Lich King set to introduce "Legacy Items" to World of Warcraft

Last week's explosion of news about Blizzard's in-development Wrath of the Lich King expansion revealed a number of interesting design choices. Overall, the company seems to be refocusing World of Warcraft to a more casual-friendly experience. 5- and 10- man instances will be the main thrust of the endgame, Death Knights offer a viable "leg up" for players wanting to quest with their friends on other servers, and possible plans to offer interesting extensions of the recruit-a-friend service.

In an interview with TenTonHammer, Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton have revealed that another element will aid this design direction. Certain high level encounters may provide characters with so-called "Legacy Items". These items (weapons and armor, we assume) will bind to your player account - not to your specific character. The items can then transfer between different characters on your account, via the in-game mail system. Intriguingly, it sounds as if there will be no level restriction on this amazing loot. Said Kaplan, "They're deliberately created as twink items ... so you can be deliberately overpowered for a low level character to help level up or whatever."

Make sure to check out the interview for more on the company's design intentions, hints at a "Kick off to Northrend" world event, and more reassurances that the Death Knight won't break the game.