World of Warcraft
WoW box art
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Vivendi Universal
Release date(s)	NA - 23 November 2004 EU - 11 February 2005
Version	Patch 1.1.0 - Patch 1.12.2
Expansions	The Burning Crusade Wrath of the Lich King Cataclysm Mists of Pandaria
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, (Linux via Wine or Cedega)
Genre(s)	MMORPG

World of Warcraft, often referred to as WoW, is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) set in the Warcraft universe. It is developed by Blizzard Entertainment and contains 4 expansion packs: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. The initial release is now sometimes known as "vanilla WoW" or "classic WoW".

As of 2010, World of Warcraft has more than 12 million monthly subscribers,^{[1][citation needed]} and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the world's largest and most popular MMORPG.^[2] It also continues its further story development throughout its franchising, other than online media, such as Warcraft novels, comics, manga, RPG books, TCG, and board games.

Features

Note the following are the pre-expansion details:

• Uses and expands the storyline from the Warcraft series of games.
• Customizable characters:
  • 2 factions: Horde and Alliance.
  • 8 initial races: Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf, Orc, Troll, Undead, Tauren; added Blood Elf / Draenei, Goblin / Worgen, and Pandaren.
  • 9 initial classes: Mage, Warlock, Priest, Rogue, Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior, Paladin; added Death Knight (Hero Class), and Monk.
  • 9 initial professions, enabling resource gathering and item crafting; added Jewelcrafting and Inscription.
    • 4 initial secondary professions: Cooking, Fishing, First Aid, Riding; added Archaeology.
    • 2 initial class-based professions (Rogue): Lockpicking, Poisons (removed with patch 3.0.2); added Runeforging. (Death Knights only)
  • The Talents and Glyphs system allows further customization of the character's skills and stats.

Gameplay System

General System

• A casual-friendly character progression system up to a point.
  • Quests occur frequently, and being offline (resting) increases your experience points gain.
• In-game trading, mail service and auction system.
• Four server types: Normal (PvE), RP, PvP, and RPPvP.

Quest and Honor Systems

• A PvP Honor system, 3 initial Battlegrounds; added 1 , 2 and 2
  • Alterac Valley, Arathi Basin, Warsong Gulch; added Eye of the Storm, Strand of the Ancients / Isle of Conquest, and Battle for Gilneas / Twin Peaks.

Events

• A variety of World Events including:
  • Darkmoon Faire, Children's Week, Scourge Invasion, Midsummer Fire Festival, Hallow's End, and Feast of Winter Veil.
• Dozens of Instanced Dungeons, ranging from Blackfathom Deeps to Zul'Farrak with dozens more added in content patches and expansions.

User Interface and Customer Support

• Customize AddOn and Interface with some game commands support.
• Client seamlessly supports both Apple Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Linux users can play via Wine (MS Windows emulation), however this is not supported and can be buggy at times.

Availability

• Oceania (English - Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand)
• North America (English - US & Canada)
• Europe (English-UK, French, German, Spanish, Russian)
• South Korea
• China (Simplified and Traditional Chinese; including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau)
• Latin America^[3] (Spanish, English?)

Video

Official trailer
World of Warcraft Opening Cinematic(02:50) 889 views
Escape F Mount Stupid: World of Warcraft[4]
Escape From Mount Stupid - World of Warcraft(10:11) 715 views
An overview of World of Warcraft through late Cataclysm.

Trivia

The original WoW is sometimes referred to as "vanilla World of Warcraft," "pre Burning Crusade (Pre BC)," or "classic World of Warcraft".

References

See also

• Loading screen
• A listing of World of Warcraft-related sites.
• Timeline (World of Warcraft) for a timeline of game milestones since its announcement.
• World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (NYI)
• World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
• World of Warcraft Battle Chest
• World of Warcraft Mac OS X Icons

External links

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) Official Battle.net World of Warcraft US website

World of Warcraft Community Site (EU) Official Battle.net World of Warcraft EU website (en)

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) The Story of Warcraft > World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft Community Site (EU) The Story of Warcraft > World of Warcraft

Related info

Wikipedia World of Warcraft

WoW Insider WoW Archivist: Recapping classic World of Warcraft by Alex Ziebart Sep 27th 2011 at 1:00PM

wow leveling guide WoW Guide: Recapping classic World of Warcraft

WineHQ.com The Official WineHQ website with info about World of Warcraft with Wine.

