Yup, all the gear you've worked so hard to get since the release of the Burning Crussade will be made obselete with The Wrath of the Lich King.

We did that for about 2 years, then The Burning Crusade came out, and we've been doing it again for about a year so far, seems it's about time for a change of pace and a real big update again.

Also "resetting" the gear helps even out the playing field which can especially be helpful for new characters (Ex. Deathknights) or people who want to get into raiding. Those who want to be on the bleeding edge will get back to it, but I don't think it hurts anything to do this. No items you get make you permanently great, you need to keep playing to maintain awesomeness.

The game moves forward.

From their Wrath of the Lich King product page:

Official price and release date have NOT been announced by Blizzard. In this case, the price and release date were determined by the GameStop e-commerce staff, (comprised of overpowered warlocks), using a combination of 6 and 20-sided die.

Is Amazon.co.uk incorrect in saying that 8 January is the release of Wrath of the Lich King - heck yes they are!

Vivendi in a press release indicated 1st half of 2008--announcements of that nature usually mean the very last day of the first half.

And Blizzard has in the past pretty much delayed any game they felt wasn't ready--missing holiday shopping season whenever the game wasn't done. So all dates are made up dates until Blizzard releases one.

World of Raids discovered a hidden link that reveals some new information about Wrath of the Lich King, particularly the Utgarde Keep dungeon.

"Utgarde’s design ties closely into the creation of Howling Fjord as a whole. Less high-concept than the otherworldly and wildly diverse regions of Outland, we want the zones in Northrend to follow a geographic theme that’s more consistent with the familiar geography of Azeroth. Many of Northrend’s regions originally appeared in Warcraft III – such as Howling Fjord, one of the two starting areas and also where Utgarde Keep is prominently located. Howling Fjord’s Azerothian feel stands in sharp contrast to the stark, alien beauty of Hellfire Peninsula, and this should help players establish an immediate connection to the expansion’s new environments."

For all you budding webmasters out there, Blizzard have released an official Wrath of the Lich King fansite kit. It contains:

• Concept art for Wrath of the Lich King
  
• Wrath of the Lich King avatar pictures
  
• Sample HTML to help you with your page layout
  
• Logos for Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard, and Battle.net
  
• Wallpapers
  
• Wrath of the Lich King fact sheet and FAQ
  
• A sample Wrath of the Lich King article
  
• Graphics source files to help you with your own designs

Blizzard are confirming that there is no Wrath of the Lich King beta yet.

It would seem that there is a new trend of "malicious" sites, as well as e-mails, claiming to provide contests and other opportunities for WoW players to win an entry in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta.
We want to make it absolutely clear that we have NOT yet opened any form of public Beta. Nor do we currently have an ETA for one.
If and/or when we should decide to start a public Beta for WotLK, we will endeavour to make sure that everyone is well informed and timely notified of such an event. 

There is a brand new Death Knight Q&A up on the official Wrath of Lich King site.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will add a new option to the game’s class roster with the introduction of the first hero class, the necromantic death knight. During the Second and Third Wars, the people of Azeroth learned to fear these merciless, unholy warriors and their terrifying runeblades. Leading legions of the undead into battle during the Third War, the Lich King’s death knights proved both their strength and their cunning on several occasions, making them an invaluable part of the Scourge army.

In Wrath of the Lich King, you will be able to pick up a runeblade, don some plate armor, and wreak serious havoc using both melee abilities and offensive magic. To give you an early glimpse at the design philosophy behind the new class, we sat down with the World of Warcraft design team to talk about the role the death knight will play in the expansion’s story as well as in its gameplay, and to get their thoughts about goals and ideas for the new class.