Pre burning crusade they had jussssst about hit maybe the middle ages. The understanding of magic and science were about at the same level - and they weren’t moving forward too quick.
Then, outland. Space travel. Machines beyond comprehension. Magic used in ways nether thought possible. (heh)
We start seeing more advanced machines showing once we get to northrend. Massive skyships and carriers can ferry whole armies across mass distances, and construction has been refined further and further, the Horde having a specific focus on steelwork.
Cataclysm. Electricity has more than been discovered and they have also created internal combustion engines, like those used in our automobiles. However, all of this has progressed far faster than our world. Guns and rockets exist along plate and swords. Magic too advances, going further beyond what even Aszhara could have dreamed of.
Warlords of Draenor - the alliance gains the knoweldge of true draenic engineering, and the Horde gains that of the Iron Horde, spurred on by Garrosh but perpetuated by the goblin cartels. The alliance is moving towards a greenpunk kinda style, the horde moving towards a gaspunk, or modern style.
By BFA this has come to a messy head. War machines and tanks rumble along lines of conflicting infantry. A standard warrior may have to deal with heavy artillery, mana explosions, gunshots, and hand to hand combat.
The settings may be different, and the attire has not risen to match the level of technology - but Azeroth is now at Earth’s level of power.
And goodness gracious what are they gonna do with it.
Azeroth should not be compared to Earth in terms of technological prowess. The presence of magic has obviated the higher level usages of technology in such a way that Azeroth, and it’s denizens, aren’t really comparable with Earth.
The Draenei, for example, are on a completely different level and yet use it completely differently than we do. They don’t seem to use cell phones, laptops, or any other “modern convenience” technology that we do. Despite understanding the technology behind interdimensional travel they still built mostly generic robots, for example. They could almost certainly whip up portable technology to take care of a great many problems in their way, and yet they don’t because they can use magic.
Similarly, the Night Elves basically languished in immortality without meaningful technological development. They could have improved a great deal, but it simply wasn’t part of their culture and they had magic to take care of most of their needs. They were at a technological level, using things like glaive throwers and the like, comparable to the last few millenia on Earth, but then spent 10,000 years doing nothing with it.
We see this in almost every race.
I wouldn’t qualify guns as particularly modern, being that they’re centuries old even by our standards. War machines are a bit nebulous, but I’m more impressed with their helicopters and multitude of ways to fly. Even then they only use it in very niche environments.
Azeroth simply isn’t using technology the way Earth would. It’s not comparable. I’d peg them as borrowing from multiple time periods, at best, and only really bothering when magic doesn’t have an immediate solution (and even then they’re liable to use magic over technology even if tech might have gotten the job done better because tech requires more work).
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Azeroth doesn’t really line up with Earth history, especially considering the Gnomes had flying machines and submarines since Warcraft 2, electricity since at least Vanilla, and the Dwarves have had tanks since Warcraft 3.
Between that and everything the Draenei have, Azeroth is simultaneously about 3 different points in Human technological history which still includes medieval times as we have knights running around in full plate with swords and shields.
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Sure, if you miss the spaceships and the gadgets engineering can create because, you know… Azeroth’s not real.
I look at it all as those with the age and memory of past civilizations are hesitant and down right obstinate when it comes to progress.
Azeroth almost has that same machine vs. magic dichotomy you see in Final Fantasy especially 6.
Lost to time, rediscovered etc.
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i hate to break it to you but there are no dragons irl
Disagree. Azeroth is way more advanced than Earth. Magic is what makes the difference. Comparing Azeroth to Earth is like comparing Atlantis to a sheep farm.
Suramar for example, stood over 10,000 years and still looking untouched, no rl human creation can withstand such period of time even with constant maintenance. In fact, if human dies off today, all the buildings, pavement, any kind of evidence of our civilization will turn into dust in less than 10,000 years. That is why our true ancestors wrote stuff on rocks and mountains. No other known materials can withstand 10,000 years long storage. In that regard, our real ancestors was way advanced than us.
Azeroth has a fairly ridiculous society. They use medieval farm equipment yet also have what are effectively droids roaming around.
They fight with swords yet have machine guns, artillery, even laser guided weapons. They ride horses yet can achieve space flight. They use mail couriers for reports yet have wireless technology.
They can literally open a portal anywhere they want and fire missiles through it, but choose to sword and board for the most part.
Not a realistic game.
I kinda liked the pseudo steam punkish type of “advanced” technology that original WoW started with, but beginning with the Burning Crusade, it feels as if some of the designers have thought “I wish I was working on Starcraft instead…” and put that into their design.
There’s been less death and war than earth. 
Nah…think of Stargate-SG1 planets. Some low tech with ancient tech SOOO advanced it appears to be magic. The spells the characters do are enhanced mental, telekinetic abilities.
i’d dps this thing from the side i guess.
youre right.
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It’s worse when you consider that they have venomous saliva and claws capable of tearing open Buffalo (which have thick cow skin, so that’s about as sharp as if not sharper than most hacking blades).
In terms of Azeroth’s technology level compared to ours, they’re actually a tad bit ahead. We’re in the information age on the cusp of Artificial intelligence being a widespread technology, Azeroth is already in the age of AI, the next step in our development; because Titans, Dwarves, Kyrians etc all have functioning AI capable of carrying out complex tasks.
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I would argue it’s not implausible to have this happen - it’s what occurs when society progresses faster than it can keep up with itself. We had instances of bladed calvary charging against firearm wielding squads. The choice to sword and board might not be seen as a choice from their angle - they’ve just gone from swords to missilees too quickly.
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