For the past two decades, few games have been as prolific as Activision-Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. WoW changed the landscape of an entire genre, bringing the niche MMORPG into the mainstream. While it still had its odd quirks, WoW was far easier to get into than EverQuest and quickly took its spot as top dog. Years have passed, and dozens of other MMO’s have dubbed themselves the “WoW Killer” before promptly phasing out. World of Warcraft was the best for a long, long time.
As it turns out, the real “WoW Killer” was Activision-Blizzard themselves. As they say, “No king rules forever, my son.” It’s still a solid game, but WoW‘s competition is better than ever, especially Final Fantasy XIV. Let’s take a look at the lows and the highs, according to Metacritic, of the game’s expansion packs as the WoW community waits for the release of Shadowlands.
Updated December 11th, 2020 by Tanner Kinney: The latest expansion, Shadowlands, finally dropped after a couple of long delays due to negative feedback. Although it will still be some time before the expansion can be evaluated fairly, enough Metacritic scores have been released so that it has a score at time of writing. The question now is: is it the return to form WoW fans are looking for? And just how much was inspired by their direct competitor, FFXIV Shadowbringers?
9 Battle for Azeroth – 79
Battle for Azeroth, the latest of WoW‘s expansion at this time of writing, was released on August 14, 2018. The expansion pack was the best-selling pack of all time according to Blizzard, and the promises brought back a number of people. The relative success of the Legion expansion gave fans hope for the future of the game. However, those hoping for new content and balanced classes at release quickly realized the expansion was lacking that sweet, sweet MMORPG endgame.
Since its release, Battle for Azeroth has turned around on some of those aspects, but a lot of fans felt burned once again. Critics may have given the game relatively good scores, but the Metacritic user score sits at 3.0/10. When compared to the most recent Final Fantasy XIV expansion, it’s clear to see that people aren’t too happy with this one.
8 Mists of Pandaria – 82
Mists of Pandaria, released on September 25th of 2012, was one of the first times fan frustrations with the game extended beyond WoW‘s community. The number of images containing a boxed copy of this game next to copies of Kung Fu Panda 2 for Xbox was probably higher than the sales of the latter. For outsiders, the expansion’s new areas looked gorgeous. The new player experience was greatly improved. Pandaren was goofy and fun, and pet battles were a great minigame for casual players.
However, fans will say this is the point things started to become streamlined. A lot of the negative reviews talk about issues with talent changes and a bad direction for the gameplay changes. However, some players might have been relieved to have leveling streamlined, making it easier to get to “the good part” of the MMO. Overall, MoP is considered by fans to be a weaker expansion, and its place on this list reflects that.
7 Shadowlands – 82
Shadowlands, released on Nov. 23, 2020 following an extensive alpha and testing period, sees major sweeping changes to the game and the world to help make things fresh. The player will travel to an alternate reality, where only they can stop a great calamity that threatens both realms. It also, according to both fan and critic reviews, boasts what many consider to be the best story WoW has told in years. Critics also compliment the streamlined leveling process and the signs of great things to come for the timeless MMO.
Fans, of course, can’t help but complain about the latest World of Warcraft expansion. And yet, launch day jitters aside, it has much more positive reception across the board than Battle for Azeroth. Players also enjoy the new covenant system and the beautiful new landscapes Blizzard has crafted. It’s now the fastest-selling PC game, a title World of Warcraft has held multiple times now, and it looks like WoW fans have something to look forward to for the first time in a long time.
6 Warlords of Draenor – 87
Warlords of Draenor, released on November 13th of 2014, had to follow the relatively weak Mists of Pandaria and deliver something old and new fans could enjoy. To its credit, Warlords of Draenor did improve on a number of problems with the previous release. Garrisons may have been a Facebook game at its core, but it was better than other things added in the past. Quests were still linear but improved, and the story was a step up from MoP. A lot was setting WoD to be a return to form.
However, as documented by the torrent of reviews talking about the issue, the expansion’s launch was an absolute disaster and the pack stayed like that for some time. The new content was also stretched thin, leading players to hit the new level cap pretty quickly. Final Fantasy XIV does a great job of delivering content upfront with its expansions, something Warlords of Draenor struggled to do.
5 Legion – 88
Legion, released on August 30th of 2016, followed two (arguably three) less-than-stellar expansions in a row. But when fans had lost all hope, they were not prepared for what Legion would deliver. The story was one of the greatest in a long-time, impressing fans and critics alike. It was steeped in nostalgia, but sometimes that’s a good thing. The expansion pack melded beloved elements of Wrath of the Lich King and Burning Crusade, creating an experience that fans couldn’t help but love. Some had their issues, but they’re outnumbered pretty handily.
As the patches came through for Legion, more and more people were sold on it. The final raid tier in particular was especially fun. The grind was still present, but that is normal for an MMO.
4 Cataclysm – 90
Cataclysm, released on December 7th of 2010, killed World of Warcraft dead and the series was never heard from again. Naturally, despite what some might have said at the time, this proved to not be true. However, Cataclysm did mark a turning point in Activision-Blizzard’s philosophy with WoW. The existing areas had started to really suffer from age, and old quests felt archaic by comparison. The Azeroth of old was burnt to the ground (kind of), and everyone got a piece of what the expansion had to offer.
Critics were absolutely in love with the expansion’s attempts to revitalize what had become somewhat stale. Fans, on the other hand, were divided on whether this was a good idea or not. Some fans thought that the streamlined quests were much needed, others felt it ruined the “challenge.” For better or for worse, Cataclysm was a landmark expansion and success for Activision-Blizzard.
3 Wrath of the Lich King – 91
Depending on who’s asked, Wrath of the Lich King (released November 13, 2008) was the last time WoW was actually good. The expansion brought players to Northrend, home of the titular Lich King and the Frozen Throne. This expansion directly follows the plot laid out in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and fans were incredibly happy about that. The gameplay was still addictive and fun, delivering high-octane raids and fun quests, but now with better customization.
Wrath of the Lich King had a little something for all types of fans and reignited interest in the game. It could be argued that the Wrath of The Lich King played a huge role in making WoW a cultural landmark.
2 Burning Crusade – 91
Burning Crusade, released on January 16th of 2007, was World of Warcraft‘s first expansion and a smashing success. While it did have a somewhat poor new-player experience, Burning Crusade still sits among WoW‘s best expansion packs.
Burning Crusade added a little bit of everything without drastically changing what made WoW good. New races were solid additions, the new mounts were great, and the raids and endgame content were just as good as what was delivered before. There’s a lot to love with Burning Crusade, and there’s a good reason why people won’t shut up about it after all of these years.
1 Vanilla/Classic – 93
Does Classic count as an expansion? Just to be clear, this is referring to 2004’s original release and not the 2019 version. The user score is lower than both Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, but World of Warcraft‘s base game still has its fans. Classic defined an entire genre and generation of PC gaming.
Blizzard was at the top of their game with this release. It was a bit of a grind and often obtuse, but there was hardly a better social experience in gaming than WoW Classic. It’s not surprising to see Classic at the top; sometimes, the original is just the best.
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