World of Warcraft/Walkthrough

World of Warcraft is the first MMOG offering from Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the Warcraft universe, the time line is four years after Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

=Races=

Human
Start Location: Elwynn Forest

Home City: Stormwind

Racial Mount: Horse

Available Classes: Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warrior, Warlock, Death Knight,

Racial Traits

Perception - active - Activate to increase stealth detection radius by 10 yards - lasts 20 sec - 3 min cooldown The Human Spirit - passive - Increase Spirit by 5% Diplomacy - passive - 10% bonus to faction point gain Sword Specialization - passive - Humans get +5 to Sword skill Mace Specialization - passive - Humans get +5 to Mace skill

Night Elf
Start Location: Teldrassil

Home City: Darnassus

Racial Mount: Nightsaber

Available Classes: Druid, Hunter, Priest, Rogue, Warrior

Racial Traits

Shadowmeld - active - Activate while immobile and out of combat to enter stealth mode - lasts until canceled - 2 min. cooldown Quickness - passive - Dodge chance increased by 1% Wisp Spirit - passive - Become a wisp when dead with movement speed increase of 50% (25% faster than normal ghost) Nature Resistance - passive - All Night Elves get +10 Nature Resistance

Gnome
Start Location: Coldridge Valley

Home City: Ironforge

Racial Mount: Mechano-Strider

Available Classes: Mage, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior

Racial Traits

Escape Artist - active - Activate to break out of a Root or Snare effect - 1.5 sec cast - 1 min cooldown Expansive Mind - passive - Increase Intelligence by 5% Arcane Resistance - passive - All Gnomes get +10 Arcane Resistance Technologist - passive - 15 skill bonus to Engineering

Dwarf
Start Location: Coldridge Valley

Home City: Ironforge

Racial Mount: Ram

Available Classes: Paladin, Hunter, Priest, Rogue, Warrior

Racial Traits Stoneform - active - While active, grants immunity to Bleed, Poison, and Disease effects. In addition, Armor increases by 5% and speed reduced to 70% of normal. Lasts 20 sec. - 3 min cooldown Gun Specialization - passive - Dwarves get +5 to Gun Skill Frost Resistance - passive - All Dwarves get +10 Cold Resistance Treasure Finding - passive - Activate to see treasure chests on mini map - lasts until canceled - no cooldown

Orc
Start Location: Durotar

Home City: Orgrimmar

Racial Mount: Wolf

Available Classes: Shaman, Hunter, Warlock, Rogue, Warrior

Racial Traits

Blood Fury - active - Activate to increase Strength by 25% but take 5% health loss every 3 seconds - lasts 20 sec - 2 min cooldown Hardiness - passive - 25% resistance to stun and knockout effects. Command - passive - Pet melee damage increased by 5%. Axe Specialization - passive - Orcs get +5 to Axe skill.

Undead
Start Location: Tirisfal Glades

Home City: Undercity

Racial Mount: Undead Steed

Available Classes: Mage, Warlock, Priest, Rogue, Warrior

Racial Traits

Will of the Forsaken - active - Activate to become immune to fear, sleep, and charm effects - lasts 20 sec - 3 min cooldown Cannibalize - active - Increase health regeneration by 200% while consuming a corpse - lasts 15 sec - 3 min cooldown Underwater Breathing - passive - Underwater breath increased by 4x Shadow Resistance - passive - All Undead get +10 Shadow Resistance

Troll
Start Location: Durotar

Home City: Orgrimmar

Racial Mount: Raptor

Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior

Racial Traits

Berserking - active - Activate when "Wounded" to increase melee and spellcasting speed by 25% - lasts 20 sec - 2 min cooldown Regeneration - passive - 10% health regen bonus, 10% active in combat Beast Slaying - passive - 5% damage bonus to Beasts Throwing Weapon Specialization - passive - +5 to Throwing Weapon skill

Tauren
Start Location: Mulgore

Home City: Thunder Bluff

Racial Mount: Kodo

Available Classes: Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior

Racial Traits

War Stomp - active - Activate to stun opponents within 5 yards - lasts 2 sec - 2 min cooldown Endurance - passive - Max Health increased by 5% Cultivation - passive - 15 skill bonus to Herbalism Nature Resistance - passive - All Tauren get +10 Nature Resistance

=Classes=

Warrior
The Warrior is your generic heavy tank with the ability to access almost all of the weapons and armor in the game. The warrior uses a rage system where by attacking an enemy generates rages and rage powers your attacks.

Allowable Races: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Draenei, Orc, Tauren, Undead, Troll

Allowable equipment: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate, Shields

Allowable weapons: All

Paladin
Paladin's are the tank/healer hybrid class. At higher levels the Paladin excels at absorbing damage. Paladins have Auras(spells that affect your entire group) and Blessings (5 minute buffs) as well as Greater Blessings(15 minute buffs). Also they are able to cast Seals (30 second offensive spells) with the ability to then use judgments to release the energy of those seals on a target.

High level Holy Paladins have become very mana efficient and are often used as MH (Main Healers) in several of the smaller 5-man Group instances, but are best used as backup and supplemental healers in raid aspects. High level "Heal-adins" are granted talents such as "Light's Grace", which grants any usage of your primary healing spell a chance to reduce the casting time for that spell by 1/3 for a short time, and "Holy Shock", which is a special ability for "Heal-adins" which, depending on your target's deposition towards you, ally or enemy, it will heal or damage them, respectively.

