Ranking World of Warcraft Expansions from WORST to BEST

[00:00] World of Warcraft has been around for

[00:02] over two decades, everybody. And in that

[00:05] time, it has given us some incredible

[00:07] highs and some very catastrophic lows.

[00:10] Each expansion shaping this MMO that we

[00:12] know and love. Sometimes for the better,

[00:13] sometimes for the what the hell was

[00:15] Blizzard thinking? So, today we are

[00:17] ranking every WoW expansion from worst

[00:19] to best. And if your favorite is near

[00:21] the bottom, you're going to have to take

[00:22] it up with your therapist, my friend.

[00:24] Not me. Let's dive in with number uh

[00:28] last, Shadowlands. Without a doubt, the

[00:31] worst expansion in WoW's history. I

[00:34] think 99% of us can agree, except for

[00:36] that one guy that gets really angry in

[00:39] my comment section whenever me or

[00:41] anybody else says that this expansion

[00:43] was not very good. Shadowlands just took

[00:46] everything that people loved about World

[00:47] of Warcraft lore and shoved it into a

[00:49] blender set to oblivion. Terrible

[00:51] villain with no charisma, Heisoval.

[00:54] Sylvanas dragged through the mud until

[00:56] nobody could defend her and zones that

[00:59] felt more like a strange World of

[01:02] Warcraft fanfiction than places that

[01:04] would actually exist in the universe.

[01:06] Revendrath was pretty cool though, I

[01:08] admit. Also, Togghast. Remember Toggast?

[01:10] Blizzard wishes that you

[01:12] didn't. Shadowlands like it wasn't an

[01:16] adventure. It was more of like a

[01:17] cautionary tale. You didn't beat

[01:19] Shadowlands if you played through it

[01:21] during its time. You just survived it.

[01:23] And perhaps to this day, you still wake

[01:25] up at night sometimes after having a

[01:27] nightmare about collecting some soul

[01:29] ash. Battle for Azeroth. We all saw the

[01:32] cinematic, man. That intro cinematic. We

[01:35] got hyped. I certainly got hyped. Horde

[01:38] versus Alliance, war on a global scale,

[01:41] capital cities falling, and then we

[01:43] spent the majority of the expansion

[01:45] watching Jana cry in cinematics. We

[01:48] helped some fat humans rediscover their

[01:50] love for water and cardio. And we

[01:53] convinced a bunch of jungle trolls to

[01:55] stop listening to blood gods who told

[01:56] their followers to practice cannibalism.

[01:59] BFA felt like two expansions just sort

[02:02] of duct taped together. Warfronts were

[02:04] boring. Azerite armor was a mess. We

[02:07] still have PTSD from Island Expeditions.

[02:10] Missed Potential doesn't even begin to

[02:12] cover it. Honestly, I would love it if

[02:14] Blizzard did another Battle for Azeroth

[02:16] expansion down the road, like a Battle

[02:18] for Azeroth remastered, and made it very

[02:21] PvP focused, allowed us to burn down

[02:23] enemy faction villages and stuff,

[02:25] because who doesn't want a torch goldsh

[02:27] on Argentu, am I

[02:30] right? Warlords of Drraanor. Listen, if

[02:33] you judged expansions based solely on

[02:36] vibes and ambience, Warlords would be

[02:39] top three. Honestly, I wanted to put

[02:41] this expansion higher on the list

[02:43] because I really love Drraanor a lot,

[02:45] but I just can't. Drraanor looked

[02:47] incredible. The music was perfect. The

[02:49] atmosphere was a chef's kiss. But then

[02:51] you realized after hitting max level

[02:54] that there was just nothing to do. You

[02:56] AFK in your garrison. There's no

[02:58] meaningful patches aside from one,

[03:00] unless you count the selfie camera

[03:02] patch. There was no actual endgame

[03:04] besides doing garrison chores. It was

[03:07] like Blizzard built a beautiful house

[03:08] and just forgot to furnish it. And the

[03:10] story, it was good, but it just wasn't

[03:13] enough because we didn't get enough

[03:14] patches. I also hated that we killed off

[03:17] Gash so quickly. Personally, Warlords,

[03:20] it's the classic case of a project that

[03:22] sprinted across the starting line and

[03:24] just immediately face planted into a

[03:26] rake. Cataclysm. This expansion was the

[03:30] one that broke the world and a lot of

[03:32] hearts along the way. While the revamped

[03:34] 1 to 60 leveling zones were fun, some

[03:37] zones better than others, of course,

[03:39] Cataclysm did come at the cost of

[03:41] destroying the nostalgic iconic world

[03:43] that everybody loved. The endgame

[03:46] content was hit or miss depending on who

[03:48] you were. Firelands was great, though,

[03:50] but who seriously enjoyed doing Dragon

[03:52] Soul over and over and over for as long

[03:55] as we did. Also, let's be real, nobody

[03:57] asked for underwater questing in Bashir.

