The Burning Crusade Townhall/FAQ

This article contains lore-related excerpts from the "The Burning Crusade Townhall", an official article by Blizzard Entertainment. It presented information about a variety of things in the Warcraft universe. The original article, formerly located at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/, did not survive the overhaul of the World of Warcraft Official Website.

What does the title of the World of Warcraft expansion refer to?
"The Burning Crusade" refers to the Burning Legion's ongoing efforts to destroy life throughout the universe. To date, the Burning Legion's exploits have been documented in Warcraft III and in our War of the Ancients novel trilogy. As part of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, players are able to travel through the Dark Portal to confront the Legion on otherworldly battlefields.

What are some of the features of the expansion?
In addition to new races, zones, and dungeons, there are a number of other new features included in the Burning Crusade expansion. Check out the features page for more details.

What is the ESRB rating for the expansion?
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is rated "Teen" by the ESRB.

Do you have to pay any more than the current monthly fee for the expansion?
No. While you need to purchase the expansion in order to upgrade, you will continue to have the same subscription options available to you.

How many copies of the expansion are needed for players with multiple accounts?
You need one copy of the expansion for every World of Warcraft account that you wish to upgrade.

Do you need to own the expansion to play with friends who have it?
There are many aspects of the expansion that are available to all players. However, in order to experience certain content, such as Outland, or be able to play as one of the new races, players have to purchase the expansion.

What content is restricted to those with the expansion?
There are a number of features in The Burning Crusade that are only available to expansion owners. To name a few: the two new races, the ten new levels of experience (level 61-70), all of the new zones, and the new Jewelcrafting profession.

Is there a downloadable option for The Burning Crusade?
Yes. Please go to our Burning Crusade Digital Upgrade page to download The Burning Crusade.

Is there a Collector's Edition of The Burning Crusade?
Yes, there is a Collector's Edition package available. For more details on what's included, see our official Collector's Edition page.

Will there eventually be a "combo pack" including both the original game and expansion (with the appropriate CD Keys)?
We have no plans to do so at this time. However, it's always possible that we will at some point in the future.

What are the system requirements?

 * PC System Requirements
 * OS: Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4) or Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
 * Processor: Intel Pentium3 800MHz or AMD Athlon 800MHz
 * Memory:
 * Minimum: 512 MB RAM
 * Recommended: 1GB RAM
 * Video:
 * Minimum: 32MB 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as an NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or above
 * Recommended: 64MB VRAM 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability, such as an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 class card or above
 * Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card


 * Mac System Requirements
 * OS: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or newer
 * Processor:
 * Minimum: 933MHz G4/G5
 * Recommended: 1.8GHz G5/Intel
 * Memory:
 * Minimum: 512MB RAM
 * Recommended: 1GB DDR RAM
 * Video:
 * Minimum: NVIDIA or ATI graphics processor with 32MB VRAM
 * Recommended: 64MB VRAM

All Platforms

 * Controls: A keyboard and mouse are required. Input devices other than a mouse and keyboard are not supported.
 * Connectivity: You must have an active broadband Internet connection to play.
 * Mouse: Multi-button mouse with scroll wheel recommended.

System requirements are subject to change.

Will we continue to receive free downloadable update patches? Will these patches continue to include new content such as dungeons and events?
Yes, we plan to support World of Warcraft in the same manner as before, which means providing frequent content updates for areas of the game we feel are most in need.

Can we expect the same pace of content releases after the release of The Burning Crusade?
Yes. We'll continue to produce fun and exciting content as quickly as possible.

Is there content in The Burning Crusade for players who aren't yet level 60?
Yes, there are two new races, each with starting zones from levels 1-20. In addition, the new profession, Jewelcrafting, is available to all expansion players regardless of level.

What new races are introduced in the expansion?
The expansion introduced two new races to World of Warcraft: the draenei for the Alliance and the blood elves for the Horde.

What are the 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.

What are the 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.

Why did you decide to add the draenei as the new Alliance race?
The draenei visited many worlds in their travels and explored much of the known cosmos on their quest to find safe harbor. During this exodus they befriended the enigmatic naaru - a race of beings with a deep affinity for the Holy Light of Creation that empowers the paladins of Azeroth. The naaru blessed the draenei with this power in an effort to help them in their struggle. This makes them a natural ally of the Alliance races who embrace this holy power.

In addition, the draenei hold no affinity for certain Horde races. They outright hate the orcs, who nearly drove the draenei to extinction in Outland. And more recently, the blood elves stole technology from the draenei and also sabotaged their dimensional ship, which crash landed on Azeroth.

