Posts with tag tbc

A few small items of interest for you all today. First, a documentary video by Blizzard of the BC launch, in both California and Europe. Cop the vid here; it's fun to see the festivities leading up to the new sandbox we're all playing in.

Second, it seems that WoW is turning two in Europe on February 11. There's a lore contest and a wallpaper contest; prizes include Alienware computers and Nvidia video cards. As usual for their European contests, many countries are ineligible, because of their laws as regards lotteries -- it's not that Blizz just hates several random countries in Western Europe, as many forum posters seem to think. Blizzard's got the full details on their page.

Rejoice! Now we North American types can also upgrade and download the Burning Crusade! I was heading over to www.worldofwarcraft.com just now and was hit with the following message:

• You can now buy account upgrade keys and download the game client for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade directly through the account management section of www.worldofwarcraft.com. With this new direct online upgrade method, you don't even need to leave your desk if you decide to upgrade to The Burning Crusade and join more than two million players who are already adventuring beyond the Dark Portal.

Pretty sweet, eh? Head over to the account management page to get your upgrade on.

I was chatting with Elizabeth Harper about why they might choose to offer direct download now, and not at launch. Here's what I came up with:

• Offering direct download at launch might irritate retailers.
• Offering it now might get a few people to buy who weren't motivated enough to go out to the store.
• It probably costs them relatively little to do this.

What do you guys think? Was it a sensible business move to wait until now for this? And how many of you are going to buy, now that you can do it without moving more than five or six muscles?

[thanks also to Doug for tipping us off]

Blizzard did say that they were looking into digital distribution, and now they've made good on that promise. You can now pay for and download the expansion in your bathrobe in the warm sanctuary of your own pad (because game stores have such a stringent dress code). From Crezax, who is indeed, as his signature claims, "so hot right now:"

• You can now buy and download The Burning Crusade online. No need to wait in line at your local store, just click (http://www.wow-europe.com/account/) to buy and download The Burning Crusade from the comfort of your own home! Whether you journey through the Dark Portal as a seasoned adventurer, or witness the wonders of Outland as one of the two new playable races- the blood elves and the draenei...

Cut because we all know what the Burning Crusade has to offer, don't we?

No word yet on when or if this is coming for North America, but if you're in Europe, you don't have the BC yet, and you want it but really hate going out, now's your chance!

Edit: There is some strangeness going on. The forum thread I found this in no longer exists, and apparently the link Crezax gave does not have any way to buy BC online as promised. A premature announcement on Crezax's part, maybe? (Thanks, Pete, for writing in.)

Edit 2: "It seems we encountered a small problem with that feature, so it is taken down for now." (Crezax)

We'd like to thank everyone for helping us level up our contest skill with one final contest in our Countdown to Burning Crusade. We're happy to announce two lucky winners -- Baxmaniac is going to be the recipient of a copy of Burning Crusade for lucky comment number 260, and Kieron is going to receive a copy of Christie Golden's Rise of the Horde novel for lucky need roll number 119. Grats to Baxmaniac and Kieron, and thanks to everyone for taking part in the Countdown this month!

Now that the expansion is out we've been able to access the Master Contest Trainer, and in the interest of leveling up our contest skill beyond 300 we've got one final Burning Crusade giveaway for you. Plus, we had such a good time counting down to Burning Crusade that we're going through a bit of withdrawal. This contest is yet another very simple /Need roll affair, and we're going to pick one winner and one runner-up from the needy, undergeared commenters. The winner will receive a copy of Burning Crusade -- we realize many of you already pwn own the expansion, but for those who haven't or have been waiting, or who want to give the gift of WoW to a friend or S.O. (pushers!), this contest is for you. The runner-up will receive a copy of The Rise of the Horde novel by Christie Golden. You must leave your comment in this thread by 3pm EST tomorrow, Wednesday January 24 to be eligible to win one of the prizes. Good luck to everyone!

We're happy to announce the winner of the Countdown to Burning Crusade grand prize machinima contest. The winner is going to be receiving a Logitech G15 keyboard and a JINX World of Warcraft hoodie for the first place entry. The prize goes to Nelson Abalos for his "Almost machinima" entry, bringing WoW into real life for the "Quest for Burning Crusade" -- the video is embedded below. We'd like to extend a big grats to Nelson for his work, grats to Myssiing our runner-up machinima contest winner, and a huge thanks to everyone who participated in our two weeks+ worth of contests here at WoW Insider during the Countdown to Burning Crusade. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

We've made it to the last of our grand prize contests in the Countdown to Burning Crusade, and it's high time to announce the prize winners. The runner-up, who will take home a JINX World of Warcraft hoodie for her efforts, is Myssiing on Stonemaul, aka photochik02, who sent in the following video pitting night elf versus blood elf in an Annie Get Your Gun-style sing-off to the death (no, to the pain!). Grats to Myssiing, and stay tuned for our first place machinima winner!

