Warlords of Draenor Was Almost a Great World of Warcraft Expansion. Almost.
Warlords of Draenor will go down as one of the worst World of Warcraft expansions out of the game’s seven expansions.
Some will even argue that it is the worst. Still, WoD gave players a lot to appreciate. From the super laggy launch (which was actually kind of fun), the dreaded garrisons and the rushed releases of end game content, what could have been a great expansion turned out to be pretty bad. Having released only two content patches during WoD, players were left feeling beyond disappointed.
Still, when you go back to level up alts, WoD is probably the only expansion where questing may be preferable to leveling up through dungeon runs. And with World of Warcraft: Shadowlands coming up, we ponder previous expansions, including the current expac, Battle for Azeroth.
Here are 6 reasons Warlords of Draenor wasn’t really that bad.
The beautiful artwork and breathtaking scenery.
Let’s face it, the artists and developers at Blizzard really do create stellar worlds that make players want to explore, wander, get lost. They move us. And what they did with Warlords of Draenor was create a marvelous world. The Alliance WoD starting area, Shadowmoon Valley in particular, is breathtaking. There was a running joke on Horde side, “I heard Alliance has a Starbucks in their garrison.”
We learn more about the Frostwolf Clan.
The Frostwolf Clan is one of the original Orc clans of Draenor. Before WoD, our only interaction with them was in Alterac Valley. The Frostwolves were one of very few clans to resist Gul’dan’s corruption. Durotan led the Frostwolves through the Dark Portal to escape Gul’dan. In WoD, we learn a lot more about the Frostwolf Clan through quests, our Horde garrison being in their ancestral home of Frostfire Ridge.
More interactions with new, fabled, and familiar characters.
We get to experience working with and battling characters who were only talked about in lore, read about in the books, or encountered in passing. Playing through the world of the old Horde was beyond fun. Some of the characters you may have recognized and some you may have not. One character, especially, is Exarch Maladaar. You’ll likely remember Maladaar from The Burning Crusade. He was the keeper of Auchenai Crypts, driven mad by the void remnants from the body of the ancient Naaru, D’ore. In WoD, however, we see and interact with Exarch Maladaar in a time before he was driven mad.One of the new characters we met in Draenor was Yrel who turns out to be pretty badass. She comes from humble priest beginnings. But through constant battling for her life and freedom from the Iron Horde, she becomes a paladin (isn’t that how most paladins come into being nowadays?).
It’s very alt-friendly.
In TBC, Wrath, Cataclysm, and MoP, leveling was cool—the first time around. The second time, meh. Thank goodness for heirlooms and leveling through dungeons. WoD changed that. In WoD there are so many ways to level up your alt toons. With world quests and Potion of Accelerated Learning combined with heirloom gear, leveling your 10th alt is so much easier.
Improved Undead (and other races) model.
My personal favorite addition to WoW during Warlords of Draenor has to be the updated Undead model. I know, I know, they weren’t the only race to get an upgrade. But, as an Undead priest main, this made my cold, dead heart happy.
Tribute to the late, great Robin Williams.
In August of 2014, we lost a prolific soul in actor, comedian, and philanthropist, Robin Williams. He was known to be an avid gamer and fan of World of Warcraft. Almost immediately after his death was announced, there was a petition to memorialize Williams in WoW. Blizzard acted fast, giving fans and players a place to go to pay tribute to Robin Williams just off the coast of Nagrand. There’s an unnamed island near the Talador-Nagrand border dedicated to Williams.
WoD was quite enjoyable until you ran out of content. Hence, leveling up multiple characters because the content was released too fast. It had so much potential to be one of the greatest expansions. Luckily, everything Blizz got wrong with WoD, they more than made up for with Legion.
