New Player Starter Guide: Welcome to World of Warcraft!

Posted 2026/02/25 at 12:12 PM by Jaydaa

If you’re new to World of Warcraft and seeking to start your adventures with us in Azeroth, we can help get you started with our handy starter guide. Welcome! We’re glad you are joining us.

Beginning in Exile’s Reach

You’ll first begin your expedition aboard a ship where you’ll start to learn the basics of movement, interacting with non-player characters, and some starter class abilities. Key World of Warcraft figures will guide you through your first steps. As you progress through Exile’s Reach, you’ll learn more about your new world and hone your skills for your chosen class, gaining familiarity with its abilities and how to interact with your inventory.

After completing Exile’s Reach, you’ll move on to experience the entirety of the Dragonflight story including Story Mode raids leading you up to level 70 and the beginning of the first chapter of the Worldsoul Saga—The War Within.

What is Story Mode?

Experience the game's rich storytelling without the challenges of traditional raid mechanics. Story Mode opens the opportunity to follow the questline and enter the raid to enjoy the narrative at your own pace—allowing you to face the final boss in the encounter either solo or with four other friends. This mode is available in Dragonflight and The War Within raid encounters only.

You’ll level up to 80 through the story in an accelerated play-through of the expansion. Within just a few hours of playtime, this experience will take you through the complete story, beginning on the Isle of Dorn and delivering you to the broken world of K’aresh. Along the way, you’ll view key cinematics and follow the story of The War Within's main characters.

At the end of the experience, players with the Midnight expansion can join in the continuing story of the Worldsoul Saga.

Test the Waters with a Free Trial*

Begin the journey to a world filled with wonder and boundless adventure without needing a Subscription or Game Time. All playable content is free up to level 20, including level 20 Dungeons and quests, with a Free Trial. After the initial trek through Exile's Reach, characters on fresh accounts will be directed to Dragonflight™ content to continue to level beyond 20; however, a Subscription or Game Time is necessary.

The Free Trial is available to all players with a new or existing Battle.net account or those with a pre-existing account but inactive Subscription or Game Time.

Once you upgrade your account with a WoW Subscription or Game Time, all game content beyond level 20 and up to level 80 become available, including higher-level Dungeons, Raids, and social features like guilds, unrestricted in-game chat, and the Auction House.

More details about the World of Warcraft Free Trial, including frequently asked questions, can be read on WorldofWarcraft.Blizzard.com/start.

Getting Started

Download the Battle.net desktop app for Windows or Mac and create your account.
Open the Battle.net desktop app and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
Under the Version menu, select World of Warcraft. You'll see a second dropdown for each account if you have more than one World of Warcraftaccount. Select the active account you wish to play on from that column.
Click the Install button. The progress bar will show you when the game is available to play.
Once the installation is complete, click the Play button.

You'll need to select the realm you want to play on from the available realm types. Make sure you pick the same one your friends play on—in World of Warcraft Classic, characters can only group with others on the same realm!

If you're looking for a group of like-minded players, you can head to the New Guild Listings forum to begin your search. Or you can check out the new Ambassador Program to find helpful Discords communities.

Realm Types

There are several different realm types to choose from. Choose carefully, as each one has a distinct play style.

Normal—All zones are considered contested except enemy faction cities, where players will be automatically flagged for PvP. Players won't be able to attack each other in contested areas unless they turn on War Mode, allowing players on any realm to participate in open-world PvP with like-minded players. The toggle for War Mode can be found at the bottom of the Talents interface once a character reaches level 20. It can only be activated in a Faction or Capital City and can be deactivated at any rest location.
RP (Role-Play)—This realm type is best for those who wish to participate in role-play with others. This realm type uses the Normal ruleset and does not have open-world PvP.

/New Player Has Joined the Chat

After creating your new character and beginning your journey into World of Warcraft for the first time, you will automatically be added to a Newcomer Chat channel, where you can talk with other new players and seek advice from experienced players on the same faction who will be your guides as you level through the new starting zone of Exile's Reach. New players and guides will be able to recognize one another in the chat channels and by icons above their characters' heads that only they can see. Upon reaching level 50, new players will continue the journey independently and no longer have access to the Newcomer Chat.

