Burning Crusade Recap

Patch 2.0 Before the Storm

The Burning Crusade was the first expansion for World of Warcraft. Released January 16th 2007, The Burning Crusade was the best-selling PC game of 2007 in both North America and Europe, and it was also the fastest-selling PC game of all time, selling nearly 2.4 million copies in its first 24 hours and approximately 3.5 million in its first month.

The Burning Crusade introduced players to two new starting races, The Draenei on the Alliance side and the Blood Elves for the Horde. Also, the classes Paladin and Shaman which had previously been faction specific were made available to both factions for the first time. Along with the new races, two new starting areas were added, along with the new capital cities, The Exodar and Silvermoon. While many players believed that the Burning Crusade would have much to do with Draenei, the blue space goats ended up as supporting characters as the Blood Elf storyline took center stage throughout TBC.

With the introduction of Outland, players were able to quest and level, to the new cap of 70 raised from 60, in seven vast and varied zones. Most players agree that entering into Hellfire Peninsula the first time changed the WoW experience forever. And the subsequent zones, from the giant mushroom land of Zangarmarsh to the eerie ethereal zone of Netherstorm. While it took most of us several weeks to get from 60 to 70, the first 70, a french player named Gullerbone, accomplished the feat in just 28 real time hours. Gullerbone was the first to have access to the newly introduced Flying Mounts. Long awaited, these mounts added a third dimension to the game: altitude. Disappointing was the fact that the new mounts were Outland only, but many a player agrees that flying mounts were one of the best things to come from TBC.

The profession Jewelcrafting was introduced at TBC launch. it allowed players to create gems to fit into the new socket system Blizzard added at the same time. These gems enhanced items which in turn enhanced players stats and abilities. More customization was praided by the community and theorycrafters began rewriting their old formula to maximize their characters.

The release of TBC also saw the end of the 40 man raid. All new raids would be 25 man maximum and while many thought this was great, Blizzard took a new design approach when it came to raiding. While in the old 40 mans one or two players could essentially come along for the ride. in TBC there was no room from slackers. All 25 would have to know their assignments and complete their tasks with precision.

On the PvP side of things, a total revamp of the Honor system was implemented, removing the old title system, though players could still display their highest rank reach title. Honor would now be accrued daily and together with the now transformed Marks of Honor, both would be used as currency to by PvP specific items and gear.

The first two Arenas were first introduced with the TBC release. 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5 matches began immediately, though rated matches were to come later. The first Arena season began on January 30th, 2007. And an E-Sport was born.

Patch 2.1 The Black Temple

Patch 2.1 the first content patch after the expansion brought what was believed to be the final raid instance of TBC, The Black Temple, into the game. Once the heart of Draenei worship, the Temple of Karabor fell to demonically corrupted orcs who slaughterd the priests who resided there. The Shadow Council seized this opportunity to take the Temple for itself and renamed it The Black Temple. During the second war, the orc shaman, Ner'zhul opened several dimensional portals to make his escape. The result was the almost near destruction of Dreanor itself. The pit lord, Magtheridon, drawn by these portals, came to the remains of the world, now called Outland, and took the Temple as his own. From their he ruled Outland until the coming of Illidian, who imprisoned Magtheridon in the depths of Hellfire Citadel and took both the Temple and Outland as his own.

2.1 gave us many great changes. The daily quest was born here with the introduction of Skettis and Ogrila. This gave players an opportunity to make vast amounts of gold they had never before seen. Epic flight mounts were soon a reality for many players to whom they had previously been out of reach. Additionally, the Netherwing faction was added and we all began the reputation grind to exalted to receive the long awaited NetherDrake mount.

Much to the chagrin of warlocks and paladins, who expected a summon able flying mount, druids received their epic flight form. While the druids rejoiced, those on PvP servers ( and sometimes PvE servers ) were introduced to the term "druid bomb" for the first time.

The new battleground matchmaking system went live with 2.1. Designed to match combatants of similar equipment quality and organizational level to battle each other. The system was very forgiving,to keep queue times low, with promises of tweaking later on down the road. Bliaazrd also introduced a third arena map, the ruins of Lordearon, and season 2 began on June 20th.

Patch 2.2 Voice Chat

The now infamous Voice chat patch was one of Blizzards failures. when released voice chat not only didn't work well, but caused so much lag even for players not using it that the game was nearly unplayable. Blizzard eventually fixed the lag issue, but to this day the voice chat feature goes relatively unused by the vast majority of players.

