BurningCrusade
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What are the chances of getting a Burning Crusade beta key?
Well, according to Drysc on the WoW.com forums, not very good. They have no plans to offer any more keys at this time, although they possibly will offer more beta passes in the future. If they do, it will likely be via contests or drawings on their own site, or possibly fan sites.Not shocking news. From my own personal viewpoint, I am not that disappointed. Sure, I'd like to take the new car out for a spin before anyone else, but at the same time, I am looking forward to hitting the new content unspoiled with my guild. Although don't take it the wrong way. I'd be MORE than happy to take a beta key off of Blizzard's hands.
Download Burning Crusade? Blizzard VP thinks...maybe.
The folks over at Computer and Videogames have a short interview with Blizzard Senior VP of Product Development Frank Pearce in regards to the Burning Crusade expansion. Beyond stating that they are looking at letting the expansion be purchased via download, no new info is revealed in the interview. Don't let let that stop you from reading it though, as it is an interesting little chat. Pearce gives some insight on why certain decisions were made in creating the Burning Crusade, which is nice. But he ducks some of the more interesting questions asked, which is not so nice. I didn't expect him to answer the questions he ducked, as he is just a guy doing his job, which in this interview is creating a little hype without letting the cat out of the bag. As far as the download thing...well, it is interesting to note, although not what I would consider groundbreaking news. Even if the expansion is available via download, I will still probably go to the store and buy the shiny box. I am lame like that. However, I am sure some of you will be happy not to have wander into Best Buy come expansion day if Blizzard decides to go that route.One thing I did find sort of interesting is that he once again confirms that hero classes are nowhere on the radar. This news will surely annoy the "What's up with hero classes?" crowd. I imagine Blizzard wishes they never mentioned hero classes in the first place. So check out the interview if you want to get hyped further for BC. And we all want that, don't we?
Expansion available for preorder on Amazon
Just a note, as this kind of slipped by us (and most others, I think) the other day: Burning Crusade is now available for preorder on Amazon.com.Now, Amazon is notorious for putting items up early (and sometimes even taking them down), so you might want to take this with a grain of salt, unless you were buying from Amazon anyway. Also, they specifically list the release date as November 22, 2006, and as far as I know, Blizzard hasn't actually confirmed a release date yet. Finally, the price they have is $39.99, which is great news if, like me, you were expecting the expansion to run $50.And before you run over and do a little 1-click shopping, keep in mind that this isn't the Collector's Edition, which should have some other goodies in it, including a few TCG items. Despite my (admittedly casual) searching, I couldn't find a collector's edition on Amazon, although there is a listing for a strategy guide already (probably because the company that's making the guide wants to have it ready ASAP). But I've heard this link works, so if you want to get in on the ground (or is this the basement?) floor of buying BC, there you go.
BC Leaks: More pics, areas, and Arena PVP sets
By the rate we're going, we're going to have the whole expansion in front of you before they even announce the release date. Readers Mordicieus and Nelson have dropped more BC leaks in the comment box, and we're bringing them to you. Lots of weapons: 1h and 2h axes, 1h and 2h maces, 1h swords, daggers, something new called glaves (glaives? they look like the double swords those night elves have), staves, and ranged. More tier 4 stuff: Paladin, Priest, and Rogue. Lots and lots of monsters: Arakkoa, Arcane Golem, Doomguard, Hydra, Lobstrokk (anyone out there a Dark Tower fan?), Nightbane, and Warpstalker NPCs (spoilers be here): This guy, this girl, this thing, this thing, and this... who is that? Areas: Karazhan (1, 2, 3), Nagrand (1, 2), Netherstorm, the other side of the Dark Portal, Tempest Keep, Terokkar Forest, and Zangar Marsh. And finally, there's this-- which we're told is a big picture of all the Arena PVP armor sets available. There's some really good stuff in there, but exactly what is "resilience"? Now, it could be because this set was translated from French (I saw the original French shot), or it could be because this stuff is all extremely fake. So check 'em out at your own risk-- it's very likely this stuff is either fake or unfinished. But otherwise enjoy. Every new set of pics I see just makes me more and more excited for the expansion.[ Thanks Mord and Nelson! ]
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Breakfast Topic: Starting Over With Burning Crusade
I have seen some posts in the guild recruitment forum on the official site (that is, when the forums are actually working) of guilds starting fresh and re-rolling new characters upon the release of the Burning Crusade expansion. I guess I could see this being interesting at the beginning, provided you are in the new starting areas, experiencing all the new goodies there and such. However, I get the impression that the grind to 60 will be the same with the exception of those new starting areas. Starting over again, and waiting to hit the new Outland content? I don't know about that. On the other hand, I will admit that starting fresh with new characters and working your way to the new 60-70 content has some appeal. The "starter" Outland zones will be positively slammed for the first couple of weeks after release, so by the time you hit 60 the population will have spread out a bit around the new continent. Are any of you guys thinking of starting over with the BC? Are any of you currently in guilds that are planning to do this? Or do you think the re-rollers are insane? I might be interested in doing it myself if the mood happens to strike me come expansion time, so maybe we could be future guildies! How exciting would that be?**If you answered "Not very exciting at all. I don't want this noob in my guild!", then you answered wisely.
