World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Previews

A trio of new previews for Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion pack have surfaced on the ‘net. The first is at GameSpot:

Anybody who remembers the various hunting quests from the north of Stranglethorn Vale will be pleased to hear that Hemet Nesingwary has also moved to Nagrand, leaving his son, Hemet Jr., in charge of his former hunting base. A small step up from there in terms of difficulty is Blade’s Edge Mountains, a region of thorny hills and wooded valleys. It sits at the northern end of Outland, and as well as containing another PvP arena, the Circle of Blood, it is also home to a Cenarion Expedition base in the form of Evergrove. Another notable area is Dragons’ End, home to numerous lizard skeletons and corpses.

The second is at AtomicGamer:

The new outdoor zones all include unique PvP events. The towers in Eastern Plaguelands served as a test of Blizzard’s new system, but those towers were really boring. Instead, you’ll be attacking neutral towns to gain control, or controlling various parts of the zone in order to wrest final control – at least for a while – which will let everyone in your faction enjoy a nice bonus while they’re fighting in that specific zone. You’ll even be able to win a new form of currency (much like Marks of Honor in the current game’s PvP Battlegrounds) in these events and then buy new gear with the proceeds. The only problem I see with this is that many servers, including the one I play on (Elune), have many times the number of Alliance as there are Horde. On these servers, the Horde will not likely be able to stand a chance.

And the third is at Warcry:

There’s also a new profession that may remind players of games like Diablo 2 and Final Fantasy VII: Jewelcrafting. Certain pieces of equipment will have “sockets” for gems that can be red, blue, or yellow. Jewelcrafters will be able to use gems obtained from Prospecting ore (gained from the current Mining ability) or randomly found on mobs to create jewels that award stat bonuses, giving bonus healing, intellect, stamina, or attack power among others. Any color gem can go in any color socket, though matching the colors will give an additional “Socket Bonus.” Players who prefer, say, stamina and survivability over killing power might then choose to get gems that boost those stats, while others may decide to go the pure offensive route and hope to kill their opponent before they get killed. It adds a nice variety to gear and a little way to customize your equipment other than enchants.