If you're a veteran player and interested in guiding new players as they experience World of Warcraft for the first time, head over to Stormwind to speak with guide recruiter Celeste Periwinkle at the Stormwind Embassy or Orgrimmar to speak with guide recruiter Eyla Pathfinder at the Orgrimmar Embassy once you've met the following criteria:

Have an account in good standing
Reach level 80
Complete 3,000 quests

If you no longer wish to be a guide, you can speak to the guide recruiter once again.

Pre-purchase Midnight from the Blizzard Shop today to join in the next chapter of our journey. Learn more about the new expansion in our information round up. Adventure is calling you home!

*Free Trial not available for WoW Classic games.

Comment by OmgkthxbyShe's called Eyla Pathleader in the embassy not PathfinderComment by VivianneThere are underlying issues with Exile's Reach which have been there since the first introduction of the zone. Issues which are being displayed by new players in their newcomer-chat.

Such issues as not explaining properly how emotes work (not highlighting the importance of the / symbol to trigger commands) or not even remotely explaning how the chat feature works. For the past 5 years as a guide/mentor, I've seen almost daily examples of new players yelling "wave WAAAAVE how do I wave?", or players who think the newcomer channel is the same thing as the /say or /instance channels, so they're going to try to talk to their party while in dungeon.

Then there's the HUGE issue of the option to let the player create a character and spawn in their racial starting zone, at which point the game will NOT put you in the appropriate Timewalking campaign and it will NOT attempt to direct you to Dragonflight or Chromie, so you will quickly reach the continent's level cap and then everything will become grey.

They even made things so much worse by hiding the normal quest to start The War Within in Silithus inside the Adventurer's Guide - the quest no longer procs on its own when you get to level 70. So players who want the 'real' experience are confused.

I have wasted SO MUCH of my time explaining these things to new players over and over and over and over throughout the last 5 years. I've reported the issue to Blizzard in every way I could think of.
I had hoped that with the changes they made recently, when they retconned Thrall, Jaina and Wrathion to the zone, that they would tackle those issues.
They did not.

They have not. So we still have the same issues going around.Comment by GabrijelCzI don't know if any noticeable changes were made for Exile's Reach but if it's still the same so it doesn't teach new players anything because it doesn't teach anything important a lot of players don't know what soak looks like or what they should do with it
different types of council how and what to do when they have connected hp or others heal when one of them dies etc.
WoW has quite a few important mechanics that new players need to learn best right from the start but Exile's Reach doesn't prepare them for anything like that
Wake up BlizzardComment by kaizuim I've seen almost daily examples of new players yelling "wave WAAAAVE how do I wave?"Comment by cpuriRP (Role-Play)—This realm type is best for those who wish to participate in role-play with others. This realm type uses the Normal ruleset and does not have open-world PvP.Comment by VevoxThat amount of information from Blizzard just to "get started" should not be that involved and convoluted. Also, to add onto newcomer chat... Yeah, new players seem to struggle pretty badly with it. It is a cool feature but I think it should teach players how to atleast use the chat bar or something. Not just... exist and hope people figure out what it is and what its for. Maybe they do and im wrong but so many new players think its party chat or proximity chat and not a global channelComment by CrackerjackThere are underlying issues with Exile's Reach which have been there since the first introduction of the zone. Issues which are being displayed by new players in their newcomer-chat.

Such issues as not explaining properly how emotes work (not highlighting the importance of the / symbol to trigger commands) or not even remotely explaning how the chat feature works. For the past 5 years as a guide/mentor, I've seen almost daily examples of new players yelling "wave WAAAAVE how do I wave?", or players who think the newcomer channel is the same thing as the /say or /instance channels, so they're going to try to talk to their party while in dungeon.

