Changes: Loading screen

Revision as of 19:39, 23 March 2022

For Warcraft III loading screens, see Warcraft III loading screens.

This article lists all of the loading screens found in World of Warcraft and its expansions over its history.

Login screen

World of Warcraft
The Burning Crusade
Wrath of the Lich King
Cataclysm
Mists of Pandaria
Warlords of Draenor
Legion
Battle for Azeroth
Shadowlands

With the user interface

World of Warcraft
The Burning Crusade
Wrath of the Lich King
Cataclysm
Mists of Pandaria
Warlords of Draenor
Legion
Battle for Azeroth
Shadowlands

Classics

Other

E3 2003
World of Warcraft alpha
First draft of the Cataclysm login screen, removed before public release
Cataclysm beta
Another login screen used during the Cataclysm to display when the game has not finished downloading files
Temporary login screen during the Warlords of Draenor alpha test
First draft of the Warlords of Draenor login screen, used for one month mid-beta
Temporary login screen during the Legion alpha test
First draft of the Legion login screen

Music

Each login screen featured a variation of a 10-minute long piece of orchestrated score that features a medley of other music pieces that are heard throughout the game, with the beginning of the piece setting the main tone for the expansion. The theme for Cataclysm was called "The Shattering" by Russell Brower. Mists of Pandaria had a Chinese-like remix of The Shattering that replaced most of the hard drum beats with wind chimes.

In interviews in the past, Russell Brower has discussed how he likes to keep the original idea of the login music (the theming and key elements) and build on it with each new expansion. There's an expectation of hearing a certain style of music that says to people that they're logging in to World of Warcraft. It evokes emotions in many people and so he's said he doesn't want to take that away but instead, enhance and add to it with each of the expansions. If you sit and listen to the whole thing, you'll find that you've ended up on a journey of sorts through World of Warcraft history. It tells you about where you've been and where you are now or are going to depending on where you are in your gameplay.^[1]

Login screen trivia

When information the players need to know about game service comes up, a "Breaking News" panel opens up in the upper left side of the screen.
Warlords of Draenor marked the third login screen out of eight to feature the Dark Portal, making it the most common theme so far. The second most common is tied between dragons, featured in both the Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm screens, and Icecrown Citadel, featured in the login screens for Wrath of the Lich King and Shadowlands.
The Wrath of the Lich King screen opened with the frost wyrm, Sindragosa flying into the frame, flapping her wings, landing with a thud, and emitting an infamously powerful roar, all repeating at a set interval. That often irritated players who were trying to log in quietly, to the point "roaring dragon screen" complaints were rumored to have influenced the randomized and much quieter roar of a different dragon in the next expansion's loading screen.
The widescreen support has been available since Vanilla, but was set on by default since Wrath of the Lich King.
The Cataclysm login screen is so far the only one that displayed a still-image while the rest of the game files finish downloading.^[2]
The vanilla login screen was used as a placeholder for the beta and alpha of the following expansions: Cataclysm, Warlords of Draenor, Legion.
- During the Warlords of Draenor alpha and beta test before patch 6.0.2, the vanilla login screen was used but heavily modified.^[3] The same heavily modified version was used during Legion until the last alpha patch for 7.0.3.^[4]
Four login screens showcased things which spent most of the expansion damaged or destroyed: the two main towers of the Valley of Heroes in Stormwind City (Cata), the Twin Monoliths in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (MoP), the alternate Dark Portal (WoD), and the Ruins of Lordaeron (BfA).
- You could also include the rest of Stormwind City as it is actively being damaged on the login screen - however it still stays operational during the expansion.
Wrath of the Lich King was the only one that used a different color for the buttons other than red. Shadowlands updated the buttons to a newer high definition.

The total time that each login screen was used is listed here. Note that originally the loading screen would be determined by the expansions installed on the user's computer, but this was changed during Wrath of the Lich King so that all players see the current login screen regardless of which expansions they own.

Game	Duration
1 - World of Warcraft	743 days
2 - The Burning Crusade	679 days
3 - Wrath of the Lich King	770 days
4 - Cataclysm	644 days
5 - Mists of Pandaria	777 days
6 - Warlords of Draenor	686 days
7 - Legion	732 days
8 - Battle for Azeroth	820 days
9 - Shadowlands	Current expansion

World

World of Warcraft (Vanilla)

Kalimdor loading screen
The Eastern Kingdoms loading screen
Deeprun Tram loading screen
Old Champions' Hall loading screen
Old Hall of Legends loading screen

The Burning Crusade

Kalimdor loading screen
The Eastern Kingdoms loading screen
Azuremyst Isles, Outland and Quel'Thalas loading screen

