World of Warcraft version. WoW addons, WoW addons. Release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of The Lich King

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003) – and now a pinch of RPG... oops!

Each race in the add-on for the third part was given as many as one new unit, but the heroes... Now, in addition to leveling up, they could stock up on fashionable gear in stores, there were more skills, the role of heroes in each mission became almost key.

Neutral heroes also appeared who could be hired additionally. And the campaign for the orcs was generally more RPG than RTS. What can we say, if it is in the form of a mod for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and the already legendary Defense of the Ancients (aka Dota) appeared, which generally represented a completely new MOV genre at that time. It was “The Frozen Throne” that completed both the plot and gameplay transition from the first slaughter of people and orcs to that bomb that exploded the very next year after the add-on’s release.

World of Warcraft (2004) – The creation of the world... Warcraft

Now it’s difficult to say whether the gradual addition of RPG elements to the Warcraft games was just following trends or part of a grander plan. Only one thing is known for certain - in 2004, Metelitsa released one of the best MMORPGs of all time, which brings the company a billion dollars a year and breaks all possible online records and the number of awards.

Paradoxically, it was the release of WoW that most likely put an end to the history of Warcraft as a series of real-time strategies. There is simply no point for the company to release Warcraft 4 - yes, millions of WoVka players will buy it. They will buy and proceed, leaving the servers for this time. This means that in the future, Metelitsa will lose more than it will gain. Therefore, within the framework of the franchise, any games will continue to be released for any platforms ( like Hearthstone or Heroes of the Storm) – but not RTS on PC. Warcraft is dead, long live World of Warcraft!

Relevant for: Burning Crusade, The Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm

Many years have passed since Blizzard launched its most profitable project. WoW has changed dramatically over the years, and those who played it in the early months will hardly recognize the modern version of the project. Except that some of the character models and the general visual design style look the same, although they are now available in a new quality. Sometimes it’s not easy to figure out how the so-called add-ons differ from each other. World of Warcraft. After all, to fully appreciate the game, you will have to not just start account, but also put its upgrades up to latest version- Cataclysm.

Add-on release sequence:

1. Classic World of Warcraft. Basic account, 60 character levels, continents of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. The slang is “vanilla”, “classic”. With the advent of the Cataclysm, some of the classic content became unavailable, game worlds completely modified, and the modern “classic” is, in fact, a heavily reworked version of the game.

2. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade . First addition to WoW, 70 character levels, new continent of Outland. In slang "BK". Two new races have been added to the game: Blood Elves and Draenei, you can only create characters of these races if your account includes Burning Crusade. All the main actions of this add-on take place on the territory of Outland; they practically did not touch the two main continents.

3. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Second addition to WoW, 80 character levels, new continent of Northrend. In slang “Lich”, “VotLK”. The first heroic class has been added to the game: Death Knights. All major action has moved from Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms and Outland to Northrend.

4. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The third addition to WoW, 85 character levels, two new races - goblins and worgen. All continents of Azeroth have been reworked, that is, Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms and Northrend. The mechanics of classes have been partially changed, improved models have been added, and special treatment graphics available at the user's request.

Apg account raid is carried out according to the matryoshka principle. To start Classic WoW is enough for any player. But, if you want to create a blood elf or draenei, you will have to immediately upgrade your account to BC. If you want to create a goblin or worgen, you will have to upgrade the pre-Cataclysm entry.

Gradually, as your character develops, you will have to “buy” additional additions, so it makes sense to purchase everything at once. There are no savings in gradually acquiring improvements. You can only get the maximum level if you have upgraded the entry to the latest addition, that is, in this case, to Cataclysm.

In addition to traditional add-ons, Blizzard releases patches. They do not need to be purchased separately and are distributed completely free of charge. As a rule, patches are installed on Wednesdays; their weight and significance are determined individually, but major updates are not released often. As part of the patches, developers make cosmetic changes or reveal new storyline, which would allow players of the maximum level to have fun. Very rarely do patches seriously affect newcomers, and the only noticeable effect for them is that on the night from Wednesday to Thursday they have to download another piece of the game. Without the patch installed, the game will not start, because Blizzard often replaces models, sound and graphic files, as well as updating the protection system.

Conventionally, the entire game in WoW in a specific period of time can be divided into high level content And all the rest. “Everything else” is a passable element for a significant part of the players, especially for PvP guilds. The most interesting and dynamic things happen on maximum level. That's why, no matter what, people continue to buy upgrades. In addition to an interesting plot, new quests, new dungeons, each update gives them a reason to once again gather in interest groups and move away from routine daily tasks. If you want to play "real" WoW, buy all the expansions at once and remember that the best part is at the end. This doesn't mean, however, that you can't have fun while developing your character. The world of Azeroth is friendly enough that you will never have to focus on killing monsters to reach the next level. Complete quests, go with friends to low-level instance zones, and very soon you will understand what is more interesting for you. And after that, set your priorities at the last, 85, level.

Indeed, the history of the Warcraft universe cannot simply be retold, but understanding how it is organized and which side is best to approach it is not so difficult. The following review will have a navigation function, and may be useful even to those who are in the know but would like to expand their knowledge. My goal in this answer will not be to retell the content of numerous sources, but to give the most general outline of events and show what place each source occupies in this outline.

Conventionally, the history of the universe can be divided into three sources: strategy, MMORPG World of Warcraft, books and comics. It seems that there are also desktop ones card games, but I don’t know anything about them, and these three layers of the universe will be more than enough for you.

The history covered in strategies can be divided into three parts, in accordance with the parts of the games.

Warcraft I, it’s the first war. A recently released film was made based on this part. Tells about the Horde's invasion of Azeroth, about Medivh, about the fall of Stormwind, about the death of King Llane.

Game: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

Warcraft II, second war. Events after the fall of Stormwind, the story of how Anduin Lothar, Turalyon and Daelin Proudmoore fought back against the Horde. Then - the Alliance’s counter-offensive on the homeland of the orcs, Draenor, where Ner’zhul, since nothing worked out with Azeroth, wants to open portals to other worlds.

Games: Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness; Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal.

Warcraft III, third war. The most intense and popular part of the game. The remaining orcs in Azeroth are kept in camps, and short-term peace and tranquility comes to Lordaeron. However, not everything is so rosy, since on the northern continent of Azeroth, Northrend, Ner'zhul, imprisoned in an ice throne, is gathering forces to start a third war.

