World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Updated Hands-On - The Two New Races
We try out brand-new blood elf and draenei characters in the beta version of one of this year's most highly anticipated games.
New Neighbors, New Lore
Other early quests in Ammen Vale involve killing creatures that have been mutated and/or turned aggressive by the radiation. These include "mutated lashers" (the large flowers that walk around) and the all-new "volatile mutants," which look like aborted alien fetuses crawling around on the ground. The damage to nature in the area is so bad that even the earth elementals have gone bad, and one of the last quests before leaving the safety of the Vale tasks you with killing a number of "restless spirits of the earth" as they battle against air, water, and fire elementals.
When you leave Ammen Vale to explore the rest of the Azuremyst Isle, crossing a small river in the process where you'll notice an all-new visual effect for schools of fish, you'll find that the scenery doesn't change much. What does change, though, is that the wildlife here has been unaffected by the radiation at the crash site for the most part. In addition to regular versions of the mutated stuff you were fighting earlier, you'll find stags, deer, and even a new critter scampering about the place: a skunk. There are a handful of different settlements and outposts on the isle, none of which have a permanent feel about them.
The draenei outposts have been erected around ship remains, while the other alliance races have arrived on the island by water and started clearing an area known as Odesyus' Landing. The goblins' Venture Co. has also landed on one corner of the island and is in the process of setting up camp there. The scenery and wildlife is most reminiscent of that in Darkshore, where the Night Elves start. There are striders and nightstalker cats, and the grass and trees all have a dark color palette. Based on what we've seen thus far, it seems that--with the exception of The Exodar--there will be very little reason for you to stay on the isle beyond level 12 or so--you may wish to gain some levels then jump to the main continents to join the rest of the Alliance.
The blood elves, on the other hand, seem to have plenty of low-level content scattered and radiating outward from their starting home town. According to the game's story, the blood elves (which first appeared in the Frozen Throne expansion pack for Blizzard's Warcraft III) were originally the noble high elves until the traitorous human prince Arthas, who went on to help lead the evil undead faction known as The Scourge, cut them off from their supply of magical power. Driven mad with rage, the high elves renamed themselves blood elves and swore they would gain revenge on the parties that robbed them of their innocence.
While the blood elves may have been cut off from the original source of their sorcery, you wouldn't know it from their ornate, gilded starting town or from their ostentatious capital of Silvermoon. They begin their lives in a town that's brightly lit and open to the sun and the eerie glows of the ethereal creatures that dwell in their lands, such as the flying mana wyrms and moving tree saplings, as well as the oddly autonomous broomsticks that swish past you every so often, sweeping up dust along the way.
The blood elves are perhaps intended to be the easier of the two races to start out with, since the faction's town seems to offer numerous starter quests within spitting distance of each other. This may not come as a surprise for a Horde race that will likely become extremely popular, partially since the Horde has not had any attractive female characters (there, we said it), and partially due to the blood elves powerful innate abilities. In addition to possessing +5 bonus to magic resistance and +15 to the enchanting trade skill, all blood elf characters possess the "mana tap" ability, which siphons off a portion of its target's magical powers, and "arcane torrent," which silences any nearby enemies for two seconds standing in a very short range. Both of these abilities will probably prove extremely useful in competitive player-versus-player combat against enemy characters using spells with noninstantaneous casting times. The silencing ability of arcane torrent will probably make blood elf paladins, the race's only real front line fighter class, deadly if they can get within range of enemy magic-users.
Both races seem like they'll offer players new experiences, though we imagine the blood elves will be far more fearsome right off the bat in competitive play. We'll have more details on competition, high-level zones, and the two races as the ongoing Burning Crusade beta continues. The expansion itself is, according to Blizzard, scheduled for release later this year. Check back with GameSpot for more updates.
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