If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is some solid advice that many MMO producers should consider listening too. Too many times has a game been completely changed and the game system completely revamped into something much different, much to the dismay of its fans (see Star Wars Galaxies Combat Upgrade and New Game Enhancements) Blizzard on the other hand, knows that 8 million subscribers can't be wrong. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade offers a few tweaks to the game system, and a ton of new content that new and veteran players can enjoy. The system is fundamentally the same and the formula holds true over the expansion.
Of course there’s a ton of new content in the expansion. More quests, more dungeons, more loot. The new area, Outlands, will keep players at their screens for months. There's hundreds of quests in the new areas and a ton of new reputations with great rewards to make them worth your time. While you may be grinding specific mobs for reputation, expect far less of that for leveling. Blizzard effectively designed the quests to make them more than worth the player’s time. That is, questing will net you far more experience than mindlessly grinding wolves for hours on end. Many of the quests also have very good rewards for any player. Many level 60 players with some of the best gear on their servers will soon be replacing their hard earned epics with green items accessible to all players. While there are many mixed feelings about this, it effectively puts everyone on the same playing field, at least for a little while.
When guilds have enough members reach level 70, and are fairly well geared from the 5 and 10 man instances, they can expect to be setting foot in some larger 25 man raid instances. Being able to complete dungeons of this side will net players with some of the best rewards. Not to leave players whom aren't in large guilds out, Blizzard has implemented a dungeon difficulty setting. High level players can set the difficulty of a dungeon to a higher level, for a better challenge and better rewards (much like Dungeons and Dragons Online.)
The game isn't all about being 60 plus though. Each faction, Horde and Alliance, will receive a new race. In addition, players can now play classes previously not allowed for their faction. Blood Elves will join the Horde and now be allowed to play the Paladin class. Dranei, new friends of the Alliance, are now allowed to become Shaman. Each race has its own new starting area. Just like the Outlands, Blizzard’s art department clearly put a lot of work into these areas. Near the Night Elf starting area, The Exodar, an intergalactic spaceship has crash landed on a group of islands. Luckily the island they picked to land on only has beasts ranging from level 1-20. North of the Plaguelands in Eastern Kingdoms you will find the Blood Elf starting area. Deep with Warcraft lore, the area almost feels to be in a perpetual autumn day in New England, with beautiful colors everywhere you look.
Speaking of lore, these two areas are rich with storyline. The quests are a few notches above anything you may have seen with a pre BC character. The quests are actually pretty fun and some may actually be a bit upset when they reach level 20 and have to leave their home area. Personally, i never really followed the story to a great extent. I would see "Slay 7 boars and bring back 5 snouts" or something to that effect and then just do it, fairly mindlessly. Now I'm stopping to read my quests and listen to what the NPC's have to say. It's very easy to immerse yourself here. After level 20 and up to level 58 or so, don't expect much new content. It’s the same as before, except you have a character with a bit more favorable racial abilities.
The game isn't perfect though. The new content really puts a gravestone on much of the old content. Level 55+ legacy dungeons are obsolete except for a few class quests. With them we say goodbye to old favorites such as Molten Core and BWL. The end of you and 39 other players mindlessly farming Ragnaros so that your alt can get his Tier 2 pants. While some won’t miss this content, it is a shame to see so much programming go to waste. Hypothetically, if you didn't have the expansion you could go to these places, but finding a group won’t be easy. On top of that there’s gear at your local auction house dropping for BC players that simply blows away items that players may have spent months trying to get at.