We have our winners in the penultimate Countdown to Burning Crusade Fan art contest. Matthew Renner is going to receive the Sennheiser PC 160 noise-cancelling headset and a More Dots! t-shirt for his entry above (right-click for a high-res version) of his main character Sheltem who, "having specced 40 arcane 11 fire, procs enough ignites to know the true meaning of 'more dots.'" Our fan art runner-up, who will be rewarded with a More Dots! t-shirt, is Simon Sørensen for his rendition of a blood elf. Check out Simon's artwork after the jump, grats to both of our winners, and thanks to everyone who participated in the fan art contest. Stay tuned for our machinima contest winners!

Have you seen anything in Outland that's just made you stop and laugh? Commenters in this thread are sharing the humorous things they've found in Outland, starting with this random chatter you'll find if you idle in Honor Hold for very long:

Magus Filinthus says: A mailbox? Well is that not the salt on the wounds! Twenty years cut-off from the world and now a mailbox! WONDERFUL!

Ah, so many funny moments, so little time.

As we wind into our first weekend since the much anticipated release of the Burning Crusade, I wonder what everyone's up to. Some people around the world are already hitting level 70 -- a feat, which, with my leveling speed, astounds me -- and I've even seen the first level 70 on my home realm. Of my immediate circle of friends I have a few people of lower level who haven't bothered to buy the expansion yet, several pushing their mains as far as they can, others starting anew with Blood Elves or Draenei, and yet others who can't decide which alts to play. With a priest at 62, a rogue at 61, and a new paladin at 14, I think I fall into that last category. So what have you been up to since the release, and what does the weekend have in store for you -- in Azeroth or Outland?

It's time for this week's installment of Ask WoW Insider, wherein we pick a question you've sent and publish it for your fellow readers to answer. This week's question comes to us from Jacob H, who asks

Where's the first aid trainer?

Just kidding! Jacob, being a sensible and pragmatic fellow, wants to know your tips and tricks for earning the dough for that flying mount:

"What are some good ways of making money for levels 60-70 in Burning Crusade? Are there people making money from jewelcrafting yet, should I pick that up? What about good mobs to grind or drops that sell well to vendors or on the AH? Thanks in advance for any advice."

Do you have any money-making tips to share with Jacob?

Don't forget to send us your questions at ask AT wowinsider DOT com -- what do you want to know? Your peers can help!

It was a heated battle, many flags capped on all sides, but we finally have a winner in the day 11 best PvP screenshot contest. Paul Kruyt sent the above Alterac Valley panorama made of 5 screenshots (you should definitely click the image for a high-res version), taken "back in the days when you could still walk over the mountains in the center of the map along 2 alternative paths." Paul is going to receive the Burning Crusade Official Strategy Guide for his effort. Thanks to everyone who sent in their PvP shots -- check after the break for screenshots from the runners-up!

We have the winning Orgrimmar screenshot from the Tale of Two Cities contest -- Nick Slabaugh sent the above shot of the moon over the city. Grats to Nick, who wins a Horde crest t-shirt in his choice of size. Check out the Ironforge winner, and click on for the Orgrimmar runner-up. Thanks to everyone who sent in your shots!

ToyFare reports that DC Direct is producing some lovely Burning Crusade figurines, schedule to debut this fall. All we have so far are pictures of unpainted prototypes (like "you are not prepared" Illidan, pictured at right). They look pretty nifty to me, although I know very little about figurines.

Two things about this story strike me as odd. As they point out over at ToyFare, DC Direct usually makes stuff based on DC comics for the direct market, as you might expect. These are of course not based on DC work, and furthermore seem to be headed for the mass market. Second, "release date: fall?" That's over six months from now; it seems like they would have done better to get them out a bit sooner. But maybe the manufacturing process doesn't allow for that or something.

Anyway, click on over to ToyFare to see the prototypes for a Draenei Paladin, an Orc Shaman, a Dwarf Warrior, and Illidan. (Is it just me, or is the paladin wielding a one-handed weapon with no shield nor offhand?)

By now many of you who already had level 60s have had a chance to gauge how fast your leveling process might go on the road to 70. So, let's hear it -- what are your predictions for how long it will take you to get to the new level cap? Or, if you've just rolled a new alt or character and plan to take it all the way to 70 -- how long do you expect to spend leveling up? Do you have any personal leveling goals you want to achieve?

Having been a member of a relatively hardcore raiding guild (almost every night towards the bitter end, when we disbanded "until the expansion") and knowing all too well how quickly "fun" can turn into "burnout," I plan to take my time leveling both my current 60 and my new blood elf alt (or alts... totally tempted to roll a draenei now, too). After taking a couple of months' worth of break from the game, I'm just happy to be back and enjoying the new content, and am avoiding setting any goals at the moment -- although I totally applaud those of you out there vying to be the first on your server to 70, or first in your guild, or what have you. So let us know -- how long will it take you to get to 70?

[Update: for some of you... not long!]