Burning Crusade collector's edition shinies

Thursday 5 October 2006
The Burning Crusade, the upcoming expansion pack for World of Warcraft, will also be released in a Collector's Edition loaded with goodies, developer Blizzard has just revealed.

Along with the usual bonus materials such as an art book, map and making-of DVD are the real wallet-tuggers. First is an exclusive in-game pet, the Netherwhelp, which will only be available to purchasers of the Collector's Edition (like the Mini-Diablo and Panda from the original special edition). While it has no in-game effect other than making you look good, sometimes looking good is everything.

Above: It's not enough to be an impossibly cool elven warrior - you'll need that special pet to really turn heads

The pack will also include two starter sets of the upcoming WoW trading card game - already guaranteed to be a terrifyingly expensive proposition to full-on players, as some ultra-rare cards will actually have codes to unlock in-game items. In this case, though, the gotta-collect-'em-all urge is spinning the other way, with the inclusion of three cards only available in the Collector's Edition.

And what price for all these mod cons? Well, Blizzard isn't revealing it just yet - but with Burning Crusade due to arrive before Christmas, it won't be long before we know.