Kotaku: Burning Crusade

Kil'jaeden Dead, Burning Crusade Ends, Everyone Moves On

Mike Fahey — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:20:00 EDT

Well it's over, ladies and gentlemen. European World of Warcraft guild SK Gaming has downed the final boss of the Sunwell Plateau update, Kil'Jaeden, bringing to a close the events that led to the Dark Portal opening in the first place. Everyone is now instructed to head on home and keep an ear out just in case they discover some long-lost continent to the North of the two main Azerothian continents. More »

Clip: WoW Black Temple Trailer

Mike Fahey — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:40:17 EDT

The Black Temple is rising soon in Outland, finally bringing with it the enemy used to advertise January's Burning Crusade expansion in the first place, Illiadan brother to Malfurion and betrayer of the Night Elves. While you really have to read some of the novels to get the full effect, the chills I get watching this trailer are only curbed by the knowledge that I will never, ever have the time to be in a guild that can even face him, let alone take him down. More »

Burning Crusade Levels Vivendi Sales

Mike Fahey — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:20:11 EDT

When you release a nigh-essential expansion for a game that boasts around 8 million players, and you're going to make a tidy bit of cash. Perhaps the next World of Warcraft expansion won't take nearly as long to come out now that Vivendi's games division has reported a 117% rise in revenues for the first quarter of 2007 over last year, amounting to a whopping $394 million. More »

Toto, I Don't Think We're In Azeroth Anymore!

fdemarco — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:00:00 EST

The folks over at Blizzplanet have stumbled on the latest bit of cheeky pop culture humor the Blizzard has hidden away in Warcraft's latest and greatest expansion, The Burning Crusade. Deep in the heart of the Karazhan Dungeon lies an Opera Hall with it's own special easter egg surprise in the form of a stage performance of The Wizard of Oz. Although the names of the characters have been changed to protect the innocent (and avoid copyright infringement), the dialogue and loot such as the Wicked Witch's Hat and the Ruby Slippers are a dead giveaways. More »

WoW PVE Netherdrakes In The Works

Mike Fahey — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 12:20:14 EST

Dissent has been stirring among WoW players who were concerned that the only way to achieve the flying Netherdrake mount that Blizzard showcased as a key feature of the Burning Crusade expansion was through participating in group PVP arena matches. This of course has caused much fighting between PVP players and the non-PVP players, who felt they had been slighted. Those worries have now been put to rest by the wonderful men in blue type. More »

The9 Brings China The Burning Crusade

Mike Fahey — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 13:40:59 EST

So here we are, most of the civilized world, already getting tired of seeing Blood Elves spinning nonsensically about Orgrimmar, and China has yet to see one mailbox dancing Paladin in any of their Horde cities. Luckily for them, Blizzard has once again come to an agreement with Chinese online game operator The9 (not to be confused with ABC's complex character-based drama series) to bring the Burning Crusade to China's 3.5 million WoW players, a number I assume doesn't count the thousands of Chinese that have already imported the game and constantly send me random gold pricing information. More »

Download Burning Crusade Now

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:20:22 EST

If you're one of the thousands of World of Warcraft players who see no reason to leave the house (or your limited mobility simply won't let you move further than bedsore avoidance distances), you're in luck. Blizzard has finally put up the downloadable version of its very successful expansion The Burning Crusade for your digital distribution pleasure. More »

Burning Crusade Shatters Sales Records

Mike Fahey — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 13:40:30 EST

In news that should come as no surprise to anyone, Blizzard has announced that their Burning Crusade expansion pack has become the fastest selling PC game ever in North America and Europe. Within the first 24 hours of release, nearly 2.4 million copies were sold around the world, with close to 1.2 million sold in North America and over 1.1 million sold in Europe. By the end of launch day 1.7 million accounts had already been upgraded. More »

First Level 70 WoW Character

Mike Fahey — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:15:52 EST

So, it's going to take as long to level between 60-70 in The Burning Crusade as it does from 1-60? Apparently that statement, being bandied about World of Warcraft forums and in-game chat was a little off the mark, as one server in Europe already has a level 70 character. A gnome mage by the name of Gawell of the Millenium guild on Europe's Archimonde server hit level new level cap a mere 28 hours after the expansion launched. A Frenchman, the player and his guild planned out the leveling rush step by step, rotating party members in and out based on where and what they were fighting. More »

