1.2.1 Hearthstones
A hearthstone is a special stone located in your inventory. By clicking it, you return to
the inn to which you are bound. Hearthstones regenerate each hour, this regeneration is
know as “cool down” and refers to the time it takes to become available again. To bind
to a new location, enter an inn and talk to an innkeeper. That innkeeper can then bind
you to that location, allowing you to hearth there. Bear in mind though that you can only
be bound to one location at a time, so be sure to bind yourself to a new inn when you
enter a new area you intend to quest in for a while.
Hearthstones allow you to get out of many tedious situations such as a long walk or
when you’re stuck in a cave and want to turn in your quests. These are also handy for
casual gamers who just want to get back to town to quit their gaming session.
Hearthstones are also handy because they give you easy access to the rest system.
1.2.2 Resting
Resting in World of Warcraft can be best explained like this. As you are offline, you
accumulate rest. Rested player receive 200% experience from monster (not quests)
until they are no longer rested. Eight hours of logged off time at a city or inn equals one
bubble of rest. The rest maximum is 30 bubbles of experience or 1.5 levels (240 hours
of not playing the character, 10 days). If you intend to create a primary character, it can’t
hurt to have a secondary. Log in to the secondary character every ten days, gain a level
and a half of experience, and hearth back to the inn.
1.2.3 Combat
Combat in World of Warcraft is fairly simple. When you click an enemy, you can view
their type above the inventory bags. Yellow enemies will only attack you if you attack
them or open treasure chests near them, red enemies will attack you if you enter their
radius.
The radius of a red enemy depends on your level, the lower level you are, the higher
radius an enemy has. There are many types of red enemies as well, some will, when
reduced to low hitpoints, run and get their friends to attack you as well. Other will keep
on swinging or using special abilities.
To engage an enemy, hit the attack button on the action bar. You can also attack an
enemy by getting within range of a spell or special attack and using it on them. Be
aware that most enemies not in the newbie zone will attack in packs if you attack them
when they are too close to others of their kind.
Combat is straightforward; drain their hitpoints before they drain yours. Most classes
can “solo” (kill without being in a group) enemies one or two levels above them. When
you click on an enemy, its portrait will appear next to yours with a level number. If the
level number is grey, green, yellow, or orange, you should be able to attack it with little
problem. Grey enemies yield no experience, green ones give about 50-90% experience
(depending on level), and all others gi/ve 100%.
Beware of monsters marked “elite” these creatures need a group of at least three at
equal level to take down. Elite monsters tend to drop better equipment, but are harder to
take down.
There are also unique monsters which drop really good items scattered in rare places
around the world. These monsters always drop at least one good piece of equipment,
but these creatures only spawn once every eight to twenty-four hours. It should be
noted that almost any item these creatures drop can be found on any monster, but these
unique creatures always drop them.
There are two types of “realms” or servers, PvP and PvE. PvP servers are servers
where players of the alliance factions (Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf) can fight with
members of other factions in particular zones. In the case of PvE servers, players can
only fight with other players of other factions in arenas.
Dueling is an option which allows you to mock-fight with other players. Select another
player and right click their portrait when it appears next to yours, then select the duel
option. A battle flag should appear on the ground. If the other player agrees, you duke it
out. There is no death in dueling, the loser is just reduced to 1 hitpoint.
1.2.4 Death
When you die, you are brought back in ghost form. In ghost form you have three
choices, resurrect yourself at the spirit healer (angel-looking creature) at the graveyard,
get resurrected by another player, or walk back to your corpse.
If you chose to return to the living using the spirit healer, you items take a large durability
hit (25%) and you take a penalty to your statistics for a period of time. This is the best
option if you just don’t want to go back or have to quit the game very shortly.
If you get resurrected by another player, you incur a temporary statistical penalty and
have to stay out of the action for a bit of time. This is best if you are in an instance zone
and want to get right back to the action or if you are participating in a raid.
The third option and most common is simply to walk back. Walking in ghost form tends
to be quicker than walking in regular form and there is no penalty. Night Elf players in
particular should almost always chose to walk back. When a Night-Elf player dies, his
ghost form is a wisp. In wisp form, a Night Elf travels much faster than any other
character in ghost form.
