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PC | RPG | World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Boxart for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade 73 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.50
  • SOUND: 5.00
  • CONTROL: 5.00
  • FUN FACTOR 5.00
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.9
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.7
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Hands-On: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Visual Tour

Hands-On by Daphinicus | 01/08/2007 | 10:46:52 AM PST

The First Quest
Burning Crystals are the source of the Blood Elves' magic and power, but are also the race's greatest weakness.

Burning Crystals are the source of the Blood Elves' magic and power, but are also the race's greatest weakness.

Back out in the sunlight, I meet up with an older member of my order, Magistrix Erona. She gives to me my first task: to help remove from the vale an influx of defiled Mana Wyrms before their numbers become overwhelming around our precious Burning Crystals. One of the largest Crystals is just to the southwest, on the next terrace level down, its jade complexion illuminated from within by a strange, inner fire. It is surrounded by the defiled Wyrms, and is as good a place as any to start. I bid farewell to the Magistrix and move off to complete my quest.

A Mana Wyrm, up close and personal. Once you've left Sunstrider Isle, the next time you'll see one of them is beyond the Dark Portal.

A Mana Wyrm, up close and personal. Once you've left Sunstrider Isle, the next time you'll see one of them is beyond the Dark Portal.

Aside from being a source of valuable experience and loot, the first Blood Elf quest serves to introduce Mana Wyrms, one of the myriad new creature types that can be found in The Burning Crusade. Like many of the beings indigenous to Quel'Thalas, Mana Wyrms are magical and thus have stores of mana that can be tapped by the Blood Elves using their aforementioned racial abilities. If you've had the chance to watch The Burning Crusade's opening cinematic, you'll recognize their eel-like forms the moment you see them in-game.

Lynxes have already become popular pets among hunters in the Beta.

Lynxes have already become popular pets among hunters in the Beta.

Other creatures indigenous to the area include the new lynxes (which are, in Azeroth, a sort of visual cross-breed between lions and tigers) and dragonhawks (whose red-gold feathers keep a lizard's body aloft in a surprisingly beautiful blend of avian and dragon). Blood Elf hunters should enjoy learning the quirks of their new pets, and the three mentioned thus far are only the first in a long list of additions.


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