World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic – Review

The World of Warcraft MMO experience has been closing in on its 20th anniversary. Sure, it’s still three years from now, but Blizzard is clearly not throwing in the towel just yet. The world of online gaming was drastically changed back in 2004 when WoW wowed the world with its amazing world, its great visuals, and its many things to do. This new MMO behemoth overshadowed other titles, such as Ultima Online, which was in some ways actually a lot more expansive but lacked the charm to draw in a massive audience. Eventually, WoW spawned many expansions, often spicing up the gameplay by adding new classes, new mechanics, and just a lot of new content. The universe of World of Warcraft has changed enormously over the years, not even resembling how it looked when the base game was released in 2004. The original palette is what many (older) players yearned for, where the WoW experience was still simple, relatable, and just plain old fun. For many, this was a time of carefree gaming while making new friends online. In 2007, The Burning Crusade stepped into the limelight, showing us the first drastic change in the Warcraft universe. Fans of the rereleased Classic version of World of Warcraft can now play through The Burning Crusade once more, or those who never experienced the full WoW package can now play through this first expansion for the first time as well. We won’t be diving into a full review here and will mainly stick to certain items that stood out during our revisit.

We can easily start off by saying that this TBC Classic experience is pretty much the same as it was during the original expansion’s release in 2007. Of course, some items or original bugs from back then have been ironed out, and you’ll just get a very stable experience. This ‘original’ experience also entails the new level cap of 70, where grinding from 60 to 70 went extremely slow. The pacing is totally different than what many have gotten used to when playing the modern expansions of WoW. Is this a bad thing? Not really. This is just a matter of personal preference and somewhat a blast to the past. It can be therapeutical having to actually work to get a character to its max level, but it can also be a bit tedious at times. As Blizzard also wants to get a bit of money for just reopening its old servers, you can opt to buy different editions, one even including a level boost. The latter can be interesting for those who already played this expansion and know what they’re doing, but those who are new to the experience will actually miss out on a lot of important items and a certain finesse when choosing to do this. Not only will you not be in touch with your preferred character, but you’ll also get far too few resources and absolute crappy gear, making the level boost feel like a lot of money for something that will not really help you that much. We recommend doing this with a second character and just level your main the good old-fashioned way, making sure you truly master it. The extras given when purchasing a paid bundle are nice, but nothing truly significant.

It was enjoyable to experience the first big happening in the World of Warcraft again, and it was certainly nice to see how it all looked over a decade ago. The gap between the players does sometimes feel a bit bigger, as you have returning veterans who yearn for the golden days, but also newer players who want to experience the entire story and evolution of the game. This sometimes makes it harder for the newbies to peacefully enjoy themselves when other players already expect them to have a certain level of skill. Nonetheless, this wasn’t really an issue but proved to be a bit more noticeable. It does help to have more experienced players around for those looking to play together.

For many, this was also their point of entry into the MMO world, as it felt like TBC was sometimes marketed even more than the original game’s release. This new expansion also added new races and allowed said races to pick a class that was normally only available for members of the other faction. This generated interest for players who chose, for example, to become part of the Horde, but also wanted to play as a Paladin. This was now a viable option, and made sure that there was actually a lot more balance in the game as well.

Conclusion

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic is a fun blast from (and to) the past, and will certainly entice veterans and newcomers alike to play this part of the story. Even though the grind may be slow to hit that level 70 mark, it is quite satisfying achieving that goal. The bundles on offer by Blizzard may be interesting for some, and while there’s no harm in getting them, we do advise some actual playtime to be put into your main character before opting to use the character boost. It might be a lot more enjoyable building your main from zero to hero and grant the boost to a secondary character you also like. The world may not have been as captivated with its release as it was in 2007, The Burning Crusade is still a major pivotal point in the series that is quite amusing to play through. Even though we believe that World of Warcraft still has the potential to go on for several more years, we also believe that the world is not going to be as enthralled with its expansions as it used to be. Many older gamers have had to move on and focus on other aspects of their lives, while younger gamers are often choosing Battle Royale games for the MMO experience. Nonetheless, for those looking to go back to the days of somewhat carefree gaming, this is almost as good as it gets.

Ibuki

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Aspiring ninja.

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