When doing a “corpse run” check the map (“M”) to see where your corpse is, it will be
indicated with a little tomb stone.
1.2.5 Factions
There are two primary factions in the world of Warcraft, the Alliance and the Horde.
Alliance Horde
Dwarf
Gnome
Human
Night Elf
Orc
Tauren
Troll
Undead
If you intend to play on the same server as a friend, be sure you are of the same primary
faction as the other or you can’t play together, message each other, or even talk to one
another if face-to-face. Alliance players cannot be in the same guild, group, or raid party
as horde players as well.
1.2.6 Experience
Experience in World of Warcraft is the measure by which your character attains a new
level. Every time you kill an enemy whose level is close to yours, you gain experience.
Experience also comes in the form of quests or discovering new regions. Experience is
gauged above your action, menu, and inventory bars as twenty bubbles, as the bubbles
fill, you gain more experience. Rest is represented by a small bar on the bubble gauge.
When you reach that bar, you are no longer considered to be in a rested state and gain
experience at a normal pace. You can see your experience and experience needed to
attain a new level if you hover over the gauge.
When all twenty bubbles are completely filled, you attain a new level. As in other
games, levels allow you to equip better items and make you more powerful. When you
gain a new level, you should equip all items you’ve been saving for that level, invest your
new talent point (after level 10) and buy new spells if you hit an even-numbered level.
The best way to gauge how much you should spend on equipment and how much you
should spend on new spells is simple. You can usually save one level’s worth of
currency on items, and the other on new spells. There are exceptions which could vary
your results including play style. This general formula is a good rough guideline. The
only exception is the levels in intervals of ten (ie. Level 10, 20, 30, ect). These levels
contain spells you are really going to want to have, for most classes there will be a lot of
spells you’ll want at these levels. So you may need to save two levels worth of currency
before reaching that level.
So spend levels that end in 0, 2, 4, 6 on equipment or savings and the rest into skills.
Whatever you have left over from skills should be saved for a mount, but we’ll get into
that later.
1.2.7 Statistics
As you level up or gain new items, you can increase your statistics, here is what each
statistic does.
Agility
? Increases ranged damage
? Increases critical hit %
? Increase armor
? Increase melee damage for hunters and rogues.
? Increase Dodge (Higher dodge for rouges)
Intelligence
? Increase mana & health
? Increase spell critical hit %
? Weapons skills are easier to learn
Stamina
? Increase hitpoints
Strength
? Deal More Melee Damage
? Block more damage with a shield.
Spirit
? Increase mana regeneration
1.2.8 Quests
Quests tend to be the best way to gain levels early in the game. Not only do quests help
you to gain experience, but they also usually give a reward of gold or a really good item.
Until level forty, you should always be questing, no matter what. Once you hit the higher
levels (40+) you can generally pick and chose your quests depending on what the
reward is.
At the higher levels, quests tend to take much longer than they are worth. Where you
could gain two bubbles of experience doing a quest, you can usually gain three or four
grinding (just attacking monsters the right level) for experience. Higher-level quests can
get you some really great items, so never neglect to look at them, just be choosy.
The best quests tend to be those that take you into group “instance” zones. There tends
to be three-to-seven quests that take you into each of these group zones, so if you have
a group ready-to-roll, you should definitely take these quests as, coupled with the elite
monster experience, can get you an entire level.
1.2.9 Groups
The best way to play World of Warcraft is grouping with other people. While soloing
World of Warcraft is much more feasible than most any other MMORPG, the game is
geared towards group questing. While true experience is lower per-kill, you tend to kill
more enemies in groups, especially in the group zones.
Two players can often take down an elite monster if very careful, but three players tends
to be the optimal combination. A tank, a healer, and any other character tend to
combine the best together, whereas four and five players tends to be overkill in most
instances.
The only exception comes in the form of instance quests. When you intend to complete
an instance which has a level equal to yours, you may want to recruit an extra player or
two, especially in the early group zones such as the Deadmines and Wailing Caverns.
The best way to find a group is to be in a large guild. Younger guilds tend to recruit
anyone where as other guilds may be more exclusive and only recruit you if you play
with one of their members or fulfill some other requirement.
