The Burning Crusade

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Preorder World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

The following is a compilation of information from what we know about the expansion. Information is mostly from rumors, which some have been confirmed as true, or a very high chance of being true.

Summary

Two new player races: blood elves for the Horde, and an as-yet-unnamed race for the Alliance
Level cap raised to 70
New profession: jewelcrafting
New world: Outland
Eight new high-level dungeons
Special level 70-only flying mount

The Burning Crusade
The name is a registrated trademark of Blizzard listed as "computer software", thus confirming their plan to use it. This was also printed clearly on the magazine cover which was quickly removed from the TGM website.

Level Cap
The level cap will be raised to level 70. This was first seen on a magazine cover from TGM, which was only available for viewing for about 48 hours before the site removed the headline and replaced it with the new Brother in Arms headline.

New Races
So far all speculation points to the Blood Elves as the new Horde race. The new Alliance race does not have any factual basis so far, the only clear guesses we can make are the Pandaren, which would be very unlikely in our standing opinion.

Source #1: TGM Magazine

The Italian game magazine had an expansion preview and this is what was written:

New territory: Outland.

New instance: Karazhan, a 5-man instance in Deadwind Pass.

Level cap raised to lvl 70, just as written on the cover.

New profession: Jewelcrafting, gives ability to craft gems, to be used on armor and weapons, similar to enchanting.

Two new races:

Blood Elves for the Horde (yes, I'm sorry, the screens are true). Alliance race still unknown.

Atmospheric effects:

Rain and snow added to the world.

The Expansion Set is scheduled to be released due May 2006.

Thanks to silkfire on the forums for the information. TGM removed their cover image and all information from what we could tell a day or two after it had been published on their online website.

I have more info!!! It's quite trustable.

Blood Elves will have a new starting zone north of Eastern Plaguelands and a new dungeon will be included.

The racial trait of the Blood Elves will be a "Mana Tap" to slowly leech the mana of the target (it will be applicable more than once like the Sunder Armor) and that will then directly load the second trait: "Arcane Torment (or Torrent)" which will work like an area silence.

Battlegrounds shared between servers.

No hero classes.

Alliance arce will NOT be showcased at BlizzCon.

Outland will come, Illidan as well.

Even more news

The Blood Elves will be Mages, Warlocks and Warriors but it's undecided if either hunters or rogues.

Their starting zone will be Quel'Thalas (what is left), north of the Eastern Plaguelands and with a three-zones valley inbetween (Eversong Woods with the capital Silvermoon, Ghostland and a troll themed zone called Zul'Aman).

About the live content, the opening of Silithus will be introduced by a live event that will require the collaboration of everyone and that will only happen once for each server. Behind the gates there will be a open zone tailored for 20 players (defined by Blizzard "casual hardcore" with a temple at the center with an instance that will be the biggest to date (two-three times Molten Core). The players will also get access to special mounts (insects) that will be only usable in the dungeon.

The Outlands will be divided into differently themed regions (like the rock valleys of the Hellfire Peninsula and the luxuriant forests of Zanga Marsh, part of what is left of Dreanor). While within Shadowmoon Valley there will be the Black Temple with the Illidian as boss.

The flying mount will be for level 70 players and after an epic quest chain. But only usable in the Outlands (floating isles).

No new engine changes or features. The Blood Elves models seem to use 20% more polygons. Blizzard is also experimenting with Specular Environmental Mapping.

The atmospherical effects should arrive soon as a live patch.

Also, by the time the expansion is out, the Battlegrounds should be finally linked between the servers to kill the queues.

Translation of the Italian Preview, from WorldofWar.se

After one year of the exit on US market, many world of warcraft players ask informations on the first, inevitable, expansion. For answer to these questions, the Californian software house is preparing an event for his fan the 28th and 29th of October "Blizzcon", where Blizzard will reveal the details on the World of Warcraft's future. For this date, the TGM readers, already know...

Kindly invited by Vivendi to visit Blizzard offices, we have the chance to have a preview about the details of "The Burning Crusade" the first World of Warcraft expansion that will create a revolution on some aspect of this bestseller game.

First of all the Background: Sargeras, the corrupted titan that represent the worst in the WoW universe, it's always intented to destroy all the universe, has begin his work, his troups have never encountered any obstacle and have not stopped excepted for the resistance on Azeroth (that is both the region, the continent, the planet). But his actual plan for now is ignoring this place, for concentrating on the Outland. This is the name given at the point where are found the rest of the planet Draenor, the original planet of the orcs, rests that flown on the emptiness and grant the access to the Twisting Nether, a sort of parallel dimension that allow to reach every planes of esistance in the universe. It's unuseful to say that a resource like this, a "node" like for invading all the worlds it's extremely appetible for Sargera's demoniac forces, and here we'll be called the Azeroth forces, the only one that has shown the ability to combat the titan and his followers, Archimonde and Kil'Jaeden.

All the expansion will be centrated on the Outland, Medivh and the Dark Portal, to make procede on the most important story of the world of warcraft. At least other than Outlands two new dungeons will be introduced on Azeroth(the planet), scrictly tied to characthers and events encountered in the expansion. The first will be presented in details at Blizzcon (it will be possible to play with it) and it will probably be a 5 character instance - but it's still on decision - situated in Kharazan, the Medivh's tower that's found in the Deadwind Pass (between Duskwood and the Swamp of Sorrows). From the descriptions received and the short tour that we have osserved we know that it will quikly evolve from the "classic undead istance" to something stranger, where the numerous results of Medivh's magic experiments can be encountered.

Much more unusual will be the Caverns of Time, raid instance in Tanaris that will allow to travel in the time and participate to the most important events of the story of Azeroth, from the opening of the Dark Portal by Medivh, the liberation from slavery of Thrall and the mythologic battle of Mount Hyal (seen in Warcraft III) when the forces of humans, orcs and elves battle united to defeat Archimonde. All this is possible because the Caverns of Time is the place where bronze dragons, headed by Nordozmu, control the streaming of the time.

Tecnically the dungeon can in the future be expanded to allow the visit of other importans moment of WoW story.

These are the news that can be expected: the surprise begin with the max level that will be increased to lvl 70. (Here is a little comment redactional about the exp lost at lvl 60 for quest done and experience not earned).

Altough Hero Class are not be announced (in the words of Rob Pardo, Vice President of Game Design: "If we make any mistake with the hero classes, we can definitely ruin the game"), Blizzard has not denied that they could be included in the expansion but they have not made any promises. Other games like Everquest with Alternate Advancement Point and Daoc with Master Level has shown how this players evolution can be very complicated.

The second great news is that both of the factions will have a new race (no new class). Because one of the reason alliance have more player than horde seem to be tied to an easthetical reason (horde races are "ugly"): orcs, trolls, taurens and forsakens will be joined by the Blood Elves.

They are bit smaller than their cousins, are dedicated to magic in the darker forms and dependent on it. The blood elves could sure be mages, warlock and warriors, but it's not certain that will be able to be rogues or hunters. At the moment they have a racial trait called Mana tap that slowly leak mana from an enemy, and can be applied several times like sunder armor. This will charge a second ability called "Arcane Torrent" (but the head of development Kaplan continued to call it "Arcane Torment) that works like a "silence" spell with an area of effect. This has left us a little surprised because it seems a bit unbalanced against a warrior. But is to early to speak about it, because the launch will be next year and is still far away. Many things will be surely changed.

