Week of WoW: The Burning Crusade - Day 1: The Draenei

As we began exploring, we could see giant hunks of the crystals that powered our ship scattered about the forest. These crystals emit a dangerous radiation that seemed to have an ill effect on the local wildlife. On top of that, we were surrounded by other injured crash victims in desperate need of assistance. So we were confronted by a volatile mixture: Draenei that needed saving, and a bunch of blood-thirsty, irradiated, mutant creatures.

These were to be our first quests, and were fairly standard "kill 10 somethings" or "save six something elses" deals. But as we continued along, we noticed that Blizzard had done some homework on the quest progression. In the Draenei starting area of Ammen Vale, all of the quests are meticulously arranged to lead you from place to place while slowly introducing you to the essential aspects of World of Warcraft. For example, all of the secondary skills (Fishing, First Aid and Cooking) have quests associated with them so that you won't miss out on learning skills that will become important later in the game. Prior to the Burning Crusade expansion, these skills were sometimes neglected until it was too late, but now they are portrayed as an intrinsic part of the game.