The next best way is who type “/join general” then type, “LFG (name) level”. If you need
another healer, also request a healer or whatever type of player you need.
If you tend to be a solo person, but don’t want to be, open up the social menu by hitting
“O” and clicking the box that says, “I would like to join a group.”
The leader of a group (indicated with a little crown) can set the “looting type”. Items or
“loot” can be distributed to members of the group in several ways:
Round Robin The most common group type. Each player takes a turn
at looting a corpse. If there were three players, Fred, Jan,
and Rev, Fred would get to loot the first monster and take
his materials, Jan would take the second corpse, and Rev
would take the third.
Master Looter This is a rare looting type. The leader of the group
decides which character gets each item. Ideal for guilds
or large groups who trust each other.
Threshold A handy looting system. This allows you to set which
system is used for each item type. If a group set the
threshold at blue items, blue items and everything above
would be handled round-robin style.
Group Loot Items above the threshold are rolled for, the highest roller
keeps the item.
Need Before Greed Same as group loot except the players that cannot equip
the item automatically pass the roll and cannot get the
item. Ideal for groups of strangers in a group zone.
Free For All Anyone can loot anything.
1.2.10 Raids
Raids are very large groups of up to forty players. Raid content is designed for these
large groups filled with players who are level 60. Raids tend to fail unless full, so are
best suited for guilds. Raid groups enjoy the best items (if they get them in the roll) but
have the worst experience gain (not that it matters since most players have hit the level
cap of sixty.
1.2.11 Zones
There are two types of zones, open and instanced. Open zones are areas which any
player can interact with any other player. Your starting location is an open zone, you
interact with several players and have fun.
The second type of zone is known as an instance. Instance zones can be thought of as
your own personal playground. These special zones become available around level
fifteen.
Within an instanced zone, only you and players of your group or raid can enter.
Instanced zones are full of elite monsters, so either be many many levels above them, or
bring friends. Instance zones tend to give the player the most experience, rewards, and
money.
1.2.12 Currency
Currency takes shape in three materials, copper, silver, and gold. One-hundred copper
translates into one silver and one-hundred silver is equal to one gold. The game does
this automatically for you, so you’ll never need to go around shouting, “Want to change
101 silver into 1 gold!” or anything similar to that.
1.2.13 Items
Items give your character power. Medium-level items tend to have increases to skills
with them, higher level items can sometimes have abilities of their own like shocking all
nearby enemies or graining healing.
Items come in seven differing colors, poor (grey), common (white), uncommon (green),
rare/superior (blue), epic (purple), legendary (orange), and artifact.
? You tend to get poor and common items from monsters early on, some of
the early poor and uncommon make suitable gear for a while, but quickly
looses its appeal. After early levels, poor and common items tend to
become something you should just sell for money.
? Uncommon items drop off normal monsters, but tend to drop more
frequently off of elite and unique monsters. Uncommon items will be the
most common item in your inventory until level 60.
? Rare items are much like uncommon items, but they only drop off of
monster who are in their twenties. You may not see many rare items
yourself unless you participate in group-quests and raids.
? Epic items only appear in high levels and are very hard to find. You may
only ever have four or five in your possession. These items are very hard
to find and sell very very well.
? You may never even see a legendary item unless you participate in group
raids. Legendary items tend to only drop off monsters in raids or in the
50s and 60s. If you get one of these, sell it for a mint or keep it for
yourself, but guard it with your life.
? Artifacts have never been seen but are probably only dropped off raid
encounters.
? Some items such as armor can have a durability. When an item’s
durability reaches 0, the item no longer has any effect until repaired. To
repair an item, talk to an item vendor, many can repair items for you at a
cost. Repair costs are not very expensive on common and uncommon
items, so it’s little more than a minor annoyance most of the time.
? Items also have level requirements, enemies tend to drop items five
levels below them (unless early on), so you should be able to equip most
items that are dropped.
There are some items you will see thoughout the game that you should save to sell on
auction. These are ingredients that other professions will want, if you see them, don’t
vendor them!
