World of Warcraft : burning

Most Memorable Moment, Part II

Zyuu — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:30:29 GMT

In “Most Memorable Moment” I only discussed content from the classic World of Warcraft. This time I'm going to go into detail how The Burning Crusade changed the “world” we've grown to love.

I was one of the early beta testers of TBC, it was a lot of fun to explore and check out the new areas, dungeons and quests. It took a long time to level up, but it was fun and well worth it to explore and clear the dungeons and areas that were introduced with Outlands. It felt like a breath of fresh air, how amazingly fun it was with an entirely new area to level up, quest and explore in. Back in the beta, I played a Human Priest. I noticed very early on how great Shadow Priests were, so that was my main focus on the expansion beta, trying out the new tree that Shadow Priests had received.

The many changes to the trees during the beta test of TBC only made it even more exciting and some of the sweeping adjustments made, reminded me of how Priests got changed over and over in the beta of classic WoW. You see, way back Priests had a lot of things that they no longer have, it was quite amusing how insanely powerful we were with no weakened soul on Power Word: Shield, and the no longer existent Sleep and Mindrot spells. Things change though. The best moment from the TBC beta for me was simply discovering how great Shadow Priests are and how very viable as a damage class, not to mention quite crazy in PVP. An Undead Shadow Priest released a very nice video from his beta adventures, lots of people watched it – I'm sure you can remember it, PvPriest: Burning Crusade.

Another thing I'm going to cover in the middle of this article is content. I will only touch on it briefly though. You see, when I had defeated Kel'Thuzad and kept clearing Naxxramas over and over for months – it hit me, we're out of content and we've been out of new things to do for a long, long time. Eventually most of us got bored and things would slow down or we simply wouldn't perform well when doing fights like Four Horsemen, we wiped several times due to people simply not being very motivated anymore. It's frustrating. What's the reason for Blizzard, with all their subscribers, resources and money, taking a lot longer than most MMO developers to release content? It used to be at a “decent” speed, Naxxramas to The Burning Crusade was not that bad.

However, the current waiting, past Sunwell Plateau and to Wrath of the Lich King, is assumed to be a long wait. According to most rumors and speculations, WotLK won't be out until the end of this year or if we are to believe a couple of rumors, start of next. This is a very long wait and you start to wonder where all the resources Blizzard has at their disposal are actually going. They say they only want very high quality content out, thus the time it takes for them to release their content. Fair enough, but let's think of the insane amount of resources they have at their hands – wouldn't it be possible to add another battleground and a few interesting instances, perhaps non-linear ones like Blackrock Depths? Mix in a couple of long quest lines and you will keep most busy for a while. Either way, it's an endless debate. We'll be pleasantly surprised with Lich King I'm sure. Based on what we've seen in the current previews, it's turning out to be a very dark, grim and cold expansion. Exactly the way I'm picturing Northrend to be like. Can't wait!

Going back to Outlands, what's your best experience from this great expansion? Burning Crusade is huge and there's so much to do. You can do everything from bombing quests to grinding reputation to getting certain rewards, acquiring badges of justice for your gear and obviously raiding. At the start of Burning Crusade I was leveling up a Blood Elf Paladin, so I wasn't able to participate in the very early Karazhan and Heroic instances. Instead I watched guild chat and my guildies shocking reactions each time they got completely destroyed in heroic Shattered Halls and what not. I did catch up quickly, though. A couple of great moments I had from leveling up, was how we had three Blood Elf Paladins in Scarlet Monastery and a level 60 Mage. We kept AOEing everything with the low level Paladins healing. It was actually pretty challenging, since our healing was pretty close to useless in the beginning. As we leveled up, it became easier, but sadly, less fun.

