Updated for The War Within
Hello all, and welcome to World of Warcraft! This can be a very rewarding game and offers a variety of cool experiences with the chance to meet some interesting folks. We’d all like to extend a hearty welcome to the newest members of our ever-growing community and wish you the best of luck in your gaming experience.
Before we get started, one of the first questions you might be asking is why the text of certain posters is in green or blue. Green is because those posters are forum MVPs. They have no special privileges or powers and, besides the text, are in no way different from many posters you might meet on these forums. MVPs are recognized by Blizzard for providing consistently accurate information and helping to maintain a positive atmosphere on the forums. This, of course, does not preclude some of them from being a little snarky and sarcastic at times!
You will also notice posters that represent themselves with blue font. These are official representatives that work for Blizzard. They do have the ability to answer many questions and offer some bans when the situation warrants it.
More information about these two can be found in the first sticky on the General Forums, as well as links to the forum Guidelines and Code of Conduct:
Moving on! While Warcraft can be a very exciting experience, there are likely many questions you will ask along the way and a few problems you might run into. Fear not, for all the people who post in these forums (whether they’d like to admit it or not!) were in the same boat at one point or another. In fact, you might even see some of them come in here and ask questions of their own! Take this as a sign that not everyone knows everything about the game!
For your reading ease, the most asked questions will be highlighted in this thread. Refer to the Categories and list below to easily navigate your way through the posts (you can also do a ctrl+f search for any important terms). As always, have fun while playing Warcraft and happy hunting!
Categories:
Rules of the Game
a. Buying Characters
b. Buying Gold
c. Private Servers
d. Reporting Others/Being Reported
The Game
a. Order/Content of Expansions
b. Server Transfers (What are they, where can I transfer to?)
c. Starting a fresh account
Character Information
a. How to repair
b. Level requirements for Helms/Shoulders
c. Armor/Weapons for Classes
d. Professions: What level, How to Unlearn
e. Talent Points: What are they, How to Change
f. Glyphs: General Information
g. Mounts: Level/Training/Cost
h. Spells: Where are they, how to change action bar
i. Allied Races
Auction House
a. How to Place Items
b. How to Buy Items/Bid on Items
c. How to Cancel Auctions
d. Black Market Auction House
User Interface
a. Coordinates
b. Chat Channels
c. Add Ons
Basic Mechanics
a. How to Swim
b. How to Unstack Items
c. Other Keyboard commands
d. Mouse (basic)
Common Problems
a. Destroyed Hearthstone
b. Cannot return to corpse after death
c. Failing Quests
d. GM Tickets
Useful Links
a. RAF FAQ
b. Guild Recruitment
Rules of the Game
a. Buying Characters
You may be tempted to buy a nice, shiny new max-level character from a website. Blizzard does not look favorably upon this action and will usually ban an account if such activity is discovered.
There are other reasons that you might want to avoid such a decision. For one, there is little guarantee that the character you end up with is the character advertised (there’s no way for you to know!). For another, accounts are linked by passwords and ‘secret questions’, so you have to have faith that the person selling you the character is going to give you both of those. These are two of the most obvious reasons, but I’m sure other community members will provide more!
But what if you really want a near-max level character now? What if your friend is at max and really wants you to play? Well, Blizzard does have two options that players may consider: purchasing the latest expansion typically comes with a single free character boost to level to the previous expansion’s max; you may purchase additional boosts for other characters via their online store.
b. Buying Gold
Buying gold is also against the rules of the game, as it creates an unfair advantage for certain players and can have a profoundly negative impact on a server’s economy. Other risks include: being banned, getting your account hacked or stolen, getting personal (non-game related) information stolen, or even discovering little viruses on your computer!
That being said, there is the option to use WoW Tokens. Essentially, players may purchase a token in the real-world store using real money, then turn around and sell it on the in-game Auction House for gold. Players then use the token for game time.
For more information: https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/31218
c. Private Servers
Private servers are against the rules as well. The way Blizzard maintains the game and produces new content is not only through direct sale of the game and expansions, but also through the monthly fee. In addition, private servers are well known for having problems, such as maintenance and very small communities. You also must have faith that what you are connecting to is virus-free!
d. Reporting Others/Being Reported
If you find that someone is breaking the rules either in the game or on the forums, you have the option to report them for their behavior. Hitting the ‘?’ on your bar in the game will bring up a menu to do so. On the forums, hovering over a post will reveal a ‘thumbs down’ button - click the drop down menu and select what option you want; if the first three aren’t what you’re looking for, continue down to ‘Report’ for other options. The report box will show up at the bottom of the post.
