What is World of Warcraft

　　What is World of Warcraft? World of Warcraft is an online game where players from around the world assume the roles of heroic fantasy characters and explore a virtual world full of mystery, magic, and endless adventure. So much for the short answer! If you’re still looking for a better understanding of what World of Warcraft is, this page and the Beginner’s Guide are the right place to start.So, what is this game? Among other things,
World of Warcraft is…
…a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
Games in the same genre as World of Warcraft are commonly referred to as MMORPGs, which stands for “Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.”
Massively Multiplayer
Most multiplayer games can accommodate anywhere from two up to several dozen simultaneous players in a game. Massively multiplayer games, however, can have thousands of players in the same game world at the same time, interacting with each other. They are, as the name suggests, massive.
Online
Unlike most games, MMORPGs do not have an offline mode; you need to be connected to the Internet while you play. This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy these games alone; World of Warcraft offers plenty of content to players who want to go it solo. But since you share a virtual world with other players, you need to be connected to the Internet to join in the fun. Much of the game’s advanced content is geared towards groups of players working together to explore dangerous dungeons and defeat powerful monsters.
Role-Playing
In World of Warcraft, each player character has a specific set of skills and abilities that define that character’s role. For example, mages are powerful spellcasters who use magic to inflict damage on their enemies from afar but are very vulnerable to attacks. These traits define the role of the mage: hang back, do a ton of damage, and hope to kill the monsters before they reach you.In a group context, there are three main roles: tank, damage dealer, and healer. A warrior can choose to serve as a formidable “tank,” or protector. Tanks are resilient, and it’s their job to draw the enemy’s attention away from the more vulnerable members of the group. The aforementioned mages make excellent damage dealers. A priest specialized in healing powers may not do as much damage as other classes, but they can play a vital role, keeping the party alive with healing magic. It’s important to note that all classes, regardless of which role they perform, are able to play solo. Some classes are limited in the kind of role they can play: warlocks and rogues, for instance, are strictly damage dealers. Some character classes, like the druid, can capably fulfill all three roles. Role-play also means that you play the role of a character living in the game’s fantasy world. How much or how little you role-play is up to you; some players construct entire background histories for their characters and adopt unique mannerisms when they’re “in character.” Immersing yourself completely in the fantasy can be a lot of fun, but tastes vary, and it’s perfectly alright if full immersion simply isn’t your style. This kind of role-play is purely optional, and we provide separate Role-Play realms for those who prefer to play in an immersive world.
To summarize: In an MMORPG, you play the role of a unique character in a persistent online world shared by thousands of other players.
…set in the high-fantasy universe of Warcraft
Before World of Warcraft, there was the Warcraft series of strategy games. World of Warcraft is set in the same high-fantasy universe as the previous Warcraft games, and it builds on and expands a legacy of more than fifteen years of epic storytelling.Azeroth is a world of swords and sorcery. Its lands are home to a vast number of races and cultures, led by kings, chieftains, lords, ladies, archdruids, and everything in between. Some of Azeroth’s people share bonds of friendship reaching back thousands of years; others are sworn enemies with long histories of bitter hatred. Among all these different kingdoms, cultures, tribes, and territories, two major power blocs are locked in a struggle for dominance.
THE FACTIONS AND RACES OF WARCRAFT:
Alliance and Horde
In Warcraft, there are two large, opposing factions. On one side is the noble Alliance, which comprises the valiant humans, the stalwart dwarves, the ingenious gnomes, the spiritual night elves, the mystical draenei, and the bestial worgen;
on the other side is the mighty Horde, made up of the battle-hardened orcs, the cunning trolls, the hulking tauren, the cursed Forsaken, the extravagant blood elves, and the devious goblins. Your character’s race will determine whose side you are on, so choose carefully.
Epic as they may be, these wars between the mortal races pale in comparison to the malevolent forces threatening Azeroth from within and without. Deep beneath the surface of Azeroth, the terrible Old Gods mastermind the release of untold horrors upon the world; in the frozen wastes of the northern continent, a being of pure evil commands a vast army of undeath, ready to snuff out all life; and far across the stars, deep within the warped realm of the Twisting Nether, an unstoppable force of chaos and destruction thirsts to lead its demonic legion to Azeroth and to put the world to the flame.World of Warcraft thrusts you into a central role of an ever-changing story. You and your friends will be active participants in events that are steeped in the rich lore of this fantasy universe. Fight for either the Alliance or the Horde, and experience a fully-realized fantasy world.

