If you are one of the ten million people who already play World of Warcraft and own not only Burning Crusade but the more recent Wrath of the Lich King expansion, this review may not tell you anything new. However, I'd like to focus on what was added to the world's most popular Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) in the Burning Crusade and my own experience playing as a Blood Elf for the Horde!

Higher Levels  - Bring your character to Level 70

World of Warcraft, you can level your character up to Level 60. Burning Crusade allows you to level up to 70 (and Wrath of the Lich King allows you to level up to 80). If you are stranger to Role Playing Games, leveling characaters means that they become stronger, gain more abilities, and are able to use better weapons and armor. You level characters by completing quests and vanquishing foes. As you level up, you can defeat stronger foes.  This is true of all role playing games, not just World of Warcraft.  Since WoW is an online multiplayer game, the higher you level your character the better able you are to defeat one or more of the millions of others playing the game.

Drive our ships to New Lands, To fight (with) the Horde   singing and crying - Valhalla I am Coming!

In addition to the major lands of Azeroth; Kalindor and the Eastern Kingdoms, some new lands are located in Azeroth now.  Azuremyst Isle was added as the lands where the Draenei race crash landed. It is off the coast of Kalimodor.

Silvermoon and the Ghostlands were added as the home of the Blood Elves.  They are to the north of the Eastern Kingdoms already mapped. 

Finally, the Outlands became available for higher level characters to explore. The Outlands are about half the size of the Eastern Kingdoms, but they are some of the most dangerous lands in Azeroth. (prior to Wrath of the Lich King which added NorthEnd). I haven't yet been to the Outlands, but I can tell you from my in house resident video game expert that the Outlands rock. Yes, my son the Blood Elf Death Knight says the Instances and quests are great, as long as you are over level 60.  Instances are what World of Warcraft calls dungeons, probably because if you aren't prepared for them, you'll be dead in an instant.

Shattrath City is the central hub of the Outlands, and once you are level 60 you can teleport there. Lower levels may also visit with the help of a Mage or a Warlock who can open a portal for you.  Once there, you can explore Shadowmoon Valley, Nagrand, Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, the Bladesedge Mountains and Netherstorm.  The newly available flying mounts will help you to traverse these new lands.  My son has a Blue Windrider which he can fly all around the Outlands.  Flying mounts can't be used on the main continents though, apparently Horde and Alliance air traffic control feels that they would interfere with flight paths or the goblin zeppelins.  There are flight paths in the Outlands though, as well as some new very difficult instances.  (this portion of my review was based on information from my son, who has the Explorer of Outland Achievement)

The Draenei - Russians from Outer Space?

The Draenei are one of the two new races that were added to World of Warcraft in the Burning Crusade.  Fortunately this ridiculous blue skinned faux Russian accented race got stuck with the Alliance.  I tried a Draenei.  Like most Alliance races they are somewhat stuck up and snobbish.  They speak with bad impersonations of Russian. Think Angelina Jolie in the movie Alexander.  For me a race of space aliens that crash landed just doesn't fit in with the fantasy genre of WoW.  Orcs, elves, humans, trolls and all the other characters introduces years ago by one J.R.R. Tolkein are, to me, the citizens of any well populated fantasy book, movie or game, WoW included.  I just couldn't relate to the Draenei.

The Blood Elves - are they sexier than Night Elves?

Of course the real reason to purchase the Burning Crusade is so that you can be a Blood Elf. Hey even the box features a photo of a Blood Elf.  Blood elves are the second new race to be added to World of Warcraft.  The Blood elves were betrayed years ago and robbed of their magical sunwell and split from the Night Elves sometime in the distant past.  In Burning Crusade they do their best to retake what is theirs, using the remains of their great city SilverMoon as a hub city in the Eversong Woods.  The Blood Elves fight on the side of the underdog, the side of the downtrodden and the misunderstood. They have allied with the side of true justice, not just self righteous self justification.   Blood Elves fight for the Horde. My name is Shopaholic_man, and I'm a Blood Elf Hunter.  (You can get a complete brief history of the Blood Elves in the included BradyGames guide.)

In lands full of orcs, trolls, taurens and the undead, the Elves are probably the Hordes best looking race of characters (although many trolls and orcs may disagree).  . Yes, the women dance like Britney Spears, but they dance better than the Night Elves.  Blood Elves p'wn for the Horde. Only in a fantasy game will full armor for a female character leave her legs and midriff bare.  This seems to be true for all the races of both the Alliance and the Horde. 

