World of Warcraft Expansion News

I was waiting for more news on it before posting, so I imagine some of you are already aware of the screenshots and news of the first World of Warcraft expansion out there in the wild. Voodoo Extreme has the highlights, and Joystiq is carrying some beautiful screenshots. So far the three features that have my eyebrows raised are: Blood Elves as a new playable Horde race, a high level Flying Mount for the Outlands, and (most exciting) cross-server Battlegrounds. This last would be a huge boon for the currently questionable organized PvP play, and I really hope they swing it.

Comments

I call bullshit

[shrik3]

The "expansion notes" circulating the internets are just too unrealistic for any single expansion. Anyone with half a brain can see that.

• Adding a new class, specifically for killing casters - they haven't even balanced the current classes yet, why add another to the mix?
• 100 player instances with horde and alliance cooperating - puh-lease
• level cap rise to 75 - don't make me laugh, can you say "31/31/4 builds"? That would totally destroy all class balance changes made in the last 9 patches.
• why open Outlands, Northrend and the Emerald Dream all at once? They could all three be separate expansions, and way too much to add in one shot.

It's just a fans wet dream made true by others believing in it.

The screenshots showing actual 3D models I can believe, there may be Spellbreakers there (the guys with 2-pronged swords really are Blood Elf Spellbreakers, just do a google image search on it - they were in WC3:TFT)

Adding new races is somewhat plausible, as they don't mix up the delicate class balance too much. New instances are highly plausible also.

Re:I call bullshit

[Z0mb1eman]

...did you even bother clicking on the link?

- NO new classes, just two new races
- level rise to 70, not 75

Doesn't mean the posted link is automatically 100% correct... but honestly, did you even read it?

Bad news for City of Heroes?

[EvilMagnus]

City of Villains is coming out soon, too. The original CoH saw a significant player loss when WoW came out, and I dare say they were banking on CoV to try to win some customers back. But given the choice of $50 for CoV or $30 for a WoW expansion, I know which I'd pick. Heck, even if they were released at the same price, I'd go with the WoW expansion.

Shamen + Elves = Dead Aliance

[egarland]

Giving horde pretty elves would totally destroy the balance in the game. As it is horde are overpowered as compared to aliance in no small part due to Shamen. The only thing the Aliance has going for it is that horde characters and lands are ugly and many people just don't like that. Give them nice pretty elves and all that changes. Unless they give us shamen, we in the aliance are screwed.

I think to properly balance, if they get Elves, we should get Tauren. Tauren are one of the most powerful races and from their back story they don't really belong with the horde. Since there are Tauren shamen, it stands to reason that the Aliance shoult get Tauren and with them, shamen. And on that day, I will create one and start power-leveling.

Re:Shamen + Elves = Dead Aliance

[Red Flayer]

It's not just about prettyness. Most fantasy RPG players identify more with the "good guys"... even with Blood Elves going to Horde, they'll still be outnumbered heavily.

The whole reason Horde characters are overpowered is to
(1) encourage people to play them
(2) give them a leg up in massive PvP, so they can actually compete.

Re:Shamen + Elves = Dead Aliance

[C0rinthian]

It frightens me that this was modded insightful.

First of all, appearance has nothing to do with balance. Some servers have Alliance outnumbering Horde, and others it's the opposite. Second of all, shaman are not that bad. They are no more 'overpowered' than Paladins. (and Paladins are an absolute bitch to kill) How are Tauren any more powerful than other races? They have warstomp, and a slight HP boost. OMG NERF. The backstory also firmly places them with the Horde. (Orcs saved their asses from the Centaurs)

good time to make "predictions"

[xutopia]

# The name is Burning Crusade. True
# Takes place in the Outlands. True
# Level cap raised to Level 70. False and if they do I quit wow right now
# 2 new races, Blood Elf (Horde) and TBA (Alliance). True
# No new classes. True
# New profession, Jewelcrafting, which will allow for slotting and modding items ala Diablo 2. - why not... true
# New BE starter area and zones north of the Eastern Plaguelands, Silvermoon (their Capital City), Ghostland, and Zul'Aman. - True
# Epic FLYING FREAKING MOUNT useable only in Outlands. - false
# Small upgrades to the graphics engine (BE will have 20% more polygons than original races for example). - true, kinda... the graphics engine won't be upraded, just used more extensively with these chars
# Weather effects added. - true
# Exploring how to add in cross server Battlegrounds. - true (dire need for this)

flying mounts are just stupid.