The entirety of the WoW story is very convoluted and scattered all over the place. Chromie Time offers some help, but even that is tricky for a new player. One such player took it upon themselves to do a chronological runthrough of all the expansions, and it “only” took them 380 hours to do so!
A Satisfying Journey
Kylonas, who until the end of last year only explored WoW through Youtube, decided to do a deep dive into it, playing through all the expansions chronologically. He considers his experience “…incredibly fun and rewarding”, and has decided to share his odyssey and break down his thoughts.
Below you’ll find a very useful table that shows the leveling progression, so that mobs offer some challenge, with a lot of XP locking required. There’s also the amount of time spent to complete the expansion (meaning loremaster for all quests, all zones explored, all dungeons and raids cleared), and some pretty funny comments as well.
| Expac | /played (h) | Lvl progress (capped) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burning Crusade | 54 | 10 – 30 | Lets start in Space 😀 Ring of Blood – solo… rip. New Mob designs – old world assets. |
| Wrath of the Lich King | 57 | 30 – 45 | ARTHAS <3 !! Most annoying quest in WoW… (Beast Quest in ZulDrak) |
| Cataclysm | 75 | 45 | More interesting quest design. 51 zones… took a while. |
| Mists of Pandaria | 21 | 45 | Connected Quest Stories – nice. Beatiful landscapes. |
| Warlords of Dreanor | 17 | 45 – 50 | Would have loved to upgrade my garison at the time of the expac |
| Legion | 43 | 50 – 59 | Tricky to get the chronological order right. Beautiful skyboxes. |
| Battle for Azeroth | 30 | 59 | The War Campaign was very interesting because it carried a cohesive story throughout the entire expansion. N’Zoth, however, felt too short. |
| Shadowlands | 40 | 59-63 | The Story is all over the place 🙁 |
| Dragonflight | 41 | 63-70 | Beatiful locations. FAMILY 😀 |
| TOTAL | 378 |
Many Players Looking to Do the Same
Players have been chiming in, doing the same thing, especially after being absent for many years. -Fresh-Flowers- and 0Puddin0 just being two examples of players feeling overwhelmed after returning to Azeroth. Enjoying years of old content seems like a nice way to not burn out trying to catch up on WoW’s, occasionally dubious (looking at you Shadowlands), lore.
Kylonas also shares a few great tips in the comments, so be sure to look through them if you’re interested in the journey yourself. Like this one about managing leveling in Chromie Time.
As of the time of writing, and after 380 hours, Kylonas has completed his journey. A Youtube video is also in the making. Let’s hope it sees the light of day, because it would surely be an interesting view.