All World of Warcraft expansions ranked before WoW Midnight

World of Warcraft is one of the biggest names in the MMORPG world, to make a gigantic understatement, beginning its reign in November of 2004. 

Picking out the best segment in World of Warcraft’s expansion list is no easy feat, though, particularly with Midnight on the horizon. Below, you’ll find Kyusai’s World of Warcraft expansion tier list, along with a guide to each expansion’s release date.

WoW expansions ranked ahead of Midnight

Picking the best World of Warcraft expansion as a diehard fan feels somewhat like asking a parent to pick their favorite child. For this tier list, I looked at the expansion stories, leveling experience, and end-game content, along with their levels of polish.

C-Tier WoW expansions

While there are good things to note about these expansions – yes, even Shadowlands – they’re nowhere near the best experiences that World of Warcraft has had to offer.

Shadowlands

I don’t hold quite as much hatred in my heart for Shadowlands as I perhaps should as a lore nerd, but it’s still the worst expansion in World of Warcraft’s history. 

With grindy content and a mismatched story, Shadowlands felt like it could’ve been great, particularly thanks to its beautiful zones and aesthetic choices, but it ultimately got lost in its own ambition.

Battle for Azeroth

Battle for Azeroth is an expansion that I hold as largely unremarkable. It wasn’t particularly offensive – the content was fine enough and there were some beautiful zones to explore – but it didn’t have any major features that stand out as worth revisiting.

B-Tier WoW expansions

This is the tier where a few feathers may be ruffled; these World of Warcraft expansions aren’t stellar throughout, but they have interesting stories and were clearly made with ambition.

Cataclysm

While Cataclysm arguably missed the mark with its take on the world, it’s still worth remembering for its fascinating lore and unique endgame content. It was grindy and clunky in places, sure, but the bosses and fights it featured make it worth placing higher up on this list.

Warlords of Draenor

Warlords of Draenor was a turning point for a fair few players. With a divisive PvE offering and the ever-infamous Garrison system, this expansion and its post-launch period put a fair few fans off the game.

However, I see Warlords as being unfairly tinted by nostalgic rage. It still has an interesting story at its core and stuck true to class fantasy in a fair few places, with a number of fun quests and leveling sections. It’s not perfect, but it’s still fun to head back to Draenor and farm old raids for transmog.

A-Tier WoW expansions

These World of Warcraft expansions offered plenty of stellar content in their day, and they’re still looked back on fondly by players.

The Burning Crusade

Placing The Burning Crusade in anywhere but the S-Tier might warrant a few eyerolls from a certain slice of the playerbase, but don’t take it as anything but a net positive – while it had its moments, TBC was generally fantastic.

Where The Burning Crusade shined was its PvE content and the impressive scale of its story. It had a number of rough edges, but it had plenty of solid points for both casual players and competitively inclined fans.

Dragonflight

Dragonflight felt exciting and fresh from start to finish, both with its endgame content and its leveling experience. The world it offered was vast and intriguing, with plenty of interesting lore threads to unravel while questing.

Mists of Pandaria

Mists of Pandaria might’ve hit some rough spots with its pacing, but it had one of the most impressive maps in WoW’s history, paired with exquisite storytelling and an interesting endgame offering.

Were there periods of boredom or clunkiness with daily grinds? Absolutely. But the expansion shone as a whole, particularly with its art direction.

The War Within

The War Within has been a surprisingly divisive expansion for some, but I’ve found it to be well-written, vibrant, and immersive. It acted as an intriguing set-up for The Worldsoul Saga, creating a solid foundation for Midnight in terms of lore, scaling, and content. 

Wrath of the Lich King

Putting Wrath of the Lich King in the same tier as Mists of Pandaria did make me briefly concerned for my health and wellbeing; this is the expansion with arguably the most rabid fanbase.

Wrath of the Lich King was a raider’s dream, for the most part, offering some of the most instantly iconic raids in World of Warcraft’s history. It introduced Death Knights and a number of quality-of-life features, and there were plenty of gorgeous zones to rip through, each overflowing with intriguing lore.

S-Tier WoW expansions

Classic

Is it an expansion? Technically, no – but the existence of World of Warcraft Classic makes it worth viewing as its own separate entity. 

The original iteration of World of Warcraft was clunky, but its presence and influence on the gaming world cannot be overstated. The game’s magnetic story and ambitious gameplay set the foundation for the next two decades, and its influence can still be felt in other games to this day.

Legion

Legion is the best World of Warcraft expansion in history, no matter the slice of the community you find yourself a part of. It shone with its story and leveling, with the Artifact system, and with its endgame content.

There’s a reason why WoW Legion Remix was such a popular event – for many, this expansion’s visuals and raids remind them of one of the best eras of the game. 

All WoW expansions in order

Despite its age, World of Warcraft still holds up as a stellar experience in 2026. If you see an expansion in this list you’ve not tangled with before, hop on a flying mount and play through its campaign.

WoW expansion	Release year
World of Warcraft (Vanilla)	2004
The Burning Crusade	2007
Wrath of the Lich King	2008
Cataclysm	2010
Mists of Pandaria	2012
Warlords of Draenor	2014
Legion	2016
Battle for Azeroth	2018
Shadowlands	2020
Dragonflight	2022
The War Within	2024

World of Warcraft’s next expansion, Midnight, is due to release on March 2, 2026, marking the second entry in The Worldsoul Saga.

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