Yup, it only took 6 years and 2 months... At this rate, will they figure out how to add more deck slots in 2025?

Quote From anchorm4n

I went with a Blood Elf Rogue for my first try on a whim. After 2 hours I'm at level 10 and slowly get a feeling for the game. I learned that confronting more than one enemy at a time is a bad idea and more than two is suicide. I like the card and the quest system but I have no idea about the main story so far. Probably it hasn't even begun yet. It's a little inconvenient that there seems to be no immediate indicator that tells me if a picked up piece of equipment is better than what I carry at the moment. That was a really useful feature in the witcher 3. Thanks again for helping me getting started!

Yeah, those are rogues. But you'll get tougher as you gain more levels and abilities. Which spec do you play?

For the story, this game is absolutely massive. The game does not have a single central storyline. Every expansion has its own. Levels 1-60 were revamped in Cataclysm, the third expansion and its quests are loosely related to that storyline. Except the Draenei and the Blood Elf starting zones, including Eversong Woods and the Ghostlands, which you are probably in right now. Those are from the Burning Crusade, the first expansion to the game. The questing experience in those zones is much closer to Classic. They may be a bit bland or repetitive. If you are getting bored, try visiting a Hero's Call bulletin board in a city and picking up the introduction quest for another zone. I believe you can play in most of the zones on both Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. On your map, when viewing a zone, you can see that zone's central storyline in a bulletpoint format. If you complete all of the questlines related to those bulletpoints, you'll get that zone's Loremaster achievement and you can consider yourself done with that zone.

There is a solution to your item problem: press Shift when hovering over an item in your bag or on any UI element. The game will compare it to your currently equipped item.

Quote From Kovachut

Quote From Theodrinus

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Good to hear that you're interested in WoW! It's a fantastic game.

The first thing you should do is to is to download the Starter Edition of WoW. It's completely free and you will be able to play to level 20 with a few minor restrictions. It is played on the current, "retail" version of the game. You should do this to experience the core gameplay loop of leveling, questing, and the game's atmosphere.

You've reached the level cap, you like the game, what should you do? After this, you have to purchase a monthly subscription. You have the option to buy it online for 15 €/$ a month or buy it from retailer stores for a bit extra and get a fancy box with it. Look for this. If this is your first time, I do not recommend for you to purchase more than one month or either of the latest two expansions, Battle for Azeroth or Shadowlands.

This subscription is valid for all versions of the game. You can either continue your level 20 character on the current version, create a new one, or play Classic. It is up to you which one you choose, but you should know all the options. 

• There are normal and roleplaying realms (servers). On the latter, players are expected to choose a name for their character fitting for the world. So no Taurens with cow puns. Also, you can see more roleplaying groups in the world. On retail only, which realm you play on doesn't really matter as you can group with other characters on any server. The only thing you should check out is player count, which is high, medium or low. You should go for medium or high. On retail, all non-instanced world PvP is opt-in with Warmode, which gives you some extra rewards and you are always grouped with opponents. In Classic, world PvP on normal servers is also with an opt-in choice, but it is very rare. On dedicated PvP servers however, the setting is always on. You should expect high-level players repeatedly killing you for their enjoyment, aka "griefing". Also, all of your characters on that server must be either Horde or Alliance, you cannot have characters on both sides. Some players enjoy PvP and are delighted with action happening at any time, but for a first-time player I do not recommend playing on a PvP Classic server.
• In retail, the leveling experience is refined and allows for choice between zones. There is less downtime in traveling and you can get more varied quests, not limited to "go there, kill this, gather that". You always have abilities to press and larger survivability. With a subscription, you have 110 levels to go through.
• In Classic, leveling is much grindier as the age of the game shows. Quests are very simple but also quite monotone. For much of the game, you will be traveling on foot. Many classes have downtime between abilities and pulling 3+ enemies means death. You only have 60 levels, but reaching it will take longer than 110 on retail. Itemization is sometimes weird and non-intuitive.
• When creating your first character, you should just go with whatever you like! The character's race is mainly for aesthetic and story reasons, the abilities don't really matter. If you want to play melee, you should play a Warrior, Paladin, Shaman, Rogue or Druid. In retail, classes have 3 specializations (except druids have 4 and demon hunters have 2), and they might have different roles like tanking or healing. But don't worry, every class can play DPS roles. Rogue, for example, has 3 different flavors of DPSing. Paladin, on the other hand, has only one, but the other specs make it able to heal or tank. Only one specialization can be active at a time but you can switch anytime. All specs are viable at every level in retail.
• In classic, there are fewer races and classes. There are no specs, but 3 talent trees to gain abilities and bonuses from. You can mix and match however you like. You can make your Warrior more tankier by investing some points in the Protection tree, for example. However, rearranging your talents costs gold.

