World of Warcraft

Overview

World of Warcraft (often referred to as 'WoW ') is an MMORPG set in the high-fantasy universe of Warcraft. Released in November of 2004, World of Warcraft was very well received, winning several awards in its first year and becoming the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006. By October of 2008 WoW had surpassed 11 million subscribers worldwide. Since its release, there have been eight expansions adding new content and challenges for players to the game: The Burning Crusade on January 16, 2007, Wrath of the Lich King on November 13, 2008, Cataclysm on December 7, 2010, Mists of Pandaria on September 25, 2012, Warlords of Draenor on November 13, 2014, Legion on August 30, 2016, and Battle for Azeroth on August 14, 2018. The eighth expansion, Shadowlands, was released on November 23, 2020.

Gameplay

Getting Started

Realm Selection - The first decision to be made by a player is their choice of realm (i.e. server). All realms contain the same geographical lands, but the population and economy on each realm are different. There are four different realm categories which are as follows:

• Player vs Player ( PvP) - Realms that allow for open combat between players of opposing factions. Only a select few areas are designated as neutral zones where players are safe from attack.
• Player vs Environment ( PvE) - Realms that allow players to focus on defeating monsters and questing. Open player combat on occurs in designated areas or with player consent.
• Roleplay (RP) - PvE realms designated for players that prefer to play in-character, literally playing their role in a form of digital acting.
• Roleplay-PvP (RP-PvP) - RP realms with the open cross-faction combat of PvP realms.

Each account allows players to create a maximum of sixty characters on their choice of realms, with twelve character slots available per realm. While created characters are typically locked to a realm, paid character transfers are available for a fee with certain restrictions.

It should be noted that the realm chosen doesn't have quite the same restrictions it did originally. Blizzard have implemented tech that allows players to party up with characters across servers. The main reason to be on the same server as someone else now is if to join their Guild.

Character Creation - When creating a new character, players must first choose whether they want their character to be a member of the Alliance or the Horde. Characters can only group together within their own faction. Depending on expansion purchases, players are able to choose from between four and six races per faction with a number of unique racial traits. Players have a few options to customize their character's physical appearance including gender, face, hair style and color, skin tone, and accessories.

Once race has been selected, and depending on the number of expansions purchased, players are able to choose from between six and nine of ten different classes. (Although there are a total of ten classes available, each race only has access to certain classes.) Each class plays with their own unique mechanics and can be customized to fulfill at least one of three main roles: DPS (damage dealer) which all classes can be, or healer or tank, roles essential to advanced group play.

Character Advancement

Gaining Levels - In the primary form of character advancement, characters progress in level up to a maximum of 120 (depending on expansions purchased) through earning experience points. Experience points are gained primarily through completing quests and killing enemies (mobs) and secondarily through professions and PvP combat.

Questing - Players are typically given quests by NPC's, objects in the environment and looted items. The presence of an available quest is indicated by a yellow exclamation mark. Most quests fall into one or more of the following categories:

• Kill quest - Asks players to kill one or more mobs
• Fetch quest - Asks players to gather one or more items from mobs or the environment
• Escort quest - Asks players to protect an NPC or object
• Delivery quest - Asks players to deliver either an item or themselves to a distant NPC
• Exploration quest - Asks players to visit a certain area
• Vehicle quests - Asks players to use vehicle or use cannons or such to complete your task. (Since WoTLK)

Completing quests typically rewards players with experience points and currency. Some quests also provide players with items, equipment, and increased reputation with a specific faction. Once a character has completed all the quests in a given area, they will oftentimes be assigned a delivery or exploration quest which will lead them to their next set of quests in a new area.

Certain areas of the world also give players access to special daily quests, typically after all other quests have been completed. Up to twenty-five of these special quests, indicated by a blue exclamation mark, can be completed by a character each day. These quests allow players to continue gaining reputation with a faction after clearing that faction's area of standard quests or earn special forms of currency at a metered rate.

Phasing - By stacking different versions of the same environment on top of one another, phasing allows players to change the world around them without impacting the experience of other players. For example, an area full of monsters may eventually be cleared and populated by friendly NPCs as part of a series of quests. That area would exist in two phases, with players only being able to see and interact with other players within the same phase.

Travel - As players advance in level, their quests will take them to larger and larger areas farther and farther away. To help facilitate their travel and reduce downtime, players have a number of modes of transportation available to them.

• Flight Masters - Indicated by the presence of a green exclamation mark over their head, these NPCs fly characters to any connected flight points previously discovered for a small fee.
• Boats/Zeppelins - Boats and Zeppelins allow players to travel from one continent to another, normally via major cities.
• Portals - Be they static or temporary, portals instantly transport characters to another area, most commonly a major city.
• Mounts - Depending on character level and expansions purchased, characters have access to a number of rideable mounts. These range from a seahorse that is only useable underwater to flying dragons. Mounts vary in speed depending on a characters level. Mounted speed increases accordingly: 60% land speed bonus at level 20, 100% at level 40. Players can purchase flying mounts once they reach level 70 that can have a 150% or 280% peed increase depending. At level 80 310% flying speed increase becomes unlockable. Some mounts even have the capability to carry more than one player at a time, although generally only very rare or hard to possess mounts have this ability. Certain expansion have limited the use of flying mounts until specific goals are met or skills unlocked. For example, players could not fly in Wrath of the Lich King without first buying a skill. In Warlords of Draenor players had to complete a series of achievements in order to be allowed to fly.

Dungeons - A variety of dungeons are available to players throughout their leveling career. Unlike the rest of the game world, each time a dungeon is entered a unique instance is created, accessible only by a single group of players. Players unable to form a five-man group on their own can use the automated dungeon finder system to be matched with other players not only from their server, but from other servers within the same battlegroup. Each dungeon has a minimum level required to enter. The dungeon finder system has a minimum level of 15 required to use the tool to find level-appropriate dungeons.

These dungeons are populated with significantly stronger monsters and typically include three or more boss battles. When encountered at the appropriate level, these bosses are extremely powerful and require coordinated teamwork between the three class roles. The powerful items that these bosses drop draw players in, and provide the primary form of character advancement once the level cap has been reached.

