Posts with tag burning crusade

We've got some nice eye candy from Zul'Aman for you, including some images of the animal aspect bosses Nalorakk, Akil'Zon (above) and Halazzi. We had a chance to stealth into the instance earlier in the press room, and our initial visual impression of the dungeon can be described in two words: Indiana Jones. Or rather, a cross between Indiana Jones and Zul'Gurub on steroids. A 20-minute "sacrifice" timer started counting down as soon as we zoned in, and at the end of the timer Hex Lord Malacrass's voice yelled across the zone that we had failed in our mission, and that every sacrifice made him stronger.

There were a couple of closed doors barring our way from exploring further into the instance, but we were able to get a first-hand look at Nalorakk, the bear avatar boss, and Jan'alai the dragonhawk avatar before being detected and mercilessly pwned by a 4-pack Amani'shi patrol. The interior is incredibly picturesque, with cascading waterfalls, carved stone altars and a lagoon area. Populating the area are a number of elite Amani'shi mobs including Flame Casters, Guardians, Handlers with crocolisk pets, and the good old Beserkers we know and love. Shortly after the zone-in point and down a flight of stairs are a line of Amani'shi troll guards that look like a formidable initial pull -- we're so looking forward to getting 9 of our closest friends together, flexing our bad mojo and making our way through Zul'Aman.

There are those who claim that since the release of The Burning Crusade, the game has been ruined. Outland quest rewards are too powerful, rendering most Azerothian goods obsolete and making much previous raiding experience pointless. And addition of Paladins to the Horde and Shamans to the Alliance ruined any unique sense of play that came from one side or the other. Such players claim that The Burning Crusade ruined the entire game. On the other hand, there are plenty of players who say that doing any pre-BC content now (i.e. leveling a new alt) is simply painful, because of fewer quests per zone, more travelling per quest, and generally slow and inefficient leveling. These people say some time needs to be spent on pre-BC content to bring it up to par with the different style of BC zones. And this morning I'm asking what you think. Has The Burning Crusade spoiled or perfected World of Warcraft? Is Outland superior to Azeroth or vice versa?

Welcome again to your weekly dose of Ask WoW Insider, wherein we publish the questions on your mind for readers to answer. Last week we talked about how to find a good guild, and this week we're waxing nostalgic about some of the pre-BC content that new players might now miss as they're levelling up. Megilion from Crimson Blade on Gorgonnash writes:

I just realized recently that, as my main is only level 62 and I didn't hit 60 until after BC came out, there's still a lot of this game that I haven't seen yet. There are several zones I've never been in, as well as many pre-BC raids that I'll likely never experience. I'm curious what experiences, locations, and even quests WoW Insider readers have missed on their road to level 70 that they're eager to get to someday if at all?

For those of you who made it to 60 before the expansion, what are some of the highlights of then endgame content that new players might be missing? What are some of the best quests, locations and experiences one might miss when rushing off to Outland in the late 50s?

Got questions? Ask WoW Insider can help! Send us what you're wondering to ask AT wowinsider DOT com.

When I read on Warcraftrealms that players have been steadily leaving WoW since the release of the expansion, I admit surprise. There is so much content in TBC I can't imagine anyone getting bored.

I can already hear the heckling from the back of the room as I say this, but think: the top raiding guild just downed Illidan. Exactly how long will it be until an average raiding guild, let alone a casual one, will be able to accomplish the same feat? Love it or hate it, the expansion increased not only the lands we were able to visit, but the quest lines we could follow, the races we could play, the factions we could prove ourselves to. I am overwhelmed by the amount of things I have the opportunity to do in the game now, to the point where I have trouble picking most times and end up bouncing between doing my daily quests on my mage and leveling my Draenei priest.

Why then are people leaving the game? Is it that they see it as something conquered once you reach 70? Is it that despite how much content Blizzard puts out it just never is enough? What do you think Blizzard can do to stem this downward spiral?

[via Warcraftrealms]

Have you ever wondered what the names and faces behind WoW do in their off time? In the recent interview 1up had with Shane Dabiri, Rob Pardo, Jeff Kaplan, and Tom Chilton, we get to find out a bit about that -- at least in regards to some of the games that they're playing right now. Two of them were really no surprise to me: Guitar Hero II and God of War. Those two have been all over the gaming media and are a lot of fun to play, so it makes total sense. The two titles that caught me off guard were several mentions of Viva Pinata and Rob saying that he plays the PopCap game, Peggle. They also covered some great background information from their gaming roots, to some ways they think WoW has changed the genre. Check it out!

