User:Zeal/Sandbox/Cinematic Narrative History/World of Warcraft
This page serves to document the narratives told by official Warcraft cinematics, so that they may be consumed outside the game and long after the game is gone. This includes full CGI, pre-rendered, animated and (significant) real-time forms of cutscenes, trailers, advertisements, and other cinematics that include a unique narrative, but excludes actual gameplay.
Click a game's logo in the navigation to view its cinematics.
Where the official YouTube channel has deleted/privated a video, an unofficial source should be used and the official link retained as a dead entry.
As YouTube video titles are typically promotional and/or descriptive in nature, more consistent and accurate labelling should be used where apparent (e.g. patch, zone, quest, etc.), with original parts of video titles included only where appropriate.
The videos are ordered to achieve a cohesive and roughly chronological narrative first, and by original publication date second.
Terminology
Render type
- Real-time
- Rendered in real-time as a scene within the game's engine
- Pre-rendered
- Rendered outside the game, but may use parts of the game's engine or assets
- Full CGI
- Fully rendered outside the game without the use of the game's engine or assets
- Animated
- Key-frame animation, typically in a 2D hand-drawn style
Cinematic type
- Cutscene
- A cinematic that appears during a break in gameplay
- Trailer
- Used to promote a game feature or event
- Advertisement
- Used to promote the sale of the game's products/services
- Music video
- A cinematic developed specifically for a song
- Other
- A cinematic that doesn't fit into any single one of the other categories
World of Warcraft
| # | Video | Label | Render type | Cinematic type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Teaser | Full CGI | Trailer | 2001 |
| 2 |
|
Introduction – Seasons of War | Full CGI | Cinematic | 2004 |
| 3 |
|
Reveal | Pre-rendered | Trailer | 2003 |
| 4 | Races: | ||||
| 4.1 |
|
Ironforge Dwarf introduction | Real-time | Cutscene | 2004 |
| 4.2 |
|
Gnomeregan Gnome introduction | Real-time | Cutscene | 2004 |
| 4.3 |
|
Stormwind Human introduction | Real-time | Cutscene | 2004 |
| 4.4 |
|
Darnassus Night Elf introduction | Real-time | Cutscene | 2004 |
| 4.5 |
|
Orgrimmar Orc introduction | Real-time | Cutscene | 2004 |
| 4.6 |
|
Thunderbluff Tauren introduction | Real-time | Cutscene | 2004 |
| 4.7 |
|
Darkspear Troll introduction | Real-time | Cutscene | 2004 |
| 4.8 |
|
Forsaken Undead introduction | Real-time | Cutscene | 2004 |
| 5 |
|
Patch 1.1 – Onyxia's Lair | Pre-rendered | Trailer | 2004 |
| 6 |
|
Patch 1.6 – Assault on Blackwing Lair | Pre-rendered | Trailer | 2005 |
| 7 |
|
Patch 1.7 – Rise of the Blood God | Pre-rendered | Trailer | 2005 |
| 8 |
|
Patch 1.9 – The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj | Pre-rendered | Trailer | 2006 |
| 9 |
|
Patch 1.11 – Shadow of the Necropolis | Pre-rendered | Trailer | 2006 |
| 10 |
|
Patch 1.12 – Drums of War | Pre-rendered | Trailer | 2006 |