Types of dungeons include:

• Standard dungeons - Simpler dungeons designed for parties of five leveling characters geared primarily through quests
• Heroic dungeons - Advanced versions of existing dungeons designed for parties of five characters at the level cap equipped primarily with standard dungeon quality gear
• Raid dungeons - The most difficult dungeons in the game designed for parties of ten or twenty-five characters equipped primarily with heroic dungeon quality gear.
• Timewalk - Timewalking is an event in which dungeons from a previous expansion are offered to players through the LFG tool. Players gear is scaled to be level appropriate so that the dungeon provides some challenge.
• Challenge - These dungeons have additional rules and limitations. They are also timed and players receive a ranking at the end depending on how quickly they finished. These dungeons offer players looking for a challenge and co-operation the ability to have a small group of people work together.

PvP - Tokens and points can be acquired by participating in combat with other players. These forms of currency can be used to purchase powerful items and equipment from various PvP vendors. The types of PvP combat available to players are:

• Open World - Unorganized PvP between players in regular game environments, occurs only with a player's consent on PvE realms
• Battleground - Organized group PvP in instanced areas with common multiplayer themes such as capture-the-flag and control-point.
• Arena - Organized group deathmatch PvP divided into seasons with the top rated teams earning unique titles for their characters.

Character Customization

Specialization - At level 10, characters unlock the ability to choose from one of three specializations. The specialization you choose will assign you different abilities at specific levels. On some class types, different specializations will be assigned different roles (Tank, Healing, or DPS, respectively), though pure DPS classes do exist. Every class has at least one DPS specialization. The abilities gained through Specializations are predetermined as of Mists of Pandaria, and are no longer tied to talents.

Talents - As of Mists of Pandaria, players are assigned one talent point every fifteen levels, which can be spent on one of three abilities in that tier (level 15 points cannot be spent on level 30 talents, level 75 talents cannot be used on level 60 talents). Talents are now totally independent of specialization, and of each other (it is no longer necessary to put a point into a certain talent to acquire another one). The exception to this are the heroic classes, Death Knights and Demon Hunters, both of which start off above level 1.

Glyphs - Glyphs, added with Wrath of the Lich King, are created by players using the inscription profession. They are used to add specific effects to spells. There are two kinds, major and minor. Major glyphs tend to be significant changes to the way the abilities are used, whereas minor glyphs tend to be cosmetic, or convenience based, and more based on preference than min-maxing. One glyph slot of each type is unlocked at levels 20, 50, and 80.

As of Legion, glyphs have changed to be purely cosmetic. Players no longer have glyph slots but instead can apply as many glyphs as they like but only one per spell.

Professions - Professions are trade skills which cover the resource gathering and item creation systems in World of Warcraft. Each character can learn up to two of the eleven primary professions along with any number of secondary professions. While certain primary professions work better with others, there are no restrictions on which two professions a character can learn and an unsatisfied player can abandon one profession for another at any time. Professions give players access to valuable materials and powerful items that can be traded or sold, in addition to a number of unique bonuses available only to the profession holder.

Combat

Spells and Skills - Throughout their leveling career, characters learn a variety of spells and skills with which to aid allies and slay foes. Typically learned as a character levels, a majority of these abilities scale as characters increase in level allowing them to remain viable from 1 - 100. This results in an ever expanding pool of abilities that players can draw from allowing them to react to numerous situations.

These abilities typically fall into one or more of the following categories:

• Direct Damage - Deals a single hit of immediate damage
• Damage Over Time (DoT) - Deals incremental damage over a period of time
• Direct Healing - Immediately recovers an amount of health
• Healing Over Time (HoT) - Grants incremental healing over a period of time
• Buff - Grants a permanent benefit for a set amount of time
• Debuff - Inflicts a permanent penalty for a set amount of time
• Area of Effect (AoE) - Affects multiple targets within a designated area
• Point Blank AoE (PBAoE) - Affects multiple targets within a set radius of the character
• Melee - Close range, typically with the aid of a melee weapon
• Ranged - Long range, typically a spell effect or with the aid of a ranged weapon
• Self - Affects the character only
• Conjuration - Creates a consumable item

Attributes - Also known as "stats," attributes define a character's combat ability. Attributes are divided into two categories, primary stats which are the ideal stat to obtain depending on class and role, and secondary stats which allow players to customize their style of play.

Base stats include:

• Strength - Ideal for plate-wearing DPS classes and Cat-form Druids, increases melee attack power
• Agility - Ideal for all other physical DPS classes, increases melee and ranged attack power, critical chance
• Stamina - Ideal for all tank classes, increases maximum health
• Intellect - Ideal for spell casters, increases spell power, maximum mana and critical chance
• Spirit - Increases mana regeneration rate while out of combat, typically desired only by healers
• Mastery - Increases the effect gained by the master of the player's chosen primary talent tree

Secondary stats include:

Physical Combat Stats

• Damage - Melee weapon damage and weapon speed
• DPS - Damage per second
• Attack Power - Increases weapon damage
• Speed - Melee attack speed
• Haste - Increases melee attack speed
• Hit - Chance to hit a mob of equal level with melee attack
• Crit - Chance of melee attacks doing extra damage
• Expertise - Reduces chance to be dodged or parried

Range Combat Stats

• Damage - Ranged weapon damage and weapon speed
• DPS - Damage per second
• Attack Power - Increases ranged weapon damage
• Speed - Ranged attack speed
• Haste - Increases ranged attack speed
• Hit - Chance to hit mob of equal level with ranged attack
• Crit - Chance of ranged attacks doing extra damage

Spell Combat Stats

• Spell Power - Increases the damage and healing of spells
• Haste - Increases spell casting speed
• Hit - Chance to hit mob of equal level with spells
• Crit - Chance of spells doing extra damage or healing
• Penetration - Reduces enemy resistances (PvP only)
• Mana Regen - Mana regenerated every 5 seconds while not in combat
• Combat Regen - Mana regenerated every 5 seconds while in combat

Defense Stats

• Armor - Reduces physical damage taken
• Dodge - Chance to dodge
• Parry - Chance to parry
• Block - Stops incoming damage
• Resilience - Damage reduction against all damage done by players and their minions or pets (PvP only)

Resistances

• Arcane - Reduces arcane damage taken
• Fire - Reduces fire damage taken
• Frost - Reduces frost damage taken
• Nature - Reduces nature damage taken
• Shadow - Reduces shadow damage taken

Social Gameplay

Guilds - Guilds in WoW allow up to 1000 characters to form together under one banner, or "guild tag." In addition to the normal advantages of a guild, guilds in WoW have access to guild banks within the game, and due to changes in the user interface, players can easily find needed crafters within their guild. With the release of Cataclysm, guilds are now able to level in many of the same ways as characters. Each level opens up rewards that are shared by the guild. These rewards include in-game companions, experience, gold, reputation bonuses, and even powerful items that may be passed between characters on the same account.

