Summary
As a developer,Blizzardhas created a lot of popular game franchises, andWorld of Warcrafthas been one of their flagship titles since the 1990s. The online version of the game wasfirst released in 2004, and it was a continuation of the story that was told in the original RTS games.
The lore and story have gone through some changes since the early days, butWoWis still known for focusing on the conflict between The Horde and The Alliance. The lore is so vast in fact, that Blizzard could never hope to tell the full story in a single installment, which is why they will never run out of material forWoWexpansions.
Updated June 17, 2025 by Kristy Ambrose:As the Achievement says, What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been. 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the original release of the MMORPG, and a few Classic servers remain to commemorate the old days.
The recent news from Blizzard regarding expansions includes something for Retail along with more changes to the Classic WoW experience with the release of Cataclysm. There are always one or two events that reshape the world’s most successful MMO to some degree, and tracing theWoW expansionsin order is like a history lesson in real life.
The recent and incoming expansions have changed what servers are available for certain areas. Retail WoW is found under what is currently the Dragonflight tab, and this is where The War Within can also be found. The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King are no longer available, and “Vanilla” WoW is available in three forms - Season of Discovery (SoD), Hardcore, and regular Classic.
12The Burning Crusade
The Destruction Of The High Elves And The Sunwell
The Burning Legion is an army of ravenous demons who have invaded countless worlds while being led by some of the strongest beings in theWoWuniverse.Burning Crusadefocused on the Legion’s latest attempt to invade Azeroth, which happened because the Doom Lord Kazzak reopened the Dark Portal to Draenor, otherwise known as Outland, the original Orc homeworld.
The Horde and The Alliance fought the Legion and even went through the portal to deal with the enemy at its source. This ultimately led to the defeat of Illidan Stormrage at the top of the Black Temple, who had declared himself the ruler of Outland.
ThisWoWexpansion also saw the troll warlord Zul’jin declare war on The Horde and The Alliance, and he summoned ancient Gods to destroy both factions. The disgraced Blood Elf prince, Kael’thas Sunstrider also tried to summon Kil’Jaeden through the Sunwell.
11Wrath Of The Lich King
The Tragic Story Of Arthas Menethil Comes To An End
Wrath of the Lich Kingis still considered to be the bestWoWexpansion, and for good reason. Players familiar with the lore of the RTS games know all too well how Arthas Menethil became the Lich King, and during his assault, he caused the original deaths of Sylvannas Windrunner and Dranosh Saurfang.
Many consider Icecrown Citadel to beWoW’s best raid, and it ended with Arthas' defeat and closure to a long story that started withWarcraft III: The Frozen Thronein 2003. This defeat included the destruction of the cursed runeblade, Frostmourne, which had the power to take the souls of those it had slain and dominate the undead.
10Cataclysm
The Face Of Azeroth Changed Forever
Cataclysmwas aWoWexpansion that brought a lot of changes to the world, as the evil dragon aspect, Deathwing the Destroyer, caused a massive cataclysmthat reshaped Azeroth. The user interface also changed dramatically and LFG became a permanent fixture. Aside from dealing with Deathwing, players needed to help Vol’jin stop the Zandalari trolls from attacking both factions.
Raids banished the Firelord Ragnaros from Mount Hyjal and then traveled to the elemental plane to defeat him once and for all. During the final battle with Deathwing, the other Dragon Aspects sacrificed their powers, thus leaving Azeroth’s protection in the hands of both faction’s heroes.
9Mists Of Pandaria
A New Continent And A Neutral Race
Normally, this expansion isn’t available, but it’s currently part of a Retail event;WoW Remix: Mists Of Pandaria. This is a time-limited event that allows players to explore the Pandaria expansion as it was released on August 07, 2025. It started on May 16th and ends in August of 2024.
Mists Of Pandariaintroduced players to a new, mysterious island, but it also introduced the Pandaren race. Pandaria was hidden from the rest of the world for thousands of years, but that all changed when the Horde unintentionally chased Anduin’s ship onto the continent’s shores. As the Horde and Alliance fought, the Mogu allied themselves with the Zandalari trolls and resurrected Lei Shen the Thunder King to reclaim Pandaria.
The expansion saw the fall of Warchief Garrish Hellscream, whose thirst for power turned him into a Pandaren war criminal, but he also turned against the Horde and formed his own “True Horde” comprised of just orcs. The Alliance and Horde besieged Orgrimmar to stop him, and when they did, both factions agreed to stop fighting.
