Set in the Warcraft fantasy universe, World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth , approximately four years after the events of the previous game in the series, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
Two further expansions, Midnight and The Last Titan , were announced in World of Warcraft allows players to create a character avatar and explore an open game world in third - or first-person view, exploring the landscape, fighting various monsters, completing quests , and interacting with non-player characters NPCs or other players.
The game encourages players to work together to complete quests, enter dungeons and engage in player versus player PvP combat, however, the game can also be played solo without interacting with others. The game primarily focuses on character progression, in which players earn experience points to level up their character to make them more powerful and buy and sell items using in-game currency to acquire better equipment, among other game systems.
World of Warcraft was a major critical and commercial success upon its original release in and quickly became the most popular MMORPG of all time, reaching a peak of 12 million subscribers in The game has been cited by gaming journalists as the greatest MMORPG of all time and one of the greatest video games of all time and has also been noted for its long lifespan, continuing to receive developer support and expansion packs over 20 years since its initial release.
As with other MMORPGs, players control a character avatar within a game world in third - or first-person view, exploring the landscape, fighting various monsters, completing quests, and interacting with non-player characters NPCs or other players. Players without a subscription may use a trial account that lets the player's character reach level 20, but has many features locked. To enter the game, the player must select a server , referred to in-game as a 'realm'.
