Hasani Davis gives MMORPG.com our first peek inside the new World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade.

After months of hype, pushed back release dates, countless banner ads, and lots of forum hype, the Burning Crusade has finally come out. Boys and girls, I won't over romanticize this and make it long winded in the beginning. I am going to cut straight to the chase and then go into detail. Okay are you ready, here we go...Burning Crusade is ...the same World of Warcraft as before, just more of it. There, I said it. You can click the minimize button and stop reading, or follow along while I start my long winded comments.

I waited in line for The Burning Crusade at 12 am on January 16th. Yes, I was one of many gamer geeks to get their copy that night. I even had the next four days off work, so I had plenty of time to sit back and get into Outland. It is funny putting faces to the many types of people that play WOW. Most of the crowds at the store that night were typical gamers. You could even pick out the "hard core" players based on how similar they looked to the South Park incarnations. A few others in the crowd didn't fit the bill at all. There were a few older players, even one old enough to be my dad, a guy very much into hip-hop, and about five female gamers as well. After listening to various stories from the people I was in line with, I asked the crowd what they wanted out of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Answers came back varied, but after one person said "more fun" they all agreed they wanted more "fun" out of this expansion. Having myself played MMOs for the past 15 years wanted a little more "fun" out of the game as well. Here was my chance, I stepped up in line and got my copy and raced to my car to get home for the install.

Read the whole editorial here.

How shocking...a casual player whining about spending time to gain epic gear (at least it's in there this time, jackass).  The raiders will spend a lot of time in the high level 25 mans while the rest of the 'casual's have to grind for faction to get something epic. boo freaking hoo

The author of this article is extremely biased. Time for MMORPG to get some new editors.  In fact, I think I'll write the senior editors a little note since this is the third WoW article in a row that's been biased toward 'casuals'.

'Oh nos!! someone is not stating that WoW/TBC is the bestest ever, he/she is SO wrong, it HAS to be good!!!' *snort!!* 'Ahh.. give me more of that epicy Warcrack'..

Sorry for being rude, I'm not generally like that however the above posts are a tipically kneejerk reaction for any fanboi (or just general fan) for a game that gets a bad review. Sorry to brust the WoW bubble but whats been stated is 100% true TBC has made WoW a faction grind fest for the simle reason it's a way to keep players playing longer, don't get me wrong it's working so far, people are still playing WoW (I'm still dabbling with my hunter and new shammy) but what many of my friends and guildies have said about the general tone of TBC is the the content is casual...

Basically they've been doing the 5 mans in about an hour (which is shorter then the orginal did in some cases) so I'm guessing the new 'casual' 25 mans will take what? 2/3 hours tops? With the reset times in play once your done the handful of instances whats left to do? Rep grinding for the faction items!!! So basically for the 'hardcore' types you've gone from '40 man raiding' grinding to 'Solo rep' grinding, Blizzard's endgame solution hasn't changed it's still 'grinding' just with a new skin.

Another thing to point out most 'new' content isn't exclusive to TBC, the 'new' honer system is also avaible to the orginal owners, arenas are too, the new talents, 'outlands 'world pvp' is practally EPL (excluding the 'town' points which are currently no were near what the devs said it would be like), and as stated the quests and mobs are nothing new, it's the same dance just a different tune.. and with Blizzard adding content for 'classic' WoW in the near future, I wouldn't be surpised to find out that many players havn't got TBC at release, sorry but looking at it currently there is nothing in TBC that really would make a person look at it objectivly and say 'WoW! I gotta get me this it really improves the game!', sorry to be blunt but all people want TBC for is the shiny new epics at lvl70 so they can prance around IF/Ogg in them (come on you can't say people don't do that when you see people just sitting on their epic/rare mount outside any bank in the teir gear).

