Hands-On: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Visual Tour
The Shepherd's Gate
The gift of Arthas, Silvermoon's ancient gate remains impassible even today.
From the Dawning Lane to Falconwing Square, and from there into the Eversong Woods, I travel. The security of Falconwing's guards behind me, I turn to the east and find myself on the borders of the Dead Scar. Where the long swath of destruction meets with the walls of Silvermoon, there can be seen the ancient gate that had, for so long, stood against invaders, until the Death Knight Arthas Menethil threw his Scourge against our breast and tore out our very heart -- the Sunwell. The gate's splendor somehow remains, even after having been pillaged by an army of rotting dead.
Beneath and around the Shepherd's Gate lies a garden tended day and night. Whoever said a computer game could not inspire awe?
Beyond the Dead Scar, a beautiful garden surrounds the new entrance to Silvermoon City, known as the Shepherd's Gate. Butterflies fly to and fro, and as I walk through the garden, I notice a small group of my kinsmen waiting beneath the archway. They nod to me solemnly as I approach, then let their faces brighten. I smile, and they applaud my accomplishment without a word spoken: I have grown from a young Elf into an apprentice Mage. It is only the start of an adventure too great to imagine, and yet I smile at its prospects.
The developers and testers have worked long and hard for this. Are you prepared for what is to come?
I stride proudly through the Shepherd's Gate. Silvermoon City, and all of Azeroth, is waiting for me on the other side.
The Shepherd's Gate is indeed a monument in The Burning Crusade, not for its architectural superiority (although its surrounding gardens are truly beautiful to behold), but for its status as a gateway between the relative seclusion of Quel'Thalas and the war-torn expanse of the rest of Azeroth. From Silvermoon City, players can teleport to the Undercity through the Orb of Translocation in the palace-like Sunfury Spire, and from there can fly by bat or zeppelin anywhere else in the world.
Illidan's Mistake
In The Burning Crusade's opening cinematic, the Night Elf-turned-Demon Illidan Stormrage exclaims in confident anger that we are not prepared for what is to come. In many ways, he is absolutely right: The new sights and sounds of the expansion, the new spells and abilities of its races, and the new locations to explore -- there is so much to cover that a list of it all would fill Silvermoon itself. There's simply no way everything in The Burning Crusade could be adequately previewed so that you might be prepared for the deluge of content arriving next month.
And yet, Illidan is also quite wrong. Though many of the millions of people who play World of Warcraft may not know exactly what the expansion will hold, they are nevertheless very ready to embark on their own journeys of discovery. Perhaps they will follow paths like our Navara has here; perhaps they will not. Whatever the case may be -- for all of us -- the expansion cannot come soon enough.
Oh, yes, Illidan. Do not fool yourself. We are prepared.
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