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How to secure your World of Warcraft account
Whether you're just getting started or you've maxed out the number of characters on your World of Warcraft account, your account is valuable to hackers. And if they happen to steal your account, it can be a pain -- and a long wait -- to get it back to you. All of this makes securing your World of Warcraft account serious business. But fortunately, it's easy enough to keep your account under (virtual) lock and key by taking some precautions in advance -- and when we say "in advance," we mean these are things you should do right now. We'll walk you through the very basics of keeping your account secure with a good password and an authenticator. Read on for all you need to know about getting started with good security!
Rookie Guide updated with the latest how-tos for the newbie in your life
Whether you're a new player yourself or you have friends who are just starting to get in the game, our Rookie Guide is the place to find all of WoW Insider's new player coverage in one easy-to-bookmark place. New additions to the guide include a section on gear, items, and professions as well as a section on new player class guides, to help the WoW newbie in your life find the right class to play. Looking for something we haven't covered in the guide yet? Drop us a note and we'll look into covering it for a future WoW Rookie! Just because you're a newbie doesn't mean you can't bring your A-game to World of Warcraft! Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from the seven things every newbie ought to know to how to get started as a healer or as a tank.
Should you play a rogue in WoW?
If you're just getting started with World of Warcraft, don't worry: you're not too late to have plenty of fun. (In fact, we think this is a great time to be playing WoW.) But getting started can be a little tricky with all the choices you have to make. Which race you select is a primarily cosmetic choice, but the class you pick -- and whether it's a good fit for your preferred style of gaming -- is a choice that will make all the difference. But we're here to help make that choice at least a little easier by talking you through WoW's classes, one at a time. And on the menu for today is the rogue. In World of Warcraft, rogues are lightly armored meleers who use stealth to get in close and then hit their target with precision strikes. The rogue is one of four classes in the game that focuses solely on DPS: their three talent specializations only changing their preferred way of dealing damage. If getting up close to the bad guys and always being in the middle of combat sounds like your thing, a rogue may be the ideal class for you. Read on for more about what to expect.
A beginner's guide to WoW's secondary professions
We've talked about WoW's crafting and gathering professions which only leaves the game's four secondary professions left to discuss. Unlike primary professions, you can take as many secondary professions as you want, so there are no hard choices here: if it's interesting to you, take it, and if not, ignore it. So just what are these secondary professions? Cooking, fishing, first aid, and archaeology. And, we know, these might sound a bit on the dull side -- do you really want to spend your video game time cooking? But whatever you do, don't write secondary professions off as optional or unimportant, because they can definitely come in handy for players of all types. So let's take a look at the secondary professions and just what they can do for you.
Should you play a priest in WoW?
If you're just getting started with WoW -- or even if you aren't -- picking the perfect class to play can be a challenge. But the number of class options doesn't mean you need to close your eyes and see where your cursor lands in order to pick the class you're going to play. With a bit of research, you can make an informed decision on which class best fits how you like to game -- and we're here to help. Today, we're talking about priests, spiritual devotees who unleash the powers of light and shadow to heal or harm. Priests are unique in their talent specializations: while specializations for most classes mean multiple ways to do damage or fill different class roles, priests are the only class with two healing-focused specializations: holy and discipline. These two specs offer very different ways to heal, which can make priests very versatile healers... if you're into that kind of thing. But even if you aren't, don't count priests out as on offensive class: their shadow specialization gives them access to a powerful arsenal of damage spells, which could make priest the class for you even if you never want to cast a healing spell. But does that mean you should be playing a priest? Read on and we'll discuss just what priests can do.
Should you play a paladin in WoW?
If you're just getting started with World of Warcraft, the range of class options available to you can be a bit daunting. Which class is the best? Which class is the most fun? Which class will you enjoy? There's no answer that's right for everyone -- and you may wind up trying a few classes before you find the perfect fit. But where to begin? Today's class run-down will cover paladins, WoW's holy warriors. As Blizzard puts it, paladins are called "to protect the weak, to bring justice to the unjust, and to vanquish evil from the darkest corners of the world." But your paladin may have its own motivations -- indeed, within the game you're certain to meet paladins with motives less pure. In fact, one of the interesting things about the paladin class is how different various paladins are: while alliance paladins very much fall along Blizzard's class description, the blood elf paladins, who style themselves Blood Knights, haven't always been particularly good guys. But enough of that: what you want to know is how paladins play, so read on for more.