Guilds have 25 levels, each level yielding a new perk that gives a buff to all players in the guild.

To level up a guild, you must do Random Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds, Arena, Dungeons, Heroic Dungeons, Raids, Heroic Raids, or achievements that level a guild up. Max exp per day is around 6200.

Maximum reputation per week is 3500. Guild reputation is needed to buy unique items from the guild store and helps in many achievements.

Playable Races

Alliance

Humans

Main article: Human

Humans was considered a scattered and tribal people for several millennia, but when face with threat of the troll empires, they united as one to increase their strength. Recently it was discovered that the humans are descendent of the vrykul who live in Northrend.

• Start Location: Elwynn Forest
• Home City: Stormwind
• Racial Mount: Horse
• Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warrior, Warlock, Death Knight

Dwarves

Main article: Dwarves

The ancient dwarven race were once earthen-beings of living stone that was created by the titans in the beginning. However, these earthen-beings underwent a transformation that turned stoned to blood and flesh due to a mystic illness now known as the curse of flesh. This led the now blood and flesh creatures to call themselves dwarves.

• Start Location: Dun Morogh
• Home City: Ironforge
• Racial Mount: Ram
• Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior, Death Knight

Night Elves

Main article: Night Elves

The night elves is an ancient race and is the first race living on Azeroth, they have therefore played a vital role in the shaping of Azeroth's fate and history. For more than ten thousand years ago, they helped fend off the first invasion from the demonic Burning Legion. Later they again defended their world as the vile satyrs rallied together.

• Start Location: Teldrassil
• Home City: Darnassus
• Racial Mount: Nightsaber
• Available Classes: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warrior, Death Knight

Gnomes

Main article: Gnomes

Despite having suffered from treachery, displacement, and even near genocide, the gnomes has survived due to their remarkable optimism in the face of of these event. This, mixed with their brilliant inventors makes the gnomes a clever and spunky race.

• Start Location: Dun Morogh
• Home City: The gnomes has retaken Gnomeregan after trogg invasion led to its downfall.
• Racial Mount: Mechanostrider
• Available Classes: Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, Death Knight

Draenei

Main article: Draenei

When Sargeras unleashed his demonic Legion on Azeroth, he turned his eyes upon the world of Argus, the home of the eredar. Sargeras believed that this magically gifted race would be a valuable ally in his quest to undo all of life. Therefore he contacted the three eredar leaders - Kil'jaeden, Archimonde, and Velen - whom he offered knowledge and power in exchange for their loyalty. Only Velen refused this offer, because he had seen a vision. This vision depicted his people being transformed into demons as they joined Sargeras' Burning Legion. After Velen's decline, he took his people and fled to Draenor, now calling themselves Draenei

• Start Location: Azuremyst Isle
• Home City: Originally from the planet Argus, those who would be called draenei fled to the world of Draenor. Aided by the Burning Legion, the orcs destroyed their civilization. They escaped from Outland to Azeroth and were chased by blood elves.They now reside in the crashed remains of their dimensional ship, the Exodar.
• Racial Mount: Elekk
• Available Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warrior, Death Knight

Worgen

Main article: Worgen

The isolated human nation of Gilneas behind the Greymane Wall has been struck by a terrible curse. As a result of the curse, the entire population has been been transformed into the nightmarish beasts known as worgen.

• Start Location: Duskhaven, Gilneas
• Home City: Greymane City
• Racial Mount: Worgen do not possess a racial mount, they instead simply run on all fours, which provides the same speed bonuses as any normal mount.
• Available Classes: Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, Druid, Hunter, Death Knight

Horde

Neutral (Alliance/Horde)

Classes Overview

The game offers 10 character classes to choose from, each with individual abilities and three unique talent trees (similar to Diablo's skill trees). Before the release of Burning Crusade, the Shaman player class was unique for the Horde and the Paladin class was unique for the Alliance, but due to difficulties in balancing out PvE content, the developers decided to make the Shaman and Paladin available for both factions, making it a selectable class for the new races on the opposite sides.

Druid

The Druid is the most versatile class in the game. With the ability to change form, the Druid can switch between healing, tanking, and DPS. It is also available to the least amount of character races. Of the ten playable races, only Night Elves, Tauren, Trolls, and Worgen may be druids. The druid's three talent tree specs are Balance (offensive spell-casting), Restoration (healing and defensive spell-casting), which relies a lot on HoT spells (Healing over Time), and Feral, melee combat using the Cat Form (DPS) and Bear Form (Tank). The Cat Form can easily be compared to the Rogue class, because it has abilities like Ambush (Ravage) and Stealth (Prowl); it also utilizes the same Energy System. Meanwhile, the Bear Form can easily compared to the Warrior class with abilities like Charge (Feral Charge), Rend (Lacerate) and Cleave (Swipe). The Bear Form uses the Rage System for energy management.

Druids also possess the ability to change form for traveling purposes. Travel form turns the druid into a stag, increasing run speed by 40%. Aquatic form shifts the druid into a sea lion like creature that increases swim speed by 50% and allows the druid to breathe underwater. Flight form changes the druid into a flying animal (different animal based on race) that allows the druid to fly at speeds dependent on the druids flight training level.

