World of Warcraft Classic had a great run but all good things must eventually come to an end. Although not officially confirmed just yet, it’s almost guaranteed at this point that Blizzard is working on The Burning Crusade Classic as we speak. Veteran WoW players already have a good idea of what to expect from the upcoming expansion while newcomers will be in for a real treat.
The Burning Crusade will bring a host of major changes to the game, from new zones and dungeons to systems, raids, and everything in between. As we all know, WoW Classic items are an essential part of becoming strong in the game and the same will also be true in TBC. Items aside, there are a lot of other exciting additions to look forward and we’re going to cover all the most important ones in this article, so keep reading.
Outland
Enjoy Azeroth while you still can because you’re not going to be spending a lot of time there once The Burning Crusade launches. The expansion introduces players to the world of Outland, previously known as Draenor, the homeworld of the Orcs and Draenei. Outland is comprised of seven distinct zones:
- Hellfire Peninsula
- Zangarmarsh
- Terokkar Forest
- Nagrand
- Blade’s Edge Mountains
- Netherstorm
- Shadowmoon Valley
Players will also be able to explore four additional zones, two for each of the new races coming with the expansion. Azuremyst Isle, Bloodmyst Isle, Eversong Woods, and the Ghostlands will serve as starting zones for the new races and will be part of Azeroth rather than Outland. In total, we’re looking at 11 new zones to explore, each with its own quests and storylines.
Increased Level Cap
Starting with the Burning Crusade expansion, the maximum level cap in World of Warcraft will be raised from 60 to 70. Players will be able to travel to Outland starting with level 58 but it’s generally recommended that you wait until level 60 before visiting the new zones, especially if you are poorly geared. Speaking of which, don’t get too attached of the gear you’ll come across while leveling in Azeroth because the items you’ll find in Outland will be a lot more powerful. Unless you have raiding gear of course, in which case you’ll be able to make good use of it for quite a while into the expansion.
Flying
Flying is by far one of the most important changes coming with TBC Classic and, depending on who you ask, also one of the most controversial ones. Many players would claim that flying ruined world PVP, but that’s only partially true. You should still expect plenty of world PVP while leveling in Azeroth because flying will only be available in Outland. Besides, acquiring a flying mount takes some time and effort so don’t expect to see people soaring through the clouds on day one.
Learning how to fly in Outland will only be possible once your character reaches level 70. Similar to how things work in WoW Classic, you’ll also need some gold in order to train the skill and buy your mount. You’ll need 225 gold to train the normal version of the skill and another 50 gold to buy the mount itself. Meanwhile, learning the epic version of the skill will cost you no less than 5,000 gold plus another 100 gold for an epic mount.
Needless to say, that’s quite a lot of gold so expect to be grinding for months before you’ll be able to ride epic flying mounts. At least if you’re a casual player.
New Races
New RacesWe touched upon the two new races before but it’s worth taking about them in more detail because they’re very important. Starting with The Burning Crusade, the Blood Elves will join the Horde and the Draenei will join the Alliance as playable races. If you’re familiar with Warcraft III, you already know all about the Blood Elves because they were an integral part of the campaign. The Draenei, however, are a race with a completely new backstory created by Blizzard specifically for TBC. Just in case the name didn’t already give it away, the Draenei are natives of Draenor (now known as Outland).
With the introduction of the two new races Blizzard decided to get rid of the unique faction classes. Horde players will finally have access to the Paladin class by creating a Blood Elf character while Alliance players can gain access to the Shaman class by creating a Draenei character.
New Dungeons and Raids
The Burning Crusade expansion added an extensive list of dungeons and raids to World of Warcraft and you can expect to be able to play through all of them when the Classic version launches. Most of the new instances can be found in Outland but there are also a few that are accessible from Azeroth, particularly via the Caverns of Time. Here is the full list of dungeons coming to The Burning Crusade Classic, sorted by level requirement:
- Hellfire Ramparts
- Blood Furnace
- The Slave Pens
- The Underbog
- Mana-Tombs
- Auchenai Crypts
- Escape From Durnholde Keep
- Sethekk Halls
- Shadow Labyrinth
- Shattered Halls
- The Botanica
- The Mechanar
- The Steamvault
- Magisters’ Terrace
- Opening of the Dark Portal
- The Arcatraz
The dungeons coming with The Burning Crusade are quite different compared to most of the dungeons found in World of Warcraft Classic. Most of the new instances are quite short and only feature 3-4 bosses, so don’t expect anything like Blackrock Depths here. But just because these dungeons are shorter that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to be easier. Every dungeon can be played in Heroic mode, which makes encounters much more challenging but also awards better loot. Dungeons aside, you can also expect a number of new raids to show up in the upcoming expansion, including:
- Karazhan
- Gruul’s Lair
- Zul’Aman
- Magtheridon’s Lair
- Serpentshire Cavern
- Tempest Keep: The Eye
- Battle for Mount Hyjal
- Black Temple
- Sunwell Plateau
The Burning Crusade Classic will feature quite a few more raids than WoW Classic, many of which will be very important to the lore of the World of Warcraft universe. If you plan on running the raids expect to come across notable characters like Kael’thas Sunstrider, Archimonde, Lady Vashj, Kil’jaeden, and Illidan Stormrage, among many others. One important change to note is that raids in TBC will no longer require 40 players. Instead, all raid groups will consist of 25 players, with the only notable exception being Karazhan, which only requires 10 players.
The Arena
World PvP may look like a less interesting prospect with the introduction of flying but it will be replaced with something much better in the form of The Arena. Even to this day, Arenas are considered the highest and most difficult form of PvP where only truly skilled players are able to thrive and advance through the ranks.
Along with this system, Blizzard will also introduce a new stat known as Resilience, which only comes into effect while you’re doing PvP content. Two other stats in the form of Expertise and Armor penetration will also make their first appearance in TBC. These two aren’t specific to PvP but they will play a more important role there than in PvE.
Jewelcrafting
Jewelcrafting is a new profession coming with The Burning Crusade Classic that lets players craft a variety of gems. These gems can be fitted into sockets, another system added in TBC, in order to make items more powerful. This profession gives players an extra way of stacking up particular stats and is expected to be a great way of making gold in the upcoming expansion.
New Mounts
New MountsWoW Classic doesn’t have a whole lot of mounts but that’s going to change in TBC Classic. The expansion will add more than two dozen new mounts, including quite a few flying ones. Mounts will also be easier to obtain as more than half of them will be available to purchase as soon as you acquire the necessary reputation with certain factions. While getting most of these mounts will be time-consuming, you are guaranteed to be able to get your hands on them if you put in the work. The same can’t necessarily be said about mounts that drop from dungeons and raids, which require luck more than anything else.
Final Thoughts
We don’t have a release date for Burning Crusade Classic just yet but there’s a high chance we’re going to hear about it later this month during BlizzConline. In the meantime, if you’re still playing Classic consider visiting LootWowGold if you want to buy WoW Classic gold.
We still don’t know how Blizzard plans to implement Burning Crusade Classic servers but it’s possible you’ll be able to continue where you left off with the characters you have on regular WoW Classic. If that’s the case, it would be a great idea to max out your characters now because some of the best gear in Classic will last you until level 70 in TBC. And unless you’re a raider, you’re going to need lots of gold to buy good gear from the in-game auction house.