A beginner's guide to WoW's crafting professions
We've talked about WoW's gathering professions, but now that you know gathering, it's time to talk about what to do with the materials you've gathered: craft. World of Warcraft has eight different crafting professions -- alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, engineering, leatherworking, tailoring, jewelcrafting, and inscription -- which means that a wannabe crafter has plenty of options. So follow along as we walk you through your WoW crafting choices. Alchemy What does it do? Allows you to create a variety of potions, elixirs, and flasks, as well as transmuting certain items into other items. Most of an alchemist's skills involve providing buffs for anyone using their brews: potions provide an immediate benefit (like restoring your health), elixirs provide buffs for an extended period of time, and flasks provide buffs that last through death. Do I need any gear? Crafting potions will require herbs and different types of vials. Do I get any extras? Alchemists have access to the passive ability Mixology, which doubles the duration and increases the effect of flasks and elixirs they use. High level alchemists have access to a number of useful trinkets and, if they also study Archaeology, can learn to transform into a Sandstone Drake. Why take alchemy? It's definitely useful to be able to make your own potions: you'll find you're never lacking for them. And paired with herbalism to gather herbs, you'll be entirely self-sufficient. However, you might also take alchemy purely out of interest in high-level trinkets or the Sandstone Drake.
Should you play a hunter in WoW?
If you're still not sure what WoW class you want to play, allow us to take this opportunity to introduce you to the noble hunter. Hunters are one of the most commonly recommended classes for new players to the game, and with good reason. Compared to other classes, many of which have the ability to fill multiple game roles, hunters have a single, straightforward function in any situation: to do damage with ranged weapons. And with the power of their pets to protect them, hunters have very high survivability when soloing, which secures their place the top of new player recommendation lists. But don't start thinking that this means hunters are a simple class: while the basics are easy to pick up, there's a lot of depth to hunter gameplay (and a world of difference between playing with a good hunter and a not so good hunter). Hunters have a number of crowd control options and access to traps, both of which require strategic thinking to use well. And, further, while pets can make the life of a hunter much easier, controlling them can be a challenge that adds complexity to the game. So while many people would tell you hunters are a great class for newbies because they're easy, we'll just say that they're a great class for newbies because they're easy to get started with. If we've piqued your interest, read on to see more about what the hunter has to offer in World of Warcraft -- and whether it may just be the perfect class for you.
A beginner's guide to WoW's gathering professions
As soon as your character hits level 5, it's time to pick up a profession -- or two or three! Each character you have can take two primary professions -- herbalism, mining, skinning, alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, engineering, leatherworking, tailoring, jewelcrafting, or inscription -- as well as however many secondary professions -- cooking, fishing, first aid, and archaeology -- they want. Primary professions are typically categorized as "gathering" professions -- herbalism, mining, and skinning -- that allow you to collect materials and "crafting" professions -- alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, engineering, leather working, tailoring, jewel crafting, and inscription -- that allow you to create items. When choosing a primary profession, it's good to pick two that work well together: say, a crafting skill that uses the items you collect with a gathering skill. This means herbalism is typically paired with alchemy or inscription; mining is typically paired with blacksmithing, jewelcrafting, or engineering; skinning is usually paired with leatherworking; and enchanting and tailoring can be paired with anything (though often players will pair them together and use goods created by tailoring to level their enchanting). But if you aren't terribly interested in crafting or just want to give your character a leg up with money-making, you could pick up a pair of gathering professions and take whatever you gather while you're leveling to sell to crafters on the auction house. As to secondary professions, since you're not limited on the number you can take, you can really grab as many as interest you. Not sure where to start with all these choices? We'll walk you through it.
Speed up your gameplay with key bindings and macros
While many tout using the mouse for speedy gameplay, you can't overlook the power of the keyboard. While moving and turning is most quickly done with a mouse, it's a slow way to activate spells or open menus, so if you want to speed up your game, it's a good idea to learn WoW's default keyboard shortcuts as well as how to make your own key bindings and macros. We'll cover the basics and help you get started. WoW's keyboard shortcuts You may be surprised to see how much you can control with your keyboard. The first step to keyboard mastery is by opening up WoW's key binding interface. Just hit your escape key to open up the game menu and then select Key Bindings. Now, we aren't going to mention every key binding in WoW here, because as you scroll through this menu you'll see there are a lot of them.
