World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is an MMORPG that takes place in Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe; at its peak, it boasted a player base of over 12.5 million subscribers, making it the most popular MMO of all time.   
Overview
World of Warcraft (often referred to as 'WoW ') is an MMORPG set in the high-fantasy universe of Warcraft. Released in November of 2004, World of Warcraft was very well received, winning several awards in its first year and becoming the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006. By October of 2008 WoW had surpassed 11 million subscribers worldwide. Since its release, there have been four expansions adding new content and challenges for players to the game: The Burning Crusade in January 2007, Wrath of the Lich King in November 2008, Cataclysm in December 2010, and Mists of Pandaria in September 2012. The fifth expansion, Warlords of Draenor, was released in 2014.
Gameplay
Getting Started
Realm Selection - The first decision to be made by a player is their choice of realm (i.e. server). All realms contain the same geographical lands, but the population and economy on each realm are different. There are four different realm categories which are as follows:
Player vs Player ( PvP) - Realms that allow for open combat between players of opposing factions. Only a select few areas are designated as neutral zones where players are safe from attack.
Player vs Environment ( PvE) - Realms that allow players to focus on defeating monsters and questing. Open player combat on occurs in designated areas or with player consent.
Roleplay (RP) - PvE realms designated for players that prefer to play in-character, literally playing their role in a form of digital acting.
Roleplay-PvP (RP-PvP) - RP realms with the open cross-faction combat of PvP realms.
Each account allows players to create a maximum of fifty characters on their choice of realms, with ten character slots available per realm. While created characters are typically locked to a realm, paid character transfers are available for a fee with certain restrictions.
Character Creation - When creating a new character, players must first choose whether they want their character to be a member of the Alliance or the Horde. Characters can only group together within their own faction. Depending on expansion purchases, players are able to choose from between four and six races per faction with a number of unique racial traits. Players have a few options to customize their character's physical appearance including gender, face, hair style and color, skin tone, and accessories.
Once race has been selected, and depending on the number of expansions purchased, players are able to choose from between six and nine of ten different classes. (Although there are a total of ten classes available, each race only has access to certain classes.) Each class plays with their own unique mechanics and can be customized to fulfill at least one of three main roles: DPS (damage dealer) which all classes can be, or healer or tank, roles essential to advanced group play.
Character Advancement
Gaining Levels - In the primary form of character advancement, characters progress in level up to a maximum of 100 (depending on expansions purchased) through earning experience points. Experience points are gained primarily through completing quests and killing enemies (mobs) and secondarily through professions and PvP combat.
Questing - Players are typically given quests by NPC's, objects in the environment and looted items. The presence of an available quest is indicated by a yellow exclamation mark. Most quests fall into one or more of the following categories:
Kill quest - Asks players to kill one or more mobs
Fetch quest - Asks players to gather one or more items from mobs or the environment
Escort quest - Asks players to protect an NPC or object
Delivery quest - Asks players to deliver either an item or themselves to a distant NPC
Exploration quest - Asks players to visit a certain area
Vehicle quests - Asks players to use vehicle or use cannons or such to complete your task. (Since WoTLK)
Completing quests typically rewards players with experience points and currency. Some quests also provide players with items, equipment, and increased reputation with a specific faction. Once a character has completed all the quests in a given area, they will oftentimes be assigned a delivery or exploration quest which will lead them to their next set of quests in a new area.
Certain areas of the world also give players access to special daily quests, typically after all other quests have been completed. Up to twenty-five of these special quests, indicated by a blue exclamation mark, can be completed by a character each day. These quests allow players to continue gaining reputation with a faction after clearing that faction's area of standard quests or earn special forms of currency at a metered rate.
Phasing - By stacking different versions of the same environment on top of one another, phasing allows players to change the world around them without impacting the experience of other players. For example, an area full of monsters may eventually be cleared and populated by friendly NPCs as part of a series of quests. That area would exist in two phases, with players only being able to see and interact with other players within the same phase.
Travel - As players advance in level, their quests will take them to larger and larger areas farther and farther away. To help facilitate their travel and reduce downtime, players have a number of modes of transportation available to them.
Flight Masters - Indicated by the presence of a green exclamation mark over their head, these NPCs fly characters to any connected flight points previously discovered for a small fee.
Boats/Zeppelins - Boats and Zeppelins allow players to travel from one continent to another, normally via major cities.
Portals - Be they static or temporary, portals instantly transport characters to another area, most commonly a major city.
Mounts - Depending on character level and expansions purchased, characters have access to a number of rideable mounts. These range from a seahorse that is only useable underwater to flying dragons. Mounts vary in speed depending on a characters level. Mounted speed increases accordingly: 60% land speed bonus at level 20, 100% at level 40. Players can purchase flying mounts once they reach level 70 that can have a 150% or 280% peed increase depending. At level 80 310% flying speed increase becomes unlockable. Some mounts even have the capability to carry more than one player at a time, although generally only very rare or hard to possess mounts have this ability.
Dungeons - A variety of dungeons are available to players throughout their leveling career. Unlike the rest of the game world, each time a dungeon is entered a unique instance is created, accessible only by a single group of players. Players unable to form a five-man group on their own can use the automated dungeon finder system to be matched with other players not only from their server, but from other servers within the same battlegroup. Each dungeon has a minimum level required to enter. The dungeon finder system has a minimum level of 15 required to use the tool to find level-appropriate dungeons.
These dungeons are populated with significantly stronger monsters and typically include three or more boss battles. When encountered at the appropriate level, these bosses are extremely powerful and require coordinated teamwork between the three class roles. The powerful items that these bosses drop draw players in, and provide the primary form of character advancement once the level cap has been reached.
Types of dungeons include:
Standard dungeons - Simpler dungeons designed for parties of five leveling characters geared primarily through quests
Heroic dungeons - Advanced versions of existing dungeons designed for parties of five characters at the level cap equipped primarily with standard dungeon quality gear
Raid dungeons - The most difficult dungeons in the game designed for parties of ten or twenty-five characters equipped primarily with heroic dungeon quality gear.
PvP - Tokens and points can be acquired by participating in combat with other players. These forms of currency can be used to purchase powerful items and equipment from various PvP vendors. The types of PvP combat available to players are:
Open World - Unorganized PvP between players in regular game environments, occurs only with a player's consent on PvE realms
Battleground - Organized group PvP in instanced areas with common multiplayer themes such as capture-the-flag and control-point.
Arena - Organized group deathmatch PvP divided into seasons with the top rated teams earning unique titles for their characters.
Character Customization
Specialization - At level 10, characters unlock the ability to choose from one of three specializations. The specialization you choose will assign you different abilities at specific levels. On some class types, different specializations will be assigned different roles (Tank, Healing, or DPS, respectively), though pure DPS classes do exist. Every class has at least one DPS specialization. The abilities gained through Specializations are predetermined as of Mists of Pandaria, and are no longer tied to talents.
Talents - As of Mists of Pandaria, players are assigned one talent point every fifteen levels, which can be spent on one of three abilities in that tier (level 15 points cannot be spent on level 30 talents, level 75 talents cannot be used on level 60 talents). Talents are now totally independent of specialization, and of each other (it is no longer necessary to put a point into a certain talent to acquire another one).
Glyphs - Glyphs, added with Wrath of the Lich King, are created by players using the inscription profession. They are used to add specific effects to spells. There are two kinds, major and minor. Major glyphs tend to be significant changes to the way the abilities are used, whereas minor glyphs tend to be cosmetic, or convenience based, and more based on preference than min-maxing. One glyph slot of each type is unlocked at levels 20, 50, and 80.
Professions - Professions are trade skills which cover the resource gathering and item creation systems in World of Warcraft. Each character can learn up to two of the eleven primary professions along with any number of secondary professions. While certain primary professions work better with others, there are no restrictions on which two professions a character can learn and an unsatisfied player can abandon one profession for another at any time. Professions give players access to valuable materials and powerful items that can be traded or sold, in addition to a number of unique bonuses available only to the profession holder.
Combat
Spells and Skills - Throughout their leveling career, characters learn a variety of spells and skills with which to aid allies and slay foes. Typically learned as a character levels, a majority of these abilities scale as characters increase in level allowing them to remain viable from 1 - 100. This results in an ever expanding pool of abilities that players can draw from allowing them to react to numerous situations.
These abilities typically fall into one or more of the following categories:
Direct Damage - Deals a single hit of immediate damage
Damage Over Time (DoT) - Deals incremental damage over a period of time
Direct Healing - Immediately recovers an amount of health
Healing Over Time (HoT) - Grants incremental healing over a period of time
Buff - Grants a permanent benefit for a set amount of time
Debuff - Inflicts a permanent penalty for a set amount of time
Area of Effect (AoE) - Affects multiple targets within a designated area
Point Blank AoE (PBAoE) - Affects multiple targets within a set radius of the character
Melee - Close range, typically with the aid of a melee weapon
Ranged - Long range, typically a spell effect or with the aid of a ranged weapon
Self - Affects the character only
Conjuration - Creates a consumable item
Attributes - Also known as "stats," attributes define a character's combat ability. Attributes are divided into two categories, primary stats which are the ideal stat to obtain depending on class and role, and secondary stats which allow players to customize their style of play.
