The Burning Crusade News...

The Burning Crusade Is Live!

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is now available at a store near you! You can read the full press release here. Featuring a massive new world, two new races, several new instanced dungeons, and hundreds of unique new quests, The Burning Crusade provides countless hours of exciting solo and group content. And if you want to go toe-to-toe with human opponents, the expansion's Arena PvP System and the redesigned PvP Honor System will provide the thrills and excitement you seek. There are both a standard and a collector's edition available for The Burning Crusade; you can learn more about the latter in our detailed Burning Crusade Collector's Edition Preview. If you want to learn more about the expansion and all its features, we suggest you check out the Burning Crusade Features Page and also take a look at the Burning Crusade Expansion FAQ.

During installation of the expansion, you'll be able to upgrade your World of Warcraft account access to The Burning Crusade. Alternatively, you can click here to upgrade as well.

Throughout the questing and overall leveling process, instances in the Burning Crusade were also designed to be a much more integral part of the game for both leveling and gear. The group experience bonus allows a player to still make good progress towards the next level while playing through group content with friends and finding new challenges and boss fights along the way. The quests for every zone eventually start to poke and prod you towards the next level appropriate instance to help players make this decision and help round out the leveling experience. To make the process of instancing even better, Blizzard has grouped the instances in each zone together as "wings" of increasing difficulty within a larger structure that has an overall theme.

A generation has passed since the Dark Portal opened for the first time, unleashing the Orcish Horde upon Azeroth. The wars that followed changed the face of the world forever. Now, the portal between the worlds has been reopened, and the people of Azeroth find themselves in the direct path of the Burning Legion once more. To save the world from destruction, you must do what only few have ever done before: cross through the Dark Portal into the shattered realm of Outland. Prepare for the greatest challenge yet -- the fate of not just one world, but of two, now rests in the hands of mortal heroes.

Beyond the Swamp of Sorrows, deep within the Blasted Lands, the Dark Portal beckons -- and destiny awaits...

Known Expansion Support Issues
In order to play the Burning Crusade Expansion, players will need to install from their game CDs and upgrade their accounts. Those that have only upgraded their accounts will not be able to access the new content until they install the Burning Crusade client software.

For those that wish to play their account on more than one system, the Burning Crusade client software must also be installed on the additional systems in order to access the new content. Once the Burning Crusade is installed on a computer, it can be used to play both original and expansion accounts.

We will be offering a direct download of the Burning Crusade expansion at a future date in time. Please keep an eye on the main website for more details.

Features:

With the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, many core aspects of the game will be improved, expanding the choices available to players and streamlining some gameplay elements. For example, new raid encounters are being designed for a maximum of 25 players, and the PvP system will change how honor works in the game. Following this general strategy of making gameplay even more rewarding and expanding the playing experience with new, interesting content, the professions of World of Warcraft are also set to receive major updates to ensure that they remain a fun and worthwhile part of your adventures in Azeroth and beyond.
When the time came to begin the professions update for the expansion, the dev team took a very close look at all the work that had gone into the profession system so far. There were some things the team felt could be improved in World of Warcraft's professions to make them more interesting, more valid, and most importantly, even more fun. The expansion will allow the dev team to upgrade the profession system, and to provide players with cool new gadgets, equipment, and consumables that will help them brave the many challenges of Outland.

On the following pages, you'll find a brief summary of what changes you can expect to see in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade for each profession. Keep in mind that there is always a chance that these plans may change, but this is what's on the drawing board at the moment.

 

As if new races, worlds, cities, dungeons, mounts, and professions weren't enough, the expansion will also enhance the game with a wide number of small innovations that will add up to a significantly improved gaming experience. From the new Looking for Group feature to the updated Character Sheet to an incredible number of new enemy models, the game millions around the world are enjoying is about to become even better.