See Newbie Guide for links to section pages.
World of Warcraft servers are referred to as 'realms'. A realm is a game world that exists only for the characters within it. This concept used to be more strict, but with modern changes introduced in the game players can sometimes interact with players from other realms (cross realm zones, connected realms, and others). Each realm is a complete instance of the game world, but has its own player characters who are tied to that particular realm. You should pick your realm based on where your friends are situated, but if you're starting out alone there are some other aspects to consider in the decision.
Where are your friends playing?[]
With each character your create, you can only fully interact with people on the same realm, and who are members of the same faction (Horde vs Alliance) as your character. You may create characters on many different realms if you like, but they will not be able support each other (e.g. swapping gear, money, supplies). Being able to move low level gear or transfer gold from a higher character to a lower character can make a significant difference in how fast that lower level character gets up to speed. The in-game mail system limits you to only mailing players on your current realm, and faction membership. However, you may still play with friends that aren't on your realm by inviting them to join your party, you just won't be able to do some things with them, like send them mail or trade items with them.
Remember, you are not forever locked into your realm decision. You can always start a new character on a different realm, and there is always the option of a paid Character Transfer. For a fee, you may move a character to another realm. The character will be unplayable while the transfer occurs, and a character can only be moved once every 3 days. For example: You have two characters named Bob and Alice, and you choose to move Alice to a different realm. She is not playable for a short while during the move, and cannot be moved again for 3 days once the move has completed. However your second character ("alt"), Bob, remains fully playable and can moved to the same or even a different realm at your discretion. However, moving Bob would require a second payment.
What is you primary language?[]
Realms are divided up by which language is primarily spoken on them. While you will not be banned if you do not fluently speak the other languages on the realm, you may feel more comfortable on a realm where the majority of players speak a language that you understand. You might also be interested in learning a new language during your gameplay, so it will be helpful to interact virtually with foreigners. In the US servers players can find english, spanish and brazilian portuguese speaking realms. The european realms cover a wider variety of languages: german, russian, french, spanish, italian, portuguese, and english. Asian realms offer chinese and korean languages. Oceanic realms are mainly for english speakers.
For a complete list of the realms and their language, visit this page.
Do you enjoy roleplaying a character?[]
Realms used to be divided into 4 categories: PvP, Normal, RP (Roleplay), and RPPvP; but with World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth this division has ended. Although these categories are still present in World of Warcraft: Classic, the current version of the game only divides realms between 'Normal' and 'Roleplay' realms. If being immersed in a fantasy world and roleplaying your character is important, or interesting, to you - roleplaying realms should be considered..
For more information about roleplaying, visit this page.
What's your time zone?[]
Playing on a realm with a time zone similar to the one you live in means more people will be on around the time you're going to play — assuming you play during peak hours (which varies but is usually between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the realm during weekdays). This affects the game in several ways, some of which may not be immediately apparent or affect you until you reach higher levels.
A few of the ways your realm's time zone can affect your World of Warcraft experience:
- The number of people who are available for you to group with. If you are interested in endgame you may find that this is your most important consideration as you will want to be active around the same time that the people in your guild are raiding. Using the Dungeon Finder can alleviate this possible shortcoming somewhat.
- The amount of buying and selling that is going on and the prices in the auction house (especially at peak hours).
- The amount of competition for resource nodes that are out in the wild. The more people playing, the more might be looking for the same herb or quest mob that you're looking for.
- The number of opposite faction players who are around to engage with (especially if you are playing on a PVP Realm).
People who are usually unable to play during peak hours often try to play on a realm in a different time zone than the one they live in. If you tend to be available earlier than peak hours, you might want to look for a realm that is in a time zone earlier than where you live. Similarly, if you're usually available later than peak hours, you may wish to play on a realm that is in a time zone later than where you live. This will generally maximize the number of people who are around when you are also looking to play.
What's the realm population?[]
Each realm has a population listed on the realm selection screen. Each realm is characterized as having Recommended, Low, Medium, High, and Full population. Recommended realms are realms that Blizzard Entertainment feels will give a new player the best experience, while the rest are categorized based on how many players are currently logged into the realm. As these population figures may change throughout the day, you will want to decide on a realm at the time you would normally play, to ensure that the number accurately represents the population that you'll be playing with.
You cannot create a character on a Full realm unless you already have characters on that realm. Full realms are deemed 'full' by Blizzard Entertainment and as such, their 'full' status does not fluctuate like a 'high' population realm's might. There is no reason to wait until off-peak times to see if you will be allowed to create a character on a 'full' realm.
Full and some High population realms will frequently have wait queues during peak hours. This means you cannot log in to the characters on that realm until other people have completely logged off of that realm.
Each type of realm has benefits and drawbacks for new players.
- Realms that are usually at "Low" population are often very welcoming of new players. The lower population means that there is a great deal of demand for new players on the realm, and experienced players will often be more willing and helpful in bringing a newer player up to speed than on other realms and may have more patience with new players in general. However, the realm's Auction House will probably not have a very wide selection of items available to buy, and it may be challenging to find players to group with--particularly during off-peak hours. There is an extremely low risk of a queue to log into these realms.
- Realms that are usually at "Medium" populations offer a compromise between extremes. Not much, if any demand, exists on these realms for new players, although they are usually not disliked either. These realms usually have a wide variety of items on their Auction House and finding other players to group with will not usually be a problem. Even at peak hours there is seldom if ever a queue to log into these realms.
- Realms that are usually at "High" populations can be rather discouraging of newer players (and not just those who are inexperienced with World of Warcraft). These realms sometimes have queue times to log in that can range from a few minutes to an hour or more. While the Auction House is often full of items, and there are usually a lot of other players looking for people to group with, with a larger group of people often comes a corresponding increase the number of griefers, something that on Low and Medium population realms are at a relative minimum (though hardly non-existent).
- Realms that are often at "Full" populations are much like realms at "High" populations, but even more so. Players on these realms may be expected to already be very familiar with how World of Warcraft classes play, as well as being fairly established on the server. Login queues will be at their worst on these realms. However, once you log in, the Auction House will be full of items at the most competitive prices, and there will be a vast number of players who you may be able to group with.
Although having lots of other players around can be useful when looking for others to play with, it can also present some problems. On higher population realms, competition over resources such as herb and mining nodes is far higher, which can provide a frustrating experience, and players may even have trouble finding important quest mobs that haven't already been killed by other players. Additionally, the presence of so many players, especially in capital cities, can place a substantial strain on players' computers. Those with lower-end systems may experience considerable lag and even frequent disconnections when surrounded by too many other players. In extreme cases, this can make the game almost unplayable for those with older or less powerful computers. Players with lower-end systems may therefore have an easier and less frustrating experience on lower population servers.
Blizzard Entertainment occasionally introduces new realms. New realms, instead of displaying population display the "New" status, which means the realm has just recently been put online and characters will be lower levels on average and the population of course starts very low. This generally means less resource competition and also a small economy so trading at the auction house will be reduced and prices will usually be quite a bit lower.
When these new realms are first populated, paid character transfers from other realms are not allowed. Everyone starts at level 1, but after a relatively short time there will be many hardcore players at the level cap and the endgame will begin to pick up from there. Down the road, there is also the possibility of entire high level guilds transferring to the realm, giving it a real kick start. After six months, paid character transfers will be opened up to the realm.