THAT’S AN ACHIEVEMENT

In an earlier post, I mentioned that WOW will allow for a multitude of play stiles.  Personally, I spend a lot of time soloing in Azeroth.  I belong to guilds on all my characters and participate in guild activities, but a majority of my time is spent finishing the different tasks I have decided to do.  I know other players who spend most of their time doing end of game raids and join guilds whose sole function is raiding.  There is no right or wrong style of play.

That being said, today I want to talk about achievements.  When Blizzard released the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, they introduced Achievements to WOW.  Achievements are self contained goals that you can complete for satisfaction, or titles, or sometimes for cool rewards.  Some achievements are as easy as reaching level 10 and some, such as “What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been”, require you to complete at least a year’s worth of seasonal achievements.  They give players something to shoot for.  There are even websites dedicated to achievements, which will even tell you which player has received the most achievement points in all of WOW.
I like achievements and work to complete as many as possible.
Achievements are divided into nine categories; General, Quests, Exploration, Player vs. Player, Dungeons and raids, Professions, Reputation, World Events, and Feats of Strength.

• General-  These achievements are the ones that do not fit into any other category.  This category includes things like leveling (you get an achievement every 10 levels plus one for level 85), collecting pets or mounts, or eating different types of foods.  This category contains 67 achievements.
•  Quests-  This category contains achievements for completing quests.  It is divided into the different areas in WOW, as there are achievements for completing a given number of quests in a certain area.  There are also achievements for completing specific quests or objectives in the game.  This category contains 129 achievements.
•  Exploration-  These are the achievements you receive for finding all the areas in WOW.  Some of the achievements are easy, while others require you to explore the other faction’s territory (which can be dangerous to your health).  This section also includes special achievements for killing rare mob spawns.  This category contains 80 achievements.
•  Player vs. Player-  Achievements in this area are awarded for reaching significant levels in PVP play.  This category contains 227 achievements.
•  Dungeons and raids-  These achievements are earned by participating in Instances throughout WOW.  Instances include normal and heroic 5-man dungeons, 10-man raids and 25-man raids.  This category contains 539 achievements.
•  Professions-  There are achievements for advancement and tasks related to your primary and secondary professions.  This category contains 113 achievements.
•  Reputation-  We discussed reputation in a previous post.  There are achievements for achieving exalted reputations with various factions in the game.  This category contains 54 achievements.
•  World Events-  Blizzard has created “holidays” in WOW that correspond to real-world holidays.  There are special quests and achievements that can only be performed during these holidays.  This category contains 143 achievements.
•  Feats of Strength-  These achievements represent the past glories of Azeroth, and as such, they are very difficult – if not impossible – to earn.  They are worth no points, and unlike normal achievements, unearned feats are not displayed in the achievements interface.

I hope you find this guide helpful and I request any input from experienced players.  This blog is intended to be helpful to newer players.  Please ask any questions you have and we will do our best to answer them.

Social Madness and Joy

Last month I started doing something I haven’t done in a very, very long time.
What did I do? I played a single-player game, one of those real ones that you play on a console or your PC, not a short little browser game. No other people controlled avatars in that space, no one fought against me or chatted in game to me. It was just me and Alice (and a bunch of scary creatures).
But it was social.
Alice: Madness Returns
Playing Alice was social for a few reasons:
1) Most of the game I played while voice chatting with a friend who also had just bought the game. We started together, and although we progressed at slightly different rates, we chatted throughout pretty much the entire game experience. We cursed and complained and questioned and ooh’d and ahh’d and wow’d as we moved from amazing level to amazing level. We shared the experience of playing the game together, and it made every far, far more fun than it would have otherwise been.
2) My daughter and husband periodically would sit with me in my study, looking over my shoulder as I played and help me out. ”Go there, mommie!” my daughter (7) would say, and I’d find an extra goodie or a secret passage (she’s good, that one). My husband cheered me on, commiserated when I kept failing that one almost impossible jump.
3) I raved about the game to friends, encouraging them to buy the game for themselves. Those that did chatted and ooh’d and ahh’d with me, too.
Social gaming is perhaps a bit more complicated than WoW, SL, or those Facebook games that get all the press. Playing Alice like that was amazingly fun and reminded me why I fell in love with games in the first place.