• Role: Tank, Healer, Ranged Magic Damage Dealer, Melee Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Night Elf, Worgen
  Horde: Tauren, Troll
• Available Armor: Cloth, Leather
• Available Weapons: Daggers, Fist Weapons, One-Handed Maces, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Maces
• Talent trees: Balance - Feral/Guardian (Tank specific Tree) - Restoration

Hunter

The Hunter class performs pulling, threat redirection, crowd control and DPS. Hunters have pets that that can play a variety of roles. They can also track, tame, and train animals and beasts found in the wild to fight alongside them in combat, although some creatures are not tamable. Hunters focus on range damage and use abilities such as Concussive Shot, Scatter Shot, and Frost trap to slow down, freeze in place, or temporarily confuse the enemy from advancing on the hunter and nulling the hunters damage. In a solo pve enviorment, the ideal hunter relies on his pet for keeping aggro of the enemy NPC.

• Role: Ranged Physical Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Human, Night Elf, Pandaren & Worgen
  Horde: Blood Elf, Forsaken, Goblin, Orc, Pandaren, Tauren & Troll
• Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail
• Available Weapons: Bows, Crossbows, Fist Weapons, Guns, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Swords (As of Mists of Pandaria hunters have lost the ability to equip melee weapons)
• Talent trees: Beast Mastery - Marksmanship - Survival

Mage

Mages are casters that specialize in burst damage and area of effect spells. Their primary role in a group/raid is damage dealing and crowd control through the use of Polymorph. The type of spells that mages use is dependent on the spec they are.

• Role: Ranged Magic Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome Human, Night Elf, Worgen
  Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Troll, Forsaken
• Available Armor: Cloth
• Available Weapons: Wands, Daggers, One-Handed Swords, Staves
• Talent trees: Arcane - Fire - Frost

Paladin

The Paladin is a Holy-Warrior hybrid class serving a powerful entity known as the Holy Light. Paladins have been hit hardest by the scourge as it ravaged many of their numbers during the fall of Lodaeron and saw with it the disbanding of the Knights of the Silver Hand, their most prominent organization. As such, they have developed unique abilities when confronted with the unnatural undead entities of the Lich King and his scourge. Paladins are among the few of the classes with the flexibility to play a variety of different roles including DPS (Retribution), Tanking (Protection), and Healing (Holy). They can cast unique blessings that provide useful buffs for other players while withstanding heavy amounts of physical damage with plate armor and strong defensive capabilities. When Holy Speced, Paladins are the only plate wearing healing class in the game.

• Role: Tank, Healer, Melee Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Human
  Horde: Blood Elf, Tauren
• Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate
• Available Weapons: One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Swords, Relics, Shields
• Talent trees: Holy - Protection - Retribution

Priest

Priests are the primary healer classes of the game but also specialize in support healing and damage. The Holy spec is based around powerful single target and group healing. The Discipline spec is another healing spec but is more built around single target healing, damage prevention and utility. The Shadow spec is the damage dealing spec of the three priest trees. Its focus is on DoT (damage over time) spells such as Shadow Word: Pain and channeled DoTs such as Mind Flay. Shadow priests are also capable of dealing high burst damage with Mind Blast (their main nuking spell) and Shadow Word: Death (a secondary nuking spell that also deals self damage to the priest if the spell does not kill the enemy). The most important spell of the Shadow tree is Shadow Form. The spell when cast transforms the priest into a shadowy form which increases the damage they do with shadow spells and reduces the damage they receive as well as the threat generated by shadow spells.

• Role: Healer, Ranged Magic Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
  Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Tauren, Orc, Troll, Forsaken
• Available Armor: Cloth
• Available Weapons: Daggers, One-Handed Maces, Staves, Wands
• Talent trees: Discipline - Holy - Shadow

Rogue

Lore-wise, rogues are assassins, hitmen, or spies. They're primarily melee fighters, but they employ minor mysticism in order to pull off abilities such as Cloak of Shadows (enter a shadow form and dispel many harmful magical effects) or Shadowstep (teleport behind an enemy and increase damage dealt by next attack). Their signature abilities such as ambush (a hard-hitting stab from behind while in stealth) require the player to use daggers, but rogues are free to use one-handed maces, swords and axes as well. In groups, a rogue will be responsible for dealing damage. Sometimes rogues will sap something to incapacitate it so the group can deal with other foes first. Rogues also have a misdirection type ability in "Tricks of the Trade" that gives a damage buff and threat to a chosen target for a limited amount of time. Unlike any of the other classes, rogues use energy instead of a mana or rage in the case of the warrior. The rogue expends energy upon using any special ability, and energy regenerates over time automatically. The rogue also uses poisons to enchant their weapons and cause a variety of effects on their targets. Rogues are the only class that have the ability to pick locks, which they need to train to unlock higher level chests.

• Role: Melee Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
  Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Troll, Forsaken
• Available Armor: Cloth, Leather
• Available Weapons: Bows, Crossbows, Daggers, Fist Weapons, Guns, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords
• Talent trees: Assassination - Combat - Subtlety

Shaman

The Shaman is a hybrid class with the ability of spell casting, melee combat, and healing. Their key technique is the ability to create several magical totems during combat that each offer a different sort of aid, such as health regeneration, to the player and their teammates. Shamans are at one with nature and harness the ability to control the elements with spells such as lighting bolt and frost shock.

• Role: Healer, Ranged Magic Damage Dealer, Melee Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf & Pandaren
  Horde: Goblin, Orc, Pandaren, Tauren & Troll
• Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail
• Available Weapons: Daggers, Fist Weapons, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, Relics, Staves, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Shields
• Talent trees: Elemental - Enhancement - Restoration

Warlock

Orc Warlock

Warlocks are damage casters who specialize in both shadow and fire magic. They have a wide arrange of damage over time spells and debuffs. They are also capable of crowd control with spells like fear which cause the enemy to lose control of their actions, running in horror from the warlock. One of their key techniques is the ability to summon several demonic minions to aid them in combat. Examples of such minions are the Voidwalker which controls aggro of the enemy NPC, the Felguard, which is a warrior-like damage pet, and the Felhunter who possesses the ability to remove magical buffs from the enemy target.