High level Retribution Paladins excel at dealing damage with seals and weaponry. Their DPS (Damage per second) is the highest of all three Paladin specializations. Retribution Paladins are best using 2-handed weapons, such as axes or hammers. They are granted talents such as "Crusader Strike", which gives the Paladin an extra attack which can be activated to instantly deal 110% weapon damage. Allowable Races: Human, Dwarf, Draenei, Blood Elf

Allowable Equipment: Mail, Leather, Cloth, Shields, and Plate

Allowable Weapons: Maces, Swords, Axes, Polearms (all weapons are specable in one or two handed variations)

Paladins are one of only two classes that get a summoned mount that is free at level 40

Priest
A Priest is the dedicated healer/buffer of WOW. While shadow spec priests have the ability to deal out descent damage its ability to get groups are heavily dependent on its ability to heal and is somewhat weak when it comes to soloing. For all these reason priests continue to be a minority on most server for people who tend to prefer the utility of Shaman's, Druid's or Paladin's

Allowable Races: Human, Night Elf, Dwarf, Draenei, Undead, Troll, Blood Elf

Allowable Equipment: Cloth

Allowable Weapons: One-Handed Maces, Daggers, Staves, Wands

Druid
A Druid is a jack of all trades class. Having the ability to cope with almost any situation. A Druid in normal form is a caster that can fight with spells or weapons. In Bear form the Druid becomes a Warrior with Rage. While in Cat form the Druid becomes a Rogue with Energy and stealth. The Aquatic form gives faster movement and the ability to breath underwater. The last form is a travel form similar the 20th level shaman ability.

Druids also have the ability to heal but are somewhat lacking compared to the Priest who is a specialized healer.

The class offers great utility however excels at nothing.

Allowable Races: Night Elf, Tauren

Available Armor: Cloth, Leather

Allowable Weapons: Staves, Maces, Daggers, Unarmed Weapons

Warlock
Warlocks are your traditional pet caster class with some utility thrown in. The pet mainly allows a Warlock to solo, since the classes primary damage spells come from DOT (damage over time) spells. The Warlocks most potent spells require soulshards that have to be harvested in combat. The Warlock community has long complained about the inability to get shards in PVP has severely limited their effectiveness in end game as well as over all server numbers. That being said Warlocks are far from weak they have a utility that is only rivaled by possibly the shaman. Through the use of Soulstones or Healthstones they create they can resurrect or heal party members, respectively. With the use of Soul Shards they can summon demonic minions, teleport people to themselves (requires help of 2 other people).

Allowable Races: Human, Orc, Undead, Gnome, Blood Elf

Allowable equipment: Cloth

Allowable weapons: Daggers, Wands, Swords, Staves

Warlocks are one of only two classes that get a summoned mount that is free at level 40

Mage
Mages are your stripped down raw damage casters. The Mages get a variety of damage spells making sure that they have a good chance to beat resistances and have powerful AoE (Area of Effect) spells. They are also the primary crowd control caster in the game. Mages also have the ability to summon their own food and drink ensuring as little down time as possible. If the Mage has a weakness its the management of aggro, too many resists will equal death. This also limits soloabilty if you play this class make sure you enjoy grouping a lot. Though with changes to the Frost/Ice tree, soloing has become much easier with crowd control and slowing spells.

Allowable Races: Human, Gnome, Draenei, Undead, Troll, Blood Elf

Allowable Equipment: Cloth

Allowable Weapons: Staves, Wands, Daggers, Swords

Hunter
A hunters primary abilities are their range attacks and their ability to train pets. These two factors make them one of the strongest solo classes in the game. Most hunters tend to use bear pets for PVE due to their high armor and hit points and cat pets for PVP, which have less armor but an increased attack speed. This is general though as any hunter you talk to will have their own opinion as to their favorite pets. Often life or death lie in aggro management. Hunters also have limited crowd control in the form of traps.

Allowable Races: Night Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf, Draenei

Allowable Equipment: Cloth, Leather, Mail

Allowable Weapons: Axes, Daggers, Guns or Bows, Crossbows , Fist Weapons , Polearms , Staves , Swords, Thrown, Two-Handed Axes , Two-Handed Swords

Rogue
A Rogue is a nice damage dealer. Rogues use combination moves to ramp up their damage using an action point system whereas certain attack return action points which let you ramp up damage done in finishing moves. Rogues have the ability to stealth, while stealthed they have access to moves such as sap, pick pocket, not to mention the ability scout or sneak past aggro. Rogues have the ability to raise lock picking skill to open chests. They also get a sprint ability handy to do quick damage and then get out of trouble.

Allowable Races: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Orc, Undead, Gnome, Troll, Blood Elf

Allowable Equipment: Cloth, Leather

Allowable Weapons: Daggers, Thrown, Swords, Bows, Crossbows, Maces, Fist Weapons, Guns

Shaman
A shaman is another whose utility make it a very popular class to play. Shamans do well in the support field for a party fulfilling a role as a secondary healer, damage dealer, or secondary tank to a limited degree. They also have a few spells that come in handy such as: water breathing, water walking, ancestral recall(the ability to return home), reincarnation(the ability to resurrect yourself) and ghost wolf(a travel form that you earn at level 20)

Allowable Races: Orc, Tauren, Troll, Draenei

Allowable Equipment: Cloth, Leather, Shields, Mail

Allowable Weapons: One-Handed Maces, Staves, Fist Weapons, One-Handed Axes, Daggers, Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Axes

=Professions= Trade skills in WOW are different than most MMOGs in the respect that most do not require a large time or resource investment. In fact most can be level as one level to 60 through the game. You are allowed to choose 2 primary professions and any of the secondary you like. Choosing professions that compliment each other allow you to save coin and make skilling up easier. Below are brief descriptions of professions and most possibilities for skills that compliment each other.