That's right! This morning at Blizzcon - Blizzard's first ever gaming convention they officially unveiled the first Expansion Pack for World of Warcraft. Entitled "The Burning Crusade", it will include:

- An increase in the level cap to 70
- Two new playable races, including the magical Blood Elves
- 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 more to be announced. More info & screenshots here. IGN has a nice write up on the X-Pack plus info on the up and coming 1.9 patch here

Finally grab the preview Trailer here (50mb). promoted/edited forum item

One has to wonder how much of the gear we're all wearing right now is about to become outdated as it is all based around a level 60 cap.........

Level 70 blues better than level 60 epics?

I hope they're not planning to charge money for an expansion to an already subscription-based game.

I mean, most people have already paid upfront for the boxed game, then the monthly fees. Surely this should be enough funding for Blizzard to continue creating content for ongoing subscriptions? Perhaps if it were only open to say, level 60s, to reward them for their ongoing financial support?

Haha what am I thinking. That makes sense, so it won't happen.

The big question: Is it a free

Damm beaten to it.
Also. Only releasing it to level 60 players would be bad, as some people get to level 60 much much quicker than someone playing on a casual (only 2 hours a night) basis.

last edited by reax at 09:11:42 29/Oct/05

last edited by reax at 09:14:14 29/Oct/05

Er, Did you play EQ/DAOC/SWG or any of the other existing MMORPGs ?

no?

Get used to it. You pay for expansion packs, even with MMORPGs - even Guild wars charges for new content. WoW on the otherhand has been updated with more content with each patch than some MMO's put into an expansion pack.. For example - patch 1.8 & the up-coming 1.9 patch with the entire Silithus chain & to be released 20/40 man raid dungeons - EQ would've made an expansion out of that right there. The PvP Battlegrounds? Again - for the scope of that update, with most other MMORPG's you'd be paying for it as a PvP Expansion (City of Heroes anyone?).. But then again, I enjoy playing WoW a fair bit so I'll happily buy the x-pack & continue playing..

Having to pay for expansion packs in an MMO? I dunno how that works. What are they going to do to divide the players who do and don't pay for the EP? You can't really just say "if you want ot keep playing, you need to pay $50 now.".

Eve have released their expansion for free, but I don't see Blizzard/Vivendi passing up tens of millions of dollars by doing that.

And all this time they were saying "the subscription fee pays for more content.". Just goes to show how much Blizzard are ripping us all off.

Also wtf, Blood Elves are Horde? I'd hate to be playing on Blackrock when this is released! :D

bli$$ard.

bli$$ard.

Also World of Warcrack, ontopic though wasnt this expansion meant to be northrend? or would that be another expansion theyll milk

What it means...similar to EQ for example,is if you dont get the new expansion,you wont be able to play in the new areas,or play the new characters,but will still be able to play as normal.Come on people...nothing in life is free,think realistically.If you dont want to pay for the expansion,you dont have too.

Come on people...nothing in life is free

I wouldn't class a current $20 subscription as 'free'

Anyway, I don't play WoW, so carry on guys. I know you're all going to 'upgrade' despite what you say :)

Also World of Warcrack, ontopic though wasnt this expansion meant to be northrend? or would that be another expansion theyll milk

It's gunna be another one. A fair bit of the stuff that was supposed to be patched in later (like fighting Illidan) was pushed back into the expansion. I'm guessing that they're going to draw out Northrend (and possibly fighting Arthas) for as long as possible.

I dont mind that you have to pay for expansion packs. As was mentioned above, the extra content in the patches is alot better then most MMORPG's.

It is really simple.

If you dont think it is fair to pay the money for an expansion pack. Then dont buy it...

I'd love to know how much blizzard have to spend on total bandwidth. Alot I'd imagine.

Eve was no up front cost, is $12.95/mth and has free content upgrades every 6 months or so.

Now they love their player base ;)

lev 70 cap :(

But hey blood elves for the win!
Gonna actually start playing Horde more now!
BRING ON THE FLAMES!!!


ps anyone know when they are thinking about releasing it?

pandaran ftw

meh, i quit wow. my 60 warrior got boring after awhile. i'm back playing FFXI now. 10/5 ninja/warrior ftw!

Waaaa waaaa waaaa, have to pay monthly fees to play mmos, waaaaa waaaa waaaa. Geez, cry more noobs.

