Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: When was the game World of Warcraft released?
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the Warcraft fantasy universe.[3] 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.[4] The game was announced in 2001, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise on November 23, 2004. Since launch, World of Warcraft has had seven major expansion packs released for it: The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, Legion, and Battle for Azeroth.
In April 1998, Blizzard released "StarCraft", an RTS with the concepts and mechanisms of "Warcraft" but an interplanetary setting and three totally different races. "Starcraft" and its expansion "" were well received by critics and became very successful. "World of Warcraft", released in North America in November 2004 and in Europe in February 2005, was Blizzard's first attempt at a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, and used the universe of the "Warcraft" RTS games, including characters that first appeared in "Warcraft: Orcs & Humans". "WoW" was praised highly by critics, was the most popular MMORPG in 2008,
According to Samwise Didier, Blizzard's art director for "Warcraft III", the company, when developing the first game of the series, attempted to create a more realistic experience, based on the belief that PC gamers preferred these graphics, leading to "Warcraft: Orcs and Humans" looking like Medieval Europe. Blizzard allowed classical fantasy properties like "Dungeons & Dragons" and "The Lord of the Rings" influence "Warcraft II", adding more fantasy races such as elves, ogres and dwarves, while still keeping a more realistic design. With the establishment of a dependable fan base due to the success of the first two games, the creative team behind "Warcraft III" decided no longer to follow their artistic vision. As such, the game's visuals mark a notable departure from the previous games in the series, using bolder and more vibrant colors and pursuing a more comic book style. Didier also integrated characters he designed for "Dungeons & Dragons" into "Warcraft III", such as Uther The Lightbringer and Illidan Stormrage. The shift towards a more cartoonish looking world that started with "Warcraft III" was continued in "World of Warcraft" which deliberately used less realistic depictions to allow the game to be played on less powerful PCs, thus increasing the potential player-base. The artwork of "Warcraft III" was hugely influential on a number of other high fantasy real-time strategy games that followed it.
The game was released in November 1994. Although reviews did not appear until months later, in "Dragon" Paul Murphy described the game as "great fun – absorbing and colorful," and Scott Love praised its solid strategy, simple interface and fantasy theme. "Warcraft: Orcs & Humans" won "PC Gamer"’s Editors' Choice Award, "Computer Life"’s Critics' Pick and the Innovations Award at the Consumer Electronics Show, Winter 1995. It was a finalist for "Computer Gaming World"’s Premier award, "PC Gamer"’s Strategy Game of the Year and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences's Best Strategy award. In 1996, "Computer Gaming World" declared "Warcraft" the 125th-best computer game ever released.
In 2004, Blizzard Entertainment moved the series away from the real-time strategy genre and released "World of Warcraft", a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (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" gained popularity worldwide, becoming the world's largest subscription-based MMORPG in 2008. The game reached a peak 12 million subscribers worldwide in October 2010. "World of Warcraft" has had seven expansions as of 2018. During the production of "", Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce stated that "If there's a team that's passionate about doing another "Warcraft" [real-time strategy], then that's definitely something we would consider. It's nothing that we're working on right now, we have development teams working on "", "", "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".
Blizzard's MMO "World of Warcraft" added PvP features to the game after its release, and was received enthusiastically as an eSport. The game was generally phased out of MLG between 2010 and 2011, but Blizzard continues to hold the World of Warcraft Arena Global Invitational annually. The prize pool for the 2013 World of Warcraft Arena Global Invitational totaled over $180,000 and that of the 2014 World of Warcraft Arena Invitational World Championship totaled $250,000.
The series spawned several books and other media, covering a broad range of characters and timelines in the "Warcraft" universe. A collectable card game was published, which offered those who bought booster packs a chance to gain access codes to limited in-game content in "World of Warcraft". Comics have been released alongside the books, further covering parts of the universe's storyline. A short-lived, online subscription only magazine was available but later ceased publication after five issues. A film adaptation, "Warcraft", was released in 2016.
Since the release of "Warcraft", "Diablo", and "StarCraft" (1998), Blizzard has focused almost exclusively on the "Warcraft", "Diablo", and "StarCraft" series. The sole exception has been the company's latest title, "Overwatch" (2016). All of Blizzard's games released since 2004 still receive expansions and updates, especially the long-running massively multiplayer online role-playing game "World of Warcraft" (2004). With over 100 million lifetime accounts as of 2014 and US$9 billion in revenue as of 2017, "World of Warcraft" is one of the best-selling computer games and highest-grossing video games of all time. Blizzard Entertainment has developed 19 games since 1991 as of 2018, in addition to developing 8 ports between 1992 and 1993; 11 of those games are in the "Warcraft", "Diablo", and "StarCraft" series.
