Celebrating 10 Years Of World Of Warcraft!

A very happy birthday to World of Warcraft! World of Warcraft(WoW) was released ten years ago on November 23, 2004 to the gaming community by Blizzard Entertainment and what a ten years it has been. Whether or not you have played or even care for World of Warcraft, there is no denying its enormity and impact on the gaming world. Spawned from the Warcraft Trilogy, World of Warcraft is undoubtedly the most successful massively multiplayer online role-playing game(MMORPG) out there. Not only did it set the standard for subscription-based MMORPGs, but it also created a massive footprint in the gaming world. A footprint so deep that even technologically inept grandparents know it by name.

Since its release, World of Warcraft has achieved a multitude of milestones. With 5 expansions, constant patches and updates, and a peak player-base of 12 million subscribers, Blizzard has much to be proud of. Of course, over the last decade many changes have occurred since its release. In order to maintain those subscriptions for so long, Blizzard had to constantly bring new things to the table.

After the release of World of Warcraft in its original state, referred to as “Vanilla WoW”, one of the next major steps was the release of their first expansion. On January 15, 2007 World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade was released to the public. Not only did this raise the level cap from 60 to 70, but it also made available the races of the Draenei and Blood Elves. In addition, it gave players access to a whole new world to explore, Outland. However, if you ask any WoW player at the time, the most satisfying moment of the expansion was when you had finally scrounged up the ungodly sum of money needed to get that flying mount. The Burning Crusade is viewed amongst many WoW players as the pinnacle of the game because of its well rounded and ground breaking features. It did, after all, receive amazing reviews and did incredible in sales so that must speak for something.

After slaying Illidan in Black Temple, the heroes of Outland anxiously awaited the next expansion, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. With its release came a level cap of 80, the Death Knight class, and the continent of Northrend. Though still tons of fun, Wrath of the Lich King was viewed as inferior to The Burning Crusade by many. That did not mean people were not pleased with it. Spending hours upon hours grinding out the new Death Knight class and working your way through Icecrown Citadel were some of the most enjoyable parts about the expansion. Not to mention, witnessing the fall of Arthus as the Lich King was probably one of the most substantial changes in the lore of the entire Warcraft franchise.

Everything seemed great in Azeroth with Arthus gone. Yet of course, someone had to go an ruin it by unleashing Deathwing upon the world. With the release of third expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, major changes took place in the world of Azeroth. Entire regions had been altered, major cities had been changed, the level cap had been raised to 85, new parts of the map added, and two new playable races were made available. Not only was the introduction of Goblins to the Horde and Worgen to the Alliance exciting, but the best feature of Cataclysm was without a doubt the ability to use flying mounts in Azeroth.

Following the defeat of Deathwing, Garrosh Hellscream, the current warchief of the horde, lead an all out assault against the alliance and during a naval battle, the two factions stumbled across Pandaria. This introduced the fourth expansion, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. As with all expansions, the level cap was raised to 90 this time. A unique new race called the Pandaren that could ally with your choice of horde or alliance was introduced. Also, a new continent, Pandaria was added. The major developments that occurred during this expansion were pretty much just setting up for the next and last expansion. Garrosh is seen for the true monster he is, and through a united effort between the horde and alliance, he is overthrown as leader of the horde.

In the last and final expansion, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, which was released on November 13, 2014, there were very few major changes in terms of game mechanics. Other than scaling down the stats, adding a few minor features such as personal garrisons, and the level cap finally reaching 100, the expansion is mostly story driven. Being story driven is precisely what it needs to be too. With Garrosh going back in time and mucking things up on Draenor, the heroes of Azeroth have to unite to stop the newly formed army of united Orcs from destroying Azeroth. We will have to wait and see what happens next.

The last ten years have been quite the journey for World of Warcraft and Blizzard, but what a decade it has been. Not only have they remained on top of a market where it seems no other subscription based MMORPG can survive, but they have managed to stay healthy and relevant the whole time. For any game franchise to survive a decade and still have an enormous following definitely puts them up there amongst the video game greats. Like it or not, World of Warcraft is one of the defining games of the video game industry and it very well deserves it.