by Rhian Hibner
Daily Lobo
Online role-playing games, particularly those of the massive variety, require a lot of server space, a high-bandwidth connection and, most importantly, dedicated
caretakers.
When these hugely complicated games release expansion sets, they often don't have enough of these three to cope with the sudden onslaught of literally millions of players trying to log in at once. Combine that with the inevitable software bugs, and disaster is almost certain. Server crashes, waiting lines and unhappy customers are the typical result.
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With all this in mind, the most amazing part about Blizzard Entertainment's expansion to the hugely popular World of Warcraft is that its launch contained none of these things. Servers were up. Customer support was polite, friendly and, for the most part, unused. It was quite possibly the smoothest launch or expansion release of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in the history of
the genre.
The question is, was the Burning Crusade worth the herculean effort that Blizzard's employees put in? The answer is yes - with a few reservations.
The new playable races are almost too cool for the original eight the game first shipped with, and while the new content is certainly a welcome change from the semi-static condition that the game was in before the expansion hit, it leaves all the older content essentially dead.
The real problem is that when the average player reaches level 70, the game returns to the state it was in before the expansion - when the highest level one could reach was 60. From that point on, all the new content rapidly becomes old and boring, and the only people who can advance in the game are those who are willing to spend ludicrously large amounts of time doing the endgame raid content. These encounters are of epic proportions, but they require the average player to put in three to five hours a night playing the game.
Fortunately, for those with slightly more pressing concerns than playing a video game, the player-versus-player content the expansion includes allows the casual player to have fun in the game - competing for rank against his or her fellow players.
There are two ways to do this, one of which is the new weekly ranking system, which will let everyone know who the best of the best are in the game. The other method is the new capture-and-hold based objectives placed around the game world. These allow players to gain an advantage for their entire faction, while denying it to the other side. These styles of play are better suited to those who play only a couple hours a week and bring a much-needed value to the game that was lacking before.
World of Warcraft rewards the obsessive-compulsive gamers in the population, and while it certainly is a blast to play, it is perhaps not worth the time that some have given to it. Still, for $15 a month, it's a good value for a few hours a week worth of entertainment.
World of Warcraft:
Burning Crusade
Grade: B+
Available for PC
