We've been very forthcoming with the truth. Let's look at it from this angle. Downranking added a lot of extra considerations to design and balance. When people downrank, it changes the complexities of different encounters and how those complexities play into the design. We don't want to penalize people using low ranked spells because this doesn't quite address the issue of downranking either. So what we're doing instead is finding a consistent cost of mana across the board and making it so that when you rank up, you get more benefit out of that higher ranked spell. The cost should remain largely consistent as you go along.

What Zarhym has said and what Wryxian has said are not at odds with each other. One is simply saying "this wasn't intended" the other was saying "if you're going to do it, this is the strategy people are using" and highlighting someone elses' post. We are not advocating downranking, but we are now making it a thing of the past.

See forums post, under information, for more details.

Re-posted from the World of Warcraft website:

Today we opened the Wrath of the Lich King Beta Opt-In program, which gives players a chance to win an invitation to the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King beta. For The Burning Crusade beta, we randomly invited players from the entire World of Warcraft community. With the Opt-In, our goal is to strengthen the beta-testing process by inviting only those players who have expressed active interest in participating.

Keep in mind that opting in doesn't guarantee you'll be selected for the beta. And players who've previously been promised beta access through a promotion or contest (such as by purchasing the Dell XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition notebook) don't need to worry -- you'll still be entered into the beta automatically when the time comes.

To opt in to the Wrath of the Lich King beta, visit the Beta Opt-In page.

General

* PvP armor and Tiered armor will have completely different graphics in Lich King

* The Badge of Justice system will stay in place, but the Badges will be replaced with something new

* It's possible players will have to obtain badges from different instances/raids or tokens to go with the badges, to obtain different tiers of armor/weapons, not just select from a huge range of gear using the same tokens (which means less grinding)

* Badge vendors will be more spread out, players may also have to purchase the items from reputation vendors

* Daily quests will have more randomisation to prevent them from becoming repetative, and new ones will be available when Lich King ships

* There will be new role playing items added to the game before Lich King is released: The Mid-Summer Fire Festival has been completely revamped and will feature a dancing figure which turns you on fire too if you dance with it, characters will be able to juggle torches and there will be a robe which sets you on fire and starts you dancing