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WoW: The Burning Crusade E3 Press Release
France, Paris – 10 May, 2006 -- Today at the Electronic Entertainment
Expo (E3), Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. showcased the newest features
to be added to World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™, the upcoming
expansion for the world’s most popular subscription-based massively
multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). In addition, the company
announced today that World of Warcraft’s player population has now
grown to more than 6.5 million customers worldwide.
Headlining Blizzard®’s E3 line-up was the unveiling of the Draenei, the
new alliance race that players will gain access to when the expansion
begins shipping in multiple regions around the world later this year.
Descended from the same ancient race as Archimonde, leader of the
Burning Legion’s recently thwarted invasion of Azeroth, the Draenei
resisted the demonic forces that corrupted their brethren and devoted
themselves to ending the Legion’s apocalyptic crusade.
Among the other expansion elements shown for the first time at E3 was
the Nether Drake, one of the flying mounts that will be available to
players in The Burning Crusade. In addition, show attendees were able
to explore new regions accessible in the expansion, as well as complete
a variety of new quests found in those regions. Blizzard also took this
opportunity to provide a hands-on demo of Naxxramas -- the massive
fortress that serves as the lich Kel’Thuzad’s base of operations --
which will be added to the game in a major content patch next month.
“Since launch, World of Warcraft has continued to grow rapidly, both in
terms of the amount of game content available and the number of players
signing up to play,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of
Blizzard Entertainment. “With The Burning Crusade, we look forward to
expanding the game’s boundaries even farther and offering a wide
variety of new challenges and new rewards for both beginning and
advanced players to enjoy.”
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade takes up where World of Warcraft
left off, with the races of the Horde and the Alliance continuing to
rebuild their lives among the shattered lands of Azeroth. Amid the
fragile peace that exists between the factions come rumours that the
Burning Legion’s age-old war against Azeroth -- the so-called Burning
Crusade -- has been rekindled and threatens to consume the world in
another firestorm of war and strife. Old allegiances fall and new ones
rise as both the Horde and Alliance look to new friends in this time of
need.
Building on the award-winning gameplay set forth in World of Warcraft,
the expansion adds even more rich content to an already massive game.
Players can look forward to:
* New Player Races: New allies will join the game,
expanding the story line and allowing players to develop powerful new
characters within the world.
* Higher Level Limit: The game’s level cap is being
raised to 70, and with these new levels will come meaningful spell,
ability, and talent upgrades for each character class.
* New Lands and Battlegrounds: Explore the magical
realms of the Blood Elves and Draenei, journey through the Dark Portal
into untamed Outland, and visit dungeons and battlefields previously
inaccessible to players.
* Flying Mounts: In Outland, players will gain
access to unique airborne mounts that will allow for smoother travel
over some of that region’s more hazardous terrain.
* Jewelcrafting, Socketable Items, and More:
Crafters will be pleased to know that the expansion adds an all-new
profession to the game: jewelcrafting. With jewelcrafting comes the
advent of socketable items in World of Warcraft, which will give
players additional variety in how they can customize their gear. In
addition, existing professions will be enhanced to take advantage of
the increased character-level limit.
* New Quests, New Monsters, and New Challenges: As
the boundaries of World of Warcraft expand, there will be exciting new
quests for players to undertake and new monsters to confront. And with
greater challenges come greater rewards….
Launched in November 2004, World of Warcraft has quickly become the
world’s most popular MMORPG, with a worldwide customer base of more
than 6.5 million players. For more information on World of Warcraft:
The Burning Crusade, visit the official website at www.wow-europe.com.
Additional news, including details on the highly anticipated beta-test
and expected release dates for each region, will be announced there in
the coming months.
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