For the reference-minded among you, we've compiled a Burning Crusade reference guide for you, your alts, or anyone new to BC content to use as a handy, one-stop-shop reference. The guide aggregates the most informative links we've found on BC-specific content so far, including dungeon walkthroughs, profession and class changes, new PvP objectives, maps, quests, loots, changes in patch 2.1, etc. We hope you find it useful, and we hope you'll help us continue to improve the guide by making suggestions in the comments here of any other Burning Crusade-related guides, FAQs, walkthroughs, or roundups we haven't yet included. We'll do our best to check this thread and add updates to the guide with your contributions.

Burning Crusade reference guide

The 2.1 patch this week introduced enough new quest lines, top-end raid content, flying mounts, and L70 solo & small group content to qualify as its own game. With a three day weekend looming I didn't even know where to begin. So I scoured the web and found the where to go and what to do to get me started.

THE BLACK TEMPLE: Already planning to strut around Shattrath in your T6 Raid gear? Don't bank that T5 set too quick. The Black Temple attunement quest is ... epic. And it hasn't even been fully discovered so far. What is known is that you will have to slog through a great deal of the Burning Crusade raid content that comes before it: Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshire Cavern, The Eye and The Battle of Mount Hyjal. And many of those raids require extensive attunement quests of their own. If you are still itching to begin, you can dig in with the Tablets of Baa'ri chain out of Shadowmoon Valley to start grinding that Ashtongue Deathsworn rep.

NETHERDRAKE EPIC FLYING MOUNT: First, don't confuse this with the Swift Nether Drake top Arena teams are awarded with at the end of every season. That one has a speed increase of 310% and has an armored appearance. This is the normal epic nether drake with a speed increase on par with other epic flying mounts: 280%. What's special about this epic flying mount is that it can be obtained through solo and small group quests. No raid required. What is required is a great deal of dedication.

The first steps on your journey is to dig yourself out of Hated reputation with the Netherwing clan and get all the way to Exalted. This is accomplished through solo, 5 man and 3 man daily quests. Head to the south east corner of Shadowmoon Valley and speak to Mordenai in the Netherwing Fields. A complete write up can be found here.

I think of all the trade skills I have, Engineering has to be the one I feel has been overlooked the most by the devs. The patterns have traditionally been scarce, and it seemed to me like the material costs were pretty crazy for many things when I was leveling up. In contrast, I still haven't gotten all the patterns for tailoring and recipes for alchemy. Enchanting is definitely a pain in the arse, but I can justify that one with tips and the occasional sale when I have the mats. Engineering, for me, was something I picked up and only leveled for the love of toys. (Like my long-ago-nerfed Gnomish Shrink Ray in combination with Nogginfogger Elixir, which was great for laughs.)

I've listened to my Hunter officer, who has maxed his skill out, decry the material costs of many of the new patterns. (I haven't pursued it on my alt as yet) So when I saw this tidbit today, I thought that many engineers would be glad to hear that they are actually looking at improving a pattern as opposed to nerfing it. Per Drysc when fielding complaints about the inclusion of Primal Nether in the epic goggle schematics:

We're in the process of reevaluating the power consumption needs of the goggles. While it was felt that the Primal Nether would be able to sufficiently power the devices, and through further testing, we're currently investigating other power sources and their availability.

Good news, and a bit of RP. We'll have to wait and see what the final decision is in regards to "power sources."

Over at Curmudgeon Gamer there's some speculation that the zone Hellfire Peninsula is meant to be Blizzard's commentary on the Iraq war. And Blizzard is certainly known for making in-game references to pop culture; why in Outland alone you can find Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, Monty Python, Snakes on a Plane (literally!), Star Trek, and Dune, just to name a handful. But usually they restrict themselves to to humor -- their goal, after all, is to entertain, and making you stop and laugh (come on, did anyone not lol at the "Voidwalkers Gone Wild" quest?) is just part of the job.

