World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade: More of the Same?

As we draw closer to the release of the Burning Crusade there are several concerns that remain for players who have been sitting in the end game for over a year and a half. The WoW expansion that everyone has been waiting for has promised one very simple thing, more of the game you enjoyed from the beginning. My question is what does this do for the game? Will it force all of us sixties to almost start over again and struggle our way through to seventy repeating the same game play all over? What will characters gain in this ordeal, the same things we gained from leveling all the way to sixty? The point is will the Burning Crusade bring something more to the table than say, just more Warcraft as we know it.

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With Outland to explore and more leveling quests and raids it seems like there may be some good content added. I have often said that WoW is the dumb down version of a game that everyone can play. Point is it's easy. That is why Blizzard created it that way. The new lands and quests will add flavor to the game. Now that we're all at the end, will that same system for leveling be there to add ten more levels. I think so. It seems from what we have been reading that aside from lots of new stories and graphics, very little will change in the way that Warcraft is presented to the world. It will be easy.

There are many areas that I am looking to explore. Although it will only mean more farming, more questing, and more instancing. These three main game play elements make up the core that is WoW game play. Yes there is some PvP and some interesting little side things to WoW that perk up some interest. But what about giving us something new? I thought from the beginning that adding new races and not new classes was a let down. It shows one of two things. Blizzard is lazy in really trying to create change in the game, or they have a perfectly balanced system so why mess with it? I think it is the game balance they are trying to maintain, and certainly not that they are lazy. Blizzard always does put out a good product that runs very smoothly. That being said, it's why the Burning Crusade will be a straight forward expansion with nothing outrageous for players to really look for something new.

Yes we will get new talents and spells. We'll also get jewelcrafting which may add some more fun to the game. These areas will allow players to once again further their characters along in the same fashion as the beginning of the game. I guess my question on character development here is shouldn't we look forward to something new? Blizzard seems to have given up on the idea of Epic or Prestige classes (I forget the original name that had used). As much as people thought Dark Age of Camelot was ruined by Trials of Atlantis, you must admit it added great changes for characters in the game. It also gave new weapons with different themes. Say what you want, but it was a different spin on DAOC. It is too bad that the Burning Crusade appears to be giving us more of the same game play as the original Warcraft. Having the biggest MMO in the world don't you think the expansion would offer some really cool changes?

I think that the Burning Crusade expansion will certainly sell well for Blizzard. I also think that players will return for a short time to enjoy the new content. Do I think it will be a huge leap in game design that will usher in a new wave of MMO greatness? Nope, I think it will just be more of the same. Blizzard has a good simple product that made MMOs a worldwide phenomenon. Why fix what isn't broken? Only problem is, that the game will remain at its simple levels. Until something new comes along, we have only have the same Warcraft we knew in 2004, just more of it.