Very interesting is the characterization given to this race. With a starting area very light and sunny, but also frightful with many signs of magic used for frivolous scopes (deforming plants, palace floating in the air) and strange crystals containing demons imprisoned to take advantage of their energies. The actual "home" of Blood Elves is what remains of Quel'Thalas. It is found north of the Eastern Plaguelands, through a valley currently sealed from a stack of logs. It will be composed of 3 zones: Eversong Woods with the capital city Silvermoon, Ghostland and Zul'Aman, a region inhabited by trolls that could host or become a new thematic dungeon like Zul'Farrak and Zul'Gurub. The new race of the alliance has not be announced and will probably announced a short time after BlizzCon. But we can make always hypothesise: thinking the "beautiful race" is going to the horde, and this leads us to think about pandarean, introduced originally like an "april fools" joke and then incorporated truly in Warcraft III (this can be more than guess, but it is better stop here..).

There are more news: there will be a news profession using Jewelcrafting, we don't know if with this "work" it will possible to forge ring, amulets or trinket, but for sure it will be possible to craft gems to inseter in "socket" found in the armor and weapons, like in Diablo2. To support this blacksmither, tailor and leatherworker can craft item with socket for host gems for jewelcrafting.

Here Tosoc, a TGM redactor, still complain about the fact that it is still impossibe to craft staffs. However, it is still possible that jewelcrafting is not the only profession added in the expansion and things can still change before the launch of the expansion.

Continuing with the news about Outlands, it will be divided in many regions. From rock and devasted Hellfire Peninsula to the forest of Zenga Marsh, one of the few zones of Draenor that survived destruction. The most interesting news for the "lore maniac" is that in one of this regions, the Shadowmoon Valley, you can find the Black Temple where Illidan resides. True "boss" of the entire Outland zone.

Thinking about the fact that only Arthas was able to stop the ex demon hunter (seen in Warcraft III and expansion), even lvl 70 players will have something hard to face. Players can count on many new resources, included the desired flying mounts: responding to the thousand of player requests, Blizzard has decided that once a player reach lvl can put their hands on a flying mount that can be only used only in the Outland, using the "floating island" founded in the region. The mout will be gained at the end of a long and hard quest.

There are no news about the game engine. But it seems blood elves model will have about 20% more of polygons compared to the "old" race models. The graphic should, in the following month, do a little restyle with the introduction of the weather effects but the rest should remain the same. They are also experimenting with various tricks (like Specular Environment Mapping) to improve looks in general. They are concentrating more on the content as the graphic engine can always be changed later on. From the tecnichal point of view, it can be expected that the expansion will bring the possibility to play BattleGrounds "from server", which means players from all realms can participate. This is a thing that theorically will bring an end of the queues.

Wait for more information in the next months, especially considering the discovery of the new race joining the alliance (we have told you our idea).

Source #2: Gamestar Magazine
Thanks to Gouki on the forums for the translation!

Expansion Information's from the German "Gamestar" Magazine

This are only the Features that are yet revealed, there is probably much more amazing which is still a secret.

But for now we have Official Informations about

- New Horde Race - Bloodelves

- New Alliance Race - Unknown - But the Gamestar writers guess that it will be the Pandaren

The Game Designers take the Bloodelves as a Chance to give even the Horde a "cute Race", since so many Players choose Alliance because every Horde Race was kinda ugly!

- Definitly NO new Classes - no Spellcaster like Rumors have told

- Definitly a Level 70 Cap Increasement !

- New Skills and Increased Skill Levels - Ever got hit by a Eviscerate Rank 10 ?

- New Talent's - since you have 9 More Talentpoints ( 61 - 70 )

- Yet they TRY to get the Hero Classes into the Addon, but its not sure if they'll make it !

- The Dark Portal is Accessable and Leads you to the Outlands

- The Player's Mission is to defend strategical Important Positions against the Burning Legion

- The Temple of Illidan - An Instance in which you will stand against Illidan himself. A level 70 40-man Raid Instance.

- With Level 70 you will be able to get a Netherdragon as Mount which will help you to reach higher Areas of Draenor, yes, it can fly and you can controll it ! But its only usable in the Outlands.

- Tempest Keep - probably their new Hardcore Instance - only accessable with a Netherdragon. No more Information's revealed

- Zul'Aman - a level 20 Instance located near the Bloodelves Start Area

- Tower of Medivh - planned to be a 20-man Raid Instance. No Level Requirement revealed

- Caverns of Time - The writers of the magazine were most impressed by the Caverns of Time

The Instance will lead you through the most important Events of the Past like

You must help Thrall to escape Castle Durnholde

You have to support Medivh opening the Dark Portal, kinda Ironic but else even worse Things would happen.

You have to fight Archimonde and his Army on Mount Hyjal !

and even a new Battleground which will take action in the History of Warcraft 2 shall be accessable.

- There are planned to be a bunch of new items, and even Special items with Sockets like you know from Diablo 2 in which you can put Diamonds or Runes that will work like Enchants.

- A new Tradeskill with that you can Create the Diamonds for the Socketed Weapons

- As they asked about "Housing" Blizzard said that they even try to bring this Feature before the Release of the Addon

Over at 1UP there was a post on someones blog describing how he has played the expansion, and has seen "everything". The new Alliance race was not disclosed but he was able to play as the new Horde race and there was a lot of new content in the expansion. As well as there being an upcoming painting of the new Horde race. Maybe this will be shown off at Blizzcon.

So, as soon as Blizzard gives me the okay, I will replace my desktop picture with our December cover, which pictures an awesome painting from one of the Blizzard artist's of the new Horde race. I hate being a tease (well, okay, it's a little fun), but I just can't tell ya yet. But soon!

This goes into a little bit of detail, but there is "open space" in the games data files, which store the class/race information. Leaving open two slots for new races, one for Alliance and one for Horde. This could once again, point to preparation for new races in the Expansion.

Sent in by one of our users, Swift, it seems there is a bit more speculation that the Alliance race could very well be Pandaren.

There are 3 children in Stormwind that i ran into the other day, having a conversation about the Pandaren. I did not catch it all (ran off too fast) but it at least started with 1 boy saying there was rumor that one had been sighted, then another of the boys replies that they are just a myth/rumor.

It may be nothing, but it also may be a subtle hint regarding the new alliance race. Once the servers come back up, i will try and find the boys again and screenshot the entire conversation.

Follow-up
Ok. These 3 kids were found on a pier inbetween the dwarvern district and garden district in Stormwind city, doing a spot of fishing. As you can see from the screenshot, Justin seems to be full of tall stories, Bradon doesnt seem to be able to believe them, and Roman is entirely uninterested in them.

The last 'tall' story has Justin claiming that people have seen Panderons.

This might just be something Blizzard threw in as a sort of joke (just like one of the previous comments from justin of "There is no spoon"), or it may be something more. Guess we wont really know until Blizzard make an announcement

Update:
This seems to be legitment, at least for Blood Elves as we have been required to pull all related images which were submitted to the site.

Blizzcon Releases
Blizzard announced on the official forums recently that a new starting area will be showcased at Blizzcon, which may also mean that they'll give much more information as well as possibly a demo of what's to come in the expansion.

The new starting area may not specifically be the new races starting area, but speculation points to the Blood Elves starting location. We may not know anything else until Blizzcon arrives.

