Burning Crusade: January 16th, 2007 - 10.24.2006

Well, it’s true. The Burning Crusade is being “delayed” until the first month of the new year. Eyonix addressed the issue this morning via forum post.

Stated by Eyonix, “IRVINE, Calif. – Blizzard Entertainment® today announced that the release date for World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™, the highly anticipated expansion for World of Warcraft, will be in January 2007. By adding a few extra weeks to the development cycle beyond its original target date, Blizzard will be able to extend the closed beta test and further refine the new content that will ship with the game.

“We appreciate the enthusiasm surrounding World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, and we’re excited about putting the finishing touches on all of the new content,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We feel confident that the extra time spent polishing the game will result in the high-quality experience that our players expect and deserve.”

Blizzard began the closed-beta phase of testing on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade earlier this month. The January 2007 release window will allow extra time for current beta testers to participate in the final stages of development and continue providing valuable feedback.

Further information on specific worldwide release dates, pricing, and other details will be announced in the near future.”

In my opinion, this is both good and bad. Obviously, I am disappointed because I was looking forward to playing the expansion during the long holiday break in December. But, on the other hand we now have a stable release date (January 16th, 2007), and I doubt we will have to worry about the expansion “not being ready”.

So, what will be happening to WoW from now until January? A new patch of course!! Some confusion floated around the forums earlier, but it is now all cleared up. There WILL be a new content patch before the expansion, but it WILL NOT be 1.13. On the forums, Tseric claimed it would most likely be named 2.0. This patch will include changes to the honor system, new talents, and new abilities. So, this patch is most likely coming in for the people that won’t be getting the expansion, but it’s also there so that people will be able to get acclimated to the new changes before the expansion airs. Wow. That was a lot of typing. =P

-Attm

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