[World of Warcraft] FAQ/Strategy Guide
[Version] 0.1 [Author] Jdude84
[Contact] jch0449 [at] gmail [dot] com [AIM] JCLT811
[Table of Contents]
1. About WoW
2. WoW Lingo / Abbreviations
3. Frequently Asked Questions
- Game Basics
- Professions
- Making Gold
- Mounts
4. Administrivia
- Legal Information
- Credits
- Version History
- Contact Info
[1. About WoW]
World of Warcraft, known to its players more affectionately as WoW, or "The game
that stole my life from me", is the latest in the craze known as MMORPGs. It's
massive. It's multiplayer. To most, it's amazingly addictive. But I'm assuming
you know most of that already. This section really goes over nothing, so if you
know what you're looking for, skip this and head down to the other sections. For
those unaware of the existance of such game, here's a bit more information.
World of Warcraft [Website: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com] (Lots of useful
basic information there, by the way) is a MMORPG. Yes, it does cost monthly to
play, on top of the $49.99 to buy the game. The going rate is currently
$15/month, and more payment info can be found on their site.
If you're looking for reviews, check out the section devoted to such things
right here at GameFAQs, or just google it, if perchance you don't trust GameFAQs
(and why would you do such a thing?).
In general, if you like online RPGs, you'll like this game. If you like killing
things, you'll love this game. The depth of this game cannot even be attempted
to be covered even in brief in less than a few hundred paragraphs. If you can
think of it, odds are it is in this game in some form, or is planned to be
included in future patches. Yes, game content is non static and is updated quite
frequently. Further, more...useful information can be found throughout the rest
of this guide, so without further ado:
[2. WoW Lingo / Abbreviations]
If you've never played an online RPG before, you'll be surprised to see the
crazy amount of abbreviations, terms, and crazy lingo strewn across the many
channels of WoW. While most of the following can be found in the game manual
and/or on the WoW community site, if you've got no idea what a aggro hating
kiter is, you may want to read the following section. For "ease" of searching,
they're listed in alpabetical order, descending.
[Add]
An enemy that attacks you while you are fighting another enemy. Sometimes
also referred to as "aggro".
[Aggro]
Twofold meaning. The more common is the same as an [Add], where an enemy
you did not intend to attack attacks you while you are fighting another enemy.
The second, lesser used, refers to the amount of hate a monster has for you.
Hate is generated by the threat you cause to the monster, or by healing other
players. Generally common to hear mages complaining about aggro.
[AFK]
Away from keyboard. If you don't know what this stands for, you've
probably not heard of the internet either.
[Aggro Radius]
Exactly what it sounds like. It's the circular distance around a
particular [Mob] in which they will [Aggro] you. Determining the aggro radius on
various enemies simply takes time and experience, as most all of them have a
slightly differing range.
[AoE]
Stands for "area of effect". Certain spells, such as arcane explosion,
have this attribute. AoE spells will hit all enemies in a certain radius, such
as 10 yards.
[AE]
Stands for "area effect". Pretty much the same as [AoE].
[Avatar]
Your character.
[Buff]
A status boosting spell casted on yourself or another player. Examples of
this include Arcane Intellect, Blessing of Might, etc. Frequently you'll see
party members asking you to buff them.
[BFD]
Stands for "Blackfathom Deeps", which is one of many [Instance] dungeons
found throughout the game. Also one of the first ones you'll be able to enter,
in many cases.
[BoP]
Stands for "Bind on Pickup", an attribute of many drops. Means the item
cannot be traded or sold ot another player as soon as it's picked up.
[BoE]
Stands for "Bind on Equip". Means that the item can be picked up and
traded, but not if you equip it. Most "greens" have this attribute.
[BRB]
Be right back. Again, you know this already if you've spent more than 5
minutes on the internet.
[Carebear]
Generally used by players who prefer [PVP], this is a term given to
players who prefer to attack enemies rather than other players. I've not seen
much of this used, but it might be more rampant on PVP servers.
[Caster]
Someone who casts spells and other incantations in order to fight,
rather than run up and bash them directly. Mages and priests are good examples
of this, while certain classes like druids can both work as Casters and [Melee]
fighters.
[Combat Pet]
A pet owned by a player that can be controlled to help fight
enemies. As opposed to other pets, which are non combat. Hunters make great use
of these.
[Cooldown]
The waiting period before another spell or ability can be used again.
In general, the more powerful the spell, the longer the cooldown.