GameStop Midnight Burning Crusade Launch

Mike Fahey — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:40:41 EST

At 11pm on Burning Crusade launch night, my girlfriend and I pull into the parking lot of the GameStop in Alpharetta Georgia to find at least 30 other people were already in one line, with another line going on inside the store. Seeing a few familiar faces I offer a cheery greeting. More »

Burning Crusade Street Date Broken

Mike Fahey — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:40:12 EST

Retailers on at least two continents have been extremely lax about the World of Warcraft Burning Crusade's January 16th street date. While most major game outlets across the US have been sticking to the agreement, many smaller shops as well as some large retailers already have the games on the shelves for purchase. I found the game at a Target store in Atlanta over the weekend, but since I already have it fully paid for at a midnight launch locations I passed on picking up a copy. More »

Week in Games: Burning Crusade Edition

fdemarco — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 21:00:45 EST

This week the momentum really kicks in with three big titles. The biggest of course being World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, followed swiftly by Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and rounded out by cult favorite Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All. More »

Burning Crusade Flash Mini-Site Launched

Mike Fahey — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 13:40:19 EST

With only 3 and a half days (not that I'm counting or anything) to go before the launch of the first World of Warcraft expansion, Blizzard has launched a new mini-flash site for The Burning Crusade. It's chock full of information, shiny Blizzard graphics, and flash mini-games you can play to win fabulous prizes! More »

The Dark Portal Opens at Midnight

Mike Fahey — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:40:19 EST

Blizzard obviously doesn't want World of Warcraft players to get any sleep Monday night / Tuesday morning. At first the midnight releases seemed a little odd, seeing as we were assuming the servers would be down Tuesday morning as per usual, but Bliz has announced that instead of having patch Tuesday next week they'll be updating the servers on Monday with rolling restarts and downtimes of around 30 minutes. Once midnight server time hits you'll be good to go. Blizzard has updated the WoW website with links to stores having midnight launches, including Best Buy, Fry's, and EbGameStop. More »

Buggy Burning Crusade Patch Released

Mike Fahey — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 18:40:55 EST

In preparation for next week's big Burning Crusade release, Blizzard has gone ahead and released the 2.03 patch. Druids and Rogues get talent point refunds, items have been nerfed over level 60 to avoid having them be useful, blacksmithing and leatherworking have undergone changes, and much more. Also included in the patch are world events leading up to the big opening of the Dark Portal upon launch, including invasions and a random raid boss spawning throughout the lands of Azeroth. More »

GameStop Burning the Midnight Crusade

Mike Fahey — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:40:28 EST

In one short week millions of World of Warcraft players will take their first trembling steps into The Burning Crusade, and GameStop stores across the country will be opening at midnight on Monday the 15th in honor of the forthcoming expansion. Depending on your local store's willingness to cater to MMO geeks, special planned include costume contests, card game tournaments (9 out of 10 real WoW players have no idea how to play it), screenshot character judging, and awkwardly trying to find out why your preorder isn't in the system while you cry tiny orc tears. More »

Clip: Burning Crusade Musical

Brian Crecente — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:00:12 EST

No, I don't mean on Broadway, though that's what I thought too when I saw Blizz Planet's email. No this is much more net-based. Slight World of Warcraft spolier here so stop reading and certainly don't play the video if you don't want to know. More »

WoW 2.0.1 Patch Arrives

Mike Fahey — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:40:35 EST

World of Warcraft patch 2.0.1, titled "Before the Storm", goes live today! One of the largest patches to date, the update sees a metric ass-ton of changes to the most popular MMORPG in the world. Highlights include new talents across the board accompanied by a complete talent point reimbursement for all players, the much anticipated looking for group tool, which allows you to look for a group down to a specific quest, new PVP arenas for group on group battles, and a complete revamp of the Honor System that relegates all of those hard won rank titles into tags over the players' heads. This patch paves the way for The Burning Crusade, due out January 16th. More »

VGA Awards to Show Burning Opening

Mike Fahey — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 14:40:30 EST

Spike TV has announced that people might actually be watching the 2006 Video Game Awards on December 13th, if only for two minutes. During those two minutes, the cinematic trailer for The Burning Crusade, Blizzard's upcoming expansion to the World of Warcraft, will be shown for the first time anywhere. Afterwards thousands of WoW players are scheduled to go right back to raiding Naxxramas, never tuning into Spike TV again except for the odd Star Trek Marathon now and then. More »

