Product Description

World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade returns you to Azeroth for incredible role-playing action! Several years have passed since the Burning Legion's defeat at Mount Hyjal. With renewed strength, the heroes of the Horde and Alliance have begun to explore new lands and broken through the Dark Portal to investigate the realms beyond the known world. Will these heroes find friends or foes? What dangers and rewards lie in wait beyond the Dark Portal? And what will they do when they discover that the demons they thought vanquished have returned to renew their terrible Burning Crusade?

Special Collector's Edition includes: "Art of the Burning Crusade" book, exclusive in-game pet and behind-the-scenes DVD. Also includes World of Warcraft Trading Card Game starter deck and exclusive cards, mouse pad with map of Outland & official soundtrack CD. Hundreds of new monsters, quests, and items A new profession - Jewelcrafting Ride flying mounts in Outland

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4031 in Video Games
• Brand: Blizzard Entertainment
• Model: 72624
• Released on: 2007-01-16
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platforms: Macintosh, Windows
• Dimensions: 2.75" h x 10.75" w x 12.00" l, 5.44 pounds

Features

• Increase in level cap to 70
• New spells and talents for each class
• Two new playable races - Blood Elves & Draenei
• Explore the entire new continent of Outland
• Many new zones and high-level dungeons

Customer Reviews

Collector's Edition Specifics
People who want to know about the expansion in general should also look at the standard Burning Crusade edition. I'm just going to add some information here about what's different with the Collector's Edition.

The most important thing to know is that each copy of the expansion, for either version, comes with a key code that you have to put in to upgrade your account. Without the code, you won't be able to access the new content even if you have the software installed. [Edit: As of January 22, 2007 Blizzard has announced on their forums that they're working on allowing players who already upgraded using the basic expansion to then also upgrade using the collector's edition in order to get the limited edition pet. You'll have to call Blizzard's billing service line with the unused collector's edition expansion key, so it's slightly more work than upgrading directly with the CE, but it can now be done.]

The only real difference between the versions so far as playing the actual game goes, is that those who buy the CE will receive a special pet called a netherwhelp on all of their characters. It's basically a baby version of the flying mounts available in Outland.

Most of the benefit of this version is outside of the game. You get a nicer box with it, of course. Inside that box you'll find that you get the game in both CD (4 of them) form, and DVD form (just 1, so you don't have to mess around with changing the one in the drive).

In addition to the game itself, you get a number of other items. There's a very nice mousepad with a map of Outland on it (though I've heard that the glossy surface works poorly with laser mice). There's a hardcover book of art from World of Warcraft. They include some cards from the WoW collectible card game, along with directions for those who want to play. If you love the music you find in Burning Crusade, you'll also be happy to see that there's a soundtrack included in the box. Finally, there's an additional DVD that contains two hours of behind the scenes material, including things like interviews.

Keep in mind, however, that the only in game benefit is the pet. If you don't want the pet but want everything else, you'll probably be able to get the other items cheaply from someone who wanted the pet and not the rest. Or, you could buy the set and then sell the activation code to someone who wants the pet, while you keep the extra items for yourself.

Due to the need for an activation code, though, be careful about buying this item used. Make sure that you confirm with the seller that the activation code in their set has NOT been used, because it can only be used to upgrade a single account. After that, even if you use the software in the box to upgrade the version on your computer, you WILL NOT have access to the new content. An expansion upgrade code is REQUIRED and it must be one that has never been used.

Review on Collector's Edition
When I buy a certian edition of software or DVD or whatever on Amazon, I often see people reviewing the actual software or movie and never the EDITION they purchased. This review is more for the Collector's edition, although the game itself is five stars, no doubt.

As far as Collector's Editions go, Blizzard has always done very well, and this is pretty much no exception. Packaged exactly like the WoW CE, this one fits nicely on the shelf next to it, and has the same (cheap but cool) felt on the inside holding everything in place. The extras in this edition are pretty standard for Blizzard.

*Soundtrack CD
*DVD - The DVD's are getting pretty lame. The more they release for each of their three universes, the less you have to put on each one. This one doesn't have very many features on it, but it is good, nonetheless.
*Game on DVD and 4 CD's plus a couple of codes for 30-day trials to give to friends. (My advice: Wait until they do another offer for a free month of game play when you get someone else signed up).
*Mousepad map - Definately more useful than some fabric map print that will never be used.
*In game pet - Netherwhelp hatchling - Too cute, not cool enough. I like the original CE where we got to choose form three pets, give us back some options.
*Trading Card game - Two starter sets, and a couple of extra hero cards - I don't know anything about the TCG, haven't played this one before, but it's nice to get the cards because God knows the last thing I need is one more hobby to collect, and when they do things like give me these cards for free, I am no doubt going to fork over some money to buy more.
*Book: Art of BC - Nice, but only half the book has new stuff, the other half is stuff on all the old additions to WoW and is freely available on any fan website. Still anice coffee table book though for fans of the game.

To the reviewer below who hasn't gotten their copy yet, I am sorry, but Amazon does get a lot of pre-orders for this, and they have no idea how many copies they will actually get to send out, which is why they cut off pre-orders early, but I hope you get your copy soon. The launch has been smoother than I ever thought possible, so getting on and playing is pretty quick once you get it installed.

Excellent Kit
The Burning Crusade Collectors Edition is a very nice setup. The behind the scenes DVD has a lot of great info and interviews on the BC, as well as highlights from BlizzCon. And the art book is absolutely incredible. Well worth the price alone, even without the other extra stuff (mouse pad, maps, TCG cards, etc.)