World of Warcrafthas been one of the biggest gaming phenomena in history. The MMORPG was released byBlizzardin 2004, and ever since then, the game has been the subject of intense devotion from both gamers and observers alike.
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During that time, a lot of events have taken place that has fundamentally changed the game. The biggest moments inWorld of Warcrafthistory both inside and outside of the game include events planned by Blizzard itself and the strange, unexpected consequences that players felt on and offline.
Updated July 21, 2025, by Kristy Ambrose:The last couple of years have been a little rough for Blizzard, with the controversies regarding workplace harassment burying virtually any other news about the company’s games. Those issues haven’t gone away, but the designers and developers haven’t forgotten that there’s still a loyal and stubborn fanbase that loves World of Warcraft no matter what bad publicity the parent company receives. Some recent news has brought one of the oldest MMORPGs some positive attention, which is a nice change from the last few years.
Classic: The Sunwell And Isle Of Quel’Danas
Also known as Patch 2.4.0, this update added the Isle of Quel Danas and the final set of tweaks, fixes, and additions before Northrend opened up and brought the number of subscriptions toWorld of Warcraftto dizzying heights. This patch alsoincluded a whole new area to exploreand two new instances, so it could easily be classified as a mini-expansion lacking only a new class and race.
The Sunwellhas an important place inWorld of Warcraftlore, being the source of the Bood Elves' energy. Recent historic examples have included the attack of Arthas Menethil with his undead army, and the present conflict that drives this patch, the demonic forces of Kil’jaeden.
The Corrupted Blood Incident
The Corrupted Blood Incidentis one of the strangest occurrences inWorld of Warcrafthistory and has since been used by epidemiologists in studies on human behavior during outbreaks. On August 10, 2025, just one month before the first BlizzCon, the Zul’Gurub raid was opened up in Stranglethorn Vale. ZG, as it would come to be known, had a final boss who would drain players’ life to heal himself using a debuff.
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This debuff, “Corrupted Blood,” would also pass on to any other players who were nearby, periodically inflicting some of the highest damage in the game out the time. While the disease was planned to stay contained to Zul’Gurub, hunters whose pets had caught the disease and then were dismissed and resummoned outside of the raid were able to spread the disease to others.
Soon, Corrupted Blood was instantly killing low-level players all across Azeroth. High concentration cities like Orgrimmar, Ironforge, and Stormwind were quickly overwhelmed and players fled to the countryside to avoid others who might carry the disease. Some intentionally spread the debuff, which drew some of the initial attention from researchers, as well as the redistribution of populations to less dense areas. The plague’s flawed design would be the influence for thezombie plague event used inWoWas part of the launch ofWrath of the Lich Kingin 2008.
The Gates of Ahn’Qiraj
Ahn’Qiraj was a raid released at the end of vanillaWorld of Warcraftin 2006, with a catch. The raid was on the server, but the gates into the raid could not be opened until a guild on the server had found the Scepter of the Shifting Sands.
In classic vanilla style, this involved a ridiculously long series of quests that required entire guilds to work together on different servers, with some guilds working entirely to help the efforts of those more likely to succeed in the quest. The quests included meetingsome of the most important lore charactersat a time when the games were a lot less driven by individual characters, with characters fromWarcraftlike Malfurion Stormrage making their first appearances in the MMO.
When the gates finally opened, players were faced with one of the most difficult 40-man raids inWoW, fighting insectoids and Lovecraftian horrors in the race to the heart of the ruin. It was the effort and community required to open the gates to begin with, however, that many players remember most fondly, even if it required spending hours farming Dragonkin mobs for Green Scepter Shards.
The Burning Crusade
The Burning CrusadewasWorld of Warcraft’s first full expansion, opening the Dark Portal and taking players to Outland for the first time. Outland, formerly called Draenor, was a fractured planet that the orcs inhabited before arriving in Azeroth through the Dark Portal.
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The game also introduced a new race for each faction; Blood Elves for the Horde and Draenei for the Alliance. It kicked off with Doomguards like Highlord Kruul attacking major cities across the game, throwing low-level players into a panic. From Darnassus to Stormwind, cities were littered with skeletons as top guilds scrambled to repel the demons before heading to Outland itself.Burning Crusadealso saw the introduction of flying mounts and the game’s first neutral city, Shattrath.
Wrath of the Lich King
TheWrath of the Lich Kingexpansion kicked off in 2008 with the aforementioned zombie plague, which,like all great events inWorld of Warcrafthistory, threw low-level players into utter chaos as the undead overwhelmed Goldshire and infected players found themselves rising from the grave as ghouls.
Wrath of the Lich Kingsent players to Northrend and introduced the game’s first Hero Class, Death Knights who had broken their ties to the Lich King and started the game at level 55 out of 80. It would not be until Blizzard released Patch 3.3 in December of 2009 that the Lich King himself would be included in a raid.
The first Lich King kill was recorded on the first day that the final wing of Ice Crown Citadel was opened up to players, gaining that party and those would follow during the remainder of the expansion the title of “Kingslayer”. However, it would be over a full year until the next expansion,Cataclysmwould launch in December of 2010.
Classic: WotLK
If it was big the first time, then maybe a second time will be twice as amazing. The release date for version 2.0 of everyone’s favoriteWorld of Warcraftexpansion has yet to be confirmed, but word is already out that the expansion is coming sometime in 2022. The release of patch 2.4.0 was a strong hint thatWotLKwas also incoming.
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There’s already a debate raging as to whether certain mechanics will be included, the most prominent among these being the notorious Looking For Group (LFG) function. It’s true that subscriptions reached their peak during this expansion, but that also indicates that players also started to leave not long afterward.
The Death Knight, the class that starts at an advanced level, had a rough start back in the day, with overpowered abilities and new players rushing to master a class at an advanced level. The LFG finder is the most controversial of these changes, with advocates arguing that it will make running instances more efficient and skeptics claiming it does too much harm to the community and turnsWorld of Warcraftinto a lobby game.
Cataclysm to WoW Classic
In 2010,WoW: Cataclysmrevamped the vanilla world with an apocalyptic makeover. While the new quests were a lot more fun, player numbers continued to decline as more and more convenience measures were put in the game. Server communities began to disappear as Blizzard allowed players to form groups from across all servers with players they could not see outside of the dungeon or raid they were in.
Mists of Pandariasaw the Pandaren, the first neutral racethat could play as either faction, introduced toWorld of Warcraft.Warlords of Draenorsaw players go back in time to the planet before it was broken, as well as introduced a much-needed rehaul to player character models.Legionintroduced playable Demon Hunters and Zone Scaling, where the game’s mobs would level to match the player.Battle for Azerothrefocused on the Horde-Alliance war, and the upcoming expansion,Shadowlands,will take players to a new world entirely.
The Dragonflight Expansion
The announcement has been officially made, but the public only knows a few of the details at the time of writing. As the name suggests,the Dragonflight Expansionwill focus on the lore of the Dragonflights, and it’s an exciting story that reaches back into the ancient history of Azeroth.
Players can explore a new region, the Dragon Isles, a location that has been present in the lore for some time. Other new additions include a new race, the Dracthyr, which has a dragon and humanoid form and starts at level 58. Some of the themed additions include a customizable mount, which is also a dragon, and designers have given the game some interesting options that include diving and rolling while in flight.
World of Warcraft: Battle for AzerothandWoW: Classicare both available now on PC.
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