It is a great year for all fans of MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games). After a lot of setbacks due to the Covid pandemic in 2020, games like New World and Ashes of Creation which were postponed for later date will finally be released. Unlike the first 2, WoW Classic: Burning Crusade is right on schedule. While the players were expecting it, it was announced really late during Blizzcon (Blizzconline 2021) with quick release timeframe of just less than 4 months, the pre-patch was in effect on 20th May and the Burning Crusade “The Dark Portal” opening was released on 3rd of June.
WoW Classic: The Burning Crusade is actually one of the most played games right now. The first release (actually re-release) of WoW Classic happened on 26th August 2019. Millions of players, both actual and old re-subscribed to experience the original World of Warcraft version which was released during 2004 for the first time. The game received a dozen of expansions ever since, the popular Burning Crusade in 2007, Wrath of the Lich King in 2008, The Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, WoW Legion, Warlords of Draenor, Battle for Azeroth and finally WoW Shadowlands. During the course of those 15+ years, a lot has changed and little remained as it were back during the 2004/2005 era. WoW Classic brought that back. It featured level 60 as max player cap, no flying mounts and ‘hardcore’ gaming mode compared to the then actual Battle of Azeroth.
The current Burning Crusade update, now known as WoW Classic: The Burning Crusade features pretty much the same expansion of 2007 with little tweaks. Players are now able to continue their journey from the “Classic Era” to the “Burning Crusade Era” by transferring their characters and traveling from Azeroth to Outland through the Dark Portals. The Burning Crusade (aka TBC) features flying mount (Outland content only), Level 70 as maximum level cap, the introduction of the Arena PvP system, Heroic dungeon & raid modes, Jewelcrafting among other changes. For many, it remains to be the most beautiful and popular World of Warcraft update. As in the Vanilla Classic, farming WoW TBC Classic gold still remains to be a difficult task, as players need to spend about 20000 gold coins before actually starting to enjoy the high end game.
New World MMO on the other hand, is something completely new and exciting at the same time. It is being developed by Amazon Games, hence we can expect millions of players on it, irregardless of it’s playability due to the popularity of Amazon. Either way, the game is very promising as we can see from the Beta testing on Youtube, lots of the videos have a dozen of million previews. The game flows around fictional land modeled after colonial America in the Atlantic Ocean. The time-period feels like “Medieval”, but unlike World of Warcraft, Humans are the only playable race, split between 3 factions: Marauders, Syndicate, Covenant. The main currency of the game is New World Coin. It’s release date it’s scheduled for 31st of August.
Ashes of Creation is, as described, an unique approach and take on MMORPG. Perhaps the most carefully tailored MMO Game. It is being developed by Intrepid Studios, the owners being passionate gamers with the most serious intent of creating and developing games which players actually want (not pay to win). Explore, Trade, Build. The game itself is amazing, an ever-evolving and changing massive world. Players can take on entire zones, establish towns and cities, select mayors, trade, conquer other towns and zones and this is very small excerpt. It is best to take a look at some of the videos available on Youtube. The game is passing through the Alpha Testing right now, with release being expected at the end of 2021. The currency of the game is: Ashes of Creation Gold, but being a bit different game, other resources will be as much as popular as the currency, unlike World of Warcraft and it’s spin-offs.
The game was already supposed to be released during 2020, but it was delayed to the Covid pandemic.There is interesting Risk VS Reward system in place which “rewards daring adventurers for fostering meaningful conflict”, like Guild Wars, Node Sieges (Resource Siege), and the highly anticipated and popular Castle Sieges. It is truly a breathtaking experience where groups of guild players combat to take control of other castles with features like mountain ballista and catapult towers. These castles are actually captured by the winning guild which gives the winners control and access to the castle’s nodes, shops and resources.