Simultaneously with these events, the young slave Thrall begins to have strange dreams in which a stranger calls on him to lead the orcs to Kalimdor, the western mainland of Azeroth. In this part of the strategy, we get acquainted with the most famous heroes of the universe, with whom Warcraft is now actually associated: Arthas, Illidan, Kael’thas.

Games: Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

The explanations that I give for each part are not even a retelling, but almost randomly selected facts to just give an idea of ​​what is happening in the game series, and, naturally, so as not to spoil it.

A logical continuation of the history of strategies was the famous World of Warcraft, which is also divided, but not into parts, but into addons.

WoW Classic: The Forsaken (Undead who no longer obey Arthas) join the Horde, so we get two coalitions that are unfriendly to each other.
Alliance: People, Dwarves, Dwarves, Night Elves. Horde: Orcs, Trolls, Taurens, Forsaken. The main antagonists of this stage are black dragons, ancient gods and Kel'Thuzad, who again began to spread the plague across Azeroth on the orders of Arthas, now the Lich King.

WoW Burning Crusade: A new people appears in Azeroth, the Draenei, whom the Alliance accepts into its ranks. The blood elves under the leadership of Lor "themar Theron join the Horde. The Dark Portal through which the orcs entered Azeroth during the first war opens again. The antagonists of the addition: Kael'thas, Illidan and the Burning Legion itself in the person of Kil'Jaden.

WoW Wrath of the Lich King: Some death knights join the Alliance and Horde, who decide to take the fight to the Lich King on his territory in this expansion. In this expansion, players will have to confront the Titans themselves, the creators of Azeroth and the Lich King.

WoW Cataclysm: The maddened Aspect of the Earth, the black dragon Deathwing, has awakened in the depths of the Underdark and is determined to destroy all of Azeroth with the help of the cult of the black hammer. Recently, the Kezan goblins have made enemies within the Alliance - several unexpectedly unprofitable transactions have forced some merchant magnates to abandon their comfortable position of neutrality. Old agreements with the Horde were renewed, and the Horde welcomed the goblins with open arms. Behind the wall of Greymane, in the city of people Gilneas, meanwhile, a strange madness gripped the inhabitants. It turned people into bloodthirsty werewolves, attacking anyone and everyone. Having dealt with this madness, the Gilneans began to call themselves Worgen, half-human, half-wolf, and found their home in the ranks of the Alliance.

WoW Mists of Pandaria: Suddenly, a new continent, Pandaria, was discovered in the southern part of Azeroth, previously hidden from view by a dense layer of mists. The Horde and the Alliance raced to this continent, started a war on it, thereby awakening strange Sha creatures, personifying our bad emotions and feelings. Some Pandaren decide to join the Horde and Alliance. Garrosh Hellscream, who became the leader of the Horde during the Cataclysm era, goes mad and brings back to life the heart of the ancient god I'Shaarj in order to strengthen his army and destroy the Alliance. Heroes of both factions are forced to begin the siege of Orgrimmar, the main city of the Horde, in order to overthrow the tyrant.

WoW Warlords of Draenor: Garrosh escapes justice with the help of the bronze dragon Kairozdormu (bronze dragons in World of Warcraft have the ability to manipulate time). Garrosh returns to the past, to a time when the orcs had not yet made their way into Azeroth. There he finds his father, Grommash, and shares the technology with which Garrosh hoped to destroy the Alliance. Grommash united all the scattered clans of the orcs of Draenor under his banner, making their leaders his warlords and began an invasion of Azeroth, not in the Azeroth of the first war, but in the times after the Pandaria campaign. Players become participants in the events of this most changed Draenor of the past.

And in August Legion awaits us, new page in the history of Warcraft.

As you can see, the further the game's story develops, the more confusing and uninformative my retelling becomes. The reason for this is the complication of the story, the number of key characters increases several times. If for Warcraft I Garrona, Durotan and Lothar are important to us, then in Warcraft III Jaina, Arthas, Uther, Kel'Thuzad, Thrall, Medivh, Illidan, Maev and Kael'thas are equally important. Naturally, in order to adequately complete the stories of all these characters, the game space is completely insufficient. Therefore, the creators attract the third and final layer of sources - books.

On this moment 22 books have been published, which are divided into three series.

I. Warcraft Series
Includes books that are not connected by a common plot:

1. Blood and Honor - the very first novel in the Warcraft universe, written by Chris Metzen (father of the entire Warcraft universe). It tells the story of Tirion Fordring. The timeline, if I'm not mistaken, is after the second war.
2. Day of the Dragon - tells about the events after the second war. Main character books - the magician Ronin rescues the supreme aspect, Alexstrasza, from captivity of the Horde.
3. Lord of the Clans - tells the story of Thrall (the same little orc who makes GRRR at the end of the film), about how he began to revive the Horde, freeing the orcs from the Alliance camps.
4. The Last Guardian - narrated by Medivh the Guardian, with whom many are now also familiar thanks to the film.

II. Warcraft Series: War of the Ancients Trilogy
It tells about the events after the Battle of Mount Hyjal (Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos) and at the same time about those events that took place several thousand years before the first war.

Books included: 1. Source of Eternity 2. Soul of a Demon 3. Schism

III. World Series of Warcraft
Also included are books loosely connected by a common plot:

1. Circle of hatred - events a year before WoW, that is, after the first war. It tells how Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall tried to maintain peace between the Horde and the Alliance.
2. Rise of the Horde is the book that everyone should read before going to the movies to see Warcraft. It tells us who the orcs are and why they needed to attack Azeroth. He also introduces us to the draenei people, these are the same blue-skinned dudes who were killed at the beginning of the film.
3. Dark Tides - tells about the events of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness.
4. On the other side of the dark portal - tells about the events of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal.
5. Day of the Dragon - is, in a sense, a continuation of “Night of the Dragon” and tells about the events between the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King.
6. Arthas: Rise of the Lich King - biography of Arthas, naturally.
7. Stormrage - the only book that I cannot localize in a time frame tells about what the Emerald Dream is and about Malfurion Stormrage.
8. The Sundering: Prelude to Cataclysm - tells the story of the events between Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm.
9. Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects - continuation of the previous book.
10. Heart of the Wolf - tells about the events after the Cataclysm, about how the leaders of the Alliance tried to protect Ashenvale from Garrosh, who was already beginning to go crazy.
11. Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War - tells the story of Jaina Proudmoore, events before Mists of Pandaria.
12. Dawn of the Aspects - tells about the events after the Cataclysm, about what happened to the five Aspects after they gave up immortal power in the name of defeating Deathwing.
13. Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde - captures the events of Mists of Pandaria, specifically update 5.1.0 tells us about Vol'jin, who at the end of this addon becomes the new leader of the Horde.
14. War Crimes - talks about the events after Mists of Pandaria, about what happened to Garrosh after the Siege of Orgrimmar.
15. Illidan - the book was published in 2016, and as far as I understand, is a biography of Illidan Stormrage.