• Role: Ranged Magic Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Worgen
  Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Troll, Forsaken
• Available Armor: Cloth
• Available Weapons: Daggers, One-Handed Swords, Staves, Wands
• Talent trees: Affliction - Demonology - Destruction

Warrior

Available to all but one of the games' races. Warriors have access to a wide range of special abilities, which they activate by using a unique energy mechanic known as rage. The Warrior enters combat with an empty pool of Rage, remaining so until they block, deal or receive damage, at which point the Rage pool begins to fill. Once enough Rage is accumulated the warrior is able to access their combat skills, spending the pool like the mana or energy of the other classes. Warriors have 3 combat stances: Defensive, Battle, and Berserker stance. Depending on what the situation calls for, these stances let the Warrior adapt to the task at hand. Warriors that are in a raiding guild primarily focus on tanking with the Protection spec, but warriors are also capable of performing high DPS with the Fury and Arms spec.

• Role: Tank, Melee Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
  Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Forsaken
• Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate
• Available Weapons: Bows, Crossbows, Daggers, Fist Weapons, Guns, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Swords, Shields
• Talent trees: Arms - Fury - Protection

Death Knight*

The Death Knight is the first hero class of World of Warcraft. Reanimated by the Lich King Arthas to serve his will, Death Knights have always been the backbone of the Scourge army. The Knights of the Ebon Blade, a faction of Death Knights free from Arthas' control, have joined with the Alliance and Horde and are sympathetic to their cause.

A newly created Death Knight will enter the world at level 55 rather than the usual of level 1. A player will not be able create a Death Knight character until they have reached level 55 with one of their non-Death Knight characters on the same account. The Death Knight uses a rune-based combat system for powerful tanking and DPS abilities. For the first three levels, new Death Knights level up in the Scarlet Enclave, an entirely unique zone progressing the story around the class.

• Role: Tank, Melee Damage Dealer
• Available Races:Alliance: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Worgen
  Horde: Blood Elf, Goblin, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Forsaken
• Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate
• Available Weapons: One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Swords, Relics
• Talent trees: Blood - Frost - Unholy

* Death Knight class added in Wrath of the Lich King expansion

Professions

Professions must be leveled up based on a skill system going from 1-525*, skill points are earned by crafting or gathering items relative to your professions and current skill level - as the skill level of a profession gets higher, the more powerful craftable items become available and the rarer resources can be gathered.

* Updated from 1-300 to 1-375 with The Burning Crusade expansion , from 1-375 to 1-450 with Wrath of the Lich King expansion and from 1-450 to 1-525 with Cataclysm expansion.

Dungeons

Here's a list of every dungeon in the game as of December 2010. Dungeons are listed using the format <Name - Abbrevation - Zone - Players - Recommended level>

Kalimdor

Ragefire Chasm, RFC, Orgrimmar, 5 Players, lvl 13-16

Wailing Caverns, WC, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 17-20

Blackfathom Dephts, BFD, Ashenvale, 5 Players, lvl 22-24

Razorfen Kraul, RFK, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 24-27

Razorfen Downs, RFD, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 34-37

Zul-Farrak, ZF, Tanaris, 5 Players, lvl 43-46

Maraudon, Mara, Desolace, 5 Players, lvl 42-48

Dire Maul: East, DM East, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 55-58

Dire Maul: West, DM West, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 57-60

Dire Maul: North, DM North, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 57-60

*** Vortex Pinnacle, Skywall, Uldum, 5 Players, lvl 82-85

*** Lost City of Tol'vir, Uldum, 5 Players, lvl 85

*** Halls of Origination, Skywall, Uldum, 5 Players, lvl 85

** Onyxia's Lair, Ony 10/25, Dustwallow Marsh, 10/25 players, lvl 80 (replaced original lvl 60 40 man raid)

Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, Silithus, 10 Players, lvl 60

Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, AQ40, Silithus, 40 Players, lvl 60

* Escape from Durnholde Keep, Old Hillsbrad, Caverns of Time, 5 players, lvl 66-68

* Opening the Dark Portal, BM, Caverns of Time, 5 players, lvl 70

* Battle for Mount Hyjal, Hyjal, Caverns of Time, 25 players, lvl 70

** Culling of Stratholme, CoS, Caverns of Time, 5 players, lvl 80

*** Throne of the Four Winds, Skywall, Uldum, 10/25 Players, lvl 85

*** Firelands, Mount Hyjal, 10/25 Players, lvl 85

*** Dragon Soul, DS, Caverns of Time, lvl 85

Eastern Kingdoms

The Deadmines, VC, Westfall, 5 Players, lvl 17-20 (lvl 85 Heroic mode added in Cataclysm)

Shadowfang Keep, SFK, Silverpine Forest, 5 Players, lvl 18-21 (lvl 85 Heroic mode added in Cataclysm)