Base stats include:
Strength - Ideal for plate-wearing DPS classes and Cat-form Druids, increases melee attack power
Agility - Ideal for all other physical DPS classes, increases melee and ranged attack power, critical chance
Stamina - Ideal for all tank classes, increases maximum health
Intellect - Ideal for spell casters, increases spell power, maximum mana and critical chance
Spirit - Increases mana regeneration rate while out of combat, typically desired only by healers
Mastery - Increases the effect gained by the master of the player's chosen primary talent tree
Secondary stats include:
Physical Combat Stats
Damage - Melee weapon damage and weapon speed
DPS - Damage per second
Attack Power - Increases weapon damage
Speed - Melee attack speed
Haste - Increases melee attack speed
Hit - Chance to hit a mob of equal level with melee attack
Crit - Chance of melee attacks doing extra damage
Expertise - Reduces chance to be dodged or parried
Range Combat Stats
Damage - Ranged weapon damage and weapon speed
DPS - Damage per second
Attack Power - Increases ranged weapon damage
Speed - Ranged attack speed
Haste - Increases ranged attack speed
Hit - Chance to hit mob of equal level with ranged attack
Crit - Chance of ranged attacks doing extra damage
Spell Combat Stats
Spell Power - Increases the damage and healing of spells
Haste - Increases spell casting speed
Hit - Chance to hit mob of equal level with spells
Crit - Chance of spells doing extra damage or healing
Penetration - Reduces enemy resistances (PvP only)
Mana Regen - Mana regenerated every 5 seconds while not in combat
Combat Regen - Mana regenerated every 5 seconds while in combat
Defense Stats
Armor - Reduces physical damage taken
Dodge - Chance to dodge
Parry - Chance to parry
Block - Stops incoming damage
Resilience - Damage reduction against all damage done by players and their minions or pets (PvP only)
Resistances
Arcane - Reduces arcane damage taken
Fire - Reduces fire damage taken
Frost - Reduces frost damage taken
Nature - Reduces nature damage taken
Shadow - Reduces shadow damage taken
Social Gameplay
Guilds - Guilds in WoW allow up to 1000 characters to form together under one banner, or "guild tag." In addition to the normal advantages of a guild, guilds in WoW have access to guild banks within the game, and due to changes in the user interface, players can easily find needed crafters within their guild. With the release of Cataclysm, guilds are now able to level in many of the same ways as characters. Each level opens up rewards that are shared by the guild. These rewards include in-game companions, experience, gold, reputation bonuses, and even powerful items that may be passed between characters on the same account.
Guilds have 25 levels, each level yielding a new perk that gives a buff to all players in the guild.
To level up a guild, you must do Random Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds, Arena, Dungeons, Heroic Dungeons, Raids, Heroic Raids, or achievements that level a guild up. Max exp per day is around 6200.
Maximum reputation per week is 3500. Guild reputation is needed to buy unique items from the guild store and helps in many achievements.
Playable Races
Alliance
Human
Humans
Main article: Human
Humans was considered a scattered and tribal people for several millennia, but when face with threat of the troll empires, they united as one to increase their strength. Recently it was discovered that the humans are descendent of the vrykul who live in Northrend.
Start Location: Elwynn Forest
Home City: Stormwind
Racial Mount: Horse
Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warrior, Warlock, Death Knight
Dwarf
Dwarves
Main article: Dwarves
The ancient dwarven race were once earthen-beings of living stone that was created by the titans in the beginning. However, these earthen-beings underwent a transformation that turned stoned to blood and flesh due to a mystic illness now known as the curse of flesh. This led the now blood and flesh creatures to call themselves dwarves.
Start Location: Dun Morogh
Home City: Ironforge
Racial Mount: Ram
Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior, Death Knight
Night Elf
Night Elves
Main article: Night Elves
The night elves is an ancient race and is the first race living on Azeroth, they have therefore played a vital role in the shaping of Azeroth's fate and history. For more than ten thousand years ago, they helped fend off the first invasion from the demonic Burning Legion. Later they again defended their world as the vile satyrs rallied together.
Start Location: Teldrassil
Home City: Darnassus
Racial Mount: Nightsaber
Available Classes: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warrior, Death Knight
Gnome
Gnomes
Main article: Gnomes
Despite having suffered from treachery, displacement, and even near genocide, the gnomes has survived due to their remarkable optimism in the face of of these event. This, mixed with their brilliant inventors makes the gnomes a clever and spunky race.
Start Location: Dun Morogh
Home City: The gnomes has retaken Gnomeregan after trogg invasion led to its downfall.
Racial Mount: Mechanostrider
Available Classes: Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, Death Knight
Draenei
Draenei
Main article: Draenei
When Sargeras unleashed his demonic Legion on Azeroth, he turned his eyes upon the world of Argus, the home of the eredar. Sargeras believed that this magically gifted race would be a valuable ally in his quest to undo all of life. Therefore he contacted the three eredar leaders - Kil'jaeden, Archimonde, and Velen - whom he offered knowledge and power in exchange for their loyalty. Only Velen refused this offer, because he had seen a vision. This vision depicted his people being transformed into demons as they joined Sargeras' Burning Legion. After Velen's decline, he took his people and fled to Draenor, now calling themselves Draenei
Start Location: Azuremyst Isle
Home City: Originally from the planet Argus, those who would be called draenei fled to the world of Draenor. Aided by the Burning Legion, the orcs destroyed their civilization. They escaped from Outland to Azeroth and were chased by blood elves.They now reside in the crashed remains of their dimensional ship, the Exodar.
Racial Mount: Elekk
Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warrior, Death Knight
Worgen
Worgen
Main article: Worgen
The isolated human nation of Gilneas behind the Greymane Wall has been struck by a terrible curse. As a result of the curse, the entire population has been been transformed into the nightmarish beasts known as worgen.
Start Location: Duskhaven, Gilneas
Home City: Greymane City
Racial Mount: Worgen do not possess a racial mount, they instead simply run on all fours, which provides the same speed bonuses as any normal mount.
Available Classes: Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, Druid, Hunter, Death Knight
Horde
Orc
Orcs
Main article: Orcs
Orcs originally lived on Draenor, now known as Outland, as shamanic clans. However, the demon lord Kil'Jaeden corrupted the orcs and used them as a tool of destruction in his evil plans, which eventually led the orcs into Azeroth.
Start Location: Durotar
Home City: Orgrimmar
Racial Mount: Wolf
Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, Death Knight
Forsaken
Forsaken
Main article: Undead, The Forsaken
The gift given to the thousands of humans killed during the Lich King's campaign in Lordaeron was worse than death, they were risen into mindless undeath serving the will of the Lich King. However, some broke free of the grasp of the Lich King and became renegade. The once high elven Sylvanas Windrunner - also turned undeath by the Lich King - rallied these renegade undead under her leadership and became their queen as she formed the Forsaken-destined to hunt down the Lich King so that he will repay for their eternal torment.
Start Location: Tirisfal Glades
Home City: The Undercity
Racial Mount: Skeletal Horse
Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, Death Knight
Tauren
Tauren
Main article: Tauren
Before joining the Horde, the tauren lived as a nomadic race, scattered throughout Kalimdor in their hunt for the great kodo beast. The peaceful tauren based much of their life around preserving the balance of nature in the name of their goddes, the Earth Mother. After Thrall helped Cairne Bloodhoof defend his tribe from a savage centaur attack, Cairne decided to join the Horde and decided to settle down in one location for the first time in Mulgore.
Start Location: Mulgore
Home City: Thunder Bluff
Racial Mount: Kodo Beast
Available Classes: Druid, Hunter, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warrior, Death Knight
Troll
Trolls
Main article: Troll
The many troll tribes of Azeroth is often associated with savagery, cruelty, dark mysticism, and seething hated towards all other races. However, one tribe in particular stands out, the Darkspear tribe. This is due to their intelligent and cunning leader, Vol'jin. Though the Darkspear tribe has been plagued with bad luck and tragedies, to the point where the tribe was on the brink of extinction, the tribe has survived - with the help of Thrall.
Start Location: Durotar
Home City: After having lost the Echo Isles due to a fleet of Kul Tiras humans and the fearfsome troll, Zalazane, the Darkspear tribe has retaken the Echo Isles and reclaimed it as their own.
Racial Mount: Raptor
Available Classes: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior, Death Knight
Blood Elf
Blood Elves
Main article: Blood Elves
For almost 7,000 years, the high elven centered around the sacred Sunwell. The Sunwell remained unthreatened until Arthas marched towards it in hope that its blessed waters would resurrect the necromancer Kel'Thuzad. After the ressurection of Kel'Thuzad the foundtain had to be destroyed, and first now the High Elves realized how big of an impact the Sunwell has had on their race. With the entire race suffering terribly from withdrawal, Kael'thas desperately wanted to find a cure to help his people - whom he now had renamed the blood elves.
