World of Warcraft: The Best WoW Versions

In The List today, we take a look at the various iterations of World of Warcraft in light of next week's release of the latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria. We rank order them according to our preferences. See if you agree before leaving your thoughts in the comments.

With Mists of Pandaria coming next week, we thought it was a good idea to rank World of Warcraft’s expansions. There are a few things to remember when reading. As Blizzard treats their expansions as almost full game launches, we will be doing the same here. So WoW’s initial launch is part of the list. Again this is just opinion. However I do encourage everyone to post their favorite releases and expansions in the forums. With that here we go.

Read more of Garrett Fuller's The List: The Best WoW Versions.

Read and Post Comments Below

MORE NEWS »

Thane writes:

actually wotlk is regarded as the worst WoW expension in general ^^

9/18/12 8:05:21 AM | top

JRRNeiklot writes:

Wow. Just wow. Let me give you your opinion for you.

4 Cataclysm

3 WotLK

2 Original WoW (I hate the term vanilla)

1 Burning Crusade

BC was by far the best expansion. Beautiful zones Challenging dungeons, TEN levels and a ton of stuff to do besides grind dailies. No lfd/lfr and no CRZ. And a real talent system. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs their head examined. And there were two new classes - the paladin and shaman. It's not opinion. It's fact. WoW has been declining ever since. And MoP looks to continue in that direction. It's sad, really.

9/18/12 8:12:27 AM | top

WhiteLantern writes:

Originally posted by JRRNeiklot

Wow. Just wow. Let me give you your opinion for you.

4 Cataclysm

3 WotLK

2 Original WoW (I hate the term vanilla)

1 Burning Crusade

BC was by far the best expansion. Beautiful zones Challenging dungeons, TEN levels and a ton of stuff to do besides grind dailies. No lfd/lfr and no CRZ. And a real talent system. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs their head examined. It's not opinion. It's fact. WoW has been declining ever since. And MoP looks to continue in that direction. It's sad, really.

Though I largely agree with your list, you might want to rethink what you consider a fact.

9/18/12 8:17:15 AM | top

gravesworn writes:

The original wow was the only version I had fun in. The expansions really missed the mark for me. I could go on forever why, but lets just leave it at the fact its expansions lost its personality for favor of mass appeal.

9/18/12 8:19:42 AM | top

Betaguy writes:

MoP is going to be the best for me, I am only coming back to do the battle pets.

9/18/12 8:21:04 AM | top

XiThRyL writes:

I almost agree with this list 100%, I would list them in this order (1 most favorite 4 least favorite)

Wrath of the Lich King
Burning Crusade
Cataclysm
Original WoW

For me, I played the most during WotLK I love the characters that were highlighted as well, and I enjoyed the sense of community the game had back in BC, I remember grouping with players for dailies, and dungeons fun times. Now with Cata I still enjoy the game, but I can't wait for the game to step into new light with Mists... Most of my friends left shortly after Cata launch and are all coming back for mists.

The original WoW oddly enough I hated, I played for a bit and left, came back a little bit before BC and slowly got back into the game which rammped into overdrive with WotLK setteled a bit in Cata, and now with Mists on the horizon I am super excited.

9/18/12 8:29:12 AM | top

XiThRyL writes:

Originally posted by Betaguy
MoP is going to be the best for me, I am only coming back to do the battle pets.

haha friend of mine is creating a WoW account from scratch just for battle pets

9/18/12 8:29:42 AM | top

JRRNeiklot writes:

Originally posted by WhiteLantern

Originally posted by JRRNeiklot

Wow. Just wow. Let me give you your opinion for you.

4 Cataclysm

3 WotLK

2 Original WoW (I hate the term vanilla)

1 Burning Crusade

BC was by far the best expansion. Beautiful zones Challenging dungeons, TEN levels and a ton of stuff to do besides grind dailies. No lfd/lfr and no CRZ. And a real talent system. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs their head examined. It's not opinion. It's fact. WoW has been declining ever since. And MoP looks to continue in that direction. It's sad, really.

Though I largely agree with your list, you might want to rethink what you consider a fact.

It is fact. More levels, a better talent system, new classes, and a lack of idiotic lobby queue and console achievement features. Convenience does not equal improvement. What do Cata/LK bring? Easy mode and lobby queues.

9/18/12 8:37:16 AM | top

Rockniss writes:

I'm going to have to agree that Wrath was the best overall, it had good everything, I think most people are only looking at raid content. If you asked best raid content, I'm going to have to go vanilla experience

9/18/12 8:39:19 AM | top

TwiggLe writes:

Originally posted by JRRNeiklot

Wow. Just wow. Let me give you your opinion for you.

4 Cataclysm

3 WotLK

2 Original WoW (I hate the term vanilla)

1 Burning Crusade

BC was by far the best expansion. Beautiful zones Challenging dungeons, TEN levels and a ton of stuff to do besides grind dailies. No lfd/lfr and no CRZ. And a real talent system. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs their head examined. And there were two new classes - the paladin and shaman. It's not opinion. It's fact. WoW has been declining ever since. And MoP looks to continue in that direction. It's sad, really.

How was the Paladin and Shaman new in BC? They had both been in the game already... Unless you mean new as in the other faction could place them. Which I don't think that counts...

9/18/12 8:42:00 AM | top

SHOW 10 MORE

SHOW ALL

MORE NEWS »

HOME FORUMS GAMELIST MOBILE GAMES

MMORPG

World of Warcraft: The Best WoW Versions