This argument has been had so many times I've lost count, so the only assumption I can make is that parabol is just trolling for bites, and just because I'm bored, I'll bite.

The subscription pays for server costs, bandwidth costs, costs of ongoing development with regards to patches, and any other running costs which may be incurred. And yes, I'm sure a chunk of it goes into Blizzard's pocket, and hey, why shouldn't it? I mean, if you made WoW, I'm sure you'd be wanting to make money off it. Yes you pay for the initial game, but something has to cover the cost of the 5+ years of development it took to make the game in the first place.

As for paying for expansion packs, they generally aren't the same cost as a new game, we're talking $40 or $50 compared to $90 for a whole game. The expansion packs contain a f***load more content than the patches do, I mean, this expansion has a completely new third continent. Theres currently only two continents in WoW so this is expansion is almost 50% of the size of the existing game; thats a f***load more than you get in any patch. In a patch you can maybe expect a new dungeon, or a new pvp arena, or some new skills or items, not two new races and a whole new continent.

And something has to pay for the development of that massive amount of new content, and in the end they're a business, they want to make money. They're not going to take all the money they've made so far and funnel it back into making an expansion pack, just out of the kindness of their hearts. They're not going to go "Oh well, we've just spent all the money we made from WoW so far, but hey we have warm fuzzy feelings deep down inside because we gave the players a free expansion pack". Stop being so naieve.

You don't cry about paying for Quake expansions, or Doom expansions, or Diablo expansions, or Warcraft expansions, or any of the other billion expansions, so why cry about this? Disregarding the monthly subscription, which I've already covered above, Blizzard is just using an established business model for their expansion, one which has been used countless times in the past. Its not like your monthly subscription goes up at all, you're just paying your $40 or $50 to cover the development of the expansion pack, just like you would with any other expansion pack.

your subscription does pay for more content, it doesnt pay for expansions however.

the difference.. expansions are a big lump of content in one big package, content is scattered over patches/updates.

*beaten by khel*


last edited by groydis at 12:37:38 29/Oct/05

so the only assumption I can make is that parabol is just trolling for bites

Nah, I've just come to dislike MMORPGs. I also had a post written to describe why I dislike them, but it makes no difference what I think or say, so I'll just exit this thread.

Anyway, on the topic of "bites" .. have fun with the expansion pack guys.

pfft.. paying for an expansion that was sposed to be apart of the game is f***z0red..

but.. like most emos i'll buy it..

FU BLIZ

Huh?

An expansion that was supposed to be part of the game? Pls elaborate?

I don't recall them ever saying Outlands was going to be in the original release, nor the opening of the Dark Portal.. Ditto for things like the Caverns of Time etc...

i can remeber ages ago that they said u would be able to open the portal

Khel for the win...summed it up great dude.

yes.. they said we would be able to open the portal as part of a server wide event..

looks like the server wide event will be

'HEY SUCKAS OPEN U WALLET F00 MAKE WIF THE BLING'

I wouldn't mind paying for the expansion under 2 conditions:
*It can update straight from the original install, to keep me from having
to keep the patch handy.

*It comes with some free time (like a month or even a couple of weeks).



I understand the costs of hosting, maintaining and adding to the game is astronomical, but at 4.5 million subscribers paying US$15 a month, that's US$67million a month, or US$810, 000, 000 a year. That's 1,079,851,475.36 AUD, OVER A BILLION AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS PER YEAR.

But like a chump, I'll fork over my $50 like the rest of you suckers when teh time comes regardless of this.

4.5 million subscribers paying US$15 a month

Is that 4.5 million subsribers paying per month for a year?

Or is 4.5 million total subsribers?

If it is a promotional figure then it is probably 4.5 million total.

Huh?

An expansion that was supposed to be part of the game? Pls elaborate?

I don't recall them ever saying Outlands was going to be in the original release, nor the opening of the Dark Portal.. Ditto for things like the Caverns of Time etc...

During beta Blizzard said that the hardest pre-expansion boss was going to be Illidan.

I'm guessing it's 4.5 total accounts, Tollaz0r. I don't know how many of them would be active though, but even if it's half they're still makeing a butload of money.

I suppose Khel is right.

I have objected to the subscription from day one and have not purchased or played. Not trolling, just pointing out that it is easier to not buy the game than cry about it.

but yeah lol @ teh losers, sif pay for game + sub + exp. :P~~

I wouldn't mind paying for the expansion under 2 conditions:
*It can update straight from the original install, to keep me from having
to keep the patch handy.