When I reached Outlands for the first time on my Blood Elf Paladin, I quickly formed a permanent group that ran Blood Furnace over and over; it was mainly a Shaman, three Warriors and me. All with whirlwind, we cleared the place very fast. Heh, one of the fun parts was how efficient we tried to be. Usually we stopped after the giant alien head thing, forgot its name. Then we ran back and reset the instance. Rinse and repeat this over and over and eventually you gain quite a few levels. Anyone else did this? It was great exp, just a bit tedious – so it was important you played with some great people or it wouldn't have been hard to fall asleep. Checking out Shadowlabs was a quite unique experience for me, I just love how that instance is designed and it didn't hurt that you got to face a Ragnaros-like boss at the end. It was simply breathtaking. You could tell how much time Blizzard put into this expansion. Nagrand is quite beautiful and seeing all the waterfalls (I love waterfalls) from the floating rocks in the sky... well, it really felt like a fantasy landscape, as taken out of a book somewhere. Props should be given to the designers of that zone, very well done.

Moving on, grinding for the reputation needed to access the heroic instances was quite tedious, and I was lucky to find guildies willing to help me catch up – didn't hurt I was our only high level Paladin by then either. So I ended up forming a nice group with myself, a warrior, shadow priest, mage and warlock. We cleared every heroic instance prior to any of the crazy nerfs Blizzard patched in. Shattered Halls was quite hard, especially dealing with the insane damage of the Ogre. I had to bubble each time pretty much.

How about everyone else, when leveling up in Burning Crusade, what was your favorite experience? Was it the vast amount of quests in Hellfire, Nagrand, Shattrath City and Zangarmarsh? Or how about working towards getting your Karazhan key? I quite liked that quest chain, working towards something and then the feeling of accomplishment is always nice. It's a shame how Blizzard made all that so much easier now. Entering Karazhan for the first time, it’s still one of my favorite “raid” zones in the game. I love how you crawl further up in the tower and the pre-nerf Nightbane without Blessing of Protection exploiting him, was HARD, extremely hard. I highly doubt many guilds beat him pre-nerf without using that “trick”. We did, though. And it took many nights of attempts with all consumables we could find. His fire attack use to check against armor and not fire resistance, pretty stupid and it made it hard to keep the cloth people alive. We kept wondering over and over how certain guilds managed to take Nightbane down so easily, when we struggled, having our very best players focusing completely.

Didn't take long till we realized there was an exploit, sadly we did not find out about it till later. Ah well, that's life. It does feel much better to defeat the encounter legitimately either way. How was your early experience with Nightbane? Did he cause the same amount of headache for your raid group, or were you fortunate enough to fight a heavily nerfed version? Regardless of version, it's quite fun of an encounter and I'm sure it still provides a bit of a challenge for not so seasoned players. On the subject of Karazhan, which encounter do you enjoy the most? Personally I find Nightbane and Shade of Aran quite fun, the Opera Event is amusing as well, especially if you get the Big Bad Wolf event! That's the only raid instance I will cover in this article, for the rest, I'll make a separate article. Going back to the five man instances that The Burning Crusade introduced, though:

Caverns of Time in Tanaris is a heavily debated place and the instances you got to try out there, takes you back in time and allows you to experience events that took place a long time ago. It's a very neat idea and has endless possibilities for more instances. I loved doing Escape from Durnholde Keep. It’s a lot of fun to escort Thrall and fight your way through.

Opening the Dark Portal and defend Medivh is certainly different and you have to be on your toes, fighting dragonkin that spawn out of different portals. It used to be a lot more challenging, but in later patches they made it easier.

Did you also enjoy these instances? I certainly did. Escaping from Durnholde Keep was much more fun than defending Medivh though. But both instances are unique and worth to experience, that's for sure.

While writing this article, the impression from all TBC instances buzz in my head. I simply can't write down my views on all of them, it would be too long. I will continue that in my next article. I've always enjoyed Mechanar for how short it was, but quite fun fighting the big evil robot in heroic mode and notice for the first time, that he's a mini version of Thaddus (Frankenstein boss in Naxxramas). It was a blast! Since I made a Blood Elf Paladin on the release day of Burning Crusade, I got to experience Eversong Woods and Ghostlands. As for Eversong, it was a fairly decent experience, nothing too spectacular, but when I arrived in Ghostlands, everything was much better. The attention to detail on everything in that zone and the quests I did was so much fun that I did not even sleep the first two days of playing. Yes, crazy, I know. But I wasn't working back then as I am now and Burning Crusade felt like something I had waited for so long. Again, props to Blizzard for making Ghostlands exactly feel like a.. uh.. Ghostland?

