Blizzard have officially released some details of the World of Warcraft expansion pack. Some of the things it will contain are:
Two new races: Blood Elves for the Horde, and an as-yet-unnamed race for Alliance. It's rumoured to be Pandarens, but I hope not as they'd be way too corny.
Level cap upped to 70, with new spells, skills and talents
Socketed items: players can add jewels to certain items to modify their characteristics
Jewelcrafting profession: to make rings, necklaces and socket jems
A new region, Outland (the remains of the orc homeworld, Draenor), accessable via the Dark Portal. It consists of huge chunks of floating rock and a special flying mount will be available to players there.
Outland appears to be where the updated Burning Legion storyline will pick up.
Perhaps most interestingly, players will now be able to access the time portal to visit regions of Azeroth in the past as well as to take part in some of the historic battles from Warcraft history.
More details can be found on the official page, and also in this preview.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Moderators: Cagliostro, lucimay, Creator, Sorus
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.
Yet another reason for me to buy WOW, if only i could afford it...
But if you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Full of the heavens and time.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Full of the heavens and time.
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That's exactly the reason I won't play it. I'd be too afraid it'd take up too much of my time. I spend enough time with video games as it is.Loremaster wrote:I don't think I'll get it; last time I played WoW I was dangerously addicted to it.
Plus, paying a monthly fee for a game just doesn't sit well with me.-jay
I got my copy last week and the opening of Outland has been surprisingly trouble-free for an MMO launch. There were a few disconnections and competition for kills was quite high due to overcrowding, but it was actually playable from the off, which is quite an impressive feat.
My guild pressed on with raiding right up until Christmas and we managed to get Blackwing Lair finished, which was a nice achievement for me as my new job means I won't be able to raid regularly anymore. Here I am standing by Nefarian's corpse:
Outland is good fun, with hundreds and hundreds of quests scattered around and some stunning scenery. I'm going to take my time getting up to level 70, although I know some people who have made it in less than a week (the first person to get to 70 did it in 28 hours flat). I'm also splitting my time between my rogue and my mage to take advantage of rested bonus.
My guild pressed on with raiding right up until Christmas and we managed to get Blackwing Lair finished, which was a nice achievement for me as my new job means I won't be able to raid regularly anymore. Here I am standing by Nefarian's corpse:
Outland is good fun, with hundreds and hundreds of quests scattered around and some stunning scenery. I'm going to take my time getting up to level 70, although I know some people who have made it in less than a week (the first person to get to 70 did it in 28 hours flat). I'm also splitting my time between my rogue and my mage to take advantage of rested bonus.
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.
My character is named after Akharu, after ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol (damn Blizzard's case formatting). Priesty is one of our officers who mostly deals with raid strategies, which basically means he's too smart to get saddled with class leadership, unlike yours truly.
I'm up to level 68 now and having an enforced break from the game, due to losing my internet connection after moving. I've actually replaced most of the equipment I got from end game raiding at level 60 already, so the expansion really is levelling the playing field (if only for a little while). Also it is so much easier to make money in Outland; I think I'm only going to have to raise another 200g or so to buy my griffon mount when I get to level 70
I'm up to level 68 now and having an enforced break from the game, due to losing my internet connection after moving. I've actually replaced most of the equipment I got from end game raiding at level 60 already, so the expansion really is levelling the playing field (if only for a little while). Also it is so much easier to make money in Outland; I think I'm only going to have to raise another 200g or so to buy my griffon mount when I get to level 70
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.
Well, on Tuesday night I stepped out of the World of Warcraft for good, after 20 months of playing. Excluding the Championship/Football Manager series, I don't think I've ever spent more time playing one game before, and it was certainly the most immersive and consuming gaming experience I've had to date.
I absolutely loved the game at level 60, going through Zul'Gurub, Molten Core, the Ruins of Ahn Qiraj and Blackwing Lair was electrifying and I felt a strong drive to play and quest and farm so my character could be as strong as they could possibly be for those encounters. No benefit was too small, even if several hours of play was needed to get it.