Stormwind Stockades, Stocks, Stormwind, 5 Players, lvl 23-25

Gnomeregan, Gnomer, Dun Morogh, 5 Players, lvl 25-28

The Scarlet Monestary: Graveyard, SM GY, 5 Players, lvl 30-32

The Scarlet Monestary: Library, SM Lib, 5 Players, lvl 33-35

The Scarlet Monestary: Armory, SM Arm, 5 Players, lvl 35-37

The Scarlet Monestary: Cathedral, SM Cath, 5 Players, lvl 36-40

Uldaman, Ulda, Badlands, 5 Players, lvl 36-40

Temple of Atal'Hakkar, ST, Swamp of Sorrows, 5 Players, lvl 45-50

Blackrock Depths, BRD, Blackrock Mountain, 5 Players, lvl 48-56

Lower Blackrock Spire, LBRS, Blackrock Mountain, 5 Players, lvl 54-50

Upper Blackrock Spire, UBRS, Blackrock Mountain, 5 Players, lvl 58-60

Stratholme, Strat, Eastern Plaguelands, 5 Players, lvl 58-60

Scholomance, Scholo, Western Plaguelands, 5 Players, lvl 58-60

*** Throne of The Tides, Vashj'ir, 5 Players, lvl 80-85

*** Blackrock Caverns, Blackrock Mountain, 5 Players, lvl 80-85

*** The Stonecore, Deepholme, 5 Players, lvl 82-85

*** Grim Batol, Twilight Highlands, 5 Players, lvl 85

*** Zul'Gurub, ZG, Stranglethorn Vale, 5 players, lvl 85 (converted to heroic dungeon in patch 4.1)

Molten Core, MC, Blackrock Mountain, 40 Players, lvl 60

Blackwing Lair, BWL, Blackrock Mountain, 40 Players, lvl 60

* Karazhan, Kara, Deadwind Pass, 10 players, lvl 70

* Magister's Terrace, MT, Isle of Quel'Danas, 5 Players, lvl 70

* Sunwell Plateau, SW, Isle of Quel'Danas, 25 Players, lvl 70

**** Zul'Aman, ZA, Ghostlands, 5 players, lvl 85 (converted to heroic dungeon in patch 4.1)

*** Bastion of Twilight, Grim Batol, Twilight Highlands, 10/25 Players, lvl 85

*** Blackwing Descent, Blackrock Mountain, 10/25 Players, lvl 85

Outland

* Hellfire Ramparts, Ramp(s), Hellfire Peninsula, 5 players, lvl 60-62

* Blood Furnace, BF, Hellfire Peninsula, 5 players, lvl 61-63

* Slave Pens, SP, Zangarmarsh, 5 players, lvl 62-64

* Underbog, UB, Zangarmarsh, 5 players, lvl 63-65

* Mana Tombs, MT, Terokkar Forest, 5 players, lvl 64-66

* Auchenai Crypts, AC, Terokkar Forest, 5 players, lvl 65-67

* Sethekk Halls, Seth, Terokkar Forest, 5 players, lvl 67-69

* Steamvault, SV, Zangarmarsh, 5 players, lvl 70

* Shadow Labyrinth, SL, Terokkar Forest, 5 players, lvl 70

* Mechanar, Mech, Netherstorm, 5 players, lvl 70

* Botanica, Bot, Netherstorm, 5 players, lvl 70

* Arcatraz, Arc, Netherstorm, 5 players, lvl 70

* Shattered Halls, SH, Hellfire Peninsula, 5 players, lvl 70

* Gruul's Lair, Gruul, Blade's Edge Mountains, 25 players, lvl 70

* Magtheridon's Lair, Mag, Hellfire Peninsula, 25 players, lvl 70

* Serpentshrine Cavern, SSC, Zangarmarsh, 25 players, lvl 70

* The Eye, TK/Eye, Netherstorm, 25 players, lvl 70

* Black Temple, BT, Shadowmoon Valley, 25 players, lvl 70

Northrend

** Utgarde Keep, UK, Howling Fjord, 5 player, lvl 70-72

** The Nexus, Nexus, Borean Tundra, 5 players, lvl 71-73

** Azjol-Nerub, AN, Dragonblight, 5 players, lvl 72-74

** Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom, AK, Dragonblight, 5 players, lvl 73-75

** Drak'Tharon Keep, DTK, Grizzly Hills, 5 players, lvl 74-76

** Violet Hold, VH, Dalaran, 5 players, lvl 75-77

** Gundrak, Gun, Zul'Drak, 5 players, lvl 76-78

** Halls of Stone, HoS, Storm Peaks, 5 players, lvl 77-79

** Utgarde Pinnacle, UP, Howling Fjord, 5 players, lvl 80

** Halls of Lightning, HoL, Storm Peaks, 5 players, lvl 80

** Trial of the Champion, ToC, Icecrown, 5 players, lvl 80

** Forge of Souls, FoS, Icecrown, 5 players, lvl 80

** Pit of Saron, PoS, Icecrown, 5 players, lvl 80

** Halls of Reflection, HoR, Icecrown, 5 players, lvl 80

** Naxxramas, Naxx, Dragonblight, 10/25 players, lvl 80

** Obsidian Sanctum, OS, Dragonblight, 10/25 players, lvl 80

** Eye of Eternity, EoE, Borean Tundra, 10/25 players, lvl 80

** Vault of Archavon, VoA, Wintergrasp, 10/25 players, lvl 80

** Ulduar, Uld, Storm Peaks, 10/25 players, lvl 80

** Trial of the Crusader/Trial of the Grand Crusader, TotC/TotGC, Icecrown, 10/25 players, lvl 80

** Ruby Sanctum , RS, Dragonblight, 10/25 players, lvl 80

** Icecrown Citadel, IC/ICC, Icecrown, 10/25 players, lvl 80

*Added in The Burning Crusade. All 5 Player dungeons on the continent of Outland or in the Caverns of Time can be set to Heroic lvl 70 mode.

**Added in Wrath of the Lich King. All 5 Player dungeons on the continent of Northrend can be set to Heroic lvl 80 mode.

***Added in Cataclysm. All dungeons can be set to Heroic lvl 85 mode.

Item Quality/Rarity

World of Warcraft uses a colour system to define the quality/rarity of items, the colours range from Grey (Poor Quality) to Gold (Heirloom Quality). The colour of an item is usually a way to easily see which items are the most powerful for their level however sometimes it will be more of an indication of how rare the item is.

List of Item Qualities

Poor (Grey)

Common (White)

Uncommon (Green)

Rare (Blue)

Epic (Purple)

Legendary (Orange)

Heirloom (Gold)

Heirloom items

Heirloom quality items are different from the other items. They are used by players who have already reached the maximum level, to level up more characters. They are "Bound to account" so one can trade them between his characters and faction, and their stats are determined by the level of the character wearing the item. The main reason that they are used is because you get 20% more experience from quests and monsters, when wearing both the shoulder slot and the chest slot. (Each of these slots gives 10% individually)

Currently, Heirloom gear exists for weapon, shoulder, chest, ring, and trinket slots.

Legendary Items

Legendary items tend to have a more difficult challenge for them to be aquired, currently all equippable Legendary items are weapons - they are all obtained from the top-end of raiding and are considered the best weapon for certain classes at the time of their release. Some Legendary weapons require a very long quest chain to be completed whilst other items are simply very rare drops from difficult 25 man raid bosses. It usually takes multiple end-game raid instance runs to acquire these weapons.

