World of Warcraft FAQ

World of Warcraft Frequently Asked Questions by Frejya

Categories:

Rules of the Game
a. Buying Characters
b. Buying Gold
c. Private Servers
d. Reporting Others/Being Reported

The Game
a. Order/Content of Expansions
b. Server Transfers (What are they, where can I transfer to?)

Character Information
a. How to repair
b. Level requirements for Helms/Shoulders
c. Armor/Weapons for Classes
d. Professions: What level, How to Unlearn
e. Talent Points: What are they, How to Change
f. Glyphs: General Information
g. Mounts: Level/Training/Cost
h. Spells: Where are they, how to change action bar

Zones. etc.
a. Levels of Zones
b. Levels of Dungeons
c. Levels of Raids

Auction House
a. How to Place Items
b. How to Buy Items/Bid on Items
c. How to Cancel Auctions

User Interface
a. Coordinates
b. Chat Channels
c. Add Ons

Basic Mechanics
a. How to Swim
b. How to Unstack Items
c. Other Keyboard commands

Common Problems
a. Destroyed Hearthstone
b. Cannot return to corpse after death
c. Failing Quests
d. GM Tickets

Useful Links
a. General Information
b. RAF FAQ
c. Guild Recruitment
d. Choosing a Server (How to)

Rules of the Game

a. Buying Characters

You may be tempted to buy a nice, shiny new max-level character from a website. Blizzard does not look favorably upon this action and will usually ban an account if such activity is discovered.

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=21507&categoryId;=2696&parentCategoryId;=&pageNumber;=1

There are other reasons that you might want to avoid such a decision. For one, there is little guarantee that the character you end up with is the character advertised (there’s no way for you to know!). For another, accounts are linked by passwords and ‘secret questions’, so you have to have faith that the person selling you the character is going to give you both of those. These are two of the most obvious reasons, but I’m sure other community members will provide more!

b. Buying Gold

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId;=21507

Buying gold is also against the rules of the game, as it creates an unfair advantage for certain players and can have a profoundly negative impact on a server’s economy. Other risks include: being banned, getting your account hacked or stolen, getting personal (non-game related) information stolen, or even discovering little viruses on your computer!

c. Private Servers

Private servers are against the rules as well. The way Blizzard maintains the game and produces new content is not only through direct sale of the game and expansions, but also through the monthly fee. In addition, private servers are well known for having problems, such as maintenance and very small communities. You also must have faith that what you are connecting to is virus-free!

d. Reporting Others/Being Reported

If you find that someone is breaking the rules either in the game or on the forums, you have the option to report them for their behavior. Hitting the ‘?’ on your bar in the game will bring up a menu to do so. On the forums, hovering over a post will reveal a ‘thumbs down’ button – click the drop down menu and select what option you want; if the first three aren’t what you’re looking for, continue down to ‘Report’ for other options. The report box will show up at the bottom of the post.

What happens if you or another player is reported? Blizzard will first investigate the matter – so long as you are abiding by the rules of the game or the Code of Conduct on the forums you have nothing to worry about! If you are found to have violated some principle, the repercussions depend on both the severity of the infraction and how many times you have broken rules in general.

Blizzard operates on what they term a ‘penalty volcano’. As you gain more and more infractions, the punishments become more and more severe, ranging from a temporary ban of a few hours to a permanent ban from the game or the forums (depending on where your infractions occurred). Bans can be challenged but rarely result in dismissal unless Blizzard has clearly made a mistake.

The Game

a. Order/Content of Expansions
There is little need to rush out and buy all three components of Warcraft if you do not want to. Consider the following when deciding on what to purchase and when:

Original Warcraft (often referred to as ‘Vanilla WoW’)
– levels 1-60

The Burning Crusade Expansion
– levels 61-70
– Jewelcrafting Profession
– Draenei and Blood Elf races
(note that the above two can often be purchased cheaply together in the ‘Battlechest’)

Wrath of the Lich King Expansion
– levels 71-80
– Death Knight class (have to have an existing level 55 character, however)
– Inscription Profession