After you reach level 110 in retail, you must purchase the Battle for Azeroth expansion before continuing to level 120. However, the next one, Shadowlands is almost here. Purchasing both would be quite expensive. I recommend waiting until sometime in the summer when BfA will be automatically added to all accounts. This way, you will save 45 €/$. There is no extra purchase necessary for max level in Classic.

• The max level endgame is different for both versions. In retail, you have daily and weekly tasks and never-ending world quests to receive better gear and cosmetic rewards. Instanced group content, raids and dungeons can be played with an automatic group finder.
• In Classic, max level progression is not tied to real world time. But you also have to grind the same mobs/dungeons/raids for upgrades. For all content requiring groups, you must join or assemble it yourself.
• In retail, the world and your gear gets prettier and prettier as you progress through past expansions. Graphics are great in current content.
• In classic, the looks are quite dated, but at least it loads fast.
• In retail, there are many activities outside normal combat and gearing. You can collect achievements, mounts, pets with which you can battle with Pokémon-style and appearances to play fantasy dress-up.
• In classic, cosmetic rewards and collectables have a much, much smaller focus and you can't change the appearance of your gear.
• Retail receives new content patches every 6 months or so and expansions every 2 years.
• Classic's content is divided into phases. Currently, we're at Phase 4 of 6. There's no more content announced after that.

This is a lot of information, so take your time to think it through. But also know that there is no punishment for playing both. Try out all versions and see for yourself which one you enjoy more. After all, you should play games only for your fun!

Feel free to say any questions you may have, I'll gladly answer all of them!

Nice post, mate. You described the game very well to those, who have absolutely no knowledge of what to expect from it. But, let me say some things:

1) I don't know about current retail, but to my knowledge the race matters. Like, for example you would prefer a dwarf priest over a human or night elf (cuz of Fear Ward). Or humans for the melee roles thx to their Sword and Maces Specializations... and Diplomacy makes grinding rep easier.

2) Isn't TBC to be expected? There was a survey some time ago, which asked the players how they wanted to start in that expansion. It's not certain whether it will be implemented as quickly as your normal Classic phases, but it's going to happen. It's just not officially announced.

1) If anchorm4n decides to go for Classic, then yes, there are some race-dependent spells. But outside of current-tier raiding or high-level PvP, I believe those do not really matter for performance. Actual skill accounts for much more. And in retail, the differences between races are even less, all of them can perform with a less than 1% difference.

2) That's very likely, (I hope they'll do Wrath at some point,) but yeah, still unannounced. Even if they announce it this autumn on BlizzCon, the release is probably more than a year away. We do not even know the release date of Phase 5.

Why are there 4 Librams of Wisdom in the Paladin deck?

Good to hear that you're interested in WoW! It's a fantastic game.

The first thing you should do is to is to download the Starter Edition of WoW. It's completely free and you will be able to play to level 20 with a few minor restrictions. It is played on the current, "retail" version of the game. You should do this to experience the core gameplay loop of leveling, questing, and the game's atmosphere.

