Burning Crusade First Impressions

Posted by Stropp on January 17, 2007

I picked up my copy of the Burning Crusade today at lunch and installed it this evening when I got home from work (told you I wouldn’t be able to resist.) I did end up getting the Collectors Edition too, and I’m glad I did. Normally with Collectors Editions, I could take them or leave them. There’s usually a few bits and pieces, that while interesting, don’t really have a lot of substance. The Burning Crusade CE on the other hand has some really nice stuff. It’s definitely worth the extra forty Aussie dollars. The CE cost me AUD99.00.

There’s a couple of packs of trading cards, a DVD install disk as well as the CDROM versions, a DVD on the making of TBC, and a couple of guest pass keys. What I really liked though, was the book of artwork from the expansion. It’s a nicely bound, hardcover book with lots of pictures of the races, locations, weapons, armor, and other aspects of TBC. I’ve always been fond of art, so this book really makes the CE worthwhile for me.

The install was excellent. So easy. After starting the installer, and entering the CD key while it was running, the expansion registered, and I was ready to go within 20 minutes. I’ve got to commend Blizzard on this. It’s probably the smoothest expansion install I’ve had for a MMO.

After installing it was time to log in. Once again nice and smooth. I take back what I said yesterday about logging in on patch days. I didn’t have any issues, and I didn’t have to wait in any queues. A few people were complaining of lag, but I didn’t experience anything too serious there.

My first step was to create a Draenei mage on the Windrunner server. This was where my old Alliance guild was based, so I figure if I give him much time, I’ll be doing it with old friends. It didn’t take long though before I felt the pull of the Dark Portal. I logged out Draenei Stropp on WR, and logged in Orc Stropp on Khaz’goroth. I’d logged out previously in STV, so it was a short flight and ride to the portal.

After stepping through the portal, I took a bit of time just to look around. Blizzard have certainly done a good job with the environment here. I love the skyscape and the impression of bottomlessness that I got when peering over the edge of the peninsula. After a bit of looking around I proceeded to do the quest progression, met up with a fellow guildie and started working on one of the kill quests.

So far, so good. I haven’t had a problem with any of the mobs I’ve encountered. I took down a couple of 62s and hardly broke a sweat. Maybe what some of the whingers on the forums are saying is true, and hunters are overpowered. Shhh. Don’t say anything.

One thing is for certain, my gear is not going to be worth much soon. I’ve seen a few items that will obsolete my gear fairly quickly. There was even a green (or perhaps blue) bow that was pretty close my Mandokir’s Sting. Sorta make me glad I didn’t raid like an idiot just to get gear.

So the upshot is, after two hours of play, that I think the Burning Crusade expansion is very well done. I’ll need to see more of the content before I finally make up my mind, but from what I’ve heard I don’t think that will change much.

The Burning Crusade has certainly been worth the wait, although I do hope the next expansion doesn’t take two years. I don’t think that will be the case though, since Blizzard has indicated the next one will be out in a year. I do think that Blizzard should take a leaf from SOEs Everquest 2 and release a little more frequently, perhaps even releasing an Adventure pack or two rather than a full expansion. But for now, I’m happy with the Outlands.

What are your impressions so far?

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