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The Burning
Crusade is the first of many expansions for World of
Warcraft. Below are the details of what this expansion
will add to the game.
Increased level cap
Level cap will be increased to 70.
10 more talent points, expanded talent trees.
New Playable Races Introduced in The Burning Crusade
Blood Elves - a faction of former High Elves that wield
demonic magic, join the Horde in the expansion. Their capital is
Silvermoon City.
Draenei - a faction of uncorrupted Eredar led by Velen, join
the Alliance. Their capital city is Exodar.
New Zones
Blood Elf starting zones in Quel'Thalas
- Eversong Forest
- Sunstrider Isle
- Ghostlands
Draenei starting zones in
Kalimdor
Outland - the entire new
continent of Outland, reachable through the Dark Portal.
Outland will be about half the size of one of the existing
continents.
- Hellfire Peninsula
- Bone Wastes
- Netherstorm
- Zangarmarsh
- Blade's Edge Mountains
- Nagrand
- Terokkar
New High-Level Dungeons For
World of Warcraft Burning Crusade
Karazhan in Deadwind Pass. Existing long before Medivh inhabited it,
it is unknown who these original builders were. It is also unknown
who now resides within its walls.
Caverns of Time, located in the eastern part of Tanaris, contain
various portals to different key time periods and events in Warcraft
history. The caverns act as a crossroads for the various timelines,
and through them one can travel back and forth along the ebb and
flow of time. The Caverns of Time are home to Nozdormu and the
bronze dragonflight. It is their sacred charge to guard the caverns
against the intrusion of mortals, whose interference would assuredly
disrupt the flow of time. Opening each of these Portals will be
World Events.
Thrall's Escape from Durnholde Keep -- In this wing of the instance
you must assist Thrall in escaping from Durnholde Keep where he has
been captured by Aedelas Blackmoore.
Opening of the Dark Portal -- In this wing you must protect Medivh
as he opens the Dark Portal in the Black Morass
The Battle of Mount Hyjal -- In this Epic Raid wing players must
band together to defend the World tree. Battling out with the Demon
Lord Archimonde and his Burning
Legion Forces
The Battle of Hellfire Peninsula -- While still in planning stages
this is said to be a PvP Battleground where Horde and Alliance
battle it out on Draenor.
Zul'Aman, a troll-controlled area, bordering Eversong Forest and
Ghostlands
Hellfire Citadel located on the Hellfire Peninsula is a nearly
impenetrable bastion that served as the Horde's base of operations
throughout the First and Second Wars. The citadel is now inhabited
by Magtheridon.
Coilfang Reservoir in Zangarmarsh is home to Lady Vashj
Auchindoun in Bone Wastes
Tempest Keep was the "Dimensional Ship" the Naaru provided for
Draenei's flight from Argus. The Keep was imbued with powerful
arcane energies which allowed it to move from world to world. When
the orcs were corrupted by Kil'jaeden, many draenei hid away in the
Keep for many decades, until Prince Kael'thas and the other Blood
Elves and Naga allied with Illidan Stormrage seized the Keep for
themselves. Winged instance home to Prince Kael'thas.
Black Citadel in the Outland. Following his defeat at the hands of
Arthas, Illidan returned to the Citadel where he resides to this
day.
New Spells and Talents In Burning Crusade
New spells, not only to levels 60 and up, but starting from the 40s:
"Currently we're not planning any new classes," says Jeff Kaplan.
The company is focused to, "Develop existing classes post-40." In
short, expect raid strategies to change - Kaplan says there will be
"new gameplay mechanics for every class." Source:
Game Pro
They will be rounding out the existing classes better, by adding 4
or 5 completely new spells for the 50-60 level range for each
character class.
Blizzard stated that Mages will be getting some form of invisibility
back in the level 60 to level 70 spells.
The talent trees will be expanded. There will be a few more tiers in
the talent trees, leading all the way up to 41 point talents.
They are looking to improve racial differentiation by carrying the
concept they used in the Priest racial spells over to other classes.
Jewelcrafting Profession and Sockets
Jewelcrafting to make rings, trinkets, necklaces and gems to
enchance Socketed items.
GameSpot 31st Mar 2006: The system will be fairly similar to that of
Diablo II, along with some nuances that will make it unique to World
of Warcraft. For example, we plan to introduce a new type of gem
that grants bonuses that depend on the other types of gems your
character is using. In addition, players will be able to overwrite
gems, but at the cost of the gem they are replacing.
New Hunter Pets
"Someone asked if there will be new tameable creatures in the
Outlands, and they responded 'that's a good question... yes'."
Source: BlizzCon Art Panel
Flying Mounts Introduced
Flying mounts will be useable in the Outland at level 70.
Tom Chilton: "We'll put some high-level content in very hard to
reach places - effectively places that you'll need a flying mount to
reach. It's a dream for explorers, and you can draw lines to the
Zelda-esque level construction where a new ability opens up aspects
in a previously explored area."
Due to the graphical composition of Azeroth not being suited for
viewing from all angles, the flying mounts will only be available in
the Outland, which has been specificially designed to avoid
graphical issues associated with multiple viewpoints. Blizzard reps
have stated that it would be possible to "rebuild" the existing
continents to accomodate for flying mounts, but this would take
enormous amounts of time as Kalimdor and the Eastern Continents
combined are more than 4 times the size of Outland. It is unlikely
they will ever support flying mounts in the near future.
Flying mounts are probally needed because of the fact that the
Outland is the /Floating/ remains of Draenor. Flying mounts will be
needed to reach other floating areas.
Portals to Other Worlds In World of Warcraft
Chris Metzen revealed in the Developer Panels that Illidan closed
all the Dark Portals of Outland. Nevertheless, MagusRogue, a World
of Warcraft RPG Game Designer from White-Wolf revealed the
following: "The portals were shut down by Illidan, actually.
However, some of the quests in the Burning Crusade Expansion have
you re-opening these and going to new dimensions, fighting the
legion in new worlds. Should be awesome."
"One of the things we're most excited about," says Metzen, "is the
chance to create environments unlike anything you've seen in
previous games. We really want to ramp it up for the players now.
We're saying, 'Hey, you've graduate, you're over level 60 now, so
let's get crazy with some really alien worlds and creatures." Even
better, this is something that's infinitely expandable for us in
updates and expansions down the line. There can always be more
portal worlds."
Burning Crusade Was Released: World Wide January 16 & 17,
2007
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