You've reached the level cap, you like the game, what should you do? After this, you have to purchase a monthly subscription. You have the option to buy it online for 15 €/$ a month or buy it from retailer stores for a bit extra and get a fancy box with it. Look for this. If this is your first time, I do not recommend for you to purchase more than one month or either of the latest two expansions, Battle for Azeroth or Shadowlands.

This subscription is valid for all versions of the game. You can either continue your level 20 character on the current version, create a new one, or play Classic. It is up to you which one you choose, but you should know all the options. 

• There are normal and roleplaying realms (servers). On the latter, players are expected to choose a name for their character fitting for the world. So no Taurens with cow puns. Also, you can see more roleplaying groups in the world. On retail only, which realm you play on doesn't really matter as you can group with other characters on any server. The only thing you should check out is player count, which is high, medium or low. You should go for medium or high. On retail, all non-instanced world PvP is opt-in with Warmode, which gives you some extra rewards and you are always grouped with opponents. In Classic, world PvP on normal servers is also with an opt-in choice, but it is very rare. On dedicated PvP servers however, the setting is always on. You should expect high-level players repeatedly killing you for their enjoyment, aka "griefing". Also, all of your characters on that server must be either Horde or Alliance, you cannot have characters on both sides. Some players enjoy PvP and are delighted with action happening at any time, but for a first-time player I do not recommend playing on a PvP Classic server.
• In retail, the leveling experience is refined and allows for choice between zones. There is less downtime in traveling and you can get more varied quests, not limited to "go there, kill this, gather that". You always have abilities to press and larger survivability. With a subscription, you have 110 levels to go through.
• In Classic, leveling is much grindier as the age of the game shows. Quests are very simple but also quite monotone. For much of the game, you will be traveling on foot. Many classes have downtime between abilities and pulling 3+ enemies means death. You only have 60 levels, but reaching it will take longer than 110 on retail. Itemization is sometimes weird and non-intuitive.
• When creating your first character, you should just go with whatever you like! The character's race is mainly for aesthetic and story reasons, the abilities don't really matter. If you want to play melee, you should play a Warrior, Paladin, Shaman, Rogue or Druid. In retail, classes have 3 specializations (except druids have 4 and demon hunters have 2), and they might have different roles like tanking or healing. But don't worry, every class can play DPS roles. Rogue, for example, has 3 different flavors of DPSing. Paladin, on the other hand, has only one, but the other specs make it able to heal or tank. Only one specialization can be active at a time but you can switch anytime. All specs are viable at every level in retail.
• In classic, there are fewer races and classes. There are no specs, but 3 talent trees to gain abilities and bonuses from. You can mix and match however you like. You can make your Warrior more tankier by investing some points in the Protection tree, for example. However, rearranging your talents costs gold.

After you reach level 110 in retail, you must purchase the Battle for Azeroth expansion before continuing to level 120. However, the next one, Shadowlands is almost here. Purchasing both would be quite expensive. I recommend waiting until sometime in the summer when BfA will be automatically added to all accounts. This way, you will save 45 €/$. There is no extra purchase necessary for max level in Classic.

• The max level endgame is different for both versions. In retail, you have daily and weekly tasks and never-ending world quests to receive better gear and cosmetic rewards. Instanced group content, raids and dungeons can be played with an automatic group finder.
• In Classic, max level progression is not tied to real world time. But you also have to grind the same mobs/dungeons/raids for upgrades. For all content requiring groups, you must join or assemble it yourself.
• In retail, the world and your gear gets prettier and prettier as you progress through past expansions. Graphics are great in current content.
• In classic, the looks are quite dated, but at least it loads fast.
• In retail, there are many activities outside normal combat and gearing. You can collect achievements, mounts, pets with which you can battle with Pokémon-style and appearances to play fantasy dress-up.
• In classic, cosmetic rewards and collectables have a much, much smaller focus and you can't change the appearance of your gear.
• Retail receives new content patches every 6 months or so and expansions every 2 years.
• Classic's content is divided into phases. Currently, we're at Phase 4 of 6. There's no more content announced after that.

