World of Warcraft is not sold separately, only the latest expansion (currently Shadowlands) is sold separately. If you start a subscription or you buy game time, you immediately have access to all previous World of Warcraft expansions, and you can play all the content and all the maps up to level 50.
Do I need to buy all WoW expansions to play Shadowlands?
As the others mentioned, you’ll need all expansions up through Battle for Azeroth in order to add Shadowlands. Battle for Azeroth should eventually be rolled into the base game so that you’ll only need to purchase Shadowlands, but we do not currently have a date on when that will happen.
What did Shadowlands add?
The expansion opens up the Shadowlands, the realm of the dead in Warcraft lore. It features the game’s first “level squish” and a completely overhauled leveling system, access to the Death Knight class for the races that did not previously have access to it, Covenants in the new zones, and new dungeons and raids.
Is it possible to play World of Warcraft without buying expansions?
I played one year ago the last time. Whether you enjoy it is up to you, but yes; it’s perfectly possible to enjoy the game without owning all the expansions. Especially with a lot of old content revised, there should be plenty to do. The game launcher will just patch the game for you automatically, including the latest expansion’s data (afaik).
When did the World of Warcraft expansions come out?
Here are the releases in order: World of Warcraft World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King World of Warcraft: Cataclysm As of Oct 2014, all expansions except for the latest one (Warlords of Draenor) are free with the purchase of the base-game.
How much does it cost to get World of Warcraft?
The typical fee has been along the lines of $40 for base game plus all released expansions up to and including the current, except when a brand-new expansion was about to drop, as is currently the case. To simplify this, let’s use numbers.
Do you need a subscription to play World of Warcraft?
Each subsequent expansion requires that you have the prior ones. It is not possible to install Cataclysm without Wrath, or Wrath without Burning Crusade. After realease of BFA datadisk you need ONLY the newest datadisk and subscription. For example when you create new account, you will play first 20 level for free.
