Last Thursday, World of Warcraft’s Warlords of Draenor expansion brought long-time MMO fans back into the fantasy reality of the Warcraft Universe.
According to Blizzard Entertainment, the game sold more than 3.3 million copies in just 24 hours and bumped the global subscriber base well over 10 million. What a feat.
Upon its initial release on November 13th, in major territories such as North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia, the game’s latest expansion hosted its fair share of issues within the first few hours of launch. In an attempt to rectify this problem, Blizzard has been working hard day-in and day-out in rolling out a number of patched and updates in order to stabilize various performance issues.
Speaking on behalf of the expansion’s launch-day success, Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment said, “We’re thrilled that so many players jumped in to play Warlords of Draenor on day one and are having a great time with the new content. We poured a lot of hard work and passion into this expansion, and we appreciate all the kind words from players and the overwhelming support they continue to show for World of Warcraft.”
Executive Producer J. Allen Brack addressed some of the game’s initial problems, as well. “We’ve expanded the new instancing tech we used to improve queues on Saturday and we’re continuing the process of applying that to raise the capacity of all realms again. This will result in approximately double the prelaunch capacity on each realm, which should greatly reduce queue times for most realms if not eliminate queues altogether,” he explained to fans on the game’s official forums.
“In recognition of the difficulties so many of you ran into when trying to play over the first few days, we’re adding five days’ worth of extra time to every subscription in the Americas, Oceania, and Europe that was active as of Friday, November 14. Things are already in a much better place than they were going into the weekend, so I hope you’ll now be able to focus on having a ton of fun with this expansion.”
The premise of the game’s latest expansion is quite intriguing.
“You must mount a desperate charge on Draenor – savage home of orcs and adopted bastion of stoic draenei – at this pivotal moment. Your allies are legends from across time; your fortress a foothold in an alien land. Lead the armies of one world against another…before the future itself is unmade.”
Traversing the foreign world of Draenor will be a tremendous experience. Along your journey, you’ll be able to construct and manage your very own stronghold, rank up to the new level cap of 100, and partake in brand new Dungeons, Raids, Battlegrounds, and Challenge Modes.
Warlords of Draenor is available now, digitally and physically for just $49.99. There’s also the Digital Deluxe Edition, weighing in at $69.99, which includes in-game bonus items for World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games. Is if that weren’t enough, there’s also the exclusively delicious Collector’s Edition that includes the digital bonus items from the Digital Deluxe Edition as well as a full-color hardcover art book, a behind-the-scenes two-disc Blu-ray/DVD set, a CD soundtrack, and a rather awesome Warlords of Draenor mouse pad. The Collector’s Edition is retailer exclusive and will set you back $89.99.
As a final note, all three versions of the expansion come with a Level 90 character-boost, ensuring your journey through Draenor both a fair and manageable victory of your mystical enemies.