What happens if you or another player is reported? Blizzard will first investigate the matter - so long as you are abiding by the rules of the game or the Code of Conduct on the forums you have nothing to worry about! If you are found to have violated some principle, the repercussions depend on both the severity of the infraction and how many times you have broken rules in general.
Blizzard operates on what they term a ‘penalty volcano’. As you gain more and more infractions, the punishments become more and more severe, ranging from a temporary ban of a few hours to a permanent ban from the game or the forums (depending on where your infractions occurred). Bans can be challenged but rarely result in dismissal unless Blizzard has clearly made a mistake.
The Game
a. Order/Content of Expansions
Players have access to the base game and all previous expansions wrapped into their monthly fee. The current expansion will cost extra money for those players that want to play the newest content; if a player doesn’t want to shell out more than the monthly fee, they will constantly be an expansion behind.
b. Server Transfers
You may have decided that your first server was not what you thought it would be. You may transfer from server to server for a small fee.
c. Starting a fresh account
If you’re brand new to the Warcraft experience, you can play what’s called a Starter Edition, letting you level whatever characters you make all the way to level 20. There are some restrictions on this account, however, such as a much lower gold cap, certain chat restrictions, inability to access some in-game features (such as Pet Battles), and players also cannot use Trade, Mail, or the Auction House. Definitely read the linked support article, as it goes much more in-depth.
Keep in mind if you do decide to add game time, those restrictions won’t lift for 24 hours after purchase!
Character Information
a. How to Repair
Get in too many fights and your gear will start to suffer, so much that it can become unusable. There are many vendors, usually in cities or towns, that will repair your armor and weapons for a fee. The easiest way to find these vendors is to use the drop-down menu to the top left of your mini-map. Select ‘Repair’ and any vendors that can offer such a service will appear on your mini-map.
b. Level Requirement for Helms/Shoulders
This is a common question, as so many of us want to fill all those slots on our characters as quickly as possible. Helms are generally only available beginning at level 11 (with the Azure Silk Hood, a Cloth crafted item). There are some that are available sooner that offer a marginal amount of armor, but these are usually only available during such holiday events as Hallow’s End and Noblegarden. Shoulder armor is available sooner, around level 7, usually as drops from various monsters or as quest rewards.
c. Armor and Weapons for Classes
Not every Class can use every type of Armor or Weapon. Generally speaking, Classes can use any Armor type that falls below their own (for instance: Hunters can also use Leather and Cloth in addition to Mail if they desire) - just keep in mind that the game system is designed around wearing the “proper” armor for that class, so don’t expect your cloth-wearing Paladin to do well:
Cloth: Priest, Mage, Warlock
Leather: Rogue, Druid, Monk, Demon Hunter
Mail: Evoker, Hunter, Shaman
Plate: Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight
Some classes can also use Shields: Warriors, Paladins, and Shaman
The weapons available to your class can be found in the General (first) Tab of your Spellbook. Hovering over Weapon Skills will show all the weapons you are able to use.
d. Professions
Gathering and crafting professions can be learned at level 1 (Herbalism, Mining, Skinning; Leatherworking, Blacksmithing, etc.). Archaeology is available at level 5. You can have any combination of Gathering or Crafting Professions (for a total of two), yet you can have all the Secondary Professions (Cooking, Fishing, and Archaeology).
The most popular question is how to unlearn a profession once you’ve learned it, in case you want to switch out and try something new. The fix is quick and simple: open up your Professions micromenu button at the bottom of your screen, then click on the circle next to the Profession you want to discard. You will 1) start out with any new Profession at a skill level of ‘1’ and 2) if you decide to return to your old Profession, you will start all over again at a skill level of ‘1’.
Note: You cannot unlearn the Secondary Professions.
e. Talents
You start being able to spend talent points at level 10. Classes have three trees to work with - the base class tree available to the entire class, the specialization tree, and the central Hero tree. Each level, players will gain one point, alternating between the base tree and the specialization tree. After level 71, the central tree unlocks.
