The Burning Crusade opened WoW’s first journey beyond Azeroth
The first WoW expansion reached North America and Europe on January 16, 2007, taking the adventure through the Dark Portal into Outland.
Read articleWorld of Warcraft: Forever
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World of Warcraft releases, updates and milestones. Browse the archive from the first announcement in 2001 onward.
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February 11, 2005: World of Warcraft reaches Europe
Europe joined Azeroth with its own launch, localizations and infrastructure.
Read articleNovember 23, 2004: World of Warcraft launches
The original release arrived in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Read articleNovember 2004: WoW opens its final prelaunch beta
The November 8 open beta brought a much larger testing audience.
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March 18, 2004: the original WoW closed beta begins
Invitation emails opened testing in North America and Korea.
Read articleECTS 2001: Blizzard announces World of Warcraft
On September 2, 2001, Blizzard revealed its Warcraft MMORPG.
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