After your server, your character is your next huge choice. While there aren't as many choices here as in other games, but even these limited options can seem like a lot for some one who's not used to it. To make it easier to follow I will break it down into a few parts: Gender, faction, class and race. These will just be brief over views for now. In later posts, I will go into more depth.
You have only two options for gender, naturally. Luckily, gender has no bearing whatsoever on things like abilities, class choice, stats or anything else that impacts the game. However, there are some small difference that can affect how the character feels, such as graphics, how armor looks, animations, voice and similar.
Faction choice is one that deserves it's own full topic, however I will try to lay it out in a concise manner. This will affect the kinds of races available, and as a result racials (abilities only given to one race) and the amount of some classes open to you. Differing factions also have certain quests, npcs(Non-Player Character, or a character controlled by the game), and rewards unique to their side.
Next up is the class. Again, this will be getting a bigger description later on, but here is the short version. The class you play will dictate what kind of role you play later on, but also, how you get your business done.
When you start joining groups, at around level 13-15, you will be able to fill one of three roles depending on what you're playing.
Tank: The tank is the person who's job it keep the enemy focused on them.
DPS (Damage Per Second): The people who's job it is to kill the enemy.
Healer: Make sure the team stays alive.
Of course, there's quite a bit more to it than that, but it gives you a basic idea what you can be expected to do once you start grouping up with people.
A basic description of the classes are as follows:
Death Knight: Hero class only available once you have a character reach the level of 55. Since a truly new player will not be able to choose this, we'll forget them for the time being.
Druid: Druids can fill any of the above rolls. In bear form, they're fantastic tanks. As a cat, they dps as melee. (Up close and personal physical attacks). In the form known as the Moonkin (Owl-bear type of creature) they dps at a distance with fantastic magical attacks. And in their tree form, they heal.
Hunters: These are strictly dps and they do so at a range, using guns, crossbows, and bows. Luckily their pets help keep enemies at a distance.
Mages: The magic masters of Azeroth are another pure dps class. As you can imagine, they use their magical abilities from a distance.
Paladins: These holy warriors can fill all three roles, although not to the extent that druids do. Expect to find these players as tanks, dps(melee), and healers.
Priests: Not only can priests dps(ranged) and heal, they have two different flavors of healing.
Rogue: Masters of stealth and intrigue, the rogue is yet another pure dps(melee) class.
Shaman: Shamans use elemental magic, and totems, to dps(melee or ranged) or heal.
Warlocks:Thriving on suffering, Warlocks use curses and other nasty spells to wear down their enemies from a distance, with the help of their demon minions. They are the fourth and last pure DPS class.
Warriors: These guys are trained in martial techniques and use nothing more than skill and physical strength to defeat their opponents as dps(melee) or tank.
Which race you play decides which classes are available to you. Although this choice can end up being as important to you as all others, I will leave it for it's own topic. For now I'll simply list which races you can pick out of either faction.
Alliance:
Draenei(Burning Crusade expansion needed), Dwarf, Gnome, Human, and Night Elf.
Horde:
Blood Elf (BC needed), Forsaken (Or Undead), Orc, Tauren, and Troll.
Remember, with the ability to have 10 characters on each realm with a total of 50 characters to an account, no character you roll has to be a permanent choice. Only you can decide what's best for you.
If you'd like to look a bit closer to any one part of character selection, take a look at the info that Blizzard itself has on it: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/#character
Next up is the class. Again, this will be getting a bigger description later on, but here is the short version. The class you play will dictate what kind of role you play later on, but also, how you get your business done.
When you start joining groups, at around level 13-15, you will be able to fill one of three roles depending on what you're playing.
Tank: The tank is the person who's job it keep the enemy focused on them.
DPS (Damage Per Second): The people who's job it is to kill the enemy.
Healer: Make sure the team stays alive.
Of course, there's quite a bit more to it than that, but it gives you a basic idea what you can be expected to do once you start grouping up with people.
A basic description of the classes are as follows:
Death Knight: Hero class only available once you have a character reach the level of 55. Since a truly new player will not be able to choose this, we'll forget them for the time being.
Druid: Druids can fill any of the above rolls. In bear form, they're fantastic tanks. As a cat, they dps as melee. (Up close and personal physical attacks). In the form known as the Moonkin (Owl-bear type of creature) they dps at a distance with fantastic magical attacks. And in their tree form, they heal.
Hunters: These are strictly dps and they do so at a range, using guns, crossbows, and bows. Luckily their pets help keep enemies at a distance.
Mages: The magic masters of Azeroth are another pure dps class. As you can imagine, they use their magical abilities from a distance.
Paladins: These holy warriors can fill all three roles, although not to the extent that druids do. Expect to find these players as tanks, dps(melee), and healers.
Priests: Not only can priests dps(ranged) and heal, they have two different flavors of healing.
Rogue: Masters of stealth and intrigue, the rogue is yet another pure dps(melee) class.
Shaman: Shamans use elemental magic, and totems, to dps(melee or ranged) or heal.
Warlocks:Thriving on suffering, Warlocks use curses and other nasty spells to wear down their enemies from a distance, with the help of their demon minions. They are the fourth and last pure DPS class.
Warriors: These guys are trained in martial techniques and use nothing more than skill and physical strength to defeat their opponents as dps(melee) or tank.
Which race you play decides which classes are available to you. Although this choice can end up being as important to you as all others, I will leave it for it's own topic. For now I'll simply list which races you can pick out of either faction.
Alliance:
Draenei(Burning Crusade expansion needed), Dwarf, Gnome, Human, and Night Elf.
Horde:
Blood Elf (BC needed), Forsaken (Or Undead), Orc, Tauren, and Troll.
Remember, with the ability to have 10 characters on each realm with a total of 50 characters to an account, no character you roll has to be a permanent choice. Only you can decide what's best for you.
If you'd like to look a bit closer to any one part of character selection, take a look at the info that Blizzard itself has on it: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/#character
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