Cataclysm Expansion
– levels 81 – 85
– Worgen and Goblin races
– Archaeology
– Flying in Azeroth

b. Server Transfers

You may have decided that your first server was not what you thought it would be. You may transfer from server to server for a small fee, even from PvE (player-versus-environment) to PvP (player-versus-player) or back again! More information on the rules governing server transfers can be found here:

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20558&categoryId;=2317&parentCategoryId;=&pageNumber;=1

In addition, you may want more information about any servers you are considering transferring to, including time zones and when the realms were created (older realms tend to be more populated). If so, consider following this link for more information:

http://www.wowwiki.com/Realms_List

Character Information

a. How to Repair

Get in too many fights and your gear will start to suffer, so much so that it can become unusable. There are many vendors, usually in cities or towns, that will repair your armor and weapons for a fee. The easiest way to find these vendors is to use the drop-down menu to the top left of your mini-map. Select ‘Repair’ and any vendors that can offer such a service will appear on your mini-map.

b. Level Requirement for Helms/Shoulders

This is a common question, as so many of us want to fill all those slots on our characters as quickly as possible. Helms are generally only available beginning at level 24 (with the Azure Silk Hood, a Cloth crafted item). There are some that are available sooner that offer a marginal amount of armor, but these are usually only available during such holiday events as Hallow’s End and Noblegarden. Shoulder armor is available sooner, around level 15, usually as drops from various monsters.

c. Armor and Weapons for Classes

Not every Class can use every type of Armor or Weapon. Generally speaking, Classes can use any Armor type that falls below their own (for instance: Hunters at level 40 or above can also use Leather and Cloth in addition to Mail if they desire):

Cloth: Priest, Mage, Warlock
Leather: Rogue, Druid, Hunter, Shaman
Mail: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter (@40), Shaman (@40)
Plate: Warrior (@40), Paladin (@40), Death Knight

Some classes can also use Shields: Warriors, Paladins, and Shaman

The weapons available to your class can be found in the General (first) Tab of your Spellbook. Hovering over Weapon Skills will show all the weapons you are able to use.

d. Professions

Gathering professions can be learned at level 1 (Herbalism, Mining, Skinning). Crafting professions can be learned beginning at level 5. You can have any combination of Gathering or Crafting Professions (for a total of two), yet you can have all the Secondary Professions (Cooking, First Aid, Fishing, and Archaeology).

The most popular question is how to unlearn a profession once you’ve learned it, in case you want to switch out and try something new. The fix is quick and simple: open up your spellbook at the bottom of your screen, click on the ‘professions’ tab, then click on the circle next to the Profession you want to discard.

Notes: You cannot unlearn the Secondary Professions. You also will 1) start out with your new Profession at a skill level of ‘1’ and 2) if you decide to return to your old Profession, you will start all over again at a skill level of ‘1’

e. Talent Points

You get your first Talent Point at level 10 and will gain additional points periodically thereafter. The most popular question here is how to change a few points or switch ‘specs’ altogether:

Go to your regular Class trainer. There will be an option to unlearn all your Talents and refund the entirety of your Talent Points – there is no option to do only one or two! Doing this will incur an initial small fee, but this fee increases each time, going all the way to 50 gold. Once unlearned, you may then redistribute the Talent Points any way you want.

f. Glyphs

Glyphs are special ‘tweaks’ that you can slide into your Glyph Tab to enhance some of your spells and abilities. You acquire your first Glyphs (1 Prime, 1 Major, 1 Minor) from either the Auction House or a friendly player who knows Inscription. Once a Glyph is learned, your character knows it forever. Glyphs you have learned can be swapped out by using Vanishing Powder, sold by Inscription Vendors. New Glyph slots are unlocked at 25, 50, and 75.

g. Mounts

You will have the opportunity to purchase and ride a variety of mounts. You can first ride a land mount at level 20, then you will be able to ride an epic land mount at 40. Once you hit 60 you have the option of purchasing your first flying mount! (Paladins/Warlocks/Worgen have exceptions with the Ground mounts, Druids have exceptions with the Flying mounts)

Ground Mounts:

