Previews

I was wondering the level 1 naked stats of each Blood elf class such as starting Strength, Stamina, Intellect, Spirit, etc.

The Answer:
I took Screenshots of each Blood Elf Class and each Draenei Class. Click the 'Read More' link below to see them

OK, we know players in Tier 2 can immediately start kicking butt in Hellfire Penninsula. How about your average player in DM-level blues, with maybe some ZG or Tier 1 gear? How hard is the first new zone going to be for them? What about leveling? How much XP does it take to get to 61, and how long does it look to take given the amounts given by kills and quests?

I'd say your average player will do just fine. It's no different than going into a zone that is a couple levels above you. The lowest level mobs that I saw were 58. I don't think a player in Blues, ZG Gear, and Tier 1 will have any problems and the quest rewards will be upgrades through the zone.

It takes 415,500xp to go from 60 to 61 and 473,900 to go from 61 to 62. The average level 60 mob is worth about 530xp and quests are about 6700xp. I was able to do about 4 bubbles in 2 hours or so, so I'd say around 10hours of play time per level (give or take and estimates based upon pvp servers/spawn rates, etc).

The Mage They Called Jayne(z) takes a break from writing his epic adventures of valor, brotherhood, and honor (points) to talk about the new World PvP objectives found in the Burning Crusade.

With two years of live WoW under their belt, having heard two years of suggestions, complaints, and angry rants... what does Blizzard have under their belt for the expansion? The Arena system has been talked about quite a bit, and there's been brief mention of the new "Eye of the Storm" Battleground... but what about that World PvP of old? Have they learned anything?

Sure looks like it.

In Outland, each zone has its own world PvP objective. Actually, I can't say that all of them do, because in the current Beta three zones are inaccessible (Blade's Edge Mountains, Netherstorm, and Shadowmoon Valley)... but the four that currently exist (Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest and Nagrand) all do.

Players who preferred the EPL towers to the Silithus collecting will be happy to note that most, if not all, of the new PvP objectives seem to be designed around that concept. There are areas-usually towers-that have a bar with blue on one side, red on the other, and gray in the middle. Simply standing around this area will gradually shift the bar to your faction's respective side (blue for Alliance, red for Horde). Naturally, the more people of your faction there, the faster it moves... but one determined person can certainly capture an area by himself! That is, if nobody goes to oppose him...

If you want to read it (and I KNOW you do!) then click on the link below!

So, I decided since I was going to be playing in the BC beta, I should write about what all horde players will do once they buy the expansion. So, I started to think and came up with the following requirements...

1. Create a Blood Elf.
2. Make him a Paladin, because well, shield+hearth ftw.
3. Make him look like Sephiroth from the Final Fantasy series.
4. Name him Sephiroth.

Everybody loves questions!

#22:

1) In recent BC previews, blizzard reps have stated that reputation will feel like less of a 'grind' then currently is. can you confirm or elaborate on this? 2) Some internet previews have mentioned a 'save feature' for dungeons and quests. anything you can enlighten us on? 3) finally, does the winged instance design philosophy really reduce the amount of time required to run instances? ie. will casuals have it more casual? thank you

1.) Getting rep with the various factions seems incredibly easy. I haven't really gone out of my way to do anything and I'm Honored with Thrallmar and Cenarion Expedition and Friendly with the Sporeggar tribe. There are various repeatable quests to turn in fairly common items that award anywhere from 250 to 500 rep a piece, and killing in Hellfire Citadel and Coilfang Reservoir gives you +7 rep a piece with Thrallmar/Honor Hold and the Cenarion Expedition, respectively.

2.) There really isn't one, I'm afraid. What they meant in regards to Medivh's Tower was that it will be on a lockout timer like the current 20+ raids are. Bosses you kill will remain killed for a period of a week.

3.) All I can say is... if Coilfang were one instance, nobody would ever finish it. EVER. The current runs are about 1hr-1:30 with a good group. Is that casual enough? Probably, though maybe not in some cases.

#23:

f Orcs have Wolves, Night Elves have NightSabers, and Taurens have Kodos, then what do Bloodelves and Draeneis have??

