Warcraft

Warcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media originally created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of four core games: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and World 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 last and best selling title of the franchise is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Expansion sets were also released for multiple games in the series, each adding more content to each game as an effort to expand the product lifespan of each. No expansions were released for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Warcraft II was accompanied by the release of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal. Warcraft III was accompanied by the release of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Multiple expansion packages accompanied World of Warcraft, namely The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, and Mists of Pandaria.^[2]
All games in the series have been set in and around the world of Azeroth, a high fantasy setting. Initially, the start of the series focused on the human nations which make up the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Orcish Horde which arrived in Azeroth via a dark portal, beginning the great wars. The Orcs arrived from another world, referred to as Draenor or Outland, a world which will be shattered into pieces by demonic magics during the events of Warcraft II. Later on in the series the world of Azeroth was expanded, revealing the new continents of Kalimdor, Northrend and Pandaria, allowing the introduction of the Night Elves, Tauren and other major races into the universe. The world of Azeroth also contains the traditional fantasy setting races of elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, and trolls.^[3][4]
The series also resulted in the publishing of several books relevant to the Warcraft universe setting, covering a wide range of the timelines of the universe.^[5] A collectable card game was also published, which offered those who bought booster packs a chance to gain access codes to limited in-game content in World of Warcraft.^[6][7] An upcoming film adaptation is planned.^[8] A number of comics have also been released alongside the books, further covering parts of the universe's storyline. A short-lived, online-subscription only magazine was also available, but later ceased publication after just 5 issues.^[9]

Contents  [hide]  1 Video games 2 Other media 2.1 Tabletop games 2.2 Collectible card games 2.3 Books 2.4 Film adaptation 2.5 Comics 2.6 Magazine 3 Setting 3.1 Location 3.1.1 Azeroth 3.1.2 Draenor (Outland) 3.2 Major races and factions 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Video games

This section requires expansion. (October 2009)

Release Timeline

1994–		– Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
1995–		– Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
1996–		– Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
1997–
1998–
1999–		– Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition
2000–
2001–
2002–		– Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
2003–		– Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
2004–		– World of Warcraft
2005–
2006–
2007–		– World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
2008–		– World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2009–
2010–		– World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
2011–
2012–		– World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

The first three games in the Warcraft series, including their expansion packs, were all released on both the PC and Macintosh. All of these games were of the real-time strategy genre. Each game proceeded to carry on the storyline of the previous games, and each introduced new features and content to improve gameplay. Warcraft III was the first game in the series to feature a Collector's Edition, and all subsequent games to this have also had collectors editions. Warcraft II was the first game in the series to feature play over the internet using Battle.net, although this was not included until a later release of the game. Warcraft II was also the first in the series to be re-released as a "Battle Chest", a bundle copy of the game containing both the original and expansion. Warcraft III and World of Warcraft have also both had "Battle Chests" released for them subsequent to their initial release. The "Battle.net" edition of Warcraft II was also the first to introduce the use of CD keys to the series, requiring each user online to have their own copy of the game in order to be able to connect. However, a CD key is not yet required to play via a Local Area Network, although speculation is that future games in the series will do so, as another product in Blizzard Entertainment's portfolio, StarCraft II, is doing so by removing the option for using LANs completely, requiring the use of Battle.net.^[10]
In 1998, an adventure game in the series, Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, was announced as being cancelled, having been previously delayed from a 1997 release.
In 2004, Blizzard Entertainment moved the series away from the real-time strategy genre, and released World of Warcraft, an MMORPG. Requiring a subscription fee to be paid to play, it also introduced regular additional content to the series in the form of patches. World of Warcraft quickly gained much popularity worldwide, becoming the world's largest subscription based MMORPG. They reached a peak 12 million subscribers worldwide.^[11] World of Warcraft has had three expansions as of 2010. During the production of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce stated that "If there’s a team that’s passionate about doing another WarCraft RTS, then that’s definitely something we would consider. It’s nothing that we’re working on right now, we have development teams working on Cataclysm, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Diablo III, and when those teams are all off the projects they’re working on, they’ll be intimately involved in the discussions about what’s next."