From my old EQ days....every expansion came with all the previous updates and patches already included.Can only hope the same goes for this.

darkjedi EQ released about 5 zones as free bees over the years.
Kedge keep.
Some under water one over the west of the old land
Technically plane of fear, plane of hate and plane of sky
Temple fo Solusk Ro
prolly some others as well

Hot off the press .... new screenshots of the new uber warlock and mage epic outfits.

http://img308.imageshack.us/img308/8964/tier2clothset8go.png

heh.. The Tier 2 Warrior art looks rather horrid - the Helm looks like it's got a gigantic sharpened Banana on the top of it..

During beta Blizzard said that the hardest pre-expansion boss was going to be Illidan.

Alo during beta, Mages could go invisible and every class could lock pick. I guess plans change.

Eve was no up front cost, is $12.95/mth and has free content upgrades every 6 months or so.

And it is as boring as s***, I fail to see your point.

I don't recall them ever saying Outlands was going to be in the original release, nor the opening of the Dark Portal.. Ditto for things like the Caverns of Time etc...

Just before the end of beta blizzard said that world events like re-opening the dark portal would open new content, and that illidan was the most powerful mob in the game.

*It can update straight from the original install, to keep me from having
to keep the patch handy.

You will need to keep your expansion box handy.

*It comes with some free time (like a month or even a couple of weeks).

I hope you are ready for dissapointment.

I have objected to the subscription from day one and have not purchased or played. Not trolling, just pointing out that it is easier to not buy the game than cry about it.

but yeah lol @ teh losers, sif pay for game + sub + exp. :P~~

Subscribing to WoW costs me about as much as going to the movies once a month. If you factor in that movies are 90-120 minutes in length, and I get a few hours every night of WoW, it becomes apparent that WoW is much cheaper as an entertainment source.

Maybe if the current trend for game developers was to release good games (good games are bucking the trend) there might be more options. I mean, I can count the number of games that I have played often for more than a month on my hands. If I exclude MMOGs from the list then it comes down to Quake, Tribes and DoD (before v2).

Subscribing to WoW costs me about as much as going to the movies once a month. If you factor in that movies are 90-120 minutes in length, and I get a few hours every night of WoW, it becomes apparent that WoW is much cheaper as an entertainment source.

Ok, you factor in the movies, but what if you watch movies AND play WoW, easily done, as you can not play WoW for 2 hours and watch a movie instead. Now your entertainment $'s have doubled simply by watching one movie. So you have to play WoW more often to make it worth paying for. So the more movies you watch, the more WoW you have to play in order to make it worth while :p

Play wow, gold farm, sell to american kiddies.

Win-win.

Sqwert they had reached the 1 million mark just from North American alone which I'm guessing means all accounts tied to North American servers. Then if you factor in the Euro and Asian markets it's not hard to believe they would have the 4.5 million accounts. Accounts = paid for the box players.

http://www.blizzard.com/press/050829-wow.shtml

I read the artical announcing the 4.5 mark being reached but I can't seem to find it now. Anyway it matters not because even if say 20% of all the people that bought the game don't play it now thats still leaves a massive number of people paying $17 (au) whatever a month to play it and that means BIG BIG dollars.

Summer is coming up duders - try to get outside sometime.

Summer coming up is a damn good reason NOT to go outside. Theres no aircon outside =\

I hate summer .. to hot .. to humid .. to sticky. I'd rather sit in an airconditioned room at 16 degrees all day and night than go outside and choke on the humidity.

BRING ON WINTER!!!

theres no way they have 4.5 million client accounts, there might be 4.5mill toons created on servers.

They have 4.5 million subscribers, just like how EQ had 480,000 subscribers.

They have 4.5 million subscribers, just like how EQ had 480,000 subscribers.

Or probably more accuratly, 4.5 million people that have, at some point, subscribed for at least 1 month (including the free month that comes with the game). What I am interested in is the CURRENT subscription, or even better the median of subscribers per month.

I hate summer .. to hot .. to humid .. to sticky. I'd rather sit in an airconditioned room at 16 degrees all day and night than go outside and choke on the humidity.

Sitting inside all day with the air-con * 300,000,000 * year makes the outside temp even worse..

Sitting inside all day with the air-con * 300,000,000 * year makes the outside temp even worse..

