World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that was released in 2004. In this Guide, I will cover all of the major information you need to know when starting your journey in Azeroth.
The first thing to consider is making your character
World of Warcraft takes place in the world called Azeroth. It consists of two factions: Alliance and the Horde. Alliance supports bureaucracy and central leadership, while Horde is in favor of individual freedom and tribe leadership. You can only cooperate with your own faction. During an encounter with an opposite faction player, you will be able to kill each other. In your own cities, you will be safe. However, if you head to a city of the opposite faction, the guards will attack you. To which faction you belong is determined by which race you choose to play as.
Race determines your starting zone, special race abilities, and the appearance of your character. It also limits your choice of classes to choose from. Pandarens are neutral, but once you leave your starting zone you will have to choose either Horde or Alliance.
Picking your class is arguably the most important choice you make in World of Warcraft. It determines your combat role and style. As mentioned earlier, races have limited classes to choose from (for example only elves can become Demon Hunters).
There is no better or worse class, they all have their pros and cons. The balance between them shifts between each patch so do not concern yourself with that.
After you have decided on race, faction, and class, now it’s time for aesthetic customization and choosing a name. Upon finishing and entering the world, there will be a tutorial on all of the basics such as movement, combat, accepting and doing Quests, etc.
User interface guide
In the upper left corner, there will be two bars below your name. One is your health (shown in green color) and the other will depend on the class you play. Some classes such as warlocks, priests, paladins, etc. will have mana, warriors rage, rouges energy.
On the bottom left is the chatbox. On top of it as a standard, there will be two tabs: general and combat log. To add another tab you simply right-click a channel and there will be a shown option to add it as a tab. Above the chatbox on the left, is your social where you can either add friends or put some users on ignore if they’re bothering you.
In the middle at the bottom of your screen is your Hotbar with all the spells. This is the most useful part of your user interface. To change keybinds press ESC and interface. Underneath it is the experience bar where you will be able to see how far you have progressed in your level.
On the bottom right there is a set of multiple buttons called quick menu. The first one is character info. It shows all of your equipped items and stats, as well as your reputation. To improve your reputation with a certain smaller faction you have to do quests or kill certain mobs. Improving your reputation comes with achievements, access to certain goods, and much more.
The next in line is the spellbook. It shows all of your abilities and what they do. On the bottom of the spellbook, there is a professions tab. At any given moment you can have 2 professions which you learn at a professions trainer.
Specializations and talents guide
The next button is specializations and talents. Each specialization gives new abilities. You can switch between them at any given moment in a safe space. When you open the talent tab, on the left you will see numbers. They stand for levels. After you hit the level shown you will be able to activate one talent in each row. That can be an active spell or a passive buff. For a more detailed guide to talents check your class guide.
On the right side of it, you will notice War mode. It gives you an option to either stay passive, which means you won’t be able to attack or be attacked by the opposing faction in your factions’ territories, or if it’s activated you will be able to attack and be attacked. It can only be activated in main cities (Orgrimmar for Horde and Stormwind for alliance).
Next up are achievements where you can see all of your completed and non completed achievements.
Next to it is the quest guide where you will have all of your quests cleared up and explained. On the map, other than the quests, flight routes will be shown as shoes with wings. They are quick means of travel in the world with small fees. Quests that require you to be in a certain area will highlight it in blue on your map.
Furthermore is the guild and communities button. As you level you will be able to either join or create your own guild. Guilds are simply a collection of players that play together and cooperate. Since WoW is a highly social game, joining a guild is advised as it will make things easier and more fun!
I will get into group finder in the dungeons section of the guide.
Non-essential things
After it, there is a collections button. It contains a list of all items and fashion choices you have found so far. In a major city, you can transmogrify your items, meaning keep the stats of one item and looks of another. The first tab are mounts. It shows a list of all the mounts and where to find them. As they are an activated item, to use them you must drag the icon to your Hotbar.
Next in line are pets and your toy box. Toys are non-essential fun items you can purchase at a vendor. After the toy box is the heirlooms tab. Heirlooms are expensive items you can purchase then use on any character on your account. By purchasing heirlooms the leveling process will be a lot faster. Appearance is tied to transmogrification. It will show all of the possible items that you can transmogrify for your class.
Next in line is the Adventure guide button. It will show all of the recommendations for quests, raids, and dungeons for your level.
Above all of this, your bags will be shown. By right-clicking the circle icon of a bag you can customize what your bag can and cannot hold which will make your inventory a lot neater.
The top right shows the minimap, calendar, and in-game time. If you click on the magnifying glass, you can choose what you want the minimap to track.
Equipping items guide
The power of your character is heavily linked to the items equipped. Each class is limited to what type of armor they can wear. If you hover over an item in your backpack you will see its name displayed in color. The color of the name shows the rarity of the item. From worst to best it goes: poor (grey), common (white), uncommon (green), rare (blue), epic (purple), legendary (orange), artifact (gold), and heirloom (light blue).
Item level is the general guide to how useful an item is. The higher the item level the better the item. At the beginning of your journey just equip the highest level. However, after a while, you will have to carefully evaluate all of the stats the item gives you. Item durability shows how much punishment can an item take before it breaks. If it hits 0 it won’t disappear but will simply stop giving any bonuses. You can repair your items at any blacksmith vendor. To see which item is better, hover over the new one in your backpack and press shift. Then you will be able to see the difference between certain stats in each of the items. To make sure which stats are best for you, it is best recommended to check out your class guide.
Interaction guide
While playing World of Warcraft you will be able to interact with the vastly complex world. Three main points of interaction will be: NPC’s (non-playable characters), other players, and the environment.
NPCs will have their names displayed above their head. If they have a job it will be under their name in pointed brackets. Different color names mean different things: green is friendly, yellow is neutral and red is hostile. Important to note: if a mob has an ornated character icon they are more dangerous.