MMO-Champion General Discussion forum Some things you didn't know about WoW... by Palidan 2010-06-17 03:41 PM

WoW Insider Robert's not-so-original WoW miscellany by Allison Robert Jan 24th 2012 at 6:00PM

WoW Bash Top 100 (images from World of Warcraft) by Furism

News

WoW Insider Readers' ideas for WoW improvements by Olivia Grace May 13th 2013 5:00PM

WoW Insider Things that were harder before by Matthew Rossi May 13th 2013 3:00PM

WoW Insider World of Warcraft loses 1.3M subscribers since February, down to 8.3M by Fox Van Allen May 8th 2013 5:00PM

Salon.com Lay off WoW, GOP! Their inaccurate attacks on "World of Warcraft" damage a great U.S. brand and chill essential scientific research By Daniel Greenberg Friday, Mar 8, 2013 11:06 AM PST

WoW Insider  by Anne Stickney Feb 7th 2013 4:39PM

WoW Insider WoW Archivist: Vanilla WoW's most hidden quest line by Scott Andrews Aug 17th 2012 at 12:00PM

BlizzPlanet WoW Down 1.1 Million Subscribers, Blizzard has Best Quarter Ever Financially By Eldorian – August 3, 2012

MMO-Champion WoW Loses 1.1 Million Subscribers, Down to 9.1 Million by chaud 2012-08-02 08:39 PM

Wowhead News World of Warcraft Loses Another 1.1 Million Subscribers by Ashelia 2012/08/02 4:15 PM

WoW Insider World of Warcraft currently down to 9.1 million subscribers by Alex Ziebart Aug 2nd 2012 at 4:35PM

It's Dangerous to Go Alone 50 Shades of WoW by Perculia July 16, 2012

WoW Insider World of Warcraft subscriber numbers remain at 10.2 million by Adam Holisky May 9th 2012 at 5:00PM

MMO-Champion WoW Stable at 10.2 Million Subscribers by chaud 2012-05-09 08:36 PM

WoW Insider 5 awesome ways World of Warcraft has improved since day one by Anne Stickney May 2nd 2012 at 12:00PM

Huffington Post Why Warcraft is Peaceful by Rollo Ross 17/04/2012 00:00

HelloGiggles World Of Warcraft: It’s A Secret To Everybody… Else by Michele Morrow 04.13.2012

GameSpot.com The Uncertain Future of World of Warcraft by Eddie Makuch April 12, 2012 11:30AM PDT

WoW Insider This Too Shall Pass: Balance and imbalance in World of Warcraft by Matthew Rossi Apr 9th 2012 at 8:00PM

Blizzard Entertainment (EU) BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® ANNOUNCES ITALIAN-LANGUAGE VERSION OF WORLD OF WARCRAFT® by Blizzard Entertainment, 24 February 2012

       World of Warcraft Community Site (EU) Italian Version of World of Warcraft is Coming to Europe by Blizzard Entertainment 24 Feb 2012 09:38 UTC

       World of Warcraft Community Site (US) Italian Version of World of Warcraft is Coming to Europe by Blizzard Entertainment Feb 24, 2012 8:00 AM PST

WoW Insider World of Warcraft subscriber numbers dip 100,000 to 10.2 million by Adam Holisky Feb 9th 2012 at 4:33PM

Wowhead News WoW Loses 100k More Subscribers, Subscriber Decline Finally Slows by Ashelia 2012/02/09 3:31 PM

World of Warcraft Community Site (EU) Aggra is Waiting For You: Are You Prepared? by Blizzard Entertainment, 23 Dec 2011 13:00 UTC

1up.com World of Warcraft Subscriptions Continue to Fall By Chris Pereira, 11/09/2011

PCWorld.com World of Warcraft Loses 2 Million Subscribers in a Year By Matt Peckham Nov 9, 2011 7:30 AM

World of Warcraft Community Site (EU) World of Warcraft is Now Available in Portuguese (Brazilian) by Blizzard Entertainment, 30 Nov 2011 08:00 UTC

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) World of Warcraft’s Seventh Anniversary! by Blizzard Entertainment Nov 18, 2011 10:49 AM PST

World of Warcraft Community Site (EU) World of Warcraft’s Seventh Anniversary! by Blizzard Entertainment 18 Nov 2011 19:00 UTC

World of Warcraft Community Site (EU) Brazilian Portuguese Version of World of Warcraft is Coming to Europe by Blizzard Entertainment, 27 Sep 2011 09:25 UTC

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) World of Warcraft Coming to Brazil by Blizzard Entertainment, Jul 21, 2011 6:55 PM PDT

Blizzard (US) BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT’S WORLD OF WARCRAFT® COMING TO BRAZIL IN 2011 by Blizzard Entertainment, July 21, 2011

Official General forum (EU) Poll: (Locked) Six Years of WoW In Europe - What Do You Remember?  Vaneras, 11/02/2011 17:52

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) World of Warcraft’s 6th Anniversary! by Blizzard Entertainment, Nov 16, 2010 7:00 PM PST

Old news

Web.Archive.org Sci Fi Weekly article "Warcraft Conquers The World" article archive SEP. 11, 2006 (archived 25-Apr-2009)

GameSpot.com ECTS 2001: World of Warcraft announced By Sam Parker September 2, 2001 10:32AM PDT

