World of Warcraft - Naxxramas Necropolis

In upcoming Patch 1.11, one of Azeroth’s most feared denizens – Kel’Thuzad, the right hand of the Lich King himself – will return with the horrors of the undead in his wake. New background on the lair of Kel’Thuzad, the dungeon Naxrammas, has been released:

Several years ago, the Lich King preyed upon the mind of one of the most reckless magi of the Kirin Tor: Kel’Thuzad, whose obsession with the dark arts had ever concerned his fellow magi. Eventually he became one of the Lich King’s most valuable servants. It was Kel’Thuzad upon whom the Lich King bestowed the task of assembling the Cult of the Damned, opening the way for the Scourge and ultimately for the Burning Legion’s invasion of Azeroth. The Lich King promised Kel’Thuzad eternal life, and the Lich King kept his promise. After Arthas slew the wretched mage, Kel’Thuzad was brought back from the dead to continue his cursed existence as a powerful lich, locked in the service of his dark master for all eternity. The necropolis Naxxramas is the seat of Kel’Thuzad’s evil, from which he oversees the Scourge and heeds his lord’s command. A dreadful dawn is rising in the east as the Lich King’s dark minions prepare to descend upon Azeroth. Soon the Scourge will march again, and this time there is no prophet to speak the warning, no gallant knight to fight the coming darkness, no legendary hero to thwart the monstrosity on the Frozen Throne. Who, then, will be the fire that burns against the cold, the light of hope that prevails beneath the shadow of the necropolis?

Player Limit: 40-players Raid dungeon
Location: Deep within Stratholme Instance, in the Eastern Plaguelands, can be found the entrance to Naxxramas Necropolis instance. To the left-side of Baron Rivendare’s Slaughterhouse can be found a gate that leads to the sub-instance. The Necropolis floats above the city of Stratholme.
Description: Four wings instances – Abomination wing, Necro Wing, Death Knight Wing and Spider Wing. There will be 18 Bosses. Prepare for a Frost Wyrm battle and the final showdown with Kel’Thuzad.
Importance: The last time the Spellbook of Medivh was seen was when Kel’Thuzad summoned Archimonde – the demonlord of the Burning Legion – into Azeroth at Dalaran. The final boss of Naxxramas Necropolis is Kel’Thuzad, which gives path to the idea that warlocks may be able to loot the Spellbook of Medivh, as an important item needed to open the Dark Portal in Blastedlands when World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade is released.

Tigole: “Naxxramas is going to be the most difficult thing in the game until the expansion pack comes out. It will be the pinnacle, and it’s absolutely massive. You’ll see this big necropolis floating above Eastern Plaguelands. It’s a 40-man raid zone, and it’s bigger than the Undercity [one of the main cities in the game]. Things could change, but we’re up to something like 18 bosses in there, and they are really cool, too. But it’s going to be hard. Really hard. We’re hoping to release it in the spring.

Naxxramas will just be open. But we do want to do a world event, which we want to call the Scourge Invasion, or hopefully something cooler than that, that would basically be something for everyone who’s not going into Naxxramas. So they would see the impact without having to actually go in. In other words, get ready for undead to pop up in some unlikely places.”—New York Times

Tigole: “Naxxramas will come out in Patch 1.11 and will be previewed at E3 in a couple of weeks. This raid dungeon is massive and hosts more bosses than you can wave a stick at. And a really big stick at that. Currently, Naxxramas is in internal testing. After a few more weeks of internal testing, well put it on the PTRs for an extended test period so that you guys have time to hammer the encounters and provide us with feedback. We’ll also be doing a lot of tuning during internal testing and during the PTR time. Expect the difficulty of encounters to fluctuate a lot on the PTRs. Expect a lot of info regarding Naxxramas to come out during E3. Patch 1.11 will introduce Tier 3 items.”—April 27, 2006

Continues: Road to Damnation – Page 2