As you can see, these books are crazy, but there are also manga and comics that I won’t even write about here.

Of course, this begs the question: where to start studying this diversity? I would advise starting with mastering the history of strategies. And then - choose books from the list, in accordance with which period/character is closer and more interesting to you. At the same time, it is not at all necessary to play them. Once upon a time, in 2006, on some website I came across a rather dry, but very accurate retelling of the events of all strategies. Now there is no website, but I still have the text of this retelling. Despite not best quality text and untranslated names, I believe that this text is the best for introducing the universe. I give you a link to download the text from my dropbox :)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xnzjx191uincnvv/WoW%20history.doc?dl=0

Hello, dear readers!

The long-awaited patch 6.2 was recently released, which, according to the developers, is the last major update in WoD. Perhaps patches 6.2.X will still be released with small portions of new content, but at the moment there is no exact information about this. Despite all this, there are already heated conversations on the Internet about the next addition to WoW.
This is clearly supported by information from Comic Con about the Warcraft movie. Of course, many players associate the theme of the future add-on with the film. They argue that people who are not familiar with the universe will most likely want to plunge into the atmosphere of Azeroth after watching the film. And what can help with this better than a game? And this is a logical marketing move. If I'm not mistaken, "Lego. The movie" increased profits from sales of construction sets from Denmark by 2-3 times. It’s hard to compete with such conclusions, but there is one point that makes me consider another scenario. I think that you will agree with me that our friends from Metelitsa often do what is not expected of them. And vice versa: they do not do what is expected of them. It was these thoughts that became the foundation for today's reasoning. Let's get started!)

Upcoming addition to WoW.

Each player naturally has his own favorite theme that he would like to see in the game. Of course, I have it too. I will tell you about it below. But first, let's remember the addons that players would like to see live. We will also think about why this or that addition may or may not come true. We can do anything with words, so let's pretend that the next addition will not be related to the film. Let's fantasize!

Emerald dream.

It's simple: read the book "World of Warcraft Stormrage". The addon that many were waiting for was not included in the game, but in the book. I’ll briefly add that it’s a shame when such an interesting topic remains without implementation and disclosure in the game itself. But we have pandas)))

Sargeras. Planet of the Burning Legion.

I hope that everyone understands that Sargeras is the local Lucifer/universal evil/the main trump card of the Blizzard. If he is not in the latest addon, then he will definitely be in some grand addition with the goal of resurrecting WoW. Let’s say if the number of subscribers drops to 4-5 million people. Then the trump card will come into play. Like a nuclear bomb. “The cities will be filled with rivers of boiling water from joyful players.” And after killing Sargeras, Blizzard will delicately return the trump card back to its sleeve, saying that we didn’t kill him completely or that there was another Sargeras in a parallel universe. We know how they do it) And one more thing. For those who for some reason expected to see the Dark Titan as the final boss of Hellfire Citadel, I inform you: at the time the orcs accepted the curse of fel, the physical shell of Sargeras was destroyed by Aigwynn, and the spirit of the titan controlled her son Medivh. I understand that this is an alternate timeline, but only the history of Draenor has been changed. For now.

Now let's talk about the central world of the Burning Legion. Many believe that this is Argus. This is not true. Argus may be a Legion base. I repeat: POSSIBLE. Argus is the homeland of the Eredar. There, Sargeras tempted Kil'jaeden and Archimonde with the prospect of power, and the couple agreed. But their third brother Velen realized that the demonic filth would bring no good to his race, so he and a group of like-minded people left Argus. Those eredar who sided with Velen began to be called draenei. And the eredars who joined the Legion are man'ari. Another thing is that the lore was rewritten several times. At first it was said that the Eredar were simply creatures gifted in magic, now I am increasingly finding articles that say that the Eredar were originally mostly warlocks, and supposedly it was because of their greed and thirst for power that they devastated their planet. But this version seems strange to me, because in the game itself, in the dialogues of the draenei, they do not mention the warlocks on Argus or the devastation of the planet. Maybe they are ashamed, or maybe those responsible for the lore got something wrong. Not the point. The main thing here is that Argus is possibly a base for the Legion, because... commanders (Archimonde and Kil'jaeden) lived on this planet. But this is just a version. At the moment, we can only say with certainty that the home of the eredar is consumed by the flames of corruption, like many other worlds. Regarding my opinion: I believe that the home of demons is the Twisting Empty.

Naga.

In Cataclysm, the naga should have been given more time, but as some of you probably know, Ragnaros required a lot of attention from the developers for his raid. I had to sacrifice nagas for this. As for Queen Azshara, she is in the game. Yes. Is it true. But she suffered from Dungeon Search. Leveling up in the game today comes down to the fact that you level up to level 15 on quests, and then grind on instances until you lose your pulse, bypassing quest zones. Even if you do quests, I don’t think you’ll be attracted to a location like Darkshore. But it is there that there is a quest chain that is connected with the nagas and Azshara. I wouldn't call it epic, but if anyone is interested, then visit the night elves.

This is why I believe that in soon we will not hear about the scaly inhabitants of the depths. Should we make a new addon entirely about nagas and Old Gods? Thematically, it will be the same Cataclysm, only instead of Deathwing there will be Azshara. Most likely, nagas will appear in some add-on about Azeroth with a new continent, where they will play a secondary role, like the Botani in Draenor or the Yaungol in Pandaria. Yes, a threat, but local. A long quest chain in the location and an instance at the end. But not more. Maybe I'm wrong. But you must admit that nagas have always appeared in the game as part of something. In BC they were part of Illidan's army, in Cataclysm they were part of Deathwing's army. What will they be a part of next?

