World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Preview

The folks at Pro-G have written a detailed four-page preview of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, after spending some firsthand time with the expansion’s closed beta testing.

Hellfire Peninsular is reminiscent of the Blasted Lands. It has that same post-apocalyptic feel – all charred soil and defeatist music. There’s a tonne of red – mostly in the form of the ground beneath your feet, but also from the intermittent sprouting columns of fire. You can see what Blizzard had in mind while shopping in Ikea for furniture – this really is a world shattered by colossal magical energies.

Confused? Don’t be. WoW’s new continent has a simple back story. Outland used to be Draenor, the idyllic home world of the Orcs. A while back the Alliance invaded through the Dark Portal and found Ner’zhul, a nut-job of an orc, trying to get the Horde to new worlds through magical gateways. The Alliance weren’t too happy about this, as you’d imagine, and started some trouble. In desperation, Ner’zhul opened the gateways. Unfortunately, instead of providing a nice and easy escape route, he blew Draenor up.