So is Blizzard really making Iraq war references here? Curmudgeon Gamer makes note of the invading army (us: the denizens of Azeroth), the plumes of fire coming out of the ground (oil refinery fires, anyone?), and the Zeth'Gor Must Burn quest which requires you to mark towers in Zeth'Gor for later bombing runs. And then there's this bit of NPC chatter:

Marshal Isildor says: Do you think that demons will play fair? These beasts are more savage than orcs and more cunning than the undead.
Marshal Isildor says: How many more soldiers need to die before we start paying attention out there?

While I see his points, I'm not so certain the zone is meant to be a specific reference to the Iraq war as opposed to trying to catch the feel of a front-line war zone in general. With the Iraq war being the current event of the day, a connection stands out -- but I wonder if the political climate were different would we just connect Hellfire Peninsula to the most recent conflict?

While we've certainly seen some excellent player-created guides to instance attunement in The Burning Crusade, sometimes it's just good to know there's also an official source.

So it was with great glee that I opened up my email this morning to find that *other* World of Warcraft Insider (you know, the email Bliz sends you that you never read) with mention of this fabulous interactive attunement guide.

While I don't know about you (and I hope you'll tell me), I know that a guide like this helps me figure out what I'm headed to do next on my path of content conquering. I honestly had no clue it would be this involved as I was leveling up, but thankfully the faction grind hasn't really felt like a grind at all. In fact, after leveling to 70 on a new shaman, and seeing most of the new instances, I'm now only missing revered with a couple of factions.

So, does a guide like this from Blizzard help, or are you more inclined to use the player-generated guides?

Gamasutra reports that the Burning Crusade expansion has surpassed the 3.5 million sales mark -- 2.4 million of which were sold within 24 hours of release. Regions that play on North American realms (which includes Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia) accounted for 1.9 million copies, while the remainder were sold in Europe. BC was recently released in South Korea, and work is underway for Simplified and Traditional Chinese localizations for mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, with an official release date "as soon as possible." The worldwide subscriber base has now reached the 8.5 million mark, with an increase of 500,000 new players in less than two months. For the mathematically-minded among you, that's a 6.25% noob increase since BC's release.

[Via Joystiq]

So the expansion's been out for over a month, you've gotten all your raid keys done, right? RIGHT? The overwhelming looking raid attunement chart hosted by WoWWiki seems intimidating, but a lot of things turned out to be easier than I'd anticipated. For example, you don't need to complete Shadow Labyrinth, The Steam Vaults, or Arcatraz for your Karazhan key. The Shadow Labyrinth key is at the end-boss, Murmur, but the fragment in The Steam Vaults can be reached without actually killing any bosses, and the one in Arcatraz can as well. The reputation buildup just from doing the usual instances and quests was enough to provide me with almost all the reputation I needed for heroic mode keys, but I haven't started any heroics yet.

How are those keys coming folks? Horror stories with that pickup group in Steamvaults got you down?

After taking out Magtheridon, the guild Nihilum has been able to complete the attunement quest to access the Eye of Tempest Keep. And since they can get there and we can't, they've decided to share some video of the place with the rest of us, giving us a first look at the place. And if the video's not enough for you, there's also a preview of the instance with some pretty sweet screenshots.

[Via World of Raids]

With the new talent trees and the challenges of leveling, I've had to adjust my talents several times. On my warlock, I did a post-2.0 build before the expansion pack that was very heavy demonology, a leveling build that was heavy affliction, then I tried multiple builds for post-70, settling on a hybrid 40/0/21 build similar to my old raiding build.

Fortunately I'd had my old raiding spec for a very very long time, and my cost to switch everything now is up to just 30G. How many times have you unlearned your talents lately? What's your re-spec cost up to?

We've explored the topic of the Aldors and the Scryers before, but reader Tetelestia gives us a great excuse to revisit this question of faction allegiance again now that we've had some time to spend in Burning Crusade. For this week's Ask WoW Insider, Tetelestia writes

"I primarily play a horde character, and I want to make the best choice of allegiance for the quest in Shattrath city. As a noob coming up on my first character, I made the grave mistake of 'fighting' my way through to Winterspring. Mistake. I'd like to avoid that in BC, so I'm looking for readers input on which allegiance they took and why, instead of me just guessing."

So, which faction did you choose to (or plan to) ally yourself with, and why?

As ever, please don't forget to send us your questions for Ask WoW Insider to ask AT wowinsider DOT com. See you next week!