Then there's the HUGE issue of the option to let the player create a character and spawn in their racial starting zone, at which point the game will NOT put you in the appropriate Timewalking campaign and it will NOT attempt to direct you to Dragonflight or Chromie, so you will quickly reach the continent's level cap and then everything will become grey.

They even made things so much worse by hiding the normal quest to start The War Within in Silithus inside the Adventurer's Guide - the quest no longer procs on its own when you get to level 70. So players who want the 'real' experience are confused.

I have wasted SO MUCH of my time explaining these things to new players over and over and over and over throughout the last 5 years. I've reported the issue to Blizzard in every way I could think of.
I had hoped that with the changes they made recently, when they retconned Thrall, Jaina and Wrathion to the zone, that they would tackle those issues.
They did not.

They have not. So we still have the same issues going around.Comment by RadiesThere are underlying issues with Exile's Reach which have been there since the first introduction of the zone. Issues which are being displayed by new players in their newcomer-chat.

Such issues as not explaining properly how emotes work (not highlighting the importance of the / symbol to trigger commands) or not even remotely explaning how the chat feature works. For the past 5 years as a guide/mentor, I've seen almost daily examples of new players yelling "wave WAAAAVE how do I wave?", or players who think the newcomer channel is the same thing as the /say or /instance channels, so they're going to try to talk to their party while in dungeon.

Then there's the HUGE issue of the option to let the player create a character and spawn in their racial starting zone, at which point the game will NOT put you in the appropriate Timewalking campaign and it will NOT attempt to direct you to Dragonflight or Chromie, so you will quickly reach the continent's level cap and then everything will become grey.

They even made things so much worse by hiding the normal quest to start The War Within in Silithus inside the Adventurer's Guide - the quest no longer procs on its own when you get to level 70. So players who want the 'real' experience are confused.

I have wasted SO MUCH of my time explaining these things to new players over and over and over and over throughout the last 5 years. I've reported the issue to Blizzard in every way I could think of.
I had hoped that with the changes they made recently, when they retconned Thrall, Jaina and Wrathion to the zone, that they would tackle those issues.
They did not.

They have not. So we still have the same issues going around.Comment by Gaviin/wave to Gor'grothComment by theaceofhearts36

Just a reminder that there is a UI to use emotes and you don't have to exclusively use the /-commands directly in chat.

Also, if you feel your time is wasted in the Newcomer chat then you can always leave it. You do not have to be a Guide... perhaps you shouldn't be a guide if you feel your time is wasted.Comment by VivianneJust a reminder that there is a UI to use emotes and you don't have to exclusively use the /-commands directly in chat.

Also, if you feel your time is wasted in the Newcomer chat then you can always leave it. You do not have to be a Guide... perhaps you shouldn't be a guide if you feel your time is wasted.Comment by FlanellThis game is just pure bad for new players. Its beyond stupid that they can't start in the racial starting area and play the story chronological right through. What was Blizzerd thinking?

Yesterday I noticed someone posting in the 4. LookingForGroup-Channel. Then I realized a new player will never know how to enter it. Its the only channel that is serverwide, but somewhere in time Blizzerd removed this once default channel for everyone because maybe they think their stupid lfg tool would be enough. So only veteran players from vanilla and BC know about this important channel and know how to join him 20 years later. Isnt this beyond stupid?

I feel bad for every new player trying to find out how the nonexplaining interface works and what the story of the game is. Or why suddenly Undercity has no city map anymore. This game is so full of bugs, its impossible for newbies to find their way through this jungle without giving up.

And dont get me even started on the classes and specs where you dont unlock crucial leveling tools and energy perks before you are max level. You can even unlock passives for active skills you dont have yet! And they removed every skill that was introduced to help with leveling and farming.

This game is so broken now. Blizzerd should roll it back to MoP. Or at least SL because DFs talent tree and pruning esp of Marked for Death killed this game for leveling.Comment by HexillThe more people I tried to introduce into wow the more I understood just how detrimental exile's reach and honestly the whole timewalking / leveling process currently is for the health of the game. It is, at this point fundamentally broken.

