The eagerly-anticipated first expansion to the biggest videogame in the world was released to the hungry throngs of Warcraft fans last month, and quickly became the fastest selling title of all time (selling 2.4 million copies in the first 24 hours). There was no question that World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade would sell well, but would it satisfy the ravenous appetites of the Blizzard disciples? Many have already chewed through the extra 10 levels - bringing the total to 70 - and have begun to dip into the new end-game content. Others have already levelled characters of the two new races from one to 70 and explored the rich lore added by the inclusion of the Draenei and Blood Elves. The official World of Warcraft forums are on fire with discussions about the new talent trees and class imbalance. Indeed, Burning Crusade is already a roaring success, but only time will tell how the addition will ultimately affect the game play.

In the two and a half years since the release of World of Warcraft, the core game has changed significantly for many players. It began with the initial exploration of the world and the levelling; then came the end-game content learning curve and raiding, followed by a rabid PVP grind for last minute accolades.

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My own experience with Burning Crusade comes from levelling a night-elf warrior to 66 and running around both new starting areas in the skins of the new races. Levelling in Outland is a delight after experiencing the grind from 50 to 60. Experience rewards that frequently exceed 10,000 and 12,000 points rush players through the early Outland levels. The Hellfire Peninsula (the Outland starting area) is set up like all the other starting areas in Azeroth.

The first day the expansion came online was like Wal-Mart at Christmas. Everyone was scrambling around to get that one extra hog's nose and move to the next quest, and the starting area was absolutely packed with characters. Luckily quests are plentiful, respawn times are short and everything is close by. As if the experience point levels aren't enough, the gear and money rewards are far and above anything in the pre-BC game. My warrior was decked out in the full-might set, and it was not long before I was looking very closely at my purple items and considering replacing them with greens from quests. Gear rewards from quests are more suited towards levelling as opposed to end-game raiding, but some of that green gear is just that good. While some players may have flinched at the thought of having to save another 900 gold for a flying mount (let alone the 5200 gold for the epic flying mount), I very quickly accrued several hundred gold. It came from drops and quest rewards, while I also had to pay repair bills in the six-10 gold range with annoying frequency. The 900 gold mark should be easily hit before getting to level 70 (and without the scrimping and saving that tortured us in the pre-BC WoW). However, the 5200 gold price will take some work - or at least clever auctioning skills. The flying mounts are not just convenient in Outland - as well as an instantly recognizable symbol of hitting level 70 - but they are also necessary to get to some of the areas of Outland. Certain areas of the expansion (including dungeons) will not be accessible without spending the money on a flying mount (unless you're one of those cheating druids who get a flying form).

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