Start Location: Eversong Forest
Home City: Silvermoon City
Racial Mount: Hawkstrider
Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, Death Knight
Goblin
Goblins
Main article: Goblins
Goblins were originally slaves of the jungle trolls on the Isle of Kezan, where they were forced to mine kaja'mite ore in the numerous caves of the volcanic Mount Kajaro. What the jungle trolls had not foreseen, was that the kaja'mite ore had some effects to those with long exposure to it. The kata'mite gave the goblins a new cunning and intelligence which they eventually used to overthrow the trolls and claimed Kezan for their homeland.
Start Location: Kezan
Home City: The Goblin Home City is technically The Undermine located in Kezan, but they flee this city in Cataclysm as part of the Goblin starting event. Goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel (The playable Goblin faction in question that has allied with the Horde) end up shipwrecked on the Lost Isles.
Racial Mount: tricycles
Available Classes: Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, Shaman, Hunter, Death Knight
Neutral (Alliance/Horde)
Pandaren
Pandaren
Main article: Pandaren
Shrouded in mist for centuries, the Pandaren were finally revealed to the rest of the Azeroth, as the aftermath of The Shattering caused by Deathwing unshrouded Pandaria, their homeland, eventually discovered by the Alliance and Horde.
Start Location: The Wandering Isle
Home City: Pandaria, which is more of a homeland, with Vale of Eternal Blossom hosting two neutral 'cities' for both factions.
Racial Mount: Dragon Turtle
Available Classes: Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Hunter, Monk, Warrior
Classes Overview
The game offers 10 character classes to choose from, each with individual abilities and three unique talent trees (similar to Diablo's skill trees). Before the release of Burning Crusade, the Shaman player class was unique for the Horde and the Paladin class was unique for the Alliance, but due to difficulties in balancing out PvE content, the developers decided to make the Shaman and Paladin available for both factions, making it a selectable class for the new races on the opposite sides.
Druid
The Druid is the most versatile class in the game. With the ability to change form, the Druid can switch between healing, tanking, and DPS. It is also available to the least amount of character races. Of the ten playable races, only Night Elves, Tauren, Trolls, and Worgen may be druids. The druid's three talent tree specs are Balance (offensive spellcasting), Restoration (healing and defensive spellcasting), which relies a lot on HoT spells (Healing over Time), and Feral, melee combat using the Cat Form (DPS) and Bear Form (Tank). The Cat Form can easily be compared to the Rogue class, because it has abilities like Ambush (Ravage) and Stealth (Prowl); it also utilizes the same Energy System. Meanwhile, the Bear Form can easily compared to the Warrior class with abilities like Charge (Feral Charge), Rend (Lacerate) and Cleave (Swipe). The Bear Form uses the Rage System for energy management.
Druids also possess the ability to change form for traveling purposes. Travel form turns the druid into a stag, increasing run speed by 40%. Aquatic form shifts the druid into a sea lion like creature that increases swim speed by 50% and allows the druid to breathe underwater. Flight form changes the druid into a flying animal (different animal based on race) that allows the druid to fly at speeds dependent on the druids flight training level.
Role: Tank, Healer, Ranged Magic Damage Dealer, Melee Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Night Elf, Worgen
Horde: Tauren, Troll
Available Armor: Cloth, Leather
Available Weapons: Daggers, Fist Weapons, One-Handed Maces, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Maces
Talent trees: Balance - Feral/Guardian(Tank specific Tree) - Restoration
Hunter
Night Elf Hunter
The Hunter class performs pulling, threat redirection, crowd control and DPS. Hunters have pets that that can play a variety of roles. They can also track, tame, and train animals and beasts found in the wild to fight alongside them in combat, although some creatures are not tamable. Hunters focus on range damage and use abilities such as Concussive Shot, Scatter Shot, and Frost trap to slow down, freeze in place, or temporarily confuse the enemy from advancing on the hunter and nulling the hunters damage. In a solo pve enviorment, the ideal hunter relies on his pet for keeping aggro of the enemy NPC.
Role: Ranged Physical Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Forsaken
Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail
Available Weapons: Bows, Crossbows, Fist Weapons, Guns, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Swords
Talent trees: Beast Mastery - Marksmanship - Survival
Mage
Mages are casters that specialize in burst damage and area of effect spells. Their primary role in a group/raid is damage dealing and crowd control through the use of Polymorph. The type of spells that mages use is dependent on the spec they are.
Role: Ranged Magic Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome Human, Night Elf, Worgen
Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Troll, Forsaken
Available Armor: Cloth
Available Weapons: Wands, Daggers, One-Handed Swords, Staves
Talent trees: Arcane - Fire - Frost
Paladin
The Paladin is a Holy-Warrior hybrid class serving a powerful entity known as the Holy Light. Paladins have been hit hardest by the scourge as it ravaged many of their numbers during the fall of Lodaeron and saw with it the disbanding of the Knights of the Silver Hand, their most prominent organization. As such, they have developed unique abilities when confronted with the unnatural undead entities of the Lich King and his scourge. Paladins are among the few of the classes with the flexibility to play a variety of different roles including DPS (Retribution), Tanking (Protection), and Healing (Holy). They can cast unique blessings that provide useful buffs for other players while withstanding heavy amounts of physical damage with plate armor and strong defensive capabilities. When Holy Speced, Paladins are the only plate wearing healing class in the game.
Role: Tank, Healer, Melee Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Human
Horde: Blood Elf, Tauren
Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate
Available Weapons: One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Swords, Relics, Shields
Talent trees: Holy - Protection - Retribution
Priest
Priests are the primary healer classes of the game but also specialize in support healing and damage. The Holy spec is based around powerful single target and group healing. The Discipline spec is another healing spec but is more built around single target healing, damage prevention and utility. The Shadow spec is the damage dealing spec of the three priest trees. Its focus is on DoT (damage over time) spells such as Shadow Word: Pain and channeled DoTs such as Mind Flay. Shadow priests are also capable of dealing high burst damage with Mind Blast (their main nuking spell) and Shadow Word: Death (a secondary nuking spell that also deals self damage to the priest if the spell does not kill the enemy). The most important spell of the Shadow tree is Shadow Form. The spell when cast transforms the priest into a shadowy form which increases the damage they do with shadow spells and reduces the damage they receive as well as the threat generated by shadow spells.
Role: Healer, Ranged Magic Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Tauren, Orc, Troll, Forsaken
Available Armor: Cloth
Available Weapons: Daggers, One-Handed Maces, Staves, Wands
Talent trees: Discipline - Holy - Shadow
Rogue
Lore-wise, rogues are assassins, hitmen, or spies. They're primarily melee fighters, but they employ minor mysticism in order to pull off abilities such as Cloak of Shadows (enter a shadow form and dispel many harmful magical effects) or Shadowstep (teleport behind an enemy and increase damage dealt by next attack). Their signature abilities such as ambush (a hard-hitting stab from behind while in stealth) require the player to use daggers, but rogues are free to use one-handed maces, swords and axes as well. In groups, a rogue will be responsible for dealing damage. Sometimes rogues will sap something to incapacitate it so the group can deal with other foes first. Rogues also have a misdirection type ability in "Tricks of the Trade" that gives a damage buff and threat to a chosen target for a limited amount of time. Unlike any of the other classes, rogues use energy instead of a mana or rage in the case of the warrior. The rogue expends energy upon using any special ability, and energy regenerates over time automatically. The rogue also uses poisons to enchant their weapons and cause a variety of effects on their targets. Rogues are the only class that have the ability to pick locks, which they need to train to unlock higher level chests.
Role: Melee Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Troll, Forsaken
Available Armor: Cloth, Leather
Available Weapons: Bows, Crossbows, Daggers, Fist Weapons, Guns, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords
Talent trees: Assassination - Combat - Subtlety
Shaman
Troll Shaman
The Shaman is a hybrid class with the ability of spell casting, melee combat, and healing. Their key technique is the ability to create several magical totems during combat that each offer a different sort of aid, such as health regeneration, to the player and their teammates. Shamans are at one with nature and harness the ability to control the elements with spells such as lighting bolt and frost shock.
Role: Healer, Ranged Magic Damage Dealer, Melee Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf
Horde: Goblin, Orc, Tauren, Troll
Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail
Available Weapons: Daggers, Fist Weapons, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, Relics, Staves, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Shields
Talent trees: Elemental - Enhancement - Restoration
Warlock
Orc Warlock
Warlocks are damage casters who specialize in both shadow and fire magic. They have a wide arrange of damage over time spells and debuffs. They are also capable of crowd control with spells like fear which cause the enemy to lose control of their actions, running in horror from the warlock. One of their key techniques is the ability to summon several demonic minions to aid them in combat. Examples of such minions are the Voidwalker which controls aggro of the enemy NPC, the Felguard, which is a warrior-like damage pet, and the Felhunter who possesses the ability to remove magical buffs from the enemy target.
