GGL’s Reid Landeen translated this GGL China article.
World of Warcraft had a tumultuous 2007 in China, with the release of The Burning Crusade expansion and addition of many new players. Here’s a journal-style rundown of the year for TBC in China and around the world.
Jan. 16, 2007
World of Warcraft’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade, ships to North America and Europe.
March 8, 2007
Blizzard Entertainment announced today that WoW’s expansion (The Burning Crusade) has already sold more than 3.5 million copies in North America. In the first 24 hours of release, it sold more than 2.4 million copies, which is more than any PC game has ever sold in a single month. Blizzard’s President, Mike Morhaime explained, “The passion that gamers have for The Burning Crusade makes us feel really excited.” At this time, Chinese gamers did not know when The Burning Crusade would be released in China.
April 3, 2007
The Burning Crusade goes live in Taiwan. Additionally, there is a 10 day free trial of the expansion available. The news cuts deep into the hearts of mainland Chinese WoW fans.
June 5, 2007
Some surprising news: About 2 weeks after build 2.1 was released, European PvE Guild Nihilum successfully killed Illidan Stormrage, the raid boss of Black Temple. This kill was not only added to Nihilum’s prestigious kill list, but was also a world first. Additionally, they became the first guild to clear all of Black Temple.
June 26, 2007
Today the PvP update, “Before the Storm” went live in China.
Aug. 2, 2007
Towards the end of July, many Chinese WoW players anticipated The Burning Crusade to go live any second. However, routine maintenance on the 24th and on the 31st both failed to deliver. Amongst the midst of much disappointment, Blizzard announced the name of the second World of Warcraft expansion: The Wrath of the Lich King
Sept. 6, 2007
Trailing the release of The Burning Crusade in North America by nearly 8 months, it is finally released in China. The long wait is finally over, and starting today, new challenges and trials await…
Sept. 7, 2007
China’s World of Warcraft expansion went live on Sept. 6 at around 10:40am, and one Chinese gamer has managed to level up to 70 and in about 24 hours! This is the fastest anyone has been able to do it in the world. Before this, the record was held by on the European servers, by a French player, Gawell, who took nearly 28 hours to get to level 70. The Chinese player, Silver Dragon, is a Horde Hunter on the Angeluo server, who started on the 6th at around 11:20am, and finished on the 7th around 10:52am.
Oct. 28, 2007
The race to be the first Chinese players to kill Illidan has been silently raging between the established and powerful guild “Stars” and a lesser known guild “Seventh Heaven.” This boss fight has been a major stumbling block to both guilds. The Stars guild experienced many setbacks and had a lot of bad luck. Seventh Heaven also suffered a lot from server downtimes, but in the end, Seventh Heaven had the last laugh.