World of Warcraft was recognized at the 2005 Spike TV Video Game Awards where it won Best PC Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Best RPG, and Most Addictive Game.[92] In 2008, World of Warcraft was honoured—along with Neverwinter Nights and EverQuest—at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of MMORPG games.[93] In 2009, Game Informer ranked World of Warcraft 11th on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time".[94] In 2015, the game placed 3rd on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list.[95]
In 2005, White Wolf Publishing released a second edition of the game rules and renamed the series World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game to tie in with the success of "World of Warcraft".
"PC Gamer US" named "Warcraft II" the best game of 1995. The editors called it an "easy" choice, and wrote that ""Warcraft II" stand[s] out — way out — as the most impressive, most entertaining, game of 1995". The magazine also presented "Warcraft II" with the award for 1995's "Best Multi-Player Game". The editors of "Macworld" gave the game their 1996 "Best Strategy Game" award. It also won "Computer Game Review"s 1995 "Military Sim of the Year" award, tied with "Steel Panthers". The same year, "Next Generation" listed it as number 10 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", explaining that "The strategy is complex, the classy SVGA graphics keep the player in touch with everything that's going on, and "WarCraft II" features the best use of sampled speech we've ever experienced." "Warcraft II" was a runner-up for "Computer Gaming World"s 1995 "Strategy Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to "Command & Conquer" and "Heroes of Might and Magic" (tie). The editors wrote that "Warcraft II" "will keep you glued to the computer for hours on end", and noted that it "could have won had the competition not been so strong." "MacUser" declared "Warcraft II" one of 1996's top 50 CD-ROMs. In 1996, "Computer Gaming World" declared "Warcraft II" the 28th-best computer game ever released.
World of Warcraft was first announced by Blizzard at the ECTS trade show in September 2001.[43] Released in 2004, development of the game took roughly 4–5 years, including extensive testing. The 3D graphics in World of Warcraft use elements of the proprietary graphics engine originally used in Warcraft III.[43] The game was designed to be an open environment where players are allowed to do what they please.[44] Quests are optional and were designed to help guide players, allow character development, and to spread characters across different zones to try to avoid what developers called player collision.[45] The game interface allows players to customize appearance and controls, and to install add-ons and other modifications.[46]
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft", following "". It was announced on October 21, 2011, by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon 2011, and was released on September 25, 2012.
"Warcraft II" debuted at #2 on PC Data's monthly computer game sales chart for December 1995, behind "Myst". It held the spot in January 1996, but dropped to #3 in its third month. The game stayed in PC Data's top 3 from April through October, securing first place in April, August and September. After falling to #5 in November, it exited the top 10 the following month. "Warcraft II" achieved worldwide sales of 500,000 units within three months of release, and of over 1.2 million by November. This made it the world's most commercially successful computer game of the year as of November, according to PC Data. In the United States, it was the second-best-selling computer game of 1996, again behind "Myst". The game sold 835,680 copies and earned $34.5 million in the region for the year. To capitalize on this success, Blizzard released the "Warcraft Battlechest" on November 11, which bundled "Warcraft: Orcs & Humans" with "Warcraft II" and the "Into the Dark Portal" add-on.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is the first expansion set for the MMORPG "World of Warcraft". It was released on January 16, 2007 at local midnight in Europe and North America, selling nearly 2.4 million copies on release day alone and making it, at the time, the fastest-selling PC game released at that point. Approximately 3.53 million copies were sold in the first month of release, including 1.9 million in North America, over 100,000 copies in Australasia, and nearly 1.6 million in Europe. 
Blizzard routinely applies older expansions to all accounts as new expansions are released. On June 28, 2011, The Burning Crusade expansion was automatically applied to all previous Warcraft accounts at no cost. On September 19, 2012, the same thing was done with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion,[67] and on October 15, 2013 the Cataclysm expansion was also applied.[68] On October 15, 2014, Mists of Pandaria was applied to all accounts following the release of Warlords.[69] On May 17, 2016, Warlords of Draenor was applied to all accounts to coincide with the release of the Warcraft movie that gives a 30-day trial of the game.[70] All The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor content is now effectively part of the original game, with all new World of Warcraft accounts automatically including these expansions upon creation.[67] As of the pre-patch release of Battle for Azeroth in July 2018, all expansions up to Legion are included in the base game.[71]
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. "" 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 bundled copy of the game containing both the original and expansion. "" was the first game in the series to feature a Collector's Edition, which all subsequent games have released as well. "Warcraft III" and "World of Warcraft" also have 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, "", is doing so by removing the option for using LANs altogether, requiring the use of Battle.net.