Role: Ranged Magic Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Worgen
Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Troll, Forsaken
Available Armor: Cloth
Available Weapons: Daggers, One-Handed Swords, Staves, Wands
Talent trees: Affliction - Demonology - Destruction
Warrior
Available to all but one of the games' races. Warriors have access to a wide range of special abilities, which they activate by using a unique energy mechanic known as rage. The Warrior enters combat with an empty pool of Rage, remaining so until they block, deal or receive damage, at which point the Rage pool begins to fill. Once enough Rage is accumulated the warrior is able to access their combat skills, spending the pool like the mana or energy of the other classes. Warriors have 3 combat stances: Defensive, Battle, and Berserker stance. Depending on what the situation calls for, these stances let the Warrior adapt to the task at hand. Warriors that are in a raiding guild primarily focus on tanking with the Protection spec, but warriors are also capable of performing high DPS with the Fury and Arms spec.
Role: Tank, Melee Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Forsaken
Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate
Available Weapons: Bows, Crossbows, Daggers, Fist Weapons, Guns, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Swords, Shields
Talent trees: Arms - Fury - Protection
Death Knight*
Undead Death Knight
The Death Knight is the first hero class of World of Warcraft. Reanimated by the Lich King Arthas to serve his will, Death Knights have always been the backbone of the Scourge army. The Knights of the Ebon Blade, a faction of Death Knights free from Arthas' control, have joined with the Alliance and Horde and are sympathetic to their cause.
A newly created Death Knight will enter the world at level 55 rather than the usual of level 1. A player will not be able create a Death Knight character until they have reached level 55 with one of their non-Death Knight characters on the same account. The Death Knight uses a rune-based combat system for powerful tanking and DPS abilities. For the first three levels, new Death Knights level up in the Scarlet Enclave, an entirely unique zone progressing the story around the class.
Role: Tank, Melee Damage Dealer
Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Forsaken
Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate
Available Weapons: One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Swords, Relics
Talent trees: Blood - Frost - Unholy
* Death Knight class added in Wrath of the Lich King expansion
Professions
Professions must be leveled up based on a skill system going from 1-525*, skill points are earned by crafting or gathering items relative to your professions and current skill level - as the skill level of a profession gets higher, the more powerful craftable items become available and the rarer resources can be gathered.
* Updated from 1-300 to 1-375 with The Burning Crusade expansion , from 1-375 to 1-450 with Wrath of the Lich King expansion and from 1-450 to 1-525 with Cataclysm expansion.
Primary Professions
Alchemy
Alchemy
Involves mixing herbs, gathered by Herbalists, in order to create potions, elixirs, oils and flasks. This profession is useful to all classes due to its flasks and elixirs which buff players for a certain period of time, they are very often used in raids and dungeons to get the best out of a character. Other benefits include healing potions, which tend to be obsolete at level 80, allowing players to regain lost health mid-combat which in some cases during raids will take a minor amount stress off of a healer if needed however healing potions are more often used for characters which are still levelling. High level alchemists have the option to perform transmutations which is a very popular area of Alchemy, they give the player an option to transmute certain materials into other materials of the same category for example you could transmute an Eternal Air into an Eternal Earth; this also gives a chance of discovering new recipes. Alchemy is a very financially supportive profession which also provides many advantages for other players, the profession is even more efficient when combined with the Herbalism profession.
There are three specilizations to choose from once reaching a high enough skill of Alchemy, Elixir Master, Potion Master or Transmutation Master:
Elixir Master - Chance of mixing additional elixirs when brewing high level elixirs.
Potion Master - Chance of mixing additional potions when brewing high level potions.
Transmutation Master - Chance of receiving an additional item when transmuting materials.
Another benefit for the alchemist is the passive ability, Mixology, which comes with the profession. Mixology gives a 50% increase in effectiveness and duration of any elixir or flask.
Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing
The skill which offers players the option to craft mail and plate armor as well as weapons, mainly axes, maces and swords. It uses ores, gathered from Mining, and smelted bars to craft these items. The crafted equipment is rarely the top items available in the game, however they can be very powerful and often just below the top items that can be collected in raids. In addition to equipment, buff items such as sharpening stones can be crafted by Blacksmiths which increase the damage of weapons or other items such as shield plating which increases the block value of shields - Blacksmithing buff items aren't really used much by level 80s at the top end of the game because other professions are able to craft more powerful buff items, however the Blacksmithing buff items tend to be used by characters who are in the levelling process for an extra boost. Personal bonuses include being able to add a limited amount of extra gem sockets to their own equipment. Blacksmithing is very well paired with the Mining profession, it gathers many items such as ores and jewels which will be needed to skill up Blacksmithing.
Once a Blacksmith has reached high enough skill they have the option to learn a specilization, however as of the moment this only supports level 60-70 items.
Armorsmith - The Blacksmith is able to learn how to craft more powerful armor items.
Weaponsmith - The Blacksmith is able to learn how to craft more powerful weapons.
Axesmith - Further Weaponsmithing specialization allowing for the crafting of more powerful axes.
Hammersmith - Further Weaponsmithing specialization allowing for the crafting of more powerful maces.
Swordsmith - Further Weaponsmithing specialization allowing for crafting of more powerful swords.
Enchanting
Enchanting
Offers the ability to permanently augment a character's equipment boosting their stats. Enchantments are used to get the best out of a character in order to perform better in raids and dungeons. An enchanter is also provided with the skill of disenchantment which lets them disenchant certain items for enchanting materials, the rarer the item the rarer the materials they will receive. Enchantments require rods, these rods are created by Blacksmiths and are required to be 'upgraded' several times during the skill up process. In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, vellums were added to the game which allowed enchanters to store their enchants inside the vellums and then sell them to other players; a very efficient way to earn money whilst skilling up. Personal bonuses include being able to enchant their own rings which is only available to enchanters, attempting to enchant a ring will force it to become soulbound if it is not already.
Engineering
Engineering
The 'fun' profession as seen by many World of Warcraft players, it involves making various items which are mainly beneficial for PvP more than they are for PvE. Early on in the profession players are able to create exploding bombs, fireworks, ammunition and basic low-level gun. Later on in the profession Engineers are able to create expensive pets, mounts, teleports (wormhole) and top-end guns. It is a very expensive profession to level up and at the same time one of the least rewarding financially, however one of the most rewarding in terms of personal fun-factor. It is strongly targeted at Hunters because of the various guns and ammunition that can be crafted however the repair bots that are available from the profession are very much desired in raids. The profession works very well with Mining and Jewelcrafting is also a reasonable option.
There are two specilizations available in the Engineering profession:
Gnomish Engineering - Allows the engineer to create teleports, traps and goggles.
Goblin Engineering - Allows the engineer to create more powerful explosives, rocket boots and jumper cables.
Herbalism
Herbalism
A gathering profession which lets the player gather herbs from all around Azeroth and the Outlands, these herbs are mainly used for Alchemy to mix potions, elixirs and flasks and Inscription to create inks however they are also occasionally used in after crafting professions. Once Herbalism has been learned, the character is given the "Find Herbs" skill which, once activated, causes all nearby herbs to appear on the minimap. Another skill that is learned from Herbalism is "Lifeblood" which provides a very small heal and a haste buff for 20 seconds when used. Herbalism is usually only learned when combined with Alchemy or Inscription but may sometimes be learned on an alt character for financial benefit.
Inscription
Inscription
Added in Wrath of the Lich King.
Creating glyphs, scrolls, vellums and inks is what Inscription is all about. Inks can be made by milling herbs to obtain pigments which are crafted into inks. The inks can then be used to create glyphs which boost a character by changing the effects of class-specific spells and abilities. Inks can also be used for scrolls which are temporary buffs or vellums which store enchantments. Scribes are also able to craft items which provide raid-wide buffs such as a stamina buff equivalent to what a priest can cast. These are useful when a raid group is missing one of these classes. A personal bonus of Inscription is the personal shoulder enchants which are significantly stronger versions of the enchants that can be bought from the Sons of Hodir faction. In addition to the "Major" and "Minor" glyphs currently in the game, Cataclysm introduces "Prime Glyphs" with new effects, also crafted by scribes.
Jewelcrafting
Jewelcrafting
Added in The Burning Crusade.
This crafting profession is used mainly to cut jewels into gems which can then be placed in equipment (level 60 ) sockets to boost the stats of a character. However, it can also craft necklaces, rings and trinkets. Prospecting is a skill which comes with learning Jewelcrafting, and provides the ability to break down ore into raw gems in addition to finding random raw gems whilst mining. Gem cutting is a very desired skill for which non-jewelcrafters are willing to pay decent money, as having your gear up to date with the correct gems is critical to end game characters if they wish to raid or compete in arenas. Apart from the major financial benefit of Jewelcrafting, other personal bonuses include the rare chance of cutting an uncommon quality gem into an epic quality gem but also being able to socket your own gear with dragon's eye gems. These gems are special gems available only to Jewelcrafters, and once cut they provide a much bigger stats boost then the top gems available to non-jewelcrafters. They are limited to three per character.
Once Jewelcrafters have reach a certain skill they begin to learn how to craft new items in a different way to other professions, they must perform daily quests to earn Jewelcrafter's Tokens which can they be used to purchase new recipes. These recipes include the dragon's eye gems and the top-end epic gems which are most desired by players.
