If you decide to keep playing, you'll need a subscription. A monthly subscription unlocks the entire game up through WoW Classic 20th Anniversary Gold Dragonflight, the most recent expansion prior to 2024's The War Within. This means you'll have access to every expansion, raid, dungeon, and class introduced over the past 20 years.

To play the newest content, however, you must purchase The War Within on top of your subscription. This expansion introduces new zones like Khaz Algar and continues the game's main story. Future expansions, such as Midnight, will also require additional purchases when they release. Having a large amount of WoW Classic 20th Anniversary Gold can support you at all times.

Another perk of subscribing is access to World of Warcraft Classic, which lets you experience Azeroth as it was in the mid-2000s. Limited-time events like Plunderstorm and Remix are also included. For this guide, though, we'll focus on the current version of the game-often referred to as "retail WoW."

Choosing Your Race and Class

World of Warcraft is built around two factions: the Alliance and the Horde. Each faction contains multiple races, such as Night Elves, Orcs, Humans, and more. Every race comes with unique traits, backstories, and sometimes even special abilities. However, not all races can choose every class. For example, Demon Hunters can only be Blood Elves or Night Elves, while the new Evoker class is tied to the Dracthyr race.

Classes are the foundation of your character. Unlike some other MMOs where you can swap roles freely, WoW locks you into a class. Each class has specializations that allow you to refine your playstyle as you level. Warriors, for instance, can choose between tanking or dealing damage, while Mages focus entirely on ranged magical DPS. Choosing a class that fits your preferred role-damage, healing, or tanking-is crucial.

Don't stress too much if you change your mind later. With the new Warbands feature in The War Within, leveling alternate characters is faster than ever. Once one of your characters reaches level 80, your other characters gain bonus experience, making it much easier to try out new classes.

Beginning Your Adventure

When you create your character, most new players will start in Exile's Reach, a beginner-friendly island designed to teach the basics. This short zone introduces you to cheap WoW Classic 20th Anniversary Gold combat, questing, leveling, and even dungeons. By level 10, you'll unlock your class specialization and move into the wider world.