---
title: 'Ranking World of Warcraft Expansions from WORST to BEST'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=21aFG_oI45w'
video_id: '21aFG_oI45w'
date: 2026-06-18
duration_sec: 0
---

# Ranking World of Warcraft Expansions from WORST to BEST

> Source: [Ranking World of Warcraft Expansions from WORST to BEST](https://youtube.com/watch?v=21aFG_oI45w)

## Summary



## Transcript

World of Warcraft has been around for
over two decades, everybody. And in that
time, it has given us some incredible
highs and some very catastrophic lows.
Each expansion shaping this MMO that we
know and love. Sometimes for the better,
sometimes for the what the hell was
Blizzard thinking? So, today we are
ranking every WoW expansion from worst
to best. And if your favorite is near
the bottom, you're going to have to take
it up with your therapist, my friend.
Not me. Let's dive in with number uh
last, Shadowlands. Without a doubt, the
worst expansion in WoW's history. I
think 99% of us can agree, except for
that one guy that gets really angry in
my comment section whenever me or
anybody else says that this expansion
was not very good. Shadowlands just took
everything that people loved about World
of Warcraft lore and shoved it into a
blender set to oblivion. Terrible
villain with no charisma, Heisoval.
Sylvanas dragged through the mud until
nobody could defend her and zones that
felt more like a strange World of
Warcraft fanfiction than places that
would actually exist in the universe.
Revendrath was pretty cool though, I
admit. Also, Togghast. Remember Toggast?
Blizzard wishes that you
didn't. Shadowlands like it wasn't an
adventure. It was more of like a
cautionary tale. You didn't beat
Shadowlands if you played through it
during its time. You just survived it.
And perhaps to this day, you still wake
up at night sometimes after having a
nightmare about collecting some soul
ash. Battle for Azeroth. We all saw the
cinematic, man. That intro cinematic. We
got hyped. I certainly got hyped. Horde
versus Alliance, war on a global scale,
capital cities falling, and then we
spent the majority of the expansion
watching Jana cry in cinematics. We
helped some fat humans rediscover their
love for water and cardio. And we
convinced a bunch of jungle trolls to
stop listening to blood gods who told
their followers to practice cannibalism.
BFA felt like two expansions just sort
of duct taped together. Warfronts were
boring. Azerite armor was a mess. We
still have PTSD from Island Expeditions.
Missed Potential doesn't even begin to
cover it. Honestly, I would love it if
Blizzard did another Battle for Azeroth
expansion down the road, like a Battle
for Azeroth remastered, and made it very
PvP focused, allowed us to burn down
enemy faction villages and stuff,
because who doesn't want a torch goldsh
on Argentu, am I
right? Warlords of Drraanor. Listen, if
you judged expansions based solely on
vibes and ambience, Warlords would be
top three. Honestly, I wanted to put
this expansion higher on the list
because I really love Drraanor a lot,
but I just can't. Drraanor looked
incredible. The music was perfect. The
atmosphere was a chef's kiss. But then
you realized after hitting max level
that there was just nothing to do. You
AFK in your garrison. There's no
meaningful patches aside from one,
unless you count the selfie camera
patch. There was no actual endgame
besides doing garrison chores. It was
like Blizzard built a beautiful house
and just forgot to furnish it. And the
story, it was good, but it just wasn't
enough because we didn't get enough
patches. I also hated that we killed off
Gash so quickly. Personally, Warlords,
it's the classic case of a project that
sprinted across the starting line and
just immediately face planted into a
rake. Cataclysm. This expansion was the
one that broke the world and a lot of
hearts along the way. While the revamped
1 to 60 leveling zones were fun, some
zones better than others, of course,
Cataclysm did come at the cost of
destroying the nostalgic iconic world
that everybody loved. The endgame
content was hit or miss depending on who
you were. Firelands was great, though,
but who seriously enjoyed doing Dragon
Soul over and over and over for as long
as we did. Also, let's be real, nobody
asked for underwater questing in Bashir.
Nobody. Especially not me because I have
some serious phobia about deep dark
ocean water with things down there. I I
don't even want to think about it.
Anyway, Deathwing flying overhead and
torching zones was pretty badass. But in
the end, Cataclysm tried to embody the
idea of new is better. But I think in
the long run, it proved that statement
very much untrue. The War Within. The
War Within feels like Blizzard finally
remembered that World of Warcraft is at
its best when it just focuses on
Azeroth. No big cosmic gods and weird
timelines and extradimensional jailers,
just a gritty downto- earthth conflict
this time under the surface of the
world. The new underground zones look
incredible. The delve system has a lot
of fun, repeatable small groupoup
content without feeling like another
toast disaster. And the tone is
refreshingly grounded, but you do get a
little bit of that like void and cosmic
stuff thrown in, but it's not too bad.
It's certainly not a perfect expansion,
though. But I would say that War Within
overall is very solid, but it's not
great. It's just okay. Otherwise, I
would rank it up higher on this list.
Also, let's be honest, nobody was
begging to learn even more dwarf related
lore. Still, after the chaos of all the
recent years, The War Within does look
like a promising course correction for
Blizzard, assuming that they don't trip
over their own feet on the way to
wherever the heck they're taking this
game. Dragon Flight. Dragon riding is
probably the most fun traversal mechanic
that WoW has ever added. The story, it's
simple, dude. There's a couple of big
angry dragons, especially this one
that's literally on fire, and we got to
go punch them in the face. That's it.
There's no cosmic mumbo jumbo and no
rewiring the laws of death. It's just
