A player's avatar, when at rest, accumulates points that encourage players to return and do not penalize them for taking time off. WoW is best known for features that differentiate it from other MMORPGs, such as encouragements for players who cannot commit excessive amounts of time to the game. Developers endeavored to ensure that all details from previous games remained consistant, and although similar to other MMORPGs in the basic style of gameplay, critics praised WoW for its meticulous design, excellent sound, and high quality graphics.

Set in the same universe as its predecessors, WoW became a phenomenal success despite its new style of gameplay. Developers went in a new direction with the fourth Warcraft game, known as World of Warcraft (WoW), by making it a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Warcraft II became the first game in the series to feature gameplay over the internet through Blizzard's own. The following two Warcraft games and their expansions continued the story with new features for better gameplay: Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The game was well-received by both critics and gamers, winning several awards such as PC Gamer's Editor's Choice Award, and prompting developers to begin a Warcraft series whose competition with Westwood Studios' Command & Conquer franchise created an RTS boom in the 1990s. This real-time strategy game introduced the fantasy world of Azeroth for both single and multiple players. The Warcraft franchise began in 1994 when Blizzard Entertainment released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans for PC and Macintosh.

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