Since 2004, World of Warcraft has seen the release of nine different expansions, with a tenth expected to come next year. We’re approaching two decades since the release of the original World of Warcraft, which makes it a bit difficult to keep track of all the content. In this article we are going to go over all World of Warcraft expansions in chronological order, so you ran relive the last twenty years of Warcraft.
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(2004) World of Warcraft
The original base version of the MMORPG, World of Warcraft introduced the two factions: Alliance and Horde. Players would choose one of eight starting races (Human, Night Elf, Gnome, Dwarf, Orc, Undead, Troll, Tauren) and one of nine starting classes (Warrior, Hunter, Mage, Warlock, Shaman, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Druid). The game world of World of Warcraft featured two continents: Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. In the end, the base game received 12 content patches over a little over two years before the first expansion was released.
(2007) The Burning Crusade
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, also known as TBC, was the first expansion. TBC featured an all new zone, Outland, where players could explore six new zones as they attempted to track down the antagonist of the expansion, Illidan. In terms of content, a new race was added for each faction. Blood Elf for the Horde, and Draenei for the Alliance. Outland featured a new continent where players could obtain Flying Mounts and fly around the entire continent. The PvP Arena was added to World of Warcraft for the first time, and previously faction-exclusive classes Paladin and Shaman became playable by both factions. Finally, a new profession, Jewelcrafting, joined the list of obtainable professions.
(2008) Wrath of the Lich King
The second expansion, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) took players to the icy continent of Northrend. This expansion continued the storyline of the Warcraft 3 RTS game, with players tracking down The Lich King. Content-wise, a new class joined the MMO for the first time ever: Death Knight. The achievement system was added to the MMO, which let players track their accomplishments. A new profession, Inscription, allowed players of all classes to slot in exclusive glyphs to enhance and change their builds. Finally, the Barbershop was introduced to the game, which allowed players to alter their appearance at any time.
(2010) Cataclysm
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the third WoW, expansion, acted as a bit of a revamp and reset to the original MMO. The ferocious dragon Deathwing ripped Azeroth asunded, changing all of the zones from the original two contents in World of Warcraft, while also creating a few new zones. Two new races were introduced: Goblin for the Horde, and Worgen for the Alliance, as well as new race/class combinations. Players could also learn an all new profession, Archaeology. Finally, the transmogrification system came out. This system allows players to alter their appearance regardless of what is equipped.
(2012) Mists of Pandaria
The events of Cataclysm led directly into the fourth WoW expansion, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (MoP). Players would visit an all new area uncovered in Azeroth called Pandaria, where the mystical Pandaren race lived. The Pandaren would serve as the new playable race for the expansion, available to both factions. A new class, Monk, also joined the fray. Additional content includes an all new Pet Battle system, similar to that of Pokemon. Players can catch Pets throughout the world and do battle against NPC trainers and other players. For the first time, the Talent System of WoW got its first revamp.
(2014) Warlords of Draenor
The fifth expansion, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor (WoD) focused on an alternate universe where players went through the Dark Portal from TBC long before the Orcs became corrupted. The new locale for this expansion was an uncorrupted version of Outland, known as Draenor. For the first time ever, no new race or class came out this expansion. Instead, most Races received a revamp in their appearance to modernize them. A Garrison system was introduced that allowed players to build up their own personal plot of land, though the system does not exist in future expansions.
(2016) Legion
In the sixth expansion, World of Warcraft: Legion saw the return of the Burning Legion from the first The Burning Crusade expansion. Players would visit the Broken Isles, a new location on Azeroth where the Burning Legion had made their home. A new class, the Demon Hunter, made its appearance in this expansion. Each class had access to a Class Hall, which served as a community hub for fellow players of each class. Artifact Weapons, Zone Scaling, and the Mythic+ Dungeon system all released in Legion as well.
(2018) Battle for Azeroth
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth (BFA) is the seventh WoW expansion. Two new zones were released: Kul Tiras and Zandalar. A new Allied Race system joined the MMO, which allowed players to access up to 10 new Races over the course of the expansion. In terms of content, Island Expeditions, Warfronts, and the Heart of Azeroth were all introduced in BFA, though all systems were removed from future content.
(2020) Shadowlands
In the eight expansion, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, players ventured into the afterlife in a zone aptly named Shadowlands. This is the second expansion in which no new race or class were released. From a lore perspective, players had to confront the Jailer, a powerful being disrupting the balance of the Afterlife for nefarious reasons. Covenants and Torghast were the featured systems of this expansion, though neither made a return in the next expansion.
(2022) Dragonflight
The ninth and current expansion, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, is in its final content patch, Guardians of the Dream. In Dragonflight, players venture to the Dragon Isles. A new race and class combination, Dracthyr and Evoker, became playable with this expansion. However, the two can only be used together, so the only option is Dracthyr Evoker. In terms of additional content, Dragonriding was introduced allowing players to fly on the backs of epic dragons. The Talent System has also been revamped for the second time.
(2024) The War Within
Announced at BlizzCon 2023, the first expansion in the new Worldsoul Saga is The War Within. The level cap is increased to 80 as players visit ancient civilizations beneath the surface of Azeroth across four new zones. A new allied race, The Earthen, is coming in the expansion which will be available to both horde and alliance. A new type of world content called Delves will allow 1-5 players to partake in scalable world instances for meaningful gear progression. New Hero Talents are also being added as well as Warbands which give players access to account-wide progression.
(202X) Midnight
Details are spare, but Blizzard has revealed the second expansion in the Worldsoul Saga as World of Warcraft: Midnight. In the second expansion, players will return to The Old World and the fabled lands of Quel’Thelas. The forces of the void have invaded Azeroth and aim to snuff out the light of the Sunwell and plunge the world into darkness.
(202X) The Last Titan
We don’t know much about the final Worldsoul Saga expansion, The Last Titan. In the final expansion of theWorldsoul Saga, players will return to the wintry lands of Northrend and revisit Ulduar. There, players will witness the return of the fabled Titans, and uncover a vast conspiracy that stretches throughout the history of Azeroth and challenge everything we know about the Titans.
We should get more details on these three expansions over the coming months.
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