Doesn't bother me, because I'm inside with aircon.

in respect to the whole pay-to-play issue i dont really care that we are getting chuffed another 50-60 bucks for the expansion, what i do care about is the so called "improvements" the new expansion pack will have.

what happens to those who dont buy the xpack will their characters be nerfed/powered down because they dont have access to the new quest and loot eq (equipment) that comes with the new area 'outlands'? if they dont have access to the new eq will they be able to buy it on the AH? will the new area be soley a level 60-70 area or can low level characters and casual players still benefit from the new xpack?

i got too many questions i need answering but obviously they will release the details closer to the release date.

so far ive been very uninpressed with battlegrounds. imho its the worst thing to ever happen to wow. all you need to do to get the best equipment in the game (yes even better than epic sets in MC) is sit in AV for 10-18 hour hits, wrack up 328572395823 honour kills in a mindless meat grinder and be rewarded with the best eq possible. to me thats stupid.

since BG the game has dissapointed me. what BG has done is made raids pointless now for equipment because you can get better stuff mindlessly grinding HK in AV.

the new xpack seems to introduce more of the same in terms of item power as all the eq from the new area will be better than anything outside that xpack area and players that dont buy it (or dont reach lvl 70 but sif u wouldnt) will be powered down due to gear and contribute less to groups and raids.

also what about the guys that have 100days of time invested in their lvl 60s? (no im not one of them ive got only 15days on my lvl 60 shammy) couldnt they have earnt enough exp in that time doing raids ect to reach lvl 70 already? if so will they be given free levels or not? will that piss off others?

i dunno its late im bored and ranting so ill stop. what are your thoughts?

if so will they be given free levels or not? will that piss off others?

Being exam time, i am all up for procrastination - thus i have been trolling the wow boards.

Basically they have said no you wont get free levels. Then you wont get s*** from the new areas. However what alot of people are starting to do is do all the 60 quests, but not hand them in. Then once the xpac is released then bam lev 71-72!
Im glad i dont have a lev 60! :D Even though i have been playing since day 1.

I'm going to 'do a typo' so bear with me.

so far ive been very uninpressed with battlegrounds. imho its the worst thing to ever happen to wow. all you need to do to get the best equipment in the game (yes even better than epic sets in MC) is sit in AV for 10-18 hour hits, wrack up 328572395823 honour kills in a mindless meat grinder and be rewarded with the best eq possible. to me thats stupid.

Time and time again, the people who prove themselves in BGs have shown good teamwork. People who run solo into AV and get their arse handed to them like to complain about nerfing classes and people equipment, but don't realise it takes good teamwork to win.

since BG the game has dissapointed me. what BG has done is made raids pointless now for equipment because you can get better stuff mindlessly grinding HK in AV.

Raids were always pointless and would only serve to kill NPCs that people needed to use while questing. Since when were raids about grinding for equipment? There have been rumours of having more world based PvP but again, just rumours and speculation.

the new xpack seems to introduce more of the same in terms of item power as all the eq from the new area will be better than anything outside that xpack area and players that dont buy it (or dont reach lvl 70 but sif u wouldnt) will be powered down due to gear and contribute less to groups and raids.

also what about the guys that have 100days of time invested in their lvl 60s? (no im not one of them ive got only 15days on my lvl 60 shammy) couldnt they have earnt enough exp in that time doing raids ect to reach lvl 70 already? if so will they be given free levels or not? will that piss off others?

i dunno its late im bored and ranting so ill stop. what are your thoughts?

These are valid points, but blizzard is yet to release any details as to how people who don't buy the expansion will be effected. I know for sure that people who don't have it will not get access to the new races and areas (such as the outland). I remember reading a CM comment about how everyone will be able to get to 70 but I'm having trouble finding it on the WoW forums because they move so damn fast.

And no doubt the people decked out in purples will jump to 70 in no time, but no doubt blizzard will put in more poopsocking content for those who spend entirely too much time playing. They seem to know how to cater for the casual and more hardcore crowd. Also keep in mind people getting to 70 who are casual may now have a chance to run blackwing lair and other raid areas without grinding for the prerequisite equipment.

...and here i was thinking it was a role-playing game.

..and here i was thinking it was a role-playing game.

Well it is on the Role-playing servers, they are the most fun!

So how do you roleplay an orc?

