50 Fun Facts About World of Warcraft

On what date did World of Warcraft launch, the tenth anniversary of the franchise?

Blizzard had announced it back in 2001.

On which fictional planet is the game set?

The story picks up roughly four years after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

What are the two opposing factions a player must choose between?

Orcs and trolls fight for one, humans and dwarves for the other.

What were the two continents that made up the game world at launch?

Later expansions bolted on Outland, Northrend, Pandaria and more.

In which year was World of Warcraft first announced?

Its 3D graphics grew out of the proprietary engine built for Warcraft III.

What was the first game in the franchise, released in 1994?

The franchise has since grossed more than $12 billion.

How many subscribers did World of Warcraft have at its October 2010 peak?

By 2014, more than 100 million accounts had been created.

How much revenue had the game grossed by 2017?

That made Warcraft one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time.

In the free Starter Edition, characters stop gaining experience at what level?

Full subscriptions can be paid with real money or with a WoW Token bought for gold.

Which was the first expansion pack, released in January 2007?

It sold nearly 2.4 million copies on release day and raised the level cap from 60 to 70.

Which two playable races did the first expansion add?

For the first time the Alliance could have shamans and the Horde could have paladins.

In the first expansion, where were players finally able to ride flying mounts?

The original continents stayed grounded until Cataclysm.

Which villain had made the Black Temple his stronghold in the first expansion?

He was later resurrected in Legion to kill Gul'dan.

How many copies did Wrath of the Lich King sell in its first 24 hours in November 2008?

That made it the fastest-selling PC game ever at the time, beating The Burning Crusade's 2.4 million.

What was the first 'hero class', introduced in Wrath of the Lich King and starting at level 55?

The expansion also added a new frozen continent, home of Arthas and his undead.

Which continent, home of the Lich King, did the 2008 expansion add?

Its final raid was Icecrown Citadel; the level cap rose from 70 to 80.

Which dragon's return reshaped the surface of the world in the Cataclysm expansion?

He was originally Neltharion the Earth Warder; the old continents got flooded zones and lava canals.

Which two races were added in Cataclysm?

Worgen for the Alliance, Goblins for the Horde; the level cap rose to 85.

How many copies did Cataclysm sell in its first 24 hours in December 2010?

Legion tied the record in 2016 and Battle for Azeroth broke it in 2018.

The pandaren of Mists of Pandaria began life as what?

They became the first race able to join either faction, and the expansion added the Monk class.

To what level did Mists of Pandaria raise the level cap?

Chris Metzen announced the expansion at BlizzCon 2011 and it sold 2.7 million copies in its first week.

Which hero class, starting at level 98, arrived with Legion in 2016?

Legion also introduced artifact weapons and the Broken Isles, and raised the cap to 110.

How many units did the 2018 expansion sell on its first day, a record for a WoW expansion?

It added Kul Tiras and Zandalar and raised the level cap from 110 to 120.

Which two new continents did the 2018 expansion add in the Great Sea?

Kul Tiras is a human kingdom; Zandalar is the homeland of the trolls.

Which expansion was released in November 2020?

Dragonflight followed in November 2022 and The War Within in August 2024.

How many major expansions had World of Warcraft received by The War Within, inclusive?

Midnight, scheduled for 2026, is the eleventh.

The 2005 Corrupted Blood plague began with a debuff cast by which raid boss?

It was meant to stay in Zul'Gurub, but a programming oversight let pets and NPCs carry it into the cities.

Which US agency contacted Blizzard after the Corrupted Blood incident, hoping to use the data for disease modelling?

They had assumed it was a planned simulation; Blizzard eventually fixed it with hard server resets.

How did Blizzard finally end the Corrupted Blood outbreak after a week of failed fixes?

Azeroth was rolled back to its pre-plague state; a later patch made pets immune.

The famous Leeroy Jenkins video was posted in May 2005 by which guild?

Ben Schulz created the character; the creators later admitted the take was staged satire.

In which dungeon area were Leeroy's guildmates planning their careful attack when he charged in?

His defence afterwards: 'At least I have chicken!'

In which Blizzard game did Leeroy Jenkins later appear as a Legendary card?

He also became an NPC in WoW itself and a Jeopardy! clue.

What did Blizzard's J. Allen Brack famously say at BlizzCon 2013 when asked about classic servers?

World of Warcraft Classic launched anyway on August 26, 2019, recreating patch 1.12.1 from 2006.

World of Warcraft Classic recreates the game as it stood in which patch, circa September 2006?

It won PC Game of the Year at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards.

Who directed the 2016 Warcraft film?

Travis Fimmel played Anduin Lothar and Toby Kebbell played the orc Durotan.

How much did the Warcraft film gross worldwide, then a record for a video game film?

Most of it came from China; the US total was under $50 million on a $160 million budget.

Which South Park episode, made with Blizzard's help, won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program?

It was the first machinima work to win an Emmy; the boys end it with the Sword of a Thousand Truths.

Which of these celebrities appeared in the game's late-2007 TV commercials?

William Shatner and Verne Troyer were in the same campaign; Chuck Norris and Ozzy came in later spots.

Which company took over running World of Warcraft in China from The9 in June 2009?

The first WoW-themed restaurant had opened in Beijing the year before.

In which year did The Strong museum induct World of Warcraft into its World Video Game Hall of Fame?

It had already shared a Technology & Engineering Emmy with EverQuest and Neverwinter Nights in 2008.

At its April 2015 launch, what did a WoW Token cost in North America for real money?

Introduced in April 2015, it can be sold on the auction house for gold or redeemed for game time.

Before WoW, Blizzard's team worked on a project code-named Nomad, based on which tabletop game?

Nomad lacked direction, and a management vote shifted the team to a Warcraft-based online game by the end of 1999.

Which earlier MMORPG, released in 1999 by Verant Interactive, was WoW's main inspiration?

Blizzard set out to improve on the aspects of that game its own developers felt did not work.

WoW's story begins roughly how long after the events of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne?

The game shares the RTS series' universe and art direction, mixing fantasy with steampunk and science-fiction elements.

Up to how many players could join a raid group to face the game's toughest challenges?

The unofficial Race to World First sees guilds compete to clear each new raid on Mythic difficulty, with Team Liquid sponsoring a winning guild.

What penalty does a character suffer after being revived by a spirit healer at a graveyard?

The weakness can last up to ten minutes and equipped items degrade further; finding your own corpse avoids it.

How many primary professions, such as tailoring or mining, can a character hold at once?

Professions split into producing items, like blacksmithing and jewelcrafting, and gathering from nodes, like skinning and mining.

Which expansion, the ninth, was released on November 28, 2022?

It was announced on April 19, 2022; as of The War Within, every expansion up to this one is bundled into the base game.

The Worldsoul Saga announced at BlizzCon 2023 spans The War Within, Midnight and which third expansion?

The three-expansion story arc began with The War Within in 2024.

Which black dragon experimented with the blood of other dragons deep in Blackrock Mountain?

Son of Deathwing, he created the chromatic dragons before being vanquished by heroes of the Horde and Alliance.