The Burning Crusade dated

By Tom Bramwell Published 9 November, 2006

Simultaneous US/Europe launch.

Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft expansion The Burning Crusade will be released on 16th January in both Europe and North America.

Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore will apparently receive the game "in a similar time frame", while availability for China and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau "will be announced in the near future".

Blizzard also revealed that it now has 7.5 million people playing the massively multiplayer game worldwide.

The Burning Crusade increases WOW's level cap to 70, adds two new races (Blood Elves and the Dranei) and allows players to explore Outland, former homeworld of the Orcs.

You can read more about it in our first impressions and our August interview with Blizzard's Paul Sams, and if you fancy a go on TBC, we're currently giving away 100 beta keys.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • InfiniteFury #1 6 years ago

    BETA KEY FOR FIRST?

    Edit - my God? What have I become?
    Edited by InfiniteFury at 09/11/06 @ 14:33

  • jack_klugman #2 6 years ago

    It'll never sell.

  • Wobble #3 6 years ago

    gnnh... 67 days! :(

    seems like such a waste to keep on raiding till tbc hits :(

  • Darkedge #4 6 years ago

    All hail the grind in a cut rate Hanna Barbera cartoon style!

  • MrAtheist #5 6 years ago

    8/10. Characters too macho! :)

  • Psychotext #6 6 years ago

    Cool... I can rejoin after being out of the game for a year and get naxx beating gear in less than a month. =)

    Oh, and so I don't spoil the thread: IT'S CLEARLY WWII WITH ALIENS!
    Edited by Psychotext at 09/11/06 @ 14:57

  • sturgeon #7 6 years ago

    geez, I wish I was on the Blizzard dev team - to get a seriously big xmas bonus this year

  • El_MUERkO #8 6 years ago

    judging by the comments of people in beta they may get a content release out but the class balance is going to be fux'd

  • Pike #9 6 years ago

    judging by the comments of people in beta they may get a content release out but the class balance is going to be fux'd

    As long as hunters become over powered that is fine with me.

    Maybe they could nerf rouges and paladins as well.

  • The_Aardvark #10 6 years ago

    There's plenty of time for them to do rejig the class balance between now and January.

    Not that they'll bother. But there is plenty of time.

  • President_Weasel #11 6 years ago

    I love how the initials of the expansion also stand for To Be Confirmed.
    Now are you sure about the date?
    Edited by President_Weasel at 09/11/06 @ 15:26

  • neilka #12 6 years ago

    But when EXACTLY is it out in Macau, Eurogamer? Inquiring minds must know!

  • El_MUERkO #13 6 years ago

    right now its Rogues and Warlocks that are imba, Prot Warriors are better PvPers than Arms or Fury, Mages can one shot you for 8k damage and a shadow/balance priest can kick ass and heal as well as a holy, hunters are quiet so it seems they're able to compete but there is talk of nerfing their base damage which may show up weaknesses in their talents and abilities

  • Wobble #14 6 years ago

    fact is, no one's seen greater than level 67 pvp... so it could all change when they unlock 70 (soon from recent posts).. locks are imba now, no surprise they're imba with new skills.
    Rogues are not really that imba, if they spec shadowstep for pvp it destroys their raid dps... with CoS/SS they are effectively back to being the clothie killers they initially were, but with no increase in burst damage, so not so good vs Plate. The TBC rogues = imba argument is because we get a lot of new stuff, but because we are among the weakest currently, it's needed.

  • Pike #15 6 years ago

    I think the most important priority for Blizzard should be to increase the melee capabilities of hunters. As it stands we are not able to beat warriors in melee combat. I find that to be absolutley unacceptable.

    Removing the deadzone would also be a nice gesture.

  • neuroniky #16 6 years ago

    Please Blizzard, make this something actually playable after lvl 30 by guys with a real life!

    Oh, I guess that won't ever happen. :D

    P.S. Oh, and not having to grind the same instances for hours and hours after lvl 40 would be nice too :D
    Edited by neuroniky at 09/11/06 @ 16:24

  • Wobble #17 6 years ago

    neuroniky: what game have you been playing?? Wow is the most casual friendly mmorpg I've ever seen, it's practically designed so that you solo from 1-60.

    So many quests, all soloable, not that much grinding required, you never need to enter an instance or even talk to another player if you don't want to.. your comment makes no sense... or you just can't play the game...

    (heh , i nearly said 'need to l2p')

  • Iora #18 6 years ago

    WoW is grind personified. The game ends once you hit that lvl60 cap and it will be the same for this expansion.

    It also galls me that a developer who has 7.5million customers charges for the right to play an expansion. Arent they making enough per month?

    EVE-Onlines expansions are free and they sure as hell dont have 7.5million players. Theifs the lot of them.

  • neuroniky #19 6 years ago

    @Wobble: I've stopped playing at lvl 40... at that level it takes around 8 hours of solo grind to pass a level with my Pally. If you want to enter an instance, you need at least 2 hours straight to spend on the game, between patner finding and instance raid. And all in all, what's different at lvl 40 from lvl 39? Or 35? Or 20?
    The game is a massive timesink, where you just want to arrive to lvl 60 as soon as possible so that the "real" game opens up to you.

    I have got a real life, one that leaves me with half an hour per day to play games, when I'm lucky. I'm pretty happy with that, but that means I need a couple of weeks just to level up one level. Without EVER seeing the blue mist of death, since the game is soooooo easy if you don't do instances. Quests? Nowhere to be seen at that level. And they don't speed up the levelling in any way.

    8 hours per level.

    You know, in 10 hours you could play from start to end, say, Half Life 2.

    That was the end of WoW for me. I have finished a lot of games since I left it. And I'm very happy with this decision...

  • Sko #20 6 years ago

    "judging by the comments of people in beta they may get a content release out but the class balance is going to be fux'd"

    Players are always crying 'class imbalance!'. Unwritten law of MMORPGs.

  • Avaloner #21 6 years ago

    Sounds fine... now where did I put that ledger?

  • Nillsens #22 6 years ago

    *pops an artery*

    Flipping ass-game. My ex left me for this pile of crap. I fugging told her she played too much. It destroys things. Now she's hooked up with some tosser she met in-game. After seven fugging years. Whenever I see an ad for it I feel like I'm going to shit myself with discomfort.

    What an insane waste of time this game was. Don't start unless you have some delusions about gaming filling in for what you might be able to experience in your life. Playing a few hours of anything is all good if you have nothing better to do... but the kind of dedication expected for a game like this is beyond anything that could even remotely be called healthy.

  • magicpanda #23 6 years ago

    That's a mad story Nillsens. It does seem to catch 'weak' people by the proverbial balls and suck them into a point where it takes over real life. The summer after release I was throwing sickies left right and centre almost to the point where I was sacked. The whole premise of the game plays on part of the human psyche that becomes addicted to gambling. It's the ultimate carrot on a stick. Fantastic stuff in its own little way. Its just a shame that it doesn't even shine a light as to what a proper MMO should be. EvE almost does it but loses out due to the fact that its hard to emotionally invest in your character. My ultimate MMO would be a Sci Fi based FPS, a combination of EVE trade and economy, skill based shooting something like battlefield 2 and WoW

    Still.. In other news apparently the final few levels 67+ of the BC beta open today. Come one EG send me a Beta key! You're my only hope.
    Edited by magicpanda at 10/11/06 @ 11:43