I also read that when BC first came out with previews of the new game, there were many complaints that the male night elves were a bit too feminine for gaming fans. They were revamped before the game was officially released, but still have a bit of a male model sort of physique and attitude. They just looked like they had some intense time at the gym. The Blood Elf males look more like Dolph Lungren than Orlando Bloom.  Blood Elf women look like Liv Tyler or Britney Spears with long pointed ears. The other difference between Night Elves and Blood elves? Well night elves have eyes that glow white and blood elves have eyes that glow green. They both have big ears, similar to the elves of the Tolkien Ring Trilogy.

My "toon" (as characters in WoW are called) was born in Sunstrider Village in the northern tip of the Eastern Continent of Azeroth.  A large scar runs down the blood elves land, a reminder of the past war in which the blood elves were betrayed. Nevertheless, opportunities and quests are in huge supply in Eversong Woods and the Ghostlands to the South. After only a week, I was able to level my Blood Elf, Sanani, to level 22 and get a really cool pet tiger. I had to travel to the islands off the southern coast of Duratar (Horde territory) to get my tiger, but Hobbes was worth the trip.  Yes, World of Warcraft lets you name your pets. Hunters can have pets.  Any race can be a Hunter. I named my tiger Hobbes both after the comic book tiger Hobbes, because he seems real, although he isn't really. Hobbes is also named for the political thinker who noted that life was nasty, brutish and short. So it is for any one Hobbes sinks his teeth into.

One of my first characters was a Night Elf Hunter, but she was on a different realm and on the Alliance so I couldn't go on quests with my son or have my other main character help by sending money and armor.  It is easiest to have characters all on one side or the other so that they can all help each other.

One thing I also appreciate about World of Warcraft is the interplay of characters. My son has Wrath of the Lich King and thus has a death knight. (also a blood elf). Although Death Knights are a new class introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, it doesn't matter that I don't yet have the Lich King expansion, my son can join me on quests which helped out quite a bit with some of the harder quests.  Having an aggressive pet tiger helps quite a bit as well.  My character is well trained in daggers, short swords, two handed swords and bows.  After a trip to Thunderbluff City in Mulgore, my blood elf is also well trained in guns.

Is it easy for a Blood Elf to see the world?  Yes, in the capital city of Silvermoon located right near the Sunsphere is a translocation orb. It will take you directly to the Undercity. From Undercity of course, you can catch a goblin Zeppelin to Orgrammar or Stranglethorn Vale.  You'll definitely want to level up and get together a high level party before you visit Stormwind or Ironforge though.  For some reason the Alliance doesn't give a warm welcome to any emissaries from the Horde in any of their territories.   Can my Blood Elf p'wn any shadowmelding night elf in PvP? You bet.

(PvP means player vs. Player, some realms in WoW, including Agrommar where I play, you many turn PvP on or off. Other realms, it is always PvP, which means you could be killed at any time by players from the other side)

Other things I Love about the Burning Crusade Game

My first character is a Tauren Shaman who was raised in Mulgore and trained in Thunderbluff. He has a good amount of gold, and thanks to World of Warcrafts's mailbox system, even though my characters can never be online together (Blizzard only lets you play one of your characters at a time, although you may have as many as 15 characters on your account), I can mail items and cash back and forth between my characters.  I should note that your characters must be on the same realm (aka server) and the same side. Your friends on the same side and server may also send and receive mail. Alliance characters can't understand orcish and Horde characters cannot understand Common, so it should be no surprise that they aren't allowed to send mail to each other.

Tech stuff / Installation and Pricing Stuff to Know

Burning Crusade works with Mac and PC. My son plays on a MacBook, I play on both a Windows XP and a Windows Vista PC. Yes WoW even works with Vista!. It does require a high speed internet connection to play though, dial up would not work at all. You do need a seperate set of discs for each account, although you may then load it on as many computers as you choose. You simply can only play one of your account characters at a time. Burning Crusade is available as an expansion pack or as part of the World of Warcraft Battle Chest.  You must own the original game to install Burning Crusade. The Battle Chest has both games if you don't own the first game.  This game is also required if you plan to eventually purchase Wrath of the Lich King, currently the latest expanion of WoW.  When you install it, don't forget to enter the verification codes into your on line account!  You need to go into your account and update it with the Burning Crusade additions even after you have loaded all the DVD rom content to your computer. Don't lose your account number either. 

If you already subscribe to WoW, you don't need to pay any higher fee for the Burning Crusade (or WotLK either). You just need to install the DVD Rom and update your account with the code.  If you purchased BC as part of the WoW Battlechest, both codes for the basic game and the BC expansion are included.

Summary

Burning Crusade takes a great MMORPG and makes it even better.  Blizzard knows what its players want, and the improvements, new lands and new characters add a lot of content to the already excellent game and didn't make any changes that hurt the game. The add on blends in seamlessly with WoW game play. Remember the sunwell  For the Horde!  Five Stars.



Other Reviews you may be interested in:

World of Warcraft Battle Chest

Recommended: Yes