Boiling down The Burning Crusade

It was with great excitement that we first stepped through the Dark Portal, ready to take on new monsters and go boldly where no computer-animated character had gone before: the lands of The Burning Crusade.

Over six weeks have passed since that fateful day, and what have we learned? More than can be boiled down into one readable column.Over the next few weeks we'll explore the new zones of Outland in greater detail, but for a quick taste of what we've learned (and seen), check out the top 15 things you need to know about WoW's hot new expansion.

1. We should have leveled the healers first. It's hard to kill a monster when you're already dead.

2. Remember: You now have an aggro range...again. Cruise carelessly through Outland's level 60 plus zones and you'll soon find a train of monsters at your tail.

3. It only feels like you're making a lot of gold. Between the cost of leveling professions, the flying mount, the elite flying mount, and the fairly constant graveyard visits, 1000 gold doesn't mean what it used to.

4. Don't ride close to the edges of the Outlands. One bad moment of lag and you'll find yourself free-falling your way towards a long corpse run. Also, rogues shouldn't Shadowstep a mob near the edges. It will go bad - very bad. In fact, it will go hope-you-have-a-lock-close-by-to-summon-you-out-of-the-crevice bad.

5. Don't level up your First Aid skill right away. Stick with runecloth bandages and sell the netherweave for as long as you can. A stack of 20 can easily fetch you fouror five gold.