Welcome New Adventurer to World of Warcraft!

 Hello adventurer, 

I am excited to see you have joined us on this journey. You are joining other fellow champions, like yourself, to save the planet Azeroth from any number of villains. 

Step 1: Pick a realm. 

If you are a fan of multi-verse fiction, think of each realm as a different phase of the same planet. In IT terms, each realm is a cluster group. The differences here are only the population of people who call it home. With recent changes, realm lines are blurred so much that the realm doesn't really matter. You can share your gold and equipment across realms using the "warband" or account-bound bank. You can join guilds across realms (even factions). 

Step 2: Character creation. 

Build the character you enjoy. Experiment. Keep in mind that the gender and appearance can be changed in-game at the barber shop, but the race and class cannot. (unless you want to spend money). If you have friends or family playing with you, create a character in the same faction (Horde vs Alliance) as them. This will make doing group, open-world activities easier. Cross-faction groups are available only for instanced content (dungeons and raids) but not for questing. If you're having a hard time deciding, create a new character! As of the Dragonflight expansion, you can have over 65 characters. 

Step 3: Get started. 

Once you hit 'create', you'll be presented with two different starting area options. One of those options will be based on your character's race. Humans (alliance), for example, will start in a zone near the human city of Stormwind. Orcs (horde) will start outside their city of Orgrimmar. There are different options if you select elf, troll, and so on. The second option is a newer experience called "Exile's Reach". This new zone will step through performing your first attack, interacting with the various non-player characters (npcs), and even how to queue up for group content. At the end of the zone, your character should be level 10 and will be dropped into Stormwind or Orgrimmar. 

Step 4: UI customization. 

The game allows for a ton of customization. One of the best features they've added recently is to search the options menus. If you're looking for something, searching keywords will probably get you close quickly. 

As soon as I start a new character, I love to enable more action bars (escape key - options - action bars). By default, you get bars 1 and 2 enabled. I like to enable 3, 4, and 5 as well. This will give 3 bars center bottom and 2 on the right side. I also like to move my portrait and the main target portrait down from the top corner to more center of the screen. Go to Options-Edit mode to move everything around. I believe this is now saved for all your characters by default. 

Configure keybindings: 

In the keybindings, I like to map my gaming mouse buttons 4 and 5 (those two on the side) to action bar 1, keys "-" and "=". I use these keys as my interrupt abilities on all my characters. I also like to bind 'e' to the action-bar 1, slot 6, for the sole reason it's easier to reach e than 6 with one hand. 

Just beware of keybindings, there are a lot of default options. Changing too much could require resetting everything. For example, if you bind M to a spell, it will be hard to open your in-game map.   

Enable auto-loot. 

After you kill something, if it shows little sparkles over the corpse, it has loot for you. Turning on auto-loot will automatically collect everything and put it into your bags. Otherwise, you will have to select everything individually. Don't worry if your bags are full. If you perform the loot action and your bags are full, all these items will be mailed to you via the in-game mailbox. Then you have 30 days to make your way to a mailbox and collect these items. 

Cooldown manager?

As of patch 11.1.5, Blizzard has added their own cooldown manager. This new feature will show your character's abilities and if they are available to use. This is a good alternative if you aren't ready to explore addons. 

Addons: 

These are tools created by outside developers. Add-ons can enhance or replace default functionality in the game. As with any addon that gains access to your game, make sure it comes from a reputable source. My personal favorite is the Wago app (see here). Install this locally on your computer. It provides a nicely curated list of add-ons, will install them directly into the game for you, then update them as the developer pushes down updates. 

Azeroth Pilot Reloaded - Provides the fastest route to leveling. It will automate all the things. I wouldn't suggest it for your first run through, as it will auto-accept the necessary quests and cancel cutscenes.

HandyNotes - provides map overlays in various zones. There is a HandyNotes extension for every expansion. If you want coordinates for every treasure chest, Halloween bucket or secret item, look for a handynotes. With Blizzard's changes to the normal in-game map, most of this functionality is no longer necessary. 

WeakAuras - if you want a highly customizable cooldown manager. The Wago app can help you find one you might like or create one yourself. There are a couple of streamers that make really great HUDs for each of the classes, and highlight ideal spell rotation. I often stick to them. 

TomTom - provides a floating arrow that you can have point to various destinations. Things like Azeroth Pilot will use TomTom to help you along the way. 

DeadlyBossMods or BigWigs - help out in dungeon or raid content to get alerts for things to watch out for. 