This is a lot of information, so take your time to think it through. But also know that there is no punishment for playing both. Try out all versions and see for yourself which one you enjoy more. After all, you should play games only for your fun!

Feel free to say any questions you may have, I'll gladly answer all of them!

Great rework, I love that you are doing these. Maybe Blizzard will get a clue.

The only thing I disagree with is the inclusion of Revenge. It just feels too similar to Whirlwind, already included in the evergreen set. I'd swap back Fiery War Axe for it, so Warrior can have an early game weapon, and it is another target for Upgrade!.

Last year's single player content trailers were shown around 30 days after the expansions' release, on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Ashes of Outland went live on 7th April. This suggests that today, Thursday, 7th May would be a likely time for an announcement.

I've got a wonderful idea for a Tavern Brawl! At the beginning of every turn, a Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron is cast! Doesn't that sound fun?

(/s just to be safe)

The trailers for The Dalaran Heist, the Tombs of Terror and Galakrond's Awakening were dropped almost exactly a month after the expansions' release. My optimistic guess is a Hearthside Chat today or on Thursday.

Some quite familiar decks are in this meta. Highlander Hunter, Face Hunter, Evolve Shaman, Highlander Mage, Enrage Warrior, Zoo Warlock, Galakrond Rogue - all from the Year of the Dragon. Outside of Spell Druid and Demon Hunter, no groundbreaking new archetypes. The only thing players miss about Year of the Raven is Zilliax. Shows the huge power difference between last year and the one before.

And I'm very surprised that Galakrond Priest is finally a top meta deck. It was dismissed as terrible for almost the entirety of Descent of Dragons.

The deck is fine without those two cards. It can take to you Legend.

You said you already have those two cards, so why don't you try the deck out for yourself? See how you perform with it, whether you like the gameplan, do you enjoy playing with it? The deck has no card draw and kind of plays itself, games are fast and short, is that your cup of tea?

This ain't Standard. This is Wild.

But seriously. Fuck Quest Mage and the incompetent """balancers"""" of Blizzard. The nerf has done absolutely NOTHING.

ZERO counterplay. Their Quest is completed on Turn 6. Same turn, he summons my Voidlord and kills it. At 6 mana, they out-manacheat THE 9 mana card. And next turn: they had lethal. With 7 mana. From 23 HP to 0. 

The extra turn was the worst card printed in the history of Hearthstone. This deck is right there with Naga Sea Witch Giants and Snip-Snaps.

And the fucker emoted me in the end.

Don't forget that Nefarian and Onyxia are siblings, they're the children of Deathwing.

Also Jaina has a younger brother called Tandred, he's a Kul Tiran captain, but he doesn't do much.

Ysera and Alexstraza are also sisters.

Aman'thul's (basically Zeus/Odin of Warcraft) brother is Sargeras (big bad god, origin of all demons), but I seriously doubt they would be ever put in the game. Their power level is absurd compared to all in-game characters,

SEVEN SONS OF GRUUL

Broxigar and Varok Saurfang are both really interesting, heroic orc warriors, but neither of them is in the game yet.

HSReplay's non-premium winrates only show the lower ranks, which traditionally favor aggressive decks like Secret Mage. Compare that site's Meta page vs. this site's.

And the deck is far from the most broken, anyways. It can be teched with Eater of Secrets or Kezan Mystic, unlike, say, Darkest Hour Warlock.

You can safely disenchant it. The no-crafting rule applies only if you don't own the adventure.

Famous siblings in Warcraft lore... Let's see:

Malfurion and Illidan are the most famous.

Nefarian and Onyxia: evil black dragons, son and daughter of Deathwing. Did all kinds of evil acts.

Alleria, Sylvanas and Vereesa Windrunner: high elf sisters who all took different paths. Alleria left Azeroth with his husband, the paladin Turalyon and absorbed Void powers. Sylvanas fell to Arthas who later raised her as a banshee, but she formed the independent Undead faction, the Forsaken later on. Vereesa stayed loyal to the Alliance as a ranger.

