World of Warcraft is the best game of all time
Digitec Galaxus assembled a panel of 47 experts and got them to choose the 100 best games of all time. Here’s the top spot.
World of Warcraft was the first game that really had my heart. No other release still makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside, even more than 20 years on. No other title brings back as many magical memories for me as Blizzard’s MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). It revolutionised the genre and, at its peak, kept 15 million players worldwide glued to their screens. World of Warcraft has fended off all challengers to its throne and remains to this day one of the few games which lots of people are willing to pay a monthly subscription for.
Source: Blizzard
I still remember exactly what sparked that passion in me – the preview on a GameStar DVD. Yep, they were still around back then – in print magazines and on actual discs – and not just as a download code. I’ve lost count of the number of times I watched the preview. At the time, I couldn’t say exactly what captivated me so much; I didn’t even have any particular affinity with Warcraft. But after creating Diablo and StarCraft, Blizzard became my personal Nintendo Seal of Quality. For an MMORPG newbie like me, the idea of playing a role-playing game in a massive world with other players sounded incredibly appealing.
An insatiable craving for exploration
I couldn’t resist this temptation even in the beta version. Before that, I had to scour numerous online forums to beg for one of the coveted access codes. When I finally stepped into the magical world of Azeroth as a Tauren hunter, I was hooked. While the graphics didn’t offer the same level of detail and physics effects as Half-Life 2 or the lighting techniques of Doom 3, Blizzard conjured up picturesque worlds that made my imagination run wild. Even the vast plains of Mulgore – the starting zone for Tauren characters – with the hilltop city of Thunder Bluff on the horizon, awoke my craving for exploration like no other game.
Source: Blizzard
The sensational soundtrack also played a part in that. It struck just the right balance between subtlety and atmosphere. Even after countless hours of listening, I never got tired of it. The soft chirping, accompanied by wind instruments, as I hunted raptors and lions in The Barrens filled me with a sense of inner peace that I find hard to replicate these days, even after ten hours of meditation.
But what I heard most often was the song in the main menu – inevitably. Hours of waiting in queues and dropped connections were a daily occurrence. Still, what I associate most with the music is anticipation and that feeling of butterflies in my stomach as I waited for the game to finally load.
Gaming until my eyes water
At the official European launch in February 2005, my best friend and I hoisted our PCs onto the dining table. With my parents away on holiday, we stocked up on snacks, beer and «miracle green herb», then played WoW for three days straight. We only took breaks to sleep or when the server kicked us out yet again. Never play on launch day? Nonsense – only a casual fan would say such a thing! I savoured every minute, even though clicks were often followed by a thirty-second delay and my character was no longer where I thought he was. Still, I loved it more than any other game before it. On Sunday evening, my eyes were as bloodshot as those of my undead warlock. I just couldn’t stop; there was so much to see and learn in Azeroth.
Source: Blizzard
Once I got my first mount at level 40 – a black horse with fiery eyes and hooves, just as befits a warlock – there was no stopping me. I spurred my steed on and rode out into the big, wide world. Finally, I was able to explore areas that were far beyond my level. Thanks to the 60 per cent increase in speed, I galloped past formidable enemies – but even that was nerve-wracking. One blow was often enough to send me to the nearest cemetery, from where I had to shuffle back to my corpse as a ghost.
That didn’t stop me from exploring the backcountry until the early hours of the morning, with a bunch of wildkins in tow. It wasn’t until I reached the beach far to the east that I allowed myself to take a breather. I dipped my feet in the water, watched the dragon turtles splashing around and sent my friends screenshots of my trip in the chat.
Source: Blizzard
The secret ingredient – people
The multiplayer aspect is undoubtedly what turns an excellent role-playing game into a sensational one. Take, for example, when I meet another lonely soul in the middle of nowhere and they come to my aid – without needing to be asked – in a battle against fire demons. Or in the countless dungeons from Shadowfang Keep all the way to Blackrock Mountain, where I was tearing my hair out because I lost the roll for the missing piece of my armour set at two in the morning. Or when an alchemist was supposed to melt down a gold bar for me but instead took off with my materials.
I’ll never forget the highs and lows of these human interactions. Nor will my guildmates from KULT. Together with 39 other nerds, we ventured into the legendary Molten Core – the toughest and largest dungeon at the time, with fire demon Ragnaros awaiting us at the end.
Source: Blizzard
Using TeamSpeak – Discord’s predecessor – we split up into teams, each with its own leader and a raid leader who was in charge of everything. And it was he who, after a successful boss battle, looted the spoils and distributed them among us. Even today, I can still hear his voice in my head when he shouted, «Epic looooooot!» Goosebumps.
The PvP battles between the Horde and the Alliance for Tarren Mill are also legendary. Back then, there was no such thing as a dedicated PvP arena. I was also playing on a PvE server, where the two factions couldn’t just attack each other. There weren’t even any experience points. Still, we fought fierce battles, celebrating when we managed to take down a paladin despite his fear bubble, and cursing when a rogue ambushed and killed us.
The epidemics that wiped out entire populations were another unique experience. Through an exploit, players spread a debuff – a kind of curse – from the Zul’Gurub instance across all of Azeroth. On our server, it knocked on the gates of the orc capital, Orgrimmar. Suddenly, corpses were littering the city streets, and the chat was flooded with messages about how to protect yourself from getting infected. During the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors used their knowledge of this incident to help tackle the virus.
Source: Blizzard
If only I had more time
I could fill entire photo albums with my WoW memories. I could also tell you about that absolutely epic moment when the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj opened and nearly brought the server down. Or when I was able to save our entire raid group the trip back using a jumper cable I’d crafted using my engineering skills. When I think back on that time, I get that tingling sensation in my fingers all over again. The 2019 launch of Classic showed me that, for once, it’s not just a matter of looking at things through rose-tinted glasses.
The game drew me right back in, as if I’d never stopped playing. In World of Warcraft, fascination and addiction go hand in hand. I had to learn that the hard way when I was a student. I played every spare minute I had. Often, I even logged on before class in the morning. Sometimes, to farm resources for raids or to ask in the chat if anyone had seen Broken Tooth. That was the animal with the fastest attack speed, making it extremely sought after by hunters like me.
Source: Blizzard
As I was nearing the end of my first semester, it became pretty clear that I would be adding an extra year. I decided to go cold turkey and deleted all my characters. R.I.P. Philardes and the gang. I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist otherwise. But it was already too late. As my studies dragged on, my time with World of Warcraft came to an end. But I’ll never forget it.
As a child, I wasn't allowed to have any consoles. It was only with the arrival of the family's 486 PC that the magical world of gaming opened up to me. Today, I'm overcompensating accordingly. Only a lack of time and money prevents me from trying out every game there is and decorating my shelf with rare retro consoles.
This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.
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