Old Gods.

The list of guys who are worshiped by bugs and the Twilight's Hammer cult is constantly growing. At first they said that there were only 3 of them. Now I read that there are about 5 Old Gods, and some of them are even at war with each other. If the addon is dedicated to them, then the players are clearly waiting for us to finally be shown N'Zoth and Ny'alotha. But the following fact confuses me. Cataclysm is an expansion about Deathwing and the Old Gods. But do you remember the Old Gods there? Yes, we learned about N'Zoth, but that's just a name. We didn’t really know his appearance, location, or characteristics. We saw only his servants, who are no different from the servants of Yogg-Saron. Of course, we were shown that N'Zoth borrows ideas from the zerg and transports troops using the Nidus network, but then what? In fact, this is an addon about the servants of the Old Gods, but not about them themselves. And here the problem of the fact that a lot of things were cut out from the Cataclysm makes itself felt. Perhaps there were interesting ideas that would have shown us not only Deathwing, but also his rulers, but unfortunately this did not reach the public.

I believe that Blizzard will not repeat their experience with the Old Gods as the theme of an entire expansion at this time. I don’t know why, but they are now better at making small stories than global stories. That is why they will most likely give the Old Gods some kind of patch, but not an addon. These creatures are shrouded in mystery, so interest in them remains only when we receive information in small portions.

Zandalari. South Seas. Pirates.

I often notice that people like to talk more than listen. This is probably normal for our nature. This is why we especially value those who know how to listen. But why am I doing this? And besides, after the Cataclysm, the home of the trolls from the Zandalari tribe was covered with a copper basin. Loremaster Cho in Pandaria tells you this. Therefore, there cannot be any addon about the island of Zandalar. So Blizzard delicately washed away the players’ hopes for an addition about trolls.

Addition about pirates South Seas and uncharted islands also often come up in discussions. I won’t lie: this topic for addition does not particularly attract me. But we will not remain silent about it. Let’s just briefly say that the theme of islands and sea voyages at the moment is not on the scale of an entire addition. There are no notable figures among the pirates. The quest chains associated with them, which remained in WoW, were clearly not completed by anyone (dungeon search). Therefore, if such an addon is released, it will clearly be with the goal of extending the lifespan of WoW with at least some content. But, I will be glad if someone suggests in the comments interesting story for such an addition. Interesting villain. New functions related to ships and the sea. Little desire. Use your imagination. Think about how you can implement interesting gameplay based on a marine theme. If you have such an idea in your head, then formalize it.

Alternative Azeroth.

And this is an addition that many are expecting, because it intersects with the film. We don't know where Gul'dan went. He may have died, he may have fallen into the clutches of demons, or he may simply be floating somewhere in the great void, but after Pandaria, we can't deny that the ending of this expansion could be bridged to the next one. Based on this, players predict an invasion of an alternative Azeroth. But how does this intersect with the film? There is a story about the period of the First War and the invasion of the orcs. And then will we invade or Gul'Dan? If we connect the film and the game, then it would be logical to release Draenor along with the film. Then there would be two different plots, but with one starting point. People would watch a movie about orcs invading our world. And in the game they would look at the situation from the other side: people would feel like aliens on Draenor. But this scenario can no longer be played out. Based on the above, the question of the connection between the film and the game still remains open.
On the one hand, in the footage from Comic Con, Gul'Dan looked exactly like in the game. Most likely, other things from the film will also be close to game realities. This is good, because after watching the film, people will go into the game and many of the characters will be familiar to them, even though this is an alternative Azeroth.
On the other hand, many players care about the process of the games themselves, and not about the lore and plot intricacies. They will watch a cool movie (hopefully), find out that they can play as the same brutal orc as on the screen, and immediately run to the store to buy the game so they can start swinging an ax as soon as possible.

Of course, this opportunity should not be missed, and some product should still be timed to coincide with the release of the film, but should it really be WoW? In part, they are making this film for fans who played the very first Warcraft in the 90s. It’s not for nothing that they chose precisely the fundamental moment in the history of Azeroth. And therefore, it seems to me, it would be better to make it into a film new Warcraft. More precisely, an updated Warcraft or a re-release of parts 1 and 2 on the Starcraft II engine. I think that both old fans and new players would be happy about this. Because you just sit down and play. In WoW, one way or another, you first need to level up your character. Players won't be able to jump right into the new expansion right away. Of course, if Blizzard doesn’t increase the character boost from level 90 to level 100. But do we need it? Question.

In conclusion, as promised, I will tell you about my thoughts about the next addition. Before Draenor was unveiled, rumors circulated online about an Abyss-themed expansion. This news got me a lot more interested in alternate timelines. We know little about abyssal demons and ethereals. Even small handfuls of information would be interesting. We already know Lord Dimensus, who conquered the world of ethereals. Why not, in the absence of the heroes of Azeroth on Draenor, the Lords of the Abyss invade our world? Of course, there are not enough significant villains, but there have been rumors in the community lately that the developers somehow want to bring Illidan and Kael'thas back into the game. Perhaps these are just rumors, but if true, then they could be tied to the expansion. Or the Abyss could invade not Azeroth, but Outland, where the ethereals hide. In general, the plot could be connected with both new villains and “frozen” ones. But the truth is, I have this feeling inside of me that we will all be wrong. The introduction of each new add-on became unexpected. So we can only hope that Blizzard will give us a break from the complex plot confusion and return to our timeline. Wait and see.

2. Thoughts on Warlords of Draenor.

The final stage of the expansion has arrived. We hope that it will not drag on for a year.
And perhaps the developers will still add small portions of content.

In my previous article, I already discussed the main controversial points regarding this addition. Now I want to express my thoughts on the addition as a whole:

1. Developers have increasingly become more concerned with their own interests than the interests of the players.
2. The snowstorm does not solve the problem, but only tries to remove unpleasant consequences.
3. In pursuit of quantity, developers began to forget about quality.

