News From Blizzcon - The Burning Crusade Classic and Patch 9.1 for Shadowlands

During the opening ceremony of BlizzCon, a lot of time was devoted to World of Warcraft. Blizzard's online game will not only get a new content update for its latest expansion pack - Shadowlands - but also the return of The Burning Crusade expansion to World of Warcraft Classic servers.

If you've been following the recent news around Blizzard, the announcements propably came as no surprise to you. A day before the launch event, information leaked out about patch 9.1 titled Fetters of Domination and plans to release The Burning Crusade Classic.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands 9.1 - Chains of Domination

The World of Warcraft: Shadowlands update to version 9.1 will bring the ability to fly around all Shadowlands zones excluding The Maw and Oribos. There will be a new location in The Maw - Korthia, the Sanctrum of Dominion raid where we will fight Tarragrue, Kel'Thuzad, and Sylvanas, among others. Megadungeon Broker Trade City will bring us the opportunity to face eight bosses.

While on paper the new features don't look that impressive, the storyline of the Chains of Domination update is quite confusing. In order not to spoil the surprise and not reveal too much, I encourage you to watch the trailer.

The universe of World of Warcraft will also include two new pets - Bananas the monkey and Daisy the sloth. However, we won't get them right away. Blizzard will start with a charity action and when the community donations reach the appropriate level, we'll receive the aforementioned companions as a reward.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic

The second announcement is something that even a dozen months ago may have seemed unlikely. The huge success of World of Warcraft Classic caused the studio managing Blizzard's online title to decided to release the first expansion - The Burning Crusade - in the same form.

As in the case of the base game, access to the new content will be free - it will be included in the subscription paid by WoW players. What's important, if you don't want to join The Burning Crusade servers, there will be an option to stay in the basic game. There will also be a paid option to clone our hero, so we can play the character in both the base game and the expansion.

What will World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic offer?

• The destroyed Outlands: Players will travel treacherous trails winding among the peaks of the Blade's Edge Mountains, visit the flying islands of Nagrand, and face off against demonic agents of the Burning Legion in the Black Temple;
• Two new playable races - Blood Elves and Draenei;
• PvP mode: Gather trusted allies to prove your mettle in 2 vs. 2, 3 vs. 3, or 5 vs. 5 arenas such as the Ring of Trials and Circle of Blood;
• Ability to move around Outlands on flying mounts;
• Dungeons for 5 players - Tempest Keep and Caverns of Time. Additionally, the gloomy tower of Karazhan will be available for teams of 10, where a decisive clash with the Archdemon Kil'jaeden awaits in the 25-player Sunwell Plateau raid;
• New options for the characters - you will be able to work with precious stones, which you will be able to embed in your equipment thanks to the new profession called jewelcrafting.

We do not yet know the exact release date of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic. In a press release Blizzard informed only about the plans for beta tests, which will take place some time before the game's debut. Detailed information on this topic will be made available at a later date.

1. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Review - 75% Legion; 25% New
2. World of Warcraft - official website

World of Warcraft

November 23, 2004

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• Overview

• WoW / World of Warcraft
• DLC and expansions
• patches and updates
• Blizzard
• MMORPG
• Warcraft (franchise)