World of Warcraft: Simple Introduction to What it Is

World of Warcraft, or commonly known as WoW, is a Massive Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). Players engage themselves into the universe of Warcraft with various destinations to discover, monsters to kill, and quests to complete. The background of the game involves a war between two mythological factions known as the Alliance and the Horde. Characters possess magical abilities, carry distinctive weapons, and can travel by flying or riding a transport ship.

Starting Out

As a new player you will be prompted to create your character. You are given a choice to which side you will fight for (Alliance or Horde). Characters are only allowed to socialize and befriend with other players of your own faction. There are10 races and 9 classes to choose from as well. Your choice of class will determine what types of spells and abilities your character will possess. After selecting your options, the character will then be placed into your real-time 3D race starting location. Here is when your game play starts and you're ready to socialize with other characters.

Destinations

There are two main continents in the game: Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Each continent is divided up into smaller regions that can be reached by walking, flying, or riding a transport ship. Many regions can only be explored after you have reached a higher level, depending on the level of the enemies that inhabit them.

Quests

On your journey, you will be required to kill enemies, locate artifacts, and/or rescue friendly non-player characters (NPC). Experience can be gained by killing monsters, exploring new destinations, and completing quests. To advance to other levels, you must gain experience. With each level you acquire, the more experience is needed to reach the next level. To level with better results characters should balance questing with defeating monsters. Leveling can become difficult; you may want to consider using a World of Warcraft leveling guide for help.

With its newly released expansion pack "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" and another in the future, this game is constantly evolving. With so many elements to this game, it is a true benefit for players to progress with this game at their own speed. Some will spend a few hours a day on the game and others will play non-stop for days. No matter how long and complex this game structure is, players seem to agree that it is "The greatest thing ever".