From the looks of it, there's a whole new burning legion forming up over in China's World of Warcraft scene, though it's not of the malevolent demonic sort. We've just picked up word that a week after WoW's The Burning Crusade expansion was released into circulation, Chinese distributor The9 is already recording peak concurrent users (players online) of up to more than a staggering 800,000.

Given that WoW's current world population recently exceeded nine million, we're looking at a little less than a tenth of the game's population in one country alone. The massive influx doesn't appear to be all newcomers to the game, however. WoW gamer Zou Jun from China's Nanjing province states that inactive guild members were coming back come the new expansion.

In relation to this news, The9's buffering its local network with nine server groups. WoW's player population in China is expected to reflect in The9’s Q4 financial results.

It looks like Blizzard is churning up more bug fix sub-patches to World of Warcraft patch 2.1. Earlier, Nethaera (US WoW Forums) and Thundgot (EU) announced that Patch 2.1.2 will be up on the Public Test Realm (PTR) later.

Basically, most of the changes are fixes to the previous things that went live in 2.1. Though we noticed some significant changes when we scanned through the patch notes. PvP Trinket effects have been changed cosmetically and effect-wise. They now dispel "movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character". Players are already curious about what "effects" the change pertains to (Cyclone, Stun, Sap?).

Classes will get their respective changes. Most notable will probably be Sword Specialization for Warriors and Rogues. The yellow extra attacks will now be reverted to white. Raid-wise, Caverns of Time: Hyjal will get nerfed among other instances. Anyway, check out the patchnotes after the jump to check out the other changes.

Check out the notes for Patch 2.1.2 after the jump!

Everyone knows Azeroth. Whether you are a World of Warcraft player or a fan of the RTS, this fictional land created by Blizzard has become so popular that any gamer would probably know of it.

It is not known where the word Azeroth came from. A lot of references point to the Christian reference to Astaroth, who is a duke of hell or the demon from Syrian lore which was called Azeroth. Other sources say that it came from C.J. Cherryh "Fires of Azaroth" book, while others conjecture that it came from the Bible itself which refers to places of similar sounding names such as Hazeroth. Regardless of its etymological background, this word has come to mean the lands of Warcraft.

The entire Azeroth can be split into four main locations: Northrend, Kalimdor, and the Eastern Kingdoms. Aside from these, a major feature that scars the territory is the Maelstrom which was caused by the Elves in the days of yore, but that is a story for another time. Each major location is a fountain of knowledge for those who would care to delve into these things. We know that it would be impossible to chronicle all the events in one account alone, this is just to give most players an overview of each land.

Each of these lands played an important role in the history of Azeroth in general. There are far more things that can be said about each location, but those are stories for another time. Perhaps it would be best to end this here, but be sure to keep checking back for more history on the lands of Azeroth here on QJ.

The full article awaits after the jump!

  

Looking back at the last events of Warcraft III, the Battle of Mount Hyjal was the last stand of the Alliance, Horde, and the night elves against Archimonde the Defiler and the rest of the Burning Legion (hence The Burning Crusade). In the World of Warcraft, it's the last instance of the Caverns of Time.

Razzaa from the World of Raids Forums reported that they met the first boss of Mount Hyjal, Rage Winterchill the Blood Lich, on the Public Test Realm (PTR). According to the poster, the event was pretty buggy as they even had a problem starting it. After some help from a Blizzard GM, they were finally able to start and were met by Rage Winterchill. They were able to get him down to 87%, unfortunately that's when the waves of trash wiped the party.

They noted that Rage Winterchill's hp was about 2 million and has a Death & Decay spell (Area of Effect AND Damage over Time). If you're curious about just how many bosses there are in the instance, there isn't any info yet. But if the World of Warcraft version of the Battle, then it might be safe to assume that there will be four: Rage Winterchill (Lich), Anetheron (Dreadlord), Azgalor (Pit Lord), and Archimonde the Defiler (Warlock).

Wait, aren't Rage Winterchill's bones supposed to be red?

