World of Warcraft: The MMORPG Benchmark for Over 20 Years

World of Warcraft (WoW for short) is an MMORPG released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004. It took the world of the real-time strategy Warcraft series and turned it into an online game where huge numbers of players log into the same world at once and adventure together.

In this post, we look at how the game was made, how it actually plays, and why it still comes up whenever people talk about MMORPGs. At the end, we also cover how to get started with it today.

At a Glance

The November 23 launch date was timed to the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. The game is set on the planet Azeroth, and its story begins about four years after the events of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

Origins

After releasing StarCraft in 1998, Blizzard was working on its next project, code-named "Nomad." The concept was influenced by a post-apocalyptic tabletop game, but during its first year of development it never found a clear direction.

Around that time, many developers at the company were playing EverQuest, the MMORPG released in 1999. The idea naturally came up: "Let's make an MMORPG too, and fix the things we found lacking in EverQuest." Warcraft, which already had a well-established world, was chosen as the setting. After a vote by management, Nomad was cancelled in late 1999 and development of World of Warcraft began.

The game was first unveiled in September 2001 at ECTS, a European games trade show. Development took around four to five years including testing, and the 3D graphics drew on elements of the in-house engine used for Warcraft III. Another notable feature was that it supported both Windows and Mac from the start, letting players share the same servers regardless of operating system.

How It Plays

Players first pick a server (realm) and create a character. During character creation, you choose one of two factions, the Alliance or the Horde, then pick a race such as Human, Dwarf, Orc, or Troll and a class such as Warrior, Mage, or Priest.

The basic flow looks like this:

• Quests: You take on tasks from NPCs, such as defeating monsters, collecting items, or traveling to other areas. Rewards include experience, items, and in-game money, and most of the story is told through quests.
• Progression: You earn experience to level up, choose talents and abilities, and acquire better gear.
• Dungeons and raids: You team up with other players to enter "instance dungeons." Regular dungeons are usually for five players, while raids take larger groups. Each party gets its own copy of the dungeon, so you can clear it without interference from others.
• PvP: You can face the opposing faction in battlegrounds with objectives like capture the flag, or turn on War Mode to fight the other faction out in the open world.
• Life content: There are professions like Tailoring and Blacksmithing, secondary skills like Cooking and Fishing, auction house trading, guild activities, and more.

The game runs on a monthly subscription. Since 2015, players have been able to exchange a "WoW Token" bought with real money for in-game gold, which also created a way to extend a subscription using in-game gold.

Why It's a Classic

The point critics raised most at launch was that it "cut down on waiting." In earlier MMORPGs, dying often came with a heavy penalty, but in WoW you could run back to your corpse as a spirit and revive right away. Recovery after combat was quick too, so even people who played in short sessions could enjoy it without much burden. The "rested experience" system, which grants bonus experience while you're logged out, was also praised for helping busy players keep up with their friends.

Quests acting as a guide were also highly regarded. Each zone had plenty to do, which eased the burden of "grinding" the same monsters over and over, and following quests naturally led players to explore every corner of the world. The world stretching from one end of a continent to the other without loading screens, the art style blending a cartoonish look with fantasy art, and distinct background music for each zone all drew praise as well.

Its commercial success was huge. It was the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006, and in October 2010 its subscriber count peaked at 12 million. In 2014, Blizzard announced that more than 100 million accounts had been created in total. In 2015, it was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play in the United States.

It did draw some criticism too. At launch, some quests were buggy, collection quests where certain items rarely dropped were called tedious, and players also mentioned the inconvenience of waiting for monsters to respawn in crowded areas.

Series and Influence

WoW isn't a game that was released once and left alone; it has expanded its world through expansion packs. The main expansions released so far are:

Starting with The War Within, a larger story called the "Worldsoul Saga" is unfolding across three expansions. When a new expansion comes out, the previous ones are folded into the base game, so newcomers don't need to buy older content separately.

In 2019, WoW Classic was released, letting players revisit the game as it was at launch before any expansions, and Classic servers recreating some of the expansions were added later. In effect, the latest version and past versions are run side by side within a single game.

The game's influence shows up in many places. Quest-driven progression, party play with distinct roles, and regular large-scale updates became a basic template that many later online games have followed. The "World First race," in which guilds compete to be the first to clear a new raid, has become an event drawing enough attention that esports teams sponsor participants.

How to Play Today

To start WoW today, install Blizzard's Battle.net app, create an account, and download the game. The free trial lets you play up to level 20, but features like trading, the auction house, and joining guilds are locked. To keep playing you need a monthly subscription, and the latest expansion's content requires buying that expansion.

You'll also need to decide which version to play:

• Current version (Retail): Includes the latest expansion and all of today's quality-of-life features. You can also group with players from the opposing faction, which makes it easier to play with friends.
• Classic: A good fit if you want to experience the slow progression of around 2004, inconveniences and all.

If you're new, you can level up just fine on your own by following quests, so we recommend picking a class without overthinking it and following the story. Rather than trying to see the entire world and story built up over the years all at once, it's better to take your time and start with the zones and content you enjoy.

References

• World of Warcraft - Wikipedia (Korean)
• World of Warcraft - Wikipedia
• World of Warcraft Classic - Wikipedia
• World of Warcraft Official Site