8Warlords Of Draenor
An Alternate Timelineline Of Orcs And Dragons
Before Garrosh could be judged, he was rescued by a Bronze Dragon named Kairozdormu, who allowed him to travel back in time 35 years to an alternate Draenor. There, he warns the orcs that they will become slaves if they accept Gul’dan’s gift of power. This new Iron Horde conquers Draenor and builds a new Dark Portal which allows them to invade present-day Azeroth.
This expansion sees the returnof many old faces, and it has the Horde and Alliance join forces with the Draenei. Garrosh meets his end when he battles Thrall, his former Warchief and friend, as well as Gul’dan who goes on to take control of the Iron Horde.
Thrall and Garrosh were extremely close, and when he killed him at the end of the expansion, the emotional impact caused him to lose his connection to the Elements. The former Warchief then decided to go into hiding to spend more time with his family. Thrall essentially decides to walk away from the Horde, and without his leadership, the faction goes down a questionable path.
7Legion
The Return Of The Demons
The next demon invasion occurred in theLegionexpansion when Gul’Dan stole Illidan’s body and opened a portal at the Tomb of Sargeras. The demons used this portal to pour into Azeroth which forced the Wardens to releasethe fel-enhanced Demon Hunters. When the Horde and Alliance go to meet the Legion’s forces, they take heavy losses, including Warchief Vul’jin and King Varian.
Players end up defeating Gul’Dan again and bringing Illidan back to life. The story in this expansion comes to a climactic end when they travel to Argus using a massive ship called the Vindicaar. The Horde and Alliance continue to battle the Legion on Argus, where they defeat Kil’Jaeden and two Titans.
Argus wasLegion’sfinal raid boss, and he would have destroyed everything if the Titan Pantheon had not intervened. Once the Titan World-Soul was defeated, the Pantheon used the last of Argus' power to imprison Sargeras, the Titan who served as the franchise’s overarching villain.
6Battle For Azeroth
The Betrayal Of Sylvanas And The Rise Of Anduin Wrynn
Many fans were not pleased with theBattle for Azerothexpansion, which saw the Alliance and Horde in conflict after Warchief Sylvannas burned Teldrassil, the home of the Night Elves. The expansion brought players to the troll kingdom of Zandalar and the human kingdom of Kul’Tiras, but it also introduced Warfronts which were massive PVE events.
Players end up dealing with a Blood Troll uprising, which leads to the release of the Old God, G’huun. Trouble also stirs in the depths, leading both factions to Nazjatar, where they finally battle and defeat Queen Azshara. This act led to the release and eventual defeat of the powerful Old God, N’Zoth.
After Sylvannas betrays the Horde and kills Saurfang, she travels to Icecrown Citadel,where she battles Bolvar Fordragon, who was the Lich King at the time. Bolvar loses the fight, and Sylvanas ends up taking the Helm of Domination from him. Instead of wearing the Helm herself, she breaks it in half, and this causes the veil between Azeroth and the Shadowlands to shatter.
Shadowlandsbrings players to the realms of Bastion, Ardenweald, Revendreth, and Maldraxxus. As the story progresses, longtime fans get to see the spirits of characters who died a long time ago. Players learn that Sylvannas has joined forces with the Jailer, a God of Death who is trying to conquer the entire Shadowlands.
The expansion also added an endlessly playable, ever-changing dungeon called Torghast, Tower of the Damned, as a way of tapping into the popular rogue-like dungeon trend. Additionally, the discovery of beings much greater than the Titans, who are called The First Ones, brings the universe ofWorld of Warcraftinto an even wider perspective.
Although it’s chronologically the earliest, the story of this expansion goes deep into the ancient history of Azeroth to the memory of the various Dragonflights. The talent system has got another total renovation and not everyone was happy about the idea of all the changes.
The pressure was on Blizzard to improve after the exodus toFinal Fantasy 14and the lukewarm response to the previous expansion.Dragonflightwas well-liked by players and critics, exploringthe unique abilities of the Dractyr raceand using level-scaling to make the whole world accessible to everyone.
3The War Within
Literally Deep Within The World Of Azeroth
The War Within isthe first of three expansionsthat will be launching as part ofThe Worldsoul Saga. The first installment launches on August 24th, 2024, and reintroduces the underground world of the Earthen, a Titan-forged race that also appears in Northrend, along with several new zones that players can explore, including some new endgame content.
The big bad of this expansion seems to be an entity known only as the Harbinger of the Void, and his plan to use an army of deadly arachnids to conquer all of Azeroth has just reached the ears of both Alliance and Horde leaders.