Leatherworking
Leatherworking
A similar profession to Blacksmithing in the way that it produces armor however Leatherworking produces leather armor instead of plate. Leather materials can be gained through the Skinning profession making the two a good combination. In addition to crafting leather armor, cloaks , mail, armor kits and ammo pouches can also be made. Armor kits are permanent armor buff items which are very powerful enchants at the top skill of Leatherworking and can be sold for a decent amount of gold. Other financial benefits include crafting ammo pouches for hunters, warriors and rogues to use with their gun and bow ammo. Raid-wide buffs can also be produced, similar to the Priest buff that Inscriptors can craft however these buffs are for Paladin and Druid spells.
There are three specilization routes that can be taken in Leatherworking:
Dragonscale Leatherworking - Gives the option of crafing mail dragonscale armor.
Elemental Leatherworking - Gives the option of crafting leather elemental armor.
Tribal Leatherworking - Gives the option of crafting leather tribal armor.
Mining
Mining
A gathering profession that will allow a character to mine mineral veins scattered across Azeroth and the Outlands to recieve various ores, and sometimes gems, which can then later be smelted into bars using the smelting skill. The smelting skill is learned with the Mining profession, and it lets a miner craft metal bars from ores. These bars are mainly used for crafting in Blacksmthing, Engineering and Jewelcrafting which means these professions are ideal to pair with Mining. As a miner's skill progresses they are able to mine from rarer veins which will contain rarer ore. The "Toughness" skill is a bonus of taking on Mining. The skill increases the stamina stat of a character making it an ideal profession for players who fill a tanking role in instances.
Skinning
Skinning
The last of the gathering professions, Skinning lets the player skin the dead corpses of certain mobs (mainly beasts and dragonkin) for leather scraps which can be crafted into leather by Leatherworkers. As a skinner's skill increases they can begin to skin the corpses of higher level mobs. The personal bonus for skinning is the Master of Anatomy passive skill, which increases the character's critical strike rating depending on skinning skill. This raises the odds of a critical hit or critical spell effect and is useful to any class.
Tailoring
Tailoring
Tailors use cloth to craft various cloth armor, bags and other cloth items. The armor is intended for the cloth wearing classes: Priests, Warlocks and Mages. Cloth is looted from humanoid mobs all across the World of Warcraft, which is the main material for tailors' crafts. It can be easily farmed. Financial benefit of the profession comes mainly from the bags they can create and the "spellthread" leg enchant items. Every character is required to have bags if they want to progress smoothly through the game therefore bags are in high demand. The spellthread items are the primary way to enchant leg-slot armor items with effects ideal for spellcasting classes. Tailors have various personal enchants for legs and cloaks which can only be used on their own armor, and can craft personal flying carpet mounts.
The three specilization paths that Tailor's have an option from to take are:
Mooncloth Tailoring - The tailor can create additional mooncloth or moonshroud cloth armor.
Shadoweave Tailoring - The tailor can create additional shadoweave or ebonweave cloth armor.
Spellfire Tailoring - The tailor can create additional spellcloth or spellweave cloth armor.
Secondary Skills
Archaelogy
Added in Cataclysm.
Archaeology allows the player to find artifacts in dig sites throughout Azeroth and Outland. Rather than artifact locations being marked directly on the minimap, as with the other gathering professions, a character will have the ability to get pieces of information over the artifact's general direction and distance, and gradually home in on the place to dig. Artifact collection reveals the lore of many of the world's races, and completing sets of artifacts generally results in vanity rewards such as pets and achievements, and occasionally earns pieces of gear.
Cooking
Cooking
Players are able to create food primarily using the following:
Fish, gathered with the fishing profession (see below)
Meat, gathered from killing beasts throughout Azeroth and Outland
Spices, purchased from vendors or earned through cooking daily quests
Cooking requires a camp fire which can be placed by using the skill which is learned from the cooking trainer. The food which is cooked is used to heal players out of combat just like food which is bought from vendors. However some food that can be created will also have the effect of buffing the player with a "well fed" effect boosting staming and another stat depending on the food. This buff is critical to maximizing character potential when raiding. Other food may have special effects such as transforming your character into a pirate or periodic emissions of lightning for a duration. Max-level chefs can also produce feasts, items which are set on the ground and allow the whole raid to eat and obtain the "well fed" buff.
There are two sets of cooking dailies available, some in Shattrath City and another set in Dalaran. The dailies in Shattrath are targeted at characters with a cooking skill of 325 or higher and the Dalaran dailies targeted at characters with a cooking skill of 400 or higher. The Shattrath dailies offer a simple gold reward in addition to a bag which has several cooking materials and the chance of dropping a cooking recipe inside it. The Dalaran dailies work slightly differently in the way that they reward tokens whenever completing one of the quests, and these tokens are then used to buy various level 80 Northrend cooking recipes.
First Aid
First Aid
Crafting bandages is what the First Aid skill is all about. The bandages are created using cloth gathered from all over the world, and can be used to heal one's self or allies over a short period of time. Anti-venom cures can also be created for lower level characters but are unusable by level 60 or higher characters. Once a bandage has been used on a player they will recieve a 60 second debuff that prevents that player from being healed by a bandage while the debuff is active. Just like the food created from the Cooking skill, bandages are a great way to reduce downtime and conserve mana especially whilst questing but also in raid situations as well. An advantage of First Aid bandages compared to food is that bandages can be used in combat, this makes them a valuable item in PvP for players to sneakily use while the opposing players aren't aware of it. Bandage healing is channeled, and is cancelled whenever the player recieves any kind of damage, fear or stun from an enemy.
Fishing
Fishing
Possibly the most tedious secondary skill and overall profession to skill up, Fishing simply involves dropping lures in oceans and lakes. Fishing allows for the collection of various objects, mainly fish, but also various trash items, quest items or sometimes even rarer items such as mounts. Certain aquatic raid bosses must be fished up to initiate the fight. Even though it sounds like a useless skill, many of the fish are required to level up cooking making it a valuable companion for those who don't want to spend money on the auction house for what can often be expensive materials. In addition, the food and feasts granting the most powerful buffs at end-game are created from fish.
For a player to fish they require a fishing rod which can be purchased from vendors or aquired through quests, the player must then equip the rod and select the fishing skill from their toolbar whilst positioned next to fishable water, the rod will then be cast into the water and the waiting starts. For a period of around 20 seconds a channeling bar will count down and at some point during this the fish bait will bob in the water signalling for the player to click on it and see what loot they have recieved from the cast.
Different fish can be caught in different zones and sometimes different lakes within a zone will also be a factor. You will find the fish you need early on for progressing through Cooking will be fished from the early level zones and the higher skill Cooking recipes will be fished from the higher level zones. It possible to use certain items that will increase your fishing skill, for example you can buy fishing lures that are temporary buffs placed on your fishing rod to increase your skill while other skill increases can already be found on certain fishing rods or glove enchantments. In some end-game areas, a lure is required as the necessary fishing skill is higher than the current maximum skill achievable in the game.
Similarly to Cooking, you can recieve Fishing daily quests from Shattrath and Dalaran which reward random epics gems, fishing apparel/rods, vanity pets, recipes, cash, and various trash items.