What new players need to know about WoW patches
If World of Warcraft had but one holiday, it would be Patch Day: the glorious Tuesday (or Wednesday) in which the WoW servers go down for maintenance but come back online brimming with new, unexplored content. If you're new to World of Warcraft, or MMOs in general, you may not entirely understand all the fuss the community makes over patches. So just what is a patch? Why are they so important? And how can you get your hands on one? We'll do our best to explain. What is a WoW patch? Did you know we're playing version 5 of World of Warcraft right now? It's true: Version 1.1 was World of Warcraft's launch client and every expansion since has bumped the version number up a full number, while each patch release is a decimal place. The original game went up to patch 1.12 (the 1.1 launch client and 11 patches after), Burning Crusade (2.0) had a scant 4 patches, Wrath of the Lich King (3.0) had 3, Cataclysm (4.0) had 3, and Mists of Pandaria (5.0) is about to see the release of its 3rd patch, patch 5.3. These days, patches are coming more quickly than ever and we have no idea how many patches to expect before the next expansion arrives.
Should you play a druid in WoW?
Just getting started in World of Warcraft and not sure what you want to do? Or maybe you've been playing for a while but aren't sure which class you like best. We're here to help by taking a look at what each class can do and leading you to the right one. Today, we're talking druids. Druids harness the powers of nature to help their friends or harm their foes. They can wield magic to harm like a mage or heal like a priest and can shapeshift into animal forms to dive into melee fighting. Like the monk and paladin, druids are a hybrid class that can fill any role in the game they wish: if you play a druid, you have the flexibility to do whatever you please. But are you up to the task of wielding the raw elemental power of nature? We'll take a look at just what druids can do and try to decide if it's the right class for you.
Newbie's guide to everything you need to know about weapons in World of Warcraft
Weapons play a huge role in World of Warcraft, even if you don't play a physical damage class that actively hits people with them. Beyond damage capacity, weapons buff your character's stats and heavily effect your character's looks. While it may seem like there's not much to weapons beyond wielding them -- and for the new player, sometimes wielding them is all you need to know. For experienced players looking for in-depth theory-crafting or number-crunching, this article isn't the place. But, for players just getting started, we'll take a close look at the weapons available, what their stats mean, and try to help you figure out what you should be wielding. Weapon types Weapons are broken into three basic types: one-handed weapons which can be wielded with a single hand, two-handed weapons which require two hands, and ranged weapons which also require two hands. You'll also find weapons labeled main hand or off hand, meaning that they can only be wielded in your main hand or off hand -- which comes into play with classes that can wield a different weapon in each hand (dual wielding). You will also occasionally run into items labeled off hand without a weapon type. These items are typically equippable by any class in their off-hand slot. These can be anything from cosmetic items -- like flowers -- to items that buff stats for classes that can't dual wield but can use one-handed weapons. And, while they aren't quite weapons, shields are considered off-hand items as well.
Should you be playing a warlock?
We've said before that there's a WoW class for every type of player and if you find yourself a bit drawn to the darker side of WoW, perhaps warlock is the one for you. Warlocks have a unique playstyle in the game: they're a bit like mages, in that they're cloth-wearing casters, and a bit like hunters, in that they rely on pets. And yet they don't play very much like either class, relying on DoT (damage over time) spells and channeled spells to do damage and restore their own health and mana. So is it time to go over to the dark side and level a warlock? Let's look at what the class has to offer. Just what is a warlock? As mages are master of the arcane, warlocks are masters of the dark arts, focusing on shadow and fire spells. They summon demonic minions, place curses on their enemies, and drain health from their opponents, and can even send the most fearsome of warriors running in terror. Their abilities are powered not only by their mana pool, but will sometimes cost health, which warlocks can drain from their foes as they die. They do their damage at range, using curses, banes, DoTs, drains, AoEs, and direct damage spells. Warlocks also offer a good amount of utility to a group with conjured Healthstones (which restore health on use) and Soulstones (which can bring a dead player to life) as well as their curses (which cause a variety of negative effects on a monster).
Everything you need to know about WoW's talents and specializations
We're going back to basics today to talk about talents and specializations in World of Warcraft. If you're pretty new to the game, you might not know what these are at all, but anyone over level 10 has at least seen the terms thrown around. We're going to explain just what talents and specializatons mean for your character and well as how to get the most out of your talent choices. What are specializations? At level 10, every character (save death knights, who start at level 55) is prompted to choose a talent specialization. While many spells and abilities are core to the class -- meaning you'll get them no matter which specialization you choose -- there are also abilities that you only get if you've chosen a particular specialization. Each specialization focuses on a slightly different playstyle, so you should pick the one that most appeals to you.
Should you be playing a monk?