As mentioned before, the very best way to obtain good items is to kill elite monsters, it is
even better to kill instance monsters and even better drops come off of raids. Here are
some of the epic (Purple) items you can find within the game that are weapons,
accesories, or cloth items. Still working on leather and mail armor for the next update.
Assume that items drop off enemies 5-10 levels above their minimum level or level 58+
Axes
Axe of the Deep Woods (Level 52)(BWE)
(41.5 DPS)
COH: Blasts a target for 90-126 Damage.
Brain Hacker (Level 55)(BWE)
(56.7 DPS)
COH: Deals 200-300 Extra Damage and wounds intelligence by 25 for 30
seconds.
Fiery War Axe (Level 35)(BWE)
(40.3 DPS)
COH: Hurls a Fireball at target for 150-200 damage and 24 damage over 6
seconds.
Flurry Axe (Level 42)(BWE)
(35.5 DPS)
COH: Two Attacks on your next swing.
Kang the Decapitator (Level 44)(BWE)
(47.2 DPS)
COH: Target bleeds 520 damage over 30 seconds. Ouch.
Bow
Bow of Searing Arrows (Level 37)(BWE)
(26.1 DPS)
Deals 1-5 Additional fire damage.
Hurricane (Level 48)(BWE)
(38.8 DPS)
Deals 1-5 Additional frost damage, slowing target.
Cloth
Chest
Alanna’s Embrace (Level 57)(BWPU)
96 Armor
+20 Stamina
+20 Intelligence
+20 Spirit
Increases damage and healing by up to 11.
Drops off Ras Frostwhisper in Scholomance.
Embrace of the Wind Serpent (Level 50)(BWPU)
86 Armor
+9 Stamina
+17 Intelligence
+30 Spirit
+12 Nature Resistance
Drops off Hakkar in the Temple of Hakkar.
Robe of the Archmage (Level 57)(BWPU)
96 Armor
Class: Mage
+12 Intelligence
Increases damage and healing by up to 35.
Improves critical strike of spells by 1%
Use: Restores 375-635 mana
Tailor Recipe
Robe of the Void (Level 57)(BWPU)
96 Armor
Class: Warlock
+14 Stamina
Increase shadow damage by 48.
Use: Heal pet for 300-500 health
Tailored Recipe
Truefaith Vestments (Level 57)(BWPU)
96 Armor
Class: Priest
Increase healing done by spells and effects by up to 66.
Restores 6 mana every 5 seconds.
Reduces cooldown of fade by 2 seconds.
This is a tailored recipe.
Feet
Boots of Prophecy (Level 60)(BWPU)
70 Armor
Classes: Priest
+8 Agility
+9 Stamina
+11 Intellect
+20 Spirit
+10 Arcane Resistance
+10 Fire Resistance
Head
Circle of Flame (Level 54)(BWPU)
74 Armor
+15 Spirit
+15 Fire Resistance
Use: Channel 40 health into mana every 1 second for 10 seconds.
Eye of Flame (Level 49)(BWE)
70 Armor
+10 Intelligence
+10 Spirit
+15 Fire Resistance
Increases damage done by fire spells by up to 42.
Halo of Transcendence (Level 60)(BWPU)
94 Armor
+17 Stamina
+27 Intelligence
+26 Spirit
+12 Fire Resistance
+12 Shadow Resistance
Dropped by the raid dragon boss Onyxia. Good luck.
Waist
Arcanist Belt (Level 60)(BWE)
57 Armor
Class: Mage
+26 Intelligence
+11 Spirit
Restores 6 mana every 5 seconds.
Wrist
Arcanist Belt (Level 60)(BWE)
44 Armor
Class: Mage
+20 Intelligence
+8 Spirit
+4 Arcane Resist
+7 Fire Resist
+4 Frost Resistance
Dagger
Alcor’s Razor (Level 58)(BWPU)
(42.4 DPS)
+10 Resist Fire
COH: Blast target for75 to 105 damage.
Deathstriker (Level 58)(BWPU)
(45.6 DPS)
COH:All attacks guaranteed to hit and be critical strikes for 3 seconds. One of
the best rogue daggers in the game. Drops off Rend Blackhand in Blackrock
Spire.
