What Players Want From TBC Anniversary
The Burning Crusade expansion is one for the books, given that it came with some of the title's most significant changes that had everyone raving at the time. Not only was the expansion a bit ahead of its time, but this was a different era (no pun intended), where gamers all banded together to wait outside of their favorite stores for hours on end in hopes of getting their hands on the new content. Let's take a look at the top 10 biggest changes and features that came with The Burning Crusade, burning it into fans' memories for over a decade.
Lower Level Gear Changes
If you remember anything about World of Warcraft back in the day, you most likely vividly remember getting 2-shot by things even 2-3 levels above you constantly. Whether you truly believed you could kill it, or you ventured into the wrong area at the wrong time, everyone has at least one memory that involves something like this. Gearing and leveling were extremely difficult back in the day, but TBC brought lower-level gear changes that gave players a bit of a well-received boost.
While all classes did get a boost to lower-level gear, casters were a main focal point at the time, given they were much more squishy and likely to get tossed around by a Spider in Duskwood or a Croc in Dustwallow Marsh. Itemization was brought to the forefront, allowing everyone to feel more rewarded for their efforts and as if they were actually making progress, and even giving spellpower a massive boost early on to ensure casters did not feel left behind.
Quest rewards felt more imperative to your success, and dungeon drops had people jumping out of their gaming chairs in delight after felling a boss that may have made their blood boil a time or two.
Tier Gear and Sets
Ahh, yes, the gear that had everyone testing their mettle on raid night in hopes of putting together the perfect functional, yet stylish, wardrobe. TBC was the first time players got to see different gear for different specs, all while being fashionable to boot. This was a major improvement, as there were many hybrid classes during this time period, and gone were the days of having to settle for stats you didn't need just to complete a set. Tier Gear Tokens made their first appearance, making the loot system feel a bit fairer and less catered to one specific class.
More so, the appearance of the tier sets in TBC was hands down some of the coolest looking gear sets in the game's history, and still today, many people find themselves going back to their roots to gather up the best looking transmog the game has to offer. While it may appear quite boring these days with all of the new gear coming with bells and whistles, the design and art style for this time period were 10/10 and had players chomping at the bit to get their full set as quickly as possible.
Legendary Items
What is an expansion without the most sought-after pieces of loot on the planet? Legendary items became talk of the town once TBC was released, and one cannot think of TBC without picturing the Warglaive of Azzinoth in all of their glory. This main-hand and off-hand weapon became literally a prized possession for rogues and warriors, dropping from the iconic boss within the Black Temple raid, Illidan Stormrage.
Not only were the weapons a sight for sore eyes, but for their time, they had some wild stats to boot. The appearance was like nothing players had seen up to that point, and included an on-hit effect against demons that was just a marvel to look at. It would be rare to hear a Rogue or Warrior "just wanted one", as nearly every player that had one equipped was hunting for their off-hand to complete the duo.
Of course, there was another legendary item that did not get as much notoriety, but was still 10/10 nonetheless; Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury. This stunning bow also came with a massive bonus, as you no longer needed to use ammo once you had this equipped, saving you both materials and hard-earned gold.
Arenas & PvP Changes
Who could forget one of the most fun and absolutely blind rage-inducing additions to TBC? Easily one of the larger additions that came with the expansion was Arenas, a new form of PvP that flipped everything we knew on its head. Whether it be 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5, we now had another way to climb the ranks in PvP to make a name for ourselves, but it took much more skill and the perfect comp to climb the ladder.
While open-world PvP still ran rampant in zones like Stranglethorn Vale, and players still thoroughly enjoyed slapping lowbies around in Warsong Gulch, Arenas gave a more organized alternative for PvP lovers. There was a higher rating to reach and a structured path to follow to obtain the best of the best PvP gear. This addition changed everything we knew about Battlegrounds, and with players having to cap their points out each week to earn rewards that even transferred over into the PvE side of things, it really gave us something to look forward to and work toward each week.
Shaman & Paladins
For TBC, both factions gained their own new class to test out, the Alliance gaining Shamans with the new Draenei race and the Horde gaining the Paladin class with the latest addition of Blood Elves. This was one of the, if not the most, significant changes to hit the expansion, as this broke the classic class exclusivity and gave us faction parity.
Before TBC, the Shaman class was a Horde-exclusive class, and the addition of the Draenei finally gave Alliance a chance to conjure storms like no other and pump out chain heals like nobody's business. On the other side of the coin, Alliance were the owners of the Paladin class up until the addition of Blood Elves, now allowing Horde players to Hammer of Justice their way through life and smack demons around with a giant hammer.
This closed the gap between the two factions, as a lot of Horde raid content was heavily reliant on Shaman utility, while Alliance raids got the benefit of another Tank spec and the buffs that Paladins could provide. TBC gave us balance and made it feel less like each faction had a bit of a disadvantage and more of a pawn to use in everyone's chess game.
Raid Difficulty
The Burning Crusade offered balance for raiders with a wide variety of new content, both easy and challenging, all while sticking to the "single raid difficulty" approach. The universal loot system took away that FOMO feeling, as everyone could get their hands on the best loot without needing to up the difficulty level to rake in the best of the BiS (Best in Slot).
We now felt a bit more rewarded for our troubles, as we valued knowing that the piece we got was the best version of that item from the moment it dropped into our bags. TBC also proved that it was entirely possible to give us a single difficulty level, all while containing fights that challenged even the top guilds in the world, more specifically, the pre-nerf versions of Lady Vashj and Kael'thas Sunstrider.
