WoW Guide - Entering the World of Warcraft for the Novice

If you are new to the World of Warcraft or the gaming scene in general, then you could do with a little information about this MMORPG phenomenon. Maybe, you are reading this guide because of your girlfriend dumped you for not playing WoW; then you know how big a phenomenon WoW is. Let the term MMORPG not bother you. Before you start scratching your head, it means Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game; in case you did not know. World of Warcraft is a MMORPG game that features massive number of players. Let us get started with this guide.

The History of the Warcraft Universe:

The Warcraft series of games have been around since 1994. However, the publisher Blizzard Entertainment released the World of Warcraft game in November 2004. The game, after initial technical glitches went on to eclipse all other MMORPG games. It has a record 8.5 million players worldwide. The game, like all other MMORPG games, is set in a gargantuan world called the Warcraft Universe.

Understanding the Gameplay:

The players have to pick their characters or in a way create them. The characters have to be chosen based on their race and class. However, selection of race precedes the selection of class. Race here has its real world implications. Every race has its pros and cons. In addition, every race owes it allegiance to either one of the Alliance or Horde political alliances. Thus, you will have to pick and choose. Then you will have to select your class. Class is tantamount to a real life occupation. The only difference being that you do not get to be a doctor or a 3D modeler. Instead, you can choose from different classes like Druid, Hunters and Paladins etc. Not all races will allow you to pick all the classes. You can pick the Druid class, only if you chose Night Elves or Tauren as your race.

The rule of the thumb of class selection is that one should pick the class depending on the prospective demand of the characters of that class in groups. Following your character selection, you will begin in different areas depending on the race you opted for. You might have heard that adage, Life is an unending quest . Likewise, life in WoW is no different. You will have to complete quests and a lot of them. You would be getting quests from items, NPC and group members. Upon completion of quests, you would be duly rewarded for successful completion of the quests. The rewards would be in the form of gold, experience and items. Other way to increase your in-game prosperity is through the sale of extra items in your inventory to the NPC merchants. You can also use trade channels and auction houses to trade and auction your way to success. Be forewarned that the game can be addictive.