New Player’s Starter Guide: Welcome to World of Warcraft: Forever

Your first steps in Azeroth begin with a few meaningful choices: how you want to play, who your character will become, and where curiosity will lead you. From setting up your account to joining other adventurers, the fundamentals below will help you begin with confidence while leaving discovery in your hands.

Key updates and verified adjustments for Before You Begin.

• Create your Battle.net account. Sign up at the Battle.net Login , or visit the Battle.net Shop and select Account , then Create Account . Verify your email, choose a secure password, and consider enabling two-factor authentication.
• Subscribe or purchase Game Time. World of Warcraft: Forever is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time.
• Install and launch the game. Download the Battle.net desktop app , sign in, install World of Warcraft, and select World of Warcraft: Forever from the available game versions.
• Check your setup. You can play on Windows or Mac with a keyboard and mouse. Controller support is also available in a beta state for players who prefer a gamepad. Before installing, review the current system requirements .

The first time you log in to World of Warcraft: Forever, you’ll be asked to Choose Your Experience Preset. You’ll make this choice before selecting your Ruleset.

• Standard Definition character models
• Quest points of interest and objective blobs off
• Defaulted to camera turning keyboard binds
• Classic screen UI layout
• High Definition character models
• Quest points of interest and objective blobs on
• Defaulted strafe movement to keyboard binds
• Centralized screen UI layout

In World of Warcraft: Forever , you choose a Ruleset before you create your character based on the type of experience you want to have in the game. Your choice determines how Player versus Player (PvP) combat works and what community conventions apply. Normal, PvP, Roleplay, and Roleplay-PvP are available at launch, with Hardcore planned for a later release:

• Normal: Focus on adventuring and fighting monsters, with player-versus-player combat available at your discretion.
• PvP: Focus on player-versus-player combat, with the risk of being attacked by opposing players through much of the open world.
• Roleplay: Enter a community with naming and behavior rules intended for players who want to immerse themselves as characters in a fantasy world.
• Roleplay-PvP: This ruleset has strict naming conventions and behavior rules for players interested in immersing themselves as a character in a fantasy-based world focused on player versus player combat; you are almost always at risk of being attacked by opposing characters.
• Hardcore (coming later): Take on a high-stakes challenge where every decision matters and a character’s journey can end with death. Additional details and timing will be shared later.

Your faction—Alliance or Horde—determines which communities, cities, and stories your character begins with. Your race determines your appearance, starting location, and racial abilities. Your class determines how you play: whether you fight up close, attack from a distance, cast spells, protect a group, heal allies, or combine several roles. Take some time to read through the available options and information in the character creation screen to learn more about each.

Once you enter the world, look for characters with an exclamation point above their heads—they have quests to share. Accepting a quest adds it to your Quest Log which will show objectives automatically on your screen. At a certain point, not all of your quests might appear in the tracker. To see your complete Quest Log , you can press Hotkey-L to open the interface. From there, you can select a quest to review its story and objectives and Track or Untrack quests and their objectives you want to see (or not see) in the quest tracker on your screen. You can also Abandon a quest if your Quest Log gets too full to make room for new quests.

Your action bar contains the abilities you use in battle. Place frequently used abilities where they are comfortable to reach and read each tooltip to understand what it does. As you gain levels, visit a class trainer to learn new abilities and strengthen your character.

Quests and defeated enemies reward weapons, armor, and useful supplies. Hover your mouse pointer over an item in your bags to read its tooltip; when it can replace equipped gear, the comparison shows both items so you can review armor, damage, attributes, level requirements, and other effects. A higher-quality item is not always the best choice, so also check armor type, weapon compatibility, and the attributes useful to your class.

Professions let you gather materials, craft useful goods, and contribute features at campsites. Each character can learn two primary professions and all three secondary professions.

Azeroth is even better with company. Invite nearby players to a party, join a guild, or use chat to ask for help. Grouping can make difficult quests more manageable and opens the door to dungeons—instanced adventures filled with enemies, bosses, and valuable rewards.