Having recently gotten back into World of Warcraft, I have realised the importance of the login theme. That music is the piece that you first encounter when you load up the game. It is what you hear before loading into the world. When creating your character.
To put it simply, the music is like an opening credits theme. In my opinion, it’s very important.
From Classic WoW all the way up to the modern BFA (I have not experienced anything past WoTLK), each expansion has its own login music. In this post, I intend to rank them. Despite having not played any expansion post Wrath, I still intend to listen to all the tracks and then do the ranking. Keep in mind that this is MY OWN OPINION. I know the vast majority of you understand that, but these days, I can’t really take any chances with stating the obvious.
When coming to this task (or so to speak), I expected things to be relatively simple. However, I then swiftly remembered that, despite the varying degrees of quality of each expansion over the years, there is one thing that has not changed – the quality of the game’s soundtrack. This means that, just because a song is low on the ranking list, does not make it a bad song. In fact, all of the login themes are pretty stellar. The minimum I would place any of them is probably around 7/10.
Anyway, lets get into it.
8. Warlords of Draenor – Siege of Worlds
Separating the quality of an expansion from its login theme is, for me, a simple thing – because half of the expansions on this page I have not even played.
While the WoD is hailed by many as the worst WoW expansion, Siege of Worlds is an excellent orcy rendition of the theme. The song also sports a bit of variety across its 12 minute duration (which, however, I feel is a bit long). I’ve always loved the orc-style music in WoW, whether its the themes of the Fel Orcs in Outland, to the music in Orgrimmar and Durotar. Siege of Worlds opens very well, then dips towards the middle, building towards a great end.
7. Wrath of the Lich King – Title Screen
Paired with the simply epic view of Icecrown Citadel, this tune is another one that lives on in my heart. While very close to the original, the WOTLK theme possesses its own wintry chill. Give it a few moments, and the piece kicks into full gear – and at just under 9 minutes, these piece is a manageable length as well. I remember when I first heard this song, just before the release of WOTLK – it is a moment I still do not forget (even though I rate some of the other login themes higher). With an excellent choral version of the song, The reason this tune does not rank higher is because I feel that the Classic/TBC versions do what the WoTLK does, but better.
6. Legion – Kingdoms Will Burn
Another good take on the theme – perhaps my favourite part of the song is the take on the Stormwind theme early on in the piece. That, blended in with the rest of the track, certainly do make it more memorable. I see this theme as a slightly improved Wrath – however I still feel it is not as good as the next few tracks on my list
5. Cataclysm – The Shattering
It goes without saying that all of the login themes of WoW are excellent in their own right – however, it is my opinion that the parts of The Shattering that stand out are the first few minutes and the last few. The rest of the song, being remixed parts of other soundtracks and themes are excellent – but best and standout parts of the piece are the parts that are closer (and a unique take) of the original WoW login theme (the problem is that, while the rest of the theme is excellent, a lot of it is a mish-mash of previous pieces from the WoW soundtrack). Plus, that part of the Ulduar soundtrack (with the Titan Choir) is also amazing (one of my very favourite parts.) – this part is from around 10:00 onwards. So basically, from 0:00 to around 3:00, then from 10:03 till the end of the song (especially listen out for that AH-ZE-ROTH chant) – if I could rate the song on those parts alone, it would come first without a doubt.
4. Battle For Azeroth – Before The Storm
Another excellent piece, starting out really well (as pretty much all of these tracks do), and maintaining its quality throughout the song – and even managing to be varied as well, in a way that fits for a login theme. Given the length of many of these themes, doing such a thing is an achievement. Suiting the name of the song, it possesses an ominous air, as opposed to Cataclysm’s dread (and anger) and WoD’s violence. Part of this dstinct feel is why I placed the song so high on the list. Even though I haven’t played BFA, this login theme is certainly a good one.
3. Mists of Pandaria – Heart of Pandaria
Heart of Pandaria offers a very unique and semi-oriental themed version of the login theme, and is all the more successful for it. Things start rather deceptively similar to earlier themes – however, it does not take long for things to take off (from 1:30, to be precise) into a song that reflects what I assume is the tranqulity and serene beauty of a place like Pandaria. Plus, one cannot miss the incredible renditions of both Stormwind and Orgrimmar themes, just to tie things into the wider world. The song also maintains its excellent quality throughout. The fact that this tune is only beaten by the two ‘OGs’ should tell you something.
2. Classic – Main Title
The OG (well, one of them I suppose) – the keyword for this song is short and sweet (more than just one word but whatever). It is from this tune that the rest of the themes were made. It is this song that started it all. This is one that established that motif that we all know so well. With, I might add, the rather excellent login screen as well. While other login themes are longer (which may be slightly more suitable for a login theme to stop it from looping a bit too much when you are, say, creating your character), as just a singular piece of music, not much can top the classic theme. Except, maybe…
1.The Burning Crusade – Main Title
The other OG (I consider it as such due to it being a very similar piece of music to the Classic theme – it is also the expansion in which I started playing WoW).
In my opinion, TBC’s theme was, and still is, an upgraded version of the original theme. With that excellent choral addition to the already stellar classic WoW theme. Plus, it knows when it has set out its stall, coming in as one of the shortest of all the login themes. An excellent theme for what many consider to be the peak of World of Warcraft. Plus, that crescendo at the end… it is incredible. It also leads into the song starting again well, funnily enough. A short length does not necessarily matter if your song loops well.
So that’s my list. To put things in a somewhat more visual format, I also decided to create the list in a different manner:
Hopefully this will give you the clue (one of the main things I have been trying to get across in this post) that the WoW login screens are universally good. I had to reorganise the list multiple times over the few days I was compiling this post, because of how hard it was to decide which songs I wanted to rate where. It is amazing to think that this music, this art was made for a video game.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the post. Agree/disagree/think my opinions are trash? Let me know. If you liked the post (or like my blog in general), feel free to drop a follow. Also, you can like my facebook page for better coverage of all my projects that I post online. Have a good day.
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