More BC eye candy, official and leaked
Bit-tech has posted a very nice preview of the Burning Crusade expansion-- apparently they lured Blizzard across the pond to show them the game (probably with cookies-- we all know Blizzard employees are weak for cookies). They don't have much in the way of new info; if you've been paying attention, you already know about the new honor system, "winged" dungeons, and the racial abilities and lore. But the one thing they do have is lots and lots of (relatively spoiler free) eye candy! Gape at the spectacular instances! Oooh at the beautiful new zones! And gasp at the new models!Also, our good reader Mordicieus sent along a lot of leaked BC pics he found over on the Noggaholics forums. Click to see them, but watch out for spoilers... Nogg says this is some wizard guy... Maybe you know him... The Blood Elf mount A few Draenei totem models A few interesting mob models-- I like this guy And Tier 4 sets: Warlock, Shammy, Hunter, and Druid Remember, all the leaked stuff is still unconfirmed and likely unfinished. Thanks Mord!
Should current endgame content be scalable in BC?
Jayne from Mug'thol has an interesting thought over on the forums: he lodges a request to Blizzard to make the current endgame dungeons (BWL, AQ, and Naxx) scalable in the upcoming expansion. We already know a few of the new instances will be scalable-- when you take on the Hellfire Citadel level 60-62 wing at level 70, it'll be harder and have different rewards. So why not, says Jayne, make the current endgame instances scalable as well, so they just as much of a challenge to level 70 players in the expansion as they do to level 60s now. In one sense, Jayne has a good point. Especially in Naxx, an instance that has only been in the game for a relatively short time, scaling it to level 70 might give it a little longer shelf life. And since anyone who's 70 won't even get experience from level 60 mobs, there might not be much pull for players to go back and do the "old" instances.But personally, I'd rather see the new content be for level 70s and let this current endgame become part of the middle game. Jayne says that having only a small percentage of players able to play this content would extend its life, but I disagree-- I can't wait to get into Naxx with my casual guild in level 65 gear and tear things up. And I'd be very surprised if there wasn't enough content in the expansion to keep players interested all the way until the next patch-- we're not just talking a new instance for level 70s, we're talking almost another half of the existing game. Leaving the current endgame at the level its at will just let more players experience all the hard work and lore the devs have put into it.Of course, that does kind of invalidate all the hard work current endgame raiders have put into getting their way through Naxx. Thoughts?
More on 1.12.1 mounts
Since the mount changes coming in the next patch were announced earlier this week, players have had tons of questions about how the new mounts will be bought and used. I'm sure you know by now, if you've hit level 40, that buying the riding skill for mounts is 20g, normal mounts are 80g, and epic mounts are 900g. But in the next patch, there will be two levels of riding skills, a lower level (75 skill) for 90g, and a higher level (150 skill) for 900g (take a guess which kind of mount will probably require 300 skill...). Because the skills price will grow, the mount price itself will drop-- only 10g for each normal mount, and 100g for each epic mount. The overall price hasn't changed much, but the skill is much more expensive, while the mounts are cheaper.First, of course, everyone wants to find out what happens to the mounts they have now. Hortus tells us, thank goodness, that if you have a mount now, you will have the appropriate skill to ride it when the patch hits. Paladins and Warlocks will get both their mounts and the required skill from their quests. If you have a PVP or AV mount, you will be given the 150 riding skill just like everyone else. All mounts will be BOP after the patch, so if you're holding a mount for someone else, pass it off soon. And finally, due to the new mount prices, I figured it would be lots easier to get lots of mounts. It will, with the faction, but to get other factions' mounts, says Hortus, you'll still need exalted with the other faction. So there's still a good amount of grinding in there if you have a horse and want a tiger (or an elekk...).Finally, we here at WoW Insider know exactly what your real question is: "How can I do it the cheapest way possible?!" Things are still open to change (of course), but the cheapest way to get a mount and skill seems to be this: If you don't have the money (or level) for an epic mount, buy a skill now for only 20g, and when the patch hits, you'll be given 75 skill along with everyone else, and will be able to buy a normal mount for 10g, giving you a mount and skill for only 30g (normally 100g after the update). But if you have the money for an epic mount, buy one of those for 900g, and when the patch comes, you'll be given a riding skill of 150 (because you have a mount in your possession), and you'll already have the epic to go with it. In that scenario, you're only saving 100g, but as anyone saving for their first mount will tell you, 100g is plenty of money.Update: A previous version of this post listed the wrong patch for the mounts. Thanks for the comments.
