Getting Started in Warcraft, Part 2
In the last installment of this series, I talked about what you needed to purchase and how to set-up your World of Warcraft game accounts. This time, we’ll be going over the next step in starting World of Warcraft — selecting which server realm to play on.
A server realm is a virtual game world where your characters will interact with other players’ characters and the game environment. Now, if you have friends that already play World of Warcraft and you’d like to join them, ask them for the name of the server realm they play on. When you log into the game for the first time, you’ll be able to select that server realm from a list of realms to create your new characters on.
To start the game, launch the World of Warcraft icon on your desktop or from the Start Menu. This will start the Blizzard “Launcher.” The Launcher program provides news from Blizzard but is actually a security feature and you shouldn’t bypass it when playing the game. Clicking on the “Play” button on the Launcher will start the game. Input your account name, password, and authenticator code when asked.
Once you’ve logged in, the game will ask you to select a server realm from a list of server names. Find your friend’s server name, click on it, and then click on the “Okay” button at the lower right. That’s it, you’re ready to make your first character.
If on the other hand, you are starting out by yourself for the first time, they are some things you should know about server realms. Blizzard has set-up four types of game environments for its server realms: PvE, PvP, RP, and RP/PvP. You’ll want to choose the type of server realm to match your play style. PvE stands for “Player versus Environment” and is the most common type of realm (it is also called “Normal” in the server realm list). Players are primarily pitted against the game environment and player versus player combat is strictly regulated. If you prefer to play the game without worrying about fighting players from the other faction, this is the server for you.
PvP stands for “Player versus Player.” On these types of servers, players may openly engage players of the other faction in almost all the territories of the realm. There are safe zones such as capital cities and sanctuaries where combat is not permitted, but for the most part you can initiate combat whenever and wherever you want. If you enjoy playing with a bit of danger and realism, these servers may be for you.
The other two types of server realms, RP and RP/PvP, stand for “Role-Playing” and “Role-Playing/Player versus Player.” RP servers are for those players who enjoy playing “in-character” and want a more immersive style of game play. There are stricter naming conventions for characters and conduct rules for RP and RP/PvP servers. Not all players on a role-playing server will actually “role-play” — role-playing only makes up a small percentage of the server population even on an RP realm. If you’d like more information on server types, check out the Blizzard website.
Another aspect of server types to consider is the realm population. Some realms have low player populations and others very high populations. When selecting a server realm for the first time, the game will prompt you to join a “recommended” realm. These are always low population servers and I would recommend against joining such a realm if you are just starting out. A low population server will have fewer players and opportunities for grouping when faced with difficult quests and objectives in the game. In addition, the economy on a low population server will constrain the amount of gold you will be able to earn with your professions as there are fewer buyers for the items you either create or obtain within the game. You’ll also be less likely to get assistance and advice while playing and it might be harder to find a guild that suits you.
For these reasons I would suggest selecting a medium or high population server. To find one, check out the game census data at WarcraftRealms. Now the information at WarcraftRealms is not completely accurate but it will give you a general idea of the overall population of a particular server and the population break-downs for the two player factions, Alliance and Horde. For instance, if you decide you’d like to play on a PvP server, I would stay away from servers where one faction completely dominates the other. It’s no fun to play an Alliance character on a PvP server where the Horde outnumber the Alliance by 3 to 1 or vice versa. It will be a challenge to complete quests on such a server. When I decided to start playing WoW again, I chose my new server based on its high population and because it had a 1.2 to 1 Alliance to Horde ratio. I’ve been able to make plenty of gold and stock up my guild bank even though I started from scratch since it has a good economy with such a high population. I do have to mention the one downside to a high population server — you can occasionally have a wait time to log into the game. It is very rare but it does happen (usually after a new game patch is released).
That’s it for this part of getting started. Next week we look at character generation and choosing a character class that suits your play style.