[Creep]
Lesser used term for an enemy or monster.
[Critter]
An animal that doesn't attack back, such as a deer or rabbit. You can
still kill them, however.
[Deadmines]
Almost always, this will be the first [Instance] dungeon you're able
to fight in. Located in Westfall.
[Debuff]
A spell cast on an enemy or (in PVP) a player. Usually this lowers one
of their attributes or gives them a negative status effect.
[DoT]
Stands for "Damage over Time".
[DPS]
Stands for "Damage per Second". You'll see a lot of talk about this. In
general, higher DPS equals better. Rogues have excellent damage per second,
while classes such as mages tend to lack in this area.
[Drop]
An item found on an enemy. Loot, money, etc.
[Elite]
A term given to certain enemies and quests. Elites act just like any
other enemies their level, only with a lot (and i mean a lot) more health
points. They're just as easy to hit, but they're very strong. These often
require groups to kill.
[EXP]
Sometimes also referred to as "XP", this stands for Experience Points,
those precious numbers you need to get your next level up.
[Farming]
You'll hear differing opinions of what this means, but in general it's
the act of fighting lower level monsters in order to make faster amounts of
gold. Often this is done by fighting lower level humanoids, who drop cloth, as
well as money and often equipment.
[Grinding]
The act of staying in the same area fighting the same enemies for a
very long time. Generally used in coordination with [Farming], in order to
collect faster amounts of money, and sometimes, [EXP].
[GM]
Stands for "Game Master". They're the big bad scary dudes in charge who can
help you out if you encounter problems.
[Greens]
Used to refer to the colour of "uncommon" equipment or item drops from
enemies. Item value/rarity is referred to by colours, and you'll see the term
greens a lot, as they are worth quite a bit more than your average item, but
common enough that you'll see quite a few in a single span of gameplay.
[GTG]
Stands for "Good to Go". A good one to know, if you're used to this as
"Got to go", and you keep seeing your party members say it. Usually stated by
mages or other mana users who have just recovered their mana.
[Hate]
The amount of [Aggro] an enemy has towards you. Also referred to as
[Threat] sometimes.
[HP]
Health points, hit points, health. Life. Whatever.
[Inc]
Stands for incoming. Crazy.
[Incoming]
Sometimes abbreviated as [Inc], this simply means there's an attack
coming towards you. Genereally used in dungeons or elite quests.
[Instance]
A unique copy of a dungeon in which only you and your party members
are inside. Other groups may still enter the same area, they'll simply be in
another copy of the dungeon. Generally these are elite filled areas, such as the
deadmines or blackfathom deeps.
[Kiting]
The act of keeping an enemy/other player out of range where they can
attack you, but in range of your attacks. Very, very effective once mastered. A
real annoyance in [PVP] battles.
[KS]
Kill stealing/Kill stealer. The act of taking kills from someone else, or
someone who does such. Generally frowned upon.
[LFG]
Stands for "Looking for Group". Another good one to know, especially if
you're heading towards an instance.
[LFM]
Stands for "Looking for More". Used to differentiate between someone
looking for a group, and someone in a group looking to fill that existing group
up.
[LOL]
Stands for "Laugh Out Loud". The bane of many a online player's existance.
[LOM]
Stands for "Low on Mana". Mages should have a macro for this.
[Looting]
To take treasure/drops from a chest/enemy/corpse/object. Sometimes
used in a negative connotation to describe party members who just take
everything.
[LVL]
Stands for level. Used by players who hate vowels, apparently.
[Mez]
Used to describe any spell that incapacitates an enemy. Abbreviation of
mesmerize. Examples of this would be a Paladin's hammer of justice spell.
[Mob]
Used to refer to anything from your generic enemy, to a monster, to a
[NPC].
[Nerfing]
Player created term to define the actions Blizzard takes to
modify/weaken different classes in certain updates. It's generally accepted that
this was coined from the popular "Nerf" toy series, which generally consisted of
"soft" versions of every sport possible. Witty, yet overused. Complaining about
nerfing runs rampant, and is usually a good way to get inter-class arguments
going.
[Newbie]
Used to describe players who are new to the game. Sometimes used in a
negative connotation, although others use the term [n00b]. Sometimes shortened
to Newb.
[NPC]
Stands for 'non playable character'. Generally used to describe characters
such as innkeepers, vendors, or other 'friendly' characters in cities. Also used
to describe the act of selling junk items to vendors. Often you'll hear players
telling others to "just NPC it" when referring to a low level item.
