World of Warcraft is a Subscription based MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Onine Role Playing Game) Where you can create a character and customize him/her anyway you wish. World of Warcraft first started in 2004 from the company of Blizzard Entertainment, releasing many expansions and content to keep the game fun and exciting. The game was created to continue the franchise started by Blizzard, Warcraft I, Warcraft II, and Warcraft III. These games was played as a MMORTS (Massive Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy) and brought an interesting challenge to the developers when they created World of Warcraft.
In 2007, Blizzard released their first expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, where both the Horde and Alliance fights on a long forgotten land against the demon armies. This expansion brought the level cap from 60 to 70, added flying mounts, the new continent of Outlands, a new profession: Jewelcrafting, and two new playable races: Blood Elves and Draeneis. This is where PvP (Player vs Player) Arenas was introduced.
In November of 2008, the second expansion was released, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, this time, heroes from both the Horde and Alliance must put aside their differences and join forces to combat the Undead forces of the Lich King. New content was added, such as; Level cap raised from 70 to 80, the new continent Northrend, a new profession of Inscription, and a hero class: Death Knights.
Finally in December of 2010, their latest expansion was released, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The world changed completely from the earth shattering expansion, leaving the world of Azeroth in ruins. Though broken, the world still have much to give; The level cap was raised from 80 to 85, two new playable races: Worgen and Goblins, a new profession called Archaeology, and completely reworked the classes and talent system.
Blizzard Entertainment has already announced their next upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: Myst of Pandaria. With this expansion, new and unique changes are brought to the game. A new playable race, Pandarens, are a panda like race that can choose to join either Horde or Alliance upon reaching level 10. A new class will also be added, Monk, which can either be a tank, healer, or a damage dealer. A continent will be added, called Pandaria, bringing many new raid and quest content. The talent system will be getting a completely new revamp, being called Talents 2.0. Finally the level cap will be raised from 85 to 90.
Currently you can play as:
Ten (10) classes: Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight, Hunter, Shaman, Druid, Rogue, Priest, Mage, Warlock
Twelve (12) races: Alliance - Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf, Draenei, Worgen
Horde - Orc, Troll, Tauren, Forsaken, Blood Elf, Goblin
Fifteen (15) professions: Mining, Herbalism, Skinning, Blacksmithing, Engineering, Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, Inscription, Leatherworking, Tailoring, Enchanting, Cooking, First Aid, Fishing, Archaeology
World of Warcraft currently has active players in the tens of millions, and many have been with the game for years. So what brings the crowd in? What is so appealing for this game? Other than the choice to customize your in-game character the way you want to, there are many other perks given.
Stability: Even with low performance computers, you can play comfortably in-game with no problems. Blizzard has large and powerful hardware to upkeep the servers.
Variety: You can choose what you want to do in game. You can choose to PvE(Player vs Environment), PvP(Player vs Player), RP(Role Play), Socialize, Work on character progression with leveling and professions, or a combination of the few. The choice is limitless.
Content: Blizzard are always releasing new content, and expansions later on, to keep the game fresh and new. This is what they excel at, proof shown just by how long the game has been up and still with a high player base.