Dungeons
Here's a list of every dungeon in the game as of December 2010. Dungeons are listed using the format <Name - Abbrevation - Zone - Players - Recommended level>
Kalimdor
The Temple of Ahn'Qiraj
Ragefire Chasm, RFC, Orgrimmar, 5 Players, lvl 13-16
Wailing Caverns, WC, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 17-20
Blackfathom Dephts, BFD, Ashenvale, 5 Players, lvl 22-24
Razorfen Kraul, RFK, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 24-27
Razorfen Downs, RFD, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 34-37
Zul-Farrak, ZF, Tanaris, 5 Players, lvl 43-46
Maraudon, Mara, Desolace, 5 Players, lvl 42-48
Dire Maul: East, DM East, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 55-58
Dire Maul: West, DM West, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 57-60
Dire Maul: North, DM North, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 57-60
*** Vortex Pinnacle, Skywall, Uldum, 5 Players, lvl 82-85
*** Lost City of Tol'vir, Uldum, 5 Players, lvl 85
*** Halls of Origination, Skywall, Uldum, 5 Players, lvl 85
** Onyxia's Lair, Ony 10/25, Dustwallow Marsh, 10/25 players, lvl 80 (replaced original lvl 60 40 man raid)
Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, Silithus, 10 Players, lvl 60
Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, AQ40, Silithus, 40 Players, lvl 60
* Escape from Durnholde Keep, Old Hillsbrad, Caverns of Time, 5 players, lvl 66-68
* Opening the Dark Portal, BM, Caverns of Time, 5 players, lvl 70
* Battle for Mount Hyjal, Hyjal, Caverns of Time, 25 players, lvl 70
** Culling of Stratholme, CoS, Caverns of Time, 5 players, lvl 80
*** Throne of the Four Winds, Skywall, Uldum, 10/25 Players, lvl 85
*** Firelands, Mount Hyjal, 10/25 Players, lvl 85
*** Dragon Soul, DS, Caverns of Time, lvl 85
Eastern Kingdoms
Molten Core
The Deadmines, VC, Westfall, 5 Players, lvl 17-20 (lvl 85 Heroic mode added in Cataclysm)
Shadowfang Keep, SFK, Silverpine Forest, 5 Players, lvl 18-21 (lvl 85 Heroic mode added in Cataclysm)
Stormwind Stockades, Stocks, Stormwind, 5 Players, lvl 23-25
Gnomeregan, Gnomer, Dun Morogh, 5 Players, lvl 25-28
The Scarlet Monestary: Graveyard, SM GY, 5 Players, lvl 30-32
The Scarlet Monestary: Library, SM Lib, 5 Players, lvl 33-35
The Scarlet Monestary: Armory, SM Arm, 5 Players, lvl 35-37
The Scarlet Monestary: Cathedral, SM Cath, 5 Players, lvl 36-40
Uldaman, Ulda, Badlands, 5 Players, lvl 36-40
Temple of Atal'Hakkar, ST, Swamp of Sorrows, 5 Players, lvl 45-50
Blackrock Depths, BRD, Blackrock Mountain, 5 Players, lvl 48-56
Lower Blackrock Spire, LBRS, Blackrock Mountain, 5 Players, lvl 54-50
Upper Blackrock Spire, UBRS, Blackrock Mountain, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
Stratholme, Strat, Eastern Plaguelands, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
Scholomance, Scholo, Western Plaguelands, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
*** Throne of The Tides, Vashj'ir, 5 Players, lvl 80-85
*** Blackrock Caverns, Blackrock Mountain, 5 Players, lvl 80-85
*** The Stonecore, Deepholme, 5 Players, lvl 82-85
*** Grim Batol, Twilight Highlands, 5 Players, lvl 85
*** Zul'Gurub, ZG, Stranglethorn Vale, 5 players, lvl 85 (converted to heroic dungeon in patch 4.1)
Molten Core, MC, Blackrock Mountain, 40 Players, lvl 60
Blackwing Lair, BWL, Blackrock Mountain, 40 Players, lvl 60
* Karazhan, Kara, Deadwind Pass, 10 players, lvl 70
* Magister's Terrace, MT, Isle of Quel'Danas, 5 Players, lvl 70
* Sunwell Plateau, SW, Isle of Quel'Danas, 25 Players, lvl 70
**** Zul'Aman, ZA, Ghostlands, 5 players, lvl 85 (converted to heroic dungeon in patch 4.1)
*** Bastion of Twilight, Grim Batol, Twilight Highlands, 10/25 Players, lvl 85
*** Blackwing Descent, Blackrock Mountain, 10/25 Players, lvl 85
Outland
Hellfire Ramparts
* Hellfire Ramparts, Ramp(s), Hellfire Peninsula, 5 players, lvl 60-62
* Blood Furnace, BF, Hellfire Peninsula, 5 players, lvl 61-63
* Slave Pens, SP, Zangarmarsh, 5 players, lvl 62-64
* Underbog, UB, Zangarmarsh, 5 players, lvl 63-65
* Mana Tombs, MT, Terokkar Forest, 5 players, lvl 64-66
* Auchenai Crypts, AC, Terokkar Forest, 5 players, lvl 65-67
* Sethekk Halls, Seth, Terokkar Forest, 5 players, lvl 67-69
* Steamvault, SV, Zangarmarsh, 5 players, lvl 70
* Shadow Labyrinth, SL, Terokkar Forest, 5 players, lvl 70
* Mechanar, Mech, Netherstorm, 5 players, lvl 70
* Botanica, Bot, Netherstorm, 5 players, lvl 70
* Arcatraz, Arc, Netherstorm, 5 players, lvl 70
* Shattered Halls, SH, Hellfire Peninsula, 5 players, lvl 70
* Gruul's Lair, Gruul, Blade's Edge Mountains, 25 players, lvl 70
* Magtheridon's Lair, Mag, Hellfire Peninsula, 25 players, lvl 70
* Serpentshrine Cavern, SSC, Zangarmarsh, 25 players, lvl 70
* The Eye, TK/Eye, Netherstorm, 25 players, lvl 70
* Black Temple, BT, Shadowmoon Valley, 25 players, lvl 70
Northrend
Naxxramas
** Utgarde Keep, UK, Howling Fjord, 5 player, lvl 70-72
** The Nexus, Nexus, Borean Tundra, 5 players, lvl 71-73
** Azjol-Nerub, AN, Dragonblight, 5 players, lvl 72-74
** Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom, AK, Dragonblight, 5 players, lvl 73-75
** Drak'Tharon Keep, DTK, Grizzly Hills, 5 players, lvl 74-76
** Violet Hold, VH, Dalaran, 5 players, lvl 75-77
** Gundrak, Gun, Zul'Drak, 5 players, lvl 76-78
** Halls of Stone, HoS, Storm Peaks, 5 players, lvl 77-79
** Utgarde Pinnacle, UP, Howling Fjord, 5 players, lvl 80
** Halls of Lightning, HoL, Storm Peaks, 5 players, lvl 80
** Trial of the Champion, ToC, Icecrown, 5 players, lvl 80
** Forge of Souls, FoS, Icecrown, 5 players, lvl 80
** Pit of Saron, PoS, Icecrown, 5 players, lvl 80
** Halls of Reflection, HoR, Icecrown, 5 players, lvl 80
** Naxxramas, Naxx, Dragonblight, 10/25 players, lvl 80
** Obsidian Sanctum, OS, Dragonblight, 10/25 players, lvl 80
** Eye of Eternity, EoE, Borean Tundra, 10/25 players, lvl 80
** Vault of Archavon, VoA, Wintergrasp, 10/25 players, lvl 80
** Ulduar, Uld, Storm Peaks, 10/25 players, lvl 80
** Trial of the Crusader/Trial of the Grand Crusader, TotC/TotGC, Icecrown, 10/25 players, lvl 80
** Ruby Sanctum , RS, Dragonblight, 10/25 players, lvl 80
** Icecrown Citadel, IC/ICC, Icecrown, 10/25 players, lvl 80
*Added in The Burning Crusade. All 5 Player dungeons on the continent of Outland or in the Caverns of Time can be set to Heroic lvl 70 mode.
**Added in Wrath of the Lich King. All 5 Player dungeons on the continent of Northrend can be set to Heroic lvl 80 mode.
***Added in Cataclysm. All dungeons can be set to Heroic lvl 85 mode.
Item Quality/Rarity
World of Warcraft uses a colour system to define the quality/rarity of items, the colours range from Grey (Poor Quality) to Gold (Heirloom Quality). The colour of an item is usually a way to easily see which items are the most powerful for their level however sometimes it will be more of an indication of how rare the item is.
List of Item Qualities
Item Quality
Poor (Grey)
Common (White)
Uncommon (Green)
Rare (Blue)
Epic (Purple)
Legendary (Orange)
Heirloom (Gold)
Heirloom items
Heirloom quality items are different from the other items. They are used by players who have already reached the maximum level, to level up more characters. They are "Bound to account" so one can trade them between his characters and faction, and their stats are determined by the level of the character wearing the item. The main reason that they are used is because you get 20% more experience from quests and monsters, when wearing both the shoulder slot and the chest slot. (Each of these slots gives 10% individually)
Currently, Heirloom gear exists for weapon, shoulder, chest, ring, and trinket slots.
Legendary Items
Legendary items tend to have a more difficult challenge for them to be aquired, currently all equippable Legendary items are weapons - they are all obtained from the top-end of raiding and are considered the best weapon for certain classes at the time of their release. Some Legendary weapons require a very long quest chain to be completed whilst other items are simply very rare drops from difficult 25 man raid bosses. It usually takes multiple end-game raid instance runs to acquire these weapons.
Current Legendary Weapons in-game:
Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker (Level 60 - Quest Chain)
Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros (Level 60 - Drop/Crafted)
Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian (Level 60 - Quest Chain)
Warglaives of Azzinoth (Level 70 - Drop)
Thori'dal, The Stars' Fury (Level 70 - Drop)
Val'anyr, Hammer of the Ancient Kings (Level 80 - Quest Chain)
Shadowmourne (Level 80 - Quest Chain)
Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest (Level 85 - Quest Chain)
Fangs of the Father (Level 85 - Quest Chain)
In-Game Holidays
World of Warcraft contains several annual world events like Brewfest, Hallow's End, Midsummer Festival, Love is in the Air and many others. Here some of them are explained in detail:
Brewfest
Brewfest is an annual event, a festival that celebrates drinking alchoholic beverages and eating fine food, and is roughly analogous to Oktoberfest. Brewfest pops up in Fall, outside all the major cities of Azeroth that can be celebrated by both the Alliance and the Horde.There are two major celebrations that are set up outside of Ironforge and Orgimmar, but there are also smaller celebrations at Stormwind, the Exodar, Shattrath City, Thunder Bluff, the Undercity, Darnassus, and Silvermoon City. Brewfest is celebrated every year between September 20 and October 4, and during this time, players can play game like Ram Racing where they race against the clock on the back of a surprisingly fast large animal. If they win the game, the players can earn Brewfest tokens that they can then exchange for great in-game prizes. But players should make sure to spend their earned Brewfest tokens before the event is over because when that happens, the tokens are pretty much useless until next year when the event happens again. 