good old-fashioned dragon slaying. Dude,
Beaowolf would be proud. The expansion
was also absolutely gorgeous. The zones,
they were fun to explore and fly over.
They were freaking tuscar in this
expansion, dude. the greatest race in
WoW, which I just talked about in my
five races that should be added to World
of Warcraft video. And the tone of
Dragon Flight just felt like World of
Warcraft was just chilling out for a
little while, returning to some
semi-traditional fantasy. It was cool.
Dragon Flight didn't try to reinvent the
wheel. It just gave us a really, really
pretty one. And I think that's why it
was so enjoyable for those of us that
gave it a chance during its time. And
also, I will say as a fan of druid lore
and stuff and Malfurion, the Emerald
Dream was really beautiful. Myths of
Pandaria. At launch, people mocked
Pandaria for being the Kung Fu Panda
expansion. But when the memes died down,
everybody realized, "Holy crap, this
expansion is awesome." Huge detailed
zones, tons of factions and dailies,
legendary quest lines, scenarios, the
monk class, Thunder King raid, which is
still top tier, raising your own cloud
serpent. Dude, even if the Chinese
inspired vibe wasn't your thing, and it
personally wasn't mine either, you
couldn't deny just the sheer amount of
content that M of delivered. And this
expansion aged like fine wine. That's
why Blizzard brought it back for the
freaking remaster event. And they're
about to launch Miss of Classic. People
love Mist of Pandaria. And honestly, I
mean, like this is just my opinion, but
I think that M of a much better battle
for Azeroth kind of vibe than Battle for
Azeroth did. I mean, at least it really
captured the faction warfare. Plus, the
world PvP on the Timeless Aisle, dude,
it was absolute chaos and it was so much
fun if you were there. Mr. Pendari was
great. Legion artifact weapons were a
master stroke. All Blizzard did is they
were like, "Hey, what if we just took a
vanilla WoW talent tree and just put it
on a weapon." It was a genius idea and
it worked amazing. Class halls mostly
felt like a love letter to each class
fantasy. And finally taking the fight to
the Burning Legion after all these years
felt so damn good. But here's the one
thing that I have to say. Why were we
fighting the Legion on this one tiny
island? The whole world could have been
involved through this entire expansion.
But then again, maybe focusing on a
world spanning expansion isn't the best
idea. Huh? Cataclysm. Still, Legion
brought World of Warcraft back from the
brink after Warlords of Drraanor's
disaster, and it gave us Illan back, and
that alone is worth major points. I
don't even care that it was obvious fan
service. Illan was just really cool to
see. And the demon hunter class. Maybe
not as cool as death knights, but they
still ranked pretty good in my ranking
WoW classes from worst to best video,
which you should definitely check out
after this one. The Burning Crusade. It
was classic WoW, but with spaceships.
TBC took everything that people loved
about vanilla, brutal leveling,
tight-knit groups, horrifying PvP, and
just polished it up. And flying mounts,
dude, because flying mounts are so
freaking cool. Seriously though, TBC
zones are still so iconic. The dungeons
felt meaningful and introducing Drraani
and Blood Elves reshaped the Horde and
the Alliance in very huge ways. Plus,
the vibes, the vibes of this expansion,
perfect, man. Hellfire Peninsula, PTSD
aside, TBC gave us some of the best
music, aesthetics, and storytelling that
the franchise has ever seen. Shout out
to the Azure Isle soundtrack, by the
way. Dude, it hits like an emotional
truck. I've even been listening to it
this entire time while I've been writing
this script. Also, first time stepping
through the Dark Portal. Pure magic.
Anyone that has done it, like it's it's
a memory. It's a it's a it's a cherished
gaming memory. Walking through the Dark
Portal for the first time at level 58.
BC was great. And now everyone, before
we reveal that obvious number one, I
would like to thank you all for making
it this far into the video and watching
it. And if you can, and if you want, hit
that like button down below to help the
channel. And if you want to see more
ranking videos in the future, just let
me know some of your ideas down in the
comment section below. Here we go.
Number one, the best WoW expansion is
Wrath of the Lich King. It's the peak.
It's the summit. It's the Magnum Opus.
Northrren was perfection, dude. Snow
Fields, Gothic Castles, Viking zombies.
Arthus was the best villain Blizzard
ever wrote, hands down. But I will say
though, his I'll get you next time,
kids. vibe in Wrath was a little bit
poor writing-wise, but he was still
awesome in Warcraft 3 and leading up
into Wrath of a Lich King, so we sort of
forgive it in our hearts. Death Knights
were introduced in this expansion. They
were overpowered as hell, and that made
them absolutely fun to play. Every
dungeon, every raid, every battleground
had that right feeling captured by that
OG World of Warcraft team. And sure, the
Wrath of the Lich King classic
experience was filled with bots. But
that original Wrath of the Lich King
experience back in the day, it's
untouchable. It was the end of an era
for World of Warcraft. And after Wrath,
WoW just never was quite the same. And
neither were we. And finally, if you
didn't cry at the end of the Ice Crown
Citadel raid, you might just be a
hellbent evil raid boss yourself in real
life. And there it is, everybody. Every
WoW expansion ranked from worst to best.
Where did your favorite land? Let me
know down in the comments. And if you
think that uh Shadowlands deserved a
higher place on the list, please provide
your reasoning, which I'm going to
completely ignore, by the way, because
you need some really serious help, my
friend. Like the video if you guys want.
Subscribe for more MMO RPG content. And
if you want another video to watch,
check out this one on your screen right
now. It is ranking WoW classes from
worst to best. I know you guys will
enjoy it. And uh yeah, thanks for
watching everybody and I'll see you with
my next