World of Warcraft - The Burning Crusade and Patch 1.12 (PC) Preview
Posted by Nathan Ganley on 07.21.2006
World of Warcraft is more than a feeling.
It wasn't till early this year that I first experienced World of Warcraft, and getting myself and my girlfriend addicted to in the process, so what better news than a new Patch and even better, a new add-on!
Patch 1.12
Release Date: Late July/Early August
For PC and Mac
New Features:
Cross-Realm Battlegrounds: For the first time in the history of World of Warcraft, you will be able to face off against players from other realms in the Battlegrounds. Coming in patch 1.12 are cross-realm PvP Battlegrounds, linking Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch, and Arathi Basin so that players from several realms will be combined into one huge matchmaking pool. Replenish your mana, sharpen your blades, and get ready for some brand-new challengers! You can check out the full battlegroup list to find out which battlegroup you're in and which realms you'll be competing with once the next content patch is released.
This is going to be a really great feature that I'm looking forward to, it will probably help the individual realm forums also, as people will be checking atleast on other forum to see which realm they're going to be fighting.
World PvP: While the Battlegrounds are about to receive a major upgrade of their own, players interested in World PvP will be glad to hear that patch 1.12 will introduce a brand-new type of PvP content to the game. The stage is set for intense, objective-based land battles as Horde and Alliance vie for control over important strategic positions and resources around Azeroth. Stay tuned for more news about these new world PvP enhancements coming to World of Warcraft.
I think this description is a bit too vague, and I'm not on a PvP server myself, but I'm sure it'll be interesting and I might join a PvP to check it out.
Rogue Talent Review Rogues will get some new abilities in this patch, as it seems every class in the game is getting the works(except Paladins, which Blizzard said they thought there was no need to change anything about Paladins for the time being.). There is a preview talent calculator, so you can look at the new abilities and plan what talents you want to use by the time the patch is here. Click here for the Rogue preview talent calculator.
Public Test Realms
The public test realms are live! Players can now try out some of the changes and additions coming in World of Warcraft's latest content patch: Drums of War. The highlights of this patch include cross-realm battlegrounds -- where for the first time in the history of World of Warcraft, you will be able to face off against players from other realms in the battlegrounds -- rogue talent improvements, and world player-vs.-players objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands.
Players who had an active account as of 12:01 AM PDT Tuesday, July 11 can participate in the test realms by creating a character, using a pre-made level 60 character, or copying their characters from existing realms to the test realms. To copy a character, visit our public test realm page. Pre-made character copies are available anytime during the testing period, while personal character transfers to the test realm are available from 3:00 AM to 3:00 PM PDT Monday through Friday. The test realm game client, which can be downloaded at the same page, is available for both PC and Mac.
Please be aware that the test realms are designed to allow us to test major content patches before they go public. Therefore, some changes may be introduced to the public test realms during the testing phase, before a patch goes live, and some changes may be introduced to the patch after the test realms have closed. To read more about the test realms, please review the Test Realm FAQ. We truly appreciate players taking the time to help us test the latest changes to the game; thank you all!
What are you waiting for? Go go go!
The Burning Crusade
Release Date: Q4 2006
For PC and Mac
Synopsis: Several years have passed since the Burning Legion's defeat at Mount Hyjal and the races of Azeroth have continued to rebuild their once shattered lives. With renewed strength, the heroes of the Horde and Alliance have begun to explore new lands and broken through the Dark Portal to investigate the realms beyond the known world. Will these heroes find friends or foes? What dangers and rewards lie in wait beyond the Dark Portal? And what will they do when they discover that the demons they thought vanquished have returned to renew their terrible Burning Crusade?
New Features:
A Quick List of New Features
- An increase in the level cap to 70
- Two new playable races: the Blood Elves and the Draenei
- New starting zones in Quel'Thalas and beyond
- The entire new continent of Outland, reachable through the Dark Portal
- Many new high-level dungeons to explore in Azeroth, Outland, and elsewhere
- New flying mounts in Outland
- Many new and dangerous monsters, including epic world bosses
- Hundreds of new quests
- Hundreds of new items
- A new profession: Jewelcrafting
- Socketed items
- And much, much more...
New Races New Horde Race - Blood Elves:
No longer trusted by the Alliance, these former High Elves have joined the Horde to hunt down the demons that destroyed their homeland of Quel'Thalas.
New Alliance Race - Draenei Descended from the Eredar, the same ancient race as Archimonde, leader of the Burning Legion's recently thwarted invasion of Azeroth, the Draenei resisted the demonic forces that corrupted their brethren and fled their ancient homeworld, devoting themselves to ending the Legion's apocalyptic crusade.
Updated Bestiary: The Burning Crusade will introduce a whole new world and many new dungeons to the game. A multitude of strange, wondrous and terrifying creatures inhabit these wild, untamed lands. This page contains a few of the many new monsters that make up the vast and varied bestiary of the Burning Crusade. From arcane thieves to savage demigods, from nightmares of an ancient past to magnificent beasts never seen before, they all can be discovered in Outland and the still unexplored lands of Azeroth.
For a look at some of the new creatures in the add-on, go here.
Jewelcrafting: Jewelcrafters learn the art of creating beautiful jewelry and trinkets from metals and rare gems. By processing the raw ore mined from the various deposits and mineral veins, jewelcrafters can extract gems from the ore which they can then use for their craft. Although miners sometimes find gems while gathering ore, jewelcrafters mostly rely on their prospecting skills to get more of the precious stones.
Jewelcrafters work with gems in many different ways. If a jewelcrafter uses gems to create jewelry, he usually only needs the raw, uncut stones for his work. These rings, amulets, and trinkets function just like those that can already be found in the game, with a few notable exceptions. For example, jewelcrafters can learn to create gemmed figurines that they can carry in their trinket slots. While these figurines all provide passive benefits, they can also be used to provide the player with a short buff – just enough to give you that little damage boost or maybe that quick burst of extra healing power you may need in a tricky situation. These figurines will bind when picked up, so only jewelcrafters will be able to use their powers.
Another way jewelcrafters can use gems is by cutting them, preparing them to be used in socketed items. Gems come in many different colors and shapes. Different types of gems have different basic properties, and a gem's cut also determines the effect this gem will have. Jewelcrafters can learn several types of cuts for each kind of gem: the Azure Moonstone, for example, can be cut into a lustrous, stormy, solid, or sparkling Azure Moonstone, and each one of these cuts offers different bonuses when used in a socketable item. Placing cut gems into an item's sockets will add the bonuses of these gems to those of the item, allowing players to customize their equipment to better suit their individual play style or the different roles their class can fulfill.
