Where are the 'content wells' in World of Warcraft?

Question

One of the things I've noticed about the way World of Warcraft is developed is that, as players reach the current level cap and wait for the next expansion to drop, a series of placeholder patches are released that include dungeons and raids and increasingly superior equipment. However, each of these patches tends to include nerfs to its immediate predecessor, so the game's difficulty curve isn't so much rising continuously as it is perpetually unrolling.

As someone who only got into the game with Cataclysm, I found the leveling experience so easy that I blew right through Outland and Northrend without even noticing their higher-level dungeons and raids—yet as far as content density is concerned, those areas are significantly "deeper" than the wading pools I spent most of my time in: after using the Dungeon Finder and questing in Borean Tundra and Sholazar Basin, I had barely scratched the surface of the Icecrown quests before it was time for me to move on to Cataclysm zones, yet the Argent Tournament and various Icecrown Citadel dungeons and raids could almost take as much time and energy as I spent on the rest of Northrend put together.

What other content-deep locations did my rocket-jump to 85 bypass? The fact that Zul'Aman was transformed from a raid into a dungeon suggests these wells are ripe for developer recycling, and I'd like to experience this content the original way (or, as close to original as is possible in the year 2011) before they get remixed and rereleased.

Answer

The main content wells/patches are as follows;

NOTE: This list only includes major updates i.e. 1.7 or 3.3 etc and only lists things that are still existent today, It also does not list content from the original release versions of the games e.g. 1.0 or 3.0 etc.

World of Warcraft

• 1.2 added the dungeon 'Maraudon', the Gurubashi arena event, Helm and cloak graphics and the Winter veil event.
• 1.3 added the dungeon 'Dire Maul and meeting stones.
• 1.4 added the PVP honour system and random Elemental invasion events in Silithus, Un'Goro Crater, Azshara, and Winterspring (I believe these do still happen but are infrequent).
• 1.5 added the original battlegrounds; Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley.
• 1.6 added the raid 'Blackwing's Lair' and the Darkmoon Faire.
• 1.7 added the raid 'Zul Gurub' (Now a level 85 heroic dungeon) and the Arithi Basin battleground.
• 1.8 added Silithus and the Hallows End event.
• 1.9 added the raids 'The ruins of Ahn'Qiraj' and 'The temple of Ahn'Qiraj' as well as Tier 2 gear and linked auction houses.
• 1.10 added weather effects and Tier 0.5 gear
• 1.11 added Naxxaramas (which is now a level 80 raid)
• 1.12 added Cross-realm battlegrounds.

Burning Crusade

• 2.1 added the raid 'Black Temple', a new arena 'The Ruins of Lordaeron' and new quests with the Consortium, Skyguard, Netherwing and Ogri'la factions.
• 2.2 added voice chat capability and options.
• 2.3 added the raid 'Zul Aman' (which is now a level 85 heroic dungeon) and guild banks.
• 2.4 added the Isle of Quel'Danas quest hubs and the raids 'Sunwell Plateau' and 'Magisters Terrace'.

Wrath of the Lich King

• 3.1 added the raid 'Ulduar', Dual talent specialisation and the Argent Tournament quest hub.
• 3.2 added the dungeon 'Trial of the Champion' and the raids 'Trial of the Crusader/Grand Crusader' and the Isle of Conquest battleground.
• 3.3 added the 'Frozen Hall' dungeons; The Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection, It added the raid 'Icecrown Citadel', a new cross-realm dungeon finder and a new tutorial system and quest tracking system for the map.

Cataclysm

• 4.1 added the newly revamped level 85 heroic dungeons 'Zul Gurub' and 'Zul Aman' therefore replacing their old level originals.
• 4.2 added the raid 'Firelands', the Molten Front quest hub, Tier 12 Gear, New faction 'Avengers of Hyjal and the new Dungeon Journal system.

Patches 4.3 and 4.4 are expected but there are no details yet (as of the 16/08/11). If you want the full list of all the patches for World of Warcraft visit this link;

http://www.wowwiki.com/Patches

Hope this helps.

Check more discussion of this question.

loading..