Dark Portal
It is rumored that the dark portal will open in the expansion. Thus giving way to the new races starting locations, as well as new zones and instances. This would most likely be done from a World Event right before the release of the expansion in which players would participate in events in-game to help open the Dark Portal.

More Information
If you have anything you think should be added to our expansion FAQ please use our contact form and let us know!

New Comment
Kommentare

Magiguy

October 22, 2006 - 12:26 pm [ Reply ]

Just so every 1 knows, these are the following instances ( dungeons ) that will be in the World of Warcraft : The burning Crusade.

Auchindoun: will be located in Outland's Terokkar Forest. It contains 4 wings and the level range changes for each wing. The first and easiest wing will be Auchenai Crypts, with a level cap of 64-66. The second wing, Shadow Labyrinth, will contain mobs at a level of 65-67. The next wing, called Sethekk Halls, contains mobs 67-69. The last wing, named Mana-Tombs, contains level 70-72 mobs. In the Warcraft II expansion, Auchindoun is a fortress that the Alliance destroys to further their expeditions.

The Caverns of Time, located in the desert of Tanaris in southern Kalimdor, is not a single instance but a sort of portal to a number of different instances, similar to the Scarlet Monastery, but on a much bigger scale. The Caverns of Time, guarded by the bronze dragon flight, allows players to travel through the history of WarCraft and relive some of its most exciting moments. This provides a tremendous opportunity for Blizzard to implement a near infinite amount of new content, should they choose, allowing players to fight the epic battles seen in their previous strategy games. Currently Thrall's escape from Durnholde Keep, the opening of the Dark Portal, and the Battle of Mount Hyjal are all events slated to be included in the Caverns of Time upon its release, and the possibility of a PvP Battleground set in Hellfire Peninsula during the time period of Warcraft II has been mentioned. The Caverns of Time is being designed for players between level 60 and 70.

There is also CoilFang Reservoir, a mid level 60 instance, with 2-3 wings, simliar to the Suken Temple in the swamp of sorrows. It houses the Legendar Leutinant of Illidian, Lady Vashj. You can fight her, in a 25 man raid, which requires level 70.

Gruul's Lair is an upcoming raid dungeon found in the Blades Edge Mountains in Outland. Blizzard representatives have hinted that this dungeon will contain mostly Ogres. The dungeon will focus around two encounters, an Ogre "Council" of some sort, and then Gruul, a 25-man raid encounter. Gruul is probably one of the cycloptic Gronn, giant Ogrish demigods.

Hellfire Citadel, located in Outland's starting zone will be the expansion's first and easiest dungeon. Blizzard recently revealed this dungeon will be mostly populated by fel orcs and will feature three 5-person winged instances and a raid encounter ending with the Pit Lord, Magtheridon.

Located in the southern Eastern Kingdoms, in Deadwind Pass, Karazhan, the former home of Medivh now lies in ruin. Blizzard has stated that this dungeon will be larger than Upper Blackrock Spire and Lower Blackrock Spire combined making it one of the game's largest dungeons. Within the tower, players will fight many spectral mobs and experience scripted boss encounters. One such encounter occurs in an Opera House within the tower where players will fight on stage with a boss. Karazhan is slated to be a 10-person raid instance for players at level 70. There will be a save function in Kharazan so that players do not need to run through the entire instance each run, likely in the form of a transporter, which possibly needs the player to activate save points at the end of different sections, much like in conventional games. Rumor has it that the final boss of Karazhan will be Teron Gorefiend, the Death Knight hero from Warcraft II.

Tempest Keep will be located at the northern tip of the Netherstorm in Outland. This dungeon consists of four wings, three of which are five-man instances, the fourth, which is the keep itself, is a raid instance. Here, players will encounter Kael'Thas, leader of the Blood Elves in Outland and the second of Illidan's lieutenants. The raid portion of this dungeon will be approximately the size of Molten Core. This instance will be for max-level players and is split into four wings: The Mechanar, The Botanica, the Alcatraz, and Eye of the Storm.

This dungeon is located in Quel'Thalas and is home to the Forest Trolls. The raid cap for this instance have not been announced, but will likely be 20 or 25-man.

Stupified

August 24, 2006 - 11:37 pm [ Reply ]

alright i'm getting tired of all this crap about "new races and new lvl cap" yes all that stuff is great and im very appreciative of that, but all i would like to know is if blizzard decides to let players travel to Northrend and see the lich king "Arthas." Now if anyone has any info on whether or not this will be possible in the expansion plz email me at: zackownsu@yahoo.com

Horde FTW

Xeonmonkey

July 15, 2006 - 9:33 am [ Reply ]

Zenedar
October 21, 2005 - 4:50 am [ Reply ]

Well first off you have to understand the Warcraft Lore. The Blood Elves were persecuted by the Alliance, and branded as traitors. Thus them entering the Alliance once again would be foolish. They then allied themselves with Illidan and the Naga for greater power. Bloodelves as a race hunger power and magic. The Blood Elves, Naga, and Draenai, should actually be another faction, seperate from both Alliance and Horde, but Blizzard already made it clear they were not adding one. It would screw up the quests, and basically everything in WoW. So, with that said, the Blood Elves who hunger for power and hate the Alliance, would enter themselves in a pact with the Horde just as the Forsaken did. Eventhough they wield demonic power given to them by Illidan, so do the warlocks of the Horde. Also, think of Demon Hunters who, use demonic power against demons to "fight fire with fire". This meaning the Blood Elves could be wielding demonic power but have no ties to the Legion itself. The races of the Horde are already outcasts in the world of Azeroth, making another friend would be wise. With all that said, I think it is just alliance players who are jealous of Horde getting the Blood Elves instead of them. To most alliance, Horde are stupid, slow, and ugly. When in fact, the Horde are honorable, disciplined, yet bloodthirsty and crave to conquer. I have played both Horde(60 Orc Warrior, Nathrezim) and Alliance(60 Night Elf Rogue, Magtheridon) I have found that Horde players are more mature, many being parents, and have a greater attitude towards others. Where as on alliance most are children or teenagers who have no respect, and are just complete asses. They play alliance for the looks, and models of the races. With Horde getting a completely "sexy" race, alliance are just jealous ;)

the words of a hero

Xeonmonkey

July 15, 2006 - 9:31 am [ Reply ]

look no one cares,if u were smart enough
and played WC 3 FT u would see all of the lord's
men being evil to the BE,so just stop
the alliance does NOT trust the BEs...
Draenei gonna suck they get pallies D:

-HORDE FTW!

Xeonmonkey

July 15, 2006 - 9:24 am [ Reply ]

This need serious updating.
Look,no pandas 4 u.
New ally race=Draenei

Kanaru

June 30, 2006 - 4:56 am [ Reply ]

This needs updating.

Jimbob9

May 13, 2006 - 11:48 am [ Reply ]

I quote, "New Talent's - since you have 9 More Talentpoints ( 61 - 70 )"

lol, would definately be '10' more talent points...

lrn2count

Torret

April 6, 2006 - 10:42 am [ Reply ]

The Blood Elves make much more sense being on the horde side. They have a lot of the horde traits. One predominante horde trait is an insatiable desire for something, for the undead its defeating the scourge and keeping everyone from killing them for being what they are, for orcs its obvious battle, the tauren protect the earth and their land at whatever cost, and trolls want nothing more than to rebuild their culture since it was basically destroyed. The Blood Elves fit this pattern, they have an insatiable desire for magic. They are also another race that was almost destroyed by the burning legion, which follows the orc and undead. Also, ever since the burning legion invaded for the first time they have been untrusted, especially by the night elves. After that war the night elves rejected magic, save for Druidism. But the Blood Elves never did. I would agree though that it would make more sense for them to be their own faction. If anyone should be their "leader" then it should be Dath'Remar Sunstrider. In the War of the Ancients books he is the one who leads them out of Zin'Azshari to rejoin the alliance and is basically named the leader of them.