Ever wondered what it'd be like to have your own personal dream team playing World of Warcraft with you? Well, look no further!

In this new series of articles, we'll be examining the possibilities of people we never expected would play Blizzard's epic MMO. We'll not only go into detail as to why they'd be a particular race, but we'll also feature the class and skills they'd be expected to use in game... if they played WoW

Allow me to present what is probably the most blasphemous, yet perhaps the most elite of the members of the five-man team in this set: Jesus Christ, the human warlock. Don't worry. We'll be silencing all cries of "But Jesus should be a priest!" soon enough. Trust us, Judas is a priest, but Jesus is an uber Warlock.

Race and Skills of He Who Is:

First off, it's obvious that He'd have to be human. Jesus is fully God and fully Human at the same time, and because He's God, he deserves to have +10% to Spirit. Since he's also known the world over, it makes sense that he'd have an easier time gaining faction with everyone as well.

As the son of a lowly carpenter, expect Jesus to be a proficient engineer, able to create things that would astound lesser men. Obviously, he'd be a gnomish engineer, if only for the cool goggles. He also happens to be an expert tailor, as someone had to fix all the clothing he managed to tear in his travels.

As for his secondary skills, expect Jesus to be an expert angler. Jesus Christ was known as a fisher of men, so it also goes to show that if there's anyone who'd be 1337 enough to fish up Gahz'Ranka from Zul'Gurub, it's this guy. Expect Him to have maxed out fishing, and expect Nat Pagle to have learned a thing or two from Him. Besides, the guy walks on water: He can fish anywhere He pleases.

The full article awaits after the jump!

If you take a quick peek at Blizzard's World of Warcraft "Under Development" page, you could catch a glimpse of the new raid dungeon area that they're currently working on. The Black Temple, as it's called, is announced as non-linear (you can go straight to the last boss), sporting a level 70 requirement sign.

Part of the Shadowmoon Valley area, this 25-person raid dungeon was supposed to be one of the raid dungeons included in WoW: The Burning Crusade at launch. But pressed for time, Blizzard released TBC without the Black Temple area. It seems they don't want to delay the content anymore and plan to ship it in the next patch.

Originally a Draenei temple, this foreboding structure has changed hands several times and this time is under the control of ill-fated Illidan and his minions. This historical site is where the Orcs formed their blood pact with Mannaroth, where necromancer Ner'Zhul's cult resided, and the staging area for the Burning Legion's return.

The big baddie at the end of this new raid grind is Illidan himself - you know, Illidan Stormrage, the Night Elf Demon Hunter turned demon. Don't be too confident about taking him out with an uber-level 70 party - even if he's blindfolded. Blizzard is making sure that he'd be a challenge to all players, even level 70 avatars.

The raid dungeon promises to give you access to hundreds of new items, including tier-6 armor and other rarities.

In a short while, people will be rejoicing at the launch of World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade expansion. And while we have been covering this very fresh pack before, this will serve as a last hurrah to get you guys fired up. For the veterans and old guard, consider this your check list in case you forgot something in your "must-have" list. For the neophytes, fledglings and pups (read: noobz), consider this your one-stop guide to what to prepare for when the invasion begins.

The story begins with the Burning Legion, and of Sargeras the Destroyer who leads its infernal ranks. Once a defender of the worlds created by the mythical Titans - Azeroth itself one of their constructs - Sargeras eventually found himself consumed by doubt about his kin's benevolence. Sargeras saw the titan's idealism as delusion, and set out to destroy the order they created. Hence begins the Burning Crusade, and a rallying for all former enemies on Azeroth to lay aside their differences for survival.

With the basic premise set for the expansion, we now talk about the two new races joining the conflict - the magic-addicted Blood Elves, and the exiled Draenei.

Blood Elves
Of high elf ancestry, their named holds special meaning for those who survived the slaughter of their kin and the destruction of Quel'Thalas during the Second Burning Legion Invasion (Warcraft III). Their alliance with the horde is one of necessity, as they seek ways to journey to the Outland to reunite with Illidian the Betrayer.