Gutripper (Level 40)(BWE)
(33.9 DPS)
COH: Deals an additional 95-121 damage.
Shadowblade (Level 48)(BWE)
(38.9 DPS)
COH: Shadowbolt of 120-180 damage.
Gun
Dwarven Hand Cannon (Level 53)(BWE)
(34.8 DPS)
1-11 additional fire damage.
Precisely Calibrated Boomstick (Level 43)(BWE)
(27.7 DPS)
+14 Agility. Arguably the best gun in game for rogues/warriors. Very good for
hunters.
Necklace
Choker of Enlightenment (Level 56)(BWPU)
+10 Intelligence
+20 Spirit
Each spell costs 25 mana less.
Drops off Lucifron in the Molten Core
Jeweled Amulet of Cainwyn (Level 55)(BWE)
+8 Stamina
+18 Intelligence
+10 Spirit
Lady Maye’s Pendant (Level 59)(BWE)
+10 Stamina
+19 Intelligence
+10 Spirit
Lei of Lilies (Level 46)(BWE)
+10 Stamina
+15 Spirit
Restores some health and mana when eaten.
Ring
Freezing Band (Level 47)(BWE)
+10 Frost Resistance
Equip: Increase frost damage by up to 15.
COH: 50 frost damage and freezes enemy for 5 seconds.
Mark of the Dragon Lord (Level 56)(BWPU)
Use: Mana shield that absorbs 500 damage. While shield is active, increases
mana regeneration by 22 every 5 seconds for 30 minutes.
Drops off Overlord Wyrmthalak in Blackrock Spire.
Myrmidon’s Signet (Level 53)(BWE)
+10 Strength
+7 Agility
+17 Stamina
Underworld Band (Level 38)(BWE)
+10 Stamina
+6 Spirit
Increases shadow damage by up to 10.
Staff
Elemental Mage Staff (Level 56)(BWE)
(57.5 DPS)
+20 Fire Resistance
+20 Frost Resistance
Increase damage up to 32 damage for all fire and frost spells.
Glowing Brightwood Staff (Level 49)(BWE)
(51.3 DPS)
+15 Stamina
+29 Intelligence
+9 Spirit
+15 Nature Resistance
Headmaster’s Charge (Level 57)(BWPU)
(58.4 DPS)
+30 Stamina
+20 Spirit
Use: Increases target’s intelligence by 30.
Drops off Darkmaster Gandling in Schlomance
Staff of Jordan (Level 35)(BWE)
(40.4 DPS)
+11 Intelligence
+11 Spirit
Increases damage and healing spells by 18.
Warden Staff (Level 43)(BWE)
(46.5 DPS)
260 Armor
+15 Defense
+11 Stamina
Sword
Black Blade of Shahram (Level 58)(BWPU)
(58.8 DPS)
COH: Summon an infernal spirit
Drops off General Drakkisath in Blackrock Spire
Blade of Hanna (Level 59)(BWE)
(60.2 DPS)
+11 to all Stats
Bloodrazor (Level 45)(BWE)
(37.0 DPS)
COH: 120 damage over 30 seconds.
Dazzling Longsword (Level 36)(BWE)
(31.5 DPS)
COH: Reduce armor by 100 and cannot stealth or turn invisible
Destiny (Level 52)(BWE)
(53.8 DPS)
COH: Increase strength by 200 for 10 seconds.
Dragon’s Call (Level 52)(BWE)
(41.4 DPS)
COH: Calls a dragon welp to help you in battle.
Krol Blade (Level 51)(BWE)
(40.9 DPS)
+7 Strength
+5 Stamina
+1% Chance to get a Critical Strike.
Nightblade (Level 39)(BWE)
(43.4 DPS)
COH: Does 125-275 shadow damage.
Runeblade of Baron Rivendare (Level 58)(BWPU)
(59.5 DPS)
Increased Movement Speed and Regeneration rate.
Drops off Baron Rivendare in Stratholm.
Sul’Thraze the Lasher (Level 50)(BWPU)
(52.1 DPS)
COH: Lowers target’s strength by 15. Inflicts 90-210 shadow damage and an
additional 125 damage over 15 seconds.
