World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is the first expansion pack for Blizzard's popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft. It was released in North America, Europe and Oceania on January 16, 2007 and sold 2.4 million copies in its first day. These sales figures made World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade the best-selling PC "game" of 2007.

Features

• The level cap was increased from 60 to 70.
• Two new playable races. The Blood Elves and Draenei. Each with their own major city in their respective faction. Silvermoon City and the Exodar.

1. The Blood Elves are addicted to mana, and as a result all of their playable classes use mana in some way, aside from their rogues, who use energy. They were once the valiant High Elves, but after their kingdom was utterly destroyed by the undead Scourge, they have been forced to live with their constant need for magic. They despise the Alliance, whom they believe abandoned them to the undead, but cannot survive without an affiliation in the struggle between the Alliance and Horde, so they team up with the Orcs, Forsaken and other members of the Horde.
2. The Draenei are a shamanistic race, but have been chased by the evil Burning Legion for as long as they can remember and are forced to defend themselves, which is ultimately fruitless, and find themselves crash landing on Azeroth. They sought help from the first friendly beings they could find - the Alliance. The peaceful Draenei now join the Alliance in the fight against the Burning Legion, their mortal enemies.

• Jewel-crafting - a new crafting profession. This profession allows you to make gems for high level armor, which you can socket and improve stats with. They can also make jewellery like necklaces and rings.
• A new region was added to accommodate those characters reaching the new level cap - Outland, the otherworldly remains of the exploded planet Draenor, once home to both the Draenei and Orc  races.
  
• Outland contains 6 zones: Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest, Nagrand, Blade's Edge Mountains, Netherstorm and Shadowmoon Valley.
• In addition to the new zones, many instances were added to the zones in Outland. 11 instances can be attempted while leveling through levels 60-70, with 5 specifically for those at the level cap.
• As an added challenge, all of the Outland instances have a "heroic" mode. This provides a much harder challenge for groups while still keeping the same feel of the normal instance.
• There are 9 raid instances, which are meant to be completely in groups of 10 or 25 people, depending on the raid. This is the ultimate challenge for Player versus Environment ( PvE) focused characters.
• The different raids and instances pit you against some of the most powerful beings in the known Warcraft universe. Gruul, who single-handedly defeated most of the Black Dragonfight, awaits adventurers in his lair. Illidan Stormrage from Warcraft III and its expansion is now able to be killed in a very complex and difficult battle atop of his Black Temple.
• The Player versus Player ( PvP) system has been completely reworked, and Arenas have been introduced. These are basically duels in groups of either 2, 3 or 5 people and is the ultimate challenge for PvP players.
• Daily Quests (Dailies) were introduced to the game with this expansion. They are quests that are repeatable each day that lead to various rewards such as equipment, tabards, non-combat pets, crafting recipes, and mounts.

Changes in Later Patches

The difficulty of many quests in the various Burning Crusade zones have been inexplicably lowered since the release of Cataclysm. Several group quests have been altered, usually without changing the quest rewards. For instance, the giant stone monsters in this early Hellfire Peninsula quest chain are no longer Elite, so the quest can be now be finished without a group.

Instances

The Burning Crusade added many new instances to the game and also added Heroic Mode which offered upgraded versions of all the 5 man instances. The Burning Crusade also did away with 40 man raids and added many high level 5 man instances.

5-Man Dungeons

Hellfire Citadel

Hellfire Ramparts

• Location: Hellfire Peninsula
• Level Range: 60-62
• Player Cap: 5

The Blood Furnace

• Location: Hellfire Peninsula
• Level Range: 61-63
• Player Cap: 5

Shattered Halls

• Location: Hellfire Peninsula
• Level Range: 69-70
• Player Cap: 5

Coilfang Reservoir

Slave Pens

• Location: Zangarmarsh
• Level Range: 62-64
• Player Cap: 5

The Underbog

• Location: Zangarmarsh
• Level Range: 63-65
• Player Cap: 5

The Steamvault

• Location: Zangarmarsh
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 5

Auchindoun

Mana-Tombs

• Location: Terokkar Forest
• Level Range: 64-66
• Player Cap: 5

Auchenai Crypts

• Location: Terokkar Forest
• Level Range: 65-67
• Player Cap: 5

Sethekk Halls

• Location: Terokkar Forest
• Level Range: 67-69
• Player Cap: 5

Shadow Labyrinth

• Location: Terokkar Forest
• Level Range: 69-70
• Player Cap: 5

Caverns of Time

Escape from Durnholde Keep

• Location: Tanaris
• Level Range: 66-68
• Player Cap: 5

Opening the Dark Portal

• Location: Tanaris
• Level Range: 68-70
• Player Cap: 5

Tempest Keep

The Mechanar

• Location: Netherstorm
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 5

The Botanica

• Location: Netherstorm
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 5

The Arcatraz

• Location: Netherstorm
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 5

Magisters' Terrace

• Location: Isle of Quel'Danas
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 5

