It won't matter if you're prepared or not, anymore, when the next World of Warcraft expansion goes live. Unlike Illidan - who is rather exclusivist with allowing guests to visit and wipe in his shiny Black Temple, the Lich King Arthas will be a lot more user-friendly, it seems. That's not to say that every casual guild will be able to melt his face, and his frozen throne along with him; just that all the players will be able to "interact" with Arthas from the get-go.

That interview with Tigole we mentioned a few days ago was published in full by CVG, and his final words shed some light on what kind of "interaction" awaits us:

"We're giving all players going into the expansion interaction with Arthas. We were too protective of Illidan [the arch villain in The Burning Crusade] making sure we didn't waste the opportunity, so now you're interacting with him straight away.

You're talking to him, having these moments with him (ed. - that sounded so gay), so you don't have to be a raider to see him. We're also having a Caverns of Time mission - The Culling from Warcraft III - so that you can go back and play alongside Arthas when he was shiny and good, when you're burning Stratholme."

Burning Stratholme? Yaaay, I just LOVE to burn things!