7 features that still make World of Warcraft awesome for relative newcomers like me in 2026 — as Blizzard Entertainment celebrates its 35th anniversary

In September 2026, Blizzard Entertainment, a hugely impactful video game company in the Western world, will celebrate its 35th anniversary.

To mark this special moment, I wanted to share my experience of finally playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard’s legendary online game, after putting it off for many years.

I first started playing Warcraft in the early 2000s with Warcraft 3, and that’s where I first experienced the story that would become World of Warcraft. I remember seeing the new Horde come together, the destruction caused by the Scourge in Lordaeron, and meeting iconic characters like Illidan Stormrage and the future Lich King, Arthas – just to name a few key moments.

When World of Warcraft launched in 2004, I wasn’t immediately interested. As a teenager who preferred to play games alone, I didn’t like that WoW required teamwork even for simple tasks outside of cities. The game wasn’t designed for solo players back then, and it really turned me off.

After years of becoming more patient and learning how to connect with others, I finally decided to try World of Warcraft in 2024. I’d spent a lot of time mastering solo play in games like Final Fantasy XIV, and the Mist of Pandaria Remix event seemed like a good time to give WoW a shot.

I started really enjoying World of Warcraft, playing consistently from the beginning up until the latest expansion, The War Within. What specifically has changed in the game to make me appreciate it now, compared to when I was younger and didn’t give it a fair shot?

Here are seven of my favorite things about World of Warcraft, looking ahead to 2026 and beyond. The order doesn’t matter!

A fast-paced and chaotic combat system

What I really enjoy about World of Warcraft is its traditional combat style, where you select a target to attack. It feels much faster and more unpredictable than Final Fantasy XIV, which has a slower, more elaborate combat system. While Final Fantasy XIV feels like a carefully planned performance, World of Warcraft is more like a wild, free-for-all fight.

Raids and dungeons move quickly and require you to monitor many different attacks and abilities. Mistakes happen easily if you’re not focused and haven’t mastered how to use your skills effectively.

The combat system is enjoyable because it lets players creatively escape dangerous situations, with options that vary based on their chosen character class and race.

About to be knocked off the edge? Use Heroic Leap (if you’re a Warrior) or Rocket Jump (if you’re a Goblin) to quickly recover and stay in the battle!

Finding yourself surrounded by enemies while adventuring? As a Hunter, try using Feign Death to make them lose interest. Or, if you’re playing as a Tauren, use War Stomp to briefly stun your opponents and create an opening to attack.

Did a surprise attack wipe your raid? Use a Paladin’s Divine Shield or Blessing of Protection to prevent the damage and defeat the boss when they’re almost defeated – around 10% health remaining.

There are tons of ways to defeat monsters and villains in World of Warcraft, and those are just a few examples.

Challenging and epic Raid bosses to fight

Beyond the basic fighting, the exciting Raid dungeons offer a real challenge for you and your teammates, adding a lot to the overall enjoyment.

In this game, you’ll battle a huge variety of enemies, from undead kings and massive monsters to dragons, alien demons, and even goblins riding giant robots! You’ll also face unbelievably huge, terrifying creatures that can destroy entire cities, and much more.

I’m not a top-level raider, but I’ve really enjoyed tackling these fights on Heroic difficulty. It’s been fun learning how the bosses work, working with my team, and using our skills at the right moments to catch them off guard and deal a lot of damage while they recover from their attacks.

Raid bosses can be challenging, but they’re generally worth fighting. Defeating them usually rewards players with the best items, appearances, and mounts in the game.

Remix Events of past expansions

One thing that helped me get into World of Warcraft was its Mist of Pandaria Remix event.

The event was lighthearted and enjoyable, letting players experience an older part of the game with special, temporary rewards. It also gave veteran players a chance to easily defeat challenging raid bosses that caused them trouble when the content was new, thanks to some deliberately strong gear.

Following the success of the Mists of Pandaria Remix, Blizzard decided to run another similar event, this time focusing on the popular Legion expansion.

Although Legion Remix wasn’t quite as fun as Mist of Pandaria Remix – mainly because content was released slowly over weeks and the servers had a lot of issues when it first launched – it was still an enjoyable experience overall.

This update let players quickly advance new characters, gave newcomers a way to jump into the exciting story of the Burning Legion’s final attack on Azeroth, and included awesome cosmetic rewards to earn.

Plus, it introduced a fantastic new feature called Heroic World Tier. This significantly increased the challenge of exploring the game world by making enemies stronger and giving them unique abilities, making them much more dangerous.

