Wrath of the Lich King may require Burning Crusade to be installed

By now you've probably heard that Blizzard officially announced the next expansion for the most-played MMO, World of Warcraft. During a press conference at BlizzCon they informed everyone that you will likely be required to have the Burning Crusade expansion already installed in order to install the latest add-on.

Some people are taking this as a bit of a shock, unfortunately, this only seems logical. While some games simply add new content that can be avoided (like my old favorite Star Wars Galaxies) while still enjoying every other aspect of the game, the Burning Crusade is very much essential. With the first expansion, the level cap was raised to 70 and thus content for players in the 60-70 level range was added. Now enter the Wrath of the Lich King which will raise the cap to 80 and likely provide content for the 70-80 range. How to you expect to make the jump from 60 to 80 without that extra content?

It sucks, but that's just the cold hard truth. Their not sure whether they will bundle the first expansion at no cost (I highly doubt it) or just offer it separately. Honestly, I think they should offer a bundle that has both for slightly more than one that only has the second. This would make all customers happy, as those that already purchased Burning Crusade won't be upset because others get it for free, and others won't have to shell out the cash for two separate expansions at the same time.

BlizzCon breaking news: Wrath of the Lich King may require Burning Crusade [via joystiq]