Other interesting additions with Burning Crusade are Shamans for Alliance and Paladins for Horde. Flying mounts and socketed items with jewelcrafting / gem support. Eye of the Storm is the new battleground introduced with TBC and there's simply nothing good I can say about that place, sorry. I prefer good old Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. It’s a matter of taste, though.

There's more, much more. But, that’s for another article.

Please share your thoughts of your The Burning Crusade experiences. What's your most memorable moment? Perhaps you have several. Is it your first time checking out Karazhan or getting your Epic Flying Mount? It could be simply the Ghostlands experience and finding out how well designed that zone was? Perhaps the way they made you choose sides in Shattrath City? The list is endless. Something that influences memorable moments in a game such as World of Warcraft is who you play with as well – it's what makes MMORPGs what they are, the “Multiplayer” part of the acronym.

Previous recent news

Netherdrake Quest Info on PTR

karsus007 — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:27:45 GMT

( Copy from the US forums ) You must have completed the Neltharku series of quests to get neutral with netherwing, have 300 riding skill, and (maybe) completed the Teron Gorefiend questline.

The first quest starts at Mordenai in Netherwing fields, from there he sends you to talk to the leader of the Dragonmaw orcs. The Orcs base is on Netherwing ledge right on the E for netherwing. Once you get there you get several quests "A slow Death" (daily)-250 rep.

Get Fel glands from the netherskates around netherwing ledge and use them to poison the dragonmaw peons. Netherdust pollen (herbalist)- collect 40 netherdust pollen and turn them in, I'm assuming there is an equivalent quest for every gathering profession-250 rep.

Netherwing crystal (daily)- collect 40 netherwing crystals from the flayer mobs on the island-250 rep Great Netherwing Egg Hunt (repeatable)-very rarely you'll find a netherwing egg (I've found 2 so far, both off of herbs). The first one you turn in is worth 385 rep (human) and all turned in afterwards are 275 human rep

Not so friendly skies (daily)-fly to the path between netherwing ledge and netherwing fortress and kill the mobs flying past to get 10 quest items to turn in-250 rep

All Daily quests are repeatable once a day, and you can do 10 a day maximum. As you gain a higher standing with the faction the number of quests you can do increases, with the new quests giving more rep per turn-in. It's still not really very clear, but we do know it's a long grind and not a Tier 0.5 type quest chain.

Horde 60-70 Leveling Guide

Kody — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:43:48 GMT

The Burning Crusade Guides page has been updated with an excellent in-game Horde leveling guide, created by Nightfall of the US realm Darkspear. The guide can be found on the Burning Crusade Horde Leveling Guide page. Included are example screenshots of what each map looks like with the MapNotes overlay, displaying locations for each Horde quest. Head over to the page and check it out!

To take advantage of this guide, you must use the MapNotes AddOn - instructions for obtaining and installing everything needed for the guide are included in the guide page.

Gruul the Dragonkiller and Hydross the Unstable guides!

Kody — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:09:04 GMT

The Burning Crusade Guides section has been updated with raid guides for Gruul the Dragonkiller, found in Gruul's Lair, and Hydross the Unstable, found in Serpentshrine Cavern.

Also of note, the guide pages now all have a menu at the top of the page, allowing you to go back to any of the pages which lead to the page you're currently browsing.

How has The Burning Crusade changed your guild?

Kody — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:39:46 GMT

An interesting thread has cropped up on the official World of Warcraft forums, asking the question of "Has TBC broken your guild yet?" You can find the thread here.

Personally? I don't think so. MMOG's are a volatile beast when it comes to how the games affect its players, and expansions compound this a great deal. People come and go, and changes in the expansion(such as the raid cap being lowered from 40 players to 25) can really factor into the way a guild changes. I don't feel 'broken' is the correct word here.... I would go more with 'change.' How has TBC changed your guild? That seems like a better question, and really sounds better too. You don't want to kill people's morale when there's no reason to.

