The launch of World of Warcraft Classic was a big addition to the popular MMO when it dropped back in 2019. While the original release took the game back to its vanilla state before it received multiple updates and sizable expansions to add new content, the new Burning Crusade Classic looks to bring World of Warcraft Classic to a new period in the game's history.
The release of Burning Crusade Classic has already been subject to some controversy. The release of the expansion will allow players to play on servers with or without the expansion to satisfy all players, but there was some fan outcry regarding the price to clone one's World of Warcraft Classic character to play on both types of servers.
Today, however, brings the expansion's pre-patch that gets the players and game ready for Burning Crusade Classic's release. The biggest change players will notice immediately when logging in is a screen prompting players to decide what they want to do with their current characters. They will be able to either leave them on a "classic" server that is how the game is now or to a Burning Crusade Classic server. Of course, players can clone the character to have an option on both if they are willing to pay the $15 charge.
The other big addition of the pre-patch is the addition of Dranei and Blood Elf races for players to start leveling in preparation for the expansion's launch, which characters can't access until they're level 60. Some players, however, have expressed frustration with the limited window of time that the pre-patch is giving them to level characters. Most pre-patch periods last a full four weeks in World of Warcraft, but Burning Crusade Classic's is only lasting a brief two weeks. Many players feel that the two-week window is not enough time to put in the high number of hours to reach level 60, meaning they will have a late start compared to other players when the expansion launches.
It is unfortunate that some players feel that the pre-patch time period is too short for them to prepare for the expansion's launch. It is especially unfortunate as Blizzard has detailed its efforts to recreate the expansion's launch from 2007. However, when Burning Crusade Classic launches it will bring a lot of new content to World of Warcraft Classic, and it is nice that Blizzard is giving the players the choice to play with or without the expansion.
World of Warcraft Classic is available now on PC, with the Burning Crusade Classic expansion launching on June 1.
Source: Blizzard