Chapter II: How to Play - Game Guide

What is World of Warcraft Chapter I Getting Started Chapter II How to Play Chapter III Playing Together Chapter IV The Late Game

World of WarcraftBeginner’s Guide

Chapter II
How to Play

World of Warcraft follows one of Blizzard Entertainment’s primary design mantras: Easy to learn, difficult to master. The core gameplay concepts are intuitive and simple by design, so once you’ve picked up on the basics, you’ll be slaughtering monsters and saving princesses in no time. To help you get started, here’s a primer on World of Warcraft gameplay.

UI Overview

This is the main user interface you’ll see while playing World of Warcraft.

Main user interface

Your Character’s Abilities

In World of Warcraft, you can become a mighty paladin, smiting evil with righteous fury; a sly rogue, sneaking up on an unsuspecting enemy, dagger in hand and poised to strike from the shadows; a brilliant mage, unleashing torrents of destructive arcane energy to wipe out scores of monsters; or even a malevolent death knight, well-versed in the arts of swordplay and necromancy. Whatever class you choose to play, that class is defined by its abilities.

Your new character starts out with a few class abilities and you can learn many more over the course of your career. Every class has access to unique abilities that help define its role in the game and shape your experience.

Using Abilities

In order to play your character well, you need to know when to use your class abilities. Two factors determine when you can use an ability: cost and cooldown.

Each class has a different resource to expend in order to pay the cost of abilities. For example, warriors fuel their abilities with rage, which builds up as they dish out and receive damage. Rogues, on the other hand, are acrobatic fighters and thus do not use rage; instead, they spend energy, which constantly regenerates but limits how quickly they can chain together combat moves. Priests use mana to cast their spells. Mana regenerates slowly while in combat, so priests need to pay attention to how quickly they are burning through their reserves.

If an ability has a cooldown, that means that a certain amount of time needs to pass before your character is ready to use that ability again. Cooldowns can last anywhere from a few seconds to half an hour. Abilities with a long cooldown are often very powerful. Used at the right moment, these abilities can be amazingly effective.

Talents and Glyphs

Your character class determines what abilities your character can use, but World of Warcraft provides you with two ways to customize your abilities to create a character with unique strengths.

As characters grows stronger, they earn talent points. These points can be spent on talents that let your character specialize in one specific subset of his abilities; for example, mages have access to talent trees that enhance either their frost, fire, or arcane spells.

Glyphs provide another method of enhancing your abilities. Characters learn and use glyphs (created by players with the Inscription profession) to make their abilities more powerful or even add new effects to abilities. A character can only equip a limited number of glyphs at a time, so choose carefully.

Quests

Being a hero means performing heroic deeds, and there are plenty of opportunities to do so on Azeroth. Mad deities, rampaging dragons, demonic evils from beyond the stars… the world is under constant threat, and it’s up to you and your friends to defend your people against these dark, destructive forces. During your life as a hero, you will embark on a series of quests to right what is wrong, to defend the weak and punish the wicked, and to make the world a better, safer place.

There are several different ways to discover quests in World of Warcraft:

Quest Givers

Certain non-player characters (NPCs) have quests for you. Quest givers always have a big “!” above their head, so they’re easy to spot.

Quest Items

Sometimes you may come across items that begin a quest, like a hastily scribbled note found among the belongings of a highwayman or an old amulet recovered from the remains of a toxic oozeling. These items often have a history that forms the start of an interesting quest.

Quest Objects

You may also come across certain objects in the world that start a quest. Keep an eye out for unusual terrain, “wanted” posters, or other landmarks that stand out; adventure may be waiting around the corner.

Completing Quests

You need to accomplish specific goals in order to complete quests. These objectives can be as simple as talking to a specific character or as complex as breaching a keep’s curtain wall, taking the courtyard, lowering the main gate, lighting the signal fire, and finally cornering the master of the keep.

Types of Quests

World of Warcraft offers vast potential for adventure, including access to thousands of different quests. Every quest is unique, but there are some broad categories that you can divide them into…

Normal quest

Normal quests are the most common. If your character is experienced enough, you will be able to complete these quests on your own, without the help of other players.

Group quest

Group quests are more challenging than normal quests and usually require a group of heroes to band together, but also offer better rewards. Gather your friends and prepare for battle before attempting one of these quests.

dungeon quest

Dungeon quests require you to delve deep into the dungeons of World of Warcraft, where dangerous and fearsome monsters dwell. You will need a group to complete these quests.

