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 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.
^^— Wikipedia^^
Release Dates
These release dates may be useful to know if you do a Google search relating to an old expansion, such as a suitable version of an add-on. You can restrict your Google search for articles that were last updated during the release period for that particular expansion.
- World of Warcraft (Original Vanilla release) - [November 23, 2004](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=World of Warcraft&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A%2Ccd_max%3A1%2F14%2F2007)
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - January 15, 2007
- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - November 13, 2008
- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - December 7, 2010