The expansion to the computer game "", known as "", had an active professional competition scene, particularly in China, Germany, and South Korea. The game was featured at eSports festivals including the World Cyber Games, the Electronic Sports World Cup, the World e-Sports Games, the World Series of Video Games and the International E-Sports Festival. Outside of the professional circuit, the game had many active competitive circuits, with users at Battle.net ranging between the 70,000 and 100,000 at any given moment. In China, in which "Warcraft III" was extremely popular due to it being easily available through piracy, fans and users often used an alternative client due to the country's poor internet connections to the outside world. Around 3,000,000 copies of the game were sold in the country. 500,000 Chinese competed in the Chinese qualifiers for the 2006 World Cyber Games. The amount of prize money through the years has been significant with top players winning hundreds of thousands of dollars. As usual in competitive gaming, income for "Warcraft 3" professional players flowed from various sources like team salaries from pro-gaming teams and sponsorships usually computer technology related. A famous example was Danish gaming organization known as Meet Your Makers which boasted of paying their players 300,000 on an annual basis. Similar to older games with huge competitive scenes like Starcraft:Brood War and "Counter-Strike 1.6", the popularity of "Warcraft 3" steadily declined and towards the end of the previous decade almost all tournaments and players were Chinese. After 2010, with "Starcraft 2", "League of Legends", and "Dota 2" being released and becoming popular, "Warcraft 3" gave up its position as one of the prime eSports titles.There have been various Warcraft III world championships, see Warcraft III World Championships for an overview.
"Warcraft Adventures" received significant pre-release attention from the gaming public and press, and the decision to cancel it was met with fan backlash and critical disappointment. Despite the game's cancellation, its story was adapted into the novel "" (2001) by Christie Golden, and was the basis for Blizzard's real-time strategy game "". Elements of the game later influenced "World of Warcraft" and the 2016 film "Warcraft". During the 2010s, leaked gameplay videos of "Warcraft Adventures" were posted on the Internet by Russian fans. A nearly-finished version of the game was released illegally online in September 2016. Reviewing the leaked version, critics generally praised its visuals, but several found its conservative design uninspired.
Founded in March 2010, Cryptozoic's first product was the "World of Warcraft Trading Card Game" expansion "Wrath Gate", released in May 2010. Cryptozoic produced 12 sets for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. The last set, Timewalkers: Reign of Fire, was released in July 2013.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the third expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft", following "". It was officially announced at BlizzCon on August 21, 2009, although dataminers and researchers discovered details before it was officially announced by Blizzard. The expansion was officially released on December 7, 2010.
The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game (WoW TCG) was a collectible card game based on Blizzard Entertainment's MMORPG, "World of Warcraft". The game was announced by Upper Deck Entertainment on August 18, 2005 and released on October 25, 2006. Players can fight against each other one-on-one, or can join others in order to defeat dungeon/raid bosses based on those in the MMORPG. In March 2010, Upper Deck Entertainment lost the license from Blizzard Entertainment. On March 24, 2010 Cryptozoic Entertainment announced the acquisition of the game's license and that planned card sets would be released.
To mark the release of Hearthstone, Blizzard released the Hearthsteed mount for World of Warcraft players. The mount is obtained through winning three games in Arena or Play mode.[167] Widely advertised on various World of Warcraft websites, this promotion encourages World of Warcraft players to try Hearthstone and marked the first significant crossover implemented between Blizzard games.
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor is the fifth expansion set to the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft", following "". It was announced on November 8, 2013 at BlizzCon 2013. The expansion was released on November 13, 2014.
The World of Warcraft launcher (referred to in press releases and the menu bar as the "Blizzard Launcher") is a program designed to act as a starting point for World of Warcraft players. It provides a way to launch World of Warcraft and starts the Blizzard updater. It was first included with the version 1.8.3 patch. The 2.1.0 patch allowed for an option to bypass the use of the launcher. Features of the launcher include news and updates for World of Warcraft players, access to World of Warcraft's support website, access to the test version of World of Warcraft when it is available to test upcoming patches, updates to Warden,[60] and updates to the updater itself. The 3.0.8 patch redesigned the launcher and added the ability to change the game settings from the launcher itself. The launcher update from patch 4.0.1 also allows people to play the game while non-crucial pieces of the game are downloaded. This requires a high-speed broadband internet connection.