World of Warcraft: Difference between revisions

'''''World of Warcraft''''' is easily the most popular subscription-based [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game]] in the world today. It's based on [[Blizzard Entertainment]]'s popular ''[[Warcraft]]'' [[Real Time Strategy]] game series and is set seven years after ''[[Warcraft|Warcraft III]].''

'''World of Warcraft''' is based in the world of Azeroth, on three main continents: Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms, and Northrend; as well as Outland, whence the [[Our Orcs Are Different|Orcs]] originate. There are two factions: the Alliance and the Horde (though neither is automatically good or evil -- and in trope terms, ''both'' are [[The Alliance]]), twelve races - split evenly per faction, ten classes, ten primary professions, and four secondary professions. The game is casual-friendly to a point, being designed so that those who prefer to play solo can still achieve maximum level. It should be noted that, like most MMORPGs, about half of '''WoW'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s content can only be accessed after you reached maximum level, and cooperative play is required to earn the best gear and other rewards. Guilds are a major part of the game's community, with the majority of players belonging to one. Benefits of guild membership are both social and material -- most endgame raid content is done by guilds and they can share a pool of resources much greater than that available to the solo player. The Cataclysm expansion added more benefits to being in a guild, ranging from faster movement speed, extra gold from killing monsters, and in some cases, [[Bragging Rights Reward|mounts]] - should your guild attain a high enough rank.

'''WoW'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[Fantasy Character Classes|classes]] follow the [[An Adventurer Is You|standard RPG archetypes]]. The three core roles are tanking (taking damage so others don't have to), healing (patching others up), and DPS (optimizing the '''D'''amage you deal to the enemy '''P'''er '''S'''econd, sometimes pronounced "deeps" for fun). These roles are further refined by the talents each character chooses to specialize in. There are "pure" classes that can only fill a DPS role, and "hybrid" classes which may either specialize in one role or fill multiple roles at the cost of utility.