From Leading an Army to Becoming a Foot Soldier

Blizzard’s development team faced the daunting task of turning the popular Warcraft real-time strategy experience into a role-playing one. Instead of managing an army, you can now become a foot soldier with the opportunity to work your way up to hero status and near-immortality.

On the Alliance side, you can choose from the Humans, who struggle to maintain a foothold in Azeroth after losing Lordaeron to the Undead; the Night Elves, who planted the giant tree Teldrassil to live in but now find their home dying of disease; and the Dwarves and Gnomes, diminutive in stature but capable of building grand things.

The Horde features the Orcs, who were brought to Azeroth from another world and now find themselves trying to make a new home; the Undead, many of whom rebelled against the Lich King and now find themselves fighting the Alliance under the command of the Banshee Queen, who rules from their Undercity capital below the ruins of Lordaeron; the Tauren, a spiritual race whose members’ imposing girth belies a gentle nature that only becomes violent when provoked; and the Trolls, fierce creatures who have struck up a friendship with the Orcs.

There are nine classes in the game — Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock and Warrior — but not all eight races have access to all of them. Each race also receives special bonuses, such as the Undead’s ability to breathe underwater and the Dwarves’ increased skill with guns.

We’re on a Mission

Some quests in the game build into a series, with each new mission more dangerous than the last, while others are single tasks. All, however, earn you rewards, in the form of money and/or special items, as well as experience points that help you progress to the next level, which brings with it more power and abilities.

“Much of the story in World of Warcraft is told through quests and, to a lesser extent, the ambience and environment of the zones,” explains Blizzard. “There are literally thousands of quests, through which you learn more about the current state of Azeroth and the continuing threat of the Undead Scourge, remnants of the demon invasion from Warcraft III.”

At higher levels, you can access special dungeons known as “instances,” which are unique to the group you enter it with. (You don’t want to enter them alone.) This allows your party to explore and kill monsters without other groups interfering or swiping all the good loot.

Player, Meet World

Blizzard hosts three types of servers: Role-Playing (RP), where players are encouraged to make their characters act and talk as their races do; Player vs. Player (PvP), where players of opposing factions can freely attack each other, but only in the contested areas of the continents; and Player vs. Environment (PvE), which is the standard version of the game, one where Alliance and Horde characters can attack each other only if their NPCs are attacked first. On none of the servers can characters in opposing factions talk to each other unless they learn those languages, which only happens at very high levels.

No matter which type of server you join (you can create characters on all three, if you want), your character progresses through levels the same way. As he grows in power, he accumulates talent points that he can redeem for incremental advantages. In addition, he can use the money he earns from quests, as well as from selling items he obtains during quests but doesn’t want to keep, to learn class-specific skills and work his way up in two of the nine professions available in the game: alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, engineering, herbalism, mining, leatherworking, skinning and tailoring.

Your character can use her professions to create items she can use and wear or sell to the merchants found in towns and cities (or sometimes wandering the roads). For example, she can use mining to obtain metals that she can turn into armor with the blacksmithing profession. (Note, however, that some classes have armor restrictions, so, for example, a Mage or a Warlock couldn’t use the items created with the blacksmithing profession, but they can use the ones sewn together in the tailoring trade.) She can also learn three secondary skills: cooking, fishing and first aid.

It’s All About Who You Know

Your character also gains a reputation for herself as she makes her way through the world. As Blizzard explains: “There are many quests that ask you to kill enemies of a particular faction. For instance, in Booty Bay in Stranglethorn Vale, if you kill many Bloodsail Buccaneer pirates in the area around the city, your reputation with the Booty Bay goblins will improve, while your reputation with the Bloodsail Buccaneers will suffer. If you raise your reputation high enough with Booty Bay, merchants there will give you a discount on goods, and you will unlock quests if you have a high enough reputation with certain factions.

“Conversely, if you just enter Booty Bay and begin murdering all the goblin guards there, your reputation with the city will suffer. If it gets low enough, you will no longer be able to enter the town safely. Guards will attack you on sight, and even if you get past them, merchants, flight masters, quest givers and other NPCs will not talk to you.”

On PvP servers, you can pick up dishonor points for slaying opposing NPCs far below your level. Blizzard says: “Make enough of these kills and you will earn so many dishonor points that no NPC will trust you. Your reputation with your own faction will drop so low that your own race will turn against you. Your own guards will attack you on sight, and your own NPCs will not talk to you.”

You can reach as high as level 60, at which point, Blizzard notes, “there will still be a lot of content to entertain you. Maximum level players can go on raids, which are massive dungeons or epic battles with loot, monsters and bosses more spectacular than anything else in the game. Soon we will also add hero classes, which allow characters who hit the cap to continue to advance in power.”

The first ultra-elite monster added to World of Warcraft was Onyxia, a black dragon who can be found deep within the Burning Steppes’ Blackrock Mountain in the Eastern Kingdoms. She and other hideous beasts live in the Molten Core, ready to spit fire at the highest level characters who dare cross their paths. To have even the slightest chance against her and her minions, your party must join up with others to form a raiding party, a massive assault force working in concert.

The Might of Magic. An Undead Mage casts a spell.

Stranger in a Strange Land. An Undead Warlock wanders into Alliance-held territory alone. Not a good idea.

Attack the Hand that Drains You. A warlock sucks the life from a member of the Alliance.

Have a Pint and Sit a Spell. Dwarves catch up on the latest stories of quests both grand and small.

Quick Trip Home. Use your hearthstone to teleport you back to your home base.

You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry. Equipped with buffs and staring down Onyxia the dragon.