Even ordinary enemies weren’t easy to defeat anymore, and I had to stay alert and watch my surroundings to avoid being overwhelmed by their increased strength.

I’d love to see the Heroic World Tier added to the regular game, and I’m hoping they continue to do the Remix events with older expansions—a Wrath of the Lich King or Warlords of Draenor Remix would be amazing!

Insanely diverse range of Races and Classes

After more than two decades of updates, World of Warcraft now boasts a huge variety of playable classes—more than most other online role-playing games.

World of Warcraft features a diverse range of playable races, including Humans, Orcs, various types of Elves and Dwarves, Trolls, the dragon-like Dracthyr, the otherworldly Draenai, Goblins, Mechagnomes, the werewolf-like Worgen, the Undead Forsaken, and, personally, I enjoy playing as the Tauren. These are just a few examples of the many races available.

We offer a variety of classes to choose from, including Paladins, Warlocks, Mages, Warriors, Hunters, Evokers, Death Knights, Monks, Priests, Rogues, Shamans, Demon Hunters, and Druids.

These classes also offer Specializations, which change how they perform in roles like Tank, Damage Dealer, or Healer. Players can further customize their powers with talent trees to create a playstyle that suits them best.

I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with different character appearances in World of Warcraft, trying out various races and classes to find the best combinations. I’m sure I’ll be doing even more of that when the new Haranir race and Demon Hunter Devourer specialization are released in the upcoming Midnight expansion.

Increased emphasis on solo-friendly content

What I really appreciate about World of Warcraft now is how much content there is for players who prefer to play alone. It’s great that you don’t always need to join groups for raids or player-versus-player battles if you don’t have the time or just aren’t interested.

It began with the Delves in *The War Within* expansion. These are dungeons designed for solo play, and you’re joined by an NPC companion. You can choose and adjust their skills to fit your preferred playstyle.

Delve dungeons were enjoyable challenges with memorable bosses and exclusive cosmetic items. They also provided a good way to earn strong gear for your character if you weren’t having luck with loot in Raids or other dungeons.

I’m really looking forward to the new Delves being added to World of Warcraft: Midnight! They’re also introducing something called The Hunt, which will let us take on unique bosses out in the open world. These hunts will be adjustable in difficulty, so you can tackle them alone or with friends.

Endless cosmetics, gear, toys, and mounts to hunt for

World of Warcraft offers a lot of different activities for players once they reach the highest level. You can test your skills against other players in PvP, tackle incredibly difficult raid bosses, race to complete challenging Mythic+ dungeons as quickly as possible, or collect achievements and unique titles.

Ultimately, I enjoy collecting cosmetic items in World of Warcraft. The game has a huge variety of weapons and armor, and the Transmogrification system lets you easily change the appearance of your gear to look like almost anything.

Plus, you can collect all sorts of fun and sometimes helpful items – like toys with cool effects, battle pets, and impressive mounts to ride – and show them off to your friends.

With the finally released Player Housing, I’m excited to find even more cosmetic items to decorate my virtual home!

The Tree of Hope Guild

Whether a multiplayer game is enjoyable often depends on the other players, and unfortunately, World of Warcraft has its share of unkind people who can spoil the experience.

If you find a group of experienced and helpful players to team up with, you’ll have an amazing time playing this game cooperatively.

I’m incredibly grateful to be part of The Tree of Hope Guild. The players are some of the kindest and most helpful I’ve encountered in any game, and they’re wonderfully led by Peacemoon, a smart and patient Tauren Druid.

Without the support and patience of my guildmates when I got frustrated during difficult events like the Mist of Pandaria Remix, I wouldn’t have continued playing, and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to successfully complete the challenging raids in The War Within.

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone in Tree of Hope! You guys really helped me get into and actually enjoy World of Warcraft, and I’m looking forward to playing with you all in the next expansion, Midnight, and for a long time after that.

Here’s to more adventures within the World of Warcraft

Here are my seven favorite things about playing World of Warcraft in 2026, and why I plan to keep enjoying it for a long time.

Okay, so I’m a little worried about how the classes will play in the new World of Warcraft: Midnight expansion – I’ve heard some chatter about balance changes, and the devs say they *aren’t* simplifying things for console players, which is good! But honestly, I’m optimistic. I usually find things fall into place once an expansion actually launches and people start really playing with everything. I’m hoping that’s the case here too.

I’m really excited to play World of Warcraft: Midnight when it comes out on March 3, 2026, and try out all the new features on PC through Battle.net.

2026-01-18 23:22