2.2 also brought the report an AFKer function to the battlegrounds. By right clicking a players name, one could select report afk from a drop down menu. When enough reports are registered, a 60 second debuff would begin to count down. Once the timer is up a new debuff would appear that will prevent the player from gaining any honor while it is on. This debuff can be negated as soon as the player engages in PvP combat. AFKers still plague the BG's but the attempt was made at least.

2.3 The Gods of Zul'Aman

The Gods of Zul'Aman came to Azeroth in patch 2.3. The second TBC 10 man raid was a marked departure from the first. An outdoor timed raid instance with a troll theme, ZA as its called by players, was a welcome addition to the average raiders schedule and one of the most intriguing raid instance thus far. If you haven't seen the patch trailer for this, then you are really missing out. A quick search of YouTube of The Gods of Zul'Aman will clear that right up. The only question left by the trailer is: is taking a helpless prisoners eye out with a dagger really the work of the "good" guys?

Guild banks also came to WoW in 2.3 and we all learned that an open guild bank leads to an empty guild bank. The drama that ensues from a members sudden disappearance with all the guild loot was wonderfully depicted in the first season of The Guild. It can happen to you.

The experience required to get from 20 to 60 was dropped. The experience gained from quests from 30 to 60 was increased and all dungeon quests had their experience and reputaion rewards increased. WoW on easy mode had begun and just in time for everyones alts to explode in Dustwallow Marsh, which had been revamped with over 50 new quests and a new nuetral goblin town called Mudsprocket. Also, vendor discounts were expanded with a scaling discount system for each level of reputation gained with a faction. 20% discount for exalted is nothing to scoff at.

And the daily quests just kept on a-coming. Success in the battlegrounds now meant a decent gold reward as well as an extra 419 honor.

Many elites in the old world were changed to normal mobs to accommmodate solo play, thus making many quests easier to accomplish and speeding the leveling even more.

Fisherpeople of the world rejoiced as the ability to track fishing nodes went live. Finding the journal, which was fished up in crates sometimes found in fishing nodes, was easier than expected and within days every respectable fishing person could now track schools of fish and so much more.

2.4 Fury of the Sunwell

The Fury of the Sunwell brought the final chapter in TBC lore. The glorious fount of arcane energy known as the Sunwell empowered the high elves for millennia, until the death knight Arthas laid siege to the elven kingdom and corrupted its sacred energies. Seeing no other alternative, a band of survivors led by Prince Kael'thas destroyed the ancient fount. Over time the surviving elves fell prey to a crippling magical withdrawal. Promising salvation for his people, Kael'thas had returned. The Sunwell began shine once again, but whether the sacred fount will usher in deliverance or destruction remained to be seen.

And the Sunwell Isle hit the servers. Players scrambled to do as many of the new daily quests, whose limit was now raised from 10 to 25, to get through the newest and possibly the most interesting in game world event up to that time. By completing quests, players were able to unlock new buildings, NPC's and still more daily quests. Though on PvP servers, Sunwell Isle became a nightmare, on the PvE servers they quickly became the center of Azeroth.

Included in Sunwell Isle was the first new 5 man instance in 14 months. Magisters Terrance was immediatey hailed as a hit. The final boss, Kael'Thas Sunstrider made his second appearance here confusing players who had found him in Tempest Keep as well.

The Sunwell Plateau was the latest and final 25 man raid instance of TBC. Players were able to match themselves against the like of kalecgos, in both reality and the spectral realm, the terrifying pit lord, Brutallus, and eventually Kiljaeden the Deciever himself.

On the Pvp front, the first Global Arena Tournament took place with $120,000 for tournament winners, $75,000 of which will go to the first place team. Players were be able to create level-70 characters with epic equipment and compete on special tournament realms. Blizzard threw it's full weight into this with special appearances made by Blizzard V.I.P.s on the tourney servers themselves.

For the Battlegrounds, Alterac Valley went through some serious changes. The horde starting cave was moved back closer to their base, and the join as party option was finally implemented. Over in Warsong Gulch, the flag carriers would receive 50% increased damage done to them after approximately 10 minutes and 100% increased damage after approximately 15 minutes and could be tracked for 45 seconds after picking up the flag.

