There are loads of games like World of Warcraft, maybe not as 'good' but they are FREE to play. There is Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, (which is coming out soon) Perfect World... loads of others too.
World of Warcraft was in beta in early 2004 and released later as a full game in late 2004. Warcraft the game (not the MMORPG) - Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, was released in 1994.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was officially released on December 07, 2010.
You have to sign up for it on the world of warcraft website. beta testers are randomly chosen from people who sign up. currently they are not accepting beta testers yet as the next expansion, cataclysm, is not ready to be tested yet.
World of Warcraft was announced in September of 2001 by Blizzard Entertainment. The beta testing did not start until its release of November 23rd 2004, which was launched in North america, Australia, and New Zealand.
RuneScape came first, in 2001 with RSC (beta)... RS2 was released in 2004. WoW came out in 2004... However, the Warcraft franchise started in 1994, so if you're counting just Warcraft and not WoW, then Warcraft came first. Depends on what you mean, I guess.
That is correct, there is only one World of Warcraft. However it has two, soon to be three, expansions (additional content added to the game). The expansions are called Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm (not released yet, in beta).
The expansion packs "Burning Crusade" and "Wrath of the Lich King" are already released. The next expansion "Cataclysm" is due to be released in late 2010. It is currently (June 11, 2010) in beta (friends and family beta only so far).
Cataclysm will be closed beta, meaning you can not play it without a key that Blizzard gives you. The beta will act like the PTR, but will be seperate. For more information look at the site in the related links
You learn it as a spell at level 16 from your class trainer. NOTE: In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (in beta at the moment), they are mixing up the levels of cat and bear form....cat form will be at level 10.
The beta for Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has recently been released.
Warcraft (includeing 2,3, and Frozen Throne)World of Warcraft (Including Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm {Yet To Be Released, currently in development})Starcraft (and the new Starcraft 2 that is in beta testing)Diablo (Including II, and III {currently in Development})They are also supposedly making a brand new MMORPG along the lines of World of Warcraft, but we have absolutley no information, no trailers, no nothing on what it will be like. Just that is will be a different "genre" than WoW.
The closed beta has already ended. The open beta has been released, and is becoming increasingly available across the world.