Now let's look at these thoughts in more detail. All of these problems are partly interconnected. Because Blizzard wants to release addons faster, they have to sacrifice something during development in order to meet the deadline. Accordingly, they need to somehow conveniently organize their work in order to have time to create content in a short period of time. But convenience for the developer does not always mean convenience for the player. And here we are faced with the fact that a convenient mechanism for the developer causes negative feedback from players, and this is already a problem. But instead of solving the problem, developers begin to fight the consequences or the players.

But enough empty talk. Let's move on to specific examples. What particularly irritates me about Draenor? Presence of bugs. A large number of bugs. I'm not talking about the start of the addon. There were a lot of people there and at the beginning of the expansion you are more tolerant of some technical errors. But then I would like to see them eliminated. I'll be honest: I rarely encountered bugs in WoW personally. I watched videos on YouTube about various errors, and in the old days I myself ran near Stormwind. But in Draenor I became more familiar with bugs. The garrison is pleased that the task table does not respond to a click the first time, just like the boxes with orders. If earlier this was solved by relog, then the marina does not even accept this. With my character, I could not send ships on missions for three days, and what this was connected with is unknown. Another time, I decided to talk to an NPC near Auchindoun, and he responded by throwing my character back to Shattrath. So we talked. It's also worth mentioning some quests that don't work or items that are required for a quest but that people stubbornly refuse to take. And this all spoils the experience of the game. And you immediately ask yourself: why is this so? And here, unfortunately, again lies the money issue.

Developers have long cherished the idea of ​​releasing content faster. At first glance this doesn't seem like a bad thing. After all, this is good for us players: we don’t have to wait long for new raids and quests. This is great for developers too. The faster the patches come out, the closer the new addon is, which means a new wave of profits. But in reality everything is much more complicated. You can reduce the development time by increasing the staff, but this reduces profits, because part of it (possibly a large part) will go to new employees. Another option is to increase the load. That is, with the same staff you will have a lot of money, but not everyone will be able to work in such conditions. A person is not a machine, and even with a strong desire he cannot work 24 hours. Most likely, Blizzard made a compromise here. Perhaps they increased their staff a little and at the same time began to look for ways to produce content quickly.

And then the good old copy-paste came into play. The Cataclysm Dragon Soul raid only Deathwing lets us know that this is not a Lich raid. The dungeons leading to the raid were also skillfully copied from existing locations. Except that the Source of Eternity smacked of something new, although there were a lot of borrowings there too. I'm not saying that this is completely bad. The developers are adding new mechanics.

Another thing is that they are starting to abuse the use of old models and heroes.
I understand that it is difficult to write a new villain from one addon. Remember Garrosh. As many as 3 additions brought us to the fight with him. He appeared in Lich, where he annoyed everyone. Then in Cataclysm we were shown that he has qualities that make him worth respecting. And in Pandaria, he became obsessed with his desire to make the Horde stronger, which led to his downfall. Remember the video 5.4, in which Garrosh's phrases were breathtaking. He passed long haul to be cut into epics. This makes it even more offensive that we defeated him and handed him over to the Pandaren for trial, where he escaped. It was necessary to put an end to this story. Finish beautifully. But the developers had other plans. Instead of dying with dignity in battle, Garrosh fell helpless and without a weapon in his hands to Thrall's one-shot. Okay...

But we digress. As I said before, a villain needs time to mature. And therefore the choice of Draenor as an add-on is successful from this point of view. There are already villains here whose background is registered. Yes, they joked about Gromash as the main villain, but Archimonde? Seriously? Then it would be better for Kil'jaeden, because it was he who tempted the orcs. In general, if you want to know my opinion, then the main villain of Draenor should have been Gul'dan. It is not Archimonde we must destroy, but the green-skinned orc. If you look at the plot, Gul'dan appears even more often than Hellscream. He is a real threat to Azeroth. Even Khadgar is more concerned about Gul'dan's capture than the threat from the Iron Horde. So why are not only us, but also Khadgar left unsatisfied in the game? Why does a really dangerous enemy escape again? Maybe in the next expansion of Gul'dan Thrall will one-shot again? (Sorry, not Thrall, but Go'el. This is not racism). Something started to freak me out a little. But I hope that I conveyed to you the idea that Blizzard can make interesting villains, but for some reason instead of them they give us old whipping toys.

Let me do more small retreat. Regarding patch 6.2, I would like to add that the situation is reminiscent of Pandaria. In cutscene 5.4, Garrosh talks to the leader of the Shado-Pan, who is kneeling. Garrosh passionately describes to the pandaren that in his hands there is an unstoppable force that the pandaren tried to contain, did not use, resisted. After which the pandaren says that Chief Hellscream will not get away with this and he will answer for everything. Garrosh then desecrates the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. I think everyone remembers this.

Now let's move on to the video of patch 6.2. Here it is no longer a pandaren, but Grom is on his knees, and Gul'dan has taken on the role of Garrosh and is talking about what Grom was trying to hold back, not use, to resist the unimaginable power that Gul'dan serves. After this, Thunder declares that the warlock will answer for everything. And then Gul'dan desecrates the Tanaan Jungle. Does this remind you of anything?)

Now let's return to the problems of developers. They want to earn more. You can't blame them for this. Although the introduction of an in-game store already speaks of greed. But let's not count other people's money. Let's just focus on the fact that faster release of addons is tied to profit. It goes without saying that the appearance of bugs on live servers is due to the fact that Draenor is essentially unfinished. It feels like they cut out a lot, but despite this they still didn’t have time. And patch 6.2 is another signal to developers that they should reconsider the idea of ​​speeding up the release of content. Quality suffers. Moreover, the gentlemen from Metelitsa do not inform the players about all the corrections. Over the past two weeks, I noticed that they increased the health of mobs in quest zones in Tanaan by about 1.5-2 times. The same goes for bosses. Some numbers have been changed. And more than once. So maybe we shouldn’t rush into development so much? I think players are willing to wait for quality content. But not for a whole year, of course. And such a quick change of addons does not allow the theme of the addon to be revealed. Alternate Draenor contained many possibilities within itself. The Ogre Empire is not limited to Nagrand. What about Faralon Island, which is now just a handful of floating islands in Outland? All this disappeared due to lack of time and resources. We buy addons, pay a subscription and, judging by the mounts, the in-game store is also popular. Is there really a need for accelerated work on content? How do you think? Or are you satisfied with the state of affairs?