When the Burning Crusade came out, it was awesome and levelling to 70 was great fun. I soon had my gryphon mount and was visiting some nice 5 man instances. Karazhan, as an instance, is a masterpiece. I've never seen anything quite so creative and varied and challenging in an MMO before. Unfortunately simply by being a 10 man instance, the impact it has had on guild dynamics and progression has been unimaginably destructive. Literally thousands of guilds set up for 40 man raiding have fallen apart because of class shortages and problems adapting to Blizzard's instance ID system. My own guild suffered two pretty major splinter groups up and leave (one of them took three officers, a Class Champion and our webmaster) and although we proved resilient enough to survive it, the guild remains too big and unwieldy for what Blizzard have in mind.
It was during all this work to keep the guild on its feet that I made a discovery. I was logging on and dealing with guild issues and raiding and all of that was great, but the stuff in between was providing no enjoyment for me at all. I could spend hour after hour questing for rep and gold (there are a seemingly endless supply of quests in the expansion, even at level 70) but I just didn't see the point. The drive to improve my character outside of raids simply wasn't there anymore, and as I've never seen the point of PvP in WoW I decided enough was enough and cancelled my account. As it happens, in my handing over my class to the Class Champion I mentioned something that the Guild Master said to me in private (in order to help her get my officer position) and she took it totally the wrong way, flipped out, quit the guild and took her officer best friend with her. For the Guild Master this was the straw that broke the camel's back and he promptly quit too, followed by a few other disillusioned vets. I'd tried to time my departure so that the guild was nice and stable, but ended up very nearly bringing the whole house down with me! Oh well, I'm out of it now so I'll leave the others to pick up the pieces.
So will I be going back to World of Warcraft? Unlikely I think. I don't have the time to be a serious raider and I just don't think it works as a casual game post-expansion. Will I try another fantasy MMO? I don't think so either, although I have heard some good things about LotRonline and I have friends from WoW who play it, I'm just not excited with the prospect of another fantasy MMO.
So, once I get Xbox Live up and running I'll be returning to my first love: beating down on my fellow man through the medium of FPS gaming. I think Shadowrun will be a great warmup for me, but the main event is likely to be Huxley, which I really hope will be released this year.
I absolutely loved the game at level 60, going through Zul'Gurub, Molten Core, the Ruins of Ahn Qiraj and Blackwing Lair was electrifying and I felt a strong drive to play and quest and farm so my character could be as strong as they could possibly be for those encounters. No benefit was too small, even if several hours of play was needed to get it.
When the Burning Crusade came out, it was awesome and levelling to 70 was great fun. I soon had my gryphon mount and was visiting some nice 5 man instances. Karazhan, as an instance, is a masterpiece. I've never seen anything quite so creative and varied and challenging in an MMO before. Unfortunately simply by being a 10 man instance, the impact it has had on guild dynamics and progression has been unimaginably destructive. Literally thousands of guilds set up for 40 man raiding have fallen apart because of class shortages and problems adapting to Blizzard's instance ID system. My own guild suffered two pretty major splinter groups up and leave (one of them took three officers, a Class Champion and our webmaster) and although we proved resilient enough to survive it, the guild remains too big and unwieldy for what Blizzard have in mind.
It was during all this work to keep the guild on its feet that I made a discovery. I was logging on and dealing with guild issues and raiding and all of that was great, but the stuff in between was providing no enjoyment for me at all. I could spend hour after hour questing for rep and gold (there are a seemingly endless supply of quests in the expansion, even at level 70) but I just didn't see the point. The drive to improve my character outside of raids simply wasn't there anymore, and as I've never seen the point of PvP in WoW I decided enough was enough and cancelled my account. As it happens, in my handing over my class to the Class Champion I mentioned something that the Guild Master said to me in private (in order to help her get my officer position) and she took it totally the wrong way, flipped out, quit the guild and took her officer best friend with her. For the Guild Master this was the straw that broke the camel's back and he promptly quit too, followed by a few other disillusioned vets. I'd tried to time my departure so that the guild was nice and stable, but ended up very nearly bringing the whole house down with me! Oh well, I'm out of it now so I'll leave the others to pick up the pieces.
So will I be going back to World of Warcraft? Unlikely I think. I don't have the time to be a serious raider and I just don't think it works as a casual game post-expansion. Will I try another fantasy MMO? I don't think so either, although I have heard some good things about LotRonline and I have friends from WoW who play it, I'm just not excited with the prospect of another fantasy MMO.
