It’s been 10 years since World of Warcraft debuted. Since that time it has been the recipient of four colossally massive expansions, each ushering their own theme into the game. With each varying wildly, you can look at these as eras in the game, separating the World of Warcraft legacy into chapters if you will.
I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since launch, and have enjoyed all of its expansion. However, there is a divide between my personal experience with each, with there being a wide margin between what I would consider to be the best and worst expansion of the bunch. While that might not be surprising, the uncompromising quality of its expansions is. It’s no wonder World of Warcraft still has more than six million subscribers 10 years post-launch.
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As we get ready for the debut of Warlords of Draenor tomorrow, signaling a whole new era, I’m going to look back and recount what I thought of each expansion, and rank them while I’m at it.
4. Cataclysm: The Alt Expansion
Cataclysm was a necessary expansion, renovating the aging design of Azeroth so that it would no longer stick out like a sore thumb. This rework of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms would require an incredible amount of effort on Blizzard’s part. Blizzard has gone as far as to say that upgrading the continents remains the most difficult engineering and content delivery task it’s ever set out on.
This renovation was huge for World of Warcraft and its ability to acquire new players; making a new character and leveling from 1-60 went from a jarring experience to one rich with entertainment overnight. Many players would make alts and see how much of a difference it made. This tied together well with the newly introduced Goblin and Worgen races.
Cataclysm was a huge lesson for Blizzard in terms of difficulty design. At release, it was a handful. 5-man dungeons wiped even the more experienced groups, leading to frustrated and poorly geared players. Blizzard would eventually give in, but would nerf them so much that the dungeons would go from too hard to what many deemed too easy.
The expansion started off relatively strong. Although the endgame zones were all over the world making it the most seamed expansion in World of Warcraft history. It didn’t help that Deepholm and Vash’jir were, for the most part, poorly constructed.
Making a new character and leveling from 1-60 went from a jarring experience to one rich with entertainment overnight.
Tier 11 was great. A lot of people still make groups to go back and enjoy Firelands. Unfortunately, the expansion would lose its momentum halfway through and never regain it.
The main antagonist of the expansion was a powerful dragon known as Deathwing the Destroyer. The lore surrounding him was interesting, but didn’t captivate its audience as much as both previous expansions. To top this off, the final raid where he would be fought, Dragon Soul, wasn’t a cohesive package. The raid had its moments (Hagara and Spine), but felt rushed. The Deathwing fight itself would pale in comparison to the expansion-ending Arthas and Illidan battles that came it.
The introduction of Looking for Raid was one of a few highlights of the expansion. Players like myself who no longer had the spare time for raiding would be able to jump into Dragon Soul and earn epic content. Unfortunately, since it was a new implementation it had a couple issues, mainly with how loot was handled. Players would fight over drops, making enemies out of comrades.
Cataclysm would end with what at the time was the longest content drought in history. A full year would go by before Mists of Pandaria landed, leaving players to consume Dragon Soul and only a couple PvP seasons for a long length of time.
3. Mists of Pandaria: The Age of Monks and Pandas
Previous to Mists of Pandaria, the Pandaren race wasn’t a large component of Warcraft‘s lore, not by a long shot. As such, myself and a fair share of World of Warcraft players weren’t particularly excited about having an entire expansion dedicated to them and their kingdom. As upset as we were, young people and those who like cute characters were overwhelmed with joy.
Set in the beautiful land of Pandaria, thematically it was nothing short of interesting with its Southeastern Asia style themes and new Monk class. It had great color combinations in its zones, making it a pleasant experience for the eyes. I would argue that Pandaria the only landmass in World of Warcraft without a bad zone.
Mists of Pandaria was a marvel when it came to features.
Mists of Pandaria was a marvel when it came to features. Challenge Mode was a great addition for hardcore players, giving them objectives to take part in with great rewards. Also, the tuning of Looking for Raid and outdoor raid encounters was a good thing for everyone.
The addition of the Pokemon-esque Battle System was huge for many players. No longer were companions just little collectibles. Instead, they would be used for one of the most thoughtfully crafted mini-games in MMORPG history.
My favorite part of the expansion was Timeless Isle. This “weekly zone” was unique in design, encouraging adventure, and offering players fun-to-use rewards. Unlike many daily zones I actually felt compelled to visit Timeless Isle each week and see what I could find. It also made gearing up new characters a lot easier.
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There were a few hiccups in the expansion. For one, it was grind heavy, with tons of reputation and dailies to consume over the months leading to some burnout among the hardcore. Also, the introduction of a legendary cloak available to just about everyone trivialized the reputation of legendary items. Healing throughout the course of the expansion was also structured in such a way that it would devolve one of the most important aspects of group play into button mashing for a lot of players. Lastly, Mists of Pandaria would end with what stands as the longest content drought in history with 14 months between the debut of Siege of Orgrimmar and the arrival of Warlords of Draenor. Even the most dedicated fans would lost interest.
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