What was WoW's best prepatch or EVENT?

[Arikara]

WotLK, obviously.

[Sableye]

no love for BFA's event here.

I think the cata event gets forgotten a bit. you had tons and tons of things going on in the cities and everybody knew when they logged in afterwards there wasn't just going to be a new expansion there'd be a whole new world

[Dezolacer]

Best is Legion for sure. It was overwhelmingly immersive.
Worst is gotta be wotlk for me. Not being able to use AH and lagging like a 1fps potato wasn't fun for me at all.

[exochaft]

WotLK is still #1 for me because it actually felt like an invasion to some degree. I know some people complain that it was inconvenient, but that was part of its charm. Most other pre-expansion events didn't have nearly as much impact from a social or thematic perspective. There were certainly many others that offered easier/faster gear and level catch-ups, but many felt shallow and just there as a generic catch-up mechanic.

Second best pre-patch is probably Legion because it did feel quite immersive, albeit pretty secluded in terms of an event. Participation was solid throughout pre-patch, as well. Everything else is at least a distant third place and beyond.

Now, if we're talking event excluding pre-patch stuff? That's a tough one, as I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch. However, I tend to lean towards vanilla and the war effort / AQ opening because it was a massive social event. I can't really remember the last time there was so much coordination within just a faction or between guilds in general on such a large scale. It's one of those things current WoW really lacks and will probably never fully regain again.

There might be some more general events that I liked, but the ones that had the most lasting impact were all due to social interactions versus the specific content. It's the reason why vanilla AV, vanilla SS vs TM, and some holiday events invoke fond memories way more than their current-day versions: the social environment and what drove that content and people together is way different from what it is today.

[czarek]

Dunno tbh. I dont remember any good that actually could be written in my mind. I remember pre tbc patch that actually allow us to obtain pvp gear for a little honor grind. That was mind blowing to get this items almost for free.

[Magistrate]

Prepatch events:

1. Legion
2. BFA (War of Thorns)
3. Wrath

[borgarr]

Wrath of the lich kings event was by far the best imo I remember people making raids to go infect every single alliance city and it felt like the entire server was involved in it in some way or other and because of that it felt kind of personal when we went to northland and made the threat of the undead seem real

[Val the Moofia Boss]

War of Thorns no contest. One of the few times that this game has felt like WARcraft in which you got to participate in a pivotal war battle. As Horde, I got to get called up for an army march that was supposed to turn left at the intersection and go to Silithus, but instead unexpectedly turned right. We committed perfidy, crossing over into Night Elf territory. Then I was sent to massacre a Night Elf village in Ashenvale. Then we hit Darkshore proper and there was a huge battle with hundreds of orcs and elves fighting and giant treants lobbing boulders across a ravine at our catapults, and then finally we wiped out the Night Elf settlements on the Northwestern coast. And we did it. We did what has never before been done in any other MMO (and what few story RPGs do either). We destroyed the enemy faction's capital city.

On the Alliance side, the "A Flicker of Hope" quest at the end was one of the most memorable experiences I have had in games. Fire was spreading throughout Darnassus. I had 3 minutes to save 960 people. I was grabbing buckets of water to throw at patches of fire so people could escape their homes. Running around telling people to go to the portal. Etc. When I noticed that the timer was halfway finished and I only had 90 seconds left, I realized that I had only saved 30 people. That's when you start getting that sinking feeling in your heart. By the end, I had saved 60 people before there was too much heat and the PC had to retreat through the portal, and everybody else died. Up until that point, I had mostly mained Horde, but that quest made me really motivated to go through the BFA story Alliance. Unfortunately, the BFA levelling questlines sucked as it was not more war content like the War of Thorns, but instead you are running around two new random islands doing sidequest chores.

The couple weeks of big war mode battles at the crates in Darkshore were also fun. Too bad war mode died shortly after.

[bardicbass616]

Legion>BfA>WotLK

Cata’s was cool too but I was much less engaged back then. Did TBC have one? I cant recall.

My favorite events are always the Diablo ones. I always wanted the Mini Diablo pet since I first saw it back in ‘05 (loved D2) so I always try to jump at those events since I’ll never get the pet

[Turtler]

Wrath, nothing will ever compare.

It made the world feel more alive and dangerous than anything they've ever done since the AQ opening event invasions.

You lived in fear not knowing when you might next get infected and the final frostwyrm attacks on SW were absolutely fucking glorious.