Which expansion had the best leveling experience?

[Topornic]

Haven't yet seen Legion, but I chose Wotlk, because of lore. The first time I did Fjord, Stormpeaks and Icecrown I was so amazed that no xpac before or after made me so astonished. WoD has the best experience in terms of smoothless gameplay and a bit more engaging overall, because of many cinematics.
Then I would pick Cata for gloriously looking zones, disliked for meh lore and epicness. MoP and BC were ok for me. (Of course MoP has all improvements).
Also Vanilla sucked balls, except for class quests. Revamped Cata was and is awesome. Better than MoP and BC but worse than WotLK.
However I puke when thinking about doing Northrend, Cata, Pandas and Outland again, because I have 12 level 100 toons on my current realm, and about 15 toons levels 85-100 on older realms. I absolutely detest any questing but revamped 1-60 which doesnt really make sense to do because of absurd speed of lvling.
Also, Loremaster here.

[araine]

"Vanilla best levelling experience."

6 months of casual play to max level? Running out of level-appropriate quests so you have to grind mobs to ding? Getting sent on useless breadcrumb quests which end leave you having to travel all the way back again?

Hahahaha, no.

If you voted vanilla you obviously dont remember how it was back than thats for sure

[Revak]

Vanilla was very immersive. Everyone was new to the game and it was a great experience (albeit slow).

After that:

WotLK
MoP
TBC
Cata
WoD


I didn't play Legion beta so no comment there.

[Deleted]

I didnt play beta, and i started in wrath. while lvling in wrath was super cool because the game was still new for me, I think each expansion had better lvling.
Didnt like Vasjir
Loved Jade Forest
Wod frostfire and nagrand with the cinematics was the best IMO, so I will say wod
Also, I really loved the look of Frostfire the first time, I played it during my 10 days of free wod just after wod launched, and it is the reason I came back to wow after leaving in mop

[Tiev]

Levelling experience, completely disregarding which had the lore that was more interesting to me (Wrath) had to be MoP. Quest system and garrison made for the most fun levelling experience I've had to date. End-game was another matter, though.

[Sencha]

Vanilla hands down.

[Archmage Alodi]

Legion , warlords would be as good if it didn't include garrisons.

[Pony Soldier]

Despite how disappointed I was with WoD one thing it got right was the questing. It was the most fun I've had questing out of all the expansions and vanilla. I liked how the quests had more direction, purpose, and story to them compared to before where it was just scattered quests consisting of go collect me this and go kill that because I said so or go talk to this person who will send you out to talk to some other person. It was still pretty much the same kind of quests in WoD but at least it had better reasons and had more background to it so it didn't feel so pointless. Not to mention the cutscenes as well. They were awesome and it added immersion for once.

Which brings up another point, immersion. This was probably the most immersive questing experience I've ever had in WoW too. There was more interaction from the NPCs. I mean they mostly still just stood there at camp waiting for you to finish their chores they gave you but it felt like there was more interaction with the player this time around like helping you out fight a quest boss or meeting up with you when you finish. And again, those cutscenes were top notch and epic, I loved them and I hope there are more like that in Legion which I'm sure there will be (there better be...).

[Desparil]

legion>wod>wotlk>cata>mop>tbc>vanila

[Serath]

Honestly I think I liked Cata's individual zones the best for leveling. It lacked a good cohesive feel to it though. WoD was very good and Legion is as well. Wrath was also pretty good.

[McNeil]

Gotta say I like the oldschool leveling more, where quests are a lot more spread out and where you had to travel a lot more to complete them. WotLK has the best balance of the oldschool and new leveling experience, in Cata they started to streamline badly and its being kept that way. Vanilla was basically made all around the leveling process though, and its where the biggest adventure takes place by exploring a huge world. TBC improved their questing, but you could already tell that the leveling is being shoved aside to focus on raiding and stuff. MoP questing was less linear than Cata's and had some decent storylines, but to often have I had these pointless quests like helping out farmers and do other dumb chores. WoD questing is probably the best ''new'' leveling experience, not counting Legion which I didn't play yet.

From best to worst:

WotLK > Vanilla > TBC > WoD > MoP > Cata

[Deleted]

If I was younger: Classic/ BC/ WotLK style

But I have gotten older and fucking lazy so I much more prefer the new way they are designed.

[PenguinChan]

Honestly Cataclysm was the most enjoyable for me, in terms of comedy and enjoyment factor. The zones were pretty great and they changed while you did them, at least certain aspects. While Warlords of Draenor had a slightly better leveling system at the base level, it didn't really provide much for me in terms of story. It felt rushed (Because it was) and everything about it was just 'meh'. I don't know how I'd rank the systems, but easily Cataclysm was one of the most enjoyable ones for me.

[Phuongvi]

basically I don't have any good memories for my leveling experience in WoD, Mop Or Cata.

So yeah, anything between Vanilla and Wrath.

[Varaben]

I really liked what I saw in Legion beta. To be honest, I can't really remember Vanilla or TBC. I remember TBC being a LOT smoother than Vanilla because of how the quests were outlined and the flow. But Legion beta felt a lot better than the recent ones. MOP was really bad IMO.

[Zequill]

"Vanilla best levelling experience."

6 months of casual play to max level? Running out of level-appropriate quests so you have to grind mobs to ding? Getting sent on useless breadcrumb quests which end leave you having to travel all the way back again?

Hahahaha, no.

Ah, the good old time. At least you have to say it was different. I would say the later version of Vanilla where they added more quest to patch the worst part of it.

[Nurvus]

Legion > Cata (nice freedom) > Wrath (2 starting zones, then some freedom) > TBC > WoD (super railroad) > MoP (super railroad)

[Lochton]

Can't say Legion, couldn't be bothered to play it beta. But Warlords of Draenor had of all the expansions, the most smoothest leveling. And Mists had, in my opinion, some of the more interesting quests.

[OrcPoster]

Cataclysm was very fun IMOO (In My Orcish Opinion). Very linear, but fun.

[TheFirstOnes]

Look at all the vanilla fanboys here. A true vanilla player like myself would know that calling vanilla "The best experience ever" would be the greatest piece of comedy EVER! Trust me, it was awful.

But as far as questing goes.

For retail (As of NOW): WoD/MoP

For Beta (AS OF NOW): Legion 100%

In reality: LEGION!

Wraths was alright, cata lacked amusement, TBC lacked story, vanilla was tedious af.