What is the Horde/Alliance breakdown?[]
While most realms have a relatively even-matched ratio, on some realms there may be a larger number of players on the Alliance faction than the Horde, or vice-versa. Imbalances in factions can be an issue for PVP, grouping up, or just trying to complete quests since sometimes you have to wait for quests to respawn. However, much of the importance of realm faction balance has been removed with the introduction of cross-realm zones in most areas.
Sites like WarcraftRealms.com show you the Horde/Alliance breakdown and other useful information (e.g. how many Horde players are online at 9pm) connected with choosing a realm. However, because these sites don't have access to official population numbers and rely on largely on player reporting (via add-ons), they are widely regarded (including by Blizzard Entertainment) as inaccurate. Blizzard does not publish official numbers, but its representatives have commented several times that the numbers on population-measurement sites like WarcraftRealms.com sometimes have little relationship to the actual active population.
Your choice between Alliance and Horde would obviously depend on taste. See Races for more information on each.
Character Creation[]
While your class will dictate how you play the game more than your race does, only certain races can play as particular classes. See the Race and Class pages for discussions of the different race and class options.
Race[]
- Main article: choosing a race
The race you choose for your character determines their looks, voice, starting area, classes available, racial traits, and the faction he or she will belong to (Horde or Alliance). There are many reasons to choose one race over another. While some dedicated players may select their race purely in order to gain a slight advantage in high-end play, others may choose their race based on looks, lore or personality. From tiny gnomes to towering tauren, the way each race looks, feels, moves and sounds is quite unique, and it's worth taking the time to find one you really enjoy. In terms of playing experience, the main difference between races is their racial traits, which while usually not game-changing in their importance, can at times be fun, helpful or even life-saving. There is a very slight (+/-3 points) stat difference based on race, but as your character increases in level, these differences become negligible.
Character creation screen
One important note: The Alliance vs. Horde distinction is a very important one, as you will have very limited interaction with those on the opposing side outside of combat. If you're playing on a server with friends, you all want to be on the same side so that you can chat, trade, party, etc.
Playable races:
Either (you select):
Class[]
| Classes | 
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| Class races | DK | DH | Dr | Ev | Hu | Ma | Mo | Pa | Pr | Ro | Sh | Wl | Wr |
| Quests | DK | DH | Dr | Ev | Hu | Ma | Mo | Pa | Pr | Ro | Sh | Wl | Wr |
| Abilities | DK | DH | Dr | Ev | Hu | Ma | Mo | Pa | Pr | Ro | Sh | Wl | Wr |
| Trainers | DK | DH | Dr | - | Hu | Ma | Mo | Pa | Pr | Ro | Sh | Wl | Wr |
| Armor sets | DK | DH | Dr | Ev | Hu | Ma | Mo | Pa | Pr | Ro | Sh | Wl | Wr |
| Useful macros | DK | DH | Dr | - | Hu | Ma | Mo | Pa | Pr | Ro | Sh | Wl | Wr |
| Class Halls | DK | DH | Dr | - | Hu | Ma | Mo | Pa | Pr | Ro | Sh | Wl | Wr |
- Main article: Choosing a class
Can't decide what class to play? Make one of each that sound interesting (you can have up to 11 characters per server), play them up to level 5-15 or so, and decide then. It only takes an hour or two to get the first few levels, and then you'll have a much better idea of what it's like to play each class. You may still miss out on the more significant parts of playing a class, as some important skills are given at level 20 or 30 for the first time, but you will get the gist of the class so that you can at least understand what higher level characters are talking about. You can also read the description of each class to have a general idea of them.
An important factor to consider when choosing a class is whether there is going to be much demand for characters of your class in groups. Generally, tanks and healers are in higher demand than damage dealers (commonly referred to as DPS classes). Therefore, if joining instance group/raid is your first priority, choosing classes that can spec tank or healer may improve you chance of getting invited. Alternatively, while they are still very important to a group's success, the damage dealer classes tend to carry less responsibility, and with it less blame in the event that a group is struggling to progress.
For those who want to be the tank in instances, warrior, paladin, druid, death knight, and monk are your choices. With the right gear and spec, they can have higher health and armor than the rest of the party. You can absorb large amounts of damage and prevent others from being attacked. Warriors, paladins, and death knights can wear plate after level 40, which provide them with unequaled armor. Druids and monks can only wear leather or cloth. However, druids' 
[Bear Form] gives them a large amount of health and armor bonus. Monks have abilities allowing them to evade and mitigate much of the damage they receive.
If you want to heal others, priest, druid, paladin, shaman, or monk can be considered. In the right spec, all of these classes can make a competent main healer. In addition, all of them provide useful buffs to the other members of the party. Paladins have blessings that they can cast on anyone that give different benefits. Shamans have totems which buff party members near them, but they have very different benefits. Druids can increase the critical hit chance, spell critical chance, or amount of healing done to the entire party, in bear/cat form, moonkin form, or tree of life form, respectively. Priests' stamina buff is always useful to everyone.
All classes can be damage dealers with the right gear and spec. However, there are four classes that are pure damage dealers: mage, warlock, rogue, and hunter. Mages excel at dealing massive magical damage to their enemy. Their powerful area of effect damage is helpful in many encounters. Warlocks have abilities to summon a demon as a pet which will do the player's bidding. They are famous for their damage over time spells. Rogues have stealth abilities and can deal high melee damage. Hunters are the only ranged class in game that do mainly physical damage. They can tame pets to help them in a fight, as well as put down various traps to help the party. Depending on their spec, they can also boost their party members' damage output in different ways.
To see what the population for each class is on a given server (or all servers) for one faction or another, see Warcraft Realms.
Please be aware that these numbers are regarded by Blizzard Entertainment as highly inaccurate, and should be used as a loose guide at best.
Name[]
Picking a name can be tricky. Nearly everyone wants something unique, awe-inspiring and/or "cool". However, the name you pick does tell others something about you.
Keep in mind that your name needs to be easily typable in conversations, and that it probably shouldn't clash too much with the warcraft/medieval themed environment. Names that you probably shouldn't pick include:
- Legolas - Wrong universe. Too unoriginal. Far too commonly used already than you may expect.
- Mrcoolguy / Iownyousohard - More than anything, this suggests to other people that you're immature. Maybe you are, but not making it quite so obvious makes it a tad easier to earn the respect of other players.
- Agsdjasgd - People will assume that you don't take the game seriously and/or that you're a gold farmer, a loot ninja, or a bot. Neither is good for you.
- Lukeskywalker - Wrong time, wrong universe.
- Onyxia / Illidan / Arthas - No, you are not these lore characters. Picking names like these is a sure-fire way of having a GM enforce a name change on your character.
- Joë / Jôe / Jœ - If you use special characters in your name, expect to find that most people do not know how to type your name (which means a lot of trouble later in the game), and you may encounter error on your armory page as well as when you try to link to it. See below.
- A number of types of name are considered 'inappropriate' by Blizzard, and may leave you liable to a forced name change. Full details can be found on Blizzard's official Naming Policy page https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/34530.
On RP and RP-PvP realms there are additional naming policies active. They can be found at the official Naming Policy page (EU, no equivalent on US sites) under the title "Only applied on Roleplaying Servers" and at the official Roleplaying Realms Policy page (EU, US). If your name is considered inappropriate (even if it would be okay on a non-RP server), you may be forced to change it.
