Outland

Perhaps the biggest draw of the Burning Crusade is the inclusion of the Outland, a ruined portion of the world of Draenor, which was destroyed as Ner'zhul opened numerous portals on its surface to other worlds. This shattered remnant of a once-whole planet drifts through space, much diminished…but no less dangerous.

In between the events of World of Warcraft and the Burning Crusade expansion, the Dark Portal, which had sat inert in the Blasted Lands, has been opened and is capable of bringing souls between Azeroth and Outland once more. This time, however, its primary purpose isn't to bring forth Orcish hordes to Azeroth (although numerous demons and other nefarious sorts will definitely attempt to break through). Instead, it serves as a portal for players to leave Azeroth and find new adventures in the Outland.

The Basics: Entering Hellfire Peninsula

You need to be at least level 58 to travel through the Dark Portal. At that point, all you have to do is head to the Blasted Lands, in the southeastern part of the Eastern Kingdoms, and head south through the portal! The trip won't likely be easy, but the Blasted Lands zone is primarily for characters around level 50, so you shouldn't be in too much danger during the journey. You'll likely pick up a simple quest just before you pass through the portal, which will link you up with other questgivers on the other side of the rift. With that in hand, head through the portal and get ready for fun!

On the other side of the portal, avoid heading straight down the stairs and towards the battle that rages in front of you. It's fun to look at, for sure, but will probably be fatal to you if you attempt to intervene. Instead, you should look around for a flightmaster for your faction. If you're a member of the Alliance, then drop down to the left after exiting the portal to find a flightmaster who'll take you to Honor Hold. Horde members will want to jump down to the right, where you'll be taken to Thrallmar. These are the main questing hubs for each faction.

The Dark Portal is much, much bigger on the Outland side than it is when viewed from the Blasted Lands.

Note that we said main questing hubs. As you level up and explore a bit, each faction will be able to find three or four more flight path and questing hubs. It pays to be attentive when exploring, though, as you'll also run across plenty of opposing-faction hubs and flightpaths (as well as players, which are obviously going to be dangerous on PVP servers).

At this point, most of what you're going to be doing will be precisely what got you most of the way from level one to level 60: soloing or duoing quests that are scattered around the zone, trying to earn reputation with the various factions in Outland (some of the world PVP objectives will net you nice rewards from the factions that let you rep up with them), ganking n00bs on the other faction when they're taking on two mobs, and so on. If you want to start taking on dungeons, then feel free to try and get into a group for the Hellfire Ramparts instance, which is part of the Hellfire Citadel dungeon. The Hellfire Citadel, located near the center of the zone, will be a source of instanced action from level 60 to 70, as there are four different small wings full of Fel Orcs that will provide a nice challenge for players of various levels.

Outland-Specific Features

There are plenty of game features that are only available to players after they enter the Dark Portal and travel to Outland. Some of these features can tangentially become available to game players who don't have the Burning Crusade (items made with Jewelcrafting, for instance, can be bought or worn by players without the expansion installed, even if they won't be able to learn the tradeskill itself). This section of the game will detail some of these new features.

Flying Mounts

One of the most heralded addition to the Burning Crusade is the ability to purchase mounts capable of flight. These flying mounts can only be bought in Outland, when your character is level 70, and can only be used in Outland. (Flying mounts can still be ridden on the ground in Azeroth, but cannot fly there.)

Flying mounts are a mark of prestige at the moment, but over time they’ll be a common sight in the skies about Outland.

There are two types of flying mounts available to you: Expert and Artisan. Expert mounts will require (assuming there is no reputation discount) 900 gold to learn the expert riding skill, and 100 gold for the mount itself. These move at around the same speed as a normal mount (60% increase in movement), but can fly through the air. (You luck out if you're a druid, though, as you'll be able to learn the Flight Form spell at level 68 which enables you to shapeshift into a flying form that will act much like a normal flying mount.)

If you have some time to grind out an impressive amount of money, then you can bump yourself up to an Artisan mount. These are going to cost a massive 5000 gold for the training, and 200 gold for the mount itself. Artisan mounts are capable of moving at a 100% speed increase on the ground (the same movement increase as an epic land mount), and at a blistering 280% speed increase in the air.

Flying mounts are obviously neat on their faces; it's fun to be able to go right to your destination without having to worry about encountering monsters or PVP opponents on the way. What's more, though, is that there are some locations that are only accessible if you have a flying mounts, including some of the new end-game dungeons, as well as some high-level fishing areas. The flying-exclusive dungeons, at least, are inaccessibly to warlock summoning, so there's no cheating this requirement; you have to have a flying mount, or the druid flight form skill, to access them.