Breakfast Topic: I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds

Forgive me for quoting Oppenheimer quoting the Baghavad Gita. It just seemed a very appropriate title for a post about how the Wrath story arc is about to come full circle.

If you play or have played a DK past level 58, you had the experience of the DK starting area, with the intensely well crafted solo play from doomed soul raised from death by the Lich King to rising power among the armies of the dead to eventual rebellion against the Lich King and his designs for Azeroth. Even if you haven't, if you're level 74 or above I hope you've experienced the Wrathgate event, with its excellent cinematic. (If you have not been to the Wrathgate yet somehow, don't click those links.)

Now, as we digest our BlizzCon diet of news and information from this weekend, we now know that a new expansion is in the works and we, therefore, can anticipate the last act of this expansion when we storm Icecrown Citadel and confront Arthas/Nerzhul in his seat of power. In the very near future, we are going to be fighting the Lich King, and when he eventually is defeated we will have come to an end to this particular story. If you're playing a DK in particular, this is the big moment for you. While we don't know what, exactly, will be happening to Arthas we do know that with his defeat, your DK has done what Darion Mograine set out to do and defeated the very being who raised the Death Knights to their shallow unlife.

Even if you aren't a DK this is a huge moment. The villain who destroyed Lordaeron and condemned its people to horrid undeath, the former fair haired boy of the Kingdom, the one behind the death of Saurfang the Younger and (possibly) Bolvar Fordragon, the despoiler of Zul'Drak, the man who burned Stratholme and chased Malganis only to lose his own soul in the process, the entity who served Kil'Jaeden willingly in corrupting the Horde only to learn too late how wrong he was... this paired essence of menace, these joined voices of darkness are going down, and it's you who is making it happen. If you're an orc, this is the guy who traded your people to demons. If you're a human or a Forsaken, here is your chance to revenge the destruction, slaughter, and slavery. Blood Elves? This is the guy who stormed Silvermoon and who destroyed the Sunwell, dooming you and your Prince to the pains and madness that nearly destroyed you and which did make your beloved Prince Kael'Thas a slave to ever increasing obsession and insanity.

Draenei? Here's the guy who pointed the orcs at your people and nearly wiped you out, and then managed to blow up your freaking planet.

This is a huge moment. More so than Ragnaros, or Illidan, or any of the previous big bosses of World of Warcraft up till now, both sides of the Lich King are tragic figures but they're also personally damned and reviled because of their own actions, understandable but still monsters, and you will have the chance to be part of the group that kills the King of Death itself. You will defeat Death, the destroyer of worlds. You've killed the Old God of Death, and now you get to take down the mocker of fate, the raiser of the dead, the defiler of the slain.

So the question I put forth for you to discuss, my friends, is this: are you prepared?

I'm very sorry, but it had to be done. Are you ready to kill the Lich King? Are you ready for the end of Wrath? Did it come too soon, take too long, or are you feeling that the time has indeed come and you'e ready to go? Will you be raiding Icecrown when it launches? Is it too soon, do you feel that the time has not yet come, or are you set to roll on the Citadel as soon as patch 3.3 drops?