14 DAY TRIAL // Since the existing high level gameplay is rather stuffy and demanding, WoW developers seem to have finally learned their lesson and started implementing more casual player-friendly changes for The Burning Crusade. The raiding scene is going to dramatically change once the expansion is released. With the exception of Kharazan, which is designed for 10 players, all the raid content mentioned is being designed for a force of 25. It appears too many 40 man instances were released, so Blizzard has done away with them in an attempt to furthermore diversify the game. Hopefully the idea of less is more continues in the much anticipated add on.
The PvP aspects will see a complete revamp which will do away with the old honor point system. Players will basically receive PvP experience points that can be spent to unlock certain special items. As a nice touch, there's no longer a weekly PvP point drain, so even if you take a break for a month, you'll still be right where you left off. There will be no more ranks in the honor system but those that have been participating will be able to keep anything they've earned to date including titles and equipment. Otherwise standings are effectively being reset. The hope is also to encourage players to move between battlegrounds by having some equipment cost basic honor along with specific honor won in different locations.
Outdoor world PvP will be available at a greater scale, further enhanced, as it's started to be with recent patches. All of the zones in Burning Crusade will include objective-based PvP areas. One of those was in a lush green zone called Nagrand. Right in the middle of the map is a neutral town that can be captured either by Horde or Alliance. The owner of the town will have access to merchants that have items unavailable anywhere else along with some other bonuses.
Arenas will be competitive ladders where teams of players will be able to fight amongst themselves in a sporting environment. Gladiators will band up in groups of two, three and five and do battle with other teams in small, close-quarters combat. You can even fight against your own faction, so in the end there will truly be a handful of teams that are the most powerful on the server. You won't be able to enter the real competition until level 70, but until then you can still practice with friends and work on your skills first.