World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Hands-on Preview

The Burning Crusade presents an interesting conundrum for World of Warcraft players: drop your existing high level character for the allure of starting one of two new races, or keep on with your uber-equipped killing machine and brave the shattered realm of Outland.

So far, most beta players have opted for the high level rewards of Outland over starting a new character. But this isn’t to the detriment of TBC’s two new races, the manga-esque Blood Elves and the big blue aliens the Draenei – both have aspects that have drawn concern from the typically vocal WoW fan base, but overall are shaping up nicely.

But first, some background for all you lore fans. The Draenei are aliens who have crash landed on Azeroth in their city-sized space ship. They are 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 the Eredar and fled their ancient home world, devoting themselves to ending the Legion’s apocalyptic crusade.

While fleeing, the Draenei befriended the Naaru, who taught them all about the power of the light, hence them being in the Alliance. They hate the Orcs, who killed 80 percent of them in Outland, where they settled. They also hate the other new race, the Blood Elves, who stole technology from them and sabotaged their dimensional ship, the Exodar.

You might have seen members of the other new race, the Blood Elves, before. Players will be familiar with two BE NPCs in the Blasted Lands who dish out two of the most powerful buffs in the game. They were allies to the Alliance, but are no longer trusted, so they’ve joined the Horde to hunt down the demons that destroyed their homeland of Quel’Thalas.

You’ll either care about the lore or not. Many do. But for most players the important thing is how the new races play and what their starting areas are like to quest in.

As a Draenei, you start at level one waking up among wreckage of the space ship Exodar, which has crashed on Azuremyst Isle – an island just off the Night Elf area Darkshire in North Kalimdor. Much of the land is forested and mountainous, with lush dark greens everywhere. Power crystals are littered throughout the area, scattered from the explosion of the crash. They have corrupted the local fauna and driven previously passive animals mad. Smoke billows from ship wreckage. The odd bolt of electrical energy sparks across the sky. It’s a convincing and absorbing effort from Blizzard and unlike any starting area in the entire game.

Questing in the area, up to about level six, is quick and easy, and follows basic WoW conventions – go here, get that, kill these, etc. It mostly involves assisting Draenei priests tending to the wounded and helping alchemists assess the impact the crash had on the environment. It’s in these early hours of play that you’ll realise how righteous the Draenei are. They don’t kill anything unless they have to. Much of your work involves repairing the damage the Exodar has caused. They are the ultimate do-gooders. NPCs often say things like “each day is a blessing” and “be kind to those less fortunate“. As one quest-giver says: “Indiscriminate killing is not the Draenei way“. We’ll let the Draenei off, on account of them being the new kids on the block.

You can tell much of what the Draenei are about in the animations of the characters. They’re big blue aliens with tails, horse-like legs and tendrils sprouting from their necks. The males are massive, the second biggest race behind the tauren. They’re also very wide. The females are typically feminine, and, curiously, quite attractive. There’s been some criticism of the running animation of the Draenei, in that it’s slightly camp. It’s true that they “trot” with their chests pumped out in the extreme, but that’s just trying to reinforce the “goodness” of the species, a bit like Buzz Lightyear with a Greenpeace jacket on. Oh, and they have Russian accents.

It’s also immediately obvious that the Draenei are the most technologically advanced race in the game. Apart for the space ship malarkey, there are holographic emitters, the previously mentioned power crystals and the futuristic blue/white metallic sheen of the wreckage is everywhere. This is demonstrated best by the mail box in the starting area of the Draenei – the letter sign is a hologram.

The Draenei have caused some heated debate among die-hard WoW fans. Some believe their sci-fi theme ruins the traditional fantasy world of orcs and elves that has served enthusiasts so well. Others think the lore behind them is just plain stupid. Most will at least concede a crashed space ship is perhaps a curious home city. As far as I can see, they haven’t got any ray guns, so until they do, they just kind of look like a curious cross between a tauren and a murlok.

You’ll soon find your way to Azure Watch, where some Draenei have set up camp. This is where you’ll pick up one of the best early Draenei quests. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but what I will say is that it involves learning a new language, deciphering mysterious totems and gaining one of the coolest buffs I’ve ever seen. You’ll also get the opportunity to try out the Draenei mount at level 10, an elekk, which is more or less an elephant. You’ll have a fun and interesting first few hours playing a Draenei.

