The focus of leveling in Outlands to the new raised level 70 is through both solo and grouping questing in specific areas before moving on to the next zone. For Instance lovers you will be spoilt for choice with many five man dungeons to conquer as well as the more advanced ten and twenty five man raids at end game. Thousands of new items have been added to the game giving the hardcore player just what they wanted. Although rare drops are abundant in both loot and quest rewards Epic items can be both crafted and found in Raid Instances.

Interestingly, talent builds were released prior to the Expansion release giving players the chance to experiment with builds and even design their ideal future build for level 70. Pvp is still an important factor for a lot of hardcore gamers and Blizzard has not forgotten this with Arena team battles. Arena teams of various sizes battle their opponents for rankings and points with which to purchase imba gear.

The game seems more centered on smaller guilds than once used to, leaving many players fighting for new homes, and smaller guilds are now immerging. If anything Wow seems more hardcore now than ever before, and whilst gold is easy enough to make many players still farm for epic recipes, although the economy remains stable.

Overall Blizzard has done an excellent job with its new expansion, plenty of new areas to explore, tons of quests, thousands of new items, two new races,  flying mounts, a new profession and a lot of end game raiding make this a fun game to play. Will we all still be addicted within six months? We probably will, although hardcore playing takes its toll and we might find a lot of wow players taking short breaks or creating alternative characters for a change of scenery.

Darren Smith