Current Legendary Weapons in-game:

Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker (Level 60 - Quest Chain)

Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros (Level 60 - Drop/Crafted)

Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian (Level 60 - Quest Chain)

Warglaives of Azzinoth (Level 70 - Drop)

Thori'dal, The Stars' Fury (Level 70 - Drop)

Val'anyr, Hammer of the Ancient Kings (Level 80 - Quest Chain)

Shadowmourne (Level 80 - Quest Chain)

Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest (Level 85 - Quest Chain)

Fangs of the Father (Level 85 - Quest Chain)

In-Game Holidays

World of Warcraft contains several annual world events like Brewfest, Hallow's End, Midsummer Festival, Love is in the Air and many others. Here some of them are explained in detail:

Game Expansions

As any other MMORPG, World of Warcraft has also received additional expansion packs. These expansion packs, however, have not only added new continents and dungeons, but also added entirely new game-changing features like i.e. arenas and siege vehicles.

The Burning Crusade

Main page: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Released on January the 16th 2007, The Burning Crusade was the first expansion pack released for the highly popular World of Warcraft. The pack's story, such as it was, dealt with the Dark Portal being reopened, and allowing players to use it to travel from Azeroth to the shattered remains of the destroyed Orc homeworld, Draenor, which is now known simply as the Outland.

Apart from increasing the level cap to 70, the game also added two new playable races: the Draenei for the Alliance and the Blood Elves for the Horde. Like all Blizzard expansion packs, The Burning Crusade improved upon the existing gameplay while adding new elements. Arguably the biggest change was making the Paladin and Shaman classes available to both factions, thus balancing the two factions in terms of class availability. The expansion also introduced arenas, which allowed players to team up with their friends and compete against others in gladiatorial styled matches . This has become increasingly popular over the last few years, and sponsored tournaments are held throughout the world. This gameplay mode and the resulting tournaments has seen World of Warcraft inch towards the status of an e-Sport.

Main features of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade:

• Level cap increased to 70
• New spells and talents for each class
• Two new playable races: the Blood Elves and the Draenei
• The new world-continent of Outland was added, including 6 new zones, 13 five-man instances and 5 raid instances
• New content added to the existing world, including 5 new zones, 1 five-man instance and 3 raid instances
• New profession: Jewel crafting
• Flying Mounts (although they only work in the Outland)
• Arena tournaments

Wrath of the Lich King

Main page: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Wrath of the Lich King is the second expansion, revolving around the Alliance and the Horde sending a massive expedition to the frozen wasteland of Northrend to deal with Arthas, the Lich King, once and for all. It was released on November 13th, 2008.

Main features of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King:

• Level cap increased to 80
• New spells and talents for each class
• New Hero class: Death Knight
• Access to the continent of Northrend
• New profession: Inscription
• Controllable siege weapons and destructible environments
• "Barber Shops" that allows users to change their characters' hairstyles
• New Battleground: Strand of the Ancients
• New world PvP zone: Lake Wintergrasp

Wrath of the Lich King also introduced the "phasing" technology to the game. Using this tech, players can actually witness how their actions change the environment forever. Entire zones have quest progression based on phasing, with the zones changing massively over time. For example, the Death Knight starter zone is rather green and lush at first, but with the player completing more and more quests, it will also become more and more desolate and ravaged. These changes are only perceivable to the player who caused them, allowing every player to experience this for themselves. This status change will be permanent to the player.

Cataclysm

Main page: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is Blizzard's third expansion for World of Warcraft and was released on December 7, 2010. The concept behind it is that Deathwing, a powerful dragon, has broken free of his imprisonment, and in doing so caused a cataclysm that literally reshaped Azeroth as we know it.

Main features of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm:

• Level cap raised to 85
• New Alliance race: Worgen, with Gilneas as starting zone
• New Horde race: Goblins, with Lost Isles as starting zone
• New Secondary Profession: Archaeology
• Classic world revamp of every non-expansion zone with updated quests, art and items
• New Race/Class combos, such as gnome priests, tauren paladins and undead hunters
• Flying now added in Azeroth, all zones
• 7 all new zones added to the continents of Azeroth, with new questing content

Mists of Pandaria

Main page: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is Blizzard's fourth expansion for World of Warcraft.

The game will focus on the war between the Horde and the Alliance and the zone of Pandaria where the Pandarens reside.

Main features of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria:

• Level cap raised to 90
• New Race: Pandarens - the first neutral race available to both factions
• New Class: Monk
• New Continent: Pandaria with its 5 zones
• New Talent system
• PvE scenarios
• Challenge mode dungeons
• Pet battle system

Warlords of Draenor

Main Page: World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor is Blizzards fifth expansion for World of Warcraft and was released November 13, 2014. This expansion begins with the Iron Horde invading Azeroth through the Dark Portal. You must mount a desperate charge on the world of Draenor to push the Iron Horde invasion back.

Main features of World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor:

• Level cap raised to 100
• New version of the Outlands, Draenor, was added, including 8 new zones, 7 five-man instances and 2 raid instances, as well as 4 new world bosses.
• Boost to level 90 (one boost per expansion purchased)
• Updated character models
• Build up your own Garrison and upgrade it with specialized structures.
• Added account-wide heirloom armor and weapons, toys, and mounts that do not take up inventory space.

Game Patches

World of Warcraft is constantly updates with bugfixes and New Features, these patches are required to play the game.