World of Warcraft has a character class for every type of player... though you may have to hunt around to find the class that's a perfect fit for you. These days, I've found my perfect fit to be the monk. (Though who's to say that I won't change my mind again in the future.) So if you're in the market for a new character -- whether you're a new player or an old hand -- let's talk about why a monk should be at the top of your to-play list. Just what is a monk? Monks are masters of weaponless combat who have learned to harness their chi hurt their enemies or heal their friends. While they fight bare-handed, they can (and should!) equip weapons: they can use fist weapons, one-handed axes, one-handed maces, one-handed swords, polearms, and staves and can dual-wield one-handed weaponry. They use cloth and leather armor and, though monks originated in Pandaria (and you'll need the Mists of Pandaria expansion to play one), the class is open to pandaren, dwarf, human, blood elf, tauren, undead, draenei, gnome, night elf, orc, and troll. They're a true hybrid class who can tank (brewmaster monks), heal (mistweaver monks), and DPS (windwalker monks). For resources, monks have health, energy (for brewmasters and windwalkers), mana (for mistwalkers), and chi. Chi is unique resource to monks: you have four possible points of it and start combat with zero. Some of your attacks will generate chi while others will use it, meaning monks take careful resource balancing.
How to store your stuff in World of Warcraft
If you've played for very long, you may have noticed that you can accumulate a sizable collection of armor, weapons, bandages, food, and just... well... stuff. And while you can (and should) sell things as you go to fund your continued adventures, sometimes you run into things you want to keep. Maybe it's a weapon with a cool look that you might want to use for transmogrification or maybe it's a full set of armor that you use for an alternate talent spec. Whatever your reasons for hanging on to the things you collect in game, it's far too easy to fill up all your available inventory space. So what do you do when you have stuff you want to keep and no place to keep it? Fortunately there are lots of options for storage in World of Warcraft: all you have to do is take advantage of them. Stock up on bags The first and simplest way to expand your inventory is to buy some bags. While you will run into some as you level up, they're probably smaller than those you can find elsewhere. Here's how you can find some shiny new bags with a minimum of hassle...
15 easy (and not so easy) achievements to work on while leveling
If you've played WoW for more than a half hour or so, chances are you've noticed the game's achievement system, which rewards you with (meaningless) points and sometimes more tangible rewards (like unique tabards or special titles) for doing certain things in the game. You'll find you get achievements for leveling, achievements for completing quests, achievements for picking up gold, achievements for leveling professions, there's even an achievement for visiting the barber's shop. We've gathered some achievements that are a bit more out of the way, but all of which you can either pick up or work on while you're leveling. They aren't all easy, but none of them require you to be level 90 and epiced out. So if you're leveling but are interested in upping your achievement game, give these a try. We've ranked them in what we think of as order of difficulty. If nothing else, they're a distraction from the leveling grind! 1. Duel-icious All you have to do here is duel another player and win. Any player -- even if they're much lower level than you are -- will do. We recommend asking a friend to duel with you, but you can request duels from anyone. Just remember to be polite about it rather than just going around challenging everyone in an area to duels!
The easiest mounts to get your hands on
An excellent question has appeared on /r/wow, from a player new to the game, who wants to get his mount collection started. He's wondering what are the easiest mounts to get his hands on, and how he should go about his gaming in the most efficient manner to guarantee maximum mount satisfaction. So what are the easiest mounts to get hold of? First up, we have to look at the class-specific mounts, the warlock Felsteed and Dreadsteed, and the paladin Warhorse and Charger. Death Knights also get the Acherus Deathcharger, as well as being the only class to have the option to purchase the Winged Steed of the Ebon Blade. The paladin and warlock mounts are learned as abilities with the basic forms at level 20, and the latter ones at level 40. As DKs start later, they will get the Deathcharger through questing almost immediately, and can buy the Winged Steed at level 60. Druids also have their travel form, and flight form, and Monks have the option to use the Glyph of Zen Flight, and of course, worgen get Running Wild but since these aren't really things you sit your character on, we're not sure if they count as mounts! But other than those, what are the easiest mounts to get your hands on? Your home city, that is to say your faction's city, will have mounts for you to buy for gold. So undead can get mounts from Undercity, dwarves from Ironforge, and so on.
How to say, shout, and generally get your message across in WoW
Newsflash! World of Warcraft is what's called an MMO or massively multiplayer online game. What this means is that you're constantly playing with other people, and a lot of them. And since you're playing with them, you're probably going to want to be able to communicate with them. Though this may seem like basic stuff, WoW has a number of different communication tools and they may not all be evident to the new player. (Please don't ask me how long it took me to figure out how to use chat channels. Because, uh, I don't remember. Let's go with that.) To start, most of the chat commands are typed into the game prefaced with a slash -- though just hitting enter will remember what type of chat command you last used and assume you want to keep speaking in the same way. So what are you waiting for? Let's get talking.
