World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created in 2004 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. The fourth expansion set, Mists of Pandaria, was released on September 25, 2012. The fifth expansion set, Warlords of Draenor, was released on November 13, 2014. The sixth expansion set, Legion, was announced at Gamescom 2015, on August 6, 2015.

Warcraft

Warcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of five core games: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, World of Warcraft, and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The first three of these core games are in the real-time strategy genre, where opposing players command virtual armies in battle against each other or a computer-controlled enemy. The fourth and best-selling title of the franchise is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), where players control their character and interact with each other in a virtual world. The most recent title is Hearthstone, a digital collectible card game.

Of these games, no expansion sets were released for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, but Warcraft II was accompanied by the release of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal and Warcraft III was accompanied by the release of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Multiple expansion packages also accompanied World of Warcraft, which include: The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor and Legion.

World

World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth or pertaining to anywhere on Earth.

In a philosophical context it may refer to:

In a theological context, world usually refers to the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred. The "end of the world" refers to scenarios of the final end of human history, often in religious contexts.

World history is commonly understood as spanning the major geopolitical developments of about five millennia, from the first civilizations to the present.

World population is the sum of all human populations at any time; similarly, world economy is the sum of the economies of all societies (all countries), especially in the context of globalization. Terms like world championship, gross world product, world flags etc. also imply the sum or combination of all current-day sovereign states.

Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles,Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce, and Allen Adham and is currently a subsidiary of American company Activision Blizzard. Based in Irvine, California, the company originally concentrated primarily on the creation of game ports for other studios before beginning development of their own software in 1993 with the development of games like Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. In 1994 the company became Chaos Studios then Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. after being acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates.

Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped out what would become their first breakthrough smash hit Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Blizzard then went on to create several other successful video games, including other Warcraft sequels, the Diablo series, the StarCraft series, and also in 2004 the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. Their most recent projects include: the first expansion for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, the online collectible card game Hearthstone, the fifth expansion for World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, the "Hero Brawler" Heroes of the Storm and the third and final expansion for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. There are two titles that are currently in development: Overwatch, an upcoming multiplayer first-person shooter first announced at BlizzCon on November 7, 2014 that entered beta testing in the third quarter of 2015 and the sixth expansion for World of Warcraft: Legion. It was announced on August 6, 2015 at Gamescom 2015 and its beta testing phase is upcoming in 2016.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Cataclysm. It was announced on October 21, 2011, by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon 2011, and was released on September 25, 2012.

Mists of Pandaria raised the existing level cap from level 85 to 90. It introduced a new character class, the monk, along with a new playable race, the Pandaren. The vanity pet system was overhauled and a pet battle system was added. Scenarios were introduced, and Challenge Modes were added for dungeons. The existing talent trees were replaced by a new system of tiered talents awarded every 15 levels. The initial patch included nine new dungeons, three new raids, two new battlegrounds and one new arena. Subsequent patches introduced the Brawler's Guild and heroic versions of the scenarios. Several additional raids, dungeons, a new battleground, and a new arena were also added.