Naga joining the horde or alliance dosent make sense though, especially now with the introduction of Illidan into the game. Illidan and the Naga are allies more or less.

I would be interested to know though whether or not the introduction of Illidan will mean the introduction of other related characters like Malfurion, Tyrande, or Krasus/Korialstraz., and Jarod Shadowsong. Jarod and Korialstraz are already mentioned in the names of a couple of epic daggers.
And the introduction of the Caverns of Time also opens up the possiblity of adding the dragon Aspects to the game. Especially if Malfurion and the others are added.

And I have to agree on the starting zone for the Blood Elves it is in the North Eastern corner of EPL, I was up there a couple of days ago, its blocked off by a huge pile of logs and there is a Blood Elf standing in front of the pile.

Treboher

March 18, 2006 - 1:47 am [ Reply ]

Um... I read a magazine article saying everything stated above and more. It is explaning a suprise before the new Burning Crausade's release. It say something about Scourge (I think) attacks pinpointed on locations all over the WoW Map.

Stebbinator

February 8, 2006 - 2:04 pm [ Reply ]

i think that the new Alliance race is problably Pandaren if not i hope that there would be Pandaren Npc's.>_<

catalin19

January 30, 2006 - 1:03 pm [ Reply ]

i need accont for your server pls
my adress is k9_cata_24@yahoo.com pls i need help

Stuntedmajik

January 12, 2006 - 12:45 pm [ Reply ]

What i want to know about is this 70-only flying mount what is this about? can anyone answer? (still gonna take awhile to get to 60 ^^

Stunted

WackoGun

January 10, 2006 - 8:56 am [ Reply ]

November 2, 2005 - 1:33 am [ Reply ]

Could this be the new race in question?

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/images/art/ss15.jpg

about this i was thinking the same thing :D im sure it wont be but i was thinking about it since i never seen this creature before might be a mob or something but i was thinkling like Horizons they have slikk's :P

Ornik

January 4, 2006 - 9:38 pm [ Reply ]

uhhh? you do know that blizzard posted on their site that Blood Elves are becoming the new race for horde right? Dont believe me, then go check it out for yourself at www.blizzard.com/burningcrusade
...if you have ever played WC3 then you know the BEs were pissed at the alliance, so obviously they join the horde, they may not like them, but they are against the alliance as well. i have played it and the expansion fully so i understand this fact. you are most likely a bunch of alliance complaining that you don't get another "cute" and "perdy" race. "A Blood Elf mage? LOL", whats this mean? of course they will get mages, they are OBSSESD with magic and arcane power, and guess what a mage represents? blizzard even made the expansion trailer on their web page, go check it out its ok.

Phoenixgod

December 17, 2005 - 9:15 am [ Reply ]

You fools stop complaining that blood elves are in the horde cause the moves been made. Go to this site http://www.gamespot.com/pages/video_player/popup.php?pid=928901&sid=6136898&tab=related
And find 5 freakin new trailers!

Tagart

December 6, 2005 - 2:42 pm [ Reply ]

You all, of course, do realize that the blood elves are a menacing race that will basically USE the horde for their own advantage. This is why they go to the horde.

Also I would LOVE to play as a pandaren no matter what server i'd have to move to to use them. Chen kicked so buch mutt that I almost never used rexxar after I got Chen.

Another thing... stop whining about bloodelves going to horde. It's done. It's official. And whatever new race the alliance gets will be equally cool. I'm sure. Perhaps a beast race *prays* (please let it be a beast race).

MxTalon

December 1, 2005 - 6:31 pm [ Reply ]

Pandaren do work for the alliance because they love getting drunk and so do the dwarves and if you've read the board game then you would see that it even says in there that they are usually found with Ironfroge Dwarves

Tormalji

December 1, 2005 - 4:42 pm [ Reply ]

I didn't bother reading all this, its too long. Yes, Blood Elves are going to Horde. Heres why:

In Frozen Throne, Prince Kael and his bretheren were persecuted, abused, and misused by the Alliance. They no longer trusted the High Elves (now the Blood Elves) for some reason I don't remember, but the fact remains that the Alliance was not being a kind ally. Then Vashj comes along and helps Prince Kael get out, and eventually brings him to Outland. The rest of the Blood Elves in Quel'Thalas want to get to Prince Kael, who I'm pretty sure is still in Outland, and rejoin all their brethen there. Now, if you had been treated horribly by the Alliance and mistreated and abused, you wouldn't trust them at all either. The Blood Elves view the Horde as the only way to get to Outland and their kin.

November 8, 2005 - 8:50 am [ Reply | Edit/Delete ]

Get this straight ok as you see the high elves (now known as the blood elves) are striving for arcane magic ye? ... Although wasn't it King Arthas' fault that the sunwell was contaminated when he submerged Kel'Thuzad's remains in the holy well? The product of this was the rebirth of Kel'Thuzad as a sorcerous Lich King...

Therefore you are asking "Why the hell would the blood elves join them in the battle against the alliance?"

It's simple they didn't choose! The alliance found out about Kael and his people's association with the naga and they were condemned as traitors!

So they had no other place to go other than follow Lady Vashj to the Outlands. And after the proposal from Illidin which was "in return for the loyalty of the blood elves, he would grant them all the magic they could desire." They couldn't refuse!

possibly?

November 2, 2005 - 3:43 am [ Reply ]

Hmm, that didn't go through the first time?

I was thinking how this picture could hold a key to the other playable race.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/images/art/ss15.jpg

possibly?

November 2, 2005 - 3:33 am [ Reply ]

Could this be the new race in question?

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/images/art/ss15.jpg

Doomedzor

November 1, 2005 - 12:28 pm [ Reply ]

Guys, if you didn't see this before, the BloodElves allied up with Horde for two reasons....
1: Kael was teamed up with the Naga and a hordie (been too long to remember) and that could lean them to the side of the Horde...
2:Alliance have a strange thought on magic, if you've read Day of the Dragon, you'll notice that the Alliance these days have a sight on magic sorta like the Silver Hand do. "It's a necessary and rare evil." And if you've played a Gnome Warlock to level 10 you'll be sent to Stormwind for Voidwalker training because they are hated too much in Ironforge and the guards keep too close of an eye. Even in Stormwind.. The Warlocks reside in the bowels of an old tavern... It's not like the alliance welcomes Warlocks and Magic Addicties anywhere. Just pick a warlock and talk to any Guard or Generic NPC and they'll be as rude as possible.
2(addon): The Horde have a hatred toward warlocks too... But it's nothing as bad. Thrall obviously hates Warlocks because they're turning his city into a corrupt cavern. And Tauren are just to naturey to see a dark person's point. BUT THE FORSAKEN NOW! The Forsaken embrace darkness, and even if they're part of the Horde they're ultimately plotting to turn the entire world into the Undead. That is the point here.. It says in the trailer that the Blood Elves need a spot to dive deep into their addition, and the Alliance just is too prejudice for that. The Horde obviously offers a better spot for them.