TCG items will come with Burning Crusade Collector's Edition
WorldofWar.net has a pointer to an article on the new Escapist, in which they talk about all the extra trinkets and junk that comes with Collectors Editions of games. I still have one of those old full color cloth maps of Britannia laying around somewhere, and working at a game store a few years ago got me a few of those Jedi Knight 2 keychains.But even more interesting, WorldofWar also points out "a comment from Upper Deck" that says what'll be in the box with the Burning Crusade Collector's Edition. If you can get your hands on one of those (and don't worry-- there's supposed to be plenty to go around), Blizz will hook you up with "2 starter decks, a full-size color rulebook and 3 foil promo cards." Pretty nice, even if you're not a TCG fan.And considering how much Blizzard pimped out the original WoW Collector's Edition-- that's where the MiniDiablo, Zergling, and Panda non-combat pets all came from-- it's not too much of a stretch to think those cards (or something else in the Collector's Edition) will end up conveying some pretty cool stuff in-game. If you're planning to buy the expansion anyway and don't mind shelling out for the extra cash, Blizzard might have some neat stuff in store for collectors.
Goodbye Divine Shield, Hello Mass Dispel
People are still kind of reacting to the expansion Priest spells and talents release from yesterday. Some priests are thrilled that they can now heal (albeit weakly) in shadowform, other priests think they got screwed over big (especially considering how Eyonix had hyped the talents). Other players are wondering if even rogues will get pets soon, while still more players just want the priests to stop whining.But one talent that has raised a lot of hackles is the new Mass Dispel, available from the priest trainer at level 70. At first, players were kind of confused about the purpose of the spell-- an aoe dispel is nice, but is it really worth it? But pretty quickly, it became clear exactly why Mass Dispel is so huge: it dispells "normally undispellable" buffs. Like, Kalgan points out, the Paladin's Divine Shield. If you said "whoah" after reading that, you're either Keanu Reeves... or you've played a Paladin. Divine Shield is essential to the pally class-- Blizzard has even said it's a core ability that they've designed the class around. Everyone else may dislike the bubblehearth, but that's what Paladins can do that no other class can. Until now.Our fave Pally resource, Paladinsucks, offers up not just one but two posts on the subject. They call it, without question, "the worst Paladin nerf ever concieved." Now, Kalgan points out that MD has a relatively high cost to priests, has a casting time that a pally could counter with a stun, and is (so far) the only talent in the whole game that can counter DS. But Paladinsucks has a better point-- Paladins are known, for better or worse, for that little 12 seconds of immunity, and now that Shield has been shattered. Of course these talents are still subject to change, so things aren't set in stone. But the days of bubblehearthing as we know them may be over.
Even More Burning Crusade Leaks
Even more leaks are finding their way out of the supposedly ubersecret Burning Crusade Friends and Family Alpha. First we saw videos of the newbie areas, then we heard the voices of BE and Draenei, and now, using a model hacker, various sources have put together a few more spoilers about the expansion. If, like me, you want to wait until you buy the game to actually see what's in it, don't click on the links below. But if you're willing to dive into unreleased and unconfirmed information because you just can't wait to find out what might be in the expansion, have at it! borgseawolf over on Livejournal has put up four huge image strips of a bunch of different enemies from the game. Some of them are still untextured, but there's a lot of interesting stuff in there, including a few new forms of mobs we already know and love. And YouTuber roguekitten246 has unearthed video animations of the emotes and fighting movements of the Draenei male, the Draenei female, and the Blood Elf male and BE female. Again, don't click on the links if you don't want to see spoilers, but I have to say that I think the Horde are going to be pretty happy to have the BEs on their side. They look good. Also, Eluna (who sent us the voices) also sends along a few other pics from the alpha: some freaky skelly, a felorc, a female and male naga, a race whose name we won't mention, and the normal and epic Draenei mounts. Again, hacking the code like this is definitely against the Blizzard TOS and may even be illegal, so we can't confirm or guarantee any of these pictures or movies are exactly what you'll see in Burning Crusade. Even if they are real, there's a huge chance things will change before the game is released, so take these with a grain of salt. That said-- wow these look awesome!