Picking something unobtrusive that actually sounds like a name is usually your best bet. Your name doesn't have to be cool to make you cool. You make your name cool by who you are and what you do; WoW may be massively multi-player, but the core population of any given server is really only a couple hundred players. Rumors, names and stories of feats do travel quickly.
Try using the stratics.com WoW name generator or the xenoveritas.org random name generator!
Can't decide on a name? Try BehindTheName.com.
Gender[]
Lastly, you can choose your gender, male or female, when creating a new character. Functionally, there is no difference between a male or female character. The only in-game differences are the appearance, animation and speech. (As a rule of thumb of playing WoW as well as any other MMORPG, do not assume the gender of anyone by the look of him/her!)
Note: rarely, male Tauren warrior tanks' larger hit box may cause problem in certain fights, e.g.Halazzi, but this can easily be solved by better positioning.
Intro Fly-thru and Starting Areas[]
Intro Fly-thru[]
After you choose the starting details of your character, you will be given what looks like a cinematic based on your race with a voice-over giving some background history of the race. This is actually a real-time fly-thru in the game and you will see actual players moving around if you look carefully, and you may get a glimpse of some combat. The fly-thru usually starts at a capital city and flies through parts of the country-side to your starting area.
Starting Areas[]
Each of the thirteen races has its own unique starting area:
- Orc: Valley of Trials, Durotar, Kalimdor. This area is dry and rocky, mostly consisting of reddish desert.
- Tauren: Camp Narache, Mulgore, Kalimdor. Mulgore is lush and green, with large lakes, grassy plains, and mountain valleys.
- Troll: Echo Isles, off the coast of Durotar, Kalimdor. A chain of tropical islands recently reclaimed by your people.
- Undead (Forsaken): Deathknell, Tirisfal Glades, Eastern Kingdoms. Tirisfal Glades is a dark forest over-run with the mindless undead of the Scourge.
- Blood Elf: Sunstrider Isle, Eversong Woods, Eastern Kingdoms. Rebuilt city. The Fly-thru actually begins in the Ghostlands, showing the straight path of destruction left behind by the Scourge after their attack on the Elven city.
- Goblin: Bilgewater Port, Isle of Kezan, in the middle of the South Seas. A large industrial and mining complex which finds itself in danger when the Cataclysm struck.
- Neutral
- Pandaren: The Wandering Isle. The Isle is a massive island on the back of a giant turtle that wanders the oceans, inhabited by curious pandaren.
- Dwarf: Coldridge Valley, Dun Morogh, Eastern Kingdoms. A snowy area with mountain paths and frozen lakes.
- Gnome: Gnomeregan, Dun Morogh, Eastern Kingdoms. A high-tech city of engineering marvels, rendered uninhabitable by a trogg invasion and the radioactive gas which was released to fight them.
- Human: Northshire Valley, Elwynn Forest, Eastern Kingdoms. A low, forested region with various human settlements in it.
- Night Elf: Shadowglen, Teldrassil, Kalimdor. A huge, ethereal, twilight forest that perches entirely on top of a colossal World Tree to the northwest of Kalimdor.
- Draenei: Ammen Vale, Azuremyst Isle, near Kalimdor. Misty forest area around the crash site of the Exodar.
- Worgen: Gilneas City, Gilneas, Eastern Kingdoms. Capital of a great human kingdom that shut its gates to the outside world years ago.
Some of these starting zones are "instanced", meaning that for story reasons you'll be presented with a unique personal view of the area, and temporarily separated from other players. The Worgen, Goblin and Pandaren starting zones are only available to players of the appropriate race, and only at early levels, until story progression renders those areas unreachable.
See also[]
Name and selection circle colors[]
Pip Quickwit, a friendly NPC
Not every creature in the World of Warcraft universe is friendly, and new areas of the world are more intimidating when you can't tell who is friend or foe. Learn to spot the intent of the NPC from a distance by looking at color of their name to keep yourself from getting in over your head. A selected target will also have a circle underneath
- Friendly NPCs will have green names. This means you can't accidentally attack them, and can likely talk or trade with them.
- Neutral mobs and NPCs will have yellow names.
- Neutral mobs will not attack you unless you attack them first, at which point they will become hostile. They will revert to neutral if you go out of their attack range for long enough.
- Neutral NPCs--like friendly NPCs--typically cannot be attacked. However, there are situations in which neutral NPCs can become hostile. For example, in a neutral city like Gadgetzan, if a player starts attacking another player, the city guards that are typically neutral will become hostile and attempt to settle the matter.
- Unfriendly NPCs have orange names and are similar to Neutral NPCs, except that you initially cannot trade or talk with them. These NPCs are typically members of a faction, and if you do quests for them, or kill their enemies, you'll earn reputation with their faction. Earn a high enough reputation and their faction will usually open up new quests and items for you.
- Hostile mobs and NPCs will have red names. These will attack you once you once you enter their aggro radius. It's important to remember that an enemy's aggro range is usually relative to the difference between their level and yours. When you're level 10, a level 15 mob will be very eager to attack you, and will start fighting you from a large distance. However that same enemy would not engage you until you get much closer if you were to return at level 20. If you're at a significantly higher level, the mob will pretty much ignore you entirely.
Player characters of the same faction as you and their pets will generally have blue names. You may see that other players have red, yellow, or green names. For these conditions, see PvP flag.
Getting Better[]
There are many ways to improve your character from merely grinding (killing monsters for what they drop and the experience they give), to questing, PvP, crafting (learning and improving professions), or just gathering.
Ultimately, you'll want to gain levels so you can improve your fighting or spellcasting, but also because you need higher levels to improve professions and access such cool things as mounts. Also, to make your character more competitive you will want to get better gear and skills. For most of that you will need money, but can also be gained through quests and PvP.
Getting Experience[]
The combination of Questing and killing mobs is the primary way of gaining experience. You can also get smaller amounts just by exploring new areas (although this is impossible without first being at a reasonable level and shouldn't substitute combat experience considering the risk involved). You can also gain experience by just killing mobs without questing, although this may become boringly routine after some time. As for just milking experience from mobs, there are guides elsewhere explaining which mobs are best for killing at certain levels of classes (some of which are listed at the bottom of this guide). The rule of thumb is, monsters two levels lower than you allow for the fastest XP, as they die fast while still providing decent XP per kill.
Training New Skills[]
- interact with trainer trainer out of range
- interact with guard guard out of range
As you progress and gain levels in the game, you will be able to learn many new and exciting skills (abilities and professions) and spells. These are learned automatically, or at your profession trainer in the various cities. If you're having troubles locating a trainer, just ask a city guard. The profession trainers will allow you to advance in skill stages and offer you more recipes as you increase your skill level.
As of level 10, you can also further specialize your character by investing talent points into talents geared toward different aspects of your character.
Quests[]
A forsaken quest giver with an available quest
Quests are the core of the World of Warcraft experience. From around level 10, you will almost always have a dozen active quests in your quest log. A lot of the time, if you're like many, your log will have the maximum of 25 quests in your log. It is good, however, to limit this as well as is reasonable, because others frequently have quests to share with you. The more of the group working on the same quest, the better, as you can all work to a common goal and you each know distinctly what that goal is.
Quests are obtained from NPCs, from items in the world, or shared from party members. Not all quests can be shared, and there are many quest lines that you must follow from the beginning; you cannot skip within a quest line.
