Warcraft franchise had a strange decade - polygon

The Warcraft franchise turned 25 in 2019. Blizzard first launched Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994 and built one of the largest gam...

The Warcraft franchise turned 25 in 2019. Blizzard first launched Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994 and built one of the largest gaming franchises from there.

The 2010 decade was not the best decade in Warcraft history. The franchise has seen some rude extensions to World of Warcraft and the dreaded Warcraft movie. But the players had to bring the good times of Legion, Mists of Pandaria, and World of Warcraft Classic it up and running.

Here's a look at Warcraft's past 10 years.

World of Warcraft: Disaster (2010)

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm started this decade from Warcraft on the wrong foot. Cataclysm has withdrawn from the beloved expansion of the Lich King's wrath to revisit the ancient world of Azeroth. To brighten things up, Blizzard destroyed many of the Azeroth players they knew and forever changed the world of gaming.

But Cataclysm is really known for extracting some of the RPG elements from World of Warcraft . The talent tree has been removed to make it easier to select characters. The multiple specification, the process of creating a hybrid character that is decent in two things instead of being excellent in one, is a thing of the past with new binary specializations. A group search engine has also been added that allows players to meet like-minded people to attack or create a dungeon, so no general conversation is required.

Speaking of raids, Cataclysm also suffered in the last department. Apart from running around in the new open world, the players didn't have much to do. And the battle of the last Deathwing raid didn't let the imagination come up to fight one of the greatest giant enemies in World of Warcraft .

For some, Cataclysm is still known as the extension that almost kills World of Warcraft . Ironically, it all came from efforts to simplify the World of Warcraft experience .

World of Warcraft: Pandaria Nebula (2012)

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria had a bad reputation from the start. Some saw the adorable pandaren (people with pandas in the Warcraft universe) as a betrayal of World of Warcraft's ambitious fantasy scene.

But Mists of Pandaria has presented some of the best World of Warcraft domains that have been full of color and unique art so far. He also introduced the monk class, which remains one of the most complex melee classes in the modern World of Warcraft . In fact, the design of the class culminated in Mists of Pandaria . After Cataclysm almost destroyed the player's favorite classes, Mists found a way to make these characters funny, interesting, and unique.

What has helped solidify Mists of Pandaria as a good expansion of World of Warcraft is the latest move: The Siege of Orgrimmar . This raid brought players to the Horde capital to defeat Garrosh, the evil warlord. He captured much of the Asian-inspired expansion theme and brought it back to the fantasy environment with an important and culminating struggle.

Hearthstone (2014)

Just before World of Warcraft makes one of his darkest changes has Blizzard Hearthstone, the trading card game of the franchise, officially put on the market.

For almost six years, Hearthstone has added three games a year to the game's collection of cards. But the biggest success of Hearthstone is its flexibility. In addition to its basic card game mode, Hearthstone has added single player campaigns, weekly arena battles, and now a car driver to its launcher.

All of these modes still feel unique in Hearthstone and at the same time form an entry point for players who do not participate in card games. Hearthstone has not always been great, but Blizzard still uses it as a toolbox to demonstrate its ingenuity.

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor (2014)

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor is one of the worst additions to World of Warcraft . He watched the players travel back in time to help orcs from previous generations.

The Warlords' upgrade experience was solid, but at level 100, players found little to do. The content slowly arrived and the garrison players' houses left the world of Draenor and felt empty. Players were able to perform many of their daily activities on their player-built bases. Why should they ever go?

Draenor was a dead zone for World of Warcraft. There were a few years when the game didn't have much to do.

Warlords events would lead to one of the best expansions in World of Warcraft . But the players still had a bitter pill that they had to swallow first.

The Warcraft movie (2016)

The Warcraft movie is not a good one.

Create a Warcraft movie franchise where you can watch Baby Thrall grow up as the warlord of the Horde. But dialogue, rhythm, performances, staging, and history have condemned Warcraft as a film franchise before it even started.

What Warcraft did well is capturing the appearance of the world. Stormwind, the Dark Portal, and the orcs looked like what the players saw in the game, and while American audiences soon forgot about it, the film was a huge overseas hit and helped initiate a new film boom for Americans in China.

World of Warcraft: Legion (2016)

Legion is one of the best expansions in World of Warcraft and can even compete with the beloved Lich King's Wrath . He introduced the Order's rooms, where players could learn more about the meaning of a paladin, a magician, a monk, or the new demon hunter. And the players visited the weapons of the powerful heroes that preceded them and were called artifacts.

The artifact system has created a routine for the players, but integrated them for the entire two years. Legion also finished Warcraft's oldest threat by her imprisoned villain Titan Sargeras .

The story was gripping, the areas were beautiful, and the content was from Blizzard. Even better, the new Mythic + system, which makes dungeons infinitely reproducible, has added a new form of competition to the game.

The Legion was a silver age for World of Warcraft , which made its significant decline two years later difficult for players.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth (2018)

Blizzard Entertainment

Legion saw players face a demonic invasion and chase them into space for a final battle. Battle for Azerot has brought World of Warcraft back to its fantastic roots and turned the franchise into an affair between orcs and humans, horde and alliance.

The upgrade experience was excellent, but the end of the game was not deep enough and the artifact system replacement made the players weaker by comparison.

Weakness is the main theme of the Battle for Azeroth . Blizzard has removed the key elements from many classes and players feel that they only had some of the tools they have had for years. With Battle for Azeroth , the content isn't the problem as with Warlords of Draenor or Cataclysm . Instead, the Battle for Azeroth issues are found in some key World of Warcraft systems .

The result is a game that looks worse than a game that lacks good content, making Battle for Azeroth the worst expansion World of Warcraft has ever seen.

World of Warcraft Classic (2019)

Blizzard Entertainment

At a time that isn't so great for World of Warcraft , World of Warcraft Classic is a blessing. 15 years after the first appearance of World of Warcraft in our lives, Classic brings it back to what it was: the pain points and everything.

Classic is a reminder of all the great things World of Warcraft can be in 2019. It is a social game, a complex role-playing game and an impossible routine that was only developed for the hardcore gamers. It is a pleasure to come back to this all these years later and to remember why MMO still exists.

Warcraft III: Reforged (2019, likely)

Blizzard Entertainment

At the time of writing, we still don't know if Warcraft 3: Reforged will be released in 2019. At BlizzCon 2019, however, Blizzard informed us that it was still their goal to remove the remaster by the end of the year.

In Warcraft 3 everything started for many players. This is the RTS that we first introduced to some of the most popular characters of World of Warcraft fans as Arthas and Jaina Illidan. His campaign was innovative and one of the first electronic sports.

Warcraft 3 helped create many things, including the MOBA genre via the Defense of the Ancients mod. This is where most modern Warcraft started models, and the players are very happy that they were created in 2019 (including us) new.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands (2020)

Blizzard Entertainment

In BlizzCon 2019 , Blizzard revealed World of Warcraft: Shadowlands . It is not yet available and will not be available this decade. But we still know that it happens.

In Shadowlands , players return to some of the best legion systems without any routine. Players don't know if Blizzard can bring World of Warcraft out of Battle for Azeroth . However, the study treats World of Warcraft more like a phoenix, and maybe the MMO will rise from the ashes and reach new heights next year.