World of Warcraft's Humble Beginning In Pictures

Thanks to redditor exo316 we can look at World of Warcraft's baby steps all the way back in 1999. I can't help but remember World of Warcraft with warm nostalgia, but it's baffling to realize just how old Blizzard's MMORPG is: WoW was already in development the same year Everquest released.

The screenshots are rudimentary, displaying a basic user interface and crude character models. The compilation is a fascinating history lesson. I was surprised to learn that originally WoW only had six races—trolls and gnomes were added later during development.

To see the early stages of the game is a humbling reminder of World of Warcraft's beginnings (as a Warcraft III mod), and the transformations the game has undergone over the years.

View the gallery by visiting Imgur here.