Being strongly addicted to magic, their racial traits include the ability to silence other magic users, as well as an increased resistance to magic directed at them. It goes without saying they provide a formidable boost to any aspiring warlocks and mages out there looking for more variety compared to just using the Undead. And as mentioned previously, they are the only Horde race allowed the use of the Paladin class - traces of the once-prestige place they held as Azeroth's "Sun-Blessed".

The full article awaits after the jump!

Tyren from the World of Warcraft forums has recently posted an announcement which clarifies that: YES, those "Are you ready for The Burning Crusade?" email that you have been receiving are indeed from Blizzard, and are therefore legit.

According to him, the emails were targeted towards inactive or trial account players, reminding them that if they want to play The Burning Crusade, that they better download the necessary clients and patches early to avoid the rush when TBC launches in a few weeks' time.

In any case, the header of the official email reads:

While you've been away, something monumental has been happening in the World of Warcraft. Beyond the Dark Portal, the sinister agents of the Burning Legion have been waging their demonic crusade to consume the magic of the universe and lay waste to all in their path. On January 16th, their Burning Crusade will come to Azeroth.

Blizzard Entertainment proudly invites you to return to the World of Warcraft on January 16th and journey beyond the Dark Portal, where an infinity of new experiences await you. Given the high volume of returning subscribers we expect when The Burning Crusade expansion goes live, if you are planning a return to Azeroth, we recommend reactivating your account as soon as possible in order to avoid the expected rush of launch-day activation.

In a quite surprising move, developer Blizzard Entertainment shifted gears all of a sudden and is now luring old World of Warcraft players back. Aside from putting up a whole page on their official site fully dedicated to The Burning Crusade, we just learned that the company has been sending them emails as well.

This, when you think about it, is a smart marketing strategy for Blizzard. Despite the game's current behemoth status in terms of subscription, it would be remembered that a good number of fans had veered away from WoW because of several reasons such as issues with management and services. Anyway, here's the email Blizzard have been sending to old players:

While you've been away, something monumental has been happening in the World of Warcraft. Beyond the Dark Portal, the sinister agents of the Burning Legion have been waging their demonic crusade to consume the magic of the universe and lay waste to all in their path. On January 16th, their Burning Crusade will come to Azeroth.

Blizzard Entertainment proudly invites you to return to the World of Warcraft on January 16th and journey beyond the Dark Portal, where an infinity of new experiences await you. Given the high volume of returning subscribers we expect when The Burning Crusade expansion goes live, if you are planning a return to Azeroth, we recommend reactivating your account as soon as possible in order to avoid the expected rush of launch-day activation.

Speaking of the expected rush, people have been worried for some time now if the servers could handle the influx of players on the 16th and succeeding days. If the marketing strategy picks up, one could only imagine the number of active users will be online for any given time.

As we've said before, WoW has come a long way already. It can be considered as huge part of gaming culture, if not having set up a culture of it's own. We hope technical difficulties wouldn't dismay fans leading them to leave. Blizzard have been asking fans if they are prepared for the Burning Crusade. But the fans are starting to ask the same question back.

Beta testers can be likened to a vehicle's early warning device. It tells the other vehicles behind that something is wrong up ahead, and so beware. Well, upcoming WoW expansion, the Burning Crusade, has beta testers and they have a heads up for all of us: beware the Fel Reaver.

When BC finally arrives, all players will begin anew their conquest on the Hellfire Peninsula. Now, this location is being guarded by the Fel Reavers. These are actually enormous level 70 demonic machines. Just to take one down requires a raid group, if you want to know the painful truth.

While only a few information is known about them for now, they are not exactly new creatures. The Burning Legion has been using them as sentinels around their forges to the north to oversee the work on their cannons. The development team over at Blizzard probably knows how dangerous these creatures are and so they provided players some invaluable head start. Fel Reavers move rather slow and they make the ground shake as they move.

So if your screen starts shaking and you hear something remotely related to an engine, just run. Don't look back and just run. But if you are brave enough and you have your team with you, sneaking up on one of these guys always sounds fun...