• Patch 1.2 added the dungeon "Maraudon", The Gurubashi arena and a Christmas event called Winter's Vale.
• Patch 1.3 added the winged dungeon of Dire Maul and A feature called Meeting stones as well as altering the UI
• Patch 1.4 added the PVP honour rank System and the Elemental Invasions Event.
• Patch 1.5 added the Battlegrounds of Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch as well as reputation questlines.
• Patch 1.6 Added A Raid Dungeon Called Blackwing Lair, BattleMasters and an Event called the Darkmoon Fair
• Patch 1.7 added the Battleground of Arathi Basin as well as he New raid Dungeon Zul Gurub
• Patch 1.8 added the outdoor raid encounters known as the dragons of nightmare as well as the event based on Halloween known as Hallows End
• Patch 1.9 added 2 Raid Dungeons in Silithus and Altered the Auction House System Signifigantly
• Patch 1.10 Added weather effects to the game
• Patch 1.11 Added the Dungeon Naxxramas and the inventory Feature known as keyrings
• Patch 1.12 Added world PVP areas and cross realm battlegrounds
• Patch 2.0.1 Introduced several features from "The Burning Crusade Expansion Pack" to the game such as a new honor system and Arena System.
• Patch 2.1 Added the Black Temple raid dungeon, several new reputation factions (including the Netherwing faction which allowed players access to the unique Nether Drake flying mount), as well as granting druids an epic flight form.
• Patch 2.2 Introduced an in-game voice chat feature
• Patch 2.3 introduced the Zul'Aman raid dungeon, new daily quests for the normal and heroic dungeons as well as battlegrounds, a revamp of leveling from 1-60, a partial revamp of the Dustwallow Marsh zone, and guild banks
• Patch 2.4.3 Introduced the Isle of Quel'Danas (a daily quest hub), the Magister's Terrace dungeon, the Sunwell Plateau raid dungeon, and the new arena tournaments
• Patch 3.0.2 Introduced in-game achievements, the inscription profession, extended talent trees, barbershops, player calenders, as well as an overhaul of the Hunter pet talent system
• Patch 3.1 Introduced the Ulduar raid dungeon, dual talent specialization, the Argent Tournament daily quest hub, and in-game dungeon maps
• Patch 3.2 Updated and expanded the Argent Tournament grounds (which now included the Trial of the Champion dungeon, Trial of the Crusader and Trial of the Grand Crusader raids, as well as numerous daily quests and faction championing in the tournament), updated Onyxia's Lair to a level 80 raid dungeon, added the Isle of Conquest battleground, and gave Druids updated graphics for their various forms
• Patch 3.3 Added the Icecrown Citadel raid and three associated 5-man dungeons, a revamped dungeon finder system, and expansion of in-game quest tracking (tracked quest areas were now shown on the map)
• Patch 4.0.1 Renovated the gameplay systems drastically, including simplifications of all classes' talent trees, addition of Mastery rating which has effects specific to every character class and specialization, and the addition of many new spells for lower level characters and the removal of some seldom-used spells. This was to pave the way for Cataclysm and the new level 85 end-game.
• Patch 4.0.3a Shattered the World and brought the changes done by Deathwing to Azeroth, new race/class combinations, thousands of new quests, the new cinematic and the loginscreen for Cataclysm.
• Patch 4.1.0 Added Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman as heroic 5-man dungeons, the LFG feature Call to Arms which rewards the class needed with gifts, guild challenges and a guild finder.
• Patch 4.2.0 Added the Firelands raid, the Molten Front daily hub area, the Elemental Bonds questchain with Thrall and the new legendary Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest and its questchain.
• Patch 4.3.0 Added the Dragon Soul raid, the Darkmoon Island, the Raid Finder tool, three new dungeons, the Transmogrification system, the Void Storage and the Fangs of the Father legendary with its questchain.

More Patches are constantly being put out.

System Requirements

Because this game is consistently updated, the minimum system requirements have and may continue to change over time.

Soundtrack

The music for World of Warcraft was composed by Jason Hayes and Blizzard's sound department and is available in CD format from the Blizzard online store.

1. "Legends of Azeroth" 2:40
2. "The Shaping of the World" 2:24
3. "Legacy” 2:25
4. "Song of Elune” 2:13
5. "Echoes of the Past" 1:53
6. "A Call to Arms" 2:18
7. "Seasons of War" 2:57
8. "Stormwind" 2:14
9. "Orgrimmar" 2:14
10. "The Undercity" 2:27
11. "Thunder Bluff" 2:35
12. "Darnassus" 2:44
13. "Ironforge" 2:14
14. "Elwynn Forest" 3.03
15. "Duskwood" 6.01
16. "Dun Morogh" 7:30
17. "Burning Steppes" 2:26
18. "Shimmering Flats" 4:07
19. "Felwood" 2:37
20. "Stranglethorn Vale" 4:12
21. "Tanaris" 4:31
22. "Teldrassil" 3:55
23. "Tavern" 1:13
24. "Moonfall" 0:48
25. "Ruins" 1:16
26. "Temple" 1:03
27. "Lurking" 1:00
28. "Sacred" 1:10
29. "Graveyard" 1:07
30. "War" 0:49

Corrupted Blood incident

The corrupted blood incident is one of the most infamous glitches in WoW history, partially because it resembled a actual epidemic. Because of this it drew the attention of international press world wide, even non-gaming related press. Epidemiologist Ran D. Balicer even published an article in the journal 'Epidemiology' comparing it to SARS and avian influenza outbreaks. Wherein he suggested that RPGs could be used as an advanced platform as a model for the dissemination of infectious diseases. The link was also made between terrorist attacks. Charles Blair, deputy director of the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies, felt that WoW could provide a new way to study how terrorist cells form and operate.

The plague began on September 13th 2005. When Blizzard added a new dungeon called "Zul Gurub" to the game. The final boss of this dungeon, 'Hakkar', could cast a spell called 'Corrupted Blood'. This would place a poison or 'Debuff' on the player character that would cause a certain amount of damage overtime (in this case a fair large amount due to it being created for end game purposes), but could also transfer to other players. This would mean that when players fought Hakkar they had to position themselves in certain ways in order to succeed.

The spell was originally designed to work during the boss encounter in Zul Gurub. However players who had the debuff were able to take it outside the dungeon and infect other players. This meant that people either died from the debuff or simply got it again after the timer expired from another player. Players who were low level would die almost instantly if they came into contact with an infected player. "Non player characters" could also contract the disease. Though they didn't receive any damage from it, they were able to infect other players.

The end result was literally hundreds of bodies littered across the heavy populated areas of the game, as well as making large areas of the game inaccessible on some servers. Although death is not permanent in WoW, there are disadvantages when you die and it is considered annoying. Player reactions varied enormously. While some players with healing powers offered their help, many low level players avoided heavy populated areas or just stopped playing for the duration of the incident. Others took advantage of the chaos and deliberately tried to infect as many players as possible. Blizzard originally built a quarantine zone in the hope of containing the disease. However some players worked around this by healing themselves long enough to spread the disease outside. A Blizzard employee posted the following on the WoW forums:

It appears that the hotfix remedy concocted to combat the recent Azerothain outbreak has not yet yielded the desired results. At this time, our medical staff is continuing to develop an effective cure. We look forward to ensuring the health and vitality of the citizens of Azeroth in the near future.

Eventually Blizzard had to do a hard reset on all of its servers and patch the game to remove the spreading infection.