Now that I’ve played through the entirety of The War Within, I have some strong opinions where this expansion lies in the grander tapestry of World of Warcraft. But why talk about it in a vacuum when it can be mercilessly compared and contrasted with its siblings?
Thus, with 10 full expansions out for World of Warcraft and the 20th anniversary year behind us, it seemed like a good time to rank all of the major releases from this MMORPG from worst to best. Which one will get the top honor and the greatest disgrace? Read on!
Worst: Shadowlands (2020)
When I’m hunting for something nice to say about this more modern expansion, all my brain comes up with is, “Some of the zones were really pretty.” Other than that, this was a major belly-flop for WoW with a discombobulated theme, a dull-as-dirt capital city, borrowed power systems like Covenants that nobody liked, and the truly awful Maw zone that we were forced into again and again. This one expansion made me quit this MMO for two full years.
Cataclysm (2010)
I can appreciate the effort to modernize the then-creaky old Azeroth, but it was too sweeping at the cost of a lot of nostalgic feelings. The two new races (Worgen and Goblins) were great, but the high-level zones were a weird mishmash and the endgame difficulty was ratcheted up far beyond the previous expansion. It simply wasn’t fun, and we’re seeing that play out again in WoW Classic.
Battle for Azeroth (2018)
Eh, I don’t hate Battle for Azeroth overall, but this was in the middle of Blizzard plugging its ears and ignoring its playerbase. This should’ve built off of the achievements of Legion, but instead kind of downgraded. Some great zones, music, and leveling was to be had, and the return of world quests was welcome, but this expansion faltered with its borrowed power system and somewhat lame island expeditions.
The Burning Crusade (2007)
While I have a lot of strong nostalgia for this expansion, I can’t place it any higher on this list due to some very rough old school edges and a couple bad zones. Draenei and Blood Elves were a welcome addition, however, and dungeons were more accessible than ever.
Warlords of Draenor (2014)
A controversial expansion to say the least, but I’ve always liked Warlords of Draenor and am unashamed to say so. Garrisons were cool (shush, they were), zones were a lot more fun to explore with treasures dotted throughout, and everything looked a lot prettier with better art and character design. Plus, that music! But it’s still in the middle of the pack for some of the most anemic post-launch content additions that this game has ever seen.
Mists of Pandaria (2012)
For some of you, I have no doubt that this goes right at the top… or even the bottom. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Panda Land, as it doesn’t feel like Azeroth to me at all, but having played through the Remix last year, I’ve come to a grudging appreciation of some of its strengths. Pandaren were “meh” additions, but the Monk class was and is pretty awesome.
Dragonflight (2022)
It speaks volumes about the enormous step up in quality of this expansion that I can put Dragonflight at the number four spot even though I personally detest the new flight style and the overdose of dragons-dragons-dragons. Oh, and Dracthyr are kind of lame. But the game finally exited the “borrowed power” era, gave us a truly great set of zones and post-launch additions, and set the groundwork for better things to come.
The War Within (2024)
Yeah, I’m putting WoW’s newest expansion in third place, and I feel very OK with that. This is a strong holistic expansion, from warbands to hero talents to delves and the Earthen race. We’ve already gotten so much content for it with plenty more to come (Undermine!), and it feels as though the game actually made a place for the solo player this time around. And as a small plus, I really like the capital city. It’s one of my favorites, in fact.
Wrath of the Lich King (2008)
Sheesh, where do I begin? This was a tremendous expansion and the capstone of the “old era” of WoW. Death Knights were a terrific (and OP) class, the dungeon finder finally made these instances accessible to everyone, the new landmass was vast and beautiful, Arthas was a great end boss, and there was time traveling via the Caverns of Time. Absolute top shelf output from the Blizzard team at the time.
Best: Legion (2016)
But far and above all the rest is my easy number one pick, Legion. Blizzard went all-out on this expansion, pumping it full of some of the best-designed zones, the new world quest system, class order halls, the artifact weapon storylines (and, sigh, borrowed power), flexible questing, the return of Dalaran, the Demon Hunter class, class mounts, allied races, and ambitious post-release zones with Suramar and Argus. We may never see its like again.
Agree? Of course you don’t, and that’s fine! Go ahead and give us your ranking of these 10 expansions down with your reasoning in the comments below.