The Amazing Race Guild Event

When you run out of ideas for guild events, copy television?  Works for me! I formed two teams of four players.  The objective was to solve the clues and get to each pitstop first.  The team arriving first got 20 points, and the other team would get 10 points.  I parked my alts at all the clue locations (I have multiple accounts and two computers though, you might need help with that part).
I handed out matching shirts and fun gray item hats to each player just for fun and so they could keep an eye on their team.  So we had team blue and team orange.
The rules: no class portals/summons of any kind, no mass summons, no help from anyone not on team, no looking at guild roster during contest (because it would giveaway location of hidden guildie), no website help.  Allowed: hearthstones, city/zone portals, using the map.
I would mail or whisper/say each clue to the team leader.  Each team was in a seperate vent channel to discuss the clue.  I would jump into each channel to check on the status of each team.  Here is an example of a clue:
5 Paths, One peak, find Illayeria East of the Retreat.  (Sun Rock Retreat, Stonetalon Mountains)
After ten minutes, if no one was close to the location I would post a screenshot on our guild facebook page.  Here is a shot of the first location, which set the pace for the contest:

Team Orange got ahead in the beginning and won every pitstop except one.  The last pitstop was very close though.  The winners received a choice of bloodthirsty PVP crafted piece or epic enchant/embossment.

Be An Enchanter

Okay, if you want to choose enchanting as a profession, I have a few tips that will save you tons of cash. I learned the hard way a couple years ago and trust me, I spent more gold than I will ever be able to recover by being a, well as they say ... a noob. Hopefully I can save you alot of time and money with this article.
Let's start with a new character. What I do is choose 2 gathering professions for the first 20 levels. You can change professions at anytime. What this does is allow you to make extra gold that you will need to become an enchanter. Typically, I choose Herbalism and Mining. Both will allow you to generate nice amounts of cash. Once you reach level 20 or so, (can be more, can be less), drop one of your professions in order to add enchanting. Which one you drop is entirely up to you. As you level your character, mining gives you toughness and herbalism allows you to have lifeblood, both come in very handy.
Once you have picked up enchanting you will need to do a few things to get ready. Hit the auction house and purchase approximately 200 Strange Dust, 100 Lesser Magic essence, a cheap bracer (or use your own) and 1 copper rod. This will get you started. You will need other mats, but that can wait for the time being.
Make your ruined copper rod and start enchanting. Enchant you bracer over and over again with "Enchant Bracer Minor Health". Keep going until you have reached level 75 then visit the enchanting trainor. Now you are at 75/150 in your enchanting skill. Resume enchanting Minor Health until you reach level 90, at which time it turns green and becomes harder to level with. Now, go to "Enchant Bracer Minor deflection" until you reach level 100. From there do "Enchant Chest Absorbtion" until you reach level 110. Then "Enchant Bracer Minor Stamina to get to level 120. You may want to train again at this point. Continue on this way until you are bored to dealth, lol. Just remember to do the enchants that will take the least amount of materials as possible. They do get costly! Once you reach level 150 hit your trainor and the Auction House again. Look for new enchanting recipies you can afford, as well as new mats you will need. Some of the mats you will need are Soul Dust, Vision Dust, Greater Magic Essence, Greater/Lesser Astral Essence, and some various shards. Look at your enchants to see what material will be needed.
Another thing you will want to do is get some Armor Vellum & Weapon Vellum. These will allow you to do enchants on scrolls to sell in the Auction House. If you are in a guild ask for an Inscriptionist to make them for you. Otherwise, it's more money into the Auction House. The scrolls are a great way to make money with your new profession, and an awesome way to level your skill. This wasn't available when I created my first enchanter and, let me tell you, it makes leveling so much easier!
Now you are on your way to becoming a real Enchanter! Well, not real, it is a game. Remember, scrolls will be your best friend. Make sure you use this to your advantage. That's where you will make your best money.