Exodar itself is a huge, sprawling city which mirrors much of the wreckage of the ship you will have already seen. It has a futuristic beauty that is unlike any of the other cities in the game – from cold metallic walls to blue and pink glowing hues. From here playing a Draenei really takes off. You’ll quest in the nearby Bloodmyst Isle up to about level 20 and then on to the rest of Azeroth, and the familiar battlegrounds most players have trudged through with their existing characters.

In terms of racial abilities, the Draenei have an effective heal over time spell called the Gift of the Naaru, gem cutting, which increases the new profession jewelcrafting by five, Inspiring Presence, which increases you and your party’s chance to hit by one percent and a passive plus 10 to shadow resistance.

TBC mixes things up a bit by allowing Draenei to be shamans, a previously Horde-only class. The Draenei base stats favour strength, intellect and spirit, which make them natural paladins or shamans. They’re basically good healers, but you don’t have to play a healer – Draenei can be warriors, hunters and mages as well.

Now onto the Blood Elves, who start in Eversong Forest, the northern section of Quel’Thalas, which was thought obliterated by Arthas during Warcraft III. If you’re a fan of Japanese anime, you’ll love the Blood Elves. They’re an elegant, beautiful race, with burning blonde hair and eyes glowing with magical energy. It looks like Blizzard has introduced a “pretty” race to the Horde, to counter the frankly ugly undead, orc and tauren races.

The BE capital Silvermoon tells you all you need to know about the race. It’s a scarred city, the remnants of a once proud elven metropolis. In Warcraft III, Arthas and the Scourge decimated the city and, so we thought, killed all of the BEs. When you get to Silvermoon, you’ll immediately see how Blizzard has translated this into the design. The city is split in half, one side restored, the other abandoned and in ruins.

The city mirrors the BEs internal struggle – mastering their addiction to magic. It also feels like a place where magic seeps from every sinew, from the floating flowerpots to the glowing green magic crystals. But the overall impression is of a beautiful and grand city with a dark underbelly of magic mystery waiting to burst out.

The BE animations have drawn some criticism from players of the beta. The females have a quite amazing posture which can’t be good on the spine. The males have recently been beefed up after players complained they were too feminine. In the cool stakes though, BEs beat the Dreanai without so much as working up sweat. Expect Silvermoon to be overrun with ninja-looking rogues within days of TBC’s release.

BEs can be hunters, priests, warlocks, rogues, mages and paladins, who, like the Dranei shaman, have been added to the Horde where it was previously the exclusive preserve of the Human and the Dwarf. Their racial traits look like favouring player versus player combat. Mana Tap drains mana from your target, Arcane Torrent is an area effect silence, Arcane Affinity gives a 15 point bonus to Enchanting and all resistances are increased by 5. With high agility, intellect and spirit, Blood Elves look like good mages, but can also make decent rogues.

So that’s that then. Time to start the Draenei vs. BE debate. But dig a little deeper and it may not matter. The thing about TBC’s new races is that they’re really only new up to about level 20, and then you grow too powerful for the starting areas and migrate to the all too familiar areas of Azeroth where you’ve levelled with the existing races. Ultimately, neither the Draenei nor the BEs change anything about playing Warcraft. And the two cities, Exodar and Silvermoon, will no doubt become deserted as players migrate to Ironforge or Orgrimmar. Another thing that might have helped is the inclusion of five-man dungeons in the Draenei and BE starting areas. It’s perhaps something that would further compel players who have existing high level characters to try the new races.

As a fan of Warcraft who’s played the beta for nearly a month now, I’ve had lots of fun. But I’ve realised that there’s nothing here that will convince people who haven’t played the game to join in. I suppose that’s not what TBC’s trying to do – an expansion is all about extending a universe, not rewriting it. If you’re a fan, which I imagine you are since you’re reading this, everything’s shaping up great. But what can’t be denied is the feeling of familiarity after the initial burst of excitement.

But perhaps Blizzard missed a trick here. Could they have added a class? New races are all well and good, but it’s classes that change the dynamic of how you play the game – playing a priest is completely different to playing a warrior. Long term, playing a BE isn’t that much different to playing a Draenei, except that they’re on opposing sides of the war.

Maybe something to think about for a later expansion then, something Blizzard has promised will arrive on a yearly basis following the release of TBC. Until then, the beta is hinting that most players who raid high level dungeons on a regular basis will dabble in the mystical magic of a BE or the pure goodness of the Draenei for a while, but won’t stick with them till level 70. But if you’re not in a raiding guild, or simply enjoy playing WoW for a few hours a week, trying out a Draenei or a BE looks like a much more interesting proposition. Either way, the world’s seven million WoW fans won’t be disappointed.