Wrath of the Lich King Beta Over, Relaunch in Nine Days

— -- "Beta realms down at 12AM PST," reads the note on Blizzard's official message boards as the minatory Arthas/Ner'zhul hybrid glares icily from the header snap above. Not to worry, Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion for perennial PC MMO chart-buster World of Warcraft, returns in just over a week, Thursday November 13, at which point it'll finally be available everywhere.

Posting this morning, Blizzard's Crygil writes

We would like to thank everyone who has participated in the Wrath of the Lich King beta test. We greatly appreciate all of the feedback and you have given us during this critical phase of World of Warcraft's development. In preparation for the launch of the game next Thursday, November 13, we will be bringing down our beta realms at 12:00 AM PST. Thanks again, and see you soon in Northrend!

I've been tooling around with the beta the last month or so, but in my determination to level from zero, I've yet to make it across the pond from Northern Kalimdor. Oh, I had the option like anyone else to start as a level 70 Death Knight, and I did sneak a peek, but seeing as I never made it past a lowly level 36 Night Elf playing the game in its infancy years ago, that just seemed like cheating.