We discussed thoughts related to the decrease in the quality of content and the fact that some solutions that are convenient for developers (for example, a raid assembled from recycled materials) are not always good for players. Let's move on to the last thought, which sounded like this: developers do not solve their problems. An example would be garrison resources. They came up with a new currency. OK. But it was used only during the development of the garrison. When you have already built all the buildings, the resources lose their value. Yes, it was possible to buy items to redistribute the characteristics of comrades, but this was done by those who cleared the gold farm chip with the help of the garrison. Reconnaissance reports could be purchased to obtain additional apexits, but these in turn also had little value. And the players’ resources continued to accumulate. And how did the developers solve this problem? But no way. They simply came up with a haven for players where they can dump tons of resources. I think you noticed that the pier missions require different features from ships (mines, whirlpools, icebreaker). Of course, everything is structured so that you equip your ships for resources (for a significant amount of resources), otherwise you will not be able to upgrade your ships or you will simply fail the task. But that is not all. The developers took into account that sooner or later you will upgrade your ships to the maximum, and upgrades for them will also become less frequent. This means resources will accumulate again. Therefore, you need to make sure that the pumping does not end. A solution was found: the ships could be destroyed. That's all. Consequences in the form of accumulation of resources have been eliminated. Well done! But from such a mini-game, players do not get pleasure, but irritation. And the question is, what comes more from the game itself or from the fact that the developers resorted to a lazy solution to the problem?

To conclude this article, I would like to briefly gather all my thoughts together. In the last article, I set out to consider the problems of Draenor with different sides and try to draw some hopeful conclusion. I wanted to show that all is not lost, that developers just need to seriously think about their next steps. Now I am somewhat cautious. At one of the past Blizzcons, the developers said that they have plans for WoW for 10 years in the future. And now we are in an alternative world. Many of the epic villains of Metelitsa have already been laid to rest by glorious heroes. And here's what worries me: are these long-term plans related to the fact that the developers will milk an alternative line of the Warcraft universe? For comparison, think about comic books. There are often reboots and multiple universes, which allows writers not to create something new, but to somewhat rework the old. What if Blizzard is now planning to do the same thing? Alternative history of Azeroth. Thousands of characters and events that can be slightly reshaped. Change people's destinies. For example, in alternative world Illidan became a druid, and Malfurion was obsessed with magic. There is no need to invent anything. Just put all the parts back together with minor adjustments. What do you think of it? Is it possible? And if so, would you be happy with this outcome? Do you stand up for something new or do you want to see old heroes in new images? Write your thoughts in the comments. I'd be happy to hear others' opinions.

Today we sorted out some questions about additions to WoW.
Be healthy and enjoy the game!)

Hello dear readers. Many people are interested in how many parts are there in WoW? Today I’ll tell you a brief history of the game and answer this question.

So, let's begin.

1. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Release date: November 1994.
2. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. Release date: December 1995.
3. Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal. Release date: April 1996.
4. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Release date: July 2002.
5. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Release date: July 2003.
6. Warcraft III: Reforged. Release date: 2019 (game not released).

World of Warcraft itself:

1. World of Warcraft. Release date: November 2004.
1.1. Assault on Blackwing Lair (Update 1.6). Release date: July 2005.
1.2. Rebirth of the Blood God (update 1.7). Release date: September 2005.
1.3. Gates of An'Qiraj (update 1.9). Release date - January 2006.
1.4. Shadow of the Necropolis (update 1.11). Release date: June 2006.
2. The Burning Crusade. Release date: January 2007.
2.1. Black Temple (update 2.1). Release date: May 2007.
2.2. Gods of Zul'Aman (2.3 update). Release date: November 2007.
2.3. Fury of the Sunwell (Update 2.4). Release date: March 2008.
3. Wrath of the Lich King. Release date: November 2008.
3.1. Secrets of Ulduar (update 3.1). Release date: April 2009.
3.2. Call of the Vanguard (update 3.2). Release date: August 2009.
3.3. Fall of the Lich King (patch 3.3). December 2009.
4. Cataclysm. Release date: December 2010.
4.1. Rise of the Zandalari (Patch 4.1). Release date: April 2011.
4.2. Fury of Fire (update 4.2). Release date: June 2011.
4.3. Time of Twilight (update 4.3). Release date: November 2011.
5. Mists of Pandaria. Release date: September 2012.
5.1. Landing (update 5.1). Release date: November 2012.
5.2. The Lord of Thunder (update 5.2). Release date: March 2013.
5.3. Uprising (update 5.3). Release date: May 2013.
5.4. Siege of Orgrimmar (patch 5.4). Release date: September 2013.
6. Warlords of Draenor. Release date: November 2014.
6.1 Hellfire's Fury (6.2 Update). Release date: June 2015.
7.Legion. Release date: August 30, 2016.
7.1 Return to Karazhan (patch 7.1). Release date: October 26, 2016.
7.2 Tomb of Sargeras (patch 7.2). Release date: March 29, 2017.
7.3 Shadows of Argus (update 7.3). Release date: August 30, 2017.
8. Battle for Azeroth. Release date: August 14, 2018.
8.1 Waves of Vengeance (Update 8.1). Release date: December 12, 2018.
8.2 Return of Azshara (Patch 8.2). Release date: June 26, 2019.

Thus, there are 36 Warcraft parts in total, of which World of Warcraft is 31, of which the main ones are 8 (only those released are counted).

And finally, a short history.

In 1994* Horde warriors penetrate Azeroth through the Dark Portal - an interdimensional passage created with the help of the wizard Medivh and the warlock Gul'Dan - and capture Stormwind. People are doomed...

By December 1995 Knight Anduin Lothar and the survivors arrive in Lordaeron. Enlisting the support of people, elves, gnomes and dwarves, he creates an Alliance. At this time, the Horde orcs under the command of Orgrim Doomhammer continue to seize lands and annex trolls and ogres. Orgrimm kills Lothar, whose place is taken by Turalyon. The Alliance defeats the Horde.

