The first World of Warcraft expansion “The Burning Crusade” was released on January 15, 2007 and is considered one of the most spectacular addons due to its alien setting and the Black Temple with final boss Illidan. Official Blizzard previews were available much earlier, in the fall of 2005, and here they are in a picture gallery for you to see!
The World of Warcraft expansion “The Burning Crusade” will always be something special. Not because it was the first one, but mainly because the developers deviated from classic role-playing game models like “Lord of the Rings” for the first time and presented an independent universe with Outland. In the otherwise well-behaved classic WoW, the Plaguelands with their creepy atmosphere were the highlight; newcomers experienced a surreal culture shock after passing through the Dark Portal on Hellfire Peninsula. Players were immediately drawn into the alien world and its unusual creatures and couldn’t wait to explore the next area. Added to this were two cool new races, the Blood Elves and Draenei, with their beautiful starting areas, and the congenial music by Matt Uelmen , for many the best Blizzard composer to date, rounded out a very successful gaming experience.
Blizzard “teased” the first expansion early on, about half a year after the release of WoW Classic. You can find these official preview images and artwork in the image gallery below, with the Blood Elves still in their original version. After a controversy about the appearance of the male blood elves, the design later became a bit more “masculine”. In order to participate in the beta test for “The Burning Crusade”, Blizzard organized a level contest on the Public Test Realm (PTR) at that time. The author participated in it and won a beta key – the invitation can be seen on the first picture. The last picture in the gallery is a “Erlkönig” from 2005. At the time it was ridiculed as a fake, but later it turned out to be real. But we won’t reveal what it is at this point. Have fun!
What is WoW Classic?
World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.
Getting Started
All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.
- Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
- Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
- Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
- Click the Play button when the installation is complete.
You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!
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