Hi guys, I’m a new player and need some guidance on this. I understand that there are 7 expansions with the latest one, Battle for Azeroth, released in 2018.
I would like to know generally, how do expansions affect the game? Do they add new characters and storyline? How do I enter the storylines of each expansion?
Sorry for asking such a noob question and would appreciate any replies on this. Thanks.
Different expansions add different things. There is a LOT beyond this, but these are the basics. As you level up you go through different expansions zones. The time lines get a little weird at places. Technically the timeline progression is now something like Classic -> BC -> Wotlk -> retail 1-60 -> Cata ->>>
BC added Draenei and Blood Elves. Alliance got shaman; Horde got Paladins. Level cap raised to 70. Talents were adjusted from Vanilla and had a 41 point (instead of 31 point) cap. Outland was added for new content. Ability to fly in Outland at 70.
WotLK added the Death Knight hero class, Northrend as a continent, level cap to 80. Stats/talents adjusted slightly again, talent trees now capped at 51 points. Heroic modes and 10/25 player raids were first added. LFG added.
Cata added Worgen & Goblins. Level cap to 85. New zones and the ability to fly in Azeroth. Talent trees re-worked so they resemble current trees. LFR added during final raid tier. Vanilla zones 1-60 revamped.
MoP added Pandaren. Level cap to 90. New continent of Panderia. Introduction of mythic dungeons and raids. Introduction of flexible raid sizes.
WoD expanded classes open to more races. Level cap to 100. Alternate timeline planet of Draenor (which would become the Outland in BC in the future). Changed how gear itemization works, and made it so primary stats would changed based on the spec of the character, making hybrids have less things to carry. Added personal garrisons for resource building.
Legion added Demon Hunters. Level cap to 110. Added class halls/quests as a replacement for garrisons. Artifact weapons leveled with you. New continent, Broken Isles. World quests added.
BFA added Allied races. Cap to 120. War zones, campaigns and a bunch of other stuff I haven’t really done added.
The simple answer is that expansions are cumulative and the game evolves with each expansion.
When you start a new character, you’re not playing WoW as it was in Vanilla (unless you’re playing Classic), you’re playing WoW as it is in BfA. The majority of the game systems (things like talent trees, how abilities are gained, and leveling in general) have changed significantly since that time. The way those aspects of the game are are consistent for all players, regardless of where they are from a progression and leveling standpoint.
New NPCs and “baseline” story are added with each expansion, but apart from basically being the setting and flavor of the expansion they’re in, they don’t really have any bearing on anything. Story is… not what I would call a strong point of WoW. I’ve been playing this game for almost 10 years at this point, and I honestly have not seen much logical progression for what story there is. There are tangential linking events between each expansions (although there’s a significant gap between the pre-Cataclysm and post-Cataclysm stories - the changes wrought by the Cataclysm eliminated any obvious links between early expansions, and MoP starts because some Horde and Alliance ships got lost at sea and shipwrecked, maybe because of changes brought about by the Cataclysm? That’s not really clear), but aside from one major event which occurs during “pre-patch”, which is removed following the release of the new expansion, there is no real flow of events.
Even within expansions, the story is fairly threadbare, with quests occasionally remembering that there’s supposed to be a story, but mostly remaining self-contained within each zone or quest hub if a story exists at all.
Oh, also one more point:
Technically talent trees were changed in MoP, not Cataclysm. Specifically they were changed to the current template in the MoP prepatch. Class trainers were likewise made completely obsolete at this time (they still offered skill training at the time I started playing about halfway into Cataclysm, although it was already restricted to only skills for your selected specialty).
Also, MoP added the Monk class, and introduced the precursor to the current Mythic+ with challenge mode dungeons.
The profession system was also revamped for the first time in Legion, moving from a progressive system to one where you could start from any point, and adding tiered recipes with reduced material costs for higher ranks.
This was changed again in BfA to a stratified system where each expansion’s profession ranks leveled independently - so rather than professions going from 1-800, each expansion has its own tier from 1-150 (or whatever) completely independent of other tiers.
You have to get to the minimum level for each expansion - though its been tweaked a bit from their original. At level 58 you can start Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King content. At 78 or 80 you can start Cataclysm or Mists of Panada. At 90 Warlords, 98 Legion and 110 BfA. (I may not have the exact levels right, some of them let you start 2 earlier, some do not.)
Typically you will get an “automatic” pop-up quest when you hit that level that will start the quest chain (usually from your main faction city). Sometimes it can be a bit temperamental and you may have to go to the city for it to pop, or log off and back in.
You can always pick it up at that level from the “mission board” in the main city or by checking your “Adventure Guide” - the little book icon on the smallest of your action bars.
Thanks guys, the replies were extremely helpful!