World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Take a look inside the closed beta. Fresh screens and info within!

As someone who's been playing WoW off and on since the original closed beta in spring of 2004, I like to consider myself pretty well-versed in all things Azeroth. While other MMOs, notably EverQuest II, have come out with additional content at a relatively breakneck pace, we waited with bated breath while Blizzard concocted its own witches brew. Historically, two years is a long time in between expansions, but I'm here to say that it looks like it was worth the wait. We've spent the past few days exploring the new hotness at both the low end and the high end, and anyone who managed to shake their WoW jones probably shouldn't take a look at what's on offer now. Because it's pretty darned awesome.

Closed Beta Contest

But you don't have to take our word for it. We've partnered with Blizzard to distribute 250 beta access keys to current WoW players. Click here for the nitty gritty! It's first come, first serve, so we recommend you check it out before reading the rest of this article.

Moving right along: Let's talk about the two new races, particularly the Blood Elves. They're on the Horde side, and they're the only race on that faction to get paladins. But I've been down that road before and preferred other play styles, so I explored the lands with a mage. "Squishy" casters take advantage of the BE racials as well. You get a 2-second silence to all enemies within 8 yards, and it's on a 3-minute cool down. It stacks with the other racial, and the stacking scales with your level. So once you hit the new level 70 cap, the two interactions will become less useful, while the silence remains pretty hot. It's instant and doesn't cost any mana (since the BEs have rogues, who don't use mana).

The blood elves, like the draenei, get two zones to themselves that will carry them to level 20. This is particularly nice for the blood elves, since the historical choice for the Horde's 10-20 climb was in the Barrens, a love-it-or-hate-it zone of the world that I personally find too spread out and a little "samey." In addition to their own zones, there's a raft of quests that will keep your grinding to a minimum. Also, you can earn points with sub-factions and get some solid gear fairly easily. There's no real faction grind like you see elsewhere, unless you absolutely have to have those top-end items. You can tell that a lot of work was put into the zone, even though there are some missing pieces and glitches one is used to seeing in beta. Right now, for example, you can't fly into Silvermoon, the BE capital city; only out. If you want to leave BE lands, you take a teleport to the Undercity.

But although there are four new low-end zones, you'll inevitably return to familiar lands, if you've played WoW before. For those of us who have neither "lowbie" characters or level 60s, Blizzard has redone everyone's talent trees. Some classes got a few tweaks here and there, while the warlock's changes are essentially talent review-caliber.

Those guys get some much-needed threat reduction, more efficient and powerful "dots" (spells that do Damage Over Time), and some improved talent functionality. With my 48 warlock, my Corruption spell ticks went from about 110 to 150, just by exploring the new Affliction tree. All trees have seen some improvements, and now the Affliction lock is a respectable threat in PvP. But even as I write this, I'm seeing changes between what's "live" in the beta and what's on the website, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for changes.

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