Aurael's Beta Journal #4

Azeroth Edition

by Amber "Aurael" Weldon"

In response to a question on our forums, I decided to head out and see what I could find out
about the changes that have occurred in Azeroth with the Burning Crusade. There are, of course,
new starting areas added for the two new races. There's also the dungeon of Karazhan and the
Caverns of Time.

Caverns of Time>

The dungeon of Karazhan is a bit difficult to get to, naturally. You must be level 68 to even
enter the instance and it requires a key (well, at least the entrance that I found did). There may
be a separate entrance somewhere that does not require a key that I did not come across.

The other area is the Caverns of Time. Now, according to the

official BC website, the Caverns of Time is an area where brave heroes are capable of traveling
back in time to "help along" the battles of yesteryear.

There are two new factions available here: the Keepers of Time and the Scale of the Sands. Of course,
with the new factions also comes new items that are available. Here are two of the recipes that I found
on the Keepers of Time quartermaster:

The same Brood of Nozdormu dragons are at the entrance, but they do not fly along, blocking the road
anymore. They sit at the edges of the entrance area and I was not attacked by them as I traveled along the road.
The entrance path winds down and around until you come to a large open cavern. From what I could gather, these are the
remnants of the dragonflight used to guard time (the bronze dragonflight, I believe). These Keepers of Time
now remain to study and guard the pathways into the past.

Skull portal

There were three instance portals that I could see--one green, and two purple. The purple had glowing skulls in the middle of them.
When I tried to enter the green instance, I got the message that the instance is not ready yet. The two purple
portals gave me different messages. The first informed me that I must first complete the quest "The Caverns of Time" before
entering Old Hillsbrad. The second told me that I "must first save Thrall in Old Hillsbrad...before you may enter the Black Morass".
So these instances are sequenced.

I am quite interested to see how this area comes together. It looked very exciting and I love the thought of traveling back in time.
I do not know the level requirement for this area or where to find the quest that starts it all.
I did, however, get some great screenshots of the cavern which you can view
in our gallery!

Aurael's Previous Beta Journals

• #1 First Impressions
• #2 Questing and Sightseeing
• #3 Screenshots Galore