Talents can be switched around at any time by right-clicking on them, thereby refunding points. The exception to this is while in a PvP match or a Mythic+ run.
f. Glyphs
With the Legion expansion, Glyphs are special ‘tweaks’ that you can assign to spells for cosmetic purposes. They can be learned via Inscription or purchased from the Auction House.
g. Mounts
You will have the opportunity to purchase and ride a variety of mounts. You can ride a land mount as well as a Skyriding mount at level 10. Steady Flight is unlocked at level 20. For the current expansion, Steady Flight is unlocked for those new zones after players complete the expansion’s main campaign; Shadowlands and Dragonflight zones still have their own requirements. Note that with the Fractures in Time update with Dragonflight, all tiers of riding are automatically unlocked for players at no cost.
Ground Mounts:
Journeyman Riding @ level 10: 100% speed; Auto training (comes with “Summon ” spell for Paladins/Warlocks; comes with Running Wild for Worgen)
Flying Mounts:
Not all flying mounts will benefit from Skyriding; those that do not will be grounded if players have Skyriding enabled. This can be toggled within the Mount Journal. The riding levels below pertain specifically to Steady Flight, as Skyriding depends on a unique blend of skills (unlocked via talents) for maneuverability and bursts of speed.
Expert Riding @ level 20: 220% speed; Auto training/50G mount (comes with “Flight Form” for Druids); Steady Flight unlocked
Master Riding @ level 30: Auto training (440% speed)
Note: Mounts scale with riding skill, so it doesn’t matter at what tier of Riding skill you initially purchase them at.
Characters that reach level 30 and step into Boralus (Alliance) or Dazar’alor (Horde) will receive the quest “Time to Fly” and be awarded with a flying mount: the Harbor Gryphon for Alliance characters and Scarlet Pterrordax for Horde characters.
h. Spells: Where are they, how to change action bars
Spells and abilities are located in their own tab within Talents and Specializations. When you first start out, your new abilities will be automatically placed on your action bar, but not necessarily in the position you want!
Option 1) Hold down to drag items from your button bars. Drop them onto other button bar slots to rearrange them, or drop them onto the ground to put them back into your spellbook. Helpful for when you have a few changes to make.
Option 2) Go to your Interface menu (computer icon–>options) and choose ‘action bars’. You may want to activate the other action bars while there by making sure the check marks are showing. Open your Spellbook and begin moving abilities around. This is helpful when you have a lot of changes to make.
Any spells you may have forgotten to add to your bar will be highlighted in the book.
i. Allied Races
You may have noticed additional race options to choose from when creating your character, but these were locked! These are Allied Races, and there are certain requirements for completion a player must perform before these are available. Allied Races are faction-exclusive (though Earthen can be Alliance or Horde), and you must have a character of the same faction already up to level 50 in addition to completing certain achievements.
An overview of the Allied Races is included in the race page on the site:
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/game/races
Wowhead has in-depth guides for all Allied Races, starting with the Dark Iron Dwarves. Use the navigation menu on the left-hand side of the linked page below to check out which race you’re interested in:
Remember if you want the special heritage armor tied with the Allied Race, you must level all the way to 50 without using a character boost!
Auction House
a. Placing Items
The Auction House can be a major source of money for you. It is easy to place an item on the Auction House (found primarily in any racial capitol in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, as well as some neutral cities and sanctuaries). Alliance, Horde, and Neutral auction houses are linked together.
+left-click to see if the item is already for sale
If so, undercut the price by whatever you see fit
If not, you can either a) wait until the item is for sale or b)see what similar items are selling for at that level and price accordingly
Note: the money you make from your Auction may take as much as an hour to show up in your mailbox. This is due to an ongoing effort by Blizzard to keep an eye out for gold-sellers and buyers.
b. Buying/Bidding
Buying is easy! Just click the button and confirm your purchase. Note: the items you purchased will be available immediately in your mailbox.
You may sometimes see an item that has no ‘buyout’ price. Instead you have to bid on the item - if you are outbid, your money will reappear in your mailbox and you will be free to rebid up until the auction ends. Note that cannot cancel bids that you make!
c. Canceling Auctions
You can cancel any auction you place on the Auction House. You cannot, however, cancel any purchases or bids you have already made!
In your Auction House interface (where you search for items and place bids, etc.), you’ll find three tabs, assuming you have no Add Ons. Select the “Auctions” tab. Select the item in the list that you have placed, then hit the “Cancel” button 
d. Black Market Auction House
The Black Market Auction House is an AH not linked to the others, introduced with Mists of Pandaria. Instead of players placing items for sale, some well known NPCs are the sellers! The BMAH is within The Fissure in Dornogal in The War Within expansion. Items offered include highly sought after pets, mounts, and armor.
