This is mainly to facilitate the background creation of your own characters whether you are planning to take the role-play as a gaming experience with the launch of Nostalrius, or get close to it for the first time out of curiosity.
Small note about the 2 timelines:
"Numbering is based on the opening of the Dark Portal, as this is the method used by the latest sources. Some sources have the opening of the Dark Portal as about 25 years before the start of World of Warcraft, and other dates state that it was about 30 years before the start of World of Warcraft."
- Main written resources
- Timeline (unofficial) from Gamepedia = Timeline "based on the 25 year standard because it is the standard used in both official timelines from Blizzard's website in 2004 and 2007, and in the more recent" World of Warcraft: Ultimate Visual Guide
- Ultimate Visual Guide lore bits = brief preview of the early timeline of the World of Warcraft: Ultimate Visual Guide.
- Timeline (unofficial) from Wowwiki = Different timeline "based on the 30 year standard". Still useful because it may contain missing entries in the standard timeline of the "25 years" above. (entry to be verified)
- Condensed Lore Videos:
- The Story of Warcraft - Full Version [Lore] = in depth Warcraft lore video by Nobbel 87
- The story of Warcraft pre-WoW = great video playlist compendium of every pre-Wow games, grouped by chapters and expansions.
The Story of Warcraft pre-WoW (movie edit) = same as above but it's the compilation of all the separated Warcraft videos above, condensed in a more comfortable long movie in 2 parts.
This post may be subject of future further corrections or changes.