Where did the draenei come from?
The draenei's flight from the Legion eventually led them to a remote, peaceful world, which they named Draenor. In time, the draenei met and befriended the native orc clans that lived on this tranquil planet. For many years they lived peacefully with their shamanistic neighbors, until Kil'jaeden discovered their hiding place and corrupted the orcs, pitting them against the draenei. The orcs nearly eradicated the entire draenei race during the ensuing war. Recently, the surviving draenei fled Outland, and a small group of these refugees landed on Azeroth.

Is the level cap raised in the expansion?
Yes, the level cap has been raised to 70 from the original maximum level of 60. In addition to the level increase, every class gains access to additional talents and abilities or spells as they advance from level 60 to level 70.

Are there any soloable quests for Levels 60 - 70?
Yes, there are many solo, group, and raid quests for players leveling from 60 to 70.

Are there new emotes in the expansion?
We do plan to implement new emotes at some point in the future.

Are there any more player customization options or the ability to change existing features?
At this time we do not have plans for additional character customization options. However, it is always possible for the future.

Has the character limit increased from 10 per realm?
We feel that 10 characters per realm is still a very reasonable and flexible number and at this time have no plans to increase this limit.

Are there realms where only players who have purchased the expansion can play?
No. All our realms will host both expansion and non-expansion players.

Are there new dungeons and battlegrounds included in the expansion?
Yes, there are many new dungeons, both raid and small group, included with The Burning Crusade. A new battleground, "Eye of the Storm," is also included. One new dungeon that we're excited about is Karazhan, also known as Medivh's tower, which is located in Deadwind Pass. Because Medivh has played such a central role in Warcraft lore, we think that a lot of longtime players will be especially interested in seeing what Karazhan contains. As an example of other new locations that may be introduced, we plan on making some of the battles from the past accessible through the Caverns of Time. Also, Illidan's ominous Black Temple will be a fixture in the game as well.

Are there any new instance dungeons in Azeroth?
In addition to the many instanced dungeons included in Outland, the expansion currently has two new dungeons, Karazhan and Caverns of Time, that are located in Azeroth.

Can you tell us more about dungeon difficulty and how it works?
New dungeons introduced with The Burning Crusade have two difficulty options; normal and heroic difficulty. In order to unlock the heroic level of a dungeon, players will need to be level 70 and achieve other objectives. While the challenge at heroic difficulty is much greater, the rewards also scale up accordingly.

Do 25-player-capped raid dungeons also have the heroic difficulty option?
No. The heroic difficulty option is only available in the new non-raid dungeons introduced with The Burning Crusade.

Are older raid encounters such as Molten Core and Blackwing Lair going to be switched to use a token loot system similar to Naxxramas?
We have no plans to adjust the loot system of our previous raid dungeons.

Will the current 40-player-capped raid dungeons remain capped at 40 players?
At this time, we have no plans to change the player caps of our existing raid dungeons.

Will there be any more 40-player-capped raid dungeons?
At this time we have no plans to create additional raid dungeons that accommodate more than 25 players.

Are there any plans to introduce new outdoor raid encounters, such as Lord Kazzak and Azuregos?
One new outdoor raid encounter, Doom Lord Kazzak, can be found in Outland. We definitely have plans to implement additional outdoor raid encounters.

Will we see changes to the reset times of the pre-Burning Crusade end-game instances?
It's possible, but there are no plans to do so at this time.

Will it be possible to kill Illidan in the Burning Crusade?
Illidan doesn't think so. As a matter of fact, he's probably thinking about destroying your character for simply entertaining the thought.

Are there new lands to explore in the expansion?
Outland is opened with the expansion. Players last visited Outland in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, alongside Illidan as he conquered the pit lord Magtheridon's domain. Players also gain access to Quel'Thalas, the region to the northeast of the Plaguelands where the blood elves reside, and the Azuremyst Isles, a grouping of islands off the northeastern coast of Kalimdor where the remaining draenei crash-landed after fleeing Draenor.

Where is the Dark Portal?
The Dark Portal is located in Blasted Lands. Players need to be level 58, with the Burning Crusade expansion installed, to pass through the Dark Portal.

Do you have to travel through the Dark Portal every time you want to visit Outland?
No. Players can bind their hearthstones to any of the inns in Outland. Additionally, all player abilities that allow for travel, such as the warlock's Summoning Ritual, also work in Outland.

Will there be faster travel methods available to players who wish to travel between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms?
There are no plans to introduce faster travel between the continents at this time.

Do the draenei and blood elves have their own starting areas in Azeroth?
Yes. Each of these races begins in a brand-new starting zone, both of which are in Azeroth.

Does The Burning Crusade include additional content for Azeroth?
Absolutely - two new dungeons are available, along with the new starting zones for both the draenei and blood elves.