April 1996. The Alliance destroys the Dark Portal, the remnants of the Horde on Draenor are led by the shaman Ner "Zul. Through the remaining Dark Portal of Draenor, the Horde decides to capture the powerful artifacts of Azeroth, but the Alliance learns about these plans and begins an invasion of Draenor. To avoid death, the shaman opens many portals to new worlds The released energy splits Draenor into pieces, resulting in many of the alliance's heroes being captured by the remnants of the planet known as Outland.

Up to 2002 The orcs who survived on Azeroth were held captive until they were freed by their former slave, the young shaman Thrall. The Horde flees west - to Kalimdor - to escape the burning Legion that has invaded Azeroth. Arthas Menethil, Prince of Lordaeron, defects to the Lich King. The Orcs of the Horde unite with humans and night elves and defeat the demonic armies of the Legion under the command of Archimonde on the sacred Mount Hyjal.

By July 2003 Arthas becomes a death knight, recruits Scourge troops, and massacres the population of the Eastern Kingdoms. Sylvanas Windrunner, who leads the undead group “Forsaken,” organizes a rebellion against the Scourge. The night elf Illidan lands on the northern continent of Northrend to destroy the Lich King. However, Illidan was defeated by Arthas and was banished to Outland. Arthas, finding himself with the source of the Scourge's power, merges with the spirit of the Lich King.

2004 - the beginning of World of Warcraft.
The Forsaken join Thrall's Horde, which already included orcs, tauren and trolls. Dwarves, gnomes and night elves pledge allegiance to the Human-led Alliance. King Varian Wrynn mysteriously disappears, and Highlord Bolvar Fordragon becomes regent. But not everything is so simple - in fact, power is in the hands of the black dragon Onyxia. A new conspiracy is brewing, new dangerous ancient forces are awakening.
Main events
The black dragon Nefarian, the son of Deathwing the Destroyer, creates many experimental dragons and other monsters to conquer Azeroth, but he himself is defeated and sent into oblivion.
The Zandalari tribe, with the help of the Alliance, strikes at the heart of Zul'Gurub, where the Soul Flayer, the god of Blood, was reborn.
The forces of the United Army of Kalimdor under the command of the orc Varok Saurfang break down the gates of the great fortress of An'Qiraj to stop its inhabitants - the Qiraji - who have gone mad under the influence of the ancient god K'Thun.
Kel "Thuzad, a loyal henchman of the Lich King, with the help of the flying citadel of the scourge - Naxxramas - is trying to infect all of Azeroth with plague, starting with Northrend, where he is defeated. A traitor from the Order of the Argent Dawn hides in Northrend with the remains of the lich and tries to resurrect Kel "Thuzad.

2007
Lord of Fates Kazzak reopens the Dark Portal to Outland. The demons of the Burning Legion are sent to Azeroth. Alliance and Horde forces, joined by draenei and blood elves, are sent to Outland to eliminate the threat. The Allied forces become increasingly bogged down in the fight against the Legion and Illidan Furiousstorm.
Main events
Illidan the Betrayer concentrates his forces inside the Black Temple. After the defeat of his comrades, including the lord of the blood elves Kael'thas Sunstrider, Illidan's power was shaken. Akama, the elder of the mutant draenei, and the elf Maiev Shadowsong help the heroes put an end to the Traitor.
One of the Horde's commanders, Zul'jin, retires to Zul'Aman, where he rebuilds his army. An angry Zul'jin declares war on both the Alliance and the Horde after joining the Blood Elf Horde without his knowledge.
After defeat in Outland, Kael'thas Sunstrider returns to Silvermoon and, having betrayed his subjects, plans to use the Sunwell to summon the demon lord Kil'jaeden to Azeroth. Heroes of the Horde and Alliance with great difficulty prevent Kel "tas and Kil"jaeden, the draenei prophet Velen cleanses the Sunwell of filth.

By 2008, the world is calm.
Suddenly, Scourge forces begin to attack throughout Azeroth. Thrall sends Garrosh Hellscream to Northrend. Meanwhile, Varian Wrynn returns and takes his rightful place on the throne. He sends an army under the command of Bolvar Fordragon to fight the Ich-King.
Main events
The main event is the discovery of Brann Bronzebeard in the city of giants Ulduar. With its help, the heroes fight Yogg-Saron, learn the secrets of the creation of the Dragon Soul, the murder of King Llane and the future of the Lich King.
Highlord Tirion Fordring organizes a tournament for Alns and the Horde to determine those worthy to lead the attack on the Scourge forces, but the crypt lord Anub'arak intervenes in the course of events, deciding to destroy Fordring's detachment.
With the help of Jaina Proudmoore and the banshee queen Sylvanas, the heroes storm Icecrown Citadel and deal with the Scourge forces. Arthas is defeated, and the ominous truth about the Scourge is revealed to the heroes.

Victory, heroes return from Northrend by December 2010.
But then angry elementals descend on Azeroth. The dragon aspect Deathwing the Destroyer returns. Leaving his lair in the Realm of the Elements, he brought destruction to Azeroth. In an effort to subjugate everything, Deathwing opens portals to the Realm of the Elements, calling upon the elementals and their lords to help him. New forces seek to help Deathwing and the Twilight's Hammer cult bring the Time of Twilight closer and destroy all life.
Main events
The Zandalari trolls are once again rebuilding Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman and launching raids in an attempt to reclaim "their" lands. The trolls declare war on all races of Azeroth. To stop the bloodshed, Vol'jin, who disagrees with them, from the Black Spear tribe helps the heroes get into the ancient cities.
The heroes of Azeroth drive the Fire Lord Ragnaros and his minions from Mount Hyjal. With the support of the druids and Mulfarion Stormrage, the most powerful defenders launch an attack on the burning home of Ragnaros - the Firelands.
The dragon aspects, the guardians of Azeroth, guide heroes through the streams of time in search of the Dragon Soul, a relic that can stop Deathwing. The returning heroes pass the found relic to Thrall, who moves the battle to the Maelstrom, the center of the world. The combined forces of the Aspects and allies stop Deathwing's madness.

