What Changes Between Burning Crusade and WoW Classic? PvE Meta, No World Buffs, New Races

Posted 2021/02/25 at 1:20 AM by Rokman

Major New Features in The Burning CrusadeNew Level Cap

Crusader Strike for Retribution Paladins - Crusader Strike is the 41 point talent in the Retribution Talent Tree and is used on cooldown for Retribution Paladins.

Vampiric Touch for Shadow Priests - Vampiric Touch is the 41 point talent in the Shadow Talent Tree and is the sole reason Shadow Priests are a must-have in raid compositions.

Steady Shot and Kill Command for Hunters - Hunters learn Steady Shot at level 62 and Kill Command at level 66. Both of these abilities kind of re-invent the damage rotation for Hunters, becoming their primary two abilities for all of The Burning Crusade.

Bloodlust for Shamans - Shamans learn this ability at level 70, and boy is this one an absolute game changer! Bloodlust is without a doubt one of the most iconic Shaman abilities and an extremely powerful one!

New Races for both FactionsShamanPaladinNew Dungeons and Raidsarchived on the Wayback MachineNew Profession and Profession UpdatesNew PvP System & Arenas

1. Honor System Revamp

Current honor totals have been reset.
Players may display their highest lifetime rank title (accessible from character sheet).
Honor points earned each day may now be spent as a form of currency.
Check the PvP tab of your character sheet to see your honor information.
PvP rewards are no longer unique.

2. Marks of Honor earned from battlegrounds are no longer turned in for reputation or honor. They are now used in addition to honor points in order to purchase rewards.

3. Two New Arenas are now available in three different modes.

2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 matches
Players may queue up at Goblin NPC's in Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, Undercity, and Gadgetzan.

- From Patch 2.0.1's Patch Notes

Major PvE Meta Shift in The Burning Crusade25 Man Raids instead of 40 ManWarriorHunterWarlockAlliance and Horde have both Paladin and ShamansPaladinShamanDebuff Limit increased from 16 to 40 DebuffsDruidPriestexistRogueDruidRanged are now King Damage DealersWarriorRogueHunterWarlockLeatherworking for Drums of BattleBlizzard has announced potential changes to Leatherworking DrumsStacking World Buffs won't be a Problem

Fengus' Ferocity, Mol'dar's Moxie, Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer, Slip'kik's Savvy and Spirit of Zandalar these buffs will no longer work on targets over level 63.

- From Patch 2.1.0's Patch Notes

Warchief's BlessingOverhaul to Consumables

Elixirs now stack in two categories, Battle (Offensive) and Guardian (Defensive) Elixirs. You can only have one of each type of Elixir up at a time. As a result Elixirs now stack with class abilities such as Arcane Intellect.

- From Patch 2.1.0's Patch Notes

flask, food, and potionDownranking Low Level Spells nerfed

Low-level spells cast by high-level players will receive smaller bonuses from +healing and +spell damage.

- From Patch 2.0.1's Patch Notes

Significant Stat and Attribute Changes

Items that give bonuses, such as critical strike percentage, have been modified to adhere to a combat rating system.
All current items will provide the exact same benefit from ratings at level 60 as they provided before the ratings system.

- From Patch 2.0.1's Patch Notes

Comment by KryzM#YesChangesComment by VindirSome of this information is just flat out wrong.

At Blizzconline, they stated Phase 1 = Kara, Mag, Gruul and Phase 2 = SSC, TKComment by Hoodaican also que to arena in Netherstorm, yes?Comment by l0ngliveFor many Warriors that enjoyed their time on the top of the damage meter for all of Classic, they've made the choice to re-roll as Hunter or Warlock for The Burning Crusade, as these two classes will become much more coveted for their damage! Comment by Sielinthhmm I wonder if i can dig out my one button hunter macro againComment by MaldafFor many Warriors that enjoyed their time on the top of the damage meter for all of Classic, they've made the choice to re-roll as Hunter or Warlock for The Burning Crusade, as these two classes will become much more coveted for their damage! Comment by HyricanAs someone who was raiding in TBC as a warrior.. that is not completely true. You did good damage just as rogues. There was definitely not a dps difference where a hunter or warlock did 50% more damage than a warrior (which translates to 2/3 the otherway around) consistently without considering specific boss fights that favor them heavily.

What is also true: people played a lot more warriors in classic than in vanilla... so a small difference in theoretical dps in tbc classic might be enough to sway all those combat loggers to switch. Overemphasizing any actual difference and being nowhere close to a TBC original class compositionComment by Rivenbladehmm I wonder if i can dig out my one button hunter macro againComment by Flipityflu In addition to a slew of new zones and Dungeons, multiple raids will be available at launch in The Burning Crusade. Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshrine Cavern, The Eye, and Hyjal Summit.Comment by PocokAre ret pallys still at the bottom of the list? After all these changes?Comment by WoWDontuAlready telling the community what to play and what not to invite to pugs. NoiceComment by WoWDontuAre ret pallys still at the bottom of the list? After all these changes?Comment by RokmanAre ret pallys still at the bottom of the list? After all these changes?Comment by KaereiAre ret pallys still at the bottom of the list? After all these changes?Comment by Zigrifid" Shadow Priests can exist" i laughed hard at thisComment by Warraxhmm I wonder if i can dig out my one button hunter macro againAre ret pallys still at the bottom of the list? After all these changes?Comment by Matrixwolfnew alleid races? plz add maghar orc lightforged draenei and void elf it makes sense tbhComment by VeninGreyI'll be honest, I was excited as hell for this but hearing that there won't be any fresh state servers kinda puts a damper on things. The current status of the economy on most of the classic servers is abysmal due to Blizzard ignoring exploits early on and refusing to act against high yield mage farming routes. I know "FRESH SERVERS" is a meme and all but anyone coming into classic late is at a massive disadvantage, especially if they're rolling one of the classes that has a much more limited income potential.Comment by honorshammerAre ret pallys still at the bottom of the list? After all these changes?Comment by EXPERIMENTONGODThis post has way too many "citation needed" statements. Tons of "passing opinion as fact". Reads more like an opinion piece than an actual "guide".

Things like:

"While this is still a hot topic of debate" => who's debating this? where?

"For many Warriors that enjoyed their time on the top of the damage meter for all of Classic, they've made the choice to re-roll as Hunter or Warlock for The Burning Crusade"
=> who's "they", people on the author's guild?