Wrath of the Lich King

Kalimdor loading screen (pre-patch 3.3)
The Eastern Kingdoms loading screen (pre-patch 3.3)
Azuremyst Isles, Outland and Quel'Thalas loading screen (pre-patch 3.3)
(Kael'thas Sunstrider and Illidan Stormrage)
Northrend loading screen during Wrath of the Lich King (pre-patch 3.3)
(Arthas Menethil)
Acherus and Plaguelands: The Scarlet Enclave loading screen

Kalimdor loading screen (post-patch 3.3)
The Eastern Kingdoms loading screen (post-patch 3.3)
Azuremyst Isles, Outland and Quel'Thalas loading screen (post-patch 3.3)
(Al'ar, Kael'thas Sunstrider and Illidan Stormrage)
Northrend loading screen (post-patch 3.3)
(Arthas Menethil)

Cataclysm

Kalimdor loading screen
(Cairne Bloodhoof, Garrosh Hellscream, Vol'jin, Prophet Velen and Tyrande Whisperwind)
Eastern Kingdoms loading screen
(Sylvanas Windrunner, Lor'themar Theron, Gelbin Mekkatorque, Magni Bronzebeard and Varian Wrynn)
Azuremyst Isles, Outland and Quel'Thalas loading screen
(Akama and Maiev Shadowsong)
Outland wide screen
Northrend loading screen
(Bolvar Fordragon)
Northrend wide screen
Deepholm
Molten Front
Darkmoon Island
Maelstrom (4.1.0)

Mists of Pandaria

Kalimdor loading screen
(Cairne Bloodhoof, Garrosh Hellscream, Vol'jin, Prophet Velen and Tyrande Whisperwind)
Kalimdor wide screen
Eastern Kingdoms loading screen during Mists of Pandaria
(Sylvanas Windrunner, Lor'themar Theron, Gelbin Mekkatorque, Magni Bronzebeard and Varian Wrynn)
Eastern Kingdoms wide screen
Pandaria
Pandaria wide screen
Wandering Isle
Isle of Thunder

Warlords of Draenor

Kalimdor loading screen
(Thrall, Vol'jin, Trade Prince Gallywix, Tyrande Whisperwind, Prophet Velen and Baine Bloodhoof)
Kalimdor wide screen
Eastern Kingdoms loading screen
(Varian Wrynn, Genn Greymane, Gelbin Mekkatorque, Lor'themar Theron, Muradin Bronzebeard and Sylvanas Windrunner)
Eastern Kingdoms wide screen
Draenor
(Blackhand, Kargath Bladefist, Kilrogg Deadeye, Durotan, Grommash Hellscream, Ner'zhul and Gul'dan)
Draenor wide screen

Legion

Kalimdor loading screen
(Thrall, Vol'jin, Trade Prince Gallywix, Tyrande Whisperwind, Prophet Velen and Baine Bloodhoof)
Kalimdor wide screen
Eastern Kingdoms loading screen
(Varian Wrynn, Genn Greymane, Gelbin Mekkatorque, Lor'themar Theron, Muradin Bronzebeard and Sylvanas Windrunner)
Eastern Kingdoms wide screen
The Broken Isles, pre-patch 7.1
(Varian Wrynn and Sylvanas Windrunner)
The Broken Isles, post-patch 7.1
(Varian's sword was changed from blue to orange to match the in-game model)
The Emerald Dreamway
Mardum, the Shattered Abyss and Shadowgore Citadel
Niskara
Krokuun, Argus
Eredath, Argus
Antoran Wastes, Argus

Battle for Azeroth

Kul Tiras loading screen
Zandalar loading screen
Battle for Lordaeron loading screen
Unused Tiragarde Sound loading screen
Darkmoon Island (8.1.5) loading screen
Mechagon Island (8.2.0) loading screen
Nazjatar (8.2.0) loading screen

Shadowlands

Bastion's loading screen during BlizzCon 2019
Shadowlands loading screen
Exile's Reach loading screen
Exile's Reach 9.1.5 loading screen
Zereth Mortis loading screen

World screen trivia

For the first time in an expansion, none of the Outland or Azeroth continents had their loading screens changed for Mists of Pandaria. Only the expansion logo (to reflect the change of current expansion) was changed for the EK and Kalimdor continents, while Outland and Northrend still retains the expansion logos that those areas were introduced in. Before, all loading screens to these continents got significant changes for each expansion.
Legion has the same loading screens for Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms as Warlords of Draenor, but with the WoD logo replaced with the classic WoW logo.

Instances

Kalimdor

World of Warcraft