Account Setup
Create a free Blizzard account and play up to Level 20 for free. Choose between 'Try Free' and 'Login' at worldofwarcraft.com. You will need to pay if you want to play the full version of the game, which is the Shadowlands expansion content. Set up a Starter Edition account instead if you're just testing out WoW and aren't sure if you'll enjoy it in the long run.
If you are also looking to get into WoW Classic, a guide is always a good place to start!
Realm
If you're a new player, the game will automatically select a Realm for you and take you to the page of Character Creation. Characters are created on a realm, and you will be in the realm you have selected when you play the character. You can select the same realm as your WoW friends if you want to play together. The realms are divided into two: Normal and Role-playing. They differ when it comes to community and rule sets.
Faction
This game is a war, and the sides in the conflict are the Alliance and Horde. The two sides can only play against each other. The faction you pick will direct where you play, who you play with, and what Races you can play.
Race
- The Alliance is composed of humans, dwarves, gnomes, and Night Elves.
- Hordes are orcs, trolls, Tauron, Blood Elves, and goblins.
- The Neutrals can join either once they finish their starter zones.
Role
- Damage Dealer (DPS). The goal is to do harm. Damage Dealers can be a melee that hits opponents at close-range or a Damage Dealer that attacks from afar with weapons.
- Tanking. In group battles, protect comrades from receiving damage. While the emphasis is on skills on defense, players will be able to use a variety of damaging spells.
- Healer. Once your team has been damaged by opponents, your task is to restore their health. You will also be given a few damaging spells that you can utilize to deliver damage.
Grinding a new class up to 60 and farming the items takes a lot of time. If you don’t want to have to spend tens of hours getting to the fun part of the game just to play an other class, buying a WoW account is a good solution for you!
Classes
A class is a collection of abilities, spells, and possible roles that your character can play. It is a broad category of characters that includes anything from classic fantasy archetypes like the Mage and Warrior to more unusual ones like the Death Knight. Each race can choose certain classes but can’t choose others because of the lore fantasy of WoW.
Each class contains two to four categories, which will influence your character's role. Warrior, for example, specializes in three areas: defense, rage, and arms. Protection can act as a tank, focusing on dealing harm to opponents. Although all specialties share some spells (known as basic abilities), your specialties determine most of your character's abilities.
You can choose from 12 different classes: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Monk, Druid, Demon Hunter, and Death Knight.
Players can pick as many as 50 characters in one realm, and you can simply create a new class or role if you suddenly change your mind. Even if you didn’t change your mind, you could still experiment with different characters because each class is vastly different.
Coaching is a good choice for World of Warcraft players, who are still in need of help or advice.