In your starting area, you will find some quests that are common to all, and for some classes, you will have some class-specific quests. All of these quests are good to start gaining experience. These often include killing low-level creatures in the area or speaking to one of the nearby NPCs.
- interact with quest giver quest giver out of range
You can identify quest giving NPCs from the ! over his head. Talk to the quest giving NPC to get the quest. The giver of a quest you have yet to complete will have above his head a silver ?. When you complete the quest by meeting its requirements, the quest giver will have a ? over its head. These symbols will also appear on your mini-map to help in navigation and discovering new quests.
- Note: If you have the requirements, but some items are in the bank, you must retrieve them to finish the quest. They must be in hand. Otherwise, it will appear as though the quest is bugged when it's not.
Most of your first 10 levels will come from quests and from monsters you kill as a part of doing quests. While a good group is a very good thing, if you find yourself in a party that wanders around killing non-quest monsters and doesn't seem to be working towards a quest, it may be better to go questing alone. Most frequently, groups involving different classes are much more effective than groups of only one class, or being solo. Also, in groups, players can share many quests with one another so that all of them can be doing the very same quest, and if the quest involves only killing monsters, each monster killed contributes to everyone's quest. If a quest involves picking up an item from one specific mob, all party members can pick it up at once.
You should always take the time to read the quest information. It will almost always tell you where to go in order to complete the quest objective, or occasionally tell you to check an item in your Inventory for detailed information regarding your objectives (quests that do not tell you where to go or what to do are few and far between).
Obtaining Wealth[]
- interact with vendor vendor out of range buy/sell after talking
You gain money in World of Warcraft by completing some of the quests (some of them have no monetary reward associated with them), killing mobs and looting their corpses, selling excess inventory items to the vendor NPCs, or learning one or more professions. Don't forget to pick a profession and skill it up as much as you can in the early levels. Trying to max out your profession after you hit a very high level (60+) is a tedious and very undesirable process. As you go up in level, both the quest rewards and the money from mobs increase, as a general rule. Also, humanoid and undead mobs drop loot for more cash per kill than any of the beast type mobs who aren't quest-related. Upon completion of a quest at your maximum level (60 before, 70 after The Burning Crusade, and 80 in Wrath of the Lich King) you receive a monetary reward instead of experience. The same rules apply, you get more money if the quest was more difficult.
- interact with trainer trainer out of range
Effective use of the auction house can be a very lucrative source of income even for low level characters. Many experienced and wealthy players wish to experiment with crafting professions on lower level characters, but they don't want to go through the trouble of gathering the materials in newbie zones. Therefore, you might be surprised by how much you can charge for non-gray items that drop off of low level mobs. Boar meat and linen cloth can net you a lot more money than normal questing. In addition, consider picking up two out of the three gathering professions (skinning, mining, and herbalism) in order to sell the material.
Learning a crafting profession is more fun for many players than gathering, but making money with crafts can be more difficult. Raw materials (skins, ore, gems, and herbs) will often sell for more money than finished products that you can create with a tradeskill (armor, weapons, potions, and other items). You can search the auction house to discover how much is a reasonable rate to charge for your items. Remember that prices can change as a response to supply and demand, so it is possible to improve your profits by holding onto your products and timing the market.
In addition, there are always the Trade Channel (only in cities) and the auction house (which appear in all racial capital cities, including Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, Silvermoon, and Undercity for Horde and Darnassus, Ironforge, Exodar, and Stormwind for Alliance) where you can hawk your wares.
Rest[]
While in an inn or a major city (such as Thunder Bluff), your player portrait will begin to glow and your level in your portrait will be replaced with the letters "ZZZ", indicating that you are resting. If you log off here, you will continue to rest while offline. When rested, your XP bar will turn blue, and a notch will appear indicating exactly how rested you are. You will earn double XP from killing monsters while rested until your XP bar fills to the notch.
Experience you gain from a quest has no effect on the amount of rest you have left over, and it will not double up if you are rested.
One bubble of rested XP is earned for every 8 hours spent resting, up to a maximum of one-and-a-half full levels. In other words, you can leave your character resting in an inn for up to ten days without playing before you earn the maximum amount of rest state.
You also become rested while logged off in the wilderness, but only at 1/4 the normal rate. Be sure to log off at an inn or a major city whenever possible! And if you're at an inn, make sure you see the resting icon. It is usually a good idea to hearth back to the inn of your binding, if you can't run there quickly enough.
- interact with innkeeper innkeeper out of range
To set or change your bind point, talk to an innkeeper and click make this inn your home.
When you are about 5th or 6th level, you will receive quests to go to another town area. This town is where the first inn available to a new character is placed. Put another way, until you get your first 5 or 6 quests out of the way you will not happen across an inn and so you will have to 'camp out' when you logout, unless someone shows you where it is so that you can go there before you receive such a quest.
Fighting and dying[]
Combat[]
Some quests require you to kill mobs to meet their requirements, but you can also just kill mobs for XP, their drops or to skin them. (Killing other than for a quest is called grinding.) Either way, you will have to fight.
You can attack any hostile (name written in red when selected) or neutral mob (name written in yellow when selected) and they will fight back. Combat can also begin by entering a hostile creature's aggro radius and they will attack you automatically. A neutral mob will ignore you unless you make any kind of threatening action toward it. Sometimes two or more mobs (hostile or neutral) may be linked so that if you attack one, another comes without calling.
To kill the mob you must reduce their health to zero. If the mob reduces your character's health to zero you die.
To reduce a creature's health you can attack in a number of ways:
- A weapon to attack (usually by right-clicking the creature):
- A spell:
- Direct Damage spell such as
[Smite] (priest), 
[Wrath] (druid), [Shadow Bolt] (warlock), or [Fireball] (mage). - Damage over Time spell such as [Immolate] (warlock), [Shadow Word: Pain] (priest), or [Moonfire] (druid).
- Direct Damage spell such as
- An item:
- Thrown dynamite (engineering).
- A targeted rocket.
Once you kill the creature you may or may not be able to loot and gain some treasure.
Using combat skills will increase your weapon skill. Being attacked will increase your defense skill. The maximum amount of skill (under common circumstances) is 5 × your character level + Racial bonuses.
Player vs Player (PvP)[]
With the PvP system, you may fight players of opposite factions if their PvP flag is turned on. You will know since their names will be written in yellow (you can attack them but they can't attack you) or red (you can attack them and they can attack you). Players of opposite factions can only attack you if your flag is up, unless you're on a PvP server. See PvP flag for a fuller description.
You can fight players of your own faction in duels. Duels will not affect the status of your PvP flag and they do not end up in death. "Death" will cause the duel to end but the loser will be left alive with almost no health.
In Stranglethorn Vale, there is an arena where you can fight anyone of any faction, like a free-for-all battle. Only those in your group are safe from your wrath. At specific times a treasure chest is set at the center of the arena. The last man standing gets the loot.
Recovery[]
Health and mana (or energy as a Rogue) will recover over time. If you are willing to sit down, you can eat food to recover health faster and imbibe a drink to recover mana faster. You can eat something and drink something at the same time (use one then the other) which regains health and mana in one break period. You cannot eat or drink during combat.
During combat you can use potions or spells to recover health or mana during combat. Some special items also allow recovery with effects similar to spells. Potions generally act instantaneously. You may only drink one of these potions every 2 minutes and drinking one potion type precludes drinking the other for the full time. Spells can be instant, but most have a casting time which can be delayed or interrupted by combat. First Aid can also be used to recover health during combat, but the recovery is incremental and can be interrupted, as it is channeled.
Rogues have some special abilities, potions or foods that can increase the recovery rate of energy, but most are only available at higher levels, so somewhat beyond the scope of this guide.
Warriors use rage which is generated by dealing, receiving, and avoiding damage. Thus, recovery is not really an issue. But since their rage decays over time following a battle, there are potions that give the warrior rage. These aren't generally necessary, however, since rage is usually generated at an acceptable rate without the potion.
Death[]
Unlike other games, in World of Warcraft you lose no items or experience when you die. Instead, all of your equipped items immediately take a 10% durability reduction (this applies only to items equipped when you died, not to items in your inventory). While in spirit form, you can run back to your corpse and rejoin it for no additional penalty by selecting the "Resurrect Now" button when you come within range; you come back to life with half health and half mana. Run speed is increased while you are a spirit and you are able to walk on water.
A Spirit Healer is also present in each graveyard who can bring you back to life immediately, saving you a trip to your corpse. However, doing this will cause all of your equippable items to take an additional 25% durability hit; this applies both to equipped items, and to items in your inventory. In addition, you will suffer from resurrection sickness, beginning at level 11. Furthermore, at the point when you die, you are usually doing something that is necessary to complete a quest. In this case, you will have to return to the same place. While sometimes it is better to go ahead and resurrect at the spirit healer, it is usually better to return to your corpse.
Note: If you are killed by another player in PvP combat, you do not take the initial 10% durability hit. This means that if you walk back to your corpse or are ressed by another player there is no adverse effect at all, except the time to make the trip to your corpse due to a PvP death. However, you will always take a 25% hit if you are resurrected by a spirit healer no matter how you died, and if you are above level 10, you will also suffer from resurrection sickness.
Traveling Around[]
This page describes the various ways to move around on the maps of World of Warcraft.
The table above guides you to instructions for specific routes. If you want or need a travel route added to this table, please put your request in the discussion page.
Some material in this guide is outdated. See the Cataclysm travel guide for up-to-date information about traveling post-Cataclysm.
Help from other players[]
If you are a low level character and wish to travel somewhere but the way is too dangerous, a good option is to have a mage portal you to the capital cities of your faction. Alternatively, a warlock can use 
[Ritual of Summoning] with two other players to get you almost anywhere. Either method should get you closer to where you want to go.
The faction city portals were removed from Shattrath and Dalaran with the Cataclysm. See the Cataclysm travel guide and living without portal hubs for some suggestions.
Most players will need to use traditional methods of travel to reach destinations in the Old World, such as boats and zeppelins. See the Cataclysm travel guide and living without portal hubs for some suggestions.
Alliance mages get the portals to Ironforge, Stormwind and Exodar at level 40, and Darnassus at level 50.
Horde mages get the portals to Undercity, Orgrimmar and Silvermoon at level 40, and Thunder Bluff at level 50.
All mages can learn the Shattrath portal spell at level 65 and the Dalaran portal spell at level 74.
All warlocks can learn [Ritual of Summoning] at level 42.
You should be prepared to give the mage some coin. It is generally considered common courtesy to include a tip for the mage's trouble. As with all player characters, mages vary in temperament and helpfulness, although 2-3 gold is usually sufficient to buy a portal from any mage. Warlocks need two-party members present (with the Warlock), to perform a summons so they don't commonly perform one unless you are already in their party or in their guild.
Of course, these methods can cost money and if you are not hiking you will not pick up flight path points. Still, the above options the fastest ways if you simply want to reach Stormwind as a level 6 night elf just because all your friends are one of the three other races and you want to level with them.
Inns and the Hearthstone[]
- Main article: Hearthstone
- interact with innkeeper innkeeper out of range
When each player starts a new character, they automatically receive a 
[Hearthstone] in their inventory that can be used for instant travel back to whatever inn it is bound to. Binding at an inn involves speaking to the innkeeper and selecting the "Make this inn my home" option. The hearthstone can only be used once every 30 minutes, though shaman have a spell (called 
[Astral Recall]) with the same effect, but with a much shorter timer (15 min). Shamans don't get it until level 30. If you accidentally delete your hearthstone, don't panic. Simply speak with an innkeeper, make that inn your new home and you will receive a new hearthstone.
Wyverns, gryphons, bats, dragonhawks and hippogryphs[]
- interact with flight master flight master out of range
One of the most common forms of transportation in World of Warcraft is flying. Gryphons and hippogryphs provide this for the Alliance, while Wyverns, Dragonhawks and Bats are aligned with the Horde. Many settlements have a flight point, with an NPC who will allow you to travel to various connected points for a fee. Before you can use a flight path you must travel to it on foot and "learn" the path by clicking on the flight path NPC who will have a green ! above their heads. (There are a few exceptions: All characters start with the flight point of their racial capital. Death knights automatically know every flight point in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Some Outland and Northrend flight points are learned automatically or through quests.) Flight paths are fixed; you cannot control the creature you are on, so sit back and enjoy the view.
While in flight, you cannot perform any skills (except for activating certain auras), but you can tinker with macro functions, set up your action bar, equip gear, chat, and adjust your game configuration settings. This is an excellent time to change your video settings, especially if your computer is slow to change them. (The color-depth settings are reset to default each time you load the game.)
Zeppelins and boats[]
Cataclysm boat and zeppelin route map
Travel between the two continents and to locations more remote than are accessible via flight path is done via large Zeppelins, Boats, or similar. These cost nothing to use and operate on a fairly rapid schedule. They are also a relatively safe way to travel, for those with the correct faction alignment, as they usually have guards stationed at the stops. Anyone can use any of these travel options, but the guards will try to kill you if you are not liked by their faction, of course.
The Horde has zeppelin services, operated by the goblins, between Orgrimmar (Durotar) and Undercity (Tirisfal Glades); Orgrimmar and Grom'gol Base Camp (Stranglethorn Vale); Undercity and Grom'gol Base Camp; Undercity and Vengeance Landing (Howling Fjord) 
; and Orgrimmar and Warsong Hold (Borean Tundra) .
The Alliance has boat routes that provide service between Rut'theran Village (Teldrassil), on a purple/blue boat from the west dock, and Valaar's Berth (Azuremyst Isle) 
; Rut'theran Village, on The Bravery, from the south dock, and Stormwind Harbor (Stormwind City), from the southwest dock; Menethil Harbor (Wetlands) and Theramore Isle (Dustwallow Marsh); Forgotten Coast (Feralas) and Feathermoon Stronghold (Feralas); Menethil Harbor and Valgarde (Howling Fjord) ; and Stormwind Harbor and Valiance Keep (Borean Tundra) .
The goblins run a neutral (all players start neutral to Steamwheedle Cartel) boat service between Ratchet (Barrens) and Booty Bay (Stranglethorn Vale).
The tuskarr run neutral boat services between Moa'ki Harbor (Dragonblight) and Unu'pe (Borean Tundra) and between Moa'ki Harbor and Kamagua (Howling Fjord).
For more details see: Zeppelin, Boat
Personal travel[]
Certain classes, such as mages, druids, hunters, and shaman, have different means of personal travel which help them get places faster. The engineering profession also allows use of four trinkets that allow personal teleportation to either Everlook and Area 52 if you took Goblin Engineering specialization or Gadgetzan and Toshley's Station if you took up gnomish specialization.
At level 20, all classes can purchase mounts. These aren't overly expensive, costing only 4
for training and 1 for the mount, and can be reduced in price by gaining higher reputation with your faction (up to 20% discount), and provide a faster means of transportation than traveling everywhere by foot. Paladins and warlocks get mounts and apprentice riding training for 1 at level 20, after speaking to their class trainer.
At level 40, all classes can upgrade to epic mounts. These mounts are more expensive (40 for training and 10 for the mount), but provide a greater speed increase than does a normal mount—which becomes quite useful when traversing the larger zones intended for level 40+ characters. Again, Paladins and Warlocks get special mounts. Prior to patch 3.0.3, these mounts all required completion of long and costly questlines. Now, the quest is a Feat of Strength and Paladins and Warlocks may now train their epic mounts at 40, provided they have already picked up the Journeyman Riding skill. For Death knights , a Deathcharger is automatically received for free after completing [55] 
[8-30] Into The Realm of Shadows. You may buy the mounts of another allied race (IE a Dwarf purchasing human horse mounts) if you are of exalted rank with that race's home city. You cannot buy mounts of the opposite faction, though some generically available mounts do resemble racial mounts, such as the 
[Swift Razzashi Raptor], which resembles Darkspear Raptors.
Also at level 40, you may purchase black-colored PVP variant of racial mounts for 50,000 
[Honor Points], which you receive by competing in PvP combat. You must still pay for the riding training. You may purchase mounts of the same faction but different race, even if you are not exalted (i.e, a Draenei can purchase a Black War Horse even if he or she is not exalted with Stormwind.) You can never gain Black PVP variants of the other faction's mounts.
At level 60, all classes can purchase flying mounts for use only in Outland and Northrend. Basic flying mounts (250 for training, 50 for the mount) are the same speed on the ground as regular (level 20) mounts, and fly at 150% speed. Epic flying mounts are also available; they're much more expensive (5000 for training, 100 for the mount), but also much faster (same speed on land as an epic mount and +280% speed in the air). To fly in Northrend, players must also reach level 77 and train 
[Cold Weather Flying] for 1000. There are certain mounts that fly even faster, +310% speed, but these still require spending 5000 on training and are exceedingly hard to obtain.
There are no special mounts for Paladins and Warlocks in Outland. Druids can learn a flight form from their class trainer at level 60. At level 70, 
[Swift Flight Form] becomes available through a long but fun questline once you have paid the 5000 for the artisan riding skill. Since patch 3.0.3, druids can also obtain Swift Flight Form from their trainers at level 71, but the quest is still available to get it one level earlier and counts as a Feat of Strength.
The Deeprun Tram[]
The Deeprun Tram provides free transportation between Stormwind and Ironforge. The entrances to the tram are found in the Dwarven District in Stormwind and in Tinkertown in Ironforge. There are 2 Trams and each of them will need 2 min to get to Ironforge (from Stormwind) and back, meaning that one has to wait 1 min at maximum.
It is also the only safe way to travel between Stormwind and Ironforge for low-level characters the first time as you cannot use flight paths until they are discovered. The areas between the two cities are for much higher-level characters.
Portals[]
There are a few cities that provide free portal travel between major cities. In the eastern room off of the courtyard in Undercity, there is a portal that leads to Silvermoon City, which leads players to the Inner Sanctum. This is the only portal that can be used to go both ways (Undercity → Silvermoon City, Silvermoon City → Undercity). As the portal is Horde-aligned, it cannot be used by Alliance characters because it would trivialize raiding of Silvermoon City.
Every capital city has a portal heading to the Blasted Lands right by the Dark Portal, which is useful for level 58 characters ready to head to Outland.
In the faction camps just beyond the portal there are portals to Stormwind and Orgrimmar. You can use this combo to save [Hearthstone]'s cooldown.
Prior to Cataclysm, there were portals in Dalaran and Shattrath City to each faction's major cities. These portals were removed in patch 4.0.3a. However, in patch 4.1.0, two portals in Dalaran (one to Orgrimmar and one to Stormwind City) were restored. To reach other destinations, players now need to use more traditional methods of travel to reach destinations in the Old World. See living without portal hubs and Cataclysm travel guide for some suggestions.
See also[]
Items[]
Item quality[]
Items are ranked by their quality in World of Warcraft, identifiable by the color of the item's name.
For all items, in order of increasing quality:
- gray names indicate poor safe to sell these directly to a vendor.
- white names indicate common quality; these items generally have a use in 1 or more professions or quests.
- green names are uncommon. You will occasionally find these as you do battle against some monsters.
- blue names are rare; these items are usually stronger than most uncommon items. These items also generally sell for large amounts of gold on the auction house.
- purple names indicate epic items, generally found on high-level bosses in Endgame Instances.
- orange names are legendary; these are extremely rare and of very high quality. There are only a handful of these items in the game.
Item binding[]
- Main article: Bind
Some items in World of Warcraft can become soulbound to one particular character, making it impossible to trade them or sell them to other players. There are two types: those that will bind when first equipped or used, and those that will bind when they are looted or picked up. When looting, you will get a warning dialog telling you that looting the item will permanently bind it to you when you either equip or loot such an item. Once an item is bound to you, it will indicate in the tooltip that it is soulbound just below the name of the item. You can sell soulbound items to vendor NPCs, but not to other players. Destroying these items, selling them to a vendor, or disenchanting them (if you are an enchanter) are the only ways of getting rid of these objects; you cannot mail them, trade them, or sell them in the auction house.
Acquiring items[]
Items are acquired in several ways:
- Killing monsters
- Completing quests
- Getting them from other players
- Making them yourself
- Tradeskills provide items that are one notch above equal-level quest items. However, you can send items you make to your other character (and to other players) or sell them to vendors or auction them at the auction house.
- Buying them from vendor NPCs
- Most vendors sell stuff appropriate for the level area they occupy. Equippable items found at most vendors are much worse than what you should be wearing if you do many quests.
- Buying them from an auction house
Item attributes[]
Most items in World of Warcraft have one or more attributes. Depending on what class you chose to play, some attributes become more important than others.
Parties[]
Partying is what a MMORPG is all about. If we wanted to play a one-player game, there might be other games more suitable. Partying is the best way to get to know someone, as far as the quality of their character:
- How well they act around others
- How well they learn new features
- How well they develop and learn and use tactics
In order to be the best you can be in a group, it is good to look at other classes to see what they can do for you, and to see what you can do for them that they can't do for themselves. Don't be afraid to ask someone for a benefit that they can offer you; and if you have something they might benefit from, give it to them.
First off, it is not entirely uncommon for first-time group members who had never met before to offer an enchantment (as it increases their skill, which benefits them). If you don't get such an offer, do not just expect them to respond affirmatively to a request.
All classes that can buff should buff everyone in their party. Some buffs require certain talents or reagents, so you shouldn't be surprised if someone doesn't have the buff you're looking for. Just remember to ask. Many players don't know the lengths of all your buffs, so you'll just have to remind the buffer. In the case of a paladin, where they can cast only one blessing on each character, you should ask the paladin for the particular blessing you want.
Many classes are hybrids and you can fill two different roles. Everyone should know what role they play in any given party, and also how to play that role well.
See the Instance Grouping Guide for information that is absolutely essential for going into dungeons with others. It is incredibly annoying when people do not follow the principles outlined in that article. Some people can be taught patience and such; others can't. You should do what you can to learn from experienced people (who are usually notable just from seeing how they speak and act) and teach others the same.
It is considered rude to invite somebody into a party, especially if they have not asked for a party, without first speaking with them. In many cases, however, it's obvious that you have a common goal. In these cases, you may get an invitation to join a party (but you should still not give one before speaking). Some instances of this is when you see the same character over and over in the area of a certain type of monster which is a quest monster or one that gives reputation. In this case, it is very beneficial to be in a group even if you don't help each other. The reason is that all members of the group get credit for killing each monster that the other one kills. However, if you're not immediately in the same area attacking the same clusters of monsters, it would be good to have free-for-all looting, or else a lot of loot would probably not be picked up by the others.
Another important reason to party up is that (probably) in every case, two together will be more than twice as effective at killing any given monster or set of monsters than the two separately. Synergy is very important in grouping. Two paladins can have two different auras which can be very beneficial; three is nice, too, but the rewards are greatly diminished at that point, because the group would receive a greater reward from another class. Two hunters can benefit each other in a similar manner as well, along with two warriors, and so on. But the greatest benefit of all is to have only one of each class. But it is not always easy to achieve such a grouping.
Looting[]
Looting and loot drops in World of Warcraft are fairly straightforward. If the corpse of a monster has gold sparkles on top of it, it means there's something on the corpse that you can loot. Once you loot a corpse, if you don't take everything off it, everyone else in your group will have the option to loot.
There are a few different looting types in parties that can be set by the party leader by right-clicking on his own portrait in the upper left. Two of these types are affected by the loot threshold, also set by the leader (the threshold can be set to uncommon, rare, or epic).
Money loot is always shared in a party regardless of loot type. However, if a party member is out of range when a monster is looted, they will not receive a share of any gold found on a corpse and will not be able to roll for any special items found.
In addition to the loot rules that can be set up to run automatically (see Looting), many groups have additional rules that they add in. Don't forget to decide them before starting!
See also[]
Instanced Dungeons[]
- Main article: Newbie instance guide
Group Encounters[]
Instanced Dungeons (or "Instances") are where the fun really begins. These are not the sort of places you'll want to go alone. Unlike many areas of the game where you may easily get by as a solo player, instances and dungeons are designed to challenge groups of players. Most instances and dungeons will require five people to complete successfully. They always contain many Elite monsters.
Instances are a great way for groups to get experience and loot, though they present quite a challenge. It is ideal to construct well-balanced groups that include members which fill all party roles: typically a tank, a healer, and three damage dealers. Additionally, it is preferable to have at least one party member with good crowd control abilities.
There are four classes that can resurrect when out of combat: Priest, Druid, Paladin, and Shaman. In addition, the Druid ability 
[Rebirth], the Death Knight ability 
[Raise Ally], and the warlock ability 
[Soulstone] can resurrect players in combat. engineers of any class can make or buy 
[Goblin Jumper Cables], which allow the user to attempt to resurrect someone. Anyone in a maximum level guild will have the ability 
[Mass Resurrection], which will allow them to resurrect all dead players within a group.
See the class article for a table of roles that usually need to be played, and the rating of each class' ability to fulfill that role.
Instances are both sources of excitement, and of dread.
A place for you and your group only[]
In the open world, monsters exist and are free to roam. Anybody can come along, kill them, get the loot, skin them, etc. and move on. If one player kills a monster, obviously it can't be killed twice. That means other players have to wait until that monster respawns, which occurs regularly (usually within 5-15 minutes). Some monsters are quest targets, which need to be killed by any player attempting to complete a quest (a well-known example is Hogger for the quest 
[11E] Wanted: "Hogger" in Elwynn Forest). You may find yourself waiting for Hogger to respawn before you can kill him again. You may even be able to kill the same monster any number of times, as long as you wish to wait around.
In instances, it doesn't quite work the same way. Each group that goes into an instanced dungeon gets their own version of it – their own instance of it, hence the name. This means you will never be inconvenienced by another group going in and killing all of the monsters, getting the loot before you do, but you will also be completely responsible for your own safety. Each group gets to go through the whole instance on their own. This can result in good loot and experience as a group progresses through an instance.
Monsters in a dungeon do not typically respawn, unless a long period of time has passed, or a special scripted event is executed. For example, in the Deadmines in Westfall, the Goblins and Defias Miners (of various types) stay dead. The wandering Defias Enforcers and Taskmasters (patrols) are the only ones that respawn regularly (just to keep things interesting). Typically, dungeon respawns will not be much of a concern, unless you leave a dungeon in order to return later.
Death and Resurrection in Instances[]
If you die in an instance, your spirit need only find its way back to the entrance of it. As soon as you re-enter the instance, you are resurrected normally, but at the instance gate. This can mean that you may have a long way to run before you catch up to the rest of your group. In certain cases, you may end up fighting your way back to your group (or your group, if you're the only one left, may end up fighting their way back to you!). The benefit of this is that if every member of your group dies in a battle, you don't need to go walk around looking for your corpses. You just need to re-enter the instance, and everyone gets revived at the same point.
If your group has advanced a considerable distance into an instance, it may be desirable to avoid pulling mobs on the way back. It's smart to try to allow characters with resurrection abilities, such as priests, paladins, shaman, druids, or players in maximum level guilds with the spell [Mass Resurrection] to survive a difficult fight, even if other characters must sacrifice themselves in the process. If these particular characters survive a disaster that kills the rest of the party, they can eventually resurrect everyone else – preventing a long run back.
Chat and Interface[]
Channels[]
World of Warcraft has a chat channel system to allow players to create their own private chat channels. Use the /chat command to get a listing of chat channel commands. You will automatically join chat channels "General", "Trade", and "LocalDefense" when you create your character.
To send a message to a chat channel, type "/# (message)" where # is the number of the channel you would like to send to. 1 is always the "General" channel, and 2 is the Trade channel when in a city. (Type /chatlist to see a list of channels you are currently on.)
Item links can be sent by shift-clicking any item, but they won't work in any "numbered" chats other than the Trade channel, which only appears in large cities. Links will work in party, say, and guild chat. (This was done to prevent item/trade spamming in the General chat channel; unfortunately, it also means that you can't share item links with friends in private chat channels. However, if someone requests that you link an item to them, you can do that through whisper.)
The Mail system[]
- in range to check mailbox out of range of mailbox
For a small price (30
), you can send in-game mail to other players. This can be sent when other players are offline or online. An icon will appear near your minimap indicating if you have new Unread Mail. To read your mail, visit the postbox outside any inn. You can also send items through mail to other players as "attachments". Sending mail is instantaneous, unless there is an item attached, in which case the message will take one hour to be delivered (sent items between characters on the same account is still instantaneous). Attachments are returned to the sender if the message goes unread for 30 days, or if the recipient does not remove the item from their mailbox within 30 days of reading the message.[1]
You can also use a C.O.D. to send mail with items attached. This allows you to set a price for the recipient to be able to collect the item from the mail (i.e. you can charge them for the item). When the recipient clicks the item to put it in their pack, a dialog comes up stating the price. If they say accept, then the price is deducted from their money and sent to you in a mail message. They may also select return which will return the item to you via mail. C.O.D. items expire from the recipients inbox in 30 days even if unread, so be sure they know that it is coming. You can C.O.D. items to your other characters on the same account also.
You may also send cash in mail, but all mail sent with money arrives with an hour delay.[2] For example, your character needs a bit of quick cash and you have another character on the same account with cash, switch to the other character, drop some cash in the mail, then switch back, and the cash should already be in your inbox. If your other character is on another account (say, your brother's or sister's), you need wait 1 hour, log out to the beginning logon screen and proceed as normal. You don't need to be on one account to send money or any such, but it is much faster and easier.
See also[]
References[]
Tips for New Players (or how to make sure you don't end up on everyone's /ignore list)[]
Presented in approximate order of importance:
- HAVE FUN AT YOUR OWN EXPENSE. The general rule for any cooperative game, is that you should have fun as long as it doesn't come at the expense of someone else's fun. Sharing the enjoyment of the game is part of the fun.
- DON'T BEG. We have money because we go out and earn it by doing quests and running dungeons - not by sitting around in cities and inns begging for it. If you go out and complete your quests your money will accumulate quickly.
- READ YOUR QUEST DESCRIPTIONS. If you carefully read the quest description you are usually told exactly where to go and what to do. Don't be lazy.
- NO MEANS NO. If someone declines your invitation for a party, guild or duel do not spam them after they have declined. Don't abuse or insult them in private chat either. That kind of stuff can actually get you reported to a GM and could even get you banned! If you feel rejected you are taking it too seriously.
- NODE RAGE. You don't have automatic rights to every node, herb or chest that you see - this isn't an offline solo game. If another player is fighting a monster near a node/herb/chest you shouldn't rush past them while they are busy to steal it.
- BE HELPFUL - BUFFS. Buff players that you pass on the road - the tiny mana cost of a single buff will replenish long before you reach your destination.
- BE HELPFUL - MOBS. If you see another player in trouble consider helping them out by healing them or taking a few swings at their monster. However, make sure the monster's title bar has turned grey so you don't steal their kill. Warning; if the player you are helping dies - their monster is coming straight for you!
- ASK BEFORE OPEN. Ask a rogue to open your lockbox before you interrupt them with a trade window and an expectation that they will automatically drop whatever they are doing to help you. In fact, always ask before opening trade for any reason.
- ASK BEFORE GROUPING. Ask a character with a tell/whisper if they want an invite to a group before doing it. Surprise party invites are known as "ninja grouping" and are frowned upon.
- ASK BEFORE GUILDING. Ask a character with a tell/whisper if they want an invite to a guild or if you would like them to sign a guild charter before doing it. Surprise guild invites or charter windows are known as "ninja guilding" and are discouraged.
- WE DON'T SPEAK COMMON. Horde characters can't understand what Alliance characters say to them - their default language is Orcish instead of Common. All they see on their screen is gibberish. Also if you custom emote they will only see you 'making strange gestures'.
- WE DON'T SPEAK ORCISH. Alliance characters can't understand what Horde characters say to them - their default language is Common instead of Orcish. All they see on their screen is gibberish. Also if you custom emote they will only see you 'making strange gestures'.
- DON'T CLICK ON THE .JPG. Be wary of keyloggers (harmful programs that attempt to record your Warcraft password) they hide in dodgy graphics files and programs. Blizzard warn us not to click on external links in their forums and suggest we use the Launcher to start WoW.
- KEEP YOUR GUIDES OPEN. There are multiple online, electronic, and printed guides for the game (including wow.gamepedia.com). If you can switch between windows during a session, such as using ALT+TAB on many PCs, it can let you look up answers to your own questions.
- BE FRIENDLY. There are many different cultures and backgrounds represented by the players of the game. Remember that when interacting with other players. If you are disrespectful of someone or a group it could negatively effect your reputation.
- LEARN WHEN TO WALK AWAY. If someone's messages are bothering you use the /ignore player_name command. If someone's actions are bothering you, go somewhere else. If someone does something that grossly violates the Terms of Service or the Codes of Conduct open a GM ticket.
- BE OPEN ENOUGH TO LEARN. There are a multitude of ways to enjoy the game from solo play and professions, to raiding and PvP. There are also a multitude of opinions on how to get the most enjoyment out of each. Explore new parts of the game and new ways of enjoying them.
- PICK EVERYTHING UP. A fantastic way to get yourself enough copper and silver at the very beginning of the game is to pick all the loot up off the monsters you slay (not just the quest items!). Each individual grey item, such as [Ruined Pelt] and [Venom Sack], when sold in stacks of 5 or more, may just generate a little bit more income for you, in order to purchase your first spell or ability upgrade!
- ASK IF YOU DON'T KNOW Almost every player has asked the following question: "How do I speak on trade channel?". If you don't recognize an acronym (or something else), just ask for information from a more experienced player.
Do Lots of Random Dungeons[]
Once you reach level 15, you can use the Dungeon Finder. Queuing for as many random dungeons as possible is a good idea when you're a new player, especially if you don't have friends who play on your realm. There are several reasons for this:
- You'll get practice playing your role in a party and handling boss mechanics, which will be helpful when you start raiding.
- You'll get better gear than you'd be likely to get from world drops, quest rewards, or professions.
- You'll earn gold and XP faster, especially if you can't yet afford full riding training for your level.
- At high levels, you'll earn [Justice Points]. Once you reach the level cap, these will give you a head start on buying raiding gear.
- Leveling alone or in pairs is often hard, because you can't fill all three roles of tank, healer and damage dealer. The Dungeon Finder always provides all three.
- You'll meet lots of interesting people, who are more likely to socialize in chat than people you'd meet while questing.
- Occasionally, you'll be randomly grouped with a player from your own realm. That player will see that you know how to play your role in a group and that you're online at the same time of day as they are, so they may want to group with you again. They may even invite you to their guild if you're not in one.
Tips for Grouping with Other Players[]
Mobs will target whoever is highest on their threat list. This person is the one with aggro. When grouped in a party, you want this to be a tank (warrior, bear, paladin). Let the tank generate some threat for a few seconds before you begin DPS, so that you don't pass the tank in threat generation and pull aggro.
- Need vs. Greed
Item drops come in two flavors, Bind on Equip (BoE) and Bind on Pickup (BoP). BoP items become soulbound as soon as you loot them. When in a group, it's a good etiquette to pass on items that are an upgrade to other players. BoE items may be sold on the auction house, but they may be of more benefit to your party members than the gold you'd earn in selling them. Items that aren't usable by anyone in the party should be fair game for rolling on.
It's usually safe to follow these loot rules:
- In general, roll greed on Bind on Equip items
- If an item is a legitimate upgrade for you, roll need (need trumps greed), but tell your group first to make your intentions clear ("ask before need")
- If you're in an instance (dungeon) and no one can use a Bind on Pickup drop, an enchanter can disenchant the item into materials, and the group often rolls on the materials ("roll for mats") as some enchanting materials go for high $$ on AH.
See the Need before Greed page more more details.
- Item Stats
Know which item attributes are important to you. Don't select "need" unless you have a good reason for why that item's attributes help you the most.
Choose specialization over generalization. If you're not a tank and you're getting killed a lot, defensive stats won't help much. What will help is to level through the Dungeon Finder, because it puts you behind a tank. When you're behind a tank, the stats you need are the ones that increase your damage per second or your ability to heal without running out of mana.
External links[]
WowInsider WoW Rookie: Mind your manners