Apprentice Riding @ level 20: 4G training/1G mount (comes with “Summon ” spell for Paladins/Warlocks; comes with Running Wild for Worgen)
Journeyman Riding @ level 40: 50G training/10G mount

Flying Mounts:

Expert Riding @ level 60: 250G training/50G mount (comes with “Flight Form” for Druids)
Artisan Riding @ level 70: 5000G training/100G mount
Cold Weather Flying @ 68 (to use in Northrend): 500G – can be used with either “expert” or “artisan” level mounts; trained in Borean Tundra (Valiance Keep – Alliance, Warsong Hold – Horde)

Note: You have to purchase all Riding Training before proceeding to the next tier! Cold Weather Flying is not considered a ‘tier’, so you can go directly from Expert Riding to Cold Weather Flying.

Also note: Mounts scale with riding skill now, so if you buy a non-epic ground mount and buy Journeyman training, the mount will travel at 100% speed (up from 60% initial Apprentice tier speed). This means that Paladins/Warlocks/Druids only need to purchase the first of their mount/flight form spells if they so choose.

h. Spells: Where are they, how to change action bars

First, locate your ‘Spellbook’ on the bottom of the screen, roughly in the middle near your quest log. Any ‘spells’ or abilities learned via trainer or given via talent points will be located here. When you first start out, your new abilities will be automatically placed on your lower left action bar, but not necessarily in the position you want!

Option 1) Hold down to drag items from your button bars. Drop them onto other button bar slots to rearrange them, or drop them onto the ground to put them back into your spellbook. Helpful for when you have a few changes to make.

Option 2) Go to your Interface menu (computer icon–>interface) and choose ‘action bars’, then ‘unlock action bars’. You may want to activate the other action bars while there by making sure the check marks are showing. Open your Spellbook and begin moving abilities around. This is helpful when you have a lot of changes to make.

Zones, etc.

a. Levels of Zones

Eastern Kingdoms: http://www.wowhead.com/?zones=0#0+2+1
Kalimdor: http://www.wowhead.com/?zones=1#0+2+1
Outland (Burning Crusade): http://www.wowhead.com/?zones=8#0+2+1
Northrend (Wrath of the Lich King): http://www.wowhead.com/?zones=10#0+2+1

b. Levels of Dungeons (instanced area that a small group can enter – usually 5 or fewer)

http://www.wowhead.com/?zones=2#0+2+1

c. Levels of Raids (large scale instances designed for 6-40 players; more recent content has been delineated between 10- and 25- man raids)

http://www.wowhead.com/?zones=3#0+2+1

d. Levels of Battlegrounds (instanced areas where you and members of the same faction compete with members of the opposite faction)

http://www.wowhead.com/?zones=6#0+2+1

Auction House

a. Placing Items

The Auction House can be a major source of money for you. It is easy to place an item on the Auction House (found in any racial capitol in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms).

+left-click to see if the item is already for sale
If so, undercut the price by whatever you see fit
If not, you can either a) wait until the item is for sale or b)see what similar items are selling for at that level and price accordingly

Note: the money you make from your Auction may take as much as an hour to show up in your mailbox. This is due to an ongoing effort by Blizzard to keep an eye out for gold-sellers and buyers.

b. Buying/Bidding

Buying is easy! Just click the button and confirm your purchase. Note: the items you purchased will be available immediately in your mailbox.

You may sometimes see an item that has no ‘buyout’ price. Instead you have to bid on the item – if you are outbid, your money will reappear in your mailbox and you will be free to rebid up until the auction ends. Note that cannot cancel bids that you make!

c. Canceling Auctions

You can cancel any auction you place on the Auction House. You cannot, however, cancel any purchases or bids you have already made!