[n00b]
The more negative form of [Newbie], generally used to describe someone
who is annoying and or rude, rather than low level or new to the game.
[PC]
Stands for "Price Check". Used when you want to sell something but aren't
sure of the value. Be careful with this one, especially if you get immediate
offers.
[Pet]
Also referred to as a Non-Combat pet, these refer to pets who do not aid
in battles. These can range from dogs to parrots, and much much more.
[Pop]
Abbreviation for "Populates", describes the act of an enemy [Spawn].
[Port]
Stands for teleport. The act of warping around the world via various
means, removing the need to walk. Lazy kids these days.
[PST]
Here's one that took me a while to figure out. Stands for "Please Send
Tell". You'll see this EVERYWHERE. It's generally used as a prefix by people who
are selling/offering/looking for almost anything. Basically means they want you
to whisper them.
[PVE]
Stands for "Player Versus Environment". Used to describe player versus NPC
content.
[PVP]
Stands for "Player Versus Player". Used to describe...well, player versus
player content. Certain servers are PVP servers, which means you can attack and
be attacked by anyone almost anywhere.
[Pull]
Here's an important one. Pulling describes the act of drawing an enemy
(almost always by use of a ranged attack or spell) away from a large group of
enemies. Used in parties and dungeons almost exclusively, this is a very, very
common tactic used to fight one monster at a time rather than 2-5 of them. Learn
to pull, or don't try to at all, or your party members will get very angry with
you. Common pullers are Hunters, Rogues, or any "tank" class.
[Puller]
Someone who pulls. Generally determined by a party before entering a
dungeon.
[Raid]
A large party formed to attack very, very high level enemies. Almost
always you'll need to be in the 50-60 range to join a raid.
[Res]
Sometimes also abbreviated as Rez. Both refer to Ressurect, or
Ressurection. Players saying this (generally in a group) are calling out for
one. This will ressurect a player instantly at the spot of their corpse. Very
useful in dungeons.
[Respawn]
Used to describe a dead enemy respawning.
[Rolling]
Used to describe the act of rolling a die to either win equipment
drops in a group, or for other certain actions. While rolling for items is
automatic, it is very common for groups to agree to "roll for" things such as
chests/ore veins, and other items while grouping. Do not, and I repeat, do not
roll for things you can't use that are bind on pickup. You'll never get in any
groups if you do this, so it's not worth it.
[Spawn]
Same thing as a respawn, basically.
[Spawn Point]
As you may have guess, this refers to the location in which
enemies spawn/respawn.
[Stack]
A unit of measure that isn't exactly exact. Refers to a full set of
items stacked in your inventory. Some items stack in sets of 20 (EG: Linen
cloth), while others stack in sets of 10 (Ores), or more/less.
[Soulbound]
Item attribute that means that it cannot be sold or traded to
another player. It is, as the name suggests, bound to your character.
[Tank]
Twofold. A tank is a character with a high amount of armor and HP, who
can take a great deal of hits. Usually used in a party. Good examples of tanks
include Warriors, Paladins, and Druids in Bear Form. Also, "tanking" is referred
to as the act of being a tank. It is usually a warrior's job to tank in parties,
while a class such as a priest or paladin is responsible for healing the tank.
[Taunt]
The action of causing a monster to attact you instead of someone else.
Also known as pulling or drawing [Aggro].
[Threat]
Basically the same thing as [Hate].
[TY]
Stands for "Thank You". Everyone with AOL knows what this is.
[WB]
Stands for "Welcome Back".
[WTB]
Stands for "Want to Buy". Usually used as a prefix followed by what item
the person is looking for. EG: "WTB Stacks of [Linen Cloth] PST". Get used to
seeing plenty of this.
[WTS]
Stands for "Want to Sell". Used in the same context as [WTB].
[XP]
Experience points, also referred to as [EXP].
[3. Frequently Asked Questions]
[Game Basics]
Q. What does _________ stand for?
A. Check section 2. If you can't find it
there, e-mail me at jcho449 [at] gmail [dot] com
Q. How much does the game cost?
A. $49.99 for the actual game itself. 1 month of play time is included with
the disks. Subsequent months are $14.99/month, or slightly less if you
buy multiple months at a time.