The catch? You never know what is going to be offered, items are offered for a limited time, and the prices are extremely high!
User Interface
a. Coordinates
Often you will hear people give out coordinates to important locations. This may confuse you, as there is no way in the game to locate these coordinates. You can, however, download what is called an ‘addon’ in order to have this information available.
b. Chat Channels
To enter a chat channel, type the following:
/join general
/join trade
/join localdefense
/join worlddefense
To leave, simply substitute /leave for /join.
c. Add Ons
All the information about what Add Ons are and some suggestions can be found there
Mechanics
a. How to Swim
Don’t be embarrassed, because everyone had this problem! To swim, simply press forward (as if you wanted to walk) and hold down your right mouse key in order to look down. Alternatively you can press ‘x’ to sink and ‘spacebar’ to rise, though this will generally be slower.
b. How to Unstack Items
Simply hold down and right-click on your stack. A small window will open and split the stack as you wish into smaller increments.
c. Other Keyboard Commands
- Num Lock: Auto-run
- W, A, S, D: Movement (or you can use the arrow keys)
- Q, E: Strafe left and right
- Space Bar: Jump (Land), Rise (Flying or Swimming)
- X: Sit (Land), Descend (Flying or Swimming)
- Z: Unsheathe Weapon
- /: Walk/Run toggle
- T: Target (be careful if you have auto-attack on)
- TAB: Cycle through targets
- Enter: enter chat channel
- /: after Enter, for chat commands
- /r: return a whisper (usually purple text)
- /em: emote
- /say: switch to regular speech
- V: Show name plates (over heads)
d. Mouse (basic)
- left-click: select target (to attack, buff, etc.)
- right-click: melee attack; if not in melee range, will put you in attack posture; also used to interact with NPCs (this can be changed to left-click in the Interface menu under Controls)
- dual-click: move forward
Common Problems
a. Destroyed Hearthstone
You’ve destroyed your Hearthstone! Now you find that you cannot teleport back to your inn! Relax, for all you need to do is visit the nearest Innkeeper and bind yourself there (as if you still had your stone) and you’ll get a replacement.
b. Can’t get to Corpse
You may have died in some awful place that you can’t get to in your Spirit Form. There are a few options to deal with such a problem:
-
Rez at the Spirit Healer. All you need to do is talk with the Healer - keep in mind you will be awarded with a massive debuff to your stats and a good chunk of durability loss for your equipment! This is, however, the easiest choice, and your stats will return to normal after a set amount of time (you’ll still need to repair, however).
-
If you’ve already left the Spirit Healer you can click the ‘Return to Graveyard’ button at the top middle of your screen. You can also use the ‘Auto Unstuck’ feature in your ‘?’ menu to return to the nearest Healer.
-
If nothing else works - such as your Spirit is now stuck - then file a GM ticket (again, the ‘?’ menu will help you with this). It may be a long wait until you are assisted, so consider either logging off or hopping onto another character. (see below for more on GM tickets)
c. Failing Quests
You will almost certainly come across a quest or two that you thought you could take on but end up ultimately failing - escort quests come to mind. Fret not about this, as you will be able to open your Quest Log, select the Quest, then select ‘Abandon’. Returning to the initial quest giver will allow you to repeat the quest. (There are a choice few quests where you are not able to do this - simply fill out a GM ticket to be helped!)
d. GM Tickets
GMs are Game Masters that are employed by Blizzard to help players in the game. They will also respond to reports of harassment and other such infractions.
To fill out a GM ticket, go to the ‘?’ at the bottom of your screen. This will pull up a menu where you have the option of opening a ticket. When you fill out your ticket be as concise and informative as possible. General information to include would be: your character’s name, the realm, and what time the problem occurred (and who was involved, if reporting someone).
GMs will generally attempt to contact you in the game. Sometimes the wait can be rather long, so it’s perfectly all right to log off or jump onto another character. If you log off, an in-game e-mail will be sent once the problem is addressed. If you are on another character, the GM will contact you on that other character.
GM contact will only be through a popup window with the Blizzard logo and blue text. GM’s will never ask for your account information or send you to a web site to verify your account info.
Useful Links
a. Refer-A-Friend
How To:
b. Guild Recruitment
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