In your Auction House interface (where you search for items and place bids, etc.), you’ll find three tabs, assuming you have no Add Ons. Select the “Auctions” tab. Select the item in the list that you have placed, then hit the “Cancel” button :)

User Interface

a. Coordinates

Often you will hear people give out coordinates to important locations. This may confuse you, as there is no way in the game to locate these coordinates. You can, however, download what is called an ‘addon’ in order to have this information available. This page explains the coordinate system in greater detail and offers some suggestions you can consider:

http://www.wowwiki.com/Map_Coordinates

b. Chat Channels

To enter a chat channel, type the following:

/join general
/join trade
/join localdefense
/join worlddefense
To leave, simply substitute /leave for /join.

c. Add Ons

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1011693/

All the information about what Add Ons are and some suggestions can be found there :)

Mechanics

a. How to Swim

Don’t be embarrassed, because everyone had this problem! To swim, simply press forward (as if you wanted to walk) and hold down your right mouse key in order to look down. Alternatively you can press ‘x’ to sink and ‘spacebar’ to rise, though this will generally be slower.

b. How to Unstack Items

Simply hold down and right-click on your stack. A small window will open and you can pick any amount from 1-10 that you want to remove from your stack.

c. Other Keyboard Commands

– Num Lock: Auto-run
– W, A, S, D: Movement (or you can use the arrow keys)
– Q, E: Strafe left and right
– Space Bar: Jump (Land), Rise (Flying or Swimming)
– X: Sit (Land), Descend (Flying or Swimming)
– Z: Unsheathe Weapon
– /: Walk/Run toggle
– T: Target (be careful if you have auto-attack on)
– TAB: Cycle through targets
– Enter: enter chat channel
– /: after Enter, for chat commands
– /r: return a whisper (usually purple text)
– /em: emote
– /say: switch to regular speech
– V: Show name plates (over heads)

Common Problems

a. Destroyed Hearthstone

You’ve destroyed your Hearthstone! Now you find that you cannot teleport back to your inn! Relax, for all you need to do is visit the nearest Innkeeper and bind yourself there (as if you still had your stone) and you’ll get a replacement.

b. Can’t get to Corpse

You may have died in some awful place that you can’t get to in your Spirit Form. There are a few options to deal with such a problem:

1) Rez at the Spirit Healer. All you need to do is talk with the Healer – keep in mind you will be awarded with a massive debuff to your stats and a good chunk of durability loss for your equipment! This is, however, the easiest choice, and your stats will return to normal after a set amount of time (you’ll still need to repair, however).

2) If you’ve already left the Spirit Healer you can click the ‘Return to Graveyard’ button at the top middle of your screen. You can also use the ‘Auto Unstuck’ feature in your ‘?’ menu to return to the nearest Healer.

3) If nothing else works – such as your Spirit is now stuck – then file a GM ticket (again, the ‘?’ menu will help you with this). It may be a long wait until you are assisted, so consider either logging off or hopping onto another character. (see below for more on GM tickets)

c. Failing Quests

You will almost certainly come across a quest or two that you thought you could take on but end up ultimately failing – escort quests come to mind. Fret not about this, as you will be able to open your Quest Log, select the Quest, then select ‘Abandon’. Returning to the initial quest giver will allow you to repeat the quest. (There are a choice few quests where you are not able to do this – simply fill out a GM ticket to be helped!)

d. GM Tickets

GMs are Game Masters that are employed by Blizzard to help players in the game. They will also respond to reports of harassment and other such infractions.

To fill out a GM ticket, go to the ‘?’ at the bottom of your screen. This will pull up a menu where you have the option of opening a ticket. When you fill out your ticket be as concise and informative as possible. General information to include would be: your character’s name, the realm, and what time the problem occurred (and who was involved, if reporting someone).

GMs will generally attempt to contact you in the game. Sometimes the wait can be rather long, so it’s perfectly all right to log off or jump onto another character. If you log off, an in-game e-mail will be sent once the problem is addressed. If you are on another character, the GM will contact you on that other character.

Useful Links

a. General Information

NPCs, Quest Information, Gear Information, etc:

http://www.wowhead.com/
http://thottbot.com/

Lore, Realms, Zones, In-Depth, etc:

http://www.wowwiki.com/Main_Page
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1011637/ (Lore)

b. RAF FAQ
How To:

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=26269&categoryId;=2317&parentCategoryId;=&pageNumber;=1

FAQ:

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20588&categoryId;=2317&parentCategoryId;=&pageNumber;=1

c. Guild Recruitment

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1011639/