Out of curiosity I decided to compare the launches of Shadowlands and Wrath of the Lich King. Wrath is heralded as the best expansion pack by much of the playerbase. I actually played Wrath of the Lich King at launch all the way until Ulduar was released. While we don't know exactly what content will be added to Shadowlands over the coming month, we have somewhat of an idea. Below I will be comparing the first few months of content between the two expansions.
Once you dinged 80 in Wrath of the Lich King you would hang out in Dalaran. Content included Normal/Heroic Dungeon farming, Battlegrounds, Season 1 Arena, Wintergrasp + Vault of Archavon, Naxxramas, and Zone Reputation grinds. Below is a more detailed summary.
Was there really more content in early Wrath compared to Shadowlands?
Wrath of the Lich King:
Normal/Heroic Dungeons (No Dungeon Finder)
There was no dungeon finder so you had to form groups with players on your server.
WOTLK launched with more dungeons than any expansion, but some were not well received.
Some dungeons were a lot more popular than others. Players would often avoid certain dungeons.
- Utgarde Keep (Popular/Fun)
- Uthgard Pinnacle (Popular)
- Azjol-Nerub (Unpopular/Many players would leave early on)
- The Nexus (Unpopular/Avoid by many)
- Drak'Tharon Keep (Not that popular and often mixed up with Gundrak)
- Violet Hold (Short and repertitive.. was in Dalaran)
- Gundrak (Not well liked/Lots of annoying trash)
- Stratholme Past (Well received.. but it a bit boring)
- Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom (Often confused with Azjol-Nerub)
- Halls of Stone (Pretty popular)
- Halls of Lightning (Fast paced and fairly well-liked)
- The Oculus (Not popular/many complaints)
PvP
- Lake Wintergrasp (Vehicle PvP, zerging + lag)
- Strand of Ancients (This was the most popular BG. It was vehicle rushfest.)
- Honor Vendor (No weapons)
- Season 1 Arena (Dalaran Sewer + Ring of Valor)
PvE
Zone Reputations and Vendors (Daily Quests)
- Borean Tundra (A bit barren, but memorable)
- Howling Fjord (One of the best starting zones ever)
- Icecrown (Not much to do here at lower levels)
- Storm Peaks (Same as Icecrown)
- Wintergrasp
- Crystalsong Forest (This zone was empty usually)
- Zul'drak (Not that well-liked.. lots of trash mobs that would chase)
- Sholazar Basin (Relaxing and fun)
- Grizzly Hills (Very memorable and fun)
- Dragonblight (Flat and fairly empt)
Raids
- Naxxramas (1 difficulty.. and easy and recycled)
- Vault of Archavon (1 boss)
- Obsidian Sanctum (1 boss)
- Eye of Eternity (1 boss)
Classes
- Deathknights (Very popular, yet imbalanced and controversial)
Cities
- Dalaran (Cramped, laggy, yet pretty)
Professions
- Inscription (Popular)
Shadowlands
Normal/Heroic Dungeons/Mythic/Mythic+ (Dungeon Finder)
- The Necrotic Wake
- Plaguefall
- Mists of Tirna Scithe
- Halls of Atonement
- Theater of Pain
- De Other Side
- Spires of Ascension
- Sanguine Depths
PvP
- Season 1 Arena
- Honor Vendor
- World PvP quest
- 2 Battlegrounds (Normal and Epic)
PvE
Faction Reputations and Anima
- Torghast (Mutli-layers and Legendary Powers)
- World Quests (Anima)
- Bastion
- Maldraxxus
- Ardenweald
- Revendreth
- The Maw
Raids
- Castle Nathria (LFR/Normal/Heroic/Mythic)
Cities
- Oribos