Blizzard's World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade to drop January 16

by Kevin Kelly { Nov 9th 2006 at 11:15AM }

Blizzard's highly anticipated World of ~~Warcrack~~ Warcraft add-on The Burning Crusade finally gets a release date. It'll be hitting retail outlets on January 16th, 2007 ... just missing the holiday season by a few weeks, ouch. At least that'll make for more family time together, since you won't be holed up in front of your computer grinding your way up to level 70.

"While World of Warcraft has continued to grow rapidly along with its player population, The Burning Crusade will represent our single largest addition of new game content and new features to date," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "With this expansion, we're looking forward to offering the same level of quality that players have experienced in World of Warcraft so far, and we'll continue balancing and play-testing up until launch to ensure that The Burning Crusade achieves that goal."

You WoWers out there had better party hard through New Years, because you'll be getting a brand-spanking new timesink two weeks later. You can also go for the collector's edition which sports the expansion on both CD-ROM and DVD, the Art of the Burning Crusade coffee table book, *pauses for breath* an exclusive in-game pet, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a World of Warcraft Trading Card Game starter deck and exclusive cards, a map of Outland mouse pad, and the official soundtrack CD *pant, pant -- whew*. That is, if you really want to immerse yourself in it. The wheelbarrow to carry all that stuff home is optional.

Trading Card Game starter deck, FTW!

Tags: Alliance, BLizzard, Burning Crusade, collector's, game, Horde, MMO, release, RPG, Warcrack, Warcraft, World of Warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft, WoW

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

BlindsideDork @ Nov 9th 2006 11:22AM

So after this is released do you HAVE to have this in order to play WoW? Cause if for some reason I decided to jump into WoW again and don't want to buy that, can I still play?

droptop GP @ Nov 9th 2006 11:25AM

warcrack - warcraft...i get it. that never gets old. /sarc

Kevin @ Nov 9th 2006 11:31AM

#1 - Yes, you still need the full retail version of the main game, although you can pick it up these days for $19.99. You might even be able to make it work from one of those cheapo discs they sell at Hot Topic, provided that you pay for a full account.

Shiro @ Nov 9th 2006 11:38AM

"Trading Card Game starter deck, FTW!"

Welcome... to the World of Storecraft! The main idea is to go to the stores and buy out the merch before your opponent does. The more you buy, the higher your level goes, and the more opponents you can beat! All you have to do is... KEEP BUYING. Spend the money, beat the game!

Flit @ Nov 9th 2006 11:38AM

@3,1:

You misunderstood him. Do you need the Expansion to play the game after it is released. I'm not for sure, but i'm pretty sure that's a No. That's why the new area is completely removed from the game area that is already there, so that the upgrade is optional. Anyone confirm this?

rulyblue @ Nov 9th 2006 11:49AM

You do not need the expansion to play. You get everything expansion buyers are getting except:

-ability to lvl to 70
-new BC areas in both azeroth and outland

-you can use BC weapons that are of lvl 60 requirement
-you get the new honor system
-you get all the new talents and spells that are availiable at lvl 60

Psyclerk @ Nov 9th 2006 11:50AM

#5 You're not sure, but you're pretty sure? Huh?

You do not need the expansion to play the game. However I do believe you are restricted to a max level of 60 (rather than 70) if you don't have the expansion. Of course, you also can't access the new area, which would make hitting level 70 extremely difficult anyways.

BlindsideDork @ Nov 9th 2006 11:52AM

Score....I think!

Thanks for the help..but most likely I will be too preoccupied to do WoW again :/

Just wanted to know just in case!

Foxwind @ Nov 9th 2006 12:26PM

I want a World of Starcraft. ._.

Todd @ Nov 9th 2006 12:34PM

For those of you confused. The expansion is not a requirement to continue playing World of Warcraft. The expansion introduces tons of new game content (lands, +1o more levels, new mounts) but the regular players won't have access to these. However new gear introduce as part of the regular game will be available to everyone through patches, regardless of expansion. I'm sure that will be one HUGE patch to download.

X @ Nov 9th 2006 1:16PM

anyone know where i can preorder the collector's edition?

Soapyshoes @ Nov 9th 2006 1:56PM

Welp, that's Blizzard. Over 2 years, and still no expansion. There'd better be a shit ton of content to make up for that.

Yoda @ Nov 9th 2006 4:23PM

#12. So you'd rather them be like EQ and charge you for an expansion every few months? While they've been slow with new content, they have added decent stuff since launch, and for FREE I might add.

If this was EQ, BG's would have been an expansion addon and most likely all the new raid content.

Lansing(ex-WoWaddict) @ Nov 9th 2006 4:27PM

I'm going to claim for the record that this expansion will be the beginning of the end for WoW. More of the same won't hold attention for much longer.

jojo29 @ Nov 9th 2006 5:44PM

No you do not need the expansion to continue to enjoy Blizzard's awesome game. However these are the items you will NOT be able to participate in should you decide not to purchase the expansion:

Jewelcrafting
Leveling up to 70
Outland
The two new races

jojo29 @ Nov 9th 2006 5:59PM

@ Lansing

How long did you play WoW?? ah nevermind that fact i dont want to get into a pissing contest i will win.

Anywhoo its not "more of the same" its actually more of what people asked for. Not believing? ok check this out. ALL the new raids in the expansion will be capped at 25 man down from 40mans, except one Onyxia-styled encountered. PvP has been completely REVAMPED so that the casual player can come in when she/he feels like, and eventually get the gear she/he wants.

Hellfire Citadel is made up primarily of 5-10mans which is what players asked for.

The Tier 4 armor sets will come in 3 flavors complementing the different Talent Trees of each class.

New Areas to explore

New races to play with

Warhammer Online MIGHT take some sales away from Blizzard's game but hey thats competition and sadly that seems to be the only game out there that has a chance, i say sadly because i think people should try more of the MMORPGs that are out there just for the sake of trying em out:) Me ive been a Blizzard fan since Orcs and Humans, so nah ill be staying on this game, at least until Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, or Warcraft 4 come out :)

No my pessimistic friend, this is only the begining...

ackmondual @ Nov 9th 2006 6:22PM

MORE STARCRAFT!!! More Asian themed RTS and MMORPGs! There are plenty of flicks with orcs, dwarves, elves, pig tribes, ninja beavers, whatever.

I do hope that something like Universe of Starcraft comes out, but that's wishful thinking. We should wait up for Starcraft: Ghost first coming out in 5 years to never, followed by Starcraft 2 which may come out roughly 6 yrs after that.

I sincerely hope that Diablo and Starcraft get more sequels or expansions. I can understand devoting time to WoW since its made them alot of $$, but SC and Diablo fans will be getting the royal shaft if things end there with those series.