Created by combining two blades found in Zul’Farrak, Jang’thraze from the chief
and San’thraze from Anut’sul.
Teebu’s Blazing Longsword (Level 60)(BWE)
(47.2 DPS)
COH: Deals 150 fire damage.
It’s on fire!
Trinkets
Lifestone (Level 51)(BWE)
Use: Restores 300-700 Health
Equip: Restores 10 health every 5 seconds.
The Lion Horn of Stormwind (Level 58)(BWE)
1% chance of increasing all part member’s armor by 250 for 30 seconds.
1.2.14 Auctions
The best way to obtain items for yourself is the auction system. Auctions allow players
to bid or buy directly items they would never normally obtain themselves. To locate the
nearest auction house, ask a guard in the local city where to find them. Auctions can run
up to twenty-four hours, so make sure you check the status of the auction. Auctions that
state the time to completion is “very long” tend to get outbid.
1.2.15 Travel
World of Warcraft is also quite good at letting you travel around the world. The most
common method is hearthing, which was mentioned above.
The next common is using the flying transportation including airships, griffons, bats,
wyverns, and hippogriffs. You can find these special flying mounts in nearly any zone
and all of the major cities. The air mounts cost a small fee and can quickly transport you
to the zone you want, as long as you have already walked there and talked to the
connection on the other side.
If, for example, you wanted to go to Stormwind from Westfall. As long as you have
talked to the griffon master in Stormwind, you can fly there from Westfall.
Another method of transportation is ships and airships. These ships take of at certain
docks every few minutes. The gnomish version of these, the Deeprun Tram travels
underground from Ironforge to Stormwind and back.
The most fun method of transportation is using a mount. Each race has a specific mount
that they can purchase once they have reached a high level of faction with their area. It
is very important that you do the early missions of your faction so you can be that much
closer to getting your mount early on.
Dwarf Ram
Gnome Mechanical Strider
Human Horse
Night Elf Panther
Orc Wolf
Tauren Kodo
Troll Raptor
Undead Undead Steed
Mounts are very expensive (80 gold), but allow you to travel around the World of
Warcraft much quicker. Each mount also has a level requirement. Basic mounts can be
used at level 40 whereas more advanced mounts don’t become available until level 60!
It should be noted that Druids, Hunters, Mages, Paladins, and Warlocks get speedenhancements
of their own, so may wish not to buy a mount and spend their money on
other things.
? Druids get a travel form at level thirty.
? Paladins can do a special quest for their horse-mount at level forty.
? Warlocks can summon a Felsteed at level forty.
? Hunters have a speed ability.
? Mages gain teleportation spells at level twenty and group portal spells at
level fourty. These allow you to travel to all of your primary factions major
cities. Just look for a “Portal Trainer” in the mystic quarters of each city.
There are also rare mounts to be found! These require more gold (upwards of 1000g!)
but look cooler and travel faster!
Mounts make it much easier to do quests and reach friends. When looking to reach a
group far away or even running through lower level instances, mounts are a must-have
for any serious hardcore player.
1.2.16 Chat
Chat functions allow a player to communicate with other players. There are many,
many, many, emoticons, but here are a few. To use any of these, first hit the enter key.
“/t playername message”
This tells a specific player a message, can be used to reach anywhere so long as both of
you are in the same primary faction.
“/g message”
Allows you to message everyone in your guild.
“/p message”
Allows you to message everyone in your party.
“/Chicken”
Your character does a chicken dance.
“/dance”
Your character dances a race/gender specific dance.
“/macro”
Opens up the macro menu.
1.2.17 Macros
Macros are special commands that can be programmed into a special icon that can be
assigned to your quickbar. Actions like casting a spell while announcing something like
“Casting polymorph on Kobald Worker! Don’t Attack!”
1.2.18 Experience
Unlike other MMORPGs, World of Warcraft is notoriously easy to get to the highest level.
At first (1-10) levels will come very easily. You can get to level twenty very quickly, then
it all slopes to the point where it can take 6-8 hours of grinding to gain one level. If
you’re going hardcore gaming, getting to the highest level ASAP, do quests until you find
a good grinding creature, grind for a bit and go back to quests.