Gear ranking:These all help in similar ways by providing suggestions on gear upgrades. You don't necessarily want all of them, pick which best for you. 

• AskMrRobot - simple gear ranking addon + website. WoW Optimizer, Simulator and Guides - Ask Mr. Robot
• SimulationCraft (Sim-C) along with RaidBots website. Raidbots - Optimize Your WoW Characters
• Pawn: Pawn - Wago Addons simple in-game ranking simply based of stats on gear. 

Step 5: Learn, Level, Loot!

Now that you're in the major city, it's time to start adventuring. Take a peek at the map (M on keyboard) and see what's near you. Look items marked with an exclamation point (!). Note the tabs on the right-hand edge of the map to see the map legend. These '!' markers will be breadcrumb quests into various level-appropriate zones. If you select the quest (left-click) in your log, the game will display the most efficient way to get there. This works even for questing across zones, and it will provide suggestions for portals or crossing zones. 

Follow the diamond.

Completeing quests, killing monsters, and exploring zones will provide experience points (XP). The amount of XP that is rewarded is based on your current level and the complexity of the task. Each time this blue bar hits 100% complete, you will gain 1 level, and a new talent. (ding!). 

When you are done for the day, park your character in a 'rested' area. This includes cities and inns. You'll know you're in a rested zone when your character portrait has "zzz" coming off them. By doing this, your character will build up a 'rested' buff. Every 8 hours in a rested area will grant a 5% rested buff (even while logged off). This rested buff provides a 200% xp bonus while questing!! So use your hearthstone (right click) when you're about to log off. Make sure to talk to an innkeeper in your current quest zone, otherwise you might end back at it's last location. 

Learn. WoW is all about learning. The game will try to make things as obvious as possible. Look here's a new spell for your bars!  But don't be afraid to try this glorious community. My personal favorites are wowhead.com and my own guild. Need clues on a quest? Check the comment area. Need to find a specific rare mob? Someone likely posted the coordinates. (see Tom-Tom addon). 

 

FAQ:

• Can I make that chat stop? Why am I getting ads? By now, you've seen the banter that goes on in the chat window. By default, every character will opt into every chat channel. Spam, Chuck Norris jokes, paid-for-with-gold leveling and raids, on and on and on. If you're tired of it, like most people are, in the chat window type   "/leave (channel number)" without the quotes. The channel number is what it starts with "4 Stormind/trade", type in /leave 4. 
• Why can't I equip this item? This character's class (hunter, priest, warrior) has a proficiency with a certain type of armor and weapons. You can see what types of items you can equip on the character information page. Click on your character's head in the mini menu, or type "C" into the user interface. When you hover over the new item, check the armor type. If you're leveling a hunter, it can only wear mail armor.  
• Why do I keep dying? If you are doing all the right things to attack the npc, you may have explored into a too-high of zone. From a safe range, you can hover over the NPC. The portrait will show you a few things. What is the color? Red will attack you as soon as you're in range. Green and yellow are less likely to attack. Does it have a dragon looping around the portrait? These are elite characters. Silver dragons are typically harder than bronze dragons. What does it say about the character's level? If the level is about your level, it should be soloable. If the level is '?', that means it's more than 10 levels higher than you. Avoid. If the level is a skull, this is a boss; get friends. 
• Yeah, but I am still dying! Check your bags (B). The game increases the NPC difficulty based on what you have available and your level. If things are getting harder, you may have upgrades that you can equip. Also, check your talent tree (N). I always use the 'starter' quest tree when leveling new characters for a quick check. The game will suggest new talents each time you level. It might be about time to repair your armor
• My bags are full, now what? Don't be afraid to sell everything. In towns and questing hubs, you will often find two different types of npcs. If you hover your mouse over the NPC, if the cursor changes to a small bag, they are a 'goods' vendor. They will sell you items and buy (almost) anything from your bags. If the npc has an anvil for their mouse pointer, they can also repair your armor. There is almost always one next to the blacksmith trainer, so if you can't find one, ask the guards.
• I need to repair my armor? Every time you die, your armor takes damage. If you die enough times without repairing, it will become useless, and you don't get the stat bonuses from your gear. 
• How do I find ____ ? Are you in town? Go chat with a guard by the entrance. The mouse-over will look like a little map. Guards can drop a map pin to a long list of important npcs around town. After you ask, they'll drop a pin that will both place a red flag on your map (M) and often set a golden arrow on the mini-map in the direction. 
  

  

Reach out if there is something that missed, lots, I know. 

.