Don't get me wrong TBC has done it's job it's kept players wanting to play WoW and brought a lot of the 'bored of 40 mans' back, however come 2-3 months down the line it's gonna hit the same problem, players are going to end up with a 'lack' of content and Blizzard will have to relase new instances to cater for it, as like with the orginal WoW there IS a ton of content in TBC however most of it is during the leveling process and with people rushing toward 'endgame' for the teir stuff they are missing techically the best part of WoW the 'leveling experence'. So basically to all those with TBC slow down and enjoy the view and to all those without it don't rush out and get it go and enjoy the orginal content you havn't expored and wait a few months that content in TBC isn't going to go anywhere in fact it's going to grow.

TBC is a double egded sword for WoW for 'the masses' in the short term it's gonna keep them happy however due to the lack of innervation it's the final nail in the coffin for some players, it is just 'same old, same old'. WoW dosn't have that tight grip on the console style MMO market anymore and dispite the expantion it's starting to look old and 4-6 month down the line when fresh titles hit the market WoW will start to lose some of the playerbase the hoped to have kept with TBC. WoW isn't going to die, but it is starting to bleed.

A biased review? That covers very little of the expansion it self. Centered around what the writer has evidently allways disliked about the game. With little information on whats contained there in.  Like or dislike at least give a review that actualy details information.

for example like the one here

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/29701

Interesting take on the expansion.

Personally I am enjoying it even while I see exactly what he is talking about.

The amount of quests is simply insane.  Its very fun to feel like no matter what I am doing its helping one or even two quests.

The new Draenei race starter zone is very cool.  Yes, blood efls looks much cooler, but the Draenei zone is the most fun I have had in a starter zone.

I am hoping that the 5 mans have a lot of people playing them later in the game.  Diablo II was a lot of fun running the exact the same patterns again and again.  I don't even know why.  I still like Alterac Valley and even Arathi Basin.  I am not sure about the arena because, quite frankly, I am just not a good enough player to like my odds.

But if its not fun, this year there will be so many other options.

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Originally posted by Balmer

How shocking...a casual player whining about spending time to gain epic gear (at least it's in there this time, jackass).  The raiders will spend a lot of time in the high level 25 mans while the rest of the 'casual's have to grind for faction to get something epic. boo freaking hoo

The author of this article is extremely biased. Time for MMORPG to get some new editors.  In fact, I think I'll write the senior editors a little note since this is the third WoW article in a row that's been biased toward 'casuals'.

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LOL. This is the typiclal, repetitive, saftisified gear-grinding WoW fanboy who couldn't get his "epeen" if its not handed to him on a Blizzard silver platter. Little do the fanboys understand that they are being hand held and spoon fed gear to keep their "1337 epeen" apetities fed through mindless repetition. Blizzard made WoW to where even a trained monkey can get epics through button mashin fests. No brain or skill required.

 

 

I had to laugh with this editorial almost from the beginning when the author said there were no server crashes.  I wasnt able to play at 12:30 am that day but did get on around 6pm mountain time.  No problem with the install except I had to disable a anti spyware/firewall to do the install. 

Now the thing that made me laugh that I mentioned was first thing I created a BE lock that i've been waiting to create.  I'm on Bonechewer server and we were crashing over and over ALL night on tuesday.  Did at least THREE restarts.  Hard to turn in quests when there was NO npc's to turn them into!

BE is very fun to play on horde side as they are more visually interesting to a lot of players(like myself) who like horde but hated the ugly old characters.  The mana tap and torent abilities also will have a lot of interesting possiblities especially in the pvp part of the game.  Another thing I noticed was 60% (roughly) of the new BE's were pally.  Not really unexpected, but a bit disappointing horde players going FTW with that. 

After I created a played a few levels of my lock(between all the crashes) I switched over to my 60 pally and decided to check out Outland.  I was diappointed in the first area.  I found it very bare and boring.  I also noticed on my pvp server same as the author of alliance and horde running quests next to each without attacking each other often.  I think most are in such a hurry to rush to 70 that they dont care about the pvp element at the moment.  I think this will change after people start hitting 70 and the ganking will start again.  Honestly, i've barely played Outland because it's just so blah while i've been playing my lock and I also started a BE hunter.

