World of Warcraft came out on November 23, 2004. That's the North American launch date, and it landed on the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. Europe got it a few months later, and other regions like Korea and China followed through 2005. So if someone asks how old WoW is, the short answer is: it's been running continuously for over 20 years.

The Original Release Date

Blizzard launched the base game (now called "vanilla" or "classic") in late November 2004. World of Warcraft was announced in 2001 and was released for the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise on November 23, 2004. It was Blizzard's first MMORPG, built off the engine they'd used for Warcraft III.

The story picks up right after the previous game. Set in the Warcraft fantasy universe, World of Warcraft takes place within the fictional planet Azeroth, approximately four years after the events of the previous game in the series, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

Why the Launch Date Sometimes Gets Listed Differently

You'll occasionally see November 14, 2004 floating around (Britannica lists that), but the date Blizzard and the community treat as the real launch is November 23, 2004. The rollout wasn't a single global event either. The original World of Warcraft release date wasn't a global event. Blizzard staggered it over about a year. North America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand got it first, then Europe followed on February 11, 2005, and other regions like China and South Korea throughout the same year.

How the Launch Actually Went

It was a hit immediately, and the servers felt it. Vanilla WoW launch servers were famously overloaded on Day 1. Queue times to enter servers reached 90+ minutes in the first 48 hours. Blizzard had badly underestimated demand. Blizzard had prepared for an estimated 200,000 concurrent players - the game actually hit 500,000+ within the first week.

The momentum didn't slow down. Surpassing expectations, the game had reached 5 million subscribers by the end of 2005. It eventually became the biggest MMORPG ever made, peaking at around 12 million subscribers in 2010.

Every Expansion and Its Release Date

The 2004 base game is just the start. Since then there have been eleven major expansions. Here's the full timeline:

• Vanilla (base game) - November 23, 2004

• The Burning Crusade - January 16, 2007

• Wrath of the Lich King - November 13, 2008

• Cataclysm - December 7, 2010

• Mists of Pandaria - September 25, 2012

• Warlords of Draenor - November 13, 2014

• Legion - August 30, 2016

• Battle for Azeroth - August 14, 2018

• Shadowlands - November 23, 2020

• Dragonflight - November 28, 2022

• The War Within - August 2024

• Midnight - March 2, 2026

Since launch, World of Warcraft has had eleven major expansion packs: The Burning Crusade (2007), Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Cataclysm (2010), Mists of Pandaria (2012), Warlords of Draenor (2014), Legion (2016), Battle for Azeroth (2018), Shadowlands (2020), Dragonflight (2022), The War Within (2024), and Midnight (2026). There's also one more on the way. An additional upcoming expansion, The Last Titan, was announced in 2023.

The First Expansion

If you're specifically wondering when the first expansion dropped, that's The Burning Crusade. TBC raised the level cap from 60 to 70, added Blood Elves (Horde) and Draenei (Alliance) as new playable races, and introduced flying mounts plus the entire Outland continent. It came out roughly two years after the original game.

What About WoW Classic?

If you want the original 2004 experience, Blizzard brought it back. In 2019, a vanilla version of the game titled World of Warcraft Classic was launched, allowing players to experience the base game before any of its expansions launched. The exact relaunch date was August 26, 2019, and it was based on patch 1.12, the final vanilla content patch. Blizzard has since added Classic versions of several expansions too.

I Never Played - Where Do I Start?

You don't need to start from the 2004 content. The current expansion is the intended entry point for new players, and the game funnels you in automatically. You'll go through Exile's Reach (a tutorial island), then level through a recent expansion's zones before reaching the newest content at the right level. Buying the latest expansion gets you everything you need to begin, and the monthly subscription has stayed remarkably consistent over the years.

The Short Version

World of Warcraft launched on November 23, 2004. It's one of the longest-running MMORPGs in history, with eleven expansions released since and a twelfth (The Last Titan) confirmed but not yet dated. If you want the original feel, play WoW Classic. If you want the current game, grab the newest expansion and jump in.