Q. Do I need a credit card to play this game?
A. No, you can buy prepaid game cards and choose to pay with those.
Q. What system specs. do I need to run this game?
A. Opinions vary, but I would suggest at least 512MB of RAM, a decent Pentium
IV/M or Athlon processor, and a 128MB video card. If you don't want to lag
anywhere, you'll want 1GB of ram and a 256MB graphics card. Get the gig of
RAM, more than anything, if you have the rest, and you'll be fine. Ironforge
lags for EVERYONE now and then.
Q. What is the maximum level?
A. As of now, 60. There are possibilities of extending the level cap, but
no current plans exist, at least that are known to the general public.
Q. What is "Rest EXP"?
A. Rest XP is generated when you log out at an inn or city. Basically, the
longer you don't play, the more rest EXP you get. When rested, you gain double
experience from kills. This does not apply to quests, and the maxium rest EXP
you can save up is 2 1/2 levels, which takes roughly 2 weeks to accumulate.
[Professions]
Q. How many professions may I have at once?
A. You can have two Main Professions, and all three Secondary professions
(Fishing, Cooking, First Aid)
Q. What main professions are there?
A. Skinning, Mining, Leatherworking, Blacksmithing, Herbalism, Alchemy,
Engineering, Enchanting, Tailoring.
Q. Why so many? How should I decide which to pick?
A. There are many various suggested combinations. MOST will work, but a
few of the more popular ones include: Skinning/Leatherworking,
Mining/Blacksmithing, Skinning/Mining, Enchanting/Tailoring,
Herbalism/Alchemy.
Q. Should I only use professions my classes can use?
A. Absolutely not. While there are certain professions that greatly help
certain classes, there are a ton of them that are great at generating
revenue regardless of class. That being said, having your human mage be
a blacksmith/leatherworker might not be the best idea.
Q. Ok, so where do I go to learn how to become a _________?
A. This varies greatly dependent on your race, class, and intended profession.
You can get directions to any trainer from a guard in a major city.
It's not hard, trust me.
[Making Gold]
Q. Gold? What's that?
A. At low levels, you might not even have gold yet.
For those unaware:
100 copper - 1 silver
100 silver - 1 gold
100 gold - A lot of money
Q. So, how do I make gold? And fast.
A. Making gold is almost an inappropriate term. Quite often, you'll be making
silver over and over again, which will turn into gold. Very few drops in this
game sell for a gold or more. When they do, it will almost always be at the
auction house.
Q. Auction House?
A. There are three Auction Houses in the game: Ironforge (Alliance),
Orgrimmar (Horde), and Gadgetzan (Both). These can be either an
excellent place to make money, or a slow, certain doom that results in you
blowing all your money on equipment. Be advised, you WILL want to buy anything
you can use once you get to the auction house. That being said, you can greatly
increase your revenue by visiting here frequently. As a very basic example,
consider linen cloth: A stack of 20 sells for 2s60c to vendors.
While this isn't nothing, the same stack can go from anywhere to 25s-30s
(or more, if you're lucky) at the AH. That's a 1000% increase.
Generally, any profession created items or items needed by professions sell very
well at the AH, as well as any rare items. More detailed specifics will be
covered elsewhere in the guide.
Q. What if I don't wan't to/Can't get to the AH?
A. Well, you have a couple of options: - Save your "greens"/rare items in
your bank - Collect EVERYTHING you see, and NPC it - Try trading to other
players on an individual basis
I highly reccommend saving anything that looks valuable, and eventually selling
it at the auction house, because it most likely is. As far as regular junk is
concerned, you should have no trouble getting 5 bags of some slot value very
early on, so pick up everything you see and sell it. It does add up.
Q. That's all good and all, but so far you're just telling me to "kill stuff".
A. Again, specifics will be covered later. However, in general, if you want
immediate "money", humanoids drop copper/silver, as well as various types of
cloth. Both add up VERY quickly if you decide to "Farm" them for a while. They
also seem to drop equipment more often than other types of enemies, so you can
almost never go wrong with fighting them. Other than that, nothing short of game
experience and selling items to vendors will let you know what enemies are worth
more than others. Spiders tend to have good drops as well. It all depends.
Q. What professions make the most gold?
A. I'm not nearly experienced with all the trade skills, especially at 200+
skill levels, but in general, if you want to make money, especially at lower
levels, you can't go wrong with skinning/mining. Both ore and leather sell
very well at the auction house. Even a stack of copper bars goes for
upwards of 20s/stack.