For veteran MMOG players, like myself(I personally have played them for close to 7 years now), it's not really anything different. We've seen the way expansions change games, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. World of Warcraft's first expansion hasn't changed much of anything for my guild, or my outlook of the game in general; I still feel it's an excellent game, and they made a step in the right direction to improve upon player quality with their focus on designing challenging content for smaller numbers of people(Heroics and Karazhan spring to mind instantly).

The biggest change I've seen so far in the expansion is the fact that it's brought a lot of the members of the guild even closer together. We spend a lot of time running instances, something we haven't done in over two years(and even then we didn't do it all that much before jumping into the raiding game - it simply wasn't required to the extent it is now), as well as helping each other out with various trade skill needs to prepare ourselves for the 25-person raid zones.

Now, for players new to the genre, with World of Warcraft as their first game, major changes like were made in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade can certainly be jarring. That said, it's not the end of the world; guilds will always go through turbulent times - whether through members coming and going(which is common-place in the MMOG genre), or overall changes to the guild hierarchy and its policies for various facets of the game you're playing - it's important to remember that you're in a guild for the people around you, not the items those people can get you.

So without rambling on for paragraphs upon paragraphs(believe me, I certainly could on subjects like this), I think this is a good time to pose the question to you, the World of Warcraft Community; not in a "the sky is falling" approach, but rather to be curious about what has changed for you personally, and your guild. And with that: How has World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade changed your guild?

Under Development Page Updated!

Kody — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:36:00 GMT

The Official World of Warcraft website has had its Under Development page updated today with a hint of info about the 2.1.0 patch:

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade: The Black Temple

Originally founded as a Draenei temple, this plot has been conquered and despoiled many times throughout the history of Outland, removing any spiritual grace it may have once held. The Black Temple has been the stage of the Orc Horde's blood curse, a fortress for the then-mortal Ner'zhul, and a prime staging ground for the Burning Legion's campaign of destruction. Most recently, it has been claimed as home by Illidan, where he and his minions make their bid for power over the remnants of the shattered planet. Now, it is up to you to face the malefic forces of Illidan and his minions in hopes of freeing Outland from chaos and tyranny.

Black Temple is a 25-person raid dungeon located in Shadowmoon Valley.

Explore an ancient site steeped in Warcraft lore
Gain access to more than a hundred new rare and epic items, including tier-6 armor sets
Choose your path through a nonlinear level-70 raid dungeon, as you make your way to...
Face Illidan himself

Source link: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/

Burning Crusade Updated Addons

Nimloth — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:26:22 GMT

In an attempt to make the listing a little more available for those wanting to save a mouse click here and there, you can go to this url to browse/search the addons that have been updated for the Burning Crusade Client version 2.0.5 and newer.

Please note that this link is actually just a generic search from our advanced search function found here!

Burning Crusade Realms announced.

Liselle — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:53:56 GMT

After much complaining, Blizzard finally released the names of the new realms that will be opened during the Burning Crusade release for US customers.

-Nagrand - PvE, Oceanic - Bloodlust battlegroup -Velen - PvE, Pacific -Coilfang - PvP, Pacific -Terokkar - PvE, Central -Exodar - PvE, Eastern -Auchindoun - PvP, Eastern

The mistery of new realms

Maximaeros — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 19:24:16 GMT

1.15Q Will we get new realms when the expansion goes live?

     1.15A Not sure yet.
     1.15SL http://blue.cardplace.com/newcache/forums.wow-europe.com/45834993.htm

This is all we know at the moment about new realms for TBC. As many of you i want to start on a new empty server, but this is all i can find.

If you find any other info about new server launches, please post it below.

The Burning Crusade Collector's Edition

Cyanize — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:36:33 GMT

In the latest issue of the WoW insider, Blizzard finally published some details as to what the contents of the shiny green box would be.

The limited edition will be available only with the release and as usual there are no plans for a re-issue at a later date. So if you get the chance to buy one, go for it.

Here we go, the contents of the box:

• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Behind-the-Scenes DVD. • The Burning Crusade Hardcover Art Book. • In-Game pet: Netherwhelp. • 2 World of Warcraft Trading Card Game Starter Packs, plus Exclusive Cards. • Map of Outland Mousepad. • World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Soundtrack CD. • World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade on both CD and DVD.