Hallow's End
A celebration of all things spooky, coincidentally held around Halloween, Hallow's End is a holiday that is celebrated by all the innkeepers and vendors of Azeroth and the Outlands, between October 18th and November 1st. Hallow's End is not an exclusive holiday, so both the Alliance and the Horde factions can be part of the seasonal festivities. During this holiday, players can go up to any innkeeper and get a Treat-bag that may contain either a surprising gift or a nasty trick. But if asking innkeepers for free candy isn't your style, you can always go up to the vendors in Ironforge or Orgrimmar and buy all the candy you like. However, if your in the charitable mood during the celebration, there is Jesper in Stormwind and Spoops in Orgrimmar who aren't able to celebrate Hallow's End because they are orphans. Players can help those two orphans by taking the treats they get from innkeepers and giving them to the two sad orphans. 
The Headless Horseman
The Feast of Winter Veil
Starting in December and ending in January, the Feast of Winter Veil is a celebration where Greatfather Winter, travels to most of the great cities of Azeroth like Ironforge and Orgrimmar to spread (Christmas) holiday cheer. During this time period, all of the dungeon bosses will wear festive red and green hats, that players can get for themselves if they can kill them. Also, Innkeepers will decorate their inns with (Christmas) lights of many different colors. But the real celebrations start on December 25th and go until January 2, in which the goblins of Smokeywood Pastures sneak into town and leave gifts under the decorated trees in Ironforge and Orgrimmar. But Players must be quick because these gifts are there for the taking and might get snatched up before you get the chance.
Love is in the Air
Love is in the Air is the World of Warcraft version of Valentine's Day. It is an annual event that lasts from February 6th through February 20th. Love is in the Air is a vanity holiday and features no items that give a player serious gameplay advantage. For the duration of this holiday players must carry an item in their inventory to collect heart charms from honor and experience granting enemies. These charms are then turned into charm bracelets and traded at a one to one ratio to a holiday vendor for love tokens. A player with enough love tokens can purchase a variety of in-game novelty items ranging from fireworks to clothing. Love tokens can also be earned by completing special holiday related quests or killing the holiday boss: Apothecary Hummel.
New Years
New Years is a short holiday taking place from December 31st through January 1st. This holiday features relatively little in comparison to some of the more prolific events. Players can view wondrous firework displays from cities around Azeroth and are encouraged to sample the drinks brewed up especially for this holiday. The goblin guards of Booty Bay are always found drunk at their posts this time of year, turning this neutral zone into a PvP wasteland.
Pilgrim's Bounty
Pilgrim's Bounty occurs between November 20th and 26th and is representative of American Thanksgiving. This event revolves heavily around cooking various holiday related recipes. There are six daily quests related to this holiday and each one involves cooking a different holiday recipe. Due to the nature of the holiday it is an easy way for players to train their cooking skill from 1 to 355, this allows a player to achieve grand master level cooking in a relatively short amount of time.
Children's Week
Children's Week occurs every year between May 2nd and May 8th and is one of the oldest holidays in World of Warcraft. Like most other in-game holidays Children's Week has a real life counterpart in Japan's Children Day, held on May 5th. This holiday revolves around orphans from both the Horde and Alliance. Players must first visit the Orphan Matron in either Stormwind or Orgrimmar (later Shattrath City and Dalaran with the addition of additional Children's Week quests) to receive their orphan. Once a player has attained their orphan they are tasked with doing various quests given to them by the orphan. These range from buying them sweets to taking them to a beautiful in game location. Once the player has completed all of the orphans quests they return them to the orphanage and receive one in game pet. Multiple pets are available from the same quest making it impossible to acquire them all without taking part in the holiday over multiple years. With the release of the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansions two new orphans week quest givers were added with different objectives and pets.
Lunar Festival
The Lunar Festival was added in 2006 and lasts from January 23rd through February 13th. Most of the holiday events revolve around Coins of Ancestry, a holiday specific form of currency. Coins of Ancestry are gained by honoring various elders scattered throughout Azeroth. Elders can be found in all of the main cities as well as scattered in smaller cities across the world. Coins of Ancestry can be spent in Moonglade for fireworks, holiday clothing and festival specific food. Tailors and engineers can also buy the patterns for various holiday outfits and firework launchers. Besides the elders, the Lunar Festival also features the outdoor boss Omen, a boss usually killed by a large raid or in cooperative effort between Horde and Alliance players.
Midsummer Fire Festival
The Midsummer Fire Festival takes place between June 21st and July 4th ending with a glorious Fourth of July themed fireworks show. Much like other holidays, the Midsummer Fire Festival features a holiday currency, this time in the form of Burning Blossoms. Burning Blossoms can be exchanged for holiday specific food, clothing and in game pets and novelty items. Low-level players can also take advantage of ribbon poles scattered throughout Azeroth. When these poles are used they provide a 10% experience boost for the duration of the buff (up to 60 minutes). This time around the holiday boss takes the form of Lord Ahune, a frost elemental who can be summoned into the Slave Pens. Unlike other holiday bosses, Lord Ahune drops items that are viable to be used as actual gear on a level 85 player.
Game Expansions
As any other MMORPG, World of Warcraft has also received additional expansion packs. These expansion packs, however, have not only added new continents and dungeons, but also added entirely new game-changing features like i.e. arenas and siege vehicles.
The Burning Crusade
Main page: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
The Burning Crusade
Released on January the 16th 2007, The Burning Crusade was the first expansion pack released for the highly popular World of Warcraft. The pack's story, such as it was, dealt with the Dark Portal being reopened, and allowing players to use it to travel from Azeroth to the shattered remains of the destroyed Orc homeworld, Draenor, which is now known simply as the Outland.
Apart from increasing the level cap to 70, the game also added two new playable races: the Draenei for the Alliance and the Blood Elves for the Horde. Like all Blizzard expansion packs, The Burning Crusade improved upon the existing gameplay while adding new elements. Arguably the biggest change was making the Paladin and Shaman classes available to both factions, thus balancing the two factions in terms of class availability. The expansion also introduced arenas, which allowed players to team up with their friends and compete against others in gladiatorial styled matches . This has become increasingly popular over the last few years, and sponsored tournaments are held throughout the world. This gameplay mode and the resulting tournaments has seen World of Warcraft inch towards the status of an e-Sport.
Main features of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade:
Level cap increased to 70
New spells and talents for each class
Two new playable races: the Blood Elves and the Draenei
The new world-continent of Outland was added, including 6 new zones, 13 five-man instances and 5 raid instances
New content added to the existing world, including 5 new zones, 1 five-man instance and 3 raid instances
New profession: Jewel crafting
Flying Mounts (although they only work in the Outland)
Arena tournaments
Wrath of the Lich King
Main page: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Wrath of the Lich King
Wrath of the Lich King is the second expansion, revolving around the Alliance and the Horde sending a massive expedition to the frozen wasteland of Northrend to deal with Arthas, the Lich King, once and for all. It was released on November 13th, 2008.
Main features of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King:
Level cap increased to 80
New spells and talents for each class
New Hero class: Death Knight
Access to the continent of Northrend
New profession: Inscription
Controllable siege weapons and destructible environments
"Barber Shops" that allows users to change their characters' hairstyles
New Battleground: Strand of the Ancients
New world PvP zone: Lake Wintergrasp
Wrath of the Lich King also introduced the "phasing" technology to the game. Using this tech, players can actually witness how their actions change the environment forever. Entire zones have quest progression based on phasing, with the zones changing massively over time. For example, the Death Knight starter zone is rather green and lush at first, but with the player completing more and more quests, it will also become more and more desolate and ravaged. These changes are only perceivable to the player who caused them, allowing every player to experience this for themselves. This status change will be permanent to the player.
Cataclysm
Main page: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Cataclysm
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is Blizzard's third expansion for World of Warcraft and was released on December 7, 2010. The concept behind it is that Deathwing, a powerful dragon, has broken free of his imprisonment, and in doing so caused a cataclysm that literally reshaped Azeroth as we know it.
Main features of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm:
Level cap raised to 85
New Alliance race: Worgen, with Gilneas as starting zone
New Horde race: Goblins, with Lost Isles as starting zone
New Secondary Profession: Archaeology
Classic world revamp of every non-expansion zone with updated quests, art and items
New Race/Class combos, such as gnome priests, tauren paladins and undead hunters
Flying now added in Azeroth, all zones
7 all new zones added to the continents of Azeroth, with new questing content
Mists of Pandaria
Main page: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
Mists of Pandaria
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is Blizzard's fourth expansion for World of Warcraft.
The game will focus on the war between the Horde and the Alliance and the zone of Pandaria where the Pandarens reside.
