World of WarCraft: The Burning Crusade review

About two years ago Blizzard opened the doors to the World of Warcraft, wrote itself into the history books and made online role-playing mainstream. With eight million people currently subscribed many of which were newcomers to the genre, Blizzard's new monster paved the road to a whole new kind of entertainment, and probably made it possible, for other developers to realize their projects.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, it finally arrived. The expansion pack The Burning Crusade which was so eagerly awaited by fans long cues formed in front of retailers for midnight launches midnight. Most of these people were probably players who have been on level 60 for all eternity and who finally saw the chance to explore new lands and fight new foes.

It's always difficult to review an MMORPG. Things constantly change, additions and corrections are made. That will, however, not hold us back!

The Burning Crusade takes place in Outland formerly know as Draenor, all that remains of the orc's original homeland. Illidan now rules here, you know, the guy who helped you defeat the Burning Legion in Warcraft III and who then played a large role in the expansion The Frozen Throne.

As a player, you have to journey through the now open dark portal, reach level 70 and if you wish finally battle against Illidan himself, who has retreated to The Black Temple.

With the story behind The Burning Crusade in place (mainly anyway) we can now get on to the actual review.

The main attraction in The Burning Crusade is without doubt the new continent Outland where most of the festivities will take place. This continent is divided into seven zones. Each of these is very different both in the visual sense and the challenges they bring.

The first zone you as a player will encounter is Hellfire Peninsula which lies beyond the dark portal. Yes the portal is now open rather than just standing there in Blasted Lands, just as useless but no less intriguing then a TV running a fireplace-screensaver for two years.

This area is without a doubt the largest ever in World of Warcraft. This is an excellent introduction to the expansion as everybody will want to visit this place right away. Hellfire Peninsula offers tons of quests and new instances, which you can jump into and start playing the moment you set your feet on Outlandish soil.

And so it keeps going. From the mystical swamp area Zangarmarsh with its enormous mushrooms, to the wide ranges of Nagrand, until you finally reach Netherstorm around level 70. There is something for everyone to do both alone and in groups. Blizzard has put an enormous amount of work into the number of quests. In some areas, it actually feels as though there are too many for you to complete before continuing to the next zone. Fantastic, this is just what we wanted.

Besides this Blizzard has made it so that in areas with many players monsters respawn more quickly. Of course there have been some queues in some areas, but in general the zones are so large that this problem is kept to a minimum.

Two new races

The Burning Crusade brings us two new races - one for each side. They bring with them the exclusive classes paladin and shaman. These opposing forces make for an easy Balancing task for Blizzard but it seems it works pretty well now that people have gotten use to it.

I have to admit, I haven’t played any of the new races higher then level 15. This is okay though since these two new races each have their own new starting areas which you can play around in until about level 20 visiting already known areas.

The two new starting areas are very different and the stories behind the new quests are actually quite good and exciting.

Both new races also bring a new capital city to their respective sides. Silvermoon City for the Horde and The Exodar for Alliance. Both cities are impressive in their own way but The Exodar seems out of place in a way. This could make it another big empty city like Darnassus which is a shame.

Want me to chop your diamond?

This would probably be a trick question from one of the games more suspicious characters but with the introduction of jewel crafting the question might be legitimate.

Now with this new profession you can create such items as rings, chains and special gems for the new socket-system. The profession seems quite useful with many new good products to be crafted.

I had hoped that Blizzard would have been a bit more inventive with some of the game's existing professions. Engineers for example have to look far for anything of interest and for most of the other professions it's just more of the same stuff all over again.

A new hope

While I can cover some aspects of the expansion, obviously a game of the scale of The Burning Crusade makes it difficult to mention everything. Instead let me try to describe how the expansion has affected the game.

It has been a pleasure to log on to the server and see that the General Chat channel which for many months has been used only to insult other people, or nothing at all, has now come back to life.

It would seem that many players simply forgot how to find their way around and how to do quests, after being stuck deep underground in different raid dungeons for months or even years. Some people might get irritated but I thought it was fantastic once again to see this game come to life filled with enthusiasm.

And I seem to have gotten this feeling from all around. People have been dying to get something new to do and not just doing the same instance over and over again, night after night. The Burning Crusade grants this wish in so many ways that it is a pleasure once again to go on an adventure in Blizzard's wonderful world.
There are certain things I hoped Blizzard would have fixed in this expansion. Guild Banks have not as of yet been implemented and the new look group system could use more options.

It also seems a little strange that Blizzard hasn’t made any auction houses or trainers in any of the new areas in Outland. I wouldn't be surprised if this was changed in the future though. A graphical update would also have been nice especially when you have seen the two new beautiful classes.

But what will the future bring? What happens when we all get to level 70? Will it all be as it was before? Only time will tell, but it would seem that Blizzard has opened its eyes and that it now understands that we don't want to keep on grinding for reputation and gold. We want fun! World of Warcraft is still a game not a job. And for now the future looks promising.

The Burning Crusade is a must-have, both for ongoing players of World of Warcraft but also the players who got bored at level 60 and stopped playing. We can't promise you that it won't be boring again at level 70 but the road ahead, surely isn't.