Diving Into Your Epic World of Warcraft Adventure

World of Warcraft is the legendary MMO that defined an entire generation and became a true cultural phenomenon. For over two decades, it’s been bringing millions of players together in one massive world of Azeroth full of adventure and magic that never ceases to amaze and engage.

Today, we’re taking a closer look at the game, its core features, and all the things that make it so easy to fall in love with.

In-Game Basics: Leveling, Gearing, and Core Activities

Like many MMOs, WoW is a progress-oriented game where your whole journey is built around making your character stronger. The more powerful your hero becomes, the more content opens up: tougher enemies, new zones, harder activities, and better rewards. 

Leveling Up

In early and mid-game, you’ll need to gain experience (XP) to raise your character’s level.

A huge chunk of XP comes from Quests that will also help you earn your first currency, get useful items, and learn about the in-game world while you level up. 

Defeating various creatures, commonly known as “mobs,” also grants XP and loot. 

Dungeons are another great way to level up and earn rewards. These are short-to-medium cooperative adventures designed for 5-player teams. Each dungeon has its own theme, a few types of enemies, and several bosses. To clear a dungeon, your group will need to work together, with every player having a specific role (tank, healer, or damage dealer) based on their class and specialization. If your team completes the run, you’ll walk away with XP, gold, and valuable gear, increasing with the dungeon’s difficulty.

Endgame 

When you finally hit the maximum level, it’ll be time for the endgame, which is widely considered the best part of the game because it contains WoW’s most challenging and rewarding activities, like raids, Mythic+ dungeons, and competitive PvP (more on those later). 

At this point, your character no longer earns XP, but your progress doesn’t stop there. Instead of levels, the new measure of your character’s strength shifts to gear. 

Gear

Your gear is basically everything your character wears and equips, including armor, weapons, rings, necklaces, etc. Every piece of gear has an item level (often shortened to ilvl), a number that represents how powerful that item is. The average ilvl of all your equipped items determines your overall strength.

Gear is also divided into tiers (for example: Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, and so on). Each tier has its own range of item levels and an upgrade track. Within a tier, you can improve your items using special in-game currencies (Crests and Valorstones). These upgrades increase your item’s ilvl, but they cannot change its tier.

While you’re still leveling, most of your gear will come from quests and mobs, which will be more than enough to get you comfortably through the main campaign. But once you reach the endgame, you’ll need to start hunting for the best equipment in different activities.

Mythic+ dungeons

Mythic+ (or simply M+) is a scalable endgame dungeon system with a timer and rotating difficulty modifiers. Each Mythic key (+2, +6, +10, and so on) determines how tough your run will be, increasing enemies’ health and damage, as well as the quality of rewards. Starting from certain key levels, you’ll also face affixes, special weekly modifiers that make the dungeon more challenging and add new twists to the gameplay. 

Just like regular dungeons, Mythic+ requires a five-player team. If your group finishes the run in time, you’ll receive a chest containing gear with an ilvl based on your dungeon’s key. If you run out of time, you’ll still get loot, though one of the pieces will have a slightly lower item level.

Completing Mythic+ dungeons also grants you rating points that build up your personal Mythic+ score and give access to exclusive rewards. 

Raids

Another important part of WoW’s endgame is Raids, large, multi-boss instances that require bigger and more coordinated teams (typically 10-25 players). 

Raids come in several difficulty levels, from the more casual LFR (Looking for Raid) and Normal modes to the highly demanding Heroic and Mythic tiers. Compared to dungeons, raids feature much more complex mechanics, larger-scale fights, and by far the best gear rewards in the game. 

If you’re playing on LFR, you can simply queue up and get matched with random teammates. For higher difficulties, though, you’ll need to assemble a group in advance. You can do it via the in-game Group Finder tool, but keep in mind that most groups have certain item-level or experience requirements to join. Another option is to get a WoW raid boost and team up with professional players who will guide and carry you through the encounters, making sure you get your rewards even if you have little to no raiding experience. 

Other Things You Can Do in WoW

While power progression is at the heart of World of Warcraft, it’s far from the only thing you can do. The game is packed with tons of side content and activities that can keep any kind of player entertained for hundreds of hours. 

PvP

If you want to test your skills against real opponents, WoW’s PvP system offers several ways to do that. You can try out Arenas, small-scale matches (from 1v1 to 3v3) where you’ll have to use strategy and class abilities to outplay your opponents. For something more massive, there are team-based Battlegrounds where you not only battle enemy players but also complete objectives such as capturing flags or controlling resources. Taking part in these activities earns you rating points, which contribute to your PvP rank and unlock exclusive rewards.

Collecting

There are literally thousands of unique items waiting to be added to your collection: mounts, toys, battle pets, transmogs (items that change the appearance of your gear), not to mention weapons, armor, and other gear pieces. You can also collect achievements and titles to show off your progress.

Professions

Professions give your character extra skills, allowing you to gather specific resources and craft new items. There’s plenty to pick from (catching fish, brewing alchemical potions, forging weapons, etc), so you’ll have no trouble finding something that fits your taste and playstyle.

Earning Gold

Gold is WoW’s main in-game currency used for almost everything, from leveling professions to buying mounts, gear, and consumables. You can earn gold by selling your loot, crafted items, and gathered materials on the Auction House, WoW’s player-driven marketplace. 

In-Game Events

WoW regularly hosts special events to celebrate real-life holidays (Hallow’s End for Halloween, Love Is in the Air for St. Valentine’s Day, etc) or in-game traditions (the Darkmoon Faire carnival). These events usually include themed quests, fun mini-games, and exclusive rewards. 

Roleplay 

If you’re in for something more immersive and story-based, WoW also has dedicated Roleplay servers where players basically become their characters, writing stories, holding in-game events, and living out the lore of Azeroth together. This kind of gameplay might take a little getting used to, but once you get a good taste of it, you’ll find yourself part of a creative, passionate community that can turn WoW into a full-on interactive fantasy novel.

One of the main things that makes WoW so unique is that it offers you almost unlimited freedom to shape your own in-game experience. No matter what your goals are or how you like to play, Azeroth will always have something exciting for you to explore and discover. So gear up, step into the world, and see where your journey takes you!