World Of Warcraft: Warlords Of Draenor Launches, Raid Unlock Schedule Announced

World of Warcraft's fifth expansion pack, Warlords of Draenor, has launched in most countries across the world. Players can invade the orc homeworld starting today.

In Warlords of Draenor, a mysterious army called the Iron Horde has attacked Azeroth. Players will travel through the Dark Portal to repulse this invasion. Upon logging in, players will be prompted with a quest to meet Khadgar in the Blasted Lands. This will be added to your journal even if you loaded up your quest log with 25 completed dailies to get a jump on leveling.

If you somehow didn't get the quest or you don't want to trek out to Blasted Lands, you can also find clones of Khadgar in the following locations. They will send you directly to Draenor so you can begin your questing there:

• Stormwind - next to the Hero's Call Board in the Trade District
• Orgrimmar - next to the Warchief's Command Board in the Valley of Strength
• Shrine of Seven Stars (Alliance) - in front of the main entrance
• Shrine of Two Moons (Horde) - in front of the main entrance

The expansion begins with a quest chain set in Tanaan Jungle. After storming through the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands, players will realize they're smack-dab in the middle of the Iron Horde's invasion horse. They'll accompany Khadgar, Thrall and other heroes in shutting down the Portal and escaping the army's clutches.

If you boosted a character to level 90 and haven't played them yet, these quests will be a sort of tutorial for you. You'll start with only a few offensive abilities at the start. As you progress through the quest chain, the rest of your character's powers will be unlocked.

Once you've completed the initial quest chain, the game opens up a bit. You'll be sent to one of two starter zones depending on your faction. Here, you'll set up a garrison that will act as your homebase throughout the expansion pack.

Warlords of Draenor raises the level cap to 100. While there are already some players who have hit that cap, there's not much reason to rush. Blizzard is keeping the first level 100 raid, Highmaul, locked until a later date. Here's the schedule of its release (via Blizzard):

• December 2, 2014 - Highmaul opens with Normal and Heroic difficulties accessible.
• December 9, 2014 - Mythic difficulty and the first wing of Raid Finder (Kargath/Butcher/Brackenspore) unlock.
• December 16, 2014 - Raid Finder Wing 2 (Tectus/Twin Ogron/Ko’ragh) unlocks.
• January 6, 2015 - Raid Finder Wing 3 (Imperator Mar’gok) unlocks.

Second raid Blackrock Foundry will follow sometime in early 2015. Blizzard expects it to debut about 8 weeks after Highmaul.

This staggered release gives players a lot of time to level up their characters and then gear up through the eight new dungeons.

Warlords of Draenor can be purchased in digital or boxed form for $49.99. The $69.99 Digital Deluxe Edition available through Blizzard's online store will give you a bonus pet and mount for WoW, along with extras for other Blizzard games. The $89.99 Collector's Edition comes with the Digital Deluxe bonuses as well as several other items. However, you may have trouble finding that edition now that the game's launched.