I also noticed like the author how the very 1st quests had better equipment than most 60's that have been running around the game for a while now.  I'll be checking out Outland more probably over the weekend but am really having more fun playing the BE starting area.

Haters, don't be mad that Blizzard took McQuaid's shitty vision and reshaped it into perfection. Just because you quit or you hate the game doesn't give you any right to throw it in anyones faces, thats called harassment because we who play WoW already told you - we don't give a fuck, so get off our forum and go watch your porn.

Hasani, you need to go back to your homeworld of Kyoto where people will care about your biased lifestyle. Grinding in a game is what it is all about. If you rush the game than of course you'll get bored. I've played since release, not a single level 60, only my one main who is now nearing level 59. And guess what? I have Outland gear, and it woops your tier 3.  As they said on the Palomides forums for DAoC - Cry More N00b.

I think you guys are alittle jaded.  I'm having a blast with the expansion.  But then I love doing quests.  Most are kill quest but they are well done.    And I never done a quest in a mmorpg like the bombing runs.   (Would be out of place in other fantasy games but fits in WoW)   One of my favorite quests  is that you lead a shall we say horny lady off for a rendevous*.   Her pet cat tags along.  I got out my pet black tabby also.   What happened next brought a big smile to my face. 

A lot of the graphics are just stunning.   Can't really describe them but they are top notch.    Nice sounds also.    Whenever I hear the distinctive sound that a fel reaver (big mechanical roaming giant) makes I quickly turn to find it  and run out of its way.   It's a weird kind of moan that if you don't want to die brings fear. 

I've only done two instances so far.   They were short and sweet.  But the 2nd I did had a beholder looking boss that was cool as hell.

I have no idea what kind longitivity* the expansion will have.    But I have no idea where $50 could bring so much enjoyment.  (Well maybe in certain 3rd world countries but...)

Jaded?

Sorry but having to wait 2 years for the cash whore that is blizzard to release a crappy expansion that adds almost nothing to an already played out and crappy game tends to piss players off. Sorry but I just cant see dropping any more money on a game that has no future because of poor repetitive game mechanics and the best they could do was add 2 races and no new professions to a 2 year old game that most of us completed in less than 6 months.

This editorial left out two major things in the expansion. Obviously the reviewer was to obssesed with reaching level 70 to even try them out. that would be the Blood Elves and the Draenai.

Both offer beautiful new starting lands and increased powers over the original characters. It will be interesting to see what happens when these characters reach outland.

There is much more to the expansion than just Outland.

"One thing that has changed so far, it’s very funny to see the raider vs. non-raider fights break out. I play on a PvP server and the guilds who were notorious for having a large advantage because of their item power level are now constantly being assaulted by guilds that formerly where powerless against them. Because the gear is so strong in the expansion, players in green items can beat some of the old players in their epics.

It leads me to wonder, even though it’s the same type of quests and same faction grind, it will be a lot of fun to see the new order of players rise as old guilds fall. I find this story more compelling than Illidan at the moment."

Now THAT'S funny as heck.  You have to wonder how elitist hardcore raiding guild like  WoW designer Jeff Kaplan's Fires of Heaven (One of the few WoW guilds ever allowed a FREE transfer from a PvE to PvP server) are doing now that they don't have the crutch from all their MC, AQ and Naxx grinding.  

Maybe WoW actually has a chance of becoming a little more skill based - or at least offering a more even playing field and no longer catering to hardcore raiders.   

Originally posted by Ugottawantit

This editorial left out two major things in the expansion. Obviously the reviewer was to obssesed with reaching level 70 to even try them out. that would be the Blood Elves and the Draenai.

Both offer beautiful new starting lands and increased powers over the original characters. It will be interesting to see what happens when these characters reach outland.

There is much more to the expansion than just Outland.

Originally posted by NineSpine
Have fun with that Draeni in levels 20 - 60 of WoW original.