Main features of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria:
Level cap raised to 90
New Race: Pandarens - the first neutral race available to both factions
New Class: Monk
New Continent: Pandaria with its 5 zones
New Talent system
PvE scenarios
Challenge mode dungeons
Pet battle system
Warlords of Draenor
Main Page: World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
Warlords of Draenor
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor is Blizzards fifth expansion for World of Warcraft and was released November 13, 2014. This expansion begins with the Iron Horde invading Azeroth through the Dark Portal. You must mount a desperate charge on the world of Draenor to push the Iron Horde invasion back.
Main features of World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor:
Level cap raised to 100
New version of the Outlands, Draenor, was added, including 8 new zones, 7 five-man instances and 2 raid instances, as well as 4 new world bosses.
Boost to level 90 (one boost per expansion purchased)
Updated character models
Build up your own Garrison and upgrade it with specialized structures.
Added account-wide heirloom armor and weapons, toys, and mounts that do not take up inventory space.
Game Patches
World of Warcraft is constantly updates with bugfixes and New Features, these patches are required to play the game.
Patch 1.2 added the dungeon "Maraudon", The Gurubashi arena and a Christmas event called Winter's Vale.
Patch 1.3 added the winged dungeon of Dire Maul and A feature called Meeting stones as well as altering the UI
Patch 1.4 added the PVP honour rank System and the Elemental Invasions Event.
Patch 1.5 added the Battlegrounds of Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch as well as reputation questlines.
Patch 1.6 Added A Raid Dungeon Called Blackwing Lair, BattleMasters and an Event called the Darkmoon Fair
Patch 1.7 added the Battleground of Arathi Basin as well as he New raid Dungeon Zul Gurub
Patch 1.8 added the outdoor raid encounters known as the dragons of nightmare as well as the event based on Halloween known as Hallows End
Patch 1.9 added 2 Raid Dungeons in Silithus and Altered the Auction House System Signifigantly
Patch 1.10 Added weather effects to the game
Patch 1.11 Added the Dungeon Naxxramas and the inventory Feature known as keyrings
Patch 1.12 Added world PVP areas and cross realm battlegrounds
Patch 2.0.1 Introduced several features from "The Burning Crusade Expansion Pack" to the game such as a new honor system and Arena System.
Patch 2.1 Added the Black Temple raid dungeon, several new reputation factions (including the Netherwing faction which allowed players access to the unique Nether Drake flying mount), as well as granting druids an epic flight form.
Patch 2.2 Introduced an in-game voice chat feature
Patch 2.3 introduced the Zul'Aman raid dungeon, new daily quests for the normal and heroic dungeons as well as battlegrounds, a revamp of leveling from 1-60, a partial revamp of the Dustwallow Marsh zone, and guild banks
Patch 2.4.3 Introduced the Isle of Quel'Danas (a daily quest hub), the Magister's Terrace dungeon, the Sunwell Plateau raid dungeon, and the new arena tournaments
Patch 3.0.2 Introduced in-game achievements, the inscription profession, extended talent trees, barbershops, player calenders, as well as an overhaul of the Hunter pet talent system
Patch 3.1 Introduced the Ulduar raid dungeon, dual talent specialization, the Argent Tournament daily quest hub, and in-game dungeon maps
Patch 3.2 Updated and expanded the Argent Tournament grounds (which now included the Trial of the Champion dungeon, Trial of the Crusader and Trial of the Grand Crusader raids, as well as numerous daily quests and faction championing in the tournament), updated Onyxia's Lair to a level 80 raid dungeon, added the Isle of Conquest battleground, and gave Druids updated graphics for their various forms
Patch 3.3 Added the Icecrown Citadel raid and three associated 5-man dungeons, a revamped dungeon finder system, and expansion of in-game quest tracking (tracked quest areas were now shown on the map)
Patch 4.0.1 Renovated the gameplay systems drastically, including simplifications of all classes' talent trees, addition of Mastery rating which has effects specific to every character class and specialization, and the addition of many new spells for lower level characters and the removal of some seldom-used spells. This was to pave the way for Cataclysm and the new level 85 end-game.
Patch 4.0.3a Shattered the World and brought the changes done by Deathwing to Azeroth, new race/class combinations, thousands of new quests, the new cinematic and the loginscreen for Cataclysm.
Patch 4.1.0 Added Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman as heroic 5-man dungeons, the LFG feature Call to Arms which rewards the class needed with gifts, guild challenges and a guild finder.
Patch 4.2.0 Added the Firelands raid, the Molten Front daily hub area, the Elemental Bonds questchain with Thrall and the new legendary Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest and its questchain.
Patch 4.3.0 Added the Dragon Soul raid, the Darkmoon Island, the Raid Finder tool, three new dungeons, the Transmogrification system, the Void Storage and the Fangs of the Father legendary with its questchain.
More Patches are constantly being put out.
System Requirements
Because this game is consistently updated, the minimum system requirements have and may continue to change over time.
Minimum PC System Requirements Recommended PC System Requirements
OS: Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500
Memory: 512 MB RAM (1 GB RAM for Vista users)
Hard Drive: 15 GB
Video Card: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better
Sound Card: DirectX compatible
OS: Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: Dual-core processor, such as the Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2
Memory: 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)
Hard Drive: 15 GB
Video Card: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better
Sound Card: DirectX compatible
Minimum Mac System Requirements Recommended Mac System Requirements
OS: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer
Processor: PowerPC G5 1.6 GHz or Intel Core Duo processor
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 15 GB
Video Card: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 64 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon 9600 or NVIDIA GeForce Ti 4600 class card or better
Sound Card: DirectX compatible
OS: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer
Processor: Intel 1.8 GHz processor or better
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 15 GB
Video Card: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 class card or better
Sound Card: DirectX compatible
Soundtrack
The music for World of Warcraft was composed by Jason Hayes and Blizzard's sound department and is available in CD format from the Blizzard online store.
Soundtrack Cover
"Legends of Azeroth" 2:40
"The Shaping of the World" 2:24
"Legacy” 2:25
"Song of Elune” 2:13
"Echoes of the Past" 1:53
"A Call to Arms" 2:18
"Seasons of War" 2:57
"Stormwind" 2:14
"Orgrimmar" 2:14
"The Undercity" 2:27
"Thunder Bluff" 2:35
"Darnassus" 2:44
"Ironforge" 2:14
"Elwynn Forest" 3.03
"Duskwood" 6.01
"Dun Morogh" 7:30
"Burning Steppes" 2:26
"Shimmering Flats" 4:07
"Felwood" 2:37
"Stranglethorn Vale" 4:12
"Tanaris" 4:31
"Teldrassil" 3:55
"Tavern" 1:13
"Moonfall" 0:48
"Ruins" 1:16
"Temple" 1:03
"Lurking" 1:00
"Sacred" 1:10
"Graveyard" 1:07
"War" 0:49
Corrupted Blood incident
The corrupted blood incident is one of the most infamous glitches in WoW history, partially because it resembled a actual epidemic. Because of this it drew the attention of international press world wide, even non-gaming related press. Epidemiologist Ran D. Balicer even published an article in the journal 'Epidemiology' comparing it to SARS and avian influenza outbreaks. Wherein he suggested that RPGs could be used as an advanced platform as a model for the dissemination of infectious diseases. The link was also made between terrorist attacks. Charles Blair, deputy director of the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies, felt that WoW could provide a new way to study how terrorist cells form and operate.
The AH in Orgrimmar during the event
The plague began on September 13th 2005. When Blizzard added a new dungeon called "Zul Gurub" to the game. The final boss of this dungeon, 'Hakkar', could cast a spell called 'Corrupted Blood'. This would place a poison or 'Debuff' on the player character that would cause a certain amount of damage overtime (in this case a fair large amount due to it being created for end game purposes), but could also transfer to other players. This would mean that when players fought Hakkar they had to position themselves in certain ways in order to succeed.
The spell was originally designed to work during the boss encounter in Zul Gurub. However players who had the debuff were able to take it outside the dungeon and infect other players. This meant that people either died from the debuff or simply got it again after the timer expired from another player. Players who were low level would die almost instantly if they came into contact with an infected player. "Non player characters" could also contract the disease. Though they didn't receive any damage from it, they were able to infect other players.
The end result was literally hundreds of bodies littered across the heavy populated areas of the game, as well as making large areas of the game inaccessible on some servers. Although death is not permanent in WoW, there are disadvantages when you die and it is considered annoying. Player reactions varied enormously. While some players with healing powers offered their help, many low level players avoided heavy populated areas or just stopped playing for the duration of the incident. Others took advantage of the chaos and deliberately tried to infect as many players as possible. Blizzard originally built a quarantine zone in the hope of containing the disease. However some players worked around this by healing themselves long enough to spread the disease outside. A Blizzard employee posted the following on the WoW forums:
It appears that the hotfix remedy concocted to combat the recent Azerothain outbreak has not yet yielded the desired results. At this time, our medical staff is continuing to develop an effective cure. We look forward to ensuring the health and vitality of the citizens of Azeroth in the near future.
Eventually Blizzard had to do a hard reset on all of its servers and patch the game to remove the spreading infection.
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