Fateless

November 1, 2005 - 1:19 am [ Reply ]

Well , was expecting something better then Dranei no doubt ..

And i heard the other allience nation would be , "Pandaren" but , ...
Well i my opinion , i was expecting Blood Elves for the allience but Naga for the Horde ...

kinkypinky@turalyon

October 29, 2005 - 10:17 am [ Reply ]

Info about Burning Blade:

Some of the information is already posted but I'll post everything i know about the expansion.

1 new world - Outland (Former home of the Orcs.)
Special lvl 70 flight path. (In Outland.)
Nine new instances. (High level instances!)
Over 100 new quests. (Epic lvl 70 quests as well!)
Over 100 new items. (Including new epic sets!)
Quel'Thalas is now open. (New starting area!)
New class - Spell Breakers. (Mages worst nightmare!)
2 new races - Horde: Blood Elves, Alliance: Draeni.
Six new areas.
New epic world bosses. (Yes WORLD BOSSES)
New proffesion - Jewelcrafting.
Socketed items - Upgrade your items with jewels!

C4isBad

October 28, 2005 - 3:32 pm [ Reply ]

Hah. it IS the bloodelves.

sliny

October 28, 2005 - 2:17 pm [ Reply ]

Quote:

Wouldn't you go back to your people and tell them EVERYTHING you heard from your new green skinned friends?

What? Chen found out that Proudmoore is a prick, but his daughter is pretty cool. He can go ahead and convey that to his people. What does that do?

And since when was Chen a representative of Pandaria? For all we know, he's just a wandering brewmaster and hasn't been back to his homeland for years. Yes, I'm sure one lonely drunk can influence the diplomatic relations of two nations.

BTW, here's your explanation:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/bloodelves.html

fghfgh

October 28, 2005 - 8:43 am [ Reply ]

Please carefully check both images. You can see the text line on the modified one. I don't think the magazine whould change something that big. It's too good for business...

Don't forget that a lot of wow players have a lot of free time and that internet is THE place for Hoax!

Elbretch

October 28, 2005 - 5:29 am [ Reply ]

Yes sliny, I guess I am, but think about it, wouldn't you think that during his time with the Horde Chen would have heard about the Alliance through the Horde's biased mind? Wouldn't you go back to your people and tell them EVERYTHING you heard from your new green skinned friends?

And I'm not in denial one bit, I just don't want the an amazing race like the Blood Elves to contridicted what they've been fighting against since the begining of Warcraft itself. Blizzard can do what they want, but I garuntee you'll hear from us Warcraft fanatics again and again if the Blood Elves do join the Horde.

zeeg

October 27, 2005 - 7:25 pm [ Reply ]

It's not fake, they simply changed images.

fghfgh

October 27, 2005 - 5:35 pm [ Reply ]

*FAKE* *FAKE* *FAKE* *FAKE* *FAKE* *FAKE* *FAKE* *FAKE*
Please visit the magazine web site:

http://www.tgmonline.it/tgmgenesis/...14160450?step=1

And see that it's a fake....

sliny

October 27, 2005 - 3:38 pm [ Reply ]

Quote:

Come now people if you knew half of the real storyline of Warcraft you'd know that it is not the Humans who kicked the High Elves out of the Alliance. In fact, the main bulk of the race left it shortly after the Second War. On top of that, it was only Lord Garithos who treated the High Elves like crap, I recall reading myself that King Terenas wanted the elves back due to their magical prowess.

OK, so only one human was responsible for the bad relations between the Alliance, and we should not judge the Alliance/Blood Elf opinion based one person's opinion. That sounds fair.

Quote:

And as for the new Alliance race, if it is the Pandaren, how would the Alliance even come into contact with them? After all they already have good realations with Thrall and Carine, why betray that trust by joining their enemies?

And this is based on what? The one Pandaren that had any backstory at all was Chen Stormstout, the hero from the WC3:TFT Orc campaign. So you want to base the entire Horde/Pandaren relationship based on one person's opinion? But...I thought we just covered that base.

Bottom line is, Blood Elves ARE joining the Horde. You're in denial if you think it won't happen. Blizzard has it's own explanation that will make sense, because it's their story, not yours.

boomix

October 27, 2005 - 10:13 am [ Reply ]

HOT new profession....maybe i can make some gold now...

October 27, 2005 - 2:15 am [ Reply | Edit/Delete ]

Come now people if you knew half of the real storyline of Warcraft you'd know that it is not the Humans who kicked the High Elves out of the Alliance. In fact, the main bulk of the race left it shortly after the Second War. On top of that, it was only Lord Garithos who treated the High Elves like crap, I recall reading myself that King Terenas wanted the elves back due to their magical prowess.

And, if you take the brain you have and try flicking the switch to on, you'll see how though it is possible, it is unlikly the Blood Elves will ever be joining the Horde. First lets see how/why they would join the Horde:

1. The Blood Elves, as you may/may not know, are a race addicted to the Arcane(a type of magic flowning from the Twisting Nether). They could, like the Forsaken did try to convince Carine, Thrall, and Vol'jin that they are just looking for help to cure their addiction and want peace for all.
2. After the so called "racism" they suffered at the hands of Garithos and the entire Night Elf race, they may just want to get back at them and the only way they see they can do this is by joining the Horde, silly extrmeists!
3. Or it could be a part of some huge deceptive plan concocted by Kil'jaden, after all Illidan did fail to destroy the Frozen Throne as he was commanded. Kil'jaden may have an idea of the Blood Elves secretly planning the destruction of all races, starting with those of the Horde, then double backing saying they did the Alliance a favor and rejoining their ranks, then one day attacking them(Far-fetched I know, I don't really believe this one myself :P).

Here is now the reasons they couldn't/wouldn't join the Horde:

1. For countless generations the High Elves were plagued by the Trolls of Zul'Aman, they would never want to ally themselves with their ancient enemies. Same goes along for the Orcs, who burned hundreds of acres of the High Elves forests in Quel'Thalas, it just wouldn't make sense to ally yourself with the same people who tried to kill you a few years back.
2. One word, Forsaken. Though they may not be the Scourge, they are still Undead and the Blood Elves who remain on Azeroth have vowed to destroy all Undead now matter how they got that way. And on a second note, after seeing what has happened to your great Ranger General Sylvannas Windrunner, it would be to much pain to see her end up like that, fueling their hatred for the Undead/Horde.
3. Even though their hatered for the Night Elves runs deeper then many know, that still does not mean they can't put aside their differences and work for a common goal. Look at what Keal'thas did with Tyrannda and Maeiv in Lordaeron, when many High Elves would dimiss their nocturnal cousins help Keal embraced it with open arms and without a question niether! And just think of what they could learn from eachother through a little cooperation.

And there you have it, though it seems possible, I highly doubt that the Blood Elves would join the Horde races... unless of course it is a huge deceptive plan of Kil'jaden's. And as for the new Alliance race, if it is the Pandaren, how would the Alliance even come into contact with them? After all they already have good realations with Thrall and Carine, why betray that trust by joining their enemies?

Oh and a note about the Goblins becoming a Horde race, they already were. Just go play Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness, after the downfall of the Horde in the Second War the Goblins returned their neutrality and discovered that they could make double the profits by not only selling their services to the Horde, but the Alliance aswell. In other words, they are just to greedy to want to give their profits up and won't be joining any faction from their own any time soon.