[04:00] Nobody. Especially not me because I have

[04:02] some serious phobia about deep dark

[04:04] ocean water with things down there. I I

[04:06] don't even want to think about it.

[04:07] Anyway, Deathwing flying overhead and

[04:09] torching zones was pretty badass. But in

[04:11] the end, Cataclysm tried to embody the

[04:13] idea of new is better. But I think in

[04:15] the long run, it proved that statement

[04:17] very much untrue. The War Within. The

[04:21] War Within feels like Blizzard finally

[04:24] remembered that World of Warcraft is at

[04:26] its best when it just focuses on

[04:28] Azeroth. No big cosmic gods and weird

[04:32] timelines and extradimensional jailers,

[04:35] just a gritty downto- earthth conflict

[04:38] this time under the surface of the

[04:40] world. The new underground zones look

[04:42] incredible. The delve system has a lot

[04:44] of fun, repeatable small groupoup

[04:46] content without feeling like another

[04:48] toast disaster. And the tone is

[04:50] refreshingly grounded, but you do get a

[04:52] little bit of that like void and cosmic

[04:54] stuff thrown in, but it's not too bad.

[04:56] It's certainly not a perfect expansion,

[04:58] though. But I would say that War Within

[05:00] overall is very solid, but it's not

[05:03] great. It's just okay. Otherwise, I

[05:05] would rank it up higher on this list.

[05:07] Also, let's be honest, nobody was

[05:09] begging to learn even more dwarf related

[05:12] lore. Still, after the chaos of all the

[05:14] recent years, The War Within does look

[05:16] like a promising course correction for

[05:18] Blizzard, assuming that they don't trip

[05:20] over their own feet on the way to

[05:22] wherever the heck they're taking this

[05:23] game. Dragon Flight. Dragon riding is

[05:26] probably the most fun traversal mechanic

[05:28] that WoW has ever added. The story, it's

[05:31] simple, dude. There's a couple of big

[05:32] angry dragons, especially this one

[05:34] that's literally on fire, and we got to

[05:36] go punch them in the face. That's it.

[05:38] There's no cosmic mumbo jumbo and no

[05:40] rewiring the laws of death. It's just

[05:42] good old-fashioned dragon slaying. Dude,

[05:44] Beaowolf would be proud. The expansion

[05:47] was also absolutely gorgeous. The zones,

[05:50] they were fun to explore and fly over.

[05:52] They were freaking tuscar in this

[05:53] expansion, dude. the greatest race in

[05:55] WoW, which I just talked about in my

[05:57] five races that should be added to World

[05:59] of Warcraft video. And the tone of

[06:00] Dragon Flight just felt like World of

[06:02] Warcraft was just chilling out for a

[06:04] little while, returning to some

[06:05] semi-traditional fantasy. It was cool.

[06:08] Dragon Flight didn't try to reinvent the

[06:10] wheel. It just gave us a really, really

[06:11] pretty one. And I think that's why it

[06:13] was so enjoyable for those of us that

[06:15] gave it a chance during its time. And

[06:17] also, I will say as a fan of druid lore

[06:20] and stuff and Malfurion, the Emerald

[06:21] Dream was really beautiful. Myths of

[06:24] Pandaria. At launch, people mocked

[06:26] Pandaria for being the Kung Fu Panda

[06:29] expansion. But when the memes died down,

[06:31] everybody realized, "Holy crap, this

[06:34] expansion is awesome." Huge detailed

[06:38] zones, tons of factions and dailies,

[06:41] legendary quest lines, scenarios, the

[06:44] monk class, Thunder King raid, which is

[06:46] still top tier, raising your own cloud

[06:49] serpent. Dude, even if the Chinese

[06:52] inspired vibe wasn't your thing, and it

[06:54] personally wasn't mine either, you

[06:56] couldn't deny just the sheer amount of

[06:59] content that M of delivered. And this

[07:02] expansion aged like fine wine. That's

[07:05] why Blizzard brought it back for the

[07:06] freaking remaster event. And they're

[07:09] about to launch Miss of Classic. People

[07:11] love Mist of Pandaria. And honestly, I

[07:14] mean, like this is just my opinion, but

[07:16] I think that M of a much better battle

[07:20] for Azeroth kind of vibe than Battle for

[07:23] Azeroth did. I mean, at least it really

[07:25] captured the faction warfare. Plus, the

[07:28] world PvP on the Timeless Aisle, dude,

[07:29] it was absolute chaos and it was so much

[07:31] fun if you were there. Mr. Pendari was

[07:33] great. Legion artifact weapons were a

[07:36] master stroke. All Blizzard did is they

[07:39] were like, "Hey, what if we just took a

[07:41] vanilla WoW talent tree and just put it

[07:44] on a weapon." It was a genius idea and

[07:46] it worked amazing. Class halls mostly

[07:49] felt like a love letter to each class

[07:51] fantasy. And finally taking the fight to

[07:53] the Burning Legion after all these years

[07:55] felt so damn good. But here's the one

[07:57] thing that I have to say. Why were we

[07:59] fighting the Legion on this one tiny

[08:01] island? The whole world could have been

[08:03] involved through this entire expansion.