Free Respec for Everyone On Expansion Release
We actually had this confirmed the other day, but I didn't put it up because I thought it was already obvious. Because people are still asking on the forums, yes: everyone (all classes) will be getting a free respec when the expansion releases, whether you choose to purchase the expansion or not.Which is probably good news if you're planning to respec near the end of this year, and didn't want to spend the 5g. But as I said, with all the new talents coming out, rumored or otherwise, how could you not respec? It is pretty momentous that they're handing them out across the board-- I don't recall Blizzard ever having done that before. But considering how much they're changing everything, it's only the right thing to do.A better question might be this: What will the world of Azeroth be like for the week after the expansion, when everyone comes back to find new and varied talents, and almost everyone has to L2P again? Will free respecs make us all noobs again, or will players be more than ready to jump in and use what they've been given like pros?
Possible Expansion Priest & Druid Abilities
I apparently can't resist a good rumor. And true or false, this information (complete with fuzzy screenshots!) is certainly interesting. The theme of pets continues, with the druid rumors showing a summonable Treant as their 41 point balance talent. The priest rumors are less substantial and without any screenshots but still intriguing. I'm nearly tempted to discount them immediately, but, despairing for news of my favorite class, I'm forced to consider them. The rumors are universally odd. They include a shadow-based healing spell which seems ludicrous, but which I can nearly see being balanced with its sky-high mana cost. Holy abilities mainly seem to focus on a priest declaring a player their "champion" and opening up a variety of new spells that are castable only on the champion. True or false, check out the speculation.
Burning Crusade Profession Rumors
World of Raids has some interesting information on professions in the expansion. But are they accurate? Well, I'm a little confused by the listed alchemy specializations - which are very unlike existing profession specializations in the game, which tend to open up new, specialized patterns. (A "potion master" will be able to sometimes produce two potions instead of one, when crafting potions. A "transmutation master" will sometimes get greater results from alchemical transmutations. And an "elixir master" will be able to sometimes produce two elixirs instead of one, when crafting elixirs.) Further, some of the enchants strike me as strange - a +4 all stats enchant for a ring (doesn't that seem... somewhat overpowered?), a +30 healing enchant for bracers (there's already a +24 healing enchant for bracers, and the added +6 seems quite minor). However, take a look and decide for yourself!
The Making of Illidan
If you were at E3 this year, you may have noticed the Illidan of which I refer - a nine foot tall sculpture that brought the character to life in a world away from Azeroth. And now you can see, step by step, the process involved in creating this Illidan. There's not a lot of reading, but plenty of great pictures to check out.
Leaked Burning Crusade Alpha Videos
Within the past few days, as you're probably aware, the Burning Crusade Friends and Family alpha disc has leaked its way out onto the internet, and recently videos have sprung up made by people who were able to reverse engineer (or otherwise emulate) the WoW servers. It's probably worth noting at this point that that's definitely against the Blizzard TOS, if not completely illegal.But if you're hungry for Burning Crusade information (and don't care about spoilers or seeing unfinished product), there's a ton of information to be seen in these videos. One more disclaimer: besides the fact that watching these will probably spoil a lot about the expansion for you, these screens are all from the alpha version of the game, and so every single thing here is subject to change, or could even be faked-- there's no guarantee about any of this, and it's definitely not confirmed by Blizzard. But hey, if you're still interested, here they are. the new Draenei mount, the Elekk character creation process, featuring Blood Elf and Draenei roaming around the new areas, including a map screen tour of the Blood Elf newbie area Personally, I can't wait for the expansion, so I'd rather be surprised by what I see in the game than spoil it by either watching these videos or playing on a hacked server. But as I said, there's lots of information in these videos already, and we'll probably see more and more of this as we get closer to release. Enjoy.. if you want to.[Thanks, Slipknot, and others]
Last Week in Warcraft: August 21st - 27th
Patch 1.12Patch 1.12 goes live!The Burning CrusadeWill we see BC before 2007? (And am I the only hopeless optimist here?)The Burning Crusade alpha test - already in progress?The Burning Crusade leaks begin, with possible information on paladin, mage, warlock, and rogue talents.Interesting rumored rogue talent trees.Breakfast Topics & DiscussionWhat do you think the best player grouping for the expansions arena PvP matches will be?With 1.12 due to be released this week, what are you looking forward to in the patch?What other games do you play when the servers are down?What do you think of patch 1.12?Was there one piece of loot that always eluded you?PvPDon't expect arena PvP to be a spectator sport.Cross-realm battlegrounds are a hit!ContestsA comic contest honorable mention.Win a piece of custom character art.Another comic contest honorable mention.Blizzard NewsTwo new US realms opened.Get ready - Blizzard is planning yearly expansions for us.The new official forums are now live! Check 'em out!The Week's MaintenanceExtended Tuesday maintenance for US realms.Further extended maintenance for US realms.Downtime compensation for several US realms.The usual patch day excitement.Missing characters on several US realms.Extended European maintenance.Wednesday maintenance on several US realms.GuildsIn this week's GuildWatch: raiding is serious stuff.Death & Taxes take out the Four Horsemen in a world first!Raids & DungeonsRaiders respond to the announced change to dungeon caps.Tips & TricksEssential addons for the discerning level 60.A guide to frustration-free instances.Other Items of InterestIn Moviewatch, we have bubble hearth.Roleplaying Azeroth as a living world - are you up to the challenge?Phat Loot Phriday presents - the Amberseal Keeper.