If you accidentally sell a wrong item to the vendor, you can click the buyback tab and get your item back.
Interacting with a player is simple. Once you target them, on the top left you can left-click their icon and multiple options will appear which are self-explanatory. If you get into a duel with a player, the loser won’t die, but will just be brought to low health.
A tip for looting items: if its body is sparkling you can loot the thing whether it be professions material or a dead mod.
Combat guide
If a mob has a yellow name then it’s neutral. It won’t attack you unless you attack them first.Red name is an enemy. It will attack you once you’re within its range. Pressing tab will target your nearest enemy and all of your next attacks will be towards that specific target.
World of Warcraft uses the holy trinity archetype which means every player falls under 3 general combat styles: tanks, healers, and DPS (damage dealers). The job of a tank is to hold the enemy’s attention and not die. They usually have a lot of health and higher defense. The healer keeps the rest of the team alive focusing on the tank. They will be on the outskirts of combat.Dps are focused on one thing and that is hitting as hard as possible.It is important to note that some classes can perform all 3 roles. A detailed class guide will have overview of all the roles a class can perform.
Specializations guide
They are accessed at level 10. Each class has several specializations. Different specializations can affect which part of the holy trinity you will be. Finding which part of the combat triangle you enjoy is crucial to enjoying the game.
What’s aggro?
When attacking an enemy it is important to keep an eye out on aggro. Aggro is the term we use for how likely an enemy is to attack a person. You build up the enemy’s aggro by attacking it. In general, the tank should always have the aggro. They have specific attacks that bring the enemies’ attention to themselves. That’s why it is important to let the tank attack first. If a DPS is doing too much damage, it is tactical to wait for the tank to build up some more aggro.
Rotation
Whatever class you play, you will have an optimal order of your attacks for max effect. That is known as rotation. It is optimized by taking into account each ability and its cooldown. If you are unsure about how your rotation should look like, read a guide for your class.
Enemies
They can be broadly divided into 3 categories: mobs, elites, and bosses. Mobs are typically low-level and attack in groups if you aggro one of them. A tank should make sure that he has all of the mobs attacking him before DPS starts to kill. An elite is a slightly tougher enemy. Bosses are huge complicated fights. You can find them in dungeons and raids and they are linked to the story.
Quests and leveling up
A player’s role in World of Warcraft is to save Azeroth from the dangers it is in. You start that by completing quests. They can range from small local tasks to multi-planet adventures. Most of them will be fetch quests (a term used for quests that require you to kill a certain amount of mobs or collect a certain amount of quest-specific resources).
Dungeons and raids guide
A dungeon is a short self-contained adventure, usually following a linear path from start to finish where you fight mini-bosses and the main dungeon boss. Adventure guide gives a list of all dungeons, raids, and possible rewards you can earn. You can change the drop-down of dungeons or raids by selecting a different expansion in the top right of the window opened.
When you open a dungeon or raid in the adventure guide, you will be able to see a list of bosses on the left. If you click on one of them, the guide will give you more info about the boss. If you click on the loot tab, you will be able to see all the loot that a boss drops. On the top, you can even change it so you only see items for a specific class or even specialization.
The party leader selects the difficulty of a dungeon. To do this right click your icon in the top left then select dungeon difficulty and change it to whatever you want.
If you don’t have anybody to play with you can use the dungeon/raid group finder. You will see all of the raids and dungeons you are eligible for. On the top, you will have to select if you’re queuing as a healer, tank, or DPS. You can enter 10 instances per hour.
Raids are much harder and longer instances, ranging from 10 to 40 players. Each raid can be completed once a week. They have four difficulties: looking for a group, normal, heroic, and mythic. Mythic raids take months to become good at.
Professions
Professions are skills that a player uses to gather useful material or to craft useful items. It is only possible to learn 2 of the 9 primary professions. These are: alchemy (crafting potions), blacksmithing (making plate gear), enchanting (increases the power of an item), engineering (produces useful items and buffs), Herbalism (gathering of herbs), leatherworking (makes leather armor), mining (gathering of ores), skinning (gathering of skin from dead enemies), tailoring (makes cloth items). There are also 3 minor professions: cooking, fishing, and archeology. You can learn all three at the same time.
Pet battles
Pet battles are a term-based minigame that you can play within World of Warcraft, but they are not essential. They’re similar in some aspects to Pokemon. To start you will have to visit a pet trainer in any major city and purchase your first pet. Each pet has its strengths and weaknesses, plus they gain new abilities as they level up.
Auction house guide
If you find a rare item that you do not need, it is best to sell it at the auction house. Items that are soulbound cannot be sold to any other player. The auction house is located in Stormwind for the Alliance or Orgrimmar for the Horde. The first auction house tab gives you the option to search and buy items that you need. The second tab is bids. There all things that you are trying to buy will be displayed. The third tab is where you sell your items. When you list an item, you will see a deposit fee. If your item sells, you will get the fee back with a small cut on the sold item, but if it doesn’t sell you won’t get it back. Any sales that happen while you are offline will be sent to your mailbox.
Frequently asked questions
When do I get my first mount? At level 20, you will have to purchase the riding skill at your local riding trainer and a basic mount. At level 60 you will gain access to flying mounts.
How many characters can I have per account? Up to 50 with some limitations such as only one demon hunter per server.
What’s the fastest way to level? After leaving the starter isles the fastest way to level is by doing dungeons.
What class is the best to play? As mentioned earlier, Blizzard is constantly working on bringing balance to the classes so you should not concern yourself with that. Rather play something that you find enjoyable.
You are now prepared to start your journey through Azeroth. I wish you luck and in true Dark Dwarf nature: May the Black anvil bless ye!
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