Now back to the main point of this topic, "The Burning Crusade". This was what the Burning Legion was called before its downfall to the mortals of Azeroth. If the expansion is indeed called this, then it sounds more geared toward the remants of the Burning Legion then of Arthas and Northrend(/cry). It sounds to me that if they are opening Outland back then the deamons are focusing on it mainly now. Since they've failed in Azeroth twice, losing both their major generals(Mannoroth and Archimonde) they want to lay low for a little, while still doing the task they've been doing for countless ages. Or... perhaps Blizzard has foiled our minds again, and only made one new race for the expansion! Indulge me if you will, what if Illidan has been attacked and captured by Kil'jaden and the Blood Elves and Naga are seeking help to save him? Perhaps they are reaching out to all sides both Horde and Alliance and asking for aid. This could lead to both Horde and Alliance Blood Elves, both factions being able to be them. Think about it, you would have those Blood Elves charged with begging the Horde races, and those charged with begging the Alliance races for help. Maybe they think that if they convice everyone Kil'jaden is amassing another demonic army in Outland for another attack on Azeroth they could get enough help from both sides to destroy Kil'jaden, and save Illidan for themselves!

To me that scenario makes perfect sense, and I could talk for hours on end about my theories, but like I've said before we will have to wait till Blizzcon to find out what is really up!

Garzuuhl

October 27, 2005 - 1:42 am [ Reply ]

OMG! Undead on Horde side!

remember the discussion? its blizzards game, and they can do with the story what THEY want.

Quixote

October 26, 2005 - 8:02 pm [ Reply ]

another interesting point though, if they plan on cross-server battlegrounds, could that mean that they are planning much larger battlegrounds than Alterac Valley (80v80 perhaps?)

godai

October 26, 2005 - 12:08 pm [ Reply ]

Anyone else notice this with the translation.

About midway through is the line
"Technically the dungeon can in the future be expanded to allow the visit of other importans moment of WoW story."

and in the screenshot the last sentence is
"Tecnicamente, inoltre, il dungeon potrebbe essere ulteriormente "espanso" in seguito, per consentire di visitare altri momenti salienti"

Now I believe the translation up to this point is accurate ( or at least close).

But where the heck is all the rest of the translation coming from. And look its the part with the lvl 70, the arcane tormet stuff and a bunch of other stuff.

Just a little fishy for me.

Quixote

October 25, 2005 - 3:37 pm [ Reply ]

With all you people whining about what lore applies to what (you can e-mail chris metzen about that), we could be talking about being able to revisit Dalaran through the caverns of time, and meet the corrupt medivh

I beleive there will be very little content in the caverns of time and blizzard is only intrested in adding one or two things and expand on it since they are busy enough on outlands but in Exploration: The Movie the guy visits old hillsbrad, and old hillsbrad equals old dalaran. So if the caverns of time does get opened, that will be a definite

Kormalod

October 25, 2005 - 9:30 am [ Reply ]

Thats been bugged since this latest patch.

All high/blood elf models don't have any animations.

This includes those in Scholo and Strat as well.

allforcarrie

October 25, 2005 - 1:24 am [ Reply ]

What is with fighiting blood elfs? I found some in Ashzura yesterday, they have no animations to them... its realy weird.

stronghorn

October 24, 2005 - 4:08 pm [ Reply ]

about the pandaren thing..what all you posters dont seem to understand..is that they would come horde.why? because the only pandaren we ever knew was chen stormstout(snout?) and he partied with? behold! rexxar,which is allied with Thrall(besides,horde need drunks,alliance already have dwarves).and goblins,if they were to get a faction,would also come horde,because 1st: i dont see much goblins running in the streets of SW/IF,and revilgaz(one of the goblin trade prince),helped thrall build org and stuff.and again..the bloodelves would join the horde too,just because of the things the NE/humans did to them. the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

boomix

October 24, 2005 - 11:30 am [ Reply ]

Dogran quit being annoying. It's blizzard's FICTIONAL lore and they can rewrite it as they see fit. OK? Now. BE would never join alliance after being put in prison and almost erradicated by humans. PS moonwell is NOT same as sunwell. Moonwells are lesser and do nothing to satisfy BE's thirst for magic. Remember only sunwell was powerful enough to bring Kel'thuzad back to life. If moonwell would've done it Arthas would've never invaded the Quel'thalas.

Remember humans in wow are actually quite evil and not good, so stop yelling at people here and go yell at Blizzard on their own forums for making BE join horde.

Of course only if the rumors are true and that BE are being added to the game....

:P

Maybe

October 23, 2005 - 4:40 am [ Reply ]

Also... I forgot to mention.

From the internal websites at Blizz, you can see the old old old old OLD alpha concept map for WoW. On that map, in the footnotes, it details when the zones were set to be opened. While a lot of the zones are no longer existant in WoW, the ones that are have been opened very similarly to the schedule on that internal website.

The names of the expansions they listed under the schedule were:

Northlands (which we can presume is now Burning Crusade)
Undermine
Northrend
(Some crazy word with a Q and an appostraphe that I don't remember)

Maybe

October 23, 2005 - 4:36 am [ Reply ]

Blood Elves as a horde race make perfect sense, here's why.

I couldn't find the link, but for those of you who saw Pacifist's discovery, it seems that through defeating some of the new green dragons, you can see a conversation between Keeper Remulos and Malfurion Stormrage. It seems that after Illidan's defeat at the end of TFT, he snapped and sits on a throne, replaying that battle 100x per day in his head, eventually convincing himself that he won.

The bloodelves followed Illidan because he was leading them to magic, but if he's just sitting around all crazy now, why would they keep following him? He's obviously not going to lead them to magic. Now, the question is, why would they go to horde? Simple, they are magic addicts. They flock to magic or to anyone that can lead them to things of the sort. It makes sense that they would head to the horde's shamanistic ways.

The horde tends to be much more accepting of refugees than the alliance after all...

My speculation based off my own insider information... (I used to be a Game Master at Blizzard and have a few ins. Game Masters don't really get too much information from the devs, but I was able to talk to the devs at one meeting we were lucky enough to have with them many months ago. This information doesn't stem from that, but I do have some information from a friend whom I got a job there through another, higher up, insider friend who is in human resources). My friend told me that before Blizzard's GM department moved to a differant building to allow more expansion of the GM department, his training group was given a tour of the official Blizz HQ. During this tour, he was able to briefly head upstairs where development takes place. He reported that all over the walls, there was concept art of Panderans and Bloodelves. It seems that Bloodelves have basically been confirmed, so I would not be suprised in the slightest if the Panderans jump onto the Alliance bandwagon. It seems as if the Alliance don't have a truly huge race after all, so a big fluffy panda would balance the mix, seeing as the horde are getting Blood Elves for the aesthetic factor.

In any case, we'll see soon.

highlander9090

October 23, 2005 - 3:20 am [ Reply ]

I see that you people do not care about all the aspects of WoW ;) Why the Blood Elves would join the Horde? And what are even the Blood Elves, where they are from? You shoul pay more attention to knowledge, which you find in books.

Scholomance (Book): Rise of the Blood Elves

[...]At this time, the undead Scourge had essentially transformed Lordaeron and Quel'Thalas into a toxic Plaguelands. There were only a few pockets of Alliance resistance forces left. One such group, consisting primarily of high elves, was led by the last of the Sunstrider dynasty: Prince Kael'thas.