Q. I followed your advice, and I barely make anything!
A. Context is important:
At level 1-10, you'll be lucky to sell any individual item for more than a
silver. Stacks of things will still sell generally low, as will equipment. Also
consider that killing level 8 humanoids will get you around 30c, while fighting
level 30s can get you upwards of 2s if you're lucky. Don't expect to make gold
at any decent rate before level 20. At level 25 you may start to see gold
amounts increase slowly. The only exception to this is of course, professions.
You can make a bunch of gold mining and skinning early on. At low levels, it's
more about being able to afford skills for your class and professions than
anything else.
[Mounts]
Q. When can I get a mount?
A. Level 40. No sooner. Please don't ask how to get one before level 40.
Q. How much do they cost?
A. 90G.
Q. What's this about "Epic Mounts"?
A. Epic Mounts can be acquired only once you've reached level 60, and
they cost an impressive 1000g to buy. They increase your movement speed
by 100%, however. And no, that's not an extra 0.
Q. How am I supposed to afford these?
A. Save. It's really not that hard. I'll include a strategy for earning
gold for your mount later, but I assure you there's no magical formula.
Spending less and selling more will eventually result in you earning 90g.
It picks up a bit as you get closer and closer to 40.
Q. So what do I get for my 90g exactly?
A. Besides looking cool riding around on some random animal, when summoned,
your mount increases your movement speed by 60%.
Q. Is it really worth it?
A. If it wasn't, do you think everyone would be buying one? In short, yes.
However, don't ignore equipment for 20 levels just to get a mount.
Careful balancing will result in you getting your mount and still having
decent equipment.
[Misc.]
Q. What are "Greens" exactly? And what about other equipment levels.
A. In this game, equipment is sorted by level/colour. The corresponding
levels and their colours are as follows:
Poor - Grey
Common - White
Uncommon - Green
Rare - Blue
Epic - Purple
Legendary - Orange
Artifact - ???
As you will find out, greens aren't THAT uncommon, but blue's are much, much,
much harder to find. In general you won't even see your first blue until around
level 20-25, and much later for your first purple. For some reason, these are
referred to as "greens", "rares", and "epics", at least on my server. Why people
chose to alternate between name and colour I'll never know.
Q. What about the colours regarding quests?
A. WoW uses a colour coding system to determine the difficulty of quests:
Grey - Much lower levelled than you (very easy)
Green - Lower levelled than you (easy)
Yellow - Near or at your level (normal)
Orange - 2-3 levels above you (hard)
Red - 4+ levels above you (very hard)
Level numbers may not be exact, but in terms of difficulty, it's almost
immediate to tell whether or not a quest is possible at your level.
Q. I notice enemies have colours as well, same thing as with quests?
A. Almost, only a slight difference:
Grey - Much lower levelled than you (very easy)
Green - Lower levelled than you (easy)
Yellow - Near or at your level (normal)
Orange - 3-4 levels above you (hard)
Red - 5+ levels above you (very hard)
The difference here is, grey monsters will not give you any experience at all,
and red enemies should basically never be attempted. Orange mobs are possible to
be killed, depending on your class and skill level, but it's best to stick to
yellows/greens.
Q. Any other odd colour things I should know about?
A. Skill increases work the same way. Other than that, that's all you'll need
to know about the lovely colours in WoW.
Grey - No skill gained from this action
Green - Very low chance of gaining skill
Yellow - Almost always gain skill
Orange - You will gain a skill point from this action
Red - Your skill level is too low/You do not have the
required profession
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
[Credits]
Blizzard / World of Warcraft [.com]
Basic game information, confirmation of various information
(game abbreviations, etc)
GameFAQs / GameFAQs.com
Hosting the guide.
[Version History]
0.1 - March 28th, 2005
Initial version. Basic game info/terms/F.A.Q. up. Coming soon: More in depth
guides pertaining to FAQ topics, more FAQ answers, as well as new sections
devoted to tradeskills. Much more planned in the more distant future as well. E-
mail anything you'd like to see included in the guide.
[Contact Info]
I can be reached via e-mail at jch0449 [at] gmail [dot] com. Preferably, it'd be
nice if you put "WoW" or "World of Warcraft" or "Warcraft", or something
pertaining to the game in the subject of your e-mail. Additionally, I can be
reached via AOL IM, at JCLT811. I currently do not have an allow list, so this
may change. Furthermore, I'm currently in college, so my availibility to
answering e-mail and/or IMs may vary week to week and throughout the week. So
please be patient, and I'll try to get back to you ASAP.
