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World of Warcraft: The
Burning Crusade Updated Hands-On - A Tour of the New Outland Region
We take a last look at how the Outland region is shaping up before
the World of Warcraft expansion opens for business.
Release day for The Burning Crusade, the much-anticipated add-on to
the blockbuster massively multiplayer role-playing game World of
Warcraft, is drawing near, and Blizzard has now finished fine-tuning
the expansion's various new factions, zones, and instances.
Following on from our last hands-on preview, we take one final look
over what could be another momentous event for online games.
The lush countryside of Nagrand, perfect for a nice spot of
ram-riding.
The major changes that have occurred in the beta test in the past
month or so revolve around the opening of several new zones in
Outland, the major new region in the expansion. This brings the
total number of new high-level zones in the expansion to seven, each
of which contains enough solo content to easily last you until you
hit level 70, an increase from the previous level cap of level 60.
Of course, there's also more than enough group and raid content, for
teams of between five and 25 people, as well as "heroic" difficulty
versions, all of which will eventually lead to the forthcoming Mount
Hyjal encounter--currently slated as the most difficult content to
date. For the game's most dedicated players The Burning Crusade
really acts as a preparation for that Hyjal encounter, but to get
there, you'll need to complete a large number of complicated quests.
In our last look at the game, we covered some of what you can look
forward to in the first three zones in Outland. Adventuring there
will take you to around level 65, should you choose to complete all
of the quest lines. The next region you're likely to head to is
called Nagrand, which is a lush area full of grassland, trees,
lakes, and waterfalls. Within its boundaries lie, among other
things, four notable points of interest, including a large
player-versus-player arena called the Ring of Trials. Then there's a
giant mountainlike crystal called Oshu'gun, surrounded by ethereals,
which contains something of a surprise. There's also an interesting
outdoor PvP objective, called Halaa. This is a village guarded by
elite non-player characters of either faction, and it's up to the
opposing faction members to kill the guards and capture the town.
One way to achieve this is to bomb them from above, using certain
flying mount points around the boundary, and once the village is
captured, special NPC vendors will become available to the
controlling faction.
Anybody who remembers the various hunting quests from the north of
Stranglethorn Vale will be pleased to hear that Hemet Nesingwary has
also moved to Nagrand, leaving his son, Hemet Jr., in charge of his
former hunting base. A small step up from there in terms of
difficulty is Blade's Edge Mountains, a region of thorny hills and
wooded valleys. It sits at the northern end of Outland, and as well
as containing another PvP arena, the Circle of Blood, it is also
home to a Cenarion Expedition base in the form of Evergrove. Another
notable area is Dragons' End, home to numerous lizard skeletons and
corpses.
The hardest regions you'll encounter in The Burning Crusade, and
those which will take you to the new level cap of 70, are
undoubtedly Shadowmoon Valley and Netherstorm. The latter of the two
is set on a series of floating rock islands, in a dark landscape
dominated by purple rock and a supernatural, stormy sky. You arrive
there from the Blade's Edge Mountains by crossing the Gyro-Plank
Bridge, and during your travels you'll encounter the latest neutral
goblin town, amusingly named Area 52, which also serves as one of
several new quest hubs for the region. There, you'll be able to sit
and admire the space rocket that sits in the middle of the town.
Snakes. On a plane. Get it?
What's more, there are three large eco-domes set across the region,
each of which contains a lush jungle environment, away from the
harsh weather outside. These are the work of one of Outland's new
factions, the Consortium, an organized group of Ethereal smugglers
who trade in exotic goods. Players interested in the game's lore may
recognize the name of Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider--he's based in
Netherstorm, floating just off the eastern edge of the map, in the
instanced complex of Tempest Keep. He's joined by his most senior
minions and will pose a real challenge to even the most organized
groups. Finally, Shadowmoon Valley is home to the remainder of the
new endgame content, specifically the Black Temple complex of
instances, which Blizzard has stated will be opened in an upcoming
patch. The land is dark and stony, and comets fall regularly from
the sky, while numerous demons prowl about, waiting for you to stray
from the path.
In addition to the Alliance and Horde faction bases, there are also
outposts for both the Scryers and Aldor, two new warring groups
first introduced in Shattrath City. The demonic Legion Hold,
imposing Dragonmaw Stronghold, and the awesome Black Temple all
overlook the blasted land below, but to access everything you'll
need to save upwards of 5,000 gold coins to buy a flying mount.
One way to fund that particular project might be to further your
character's professions. Tailors will be happy to know that Blizzard
has finally introduced some new specializations to the craft,
similar to those currently found in weapon making and
leatherworking. Players will now be able to gather new types of
cloth for the Spellfire, Mooncloth, and Shadoweave tailoring
professions, and new patterns will be available as quest rewards and
world drops, and from vendors. Alchemists, too, will now have the
choice of pursuing one of three new directions in the trade,
focusing on potions, transmutations, or elixirs.
As you would expect, with so many new things to see and kill, there
are new ores and plants, as well as several new types of skins and
enchanting materials to be had. It's unclear at this point whether
professions will become more effective in terms of the general
effort that's required to make any profit. That said, money seems
relatively easy to come by in Outland, at least during the late beta
phase we played. Most quests seem to yield several gold pieces, and
random low-key loot drops (that will likely be useless to you) which
can be sold for several more.
For most people, Outland will certainly represent a significant
addition of content to the Warcraft phenomenon. Aside from those few
who manage to attain top-end raiding or PvP rewards, most players
will find they've upgraded some of their currently equipped items
within a few hours of play, and probably all of them by the time
they reach level 64 or so.
Wildhammer Stronghold is the Alliance base in Shadowmoon Valley.
Fundamentally, the way that raiding guilds currently work will have
to change in order to accommodate the new lower number of
participants, and this is something that should make the game more
inclusive on the whole. By designing Outland with the lessons
learned in the past 18 months or so of developing Azeroth, Blizzard
has tried to include something for everybody in The Burning Crusade.
The new PvP rules, introduced into the current game in a recent
patch, will enable less-avid players to build up significant rewards
over time, and the quicker five-person instances that are introduced
from Hellfire Peninsula onward will also reduce the need for
military-precision planning and encourage more-regular ad hoc
questing. Yet while becoming more inclusive for Blizzard's army of
casual players, the serious challenge posed by the new 25-person
raid content, the heroic difficulty settings, and the long, complex
path to Mount Hyjal should keep focused players busy for a long time
to come.
Blizzard has previously stated that it plans to release an expansion
every year for the foreseeable future, and if The Burning Crusade is
anything to go by, it's likely that most people will still be
knee-deep in Outland when the next expansion moves into beta
testing. .
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