World of Warcraft
Last updated on: March 7, 2026
Overall Rating:-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Initial Thoughts
World of Warcraft is a complex game to review, as it has many aspects, multiple versions and a long history of expansions. In this review, there will be thoughts on multiple versions of the game, as well as different ratings for each one, above is the overall rating for the game as a whole, but depending on the expansion, it may differ greatly. The reviews are also separated into different sections, depending on the era of the game, to which each expansion has been categorized based on both how I personally think they fit, and how Blizzard seems to treat them. Expansions colored in grey are ones I do not consider as part of any era, but have been placed to the closest one, but will not contribute to the rating of the era. Each era will also have an expansion considered as the "peak" of the era, and if it was possible to play any expansion from that era as it was during then, that expansion would be the one I recommend playing. Things related to expansions, but not part of the review, will be at the bottom of the page.
The Classic Era
Disclaimer: I did not play these expansions as they came out, I have only played them through the WoW Classic releases, and I cannot speak to their original experience.
Era Rating:-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
The Classic Era, what I consider to be the Warcraft 4 experience, it finishes storylines set in the Warcraft games, and culminates to it's peak in Wrath of the Lich King, where the story of Arthas is concluded. This was the point where the game was at it's most popular, as it was the most polished and new-player friendly MMO at the time, and people wanted to finish the Warcraft story. This is the era in which the game was at it's social peak, as it had more focus on group content, but was still playable solo for the most part. For players just getting into the game, Classic is where I would recommend starting, as the slow leveling system allows new players to learn the game and experience the world at a good pace, and have the social interactions you would expect from an MMO, without having to go out of your way to find them. I strongly recommend joining a leveling guild, to both ask for help and make some friends along the way.
Vanilla
Rating:3
Some consider Vanilla to be the best version of the game, and while I do think it has a certain charm, it is not something I would keep playing after reaching max level, without knowing that new content was coming, such as TBC.
The Burning Crusade
Rating:
3
I doubt there are many who consider TBC to be the best expansion, but I do think everyone agrees on it being a good expansion, it added a lot of quality of life improvements and new content to the game. It also continued Illidan's story, and helped refine WoW as a game, while staying close to the Vanilla experience.
Wrath of the Lich King
Rating:
5
I think everyone knew this was going to be the best rated expansion from the Classic Era, and arguing against it is not easy. From finishing the story of Arthas, to improving things like quest loot drop rates, and adding the first hero class to the game with the Death Knight, WotLK is the finishing touch to the Warcraft 4 experience, to the Classic Era, and had a major influence to the game as a whole, though some of that influence was not for the better, but I'll talk on that more at the bottom of the page.
The Modern Era
Era Rating:-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Cataclysm
Cataclysm feels much more like an update than an expansion, it overhauled a lot, and while it did bring new content, when most people hear "Cataclysm", they think about how the world changed and systems were modernized. It's hard to review, as it'd be reviewing changes to the core game, rather than the expansion content. If you must have a number to represent it, it'd have to be a 2.
Mists of Pandaria
Warlords of Draenor
Legion
Rating:
5
Legion was the peak of the Modern Era, it did for Illidan what WotLK did for Arthas, concluding the story of him and The Burning Legion, focusing a lot on class fantasy with order halls and artifact weapons, and was overall a very satisfying expansion to play, with a lot of great quality content and quality of life improvements. While some consider systems it brought in, such as the artifact weapons which were a grind for people at the top level, to be a bad thing, I believe for the average player, Legion did nothing but good. It was the best expansion since WotLK and if one doesn't consider how WotLK closed the Warcraft story, then as a way more modern experience of World of Warcraft, Legion may be considered the best expansion in the game.
Battle for Azeroth
Current Era
Era Rating:-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Shadowlands
Shadowlands, considered by many as the worst expansion, also didn't feel like it fit into the Modern Era, it also isn't treated as part of the Current Era by Blizzard, so it's not considered as part of either. It is story-wise a bad expansion, as Jailer came out of nowhere, and a lot of characters felt like they did not match their previous iterations, but gameplay-wise and content-wise, such as cosmetics, and zones, it wasn't bad and shouldn't be blindly hated, but rather criticized for its major flaws in story. I'd give it a -5 for people who are interested in the story of WoW, a 0 for people who aren't as caught up with the story and don't know about why certain things about it are bad, and 2 for just gameplay and content.
Dragonflight
Rating:
2
Dragonflight, a return to form for Wow, it definitely was a major improvement after Shadowlands, but it felt like a safe expansion right after the major fail, where it might have benefited from taking more of a risk. It felt like an expansion on the level of BfA, but right after Shadowlands, whereas BfA was after Legion, which was an incredible expansion, so while it was an improvement, it didn't feel like WoW had returned to what it should be at, though objectively, it did.
The War Within
Rating:
3
The beginning of the Worldsoul Saga, The War Within is a good expansion, the story is good, zones are nice and gameplay is solid. It's an improvement to Dragonflight, but as it's just the start of a larger story, it's doing a lot of the foundational building, which doesn't make it as exciting as previous one-expansion stories, but the buildup it has is great and gives promise to WoW returning to its former glory.
Midnight
Rating:
3
The current expansion at the time of writing, Midnight just launched a few days ago. Dungeons are out, but most of the content is yet to come, so I can't give a full review, but so far, the leveling campaigns were fun, the reworks classes got in order to fit their fantasies better are amazing, and overall, Midnight seems like it will improve upon what The War Within started.