year 2012. Deathwing is defeated.
But Garrosh Hellscream decides to expand the Horde's holdings in Kalimdor. The city of Theramore is destroyed under its onslaught. The confrontation flares up with new strength. After a major naval battle, the remnants of the Horde and Alliance fleets find themselves at a mysterious continent not marked on world maps - the foggy shores of Pandaria, where they meet the noble pandaren, who form an alliance with both sides in the hope of defeating the evil sha.
Main events
Before they can land on the ground, the Horde and Alliance begin the battle again. Garrosh Hellscream takes possession of a powerful mogu artifact, the Divine Bell, but Prince Anduin Wrynn and SIU officers atop Mount Kun-Lai destroy the great artifact.
Meanwhile, the remaining mogu are trying to revive their kingdom. To achieve their goal, they team up with the Zandalari trolls and resurrect the mogu emperor Lei Shen, the Lord of Thunder. To eliminate the threat, the Shado-Pan warriors create a special unit - the Shado-Pan Onslaught. At the same time, Jaina Proudmoore, at the head of the Kirin Tor army, is trying to discover the source of the mogu's power, and Lor Themar Theron, with the help of the Sunreavers, is trying to free himself from the oppression of Garrosh Hellscream.
Garrosh Hellscreams excavates the Vale of Eternal Blossoms in search of some kind of artifact, falling out of favor with the Shado-Pan as a result. The trolls of the Black Tribe and their leader Vol'jin are declared traitors and become the target of hunting by Hellscream's personal guard. The former leader Thrall provides them with support, and an agreement is concluded with the Alliance.
Orgrimmar, the capital of the Horde, is engulfed in rebellion because of Garrosh Hellscream, who brought the heart of the ancient god I'Shaarj back to life by desecrating the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. To avoid defeat, Garrosh absorbs the energy of the ancient god. However, this does not save him - he appears before the court of the August Ones celestials of Pandaria.

Garrosh escapes justice with the help of the bronze dragon Kairozdormu and in 2014 goes back in time, ending up in ancient Draenor before the Horde invaded Azeroth.
Garrosh gives his father the technology to create an ideal conquering army - the Iron Horde. Grommash Hellscream, his father, unites the scattered clans of the orcs of Draenor, captures a number of key areas of Draenor, and builds large military installations such as the foundry of the Blackrock clan. Having captured Draenor, the Iron Horde orcs invade Azeroth through the Dark Portal. In response, Archmage Khadgar gathers the heroes of the alliance and the Horde and leads them through the portal to Draenor to stop the Iron Horde. Thrall defeats Garrosh, the heroes of Azeroth destroy most of the military leaders. Iron Horde a crushing blow was dealt, a split was brewing in the ranks of Grommash's followers, which allowed the warlock Gul'Dan to seize power in the Iron Horde and summon the demons of the Burning Legion to Draenor. Gul'Dan persuades the surviving leaders to join the Legion, which they do in the hope of turning the tide of the battle. However, Grommash Hellscream does not give in to persuasion, for which he is imprisoned. The Warlock captures Hellfire Citadel, making it a launching point for the Burning Legion. His next step is to summon the demon Archimonde. After a terrifying battle with the creatures in the citadel, which almost destroyed Draenor, the heroes defeat Archimonde, who throws Gul'Dan into the portal before dying.

2016 Last days summer. And perhaps Azeroth...
The Tomb of Sargeras has been reopened, and the demons of the Burning Legion have poured into the world.
All their terrifying power is aimed at summoning the dark titan to Azeroth, and they have already managed to find the key to its return.
The forces of the Horde and the Alliance are seriously undermined. But it’s too early to lose heart: with the help of legendary artifacts, you must explore the ancient Broken Isles in search of relics of the titans and challenge the Legion while there is still hope for Azeroth.
Main events
After the battle for Draenor, Gul'dan, under the influence of the demonic lord Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, he opened the tomb of Sargeras, and with it the gate through which the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth. He conquered the Broken Isles, including the ancient nightborne city of Suramar, and subjugated their leader to his will. The Alliance and Horde stormed the Broken Shore in hopes of stopping Gul'dan and preventing the Legion's invasion, but their efforts were in vain and cost the lives of King Varian Wrynn and Chief Vol'jin. Then Archmage Khadgar made a desperate attempt to unite the fragmented factions, which led to the restoration of the Pillars of Creation - the only tool capable of resealing the tomb. The inhabitants of the Broken Isles were freed from the influence of the Legion, and the forces of the Alliance and Horde approached Gul'dan's base, the Night Citadel, in the hope of once and for all putting an end to the sinister ambitions of the warlock...

End of 2016. The Burning Legion throws its forces towards Karazhan.
In the former abode of Medivh, they are trying to find something that will allow them to maintain an advantage in the war. But several heroes led by Khadgar manage to stop the demons, and the army of Azeroth has a chance to strike. An uprising began against the ruler of the ancient city of Suramar, and after his liberation, the heroes headed to the Citadel of Night, where, with the help of the eye of Aman'thul and their strength, they will try to close the tomb of Sargeras.

Spring 2017. Gul'dan is defeated in the Night Citadel, and the Alliance and Horde gain new allies.
However, the war is far from over. The Burning Legion has strengthened its defenses on the Broken Isles in hopes of destroying all life on Azeroth using the power hidden in the Tomb of Sargeras. Kil'jaeden the Tempter had almost achieved his goal when the heroes burst into the tomb. Hoping to win, the Tempter sent the heroes to Argus, but he himself became a victim of Khadgar, Velen and other defenders of Azeroth. With the help of the sargerite key, Illidan opened the portal to Argus and now to the heroes Azeroth has no choice but to deal a crushing blow to Argus, or the demons will destroy everyone...

At the end of the summer of 2017, the heroes of Azeroth set off for Argus.
There they united with the Army of Light, which, having reorganized its forces, set out to storm the Legion's stronghold - Antorus, the Burning Throne. As a result of intense battles, the heroes of Azeroth defeated the soul of Argus and freed the titans, who imprisoned Sargeras in captivity for his atrocities, and appointed Illidan Stormrage as his jailer. In a final burst of defiance, the dark titan pierced Azeroth with his sword and inflicted a mortal wound on the world...

2018, summer. The wounds of Azeroth are healing, but it is now unlikely that the broken trust between the Horde and the Alliance will be restored...

To be continued...

* The years of release of additions and game updates are indicated, not the dates of actual Warcraft events
This is my unofficial version brief history games; The basis is the descriptions of the add-ons.

That's all for today. Leave comments on our forum, share the link with your friends.
Mikasik.