Pet Care for Shamans (a.k.a "Mike Told You So")
You laughed when I said it, readers. You said I was just whining. You called my character a "dirty Shaman." You even told me to reroll Hunter! Yes, when I suggested Shaman pets to Blizzard, you tried to laugh me off the Internet. But the new talents and spells came out this week, and lo and behold, look what Blizzard added to the Shaman class.That's right, suckers! Pets! Ok, well, I didn't get my shadow wolf, but two new totems will give Shamans the ability to summon at least two elementals-- a Fire Elemental (to "rain down destruction"-- sounds like a caster), and an Earth Elemental. I suggested we should get them for sixty seconds, but Blizz doubled that, and we will get to have them around for a whole two minutes in the expansion. Serves you all right for questioning my suggestions. Don't do it again!And there's more pets on the way-- Mages have picked up a 41 point talent that will summon a Water Elemental for them to play around with. And while the Druid (or "Drood" as I like to call them) talents haven't been officially released yet, the rumors say they'll get their very own Treant (that has some really neat talents of its own). Pets for everyone! Although maybe this is why they lowered the raid limit to 25. If everybody brings a pet, you'll have 50 entities fighting on your side. Sweet!
Burning Crusade Abilities Updates
Tseric posted - rather cryptically, I must say - telling us that the talent and abilities page for the burning crusade had been updated. However, he left it to us to figure out what changes may have been made. I've only noticed a few minor changes - though I certainly might have missed something. If anyone has seen any other changes, please leave a comment and let everyone know. However, I've seen the following, which I don't believe were there before... The paladin's consecrate spell will now be a trainable spell for paladins starting at level 20 (and the rank at level 70 will do 592 holy damage over 8 seconds). The paladin's tier 1 protection talent, redoubt, had been changed. Previously, it would incerase the paladin's chance to block with a shield after being a victim of a critical strike. Instead, the increased block ability will have a 10% chance to proc off all melee and ranged attacks. The rogue's evasion ability will now also reduce the chance ranged attacks hit the rogue by 50% for its duration. The warlock's unstable affliction ability (41-point affliction talent) now, in addition to doing damage to the dispeller when dispelled, silences the dispeller for 5 seconds. Additionally, the mana cost for the top rank has been lowered. The warlock's seed of corruption ability now has text suggesting that only one "corruption" spell can be on the target at any one time. Update: Adding information as I find it - thanks, Andy, Eliah.Update: Okay, I'm leaving keeping up with all of the little changes to the professionals. There's a great (and very detailed!) list of all of the tweaks up on the official forums.
No Open Beta for Burning Crusade
Lucipher from Burning Blade asks on the forums if there will be an open beta for Burning Crusade, and Eyonix says, pretty unequivocally: Nope.Well that's kind of a bummer. If you haven't got a beta key from Blizzcon, aren't rich enough to buy one, and don't know anyone who works at Blizzard, you're pretty much out of luck. In one sense, it's not really a bad thing-- playing in an open beta, especially for an expansion, is like reading a gigantic spoiler of a movie you can't wait to see. But as Lucipher says, it does mean no demo for the Burning Crusade. Either you'll be paying full price to check out the new talents, dungeons, and races, or you won't be playing them at all. Then again, are there still people out there who haven't decided whether they're getting the expansion or not? I would guess that by now you know what you're going to do once that box hits stores.Of course, you could go the cynical route. Tyrus from Executus points out (not uninsightfully), that "open beta will be the 6 months after BC goes retail of course." It's funny-- because it's probably true.
