Lich King: 1-70 must be faster to prevent "intimidation" for new players, says Chilton

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King lead designer Tom Chilton has defended Blizzard's decision to reduce the time it takes players to reach level 70 once the expansion is launched, saying that the game mustn't become intimidating for new users.

Wrath of the Lich King will see the game's level cap increased to 80.

"I think what really matters to us is that the game doesn't become more and more intimidating for new players to take on," said Chilton.

"We feel like that if we were to constantly increase the level cap and never go back and address the total time it takes to get from the beginning to the end, then we would see the game become a bigger obstacle for new players to start up and play with their friends."

He added: "I think a lot of our player base actively creates new characters so these kinds of changes benefit those players also."

Chilton was speaking at Games Convention last week. There's no date fixed for the launch of Wrath of the Lich King as yet.