Heroic quest

Heroic quests are similar to dungeon quests, but you will have to overcome monsters that are even stronger and more deadly than those found in normal dungeons. Get ready for a tough fight!

Raid quest

Raid quests are similar to dungeon quests, but you will have to brave the challenges that await in the world’s most perilous places. These quests require a large group (10 or 25 players) to complete.

Player vS player quest

Player versus player quests will pit you against other players on the field of battle. Will you win glory, honor, and fame, or will you succumb to your enemies’ relentless attacks? There is only one way to find out….

Daily quest

Daily quests are repeatable quests that you can complete once each day and usually serve to line your pockets with much-needed income and other resources.

Inventory

Just as King Arthur wielded Excalibur, as Roland bore Durandal, and as Achilles donned his god-forged armor, so will you come across magic weapons, armor, and other artifacts of great power. As a matter of fact, you will come across thousands of them; the monsters of Azeroth have a surprising tendency to carry potent magical trinkets with them, ready to be looted off their cooling corpses by aspiring adventurers. But even if the kobold you just sent to the great dark beyond doesn’t have any weapons or armor, he is still sure to carry other items that you can sell for profit. This collection of items you’re lugging around with you at any given time is called your inventory.

Your Backpack and Bags

Your character begins the game with a simple backpack. It can only hold a limited number of things, but you can significantly increase the number of items you can pick up by carrying additional bags.

The Bank

Every major city in World of Warcraft also has a bank where you can store your items. If you run out of room in your backpack and bags, you can visit a bank and stash away any items you don’t need right now. Even better, all banks are magically connected, so you can store items in one bank and retrieve them at another!

The Auction House

Right across from most banks you’re likely to find an auction house. Players can buy and sell items from those auction houses, and some players even find ways to turn the auction house into a reliable source of income. Who says that the hero business can’t be profitable? You can put your own items up for auction, and you can browse what other auctions are currently going on. If you are looking for a specific item, or if you have a valuable item that you don’t need, the auction house should be your first stop.

How To Make Friends And Influence People with deepest apologies to Dale Carnegie

At its core, what makes World of Warcraft such a fun game is that you share this world with thousands of other players at the same time. You can experience the majority of the game’s content by yourself if you wish, but chatting with other players, forming groups, joining guilds, and most importantly, making friends is essential if you want to get the most out of World of Warcraft.

The above only scratches the surface of the rich social interactions World of Warcraft has to offer. Go to the next chapter to learn more about the intricacies of chat, Real ID Friends, groups, guilds, and more.

Chat

World of Warcraft includes a sophisticated chat system that allows you to talk to other players either in writing or, if you are in a group with other players, via voice chat. You can manage all your chat channels via the game’s comprehensive chat interface. You can set up private channels if you want to talk to your friends only, or you can chat in the local/global chat channels if you want to reach a larger audience, and if you are in a guild you have access to your guild’s own chat channel. The only limitation to chat in World of Warcraft, really, is chat across factions; you cannot communicate with players of the opposite faction.

Groups

You will eventually want to band together with other players to tackle a difficult quest or venture into one of the world’s many dungeons. You can either form your own group by inviting other players, join someone else’s group upon request, or you can use the game’s Dungeon Finder tool to automatically join a group for a specific dungeon via the game’s matchmaking service. Groups are limited to five players, but you can also form a raid group, which can include up to 40 people.

Guilds

Groups and raids are always temporary and cease to exist once all members leave or log off. Guilds, on the other hand, are permanent and much larger groups of players united under one banner to help each other and play the game together. Being in a guild has a few advantages; you have your own guild chat channel, you can use a shared guild bank, and guilds can earn a number of cool guild achievements and bonuses by braving certain challenges. You can either ask to join a guild, or you and your friends can form your own.

Friends

As you chat, form groups and raids, join guilds, and play together with others, you will meet other players who are genuinely good company and with whom you’d like to play more often. You should add those players to your Friends List, which allows you to keep track of your favorite players, see when they’re online, and where they are in World of Warcraft when they are logged in.

Chapter II: How to Play

Chapter I: Getting Started Chapter III: Playing Together

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Chapter II
How to Play