[08:05] But then again, maybe focusing on a

[08:07] world spanning expansion isn't the best

[08:09] idea. Huh? Cataclysm. Still, Legion

[08:12] brought World of Warcraft back from the

[08:14] brink after Warlords of Drraanor's

[08:16] disaster, and it gave us Illan back, and

[08:19] that alone is worth major points. I

[08:21] don't even care that it was obvious fan

[08:23] service. Illan was just really cool to

[08:25] see. And the demon hunter class. Maybe

[08:27] not as cool as death knights, but they

[08:29] still ranked pretty good in my ranking

[08:31] WoW classes from worst to best video,

[08:33] which you should definitely check out

[08:34] after this one. The Burning Crusade. It

[08:38] was classic WoW, but with spaceships.

[08:40] TBC took everything that people loved

[08:42] about vanilla, brutal leveling,

[08:44] tight-knit groups, horrifying PvP, and

[08:47] just polished it up. And flying mounts,

[08:49] dude, because flying mounts are so

[08:50] freaking cool. Seriously though, TBC

[08:52] zones are still so iconic. The dungeons

[08:55] felt meaningful and introducing Drraani

[08:57] and Blood Elves reshaped the Horde and

[08:59] the Alliance in very huge ways. Plus,

[09:01] the vibes, the vibes of this expansion,

[09:04] perfect, man. Hellfire Peninsula, PTSD

[09:07] aside, TBC gave us some of the best

[09:10] music, aesthetics, and storytelling that

[09:13] the franchise has ever seen. Shout out

[09:15] to the Azure Isle soundtrack, by the

[09:17] way. Dude, it hits like an emotional

[09:18] truck. I've even been listening to it

[09:20] this entire time while I've been writing

[09:22] this script. Also, first time stepping

[09:24] through the Dark Portal. Pure magic.

[09:26] Anyone that has done it, like it's it's

[09:28] a memory. It's a it's a it's a cherished

[09:30] gaming memory. Walking through the Dark

[09:32] Portal for the first time at level 58.

[09:34] BC was great. And now everyone, before

[09:37] we reveal that obvious number one, I

[09:40] would like to thank you all for making

[09:41] it this far into the video and watching

[09:43] it. And if you can, and if you want, hit

[09:45] that like button down below to help the

[09:46] channel. And if you want to see more

[09:48] ranking videos in the future, just let

[09:50] me know some of your ideas down in the

[09:51] comment section below. Here we go.

[09:54] Number one, the best WoW expansion is

[09:57] Wrath of the Lich King. It's the peak.

[10:00] It's the summit. It's the Magnum Opus.

[10:02] Northrren was perfection, dude. Snow

[10:05] Fields, Gothic Castles, Viking zombies.

[10:09] Arthus was the best villain Blizzard

[10:12] ever wrote, hands down. But I will say

[10:14] though, his I'll get you next time,

[10:16] kids. vibe in Wrath was a little bit

[10:18] poor writing-wise, but he was still

[10:21] awesome in Warcraft 3 and leading up

[10:23] into Wrath of a Lich King, so we sort of

[10:25] forgive it in our hearts. Death Knights

[10:27] were introduced in this expansion. They

[10:29] were overpowered as hell, and that made

[10:30] them absolutely fun to play. Every

[10:33] dungeon, every raid, every battleground

[10:35] had that right feeling captured by that

[10:38] OG World of Warcraft team. And sure, the

[10:41] Wrath of the Lich King classic

[10:42] experience was filled with bots. But

[10:44] that original Wrath of the Lich King

[10:47] experience back in the day, it's

[10:49] untouchable. It was the end of an era

[10:52] for World of Warcraft. And after Wrath,

[10:54] WoW just never was quite the same. And

[10:56] neither were we. And finally, if you

[10:58] didn't cry at the end of the Ice Crown

[10:59] Citadel raid, you might just be a

[11:02] hellbent evil raid boss yourself in real

[11:04] life. And there it is, everybody. Every

[11:06] WoW expansion ranked from worst to best.

[11:08] Where did your favorite land? Let me

[11:10] know down in the comments. And if you

[11:12] think that uh Shadowlands deserved a

[11:14] higher place on the list, please provide

[11:16] your reasoning, which I'm going to

[11:17] completely ignore, by the way, because

[11:19] you need some really serious help, my

[11:21] friend. Like the video if you guys want.

[11:22] Subscribe for more MMO RPG content. And

[11:25] if you want another video to watch,

[11:27] check out this one on your screen right

[11:29] now. It is ranking WoW classes from

[11:31] worst to best. I know you guys will

[11:33] enjoy it. And uh yeah, thanks for

[11:35] watching everybody and I'll see you with

[11:36] my next