Back to the Classics, WoW Interview: Burning Crusade Classic with John Hight & Brian Birmingham

The existence of the World of Warcraft series as the most iconic MMORPG game over the last few decades has made Blizzard a prominent position in the gaming industry. In order to maintain this legacy, Blizzard has released the latest World of Warcraft Classic game as a new game platform for WoW fans. And it doesn’t feel like it’s been almost two years since it was officially released, now Blizzard has prepared new content for it through the Burning Crusade Classic expansion.

To dive deeper into the contents of the expansion, we’ve rounded up an exclusive BlizzConline 2021 interview with Executive Producer – John Hight and Lead Software Engineer – Brian Birmingham. You can see the full summary below.

Lead Software Engineer – Brian Birmingham (left) and Executive Producer – John Hight (right)

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic at a Glance

As many fans know, Burning Crusade was the first expansion released for the original WoW game back in 2007, and Burning Crusade Classic is a reimagined version that brings the content of the expansion back to WoW Classic. The content that the expansion offers is very diverse and includes new areas to explore, two new character races to play, PvP Arena mode, flying mounts, new Raid and Dungeon challenges, Jewelcrafting options, up to the level cap being increased to 70.

Of course, bringing the expansion that was released 13 years ago to the current era is not an easy task, because the developer must convert the game data to the latest format that is currently used as the basis for WoW Classic. Even though it ends up being an easier task, there are various bugs, fixes, and new improvements that must be brought together to create an expansion that can surpass the original material.

Comparison with the Classic Expansion

Because it includes the latest version of the old expansion, fans’ expectations for Burning Crusade Classic are of course also quite high, such as what new improvements it offers. Answering this curiosity, Brian said “One thing we discussed was the addition of Quality of Life (QoL) features, such as the ability to strengthen Blood Elves and Draenei from Level 1 with a pre-expansion patch so we hope players have enough time to reach Level 1 58 and enter the Dark Portal with friends”.

Although there is a desire to bring a variety of new changes to this expansion, the developers also prioritize a more authentic experience and can meet the expectations of fans, especially for those who want to return to nostalgia. Therefore, the focus this time is more towards adding features that make the playing experience more comfortable and the availability of stable server access. This is also because they think that WoW is a more suitable and fun game to play with friends.

The new content that is the main highlight of Burning Crusade is the Karazhan Quest, which allows players to get Karazhan for the first time. Through a series of new story missions players will be taken on an epic adventure through the WoW world from Khadgar to various other challenging areas. During this long journey, players can anticipate evocative story content, exciting dungeon challenges, and commensurate rewards at the end of the game.

John added “I think everything in Burning Crusade offers a great experience from the first time players enter the Dark Portal. Where players will see brutal battles along the way before realizing that the enemy faction is ready to surround and finish you.” So from the beginning of the game it seems that players will continue to be presented with unlimited fun as well as big challenges that must be bravely faced.

The enthusiasm of the developers for the release of this expansion is also to satisfy the desire of veteran fans to return to playing Burning Crusade. Moreover, different from 13 years ago, now there are many experienced and very reliable players in playing WoW. They’re already at the top level, and the release of this expansion is sure to bring a lot of enthusiasm back to the community.

PvP and Other Additional Content

PvP in the Burning Crusade Classic expansion still focuses on the Arena mode and its Team system. To maximize the player’s bracket to be more flexible in determining the choice of 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 modes, this expansion will use the basis of the Arena system which has been modified in the next few patches. “So if there are players who are absent you can join other players who have been adjusted to the bracket. And after that your team will earn points that can be used to buy Gear, based on whether they participate in 30% of the matches that exist throughout the week. This is the change brought in the PvP system in Burning Crusade,” said Brian.

Fortunately, players who are used to playing in the Classic Realm can bring their characters freely from Burning Crusade to the classics, so technically they will have the same two characters with progress divided into each Realm. Of course, there were big considerations that had to be taken because the presence of this expansion could break the WoW Classic community base, but fortunately a survey from Blizzard found that most players want to return to adventure in the world of Burning Crusade.

We already know that this expansion does not really bring new content other than various improvements and additional QoL features. From here Blizzard wants to see how the community responds after playing Burning Crusade and whether they need to make a new commitment to bring in another classic expansion addition or not.

Closing

Well, that’s the summary of the WoW: Burning Crusade Classic interview session with Executive Producer – John Hight and Lead Software Engineer – Brian Birmingham. We got interesting details about what kind of content the Burning Crusade expansion will offer and what new changes it will bring.

If you are curious about the game, World of Warcraft Classic is now available on PC with the Burning Crusade Classic expansion being prepared. Make sure to visit the official website HERE to get the latest information about the game.

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