Best Era/Expansion of WoW?

[Evil Inside]

WotlK first are you serious?

1. Classic
2. TBC
3. MoP
4. WotlK
5. Cataclysm

/the end.

Opinions, they're subjective. For me wotlk is #1 because of the lore behind it, followed by mop, tbc, cata and classic.

[Berri]

1.) Wrath
2.) MoP (may pull ahead by the end of the expansion)
3.) TBC
4.) Classic
5.) Cata

[RicardoZ]

I know I'm going to take some heat for this, but I LOVED Cataclysm. I think that Wrath had the best lore though. Best times I've had in the game are Cata though.

[Angrybathtub]

1. TBC
2. Vanilla
3. MoP/WoTLK
4. Cata

[RicardoZ]

1. Cata
2. Wrath
3. BC
4. Vanilla
5. Mists

[Tumadre80]

I'd have to say MoP->TBC->WotLK->Cata. didn't play vanilla however I was a TBC baby.

[RoboA]

It's interesting to see WotLK with the most votes... It wasn't so long ago when Wrath was getting dumped on from every angle.

the vocal minority hated it very publicly on forums, the rest of us were too busy enjoying the beautiful northrend.

[Pendragon]

I selected TBC, but WOTLK was just as good in many ways! The theme of WOTLK is definitely my favourite.
The only thing I didn't like about Wrath is that it brought an end to Arthas and pretty much the Lich King and the Scourge.

[Deleted]

1. BC
2. Vanilla
3. Wrath
~

Have a problem with the last 2 spots for MoP/Cata actually.
MoP it's quite early to tell still, Blizz is making changes at quite a fast pace, going back and forth between:
"dailies are fine / they're too much in some cases",
"no rep tabards / first scenario, challenge, heroic will award bonus rep"
and all the other things they will flip-flop between now and the end of the expansion.

Similarly I have the same problem with Cataclysm expansion,
first half t11 up until and including Firelands I rather enjoyed and I'd rate at #2 spot, later half sucked monkey balls.

[RicardoZ]

the vocal minority hated it very publicly on forums, the rest of us were too busy enjoying the beautiful northrend.

This is also very true with Cataclysm. While people were whining and crying over Troll dungeons, heroics being too hard, and outdated raids getting nerfed, the rest of us were levelling alts 1-60 and amazed at the depth and dynamics of the new world and the marked increase in quality of storytelling in every zone.

[Deleted]

This is also very true with Cataclysm. While people were whining and crying over Troll dungeons, heroics being too hard, and outdated raids getting nerfed, the rest of us were levelling alts 1-60 and amazed at the depth and dynamics of the new world and the marked increase in quality of storytelling in every zone.

Very well written and i completely agree .

[Ascendant]

1. Wotlk
2. TBC
3. Cata
4. MoP

Played maybe 3 hours total in vanilla so can't really say much about that one. Reason why MoP is last is because I pretty much only pvp and it has been pretty broken until now, didn't like much of MoP so far. (spoiler: I fucking loathe dailies and think it's incredibly poor game design, and to call that content outside of the first time you do them is laughable, so there's little content for me to do).

[Absintheminded]

Thats rose tinted glasses at its max power.

Sorry but nothing can beat Wotlk and MoP is getting better every day .

Sorry, but that's just incorrect. I began in Vanilla and was in a guild farming BWL, we never did Temple or Naxx, but those raids were for the 1%. I was ok with the 1% then, but these days the game is so water-ed down that the 1% is very hard to distinguish. I don't think anybody here will disagree with the idea that the game itself has matured and added cool new features, but from someone who actually stepped foot in the "World" of Warcraft and had to take Flight Paths cross continent, farm the SHIT out of dungeons getting BLUES before I would get looked at for raids to only have to earn the right to bid on a purple, completed dozens-long quest chains that actually were epic(You are Rakh'likh, Demon, for instance), etc. etc. I could go on, but as others have played Devil's Advocate to, everyone is going to have their own personal nostalgia and if I were to base my vote solely on that it would be Vanilla.

TBC paced Raids perfectly, and 10 and 25 man Raids were distinct and had their own purpose, dailies were not a forced grind (at least until Sunwell), PvP/Arena was at its best and most balanced (Sure, until WoTLK talents came out and the underappreciated and difficult to excel at Retadin was buffed to God-dom), heroics that were about as difficult as raids until they were out-geared, etc.

You obviously feel different, and that's ok, but there are many reasons I will never see Wrath or anything since as the "best" expansion. The sense of community, exploration, living world, all of that is gone. Probably for some of the reasons you think Wrath is the best.

[shamental]

best era of wow, best expansion of wow = the very one you started in

[Austilias]

1) TBC
2) WOTLK
3) Vanilla/MoP
4) Cata

May #1 be remembered and #4 be forgotten.

[Totle]

Wrath - great story, great lore, great visuals in armor, monsters, and scenery. Epic centerpiece of questing (Wrathgate/Undercity), best raid in the game, plenty of accessibility for players while still maintaining HCore exclusive content (Firefighter, ICC 25H). Fun dungeons, reps weren't grindy, fun boss mechanics.

Overall, it was the best expansion and the subscriptions proved it.

[Kantoro]

I am genuinely surprised that BC is so close to Wrath. Wrath was ridiculously well done. Every single class is less fun to play since Wrath.

[Absintheminded]

Wrath - great story, great lore, great visuals in armor, monsters, and scenery. Epic centerpiece of questing (Wrathgate/Undercity), best raid in the game, plenty of accessibility for players while still maintaining HCore exclusive content (Firefighter, ICC 25H). Fun dungeons, reps weren't grindy, fun boss mechanics.

Overall, it was the best expansion and the subscriptions proved it.

Wrath also had arguably the worst Raid in WoW, ToC. Also, being the "best" is ultimately subjective and saying it had the most subscriptions does not infer this. In fact, one could make an argument that Wrath had the most subscriptions based on TBC's quality, catching people on with the "new" expansion. The hardcore content was, by definition, NOT exclusive, the dungeons were good, but were no better than TBC's. The reputations on the other hand were far more grindy, Argent Tournament anyone?

I am genuinely surprised that BC is so close to Wrath. Wrath was ridiculously well done. Every single class is less fun to play since Wrath.

I would argue that classes were less fun to play during Wrath (other than DK's whom were perfect in theory on release, and subsequently neutered from distinguishing the three specs). Before Wrath all classes/specs could serve specific roles slightly better than others, and beginning with Wrath all similar specs of different classes were streamlined.

[melodramocracy]

Huh, would you look at that.

I guess the old forum myth about *everyone* thinking that the last expansion was the best, and the current one is the worst, is nonsense.

[Kissme]

I still find it amusing so many say wrath, when it was the worst expansion of all.

Wrath is the dividing point between a lot of groups. The older player base started to leave during Wrath, so a lot of the current player base would only have hit their stride in Wrath, thus making it their favorite - especially if they didn't raid much prior to Wrath. Wrath also had the LK storyline which is pivotal to the franchise.

On the negative side, Wrath introduced toggle hardmodes and LFD (which led to LFR) and essentially began the decay of server communities.

That's why my favorite period in WoW was Vanilla through to Ulduar, with the game becoming steadily worse in my opinion from Ulduar until I quit in DS.

WoW passed a certain balancing point in Wrath where convenience bypassed journey in terms of importance in the game. The direction determined by that shift has caused there to be a distinct split in the playerbase between the old and new direction. I can't say which is better, but I know which I preferred. The vote seems to reflect that split as well.