Kael, and accomplished wizard himself, grew wary of the failing Alliance. The high elves grieved for the loss of their homeland and decided to call themselves blood elves in honor of their fallen people. Yet as they worked to keep the scourge at bay, they suffered greatly at being cut out from the Sun well that had empowered them.

Desperate to find a cure for his people's racial addiction to magic, Kael did the unthinkable: he embraced his people's Highborne ancestry and joined wuth Illidan and his naga in hopes of finding a new magical power source upon which to feed. The remaining Alliance commanders condemned the blood elves as traitors and cas them out for good.

With no place left to go, Kael and his blood elves followed Lady Vashi to Outland to help contest the warden, Maiev, who had recaptured Illidan. With the combined naga and blood elf forces, they managed to defeat Maiev and free Illidan from her grasp. Based in Outland, Illidan gathered his forces for a second strike against the Lich King and his fortress of Icecrown.

[...]

Maybe you don't understand all the history, because it is not all writen there. You need to place books in order to have the complete chronology of the history of Warcraft. But basically, in this book you see there, you should be able to find what you want to know.

Signed,
Gabe"Årcħ±ŋgĕl"

October 22, 2005 - 7:07 am [ Reply | Edit/Delete ]

When you think about the feasability of Blood Elves being in the Horde you have to think about why the Forsaken are there in the first place.

Sylvannis offered her services to the Horde and Thrall accepted because, from what the Warchief could see, their ideals at this time somewhat aligned. It's more of an alliance of convience than a true alliance as with the Tauren and the Darkspear Trolls. This is why the Forsaken all start out with a Neutral reputation between them and the other three Horde races and the Orcs, Taurne, and Trolls are neutral with Undercity.

Now, if one strains their brain a little, one can see something similar for the Blood Elves. Reasons why the Blood Elves, who are not the High Elves but a faction that split off from the High Elves, would not wish to side with the Alliance. First, they were treated horribly by the Humans whom they went to for aid after the destruction of the Sunwell, this would not sit well with them even after four years. Secondly, the Alliance has accepted the Night Elves, the High and Blood Elves' ancestors, into their fold and the Blood Elves have a great deal of bad history with the Night Elves. Right there, the Blood Elves have a particular dislike for two of the four races that make up the Alliance and that makes the Horde that much more appealing.

But, you may ask, why would Thrall let the Blood Elves into the horde? Why did he lef the Forsaken into the Horde? Because he felt they had a common ground they could meat on and, perhaps, learn from each other. Sure, Sylvannis has hidden intentions but Thrall doesn't nessiceraly know that. If the Blood Elves came to Thrall with a grand story that they wished for his help in breaking their great addiction to magic, neglecting to tell the Warchief certain important facts, then Thrall would most likely wish to help, I doubt he would turn away any who ask so long as there is no reason to.

Then, we turn to the Forsaken and the 'problems' the Blood Elves could have with them since they are technically Undead, something the Blood Elves have sworn to fight. Perhaps, just perhaps, the Blood Elves could look past the fact the Forsaken are not among the living and see what Thrall saw in them, the fact that they are a people who have been hurt by events just like the Blood Elves have. Rather than be cursed with an insatiable hunger for magic they are cursed with undeath, a curse that the Blood Elves could work to help the Forsaken cure.

Right there, we have contended with two problems that people have pointed out. Why Thrall would accept the Blood Elves and why the Blood Elves could tollerate the Forsaken. But what about the Trolls! Ah, I am glad you asked. Now, it has never been clearly stated that the Blood Elves have had a large problem with ALL the Troll tribes, it is the Forest Trolls that have been the thorn in their side. What about the Orcs and their assaults in the Second War? Well, what about them? This is a greatly changed Horde and the Blood Elves should understand that, Jania Proudmoore understood it, and the wounds inflicted by the Old Horde are not quite as fresh as those inflicted by the Humans, people whom the Blood Elves had considered friends. Besides, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Finally, we shall address Warlocks. Seems to me that it is stated that Thrall, while wary of the warlock alligences, finds them to be a powerful and strategically viable, albeit possibly dangerous, resource. If they become far too powerful for their own good Thrall could simply purge the Horde ranks of them, he has history on his side for that one.

Now, you see, with just a little thought once can understand how the Blood Elves could fit into the Horde. Yes, there is established lore that states reasons why it cannont be but the mentality of the Blood Elves is quite different than their High Elf breathren and differences can be set aside as time and circumstances dictate. There are grand complexities to the Wolrd that is Warcraft but if one puts a little thought into it they can find ways to make things work no matter how far fetched things may seem, truth has always been stranger than fiction.

In the end, who am I to speculate on this? Blizzard can pull something outta their rear that has nothing to do with the lore if they so choose, it is their game after all.

Zenedar

October 22, 2005 - 6:19 am [ Reply ]

There is one thing I forgot to mention, which is vital to this debate. The Blood Elves HATE the Night Elves more then any other race. The ancestors of the Blood Elves, were Queen Azshara's Highborne, the elitest cult who ruled over the Night Elf Society. It was after the Great Sundering of Azeroth, and the first defeat of the Burning Legion that the Night Elves took up Druidism and banished all forms of magic from their society. This was by the work of Malfurion Stormrage, the demi-god Cenarious and Ysera the Dreamer (Matriarch of the Green Dragonflight). Thus banishing the Highborne from Kalimdor, and crushing their only means of their addiction to magic. Which is why the Blood Elves hate the Night Elves with a dire hatred, as seen on many Blood Elf NPC's within WoW. Also after what happened in WC3 between the Blood Elves and Humans would even greater their hatred of the Alliance. So, the Blood Elves would never even think of going back to those that stole their only main source of Magic.

Dogran

October 22, 2005 - 5:10 am [ Reply ]

Sad thing, Illidan never turned on the NE's, he only consumed the skull of Gul'dan to have the power to kill the dread lord, Tichondrius. Then his brother banished him for becoming (to power hungery). The Maive, who was Illidan's jailor was still pissT about him attacking her brother 10,000 years before, and tracked him down all the way to outland, AFTER Tyrande, and Malfurion let Illidan go. Where Illidan, Lady Vashj, and Prince Kael'thas defeted Maive, and her Watchers who were devoured by their hate and vengence for Illidan.

samuraisam007

October 21, 2005 - 11:54 pm [ Reply ]

Ok about the blood elves, given their lust for power i don't see why they wouldn't join with the horde, it's just a sacrifice they have to make to attian greater power and destroy their alliance enemies. Also, i guess it makes perfect sense for orcs to hate warlocks and yet have it as a playable class...
Also, in more general terms people here need to loosen up a tad and remember that alliances can change, e.g. in war 3, orcs rebelled against long time ally (yeah i know they arent really allies as such but still) the burning legion and allied with long time enemies the humans etc, also, illidan turned on his own race, as did arths, ogres have left the horde.

About goblins, for one they are functionally significant as a nuetral race. Also i can't think of any particular reason why they would want to join the horde.

About the panderan, for one, Chen was only one panderan, the whole race cannot neccessarily be judged by him. Also, theres not much depth to what we know about Chen anyway, just that he was a brewmaster who lived in the desert, for all we know he was an exile. I think personally (given the lack of info on the race i consider this debate entirely opinionative so yeah) the panderan race fits fairly well with the alliance, i cannot see them having any particular hatred of the alliance and i see them as peaceful by nature so the bloodthirsty horde wouldn't have much appeal to them.

I think this debate is largely due to the jealousy of alliance people for the blood elves and the horde for the panderan.

