WORLD OF WARCRAFT

World of Warcraft (WoW) provides several choices for your character, and you can also choose which faction you want to be on, Horde or Alliance. This game can be played for free up to level 20. Create your account here: https://us.battle.net/account/creation/wow/signup/

Realms/Servers

Before you can do anything in the game, you must decide on the Realm you wish to be on. You can pick between Player vs. Environment (PvE), Player vs. Player (PvP), Role Play (RP), or a Role Play Player vs. Player (RPPVP) servers. A PvE Realm is usually the best for beginners and those that want to just play the game by leveling, running dungeons, and raiding. A PvP Realm pits players against players, so you are always fair game in most areas to those of the opposing faction that have been playing for a while, and those that are higher level than you are. RP realms players take on the role of their character and act using in-game emotes but have the same PvE functions but may have stricter social “rules”, this would be the same for RPPvP. If you are looking for more of an adult game you can try the server Moonguard.

Creating your Character

Alliance Races:

Human

Gnome

Dwarf

Night Elf

Draenei- for this character you will need the Burning Crusade expansion to play

Worgen- for this character you will need the Cataclysm expansion to play

Horde Races:

Orc

Forsaken

Troll

Tauren

Blood Elf- for this character you will need the Burning Crusade expansion to play

Goblin- for this character you will need the Cataclysm expansion to play

Neutral (up to a certain level before choosing your faction)

Death Knight- for this character you will need the Wrath of the Lich King expansion to play

Pandaren- for this character you will need the Mists of Pandaria expansion to play

Gameplay

Once you have chosen your server and created your character, you will get the opening scenes specific to your race and faction, giving you the background story. You will then be in the game and ready to play by questing, leveling up your character, and making friends along the way.

WoW Communities

In WoW you can join guilds that are comprised of the same type of player that you might be whether that is casual or as a hardcore raider. There are many different guild types and they usually will tell you if they are family friendly or 18+ in their recruitment message, if not you can always ask.

Another way to observe the communities is to find your way to one of the main cities for your faction and observe/participate in the chat. Below is a list of the main cities that you will have access to with the free trial account.

Alliance Main Cities                       Horde Main Cities

Stormwind                              Orgrimmar

Ironforge                                 Undercity

Darnassus                               Thunder Bluff

by Jana Allmand-Zeman, May 2016