WoW Expansions

Three optional expansions are currently available: The Burning Crusade, released in January 2007, Wrath of the Lich King, released in November 2008, and Cataclysm, released in December 2010. Players are not required to purchase the expansions to continue play. However, the expansion packs allow further leveling of characters beyond level 60 and access to newer content and areas. Characters cannot enter the additional regions without their respective expansion packs.

On June 28, 2011, The Burning Crusade was automatically applied to all previous Warcraft accounts, and all new Warcraft accounts created in the future will have The Burning Crusade applied at no additional cost. All The Burning Crusade content is now effectively part of the original game.

Beta Testing for Mists of Pandaria was opened on March 21, 2012.

About World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft (often abbreviated as WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. World of Warcraft takes place within the Warcraft world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous Warcraft release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001. The game was released on November 23, 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise.

The first expansion set of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released on January 16, 2007. The second expansion set, Wrath of the Lich King, was released on November 13, 2008. The third expansion set, Cataclysm, was released on December 7, 2010. At BlizzCon in October 2010, lead producer J. Allen Brack announced that there would be a fourth expansion set for the game, though the developers did not yet know what it would be about. On October 21, 2011, the fourth expansion set of the game, Mists of Pandaria, was announced at BlizzCon 2011 by Chris Metzen.

With 10.2 million subscribers as of December 2011^[update], World of Warcraft is currently the world's most-subscribed MMORPG, and holds the Guiness World Record for the most popular MMORPG by subscribers.