Addons took a big hit as the Interface options screen got a huge redesign. And a Keeper of Time represenative was added to Shattrath to port players from tehre directly to The Caverns of Time.

Patch 2.4, Fury of the Sunwell, was dedicated to Gary Gygax the gaming giant and genius behind the ever popular Dungeons and Dragons pen and paper game. Gygax passed away on March 4, 2008, just weeks before the release of 2.4. His vison inspired so many in this genre that to not mention his passing in some way would have been remiss.

Fishing quests are finally implemented giving players more reason to drop a line in and see what comes out, bringing the changes The Burning crusade brought us to a close. The next patch Echoes of Doom was released recently and is the first part of the Wrath of the Lich King storyline.

No more brains.

This week ended the zombification of Azeroth. The cure has been found and the infection has been stymied. There was alot of debate about the invasion. From people turning uber fan boy for Blizzard to those who claim the infection has caused them to cancel their accounts. While I could go through the details of the new plague, this is going to be an opinion piece. I know I am prone to ranting. It's because I care passionately about the MMO's I play. I for one have long wanted a more dynamic enviorment within the persistent worlds I choose to inhabit. And the recent outrage at just such a dynamic world has got me to thinking again. I just heard a collective sigh from our listeners as they brace themselves, but I ask you to not fast forward the podcast, but listen with an open mind and think about what I am about to say.

The first real outcry I heard against the event was from a few Rper's on my server, claiming the event was ruining their scheduled RP events, with zombies attacking ( both player and NPC's ) their favorite hangouts in various towns and cities. I shook my head at this is disbelief. What a perfect opportunity to RP...missed. Then others expressed their concerns. They just wanted to level. They didn't want to take part in this event and how dare Blizzard ruin their gameplay with this event. I tried to explain to those that such things don't happen very often...almost never. And that this was the time to take part and enjoy so a year from now they could look back and reminisce on how great a time they had while the event was going on. There were some who threw themselves fully into the event. They found ways to spread the infection as best they could and complained when someone ran through killing off their perfect zombification of a town or a paladin threw cures to stop the spread.

Just when the event was hitting it's height and phase 5 threatened to turn every one into zombies, even those who disliked the event started getting into it. They had simply had enough. Large groups of players started forming "cleansing" raids and began pushing back the tide of the scourges new plague. when I saw this, I was happier with WoW than I have ever been in the past...happier at that moment than with any MMO I have ever played. I was rejoicing," Blizzard did it! They created an event that had players to re evaluate the game and take a stand against world changing threat. Finally a truly dynamic world!!!" Within the hour, the announcement came that the NPC's had found a cure and the plague would be over in a few hours. As news spread, the raids fell apart as it was going to end soon no matter what players id, the need was no longer there. I wanted to weep. Just when it was getting good, they pulled the plug.

Now Blizzard claims this was their plan all along. They had a very specific schedule, they said, and it had been met. I believe them, but god I wish they had approached this differently. Imagine if they had added a little bit of the AQ opening to this event. Sure, a cure can be found but the NPC's need herbs, cloth, leather, zombie parts, necrotic runes...whatever. Then give players a little argent dawn faction rep or even better, home faction rep, like 25 per turn in and get players moving to defeat the spread of the plague. Oh, and make the cure faction specific so the Alliance and Horde are racing to cure their side so they are immune while the other side is still infected.

Which leads me to my only complaint about the event: It just didn't last long enough or effect enough of the world. just as players were getting together to deal with the issue, it was over and that cooperation fell apart. Blizzard accomplished what to my direct experience was the first real dynamic world changing event in MMO history. yes, there was a plague in Horizons, but it didn't have the effects that this one did, though Horizons did give it a valiant effort at a dynamic world, they simply don't get enough credit for what they attempted with that game. But this new Scourge Plague was covered by both Fox News and Time magazine online. Think of it! An in game event covered by real world news as if it were an actual real world event, given the same seriousness and credence as a flood in some corner of the world you barely know the name of. This alone places me squarely in the Blizzard fanboy faction. We, folks, are simply not worthy. With the rumors and these are just rumors, I can find no confirmation on this, that the U.S. government actually paid for Blizzards data of the event to use as a model for tracking a biological weapon scenario added into the mix of uber cool scourge invasion fun facts and what we have here is a full blown conspiracy theory in the making and folks you just aren't going to get that from other games.