A total beginner's guide to World of Warcraft!

[yrref]

Hello and welcome, to this guide that will teach you some basics about the magical world of World of Warcraft, including:

-Buying, installing, and patching!
-Starting, and picking a server
-Making your character
-Classes

Right, lets get started!

Chapter one
Buying, installing and patching!

1. Buying World of Warcraft.
World of warcraft is buyable at just about every game shop near you, but if you are a new player, just get World of Warcraft first! Do not get Wrath Of The Lich King, or The Burning Crusade first as they require the first game: World of Warcraft. You can immediately buy the Burning Crusade expansion-pack, which enables two new races: the Draenei for the Alliance side, and the Blood Elf for the horde side.

2. Installing World of Warcraft.
Installing World of Warcraft isn't really hard to do, just follow the basic steps, and choose where you want to install it. The usual place to install it is: C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft uses up to 16 gigabytes of your harddisc. So make sure that you have enough space for it! After you have done the installing part, you can choose to make your account. Do this and fill in all your info on the WoW site, this shouldn't take long.

3. Patching World of Warcraft
Hold your horses! You can't play yet! First you have to patch all the way up to the most recent version of the game. You can use the blizzard downloader, which automatically downloads patches, but you can also go to: http://www.wowwiki.com/patch_mirrors to get the patches you need. This is very time consuming, and you will (probably) hate it. But when you are done, it was all worth it, don't worry.

Chapter two
Starting the game and picking a server.

Hoora! chapter two!
Now that you have installed and patched the game, you will be able to start it using what is called the Launcher. The launcher is a sort of information-board before you start the game, it shows new things blizzard has added to the game, or some information you need all in one handy format. You can click a link in the launcher, and it will bring you to the website, what the link was about.

But to get on with starting the game (which we are all here for). Press the PLAY button on the launcher, and the game will start. A cinematic will join which Blizzard has made wonderfully. after the cinematic you will be able to log in with the account which you made on the internet. Login and you will be able to pick a server, and a language. (You should know which language you speak right?).

Some basic information (From the WoW site)
World of Warcraft includes both player vs. environment (PvE) and player vs. player (PvP) gameplay. In PvE gameplay, you can do quests, fight monsters, speak, trade, gain experience, learn skills, and advance levels as you would in any other massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). In PvP gameplay, you are fighting other players in the wilderness or in special places called Battlegrounds. Sometimes these two gameplay modes can intersect, for example, when a player is attacked by another player (PvP) while fighting a monster (PvE).

Choosing a realm
When choosing a realm you need to know these things:
-A PVP realm, is where you can fight other players (Horde vs. Alliance) while leveling, might you encounter an opponent in the world. Then you can just engage them and kill them if you are stronger then that person. If you just want to level quietly and in peace, without getting killed all the time, don't choose a PVP realm. If you like the challenge and the thrill of the kill, choose a PVP realm.

-A RP realm, is a RolePlaying realm. Here you are an actual inhabitant of the magical world, and these have strict naming rules. You actually have to pick something that could go forth as a name, not something like: Cokebottle or anything in that direction. RP realms have no PVP unless you enable it for yourself, in your character portrait. If you want to level quietly go here. If you want to kill people, choose a PVP realm.

-A normal realm, is actually quite the same as a RP realm, but without the naming policy.

-RPPVP, (you can probably guess here) is a RolePlaying Person Versus Person realm. These realms have strict naming rules, and you are an actual inhabitant of the magical world, but you can still fight other people. If you want to kill people, and live in a fantasy world completely, go here!

So far for chapter 2.

Chapter three
Making your character.

Part one.
Choosing a side.

This one speaks for itself, you can choose the horde or the alliance. the alliance has these 5 races:
-Human
-Dwarf
-Gnome
-Night elf
-And Draenei (only if you bought the burning crusade expansion)
The alliance has pretty worlds, and the most beginning players choose the alliance side.

The horde has these races:
-Undead
-Tauren
-Troll
-Orc
-And Blood Elf (only if you bought the burning crusade expansion)
The Horde is more well.. lets say evil then the alliance, and usually a little more experienced players venture here.

The Classes.
The classes are the kind of character you are. for example: You can be a Night Elf priest, but you could also be a Night Elf Druid.

Warrior: A warrior is a strong and fierce warrior, with very much health points, and high armor. this is the best class for tanking, and it is not really hard to level, as you won't die often. It doesn't have mana, but it has rage. which builds up in battle.

Rogue: The rogue is a sneaky assassin, which has stealth. With stealth you can fade from sight and stab opponents in the back. It is usually in role for DPS, which means Damage Per Second. It isn't hard to level and very, veeeery many people play a rogue. A rogue doesn't have mana, it has energy.

Mage: A mage is a caster, which throws huge fireballs, and frost spells. It's gear isn't really strong as it doesn't have much armor. It usually takes on the role of DPS or AOE which means Area Of Effect. This comes down to slapping a lot of monsters, with one spell. A mage is a bit hard to level as it has quite a lot of health.

Hunter: A hunter is a ranged shooter. It uses a bow and arrow, and shoots the opponent from a distance. It can wear leather, and at level 40 mail. It also has a pet, which can basically tank, and you shoot from a distance. A hunter takes on the role of DPS in dungeons.

Shaman: A shaman is a caster, with leather and at level 40 mail. It uses totems and those totems have certain effects. the Shaman takes on the role of buffing, healing and doing some damage.

The Priest: The priest is a caster, using the powers of the light to heal. It takes on the role of healer in most raids.

The Paladin: The paladin is a crossover between a priest and a warrior. It's a mail wearer, and at level 40 it learns plate. It usually takes on the role of tanking, or healing.

The Druid: The druid is quite an odd class, doing pretty much EVERYTHING. It can tank while in bear form, it can do DPS while in cat form, and healing in Tree Of Life form. As you have seen by now, the druid can have several forms, and can do about everything. It wears leather.

The Warlock: The warlock is a demonic caster using a demonic pet, which wears cloth and does quite some damage in raids. It is quite strong, but dies quite easily because he wears cloth.

This was the end of the beginning guide. It's all you need to know when you want to start playing.
Hope I can help someone with this.

[Spartin]

Sorry to kinda Flame But ppl who dont know how to patch/install/Create a char/Change realm wont be on this website so its kinda pointless But i like how uve set out the guide and what classes do etc :P Still kinda useless tho xD

[yrref]

Sorry to kinda Flame But ppl who dont know how to patch/install/Create a char/Change realm wont be on this website so its kinda pointless But i like how uve set out the guide and what classes do etc :P Still kinda useless tho xD

Some people do research before they start a game

[Spartin]

Some people do research before they start a game

Fair enough :P

[Wat3rcolour]

It's not greatly useful but +Rep for the effort :P

[WhatIWant]

Nice =) could have be useful for me ^^

[n00byn4t3r]

The Warlock: The warlock is a demonic caster using a demonic pet, which wears mail and does quite some damage in raids. It is quite strong, but dies quite easily because he wears cloth.
[/COLOR]

(filler)

[Diabloss39]

Please fix the mistakes... It bothers me when you say that shamans can wear plate and warlocks mail...

[yrref]

fixed sorry for the mistakes.

[dragon9d10]

whats the realmlist?

[Korked]

My cousin is playing WoW soon. He'll get raped my murlocs.

[Brahulus]

Theres a lot more you could add but if I saw this prior to starting WoW it would've been helpful, so overall good guide

[Killalots]

Maybe some Addon Part to it?

Otherwise, I could see this helpful for a newbie

[Sleepingcap]

I wouldn't be calling the Horde evil.

[Shleven]

A lot of this is just opinion based.