Anybody who got lucky enough to secure a copy of the Collector’s edition will have a lot of goodies waiting inside. Just to give you a glimpse of the Behind-the-Scenes DVD, follow this link: http://media.wow-europe.com/insider/11/DVD-SPOT_German.avi. Or if you like you can listen to the “Silvermoon” track form the TBS Soundtrack: http://media.wow-europe.com/insider/11/10SilvermoonCity.mp3. Enjoy.

Burning Crusade Expansion FAQ

Liselle — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:05:08 GMT

When is the official launch time for the Burning Crusade?

The official launch time is 12:00 AM (midnight) EST on January 16th.

What time will I be able to log in and play BC?

You will be able to log in and play as soon as you have purchased your copy of the Burning Crusade, installed it, and activated your key. Many retailers will be open at midnight. Please check with your local store for more information.

Players will be able to play the expansion as of the official launch time.

Blizzard will also be participating in midnight sales and signings at several California locations. For more information visit the following link: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/wowx-midnight.xml

Alternatively, for our European readers:

Will I need to install from the CD? Why?

It will be necessary to have a Burning Crusade CD and a Burning Crusade authentication key in order to play The Burning Crusade expansion. There is content on the Burning Crusade CD that will need to be installed that was not included in the patches we recently released. Each account (in the event multiple are played by one person) will need its own copy of The Burning Crusade expansion to install the additional content, and be upgraded with the included authentication key.

Will I need to patch after I install from the CD?

Yes, the patch released after the game was completed (2.0.0-to-2.0.3) will need to be reapplied once the expansion is installed. If you’ve deleted that patch from your computer then it is possible that you will need to download it again.

If I have the beta already, do I need to delete the beta and install fresh?

When the game goes live, you will need to uninstall your beta client before installing the expansion. Use your computer's Add or Remove Programs function to remove it. If you do not see the beta listed there, just simply delete the Burning Crusade Closed Beta folder. Remember to back up any screenshots or UI settings that you may want to keep.

Where do I need to enter my key when upgrading? Is it through the client or on the website in Account Management?

You will need to enter your key at the Account Management page to upgrade your account to access The Burning Crusade. We will have a link on the main site for players to access it.

I play on two accounts. Will I be able to upgrade both accounts with one key?

No. You will need to upgrade each account you play on with a different key.

If I bought a Collector’s Edition but upgrade with a regular key, will I be able to upgrade to the CE version later?

No, you won’t. Once you enter a key for the upgrade, the option to enter a key will be gone and you will not be able to upgrade using the Collector’s Edition key.

Will I be able to get the new Collector's Edition pet on all of my characters or only my new characters?

All of the characters attached to the upgraded account will be able to use the new Collector's Edition pet.

I share a computer with someone else; will that person still be able to play if I upgrade but they don’t?

Yes. You will both be able to play as you normally would. The other person will not have access to the Burning Crusade content until the account he or she plays on is upgraded with a Burning Crusade key.

Can I just buy a key online and download?

We are not offering online purchase or download of The Burning Crusade at this time.

Will there be Tuesday Maintenance, or will I be able to play without planned downtime?

There will be no scheduled maintenance for release day, though should it be deemed necessary, we may have rolling restarts.

Will the realms be brought down prior to the release of The Burning Crusade?

No. We do not have any plans to bring down the realms prior to the release of The Burning Crusade. Players will be able to continue playing without interruption.

Will I need to leave my CD in the drive in order to play?

Once you have the expansion installed, you will not be required to have the CD in your drive to play.

I won’t have access to my CDs due to being away from home. Will I be able to upgrade the account I play on?

You will be able to upgrade the account; however, until you install from the CDs, you will not be able to play.

Will everyone receive a free respec upon release of the expansion?

No. There will be no free respecs with the release of the expansion.

Will honor points be reset to zero upon release of the expansion?

No. Players will be able to retain their current honor points.

Will new realms be opened when the expansion is released?

We are planning to open new realms with the release of The Burning Crusade, but we do not have any specifics to share at this time.

