WarCry's exclusive coverage of the first WoW expansion pack.
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!
As Teleios posted below, several WoW WarCry staff members have been invited to the Burning Crusade Closed Beta! I'm one of them, and have been playing around with it for a bit. Without further ado, I bring you:
"The Mage They Called Jayne(z), Part 1: Welcome to Outland, Yo."
My story started late in the middle of the night.
To be fair, it started almost two years ago when I asked my friend Jordan if I could "sit down and try that new WarCraft game," having never played an MMO before in my life. But this particular chapter started late in the middle of the night. I was surfing various internet forums, preparing to go to bed, when I came across an interesting topic notifying the WoW-Addicts on that particular forum that "OMG GUYZ TEH BETA STARTED!1" So, I checked my email, found the beta key, and started the download.
Of course, being as the network I'm on hates torrents, I draped a blanket over my laptop monitor and allowed it to finish overnight. This morning, it's done-and so, I triumphantly click the button to begin installation of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.
The game is installed. The character is transferred. The new login screen is, incidentally, totally badass.
The hero of Azeroth, the (Troll) Mage they call Jayne-will ride triumphantly into Outland!
And, y'know, probably Fireblast a critter or two. 'Cause that's just how he rolls.
Click below to read the whole thing and see our first screenshots of The Burning Crusade!
World of Warcraft WarCry is happy to announce that we have an Exclusive on the lore for Tempest Keep, an instance coming in The Burning Crusade. Check out the story behind The Tempest Keep.
The mighty Tempest Keep was created by the enigmatic naaru: sentient beings of pure energy and the sworn enemies of the Burning Legion. In addition to serving as a base of operations for the naaru, the structure itself possesses the technology to teleport through alternate dimensions, traveling from one location to another in the blink of an eye.
A special thank you to Blizzard for this exclusive.
