World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Dance, into the fire...

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It's hard to review an expansion pack at the best of times, is more of the same acceptable or is innovation required? Some players will want one and some the other. It's no easier to review something as huge and ever changing as an MMO either, so to review an expansion pack for an MMO must be about the hardest assignment games reviewers face. Add into that the fact that this is no normal MMO this is World Of Warcraft (the eponymous WoW), the biggest MMO the world has ever seen, with more than 8 million current subscribers who have helped the release of this expansion pack generate the kind of buzz normally reserved for console launches or Celebrity Big Brother, with stories appearing on prime-time news programs and queues waiting outside HMV London for a midnight launch. All those things considered, reviewing The Burning Crusade (TBC) is no normal gig.

Does it even need a proper review I found myself wondering as I sat down to write? I mean people only play WoW if they enjoy it, why else would you pay a monthly subscription to a game, so asking such a committed following if they want 'more' would be like asking the Pope if he really does believe in that God fellow. So, chances are, there are roughly 8 million people who already know they want to buy this expansion pack regardless of what I say here. And who am I to tell them they're wrong, as expansion packs go it appears to offer the holy grail of new content for all levels of player from the beginner to the seasoned expert alongside some nips and tucks to the underlying game that will go some way to appeasing some of the grumbles the massive and vocal WoW community have had with the existing game.

To start at the begging however, anyone buying TBC and wanting to start from scratch with a brand new character will find two new races have been added, Blood Elves on the Horde side and the alien Draenei on the side of the Alliance. Interestingly these new races also offer players the first chance play a Paladin for the Horde and a Shaman for the Alliance, a feature that caused raised eyebrows a-plenty when first announced but seeing it now fully implemented it does feel surprisingly natural and perfectly in tone with the new races back stories. Each of the new races have their own brand new starting zones with their own home cities all packed with quests to perform and monsters to kill as you level up ready to move into Azeroth proper. These new starting zones are the first indication of how much Blizzard's design team have learnt in the years since the launch of WoW, in a game already more than familiar with breathtaking scenery and impressive cities, whether you start your new adventure on the islands surrounding the crashed Draenei ship 'The Exodar' or the villages surrounding the Blood Elf city of Silvermoon, the care and attention to detail shown in all aspects of their design shines through making them both a notch above the starting zones for any of the original races. WoW has always been good at mixing the need to hold the hands of first time players while still providing a satisfying level of challenge for more experienced players starting again with a new character, and the fruits of all that experience is harvested here as both new starting zones seem even more expertly pitched and weighted than the originals with a learning curve and quest structure that never leaves you hunting for something to do but also takes care not to overwhelm the novice all of which makes starting a new character a real pleasure even if you've done the level 1-20 grind more times than you care to remember previously.

For the players for whom Player v Player (PvP) combat is a major part of the WoW experience Blizzard have now added what are called Arenas to the mix. In these, organised teams of players can do battle against each other to earn arena points which can be used to buy special reward items. Competitive seasons will also be run with unique prizes on offer to members of the winning teams. However, players will need to be level 70 to become members of an arena team so it may take some time for this new feature to really bed into the rest of the game but the prospect of the top teams perhaps gaining in game 'fans' amongst other lower level players is an interesting one for the future.

A new crafting skill has also been introduced, jewelcrafting will allow players to craft all manor of jewellery from gems extracted from raw ore. These gems can also be cut for use in new socketed items to give them additional power. How useful this skill will be is still to be decided but on the face of it it's an interesting addition to the range.

Perhaps most interesting of all for the legion of WoW fans who have slaved over their characters for months devoting large chunks of their life to reaching the level 60 limit Blizzard initially imposed on characters is the opening of the Dark Portal which will now allow them to cross through into the completely new high level zone of Outland. Within Outland are seven new zones each containing new quests, monsters, cities, dungeons and one new battleground. Another exciting addition in TBC is the inclusion of player controlled flying mounts which can be purchased in Outland and offer players for the first time a fully controlled birds-eye view of the world and a much easier way to get around. I won't even pretend to have seen the majority of what Outland has to offer at this early stage of release, there are only so many hours in the day, but from what I have seen Blizzard have again upped the quality level meaning that anyone who has put the time in to get a character to level 60 will certainly not be left feeling let down by what comes next. High level players have been crying out for new content and quests to allow them to continue the level grind while players not yet there should find the promise of what now lies beyond the dark portal an even greater draw than simply attaining the mythical level 60 used to be on its own.

When it comes to the important question of scoring and recommending TBC it really does come down to where you fit in the WoW scheme of things. If you're not a WoW player then clearly this isn't for you (I'm impressed you've read this far in fact...). If you're new to WoW and unsure about it all then you should probably hold off spending even more till you are. For the rest of us, does TBC offer enough new content to warrant the upgrade, undoubtedly yes! High level player get a whole new zone to explore filled with masses of new things as well as two new races to play the whole game through again with and while lower level players can obviously hold off getting TBC for a while if they have no interest in the new races, at some point when they hit that level 60 roof and the lure of further adventures means they feel the need to enter the Dark Portal it will become an essential purchase. Which, I guess, is really all you can ask from an expansion pack, does it improve the original game, does it offer more content and does it do enough to become essential to the core experience. The Burning Crusade offers an emphatic yes to all these so there really is very little excuse for fans not to buy it.

90%

By Paul Newcombe