So, once I get Xbox Live up and running I'll be returning to my first love: beating down on my fellow man through the medium of FPS gaming. I think Shadowrun will be a great warmup for me, but the main event is likely to be Huxley, which I really hope will be released this year.
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.
Hmm, I hope that hat's tastier than it looks. It turns out that my new girlfriend is a closet WoW player, so I've reactivated my account and shipped my shadow priest over to her server. I'm going to join her guild and we'll play together a bit, bit I'm going to lay my old characters to rest for the time being. At least until I inevitably get bored of levelling and pay to bring the rogue over too.
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.
Started playing WOW when the BC came out for a few reasons - one being I wanted to understand the game engine for a game I am helping create. The other was I needed to understand what my son ws talking about as it sounded like a whole new language.
I didn't like the game at first - too many confrontations and I did not do well with PVP...
However the social part of the game - mixed in with an RP server has made it terribly addictive!! With a good solid RP and supportive guild everyone is maxed for their professions and twinked out on their equipment. Many of us have our home base in Shatt city and we are only in our 40s.
Good thing I have other interests - nice weather to get out in - and a busy work schedule - I can see why people can get lost playing the game hours on end.
I have a hunter by the way and her cat which is a rare spawn from the statue-cats of the naga is named Khabaal. (I never leave my SRD roots!!)
Smiles!!
I didn't like the game at first - too many confrontations and I did not do well with PVP...
However the social part of the game - mixed in with an RP server has made it terribly addictive!! With a good solid RP and supportive guild everyone is maxed for their professions and twinked out on their equipment. Many of us have our home base in Shatt city and we are only in our 40s.
Good thing I have other interests - nice weather to get out in - and a busy work schedule - I can see why people can get lost playing the game hours on end.
I have a hunter by the way and her cat which is a rare spawn from the statue-cats of the naga is named Khabaal. (I never leave my SRD roots!!)
Smiles!!
[spoiler]"...the loveliness of the Land has only grown more precious to me as my senses have been
opened...To turn homeward now would be to pass from treasure-berries to dust."
-- Liand to Linden [P324 Runes][/spoiler]
opened...To turn homeward now would be to pass from treasure-berries to dust."
-- Liand to Linden [P324 Runes][/spoiler]
PvP is a funny thing in WoW. I generally don't see the point (if I want to beat down on my fellow gamers there are far better ways to do it, games that require much more actual skill) but I do catch the bug from time to time and spend a few weeks in battlegrounds.
I'm not a big Warsong Gulch fan as it always seems to be full of premade teams on ventrilo/teamspeak who just steamroller everyone they meet. Arathi Basin is good, very tactical and as a rogue you can create all manner of mischief (diversionary "sap and cap" raids being my favourite). A competitive Alterac Valley is something to behold too; two sides of 40 players rumbling up and down a gigantic map with resources to capture, NPC troops to activate and upgrade and lots of honor to be won by all. Sometimes it can be over inside 20 minutes, but the best ones I've played in have seen the Alliance pinned down outside their own base for hours until the Horde attack finally breaks down and we burst out in one big group, surging down the map and sweeping all before us until we kill the Horde general. I'm trying to get a second good dagger at the moment so I can PvP for a nice new belt (very few good leather belts at 70, oddly).
I'm not a big Warsong Gulch fan as it always seems to be full of premade teams on ventrilo/teamspeak who just steamroller everyone they meet. Arathi Basin is good, very tactical and as a rogue you can create all manner of mischief (diversionary "sap and cap" raids being my favourite). A competitive Alterac Valley is something to behold too; two sides of 40 players rumbling up and down a gigantic map with resources to capture, NPC troops to activate and upgrade and lots of honor to be won by all. Sometimes it can be over inside 20 minutes, but the best ones I've played in have seen the Alliance pinned down outside their own base for hours until the Horde attack finally breaks down and we burst out in one big group, surging down the map and sweeping all before us until we kill the Horde general. I'm trying to get a second good dagger at the moment so I can PvP for a nice new belt (very few good leather belts at 70, oddly).
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.