Once I install the expansion, can I go to Outland, and how do I get there?

The Dark Portal, the gateway to Outland, is located in The Blasted Lands. The only requirements to enter Outland are that you have installed the Burning Crusade expansion, have upgraded the account you play on with the Burning Crusade authentication key, and your character is level 58 or higher.

Will there be some sort of big ending to the Dark Portal Event that is going to happen at midnight? I don’t want to miss it if I’m in line getting my copy of the expansion.

There will be no final event as a part of the Dark Portal event. The event will run until the release of the expansion at which point players who have upgraded to the expansion will be able to go through the Dark Portal.

Keep your WoW 2.0.3 Patch files

Cyanize — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:25:28 GMT

Gnorog a German Blizzard employee confirmed the latest rumors about patching World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade right after you installed your copy. The WoW: TBC version that is being currently shipped by Blizzard needs to be updated with the current 2.0.3 patch (220MB) as it contains updates that were made after the expansion went gold.

There has been no confirmation if there will be an additional patch file for the expansion itself, or if the 2.0.3 patch will cover everything.

All I can recommend is that you keep your patch files on your hard drive, so you don't have to download them again on release day.

You can take a look at the statement from Gnorog over here: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=108230878&sid=3...

A Year of WoW: A look back at 2006

Waywinkle — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 10:14:49 GMT

As the New Year rolls in, we have plenty to look forward to in 2007. I would like to recap some of the highs of World of Warcraft in 2006.

The beginning of 2006, brought the first world event, The Gates of Ahn’Qiraj…which Blizzard made both horde and alliance to work together to collect materials from all around Azeroth to support the war efforts in Silithus. It also introduced the long awaited final graphics for the Tier 2 Armor sets, which replaced the horrible placeholder armor look.

In March, Blizzard introduced weather effects such as snow, rain, and sandstorms. They also put into the game, the Tier 0.5 set which allowed players to quest and raid for certain items to upgrade their dungeon set found in places like Upper Black Rock Spire, and Stratholme. Finally, Blizzard showed some sight to the non-hardcore end game player, showing that the game is for both casual and hardcore fans of any MMORPG.

On the 19th of June, Blizzard implemented one of their biggest patches to date named “The Shadow of the Necropolis”, which not only added a new 40-man raid dungeon, but a new Legendary item Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian, as well as, New Tier 3 raid armor for every class. This was a very exciting patch as there was much to do and many things to accomplish. Kel’Thuzad, a famous name from the Warcraft lore, was named to be the final boss of Naxxramas, which proved to be a challenge for all guilds that faced him.

As the year started to wind down, and as Blizzard started to frantically work on and finish The Burning Crusade, they added things such as Cross-Realm Battlegrounds to alleviate queue times, and spread out competition within the world of pvp. They also featured the new 41 point talent trees for all classes, such as the mage's new water elemental or the shaman’s new totem of wrath. As 2006 ended many things were eminent that The Burning Crusade, only 4 days from launch as I write this, was getting close. I look into 2007 with good hope, knowing that Blizzard will always be looking for new ways to improve one of the most successful games in PC history.

Burning Crusade Requires Patch 2.0.3

SolHeiM — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 07:35:31 GMT

The expansion coming for World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, will be released for players on Tuesday the 16th of January, and Blizzard now asks players not to delete the patch 2.0.3 because the build in the final version of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade was finished before the release of patch 2.0.3, which means that this patch will be a requirement once you have installed World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade on your computer.

Crezax: As the Burning Crusade expansion was finished prior to the most current patch versions it will be necessary to re-patch to 2.0.3 once the expansion is installed. As some players remove their patches after they have been applied we would like to provide a helpful warning not to delete the “2.0.0-to-2.0.3” patch file as it will be required after the Burning Crusade is installed.

WoW: The Burning Crusade Opening Cinematic

atrox1 — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 05:58:07 GMT

Finally the cinematic we have all been waiting for has been released in High Quality from the people at SpikeTV.com

Nothing more to say than: Enjoy!

http://www.spiketv.com/events/vga2006/simulcast.html