahead, painted faces frozen, waiting for someone to talk to. Nobody ever comes.

Nothing is more sad than an empty MMO. What was once a bustling crossroad of virtual activity becomes a dead, static mountain of data. Without human players to fill in the roles, whole continents can be reduced to lonely collections of unused backdrops. Even mindless gold farmers can become a welcome sight.

Sometimes an entire world becomes a barren wasteland as the popularity of an online game declines. In the case of Blizzard's immensely popular World of Warcraft, older territories are simply abandoned for bigger zones and better raids, left behind like worthless, ethereal loot.

And while many accept the cycle and look forward to new expansions, other players aren't always entirely happy to see their old haunts transform into ghost towns. ... Read more

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the PC MMO's second expansion, will launch between October and December of this year.

"We have said that it will be coming out this year," Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed in a conference call today. "I can tell you it's not coming in the July to September quarter."

As for the Wrath of the Lich King beta, access for which has sold for upwards of $1000, Morhaime noted that "testing is going very well."

During the call, Morhaime also mentioned that 40% of the World of Warcraft subscribers that left for Age of Conan have since returned, along with a few other tidbits regarding Diablo 3, StarCraft 2, and the studio's next MMO.

Serial codes granting access to Blizzard's recently launched World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC) beta are being sold on internet auction site eBay for exorbitant sums of money following the beta's launch late last week.

According to Eurogamer, the beta keys have sold as high as €652 ($1022) on internet auction site eBay's UK arm. Meanwhile, recently completed listings in North America range anywhere from $200 to $650, with one listing going for $735.

Originally distributed at Blizzard's BlizzCon 2007 and 2008 Worldwide Invitational, the keys were recently revealed to grant entry to the anticipated expansion's beta testing phase. The only other means of gaining access is by way of an opt-in sign-up page, from which participants are randomly selected.

Wrath of the Lich King marks the second expansion to the wildly popular fantasy MMO, and includes the title's first hero class, the Death Knight.

The expansion is set to make its full retail debut by the year's end.

Serial codes handed out at Blizzard's BlizzCon 2007 and 2008 Worldwide Invitational will allow players access to a beta testing of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC), the company revealed today.

The news arose in a forum post written by a Blizzard representative, who stated that attendees of either event who have their keys on hand can register the codes on the company's official beta sign-up page.

Those eager players who did not attend BlizzCon or this year's Worldwide Invitational can participate in an "opt-in" beta sign-up, in which participants will be chosen at random. A launch date for the beta has not yet been disclosed.

Marking the second expansion of the wildly popular fantasy MMO, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will include the MMO's first Hero class, the Death ... Read more

Blizzard has begun allowing World of Warcraft (PC) subscribers to register for the beta of the upcoming WoW expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King.

The ability to "opt in for a chance to participate" currently appears on both the European and North American account pages for subscribers, as spotted by fan website World of War. There will be no need to sprain your fingers in a rush to enter, as the selection of participants will be random.

As previously revealed, the forthcoming expansion will include the MMO's first Hero class, the Death Knight, which players will be able to create once their characters reach level 55. Lich King also offers a slew of new abilities and items to aid players in raids and new areas.

No date for the beta was specified, though studio owner Vivendi expects Lich King's new abilities, areas and Death Knight class to arrive by the year's end.

Update: The Blizzard.com splash image has been changed, with few new developments. The number/letter theory has been ruled out, as the new puzzle piece is numbered 23, which does not correspond to a letter in the word "Diablo." I've uploaded my own stab at the up-to-date puzzle, which you can view on the left.

Original story: Anticipation for a big announcement this weekend at Blizzard's World Wide Invitational event has reached a fever pitch after the company posted a slowly-revealing teaser image on its website.

While the icy image at first seems to be an obvious match for the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King--a game set on a frozen continent--several images hidden in the page's source code have been found by internet detectives. In the hopes that Blizzard is pulling a fast one, some Diablo devout have pieced together a theory that the hellish action-RPG series will in fact be the franchise to steal this weekend's show.

Pieces of an apparent six-piece puzzle, the purple-dominant pictures are being released one at a time with each change of the splash image. Here's where things get crazy.

The images released thus far--named tundra 04.jpg and cavern 15.jpg--seem to fit opposing corners of the puzzle. Using logic that could only be derived from years of following the Nancy Drew saga, the detectives have speculated that... Read more

The second expansion pack for Blizzard's so-successful-it-hurts PC MMO World of Warcraft is due out in the second half of 2008, according to studio owner Vivendi.

In financial documents released today, Vivendi twice specified that the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack would arrive in the second half of 2008. Developer Blizzard had yet to provide any sort of release estimate.

Vivendi further revealed that, as of March 31, 2008, World of Warcraft's subscriber base had grown to 10.7 million since it hit the 10 million mark in January.

For more on Lich King, check out the latest details as well as our hands-on preview and a look at the new Death Knight class.

New details regarding the Death Knight hero class in Blizzard's upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King have recently been revealed.

Players who choose to start a Death Knight character will begin their journey at level 55, the same level required to create one. Death Knights can be any race, but users will only be able to create one per server, according to Curse. Once created, they will begin the game with a series of specialized quests, designed to introduce the player to their new abilities.

As detailed before, Death Knights will have a two-tiered resource system. Runes slotted into their "blade" act as a basic requisite for certain spells. There will be three different types of runes, and some abilities will require a specific number of one type to be slotted before they can be used. Another resource, Runic Power, is then... Read more