These bosses, at the time, tested our mettle, skill, and raid composition like no other, all without needing to ramp up difficulty to do so. To put it simply, back in 2007, before the nerf, the two bosses were only killed once due to their complexity and intense demand on raiders.
Flying Mounts
One of the, if not the coolest, additions to TBC were the flying mounts. Not only did this make traversing the world much faster, given that the speed increase between a ground mount of 100% and a flying mount capped at 280% with Epic Flying (or 310% with specialty mounts like Ashes of Al'ar), but now you could scan the area from above with less fear of dying to a plethora of demons. There were still threats looming in the skies, but far less than those on the ground.
You also no longer had to stick to the roads to avoid danger, and could really get into all the hidden nooks and crannies Outland had to offer. Whether you were on a PvP server and wanted to dive bomb an unsuspecting lowbie just trying to kill boars or soar through the skies searching for herbs and ores, flying mounts gave a sense of freedom that we had never experienced before.
While the flying mounts were well-received by many, some had a bit of an issue with the new feature, as it seemed like players could interact less by just flying right to quest objectives and avoiding the danger mentioned above. Some went as far as to say it made the world feel less dangerous and even less immersive than ever before. Still, the overall consensus was that flight was necessary, especially in places like Netherstorm, where one wrong auto-run threw you into a swirling black hole of terror.
We also can't talk about flying mounts without talking about the massive advantage Druid players received in TBC. Now, Druids had flight form, which allowed them not only to soar through the skies but pick herbs at a breakneck pace compared to other classes. The ability to gather plants without having to leave flight-form made farming not only more fun, but it also let Druid mains bypass the original gold cost entirely, saving the initial cost for basic flying as it was now a class spell.
Flying mounts were a defining feature in TBC, offering more freedom and convenience than we thought possible, all while adding a substantial gold barrier in order to get the highest level of flying to make us almost feel superior once we obtained it.
Profession Changes & Rebalance
In Vanilla World of Warcraft, Engineering reigned supreme over all other professions due to its utility in both PvE and PvP combat. With the use of grenades, bombs, sappers, and even teleporters, anyone who chose Engi as their main profession always seemed to have the upper hand. TBC turned that on its head with the injection of balance into the system, granting a profession-specific perk for everyone.
Not only did this create a sense of balance, but it also made the choice of profession per character more meaningful and impactful. It ensured that, alongside Engineering and Leatherworking, each profession brought a new tool to the party at end-game. Leatherworkers were given Drums of Battle, which was easily one of the most crucial tools on raid nights. Enchanters could now enchant their own rings with massive stat boosts, Tailors could craft BoP pre-raid BiS gear, Blacksmiths were now able to craft pre-BiS weapons, and Alchemists now had Mixology, which extended the duration and increased the effect of self-use elixirs and flasks.
A new profession also took center stage, as Jewelcrafting allowed players to cut gems that could bolster every class's stats, including a boost to their own with the Dragon Eye series -- a BoP gem that gave JCs a slight advantage when using gems. The bonuses and new additions created a competitive profession space where every crafting skill became imperative in the end-game content.
The Attunement System
No feature is more synonymous with TBC's progression design than the Attunement System, which became the bane of everyone's existence basically overnight. Gone were the days of simply running into a new raid undergeared and underprepared, as we now had to jump through several hoops and had a sufficient gear level to gain access.
Gaining access to Karazhan was extremely demanding, as access was blocked by a multi-part quest chain that also required completing several normal max-level dungeons. This included either the loved or absolutely hated dungeons within Auchindoun, Steamvault in Zangermarsh, and Arcatraz in Netherstorm.
The final stages of the attunement for Tier 6 Raids, such as Mount Hyjal and Black Temple, forced a guild to kill the final bosses of each Tier 5 raid to loot the Vashj's Vial Remnant and Kael's Vial Remnant for the The Vials of Eternity quest to get into Mount Hyjal. Whether you loved or hated the Attunement system, it did bring another level of difficulty to the game and made getting to end-game content a bit more tedious than ever before.
Lore Like Never Before
One cannot talk about The Burning Crusade expansion without discussing the lore, as it was the turning point of the World of Warcraft narrative that had everybody talking. Rather than killing off random threats, we now had a trio of villains to decimate to save Azeroth as we knew it, all coming from the Warcraft III strategy titles. There wasn't just killing to do, but there was almost an emotional weight placed on everyone's shoulders, as the raid bosses were now meaningful in an entirely new way.
Front and center of TBC was Illidan Stormrage, a demon hunter with a thirst for chaos and control over Outland. Watching the end of his reign of terror in Black Temple, thanks to Maiev Shadowsong, was a tear-jerker, as we all watched the fall of a once beloved character who chose a path of death and violence.
Kael'thas Sunstrider was another fight to go down in history lore-wise, as we got to go head-to-head not once -- but twice. Once in Tempest Keep and once again in Sunwell Plateau. We were forced to bear witness to the moral decay within him, which again was a pivotal point in World of Warcraft history.
TBC was and is one of the greatest expansions of all time, as it brought so many features that felt ahead of their time, and brought players together in a whole new way to defeat looming threats. Whether you were a Druid farmer who just loved zipping around and gathering herbs in flight form, or you were a hardcore raider on the hunt for a legendary, TBC really felt like it had something for everyone to enjoy.
Which change or feature in The Burning Crusade expansion lives rent-free in your mind? Did we mention it above? Let us know in the comments below!