Something need doing?

last edited by Thundercracker at 16:34:27 03/Nov/05

So how do you roleplay an orc?

you stand around like a f***ing council worker when the gold mine runs out! :P

you stand around like a f***ing council worker when the gold mine runs out! :P

Ha ha. Work complete.

The thing that pisses me off about WoW at the moment is the dishonour system. WHen raiding a town, it would be cool if you could take out the vendors and trainers etc without copping dishonourable kills. Since you can't kill civilians, there's no point to players defending their turf. If you could kill needed npc's it would actually have an effect and make raiding worth the effort.

Roleplaying servers are for fags who want to get fake gay married for insurance.

Khel Feared it up, this thread.

And remember kiddies: If you're ever disheartened about how many newbs are in our gaming community - just think about how many are in America.


last edited by Jerds at 18:44:36 07/Nov/05

This thread is awesome, 90% of the tools who sold their lives to play wow as their first mmog, are completely ignorant to the fact that it costs more than $100 initially, and ~$20 per month.

You will be crying about having to pay for this expansion, wait til this time NEXT year, when they release another expansion. That is what these companies do. One expansion every year, this time of the year. And you PAY for it. Whos to say the expansion of 2006 wont increase the level cap to 80? and then 2007 to 90? and so forth... when will it in?

Well, sadly, it doesnt; and the humerous thing about it is, you're all going to bitch whine and cry every time you have to fork out money for the damn game, but you're so addicted to the thing, you're going to do it anyway.

last edited by casa-werk at 09:30:42 04/Nov/05

This thread is awesome, 90% of the tools who sold their lives to play wow as their first mmog, are completely ignorant to the fact that it costs more than $100 initially, and ~$20 per month.

On that note, if WoW is your first MMORPG and you think its so great and complex... truth is its not. There are many games out there that have more complex systems out there. WoW from my experience (that being about 4 MMORPG's before WoW not a lot I know) is fairly simple.

Yes I am an ex-WoW player and dislike what blizzard have done.

Yes I am an ex-WoW player and dislike what blizzard have done.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/9138/orlyowl4dn.jpg

On that note, if WoW is your first MMORPG and you think its so great and complex... truth is its not. There are many games out there that have more complex systems out there.

I dont like WoW despite its lack of complexity, I like it because of that. Blizzard are the masters at taking game concepts, shaving off all the fat, and delivering a lean, fun game. I mean, look at mose of their games in the past, they rarely innovate too much, but they sure know how to polish and perfect ideas that have already been introduced. Sure, heroes existed before Warcraft 3, but it wasn't until Warcraft 3 where everyone started going "Phwoar, heroes rock!" because of the awesome Blizzard implementation of them.

I've at tried pretty much all the mmos that have come out over the years (except EQ2 and the Matrix one, neither of which I really have much inclination to try), and WoW is much more fun for me than any of the others. But then a large part of why I like WoW is because I just love the world that Blizzard has crafted. It has so much more life in it than any other mmo world I've ever played in. The models, the animations, the sound, the atmosphere, its all just awesome and I love it. So I guess in the end it depends what you're looking to get out of the game. I just want fun, and an awesome world to play in, and WoW delivers that in spades for me.

I mean, look at mose of their games in the past

*click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click*


I loved D2 :(

But then a large part of why I like WoW is because I just love the world that Blizzard has crafted.

Blizzard distroied the Warcraft 3 universe.

I will say that WoW was fantastic when I first started the game. But it just got boring when you have been everywhere and done everything. I could go on about why WoW isn't that good as people make it out to be, but I wont as it has probably been done before.

Blizzard distroied the Warcraft 3 universe.

so you plan to exact revenge by destroying the english language

I could go on about why WoW isn't that good as people make it out to be, but I wont as it has probably been done before.

You mean that you could go on about why YOU think WoW isnt as good as others say..

I'm interested, why do you say it destroyed the Warcraft 3 universe? Not having a go at you or anything, I just haven't heard people say that before, and not being intimately familiar with the lore of the world I can't honestly say.

I'd heard that Blizzard actually have guys on staff who's sole job is just to write lore for the Warcraft universe, and make sure everything stays true to the lore, I guess that made me think everything flowed pretty well between Warcraft 3 and WoW.

fake gay married for insurance

HAHAHA, Khel should be the director of Homoland Security. If those fat cats in washington had the guts to appoint someone who thinks outside the box...