Final question, what do u reckon each race will have as mounts?

Anubiros

October 21, 2005 - 2:19 pm [ Reply ]

I can't understand what's the problem with blood elfs becoming the alliance race and goblins becoming the horde race.

The humans imprisoned the blood elfs and treat them as traitors and the alliance definitely needs a second elf race.
Also, the goblins prefer profit over everything else and already have two neutral cities which would then become horde cities, who needs alliance anyways in Tanaris and Winterspring?

Makes perfect sense to me.

Gleeman

October 21, 2005 - 1:11 pm [ Reply ]

Here is a link to the actual Mag scanned (should remove all doubt)

http://img56.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wow16pe3qd.jpg

Also....here is the translation of the text within the article. I didn't translate it so DON'T blame me for the craptastic english ;P

Quote:

After one year of the exit on US market, many world of warcraft players ask informations on the first, inevitable, expansion. For answer to these questions, the californian software house is preparing an event for his fan the 28th and 29th of October “Blizzcon”, where Blizzard will reveale the details on the World of Warcraft’s future. For this date, the TGM readers, already known…

Kindly invited by Vivendi to visit Blizzard offices, we have the chance to have a preview about the details of “The Burning Crusade” the first World of Warcraft expansion that will create a revolution on some aspect of this bestseller game.
First of all the Background: Sargeras, the corrupted titan that represent the worst in the WoW universe, it’s always intented to destroy all the universe, has begin his work, his troups have never encountered any obstacle and have not stopped excepted for the resistance on Azeroth(that is both the region, the continent, the planet). But his actual plan for now is ignoring this place, for concentrating on the Outland. This is the name given at the point where are found the rest of the planet Draenor, the original planet of the orcs, rests that flown on the emptiness and grant the access to the Twisting Nether, a sort of parallel dimension that allow to reach every planes of esistance in the universe. It’s unuseful to say that a resource like this, a “node” like for invading all the worlds it’s extremely appetible for Sargera’s demoniac forces, and here we’ll be called the Azerothc forces, the only one that has shown the ability to combat the titan and his followers, Archimonde and Kill’Jaeden.

All the expansion will be centrated on the Outland, Medivh and the Dark Portal, to make procede on the most important story of the world of warcraft. At least other than Outlands two new dungeons will be introduced on Azeroth(the planet), scrictly tied to characthers and events encountered in the expansion. The first will be presented in details at Blizzcon (it will be possible to play with it) and it will be many probably a 5 characthers istance – but it’s still on decision – situated in Kharazan, the Medivh’s tower that’s found in the Deadwind Pass (between Duskwood and the Swamp of Sorrows). From the descriptions received and the short tour that we have osserved we know that it will quikly evolve from the “classic undead istance” to something stranger, where can be encountered the numeous results of the magic experiments of Medivh.

Much more unusual will be the Caverns of Time, raid instance in Tanaris that will allow to travel in the time and participate to the most important events of the story of Azeroth, from the openm of the dark Portal by Medivh, the liberation from slavery of Thrall and the mythologic battle of Mount Hyal (seen in Warcraft III) when the forces of humans, orcs and elves battle united to defeat Archimonde. All this is possible because the Caverns of Time is the place where bronze dragons, headed by Nordozmu, control the streaming of the time.

Tecnically the dungeon in the futur can be expanded to allow the visit of other importans moment of WoW story.

These are the news that can be alredy expected: the surprise begin with the max level that will be increased to lvl 70. (Here is a little comment redactional about the exp lost at lvl 60 for quest done and experience not earned).

Altough Hero Class are not be announced (in the words of Rob Pardo, Vice President of Game Design “if we mistake we hero class we can definitely ruin the game”), Blizzard has not denied that they could be included in the expansion but they have not promised it. Other game like Everquest with Alternate Advancement Point and Daoc with Master Level has shown how this players evolution can be very complicated.

The second great news is that both the faction will have a new race (no new class). Because one of the reason alliance have more player than horde seem to be tied to an extetical reason(horde races are “ugly”): orcs, trolls, taurens and forsakens will be joined by the Blood Elves, a little smaller than their cousin, that are dedicated to magic in his darker former and dependent from it.

The blood elves could sure be mages, warlock and warriors, it’s not certain if they can be rogue or hunter, at the moment they have a racial trait called Mana tap that leak slowy the mana from enemy, that can be applied more time, like sunder armor that gonna charge a second ability called “Arcane Torrent”(but the head of development Kaplan continued to call it “Arcane Torment) that work like a “silent” spell with an area, this has left us a little surprised because it seems a little unbalanced also against a warrior, to make a confront, but is early to speak about it, because the exit that will be next year is still far and many things will be surely changed.

Very interesting is the characterization given to this race, with a starting area very lightly e sunny but also frightful with many signs of magic used for frivolous scopes (deforming plants, palace floating in the air) and strange crystals containing demons imprisoned to take advantage of their energies. The actual “home” of Blood Elves is what remains of Quel’Thalas, it is found northern tha Eastern Plaguelands, after a valley currently sealed from a stack of logs, it will composed of 3 zone Eversong Woods with the capital city Silvermoon, Ghostland and Zul’Aman, a region inhabited by trolls that could host or become a new thematic dungeon like Zul’Farrak and Zul’Gurub. The new race of the alliance has not be announced and will probably announced short time after Blizzcon, but we can make always an hypothesis: thinking the “beautiful race” is gonna to horde and looking at all chances, nothing can prevent us to think about pandarean, introduced originally like “april fouls” and then incorporated truly in Warcraft III (this can be more than a supposition, but is better stop here..).

The news are more: there will be a news profession using Jewelcrafting, we don’t know if with this “work” it will possible to forge ring, amulets or trinket, but for sure it will be possible to craft gems to inseter in “socket” found in the armor and weapons, like in Diablo2. To support this blacksmither, tailor and leatherworker can craft item with socket for host gems for jewelcrafting.

Here Toso(a TGM redactor) still complain about the impossibility of crafting “staff”: but is stil true that is possible that jewelcrafting is not the only profession added in the expansion and things can still change before the exit of the expansion.

Continuing with the news about Outlands, that will be divided in many reagion, from rock and devasted Hellfire Peninsula to the forest of Zenga Marsh, one of the few zone of Draenor survived from destruction. The most interesting news for the maniac of the story is that in one of this region, the Shadowmoon Valley, it is found Black Temple where Illidan reside, true “boss” of all the zone.

Thinking that only Arthas was enable to stop the ex demon hunter(seen in WarcraftIII and expansion) the players also of 70 lvl have still something hard to face. It’s true that they can count on many new resources, included the desired flying mounts: responding the thousand requests of players, Blizzard has decided that players once reached lvl 70 can put their hands, at the end of a long and hard quest, on a flying mount that can be only used only in the Outland, using the “floating island” founded in the region.

There are no news about the engine, also if seems blood elves model will have 20% more of polygons compared to “old” race models. The graphic should have in the following month a little restyle with the introduction of the atmospheric effect but the rest should remain the same, also if they are experimenting various trick (like Specular Environment Mapping) to improve look in general. They are concentrating more on the contens, the graphic engine is always in time to be changed. From the tecnichal poins, it can be expected from the expansion the possibility to play BG “from server”, that can be participated to players from all the realms, thing that theorically will bring the end of the queue.

Wait for other anticipations and modernization to come in the next months, expecially thinking we have to discover the race that will join the alliance (we have told our idea).

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