Final, definitive answer. Blood Elves ride Hawkstriders, which are rainbow-colored Chocobo-chicken things. Draenei ride baby Elephants (or close to it!)

#24:

I have heard mention of the difficulty in the mobs in Outland. Does it seem at this point that the Downtime afflicted by the increased difficulty is longer than it currently is? (Should be easy to answer seeing you are a mage).

No, not really. It doesn't seem as though I have to drink more often than normal, unless I end up with adds and have to use some of my more mana-draining skills (but that's the same in the current game, anyway). Downtime isn't much of a problem at all.

#25:

I heard that in BC, you get to see the spell and the castbar of a targeted enemy caster, in the default UI, just like a "builtin enemy cast bar addon". Is that true? Can you screenshot it?

You can indeed. I'll get a screenshot or two later, but it's pretty small (which is nice, it's not too obtrusive) so it might be hard to see.

#26:

Can you clarify a bit how the "token system" (vs. the current "random drops") Blizzard talked about in regards to acquiring PVE armour set is implemented and works ?

Not... really. In Auchindoun (the third "dungeon hub," located in Terokkar Forest), if your faction controls the PvP objective--which resets every 40 hours--you can get Spirit Shards off of the bosses, which you can redeem for nice loot. The token system seems like it has more to do with defeating bosses in Hard Mode dungeons--but, since I'm not high level yet, I haven't done that!

Also, a correction to one of the very first questions answered--the new Blood Fury DOES affect Ranged AP as well as melee.

Keep your questions coming!

Here's a slightly larger video of my first real trip through the Dark Portal and into the Outlands. In which I wander aimlessly around the other side of the portal talking to everyone and checking out the new loots.

Video 2: Through the Dark Portal

EDIT: This is a repost with a link to Google Video. I apologize for the quality drop, but the old was was a bit too large for people to download easily, and wmv was doing mean things when I tried to break it up. New videos on the way soon!

I have two level 60s. An Undead Priest and an Orc Warlock. I was torn as to which to play in the beta. The priest is my primary character, but the warlock is much easter to level with. I decided upon the priest and transferred my priest to the beta pvp server (yes, pvp).

Now, my priest isn't horribly geared. She has the full tier 2 and a lot of the AQ40 healing/mp5 gear as well as an augur staff. So, I make it to the beta server and begin the long journey from an incredibly dead Orgrimmar (Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen Orgrimmar so empty. Not a soul to be found.) to Swamp of Sorrows and The Blasted Lands to journey through the Dark Portal.

We return to Outland for the fourth installment of "The Mage They Call Jayne(z)"! In this epic tale of adventure, honor, and wanton violence, our pajama-wearing hero braves the myriad horrors of Hellfire Peninsula: giant robots, evil demons, gank-happy Alliance, and just shy of a million different quests. He descends into the darkness of the Slave Pits, and hits a GIANT ENEMY CRAB for Massive Damage--as is the custom, of course.

I do some standard quests-kill X of X, bring me X Z items. You know, the regular. The camp blacksmith asks me to get some Wood and Metal left over from past battles on the long road through the middle of the zone, so I go. He neglected to mention that it's currently inhabited by just shy of a million Fel Orcs. Still, nothing I-in my awesomely supreme coolness-can't handle. While I'm here, I see a little outpost of Horde currently engaged in fighting the Demons. They give me a quest to kill some of the buggers to the north.

I oblige, and then get a second quest to bomb some demon portals... but honestly, I'll do that one later. I finish collecting the wood and metal parts, and return to the blacksmith-who then asks me if I can go torch some old Alliance cannons that they've got aimed at our faces. Of course, I agree-not only am I not too fond of getting shot in the face by cannons, but setting things on fire is always a roaring good time! Why do you think I'm a Mage? :P

Click below to read:

"The Mage They Call Jayne(z), Part 4: On the Seventh Day, Jayne(z) Quested"

In between answering your questions and testing out the expansion, I'm going to be trying to capture some in-game footage for our readers. Here's the first of a series of videos for you to check out.

