World of Warcraft: Instances and Dungeons

Within the online World of Warcraft there are many things to do and be done; however, one of the best ways to pass the time is through a Dungeon or an Instance.

A Dungeon is an area crawling with creatures and not to mention loot that you go through to get to the blue swirling Instance portal. When in the Instance you will have to stop and speak to certain NPC's (non-playable characters) and kill other bosses to get to the main boss. You can easily identify a boss because they will have a name, they should also when you click on them have a gold or silver dragon encircling their picture. Other NPC's do not have names. For example, a general NPC, will have something like 'Giant Spider,' as a name whereas if it was the boss it would be, 'Sharista' (the name of a Blood Elf boss). A lot of the time a storyline will lead you on a series of quests that will lead you to an Instance. Both Dungeons and Instances are great for obtaining Experience Points (XP) or loot (money or rare items, which are usually highlighted in green(better items), blue(rare items), or purple(epic items) letters).

Most Instances recommend a minimum group of 5 players, although it is not required to complete. Generally those five players should be 2 healers (such as a priest or a druid), 2 dps (damage per second, which is how quickly you can damage an enemy target not how much damage you can deal) characters (such as a mage and a hunter) and 1 tank (such as a warrior). Mages, Paladins, and Hunters make good dps characters because they can keep continuously spell casting and attacking, they don't have to wait for refills of mana. However, if they do run out, you can take a mana break and drink water to help refill the mana quicker. Warriors are usually tanks because they take out more damage to an enemy target, but because their dps is low, they have to wait longer for their rage to build in order to be able to use their special abilities.

To get to an instance you could walk, run, or ride there (on your mount-which isn't obtained until level 30 and could be anything from a horse to a nightsaber). Although to physically enter an Instance, the only way in is an Instance Portal. In front of every Instance there should be a giant stone with a glyph emblazoned upon it. This is a summoning stone. They are useful when you have two party members already at the Instance and want to summon the rest of your group to that location. In order to be summoned and to summon other players you have to be within the levels of the Instance. For example, The Stockades, located within Stormwind City is an Instance where you have to be level 19 through 25. Your character has to be between those levels to use the summoning stone. You can enter the Instance before these levels although it will be a lot harder for your character, unless you are grouped up with other more powerful players.

To truly become acquainted with World of Warcraft, I suggest a healthy dose of Dungeons and Instances to help you become comfortably insane.