Blizzard Dates The Burning Crusade

Mike Fahey — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 14:40:25 EST

Eagerly awaited by millions of players and gold farmers around the world, Blizzard's first World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, has recieved an official release date. January 16th is the day when WoW servers flood to bursting with Blood Elf paladins and Draenei shamans, many of which will be naked, dancing females. I am so there. More »

The Blizzard Chocobo Scandal

brownlee2 — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:40:21 EDT

I'm finding the cries of Chocobo Plagiarism coming from Burning Crusade beta testers a little bit hard to swallow. On the left, note a Chocobo... I assume from Final Fantasy XII. On the right, a beefy, testosterone-infused cockatrice, the Blood Elf race's new mount. More »

Burning Crusade Delayed!

kotaku.com — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 09:40:57 EDT

I mean, not for me. I got into the Beta. Just for you suckers. More »

Burning Crusade: Ten Levels As A Blood Elf

kotaku.com — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:40:49 EDT

The inestimable Robert Summa — erstwhile Joystiqer, now Destructoidian — has somehow gotten into the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade beta, even as I — only the impish voice of the largest gaming blog on the Net — was wholly denied access. Your mother, Blizzard. More »

World of Warcraft Finally Gets A Decent Group Finder

kotaku.com — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:40:29 EDT

You can tell the current obsessions of Kotaku writers by whatever subject they slavishly follow. For Crecente? It's Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Ashcraft? Spelling console names in Capital Letters. Eliza, of course, posts mostly about Playboy editorials she disagrees with. And me? World of Warcraft. More »

Leaked Footage From WoW: The Burning Crusade

Michael McWhertor — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:06:10 EDT

New WoW Expansion Every Year

egauger — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:59:43 EDT

GamesIndustry.biz has the exscloopsive (you see what I did there?) on Blizzard COO Paul Sams' plans to release a new WoW expansion every 12 months following the Burning Crusade. More »

First Look At WoW's Flying Mounts

brownlee — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 08:00:25 EDT

Eurogamer Television has an official Blizzard World of Warcraft video up, showing the Burning Crusade flying mounts in action for the first time. A mock broadcast from the Gnomeregan Gnews Network briefly covers the history of getting mounts to fly (Yetis cratered) and follows a dwarven test pilot as he takes his winged serpent for some counter-gravitational pirouettes and loop-de-loops. More »

On Draenei, Jewel Crafting & Mounts in Burning Crusade

brownlee — Thu, 18 May 2006 11:40:46 EDT

Gamespot has posted a Q&A with Blizzard's lead designer Jeff Kandel about the upcoming WoW expansion Burning Crusade. There's lots of questions involving rationale for picking the — hello? — Draenei and the way socketable items and jewel crafting will work, but we personally dug this exchange about falling off of your Pegasus in the Outlands, a mile up: More »

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade E306 Trailer

brownlee — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:40:30 EDT

You have conquered every mountain... vanquished every foe.... you are a cat ass. Two bold new races... strangely uninspired. Hundreds of new quests... represented by an ectoplasmic explanation point hovering over someone's head. Uncharted dungeons... you'll need an advanced raid group to enjoy. It's the World of Warcraft expansion, kids! More »

Draenei Confirmed As New WoW Race

brownlee — Wed, 10 May 2006 12:45:07 EDT

Okay, World of Warcraft fans. The news you've been waiting for is here. The New York Times, of all stodgy places, is reporting.... Draenei, confirmed. And they've got video to prove it. More »

EB Lists WoW Expansion

lsmith — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 14:17:51 EST

For what it's worth (which may not be much, considering sister site Gamestop lists Halo 3's release date as Oct. 3, 2006), EB Games is listing Blizzard's WoW expansion Expansion with a July 1 release date. The really interesting part, however is the alleged price tag. The Burning Crusade is listed at $40. Ouch. I hope the amount of content scales with the retail sticker. More »

Finally, New WoW Race Revealed

lsmith — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 11:30:06 EST

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First DOA4 gets a release date and now WoW gets confirmation of its new alliance race? Say it ain't so! Scans from the February issue of Computer Gaming leaked over at Parting Visions seems to confirm that the new Alliance race is, after all, the Draenei. An update on Parting Visions has a copy of a statement from Blizzard that doesn't deny that this is the new race for Alliance players, but they do say that they haven't given any publications information about the new race. So, we could be back at the beginning if this turns out to be fake. More »