It shows off the character creation options for the new races (I know we linked a google video one earlier, but this should be easier to see and is mainly a test that everything is working alright for me - I have another more interesting one coming soon!)

Video: Burning Crusade Character Creation

Enjoy!

In the second installment of our Burning Crusade Q/A series we have the following question from Trick:

What are the honour costs for the current ranked PvP gear?

The answer:

Note: I only checked out the Horde side as my only character transferred at the moment is Horde. When I get an alliance character up there, I'll check that out too. :P

If you have a question for the Burning Crusade Beta Testers, please submit it here: http://wow.warcry.com/contact/subject/burningcrusade

Rule #6 of MMOs: If there's a dungeon and a boss within, there'll be some sort of quest to enter the dungeon and engage the boss in diplomatic relations--a good friendly chat, of course!

Just kidding. You kill them! And take their stuff!

This time, Jayne(z) and friends venture into the dangerous Blood Furnace in search of adventure, glory, and phat lewtz.

Oh, by the way, this entire time you hear Magtheridon (Pit Lord from Frozen Throne, to jog your memory) yelling and ranting. Apparently, after Illidan beat him up and kicked him out of his home, the Pit Lord was delivered into the hands of the Fel Orcs to harness as they willed. So he's not happy. Though you never actually encounter him here, he keeps shouting through the entire run.

We fight on and kill enemies, and Magtheridon still doesn't shut up. In the next room, we encounter orc Technicians, who will become very familiar to us on the run. They, like the goblin Technicians in BWL, will toss sticks of dynamite. They'll also toss down Proximity mines, and after a few seconds will activate them-meaning anyone who approaches will detonate it for about 1800 Fire damage. I can EASILY see this leading to the demise of a PUG group or two-communication when dealing with the mines is key.

Click below to read more in:
"The Mage They Call Jayne(z), Part 3: If A Pit Lord Is Imprisoned In A Dungeon, And Nobody's Around To Raid Him, Does He Ever Shut Up?"

In the first installment of our Burning Crusade Q/A series we have the following question from Nivo:

What are the new ORC racials? im wondering about the active Blood Fury, does it also affect range attack power? because it used to be just melee, now its being buffed to spell dmg as well, but is range attack power also affected?

The answer:
No, it does not appear as though Blood Fury will affect Ranged Attack Power. Update: Upon testing, it does affected Ranged Attack Power despite the fact the description only says Melee.

If you have a question for the Burning Crusade Beta Testers, please submit it here: http://wow.warcry.com/contact/subject/burningcrusade

In the first installment of The Mage They Called Jayne(z), I (and you) got our first look at some of the things the expansion had to offer in plain ol' Azeroth. While cool, though, the good stuff lies on the other side of that swirly mess we call the Dark Portal... and it's time to see what lies beyond!

Immediately after crossing the Portal, I'm witness to what seems to be a perpetual battle between a gigantic Mannoroth-style demon, his cronies, and a joint force of Horde and Alliance. Perhaps at level 70 there'll be a quest to take him down, but after having 20 fireballs in a row resisted, I don't think I'm up for it yet. I get a quest to go for reinforcements, and the wind rider takes me to Thrallmar-the Horde quest hub. There, I talk to Nazgrel-you may remember him from games such as Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne and World of Warcraft-and he pretty much tells me that things aren't too peachy-keen on this end of the Portal (because they're totally perfect on the other side, y'know?)

Click below to read "The Mage They Called Jayne(z), Part 2: Beyond the Dark Portal"

With more time in the Burning Crusade beta, I've had a chance to look at some of the new modifications to the default Blizzard User Interface (or UI). What I've seen is pretty cool, but by far the biggest and coolest improvement is the new Looking For Group system. If anyone ever used the Call To Arms Addon, it's kinda like that--but actually a bit better. And everyone has it, so it'll hopefully see more use!

I've also seen a brief glimpse of the new Honor system involved in the Burning Crusade.

Click below to check out some new screenshots and to read about the UI additions!

We've added a Burning Crusade screenshot gallery where we will continuously be adding screenshots as we play! Make sure to keep an eye on it.

More Burning Crusade fun to follow!