Race and Classes

Players create characters which serve as their avatars in the online world of Azeroth. When creating a character in World of Warcraft, the player can choose from ten different races and nine different character classes. The races are split into two diametrically opposed factions, the Alliance and the Horde.

The WoW Alliance currently consists of Humans, Night Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Draenei (Draenei characters require The Burning Crusade expansion in order to be created.

The Horde currently consists of Orcs, Tauren, Undead (also known as Forsaken), Trolls and Blood Elves (Blood Elf characters require The Burning Crusade expansion in order to be created.)
In addition to the ten playable races there are many NPC races including (but not limited to) Goblins, Ogres, Murlocs, and Naga.

The nine available classes in World of Warcraft are Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior. The Paladin class was previously only available to the Alliance, and the Shaman only available to the Horde. However with the release of Burning Crusade the Draenei (Alliance) are able to be Shamans and the Blood Elves (Horde) are able to be Paladins, thus removing the previous faction exclusivity. In the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, a tenth class known as the Death Knight will be added, which will also be the game's first Hero class. Classes are primarily limited by race: for example Night Elves can only be Druids, Hunters, Priests, Rogues or WoW Warriors.

The Professions

During the course of playing the game, players may choose to develop side skills for their character(s). These non-combat skills are called professions. Professions are divided into two separate categories, primary and secondary.

Primary professions are those skills related to the creation and enhancement of weapons and armor, and can be subdivided into gathering and crafting professions. The gathering professions in WoW are Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning. Crafting professions include Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Tailoring, Alchemy, Engineering, Enchanting, Jewelcrafting (added in the Burning Crusade expansion).

Inscription (to be added in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion). Crafting professions also have specialization categories that when trained, allow for more diverse items to be created, depending on the character's direction in the game. There is also the Enchanting profession, which allows a character to enchant weapons and armor, and also disenchant magical items in his or her possession. A character is limited to two primary professions.

Secondary professions are skills that serve to enhance the player's experience. The Secondary professions are First Aid, Cooking and Fishing. Characters can learn all three Secondary professions. The Rogue class has two unique secondary professions: Poisons and Lock picking.

The Game Play

Unlike previous games in the Warcraft (WoW) series, World of Warcraft is not a real-time strategy game, but is a MMORPG. As with other MMORPGs, such as EverQuest, players control a character avatar within a persistent game world, exploring the landscape, fighting monsters, and performing quests on behalf of computer-controlled characters (also called NPCs—non-player characters).

The majority of the quests during the early and middle stages of gameplay can be completed without the help of other players, particularly if the player is at a higher level than that which the quest suggests. Other portions of the game such as dungeons (also called instances) are designed to require cooperation with other players for success. In WoW Dungeons are designed either for groups of two to five players, or for raid groups of up to 40 players for the larger and significantly more difficult dungeons.

At World of Warcraft's highest level, these complex dungeons (and some outdoor encounters) are designed to take raiding guilds a number of hours to complete, usually after many attempts over a period of a few weeks or months before success is achieved. Raid dungeon progress is saved on the server, to allow completion of the dungeon over a few days.

Worl of Warcraft game rewards success through money, items, and experience, which in turn allow players to improve in skill and power. Players level their avatar from level one up to level 60, level 70 if they have The Burning Crusade expansion (released on January 16, 2007), or level 80 if they have the Wrath of the Lich King expansion (yet to be released).

Furthermore, WoW players may opt to take part in battles against other players of an enemy faction, in PvP battlegrounds or in normal world zones subject to the rules in place on the particular server (see World of Warcraft Player versus Player). Duels can also be fought between members of the same or opposing factions, although these do not provide tangible rewards.