And I don't mean it in a mechanical way (that too). Gamewise the whole process is simply a convoluted mess with no rime or reason. I can understand that blizzard just wants wow to embrace this strange seasonal model with barely any permanence and to do that they need to fast track people to max level but after years of unsuccessful iteration it should be apparent that this method is purely and simply irreconcilable with MMO as a genre.

It is truly baffling just how much Blizzard seems to be chasing a target audience that doesn't exist while slowly eroding their aging audience. And to that point the amount of players you meet in what is supposed to be the leveling content is abysmally low. How are they supposed to enter the community naturally if they are presented with a barren antisocial environment with some vague promise at the end of the road.

Combine it with this jumpy and void of cohesion narrative (or really lack there of) and you end up in a situation that even someone with friends already in-game has nothing working for them but those vague promises. Every last person who I tried getting into the game bounced off of it and they all did it for one reason in many forms. The complete lack of cohesion.

One left because the story was disjointed (rpg fan lost), one left because the game didn't show him the ropes (pvp fan lost), one left because there was no one to do a dungeon with (and he didn't know he had to queue via some nebulous menu, big instance content fan). Hell, even tried getting my sister in and she quickly left to play some asian mmo about horses or some #$%^ because it had a stable leveling process and actually taught her what to do step by step.

World of warcraft needs a stable, somewhat long step by step leveling process. One that teaches mechanics one by one over a longer lvling and zone span. One that gives players the time to learn, test and understand what they are doing. It also needs a singular narrative that pushes the player to understand the world before they start fighting gods. Let's be honest.

Current wow team is unable and unwilling to even approach something close to vanilla wow so the only way out for them is a linear campaign, preferably one that creates small leveling communities in the image of max level but at lower lvl brackets (lvl 10s having to do certain things together to break into teen lvls, 20s, 30s etc until max lvl).

I am a teacher and let me tell you one thing. Unlike what media tries to portray kids haven't changed much. They are still looking for cool things to immerse in. Wow could easily have an influx of fresh blood (under the age where you actually know what blood pressure is) if it gave those kids and teens the three things they crave for: Community, achievement and immersion. It's not that they have "an attention span to short form mmos". Hell no. It's the game that instantly shows them it is unworthy of their time investment. And how do I know it? Because three of my students got into wow classic and basically no-lifed it for good few weeks to months only to go back afterwards and start playing warcraft 3.Comment by WHTJunior/wave to Gor'grothComment by TessellaJust make post-TLT an expansion that revamps start zones and capitals, with smaller stories focusing on your race, class, and faction identity.
Exile's teaches you none of these things.

And of course I don't just mean for story/lore stuff, I mean take that as a chance to redo the intro experience completely, actually teaching the game and it's systems.
Exile's doesn't do a good job of that either.

From what I've seen new players are confused about how to play the game, what their faction is actually about, why they are doing what they are doing, and why any of it matters. Exile's just leaves them with more questions than before on all of that.Comment by TessellaHell, even tried getting my sister in and she quickly left to play some asian mmo about horses or some #$%^ because it had a stable leveling process and actually taught her what to do step by step. Comment by HexillHell, even tried getting my sister in and she quickly left to play some asian mmo about horses or some #$%^ because it had a stable leveling process and actually taught her what to do step by step. Comment by Jackowski I've seen almost daily examples of new players yelling "wave WAAAAVE how do I wave?", or players who think the newcomer channel is the same thing as the /say or /instance channels, so they're going to try to talk to their party while in dungeon.Comment by MythicRaidRMTBooThere are no new players, and there won't be as long as the usual out of touch high ups remain in their positions.

Leveling up in retail is a worse video game than the first 100-200 hours of a F2P mobile gacha, that CANNOT be true if you ever want to gain new players.
The leveling game play needs to be a GOOD video game if you want new players to drop $50 + $15/month to play your game.

Also, the fact every new character you create is shoved into the SERVICES channel (that shouldn't even exist in a premium monthly sub MMO) is off-putting for any casual player and honestly sickening.Comment by tupolew519And what a bout Thrall?