10 Man Raids

Karazhan

• Location: Deadwind Pass
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 10

Zul'Aman

• Location: Ghostlands
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 10

25 Man Raids

Serpentshine Cavern

• Location: Zangarmarsh
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 25

Battle for Mount Hyjal

• Location: Tanaris
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 25

The Eye

• Location: Netherstorm
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 25

Magtheridon's Lair

• Location: Hellfire Peninsula
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 25

Gruul's Lair

• Location: Blade's Edge Mountains
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 25

Black Temple

• Location: Shadowmoon Valley
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 25

Sunwell Plateau

• Location: Isle of Quel'Danas
• Level Range: 70
• Player Cap: 25

New Races and Classes

Alliance

• Dwarves:

  Hunter, Paladin, Priest, Rogue & Warrior

• Humans:

  Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock & Warrior

• Night Elves:

  Druid, Hunter, Priest, Rogue & Warrior

• Gnomes:

  Mage, Rogue, Warlock & Warrior

• Draenei:

  Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Shaman & Warrior

Horde

• Orcs:

  Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock & Warrior

• Undead:

  Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock & Warrior

• Tauren:

  Druid, Hunter, Shaman & Warrior

• Trolls:

  Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman & Warrior

• Blood Elves:

  Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest & Warlock

Soundtrack

The music for World of Warcraft:The Burning Crusade was created by Blizzard Entertainment's Sound Department and a copy of the games soundtrack was included as part of the Collectors Edition of the game.

1. The Burning Legion (Main Title) 3:58
2. Shards of the Exodar 4:38
3. The Sin'dorei 6:39
4. The Dark Portal (Cinematic Intro) 2:57
5. Origins 4:23
6. Bloodmyst 4:16
7. Wastelands 4:13
8. Caverns of Time – The Battle of Mount Hyjal 2:30
9. Azuremyst Isle 2:42
10. Silvermoon City 2:11
11. Netherstorm 4:20
12. Caverns of Time – The Escape from Durnholde 4:28
13. Outland Suite 2:44
14. The Tower of Karazhan 4:15
15. Illidan 3:10
16. Caverns of Time – Opening of the Dark Portal 2:38
17. Hellfire 1:59
18. The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj (Exclusive Track) 4:00
19. Shadow of the Necropolis (Exclusive Track) 4:22
20. Taverns (Exclusive Track) 4:26
21. Lament of the Highborne (Exclusive Track) 2:57

System requirements

PC System Requirements

• OS: Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4) or Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
• Processor: Intel Pentium3 800MHz or AMD Athlon 800MHz
• Memory:
• Minimum: 512 MB RAM
• Recommended: 1GB RAM
• Video:
• Minimum: 32MB 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as an NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or above
• Recommended: 64MB VRAM 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability, such as an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 class card or above
• Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card

Mac System Requirements

• OS: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or newer
• Processor:
• Minimum: 933MHz G4/G5
• Recommended: 1.8GHz G5/Intel
• Memory:
• Minimum: 512MB RAM
• Recommended: 1GB DDR RAM
• Video:
• Minimum: NVIDIA or ATI graphics processor with 32MB VRAM
• Recommended: 64MB VRAM

All Platforms

• Controls: A keyboard and mouse are required. Input devices other than a mouse and keyboard are not supported.
• Connectivity: You must have an active broadband Internet connection to play.
• Mouse: Multi-button mouse with scroll wheel recommended.

Patches

From its release in January 2007 to the release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King in November 2008, The Burning Crusade received several patches that added and altered features of the game.

• Patch 2.1 added "The Black Temple" Raid instance as well as the Nether Drake Questline.
• Patch 2.2 added built-in voice chat to the game as well as fixing many bugs.
• Patch 2.3 added the Raid Instance "Zul'Aman", Guild Banks and increased the leveling Speed for players below level 58.
• Patch 2.4 added the new area of "Quel'Danas" which contained several new daily quests and 2 new dungeons.
• Patch 3.0.2 added many features of "Wrath of the Lich King" to the game such as Barbershops, Inscription and also implemented an Achievements System into WoW.
• Patch 4.3 lowered the difficulty of many quests by replacing Elite mobs with regular versions.

ESRB

The ESRB rated the game Teen for Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence.