So You Wanna Play WoW...

It’s no secret I play World of Warcraft. Anyone that knows me will tell you I do, and I’ve stated it many times on this blog. With the launch of Cataclysm, WoW’s latest expansion, more and more of my friends have been asking me how they can get started and for invite codes to test the waters. Frankly, I figured it would be easier to make a simple how-to once on here and never have to worry about talking about it at length again. So, here’s my Beginner’s Guide to the World of Warcraft. I’ll be including descriptions of all the classes, races, factions, roles, and servers so that you can jump in and get started right away. I may do a follow-up to this article if there’s requests for it, including some simple add-ons to get, leveling and questing, and professions. Follow me after the jump for the full write-up.

First off – your server. Yes, WoW has over 12 million currently active subscribers, but that doesn’t mean you can see all 12 million at once. Servers, or “Realms”, are the collection of people you’ll be able to play with. You can only group up with friends if they are on the same realm as you, so if you know somebody that plays WoW and you want to join them, make sure you ask on which realm they play. Changing realms couldn’t be easier – on the character select screen (shown below) simply click the Change Realm button on the top right corner, just underneath your current realm. Once that appears, the list of realms appears. If you know what realm you want to play on, just sort alphabetically and select it. If you’re starting from scratch, however, it’s a little tougher.

Get used to this screen; You'll see it every time you log on.

There are three types of realms; Normal, PvE (player vs. environment), PvP (player vs. player), or RP (roleplay), and realms can have a low, medium, or high population. Only play on an RP realm if you intend to roleplay, and become the character. For most people, the choice will be either PvE or PvP. I highly recommend PvP, as you’ll learn a ton of skills you can’t pick up on a PvE realm, and world PvP is awesome. The main difference between PvE realms and PvP is the fact that on PvP realms, you can, at any time, attack members of the opposing faction (the two factions being horde and alliance). It’s a lot of fun to get into big open-world PvP battles, and learning how to defend yourself against an actual human being is much more difficult to learn on a PvE server. That having been said, PvE is much safer, and a far easier time leveling. If you play on a PvP realm, you’re going to have a tougher time leveling (and believe me, there’ll be times when a level 85 just camps your corpse), but you’ll be a better player once you reach that coveted level cap. One final note – all realms have in-game times based on different time zones, and you can’t see which time zone you’re in until you actually log onto the server. It’s best to try finding a server in the same time zone as you, but not mandatory or even necessary – I play on Illidan, which is 1 hour behind me.

The next thing you’ll need to do is figure out which Faction you want to play for – either the Horde – made up of Orcs, Tauren, Trolls, Forsaken (the undead), Blood Elves (introduced in Burning Crusade, the game’s first expansion), or the newly instated Goblins – or the Alliance – consisting of Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Night Elves, Draenei (who came to Azeroth with Burning Crusade as well), or Worgen (who are basically werewolves). In general, and this may not apply to all servers, I have found that Alliance are more friendly but less serious players, while the horde are generally older and more based on winning. I prefer Alliance, and you’ll find a great group of players no matter what side you choose, so take whichever you personally prefer. Another couple notes here – first off, if you have friends that play, you can only join them if you play on their faction. The Horde cannot communicate with the Alliance, and vice versa. Second, if you only have a trial version of the game or haven’t yet upgraded to Cataclysm, you will not be able to pick either Worgen or Goblins, so be wary. I’m pretty sure trials now include Burning Crusade, so you should be able to be Draenei and Blood Elves, but maybe not.

Once you’ve figured out what side you what to fight for, it’s time to figure out your class and role. Not all races can be everything (in fact, no single race can be everything), so figure out what class/role you want before you’ve settled on a race. The three roles are tanks, healers, and dps (or damage per second). Tanks are the meat shields of groups, who stand up to the bosses and take a healthy beating, keeping enemies focused on them so that everyone else can do their own jobs. Tanks are a coveted position, hard to play as, and are often the leaders of groups. Healers, on the other hand, heal tanks back to full health after a proper beating from the bad guys. Whether they use Nature to heal or the Light guides them, their job is to keep the tanks, and everyone else, alive. This leaves dps. Every class in the game can fill the dps role, so if you want to melt the faces off your enemies and watch them fall as quickly as possible, you can’t go wrong with any class.

The Character Creation screen, with a very sexy dwarf hunter (the sexiest combination in Azeroth)

There are nine different classes you can choose from, and although many fill the same roles, how they do so is quite different for each. The classes, in alphabetical order, are:

• Druid – The first of the two true hybrid classes, and the only class in the game that can tank, heal, dps from range, or melee dps. They use powerful nature and arcane based spells, are masters of shapeshifting, and can change forms to fill any role. However, they are one of the hardest classes for a beginner to play as, simply because there are so many options – it can be quite overwhelming.
• Hunter – Hunters are one of four pure dps classes in the game, meaning no matter what you do, you will fill the role of ranged dps. However, hunters are a pet class, and share a bond with their beastial companions that no other class shares. Right from level 1 you’ll have a furry (or scaly) companion to follow you around and help in any way necessary. Hunters are also considered the easiest classes to level, since their pets can act as a second character to help you attack at all times. Two is better than one!
• Mage – masters of fire, frost, and arcane magic, this spell-flinging ranged dps class is the second pure dps class. You’ll use magic to burn, freeze, or blast your enemies into the next dimension. Mages are not only strong at dps, they are well known for their crowd control (or CC) abilities – rather than kill enemies, they can simply turn them into harmless critters to be dealt with later.
• Paladin – the only class other than Druid that is a true hybrid and able to fill all three roles. Protection paladins, with a shield in one hand and a mace in the other, can tank as well as any other class, and are known to be the best multi-target tanks in the game. Holy paladins use their belief in the power of the Light to heal their comrades quickly and efficiently from a safe distance. Retribution paladins wield giant two-handed maces and run head-first into battle, as a powerful melee dps. Any way you shake it, paladins are good at what they do.
• Priest – priests are another hybrid class, but they are more well known to be healers, having two different healing specializations. Holy priests use big and small heals to get heals where they need to be, when they need to be. Discipline priests use shields of light to prevent damage from ever happening. Shadow priests, however, use their shadow magic to turn a shadowy-purple color, and use the spells they’ve learned to deal ranged magical damage. As a side note, priests have one of my favourite spells in the game: Mind Control. This spell gives the priest the ability to control enemies for short periods of time, making former friends destroy them. However, the best use of the spell is on PvP servers, when you can mind control your enemies into jumping straight off a cliff.
• Rogue – the third pure dps class, and by far the sneakiest class in the game. Rogues use shadows and stealth to approach their unaware enemies, and ambush them from behind, wielding two poison-tipped weapons for maximum damage. If you want a melee dps class that is sure to have the jump on any opponent, rogues are absolutely the way to go.
• Shaman – masters of the elements, shaman can heal, as well as dps from both a distance and melee. Elemental shaman use magic given to them by the elements of earth, air, water, and fire to blast their opponents from far. Enhancement shaman use melee weapons infused with the powers of those same elements to deal the damage right to the faces of their enemies. Restoration shaman use the gentle flow of water and nature to heal injured party members, and have one of the strongest multi-heals in the game.
• Warlock – using their control of demons, curses, and dark magic, warlocks are the final pure dps class. A sort of combination of hunters, with their pet control capabilities, and mages, with their long range magic attacks, warlocks use shadow and fire magic to burn and curse their victims. Warlocks use many damage over time spells, or dots, to ensure their enemies a slow, painful demise.
• Warrior – the last hybrid class, able to tank and melee dps. Protection warriors, with sword and shield in hand, soak in all kinds of incoming damage. Arms warriors deal huge damage with slow, hard hitting 2-handed weapons, and use mobility to overcome their opponents. Fury warriors, on the other hand, use berserking attacks and can dual wield two 2-handed weapons for maximum damage.
• The final class, Death Knight, is only available to players who have a level 55 character or higher, so I’ve excluded them from this guide, as it is intended for new players.

And there you have it! A short, simple rundown of every class in the game. Hopefully by now you’ve figured out what class you want to play as, and can make your final choice – your race. Each race has its own racial benefits in the forms of spells, being stronger with different weapons, or resistances. Honestly, I choose to ignore them. Racial bonuses aren’t very big, and in general, I’d rather be something I enjoy looking at, since you could potentially be spending quite literally hundreds of hours with this character. Choose what you like, not what will end up being a 0.01% increase in damage output. The different race/class combinations are as follows:

Druid – Alliance: Night Elf, Worgen
Horde: Tauren, Troll
Hunter – Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Draenei, Worgen
Horde: Orc, Undead, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf, Goblin
Mage – Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Draenei, Worgen
Horde: Orc, Undead, Troll, Blood Elf, Goblin
Paladin – Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Draenei
Horde: Tauren, Blood Elf
Priest – Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Draenei, Worgen
Horde: Undead, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf, Goblin
Rogue – Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Worgen
Horde: Orc, Undead, Troll, Blood Elf, Goblin
Shaman – Alliance: Dwarf, Draenei
Horde: Orc, Tauren, Troll, Goblin
Warlock – Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Worgen
Horde: Orc, Undead, Troll, Blood Elf, Goblin
Warrior – Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Draenei, Worgen
Horde: Orc, Undead, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf, Goblin
Death Knights - Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Draenei, Worgen
Horde: Orc, Undead, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf, Goblin

One day, you may be staring at the city you've protected countless times, too.

With the advent of Cataclysm, many new race/class combinations opened up, so chances are high you’ll be able to be the race you want with the class you selected (the two that don’t follow this pattern are druids and shaman. You’re pretty stuck with them).

I hope this answered some questions about WoW and helped you get started with your character. Next week I’ll be covering lingo, the different specializations, different professions, and maybe even some simple add-ons, since I had a lot of fun writing this article. The more people playing WoW, the better, imo. For details on what imo stands for, as well as many other abbreviations, come back next week. See you then!