Other

Facebook World of Warcraft in Facebook search

Groups.Yahoo.com World of Warcraft in the Yahoo groups directory

v • d • e World of Warcraft Patches Classic · The Burning Crusade · Wrath of the Lich King · Cataclysm · Mists of Pandaria 0.x – Pre-release 0.6 · 0.7 · 0.8 · 0.9 · 0.9.1 · 0.10 · 0.11 · 0.12 1.x – WoW Classic 1.1.0 · 1.1.1 · 1.1.2 –  1.2.0 · 1.2.1 · 1.2.2 · 1.2.3 · 1.2.4 –  1.3.0 · 1.3.1 · 1.3.2  –  1.4.0 · 1.4.1 · 1.4.2  –  1.5.0 · 1.5.1  –  1.6.0 · 1.6.1  –  1.7.0 · 1.7.1  –  1.8.0 · 1.8.1 · 1.8.2 · 1.8.3 · 1.8.4  –  1.9.0 · 1.9.1 · 1.9.2 · 1.9.3 · 1.9.4  –  1.10.0 · 1.10.1 · 1.10.2  –  1.11.0 · 1.11.1 · 1.11.2  –  1.12.0 · 1.12.1 · 1.12.2 2.x – Burning Crusade 2.0.1 · 2.0.3 · 2.0.4 · 2.0.5 · 2.0.6 · 2.0.7 · 2.0.8 · 2.0.9 · 2.0.10 · 2.0.11 · 2.0.12  –  2.1.0 · 2.1.1 · 2.1.2 · 2.1.3 · 2.1.4  –  2.2.0 · 2.2.2 · 2.2.3  –  2.3.0 · 2.3.2 · 2.3.3  –  2.4.0 · 2.4.1 · 2.4.2 · 2.4.3 3.x – Wrath of the Lich King 3.0.1 β · 3.0.2 · 3.0.3 · 3.0.5 · 3.0.8 · 3.0.8a · 3.0.9  –  3.1.0 · 3.1.1 · 3.1.1a · 3.1.2 · 3.1.3  –  3.2.0 · 3.2.0a · 3.2.2 · 3.2.2a  –  3.3.0 · 3.3.0a · 3.3.2 · 3.3.3 · 3.3.3a · 3.3.5 · 3.3.5a 4.x – Cataclysm 4.0.1  · 4.0.1a · 4.0.3 · 4.0.3a  · 4.0.6 · 4.0.6a  –  4.1.0 · 4.1.0a · 4.1.11  –  4.2.0 · 4.2.0a · 4.2.2  –  4.3.0  · 4.3.0a · 4.3.2 · 4.3.3 · 4.3.4  –  4.4.0 5.x – Mists of Pandaria 5.0.1 β · 5.0.3 · 5.0.4  · 5.0.5 · 5.0.5b  –  5.1.0 · 5.1.0A  –  5.2.0 · 5.2.0a · 5.2.0b · 5.2.0c · 5.2.0d · 5.2.0e · 5.2.0f · 5.2.0g · 5.2.0h · 5.2.0i · 5.2.0j  –  5.3.0  –  5.4.0 Removed content 1.1.0 · 1.2.0 · 1.3.0 · 1.4.0 · 1.5.0 · 1.6.0 · 1.6.1 · 1.7.0 · 1.8.0 · 1.9.0 · 1.10.0 · 1.11.0 · 1.11.2 · 2.0.1 · 2.0.3 · 2.0.4 · 2.1.0 · 2.2.0 · 2.3.0 · 2.4.0 · 2.4.3 · 3.0.2 · 3.0.3 · 3.0.8 · 3.1.0 · 3.2.0 · 3.2.2 · 3.3.0 · 3.3.3 · 4.n.n · 4.0.1 · 4.0.3 · 4.0.3a · 4.1.0 · 4.2.0 · 4.3.0 · 5.n.n · β 5.0.1 · β 5.0.3 · 5.0.4 · 5.0.5 · 5.1.0 · 5.2.0 Hotfixes 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2013 Client builds (64-bit client) · Mirror · Coming soon · Interface · Bug · Hotfix · FAQ · Armory · Category

v • d • e Warcraft games Warcraft I: Orcs & Humans · II: Tides of Darkness · II: Beyond the Dark Portal · III: Reign of Chaos · III: The Frozen Throne World of Warcraft World of Warcraft · The Burning Crusade · Wrath of the Lich King · Cataclysm · Mists of Pandaria Special Editions Battle Chests WC Battle Chest · WCII Battle Chest · WCIII Battle Chest · WoW Battle Chest Collector's Edition WCIII Collector's Edition · WCIII Exclusive Gift Set · World of Warcraft Collector's Edition · Burning Crusade Collector's Edition · Wrath of the Lich King Collector's Edition · Cataclysm Collector's Edition Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition Misc. Demos Warcraft Demo · Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness Shareware · Warcraft III Demo · 10-day Free Trial Remakes Warcraft II: The Dark Saga · Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition Cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans Non-computer The Roleplaying Game · The Board Game · WoW: The Board Game · WoW: The Adventure Game · WoW Trading Card Game · WoW Minis