Jarod and Maiev Shadowsong: Jarod is a great warrior and leader of the night elves and is honored as a hero among them. Maiev is a former priestess of Elune and the most famous of the Wardens, the jailor of Illidan for 10,000 years.

Arthas and Calia Menethil: Arthas was the promising young prince of Lordaeron, a Paladin of the light and Jaina's love interest. But he went down a dark path: he killed his father, Archmage Antonidas, Uther and eventually became the Lich King. Calia remained a peaceful Priest, but later Sylvanas killed her because she was the rightful queen of Lordaeron and the Forsaken. She was resurrected by Anduin as a special Lightforged Undead.

Brann, Muradin and Magni Bronzebeard: the first one is a member of the League of Explorers. Muradin was a friend of Arthas before he became a Death Knight, now he is the king of the Bronzebeard clan of dwarves. Magni was the king before Muradin, and he participated in a ritual to commune with the planet Azeroth. He became petrified in diamond, but years later he emerged as the Speaker of Azeroth.

Jaina, Taelin and Derek Proudmoore: descendants of the leading house of Kul Tiras. Taelin is a captain in the Kul Tiran fleet. Derek was killed in a naval battle, but Sylvanas resurrected him to use as a puppet. Baine Bloodhoof broke him free and he reunited with his family.

I'd say Calia is likely as the next Priest hero.

Holy f**k, in one day? Damn, I thought they'd let them loose for a week minimum. See the meta adapt to it, then nerf some of the cards, while still keeping the deck Tier 1-2. But in less than 40 hours...

I wonder if the class was so obviously, meta-dominatingly OP, even more so than Galakrond Shaman, then why did they let these cards pass the design phase. No one looks at Skull of Gul'dan and says "This is pretty strong, but still manageable. Print it!"

I think this image summarizes the current situation and the upcoming meta pretty well.

(Sorry for ant size)

To be fair, I don't find them that OP personally. I've been playing with Whizbang in Wild (Standard power level), but they never felt that much stronger than any typical aggro/tempo deck. I've managed to win multiple times. Yes, they do have broken cards, and if they get to play them on curve, then they're very likely to win, but that's nothing new. Embiggen Druid/Pirate Warrior/Murloc Shaman/Zoo Warlock - they are the same. They all have OP cards that increase their winrate by tens of percents when played at the right time.

I do not think they'll be dominating the ladder for a long time, they won't be Tier 0 decks. Face Hunter also seemed really strong at the beginning of DoD, but the metagame adapted. Decks will start picking up anti-aggro measures. The class has clear weaknesses, such as single-target removal. For example, Overconfident Orc counters Command the Illidari well and DH has a hard time getting around it without bashing with face. You can get healed by Khartut. Just throwing around some ideas. The absence of Classic and Year of the Dragon cards are really showing and the class is somewhat of a one-trick pony.

No doubt, the class is strong. It will be a meta deck because of Skull of Gul'dan only. We'll very likely see some nerfs down the line. But it isn't untechable.

• Basic: Sen'jin Shieldmasta - Taz'dingo! I used him a lot in my beginner decks. It trades oh so well with basically all 1-2-3 cost minions. And very memorable voiceline.
• Common: Explosive Trap! While many may consider it as Face Hunter cancer, I really like its inevitability. It's so satisfying to drop it against an opponent with only 1-2 health minions. Even if they can't see it which Secret is it, they can feel it. Meanwhile I'm like "Come on! Attack! You're an Aggro deck, why don't you go face? Oh, you're afraid of losing your precious board? Well, there's nothing else you can do right now! Go on, I swear it's just Freezing Trap, don't worry!"
• Also Common: Tar Creeper: same as Sen'jin Shieldmasta, but 1 mana cheaper! It used to be such a game changer back in the Year of the Mammoth. I miss it. It kept Prince Keleseth tempo decks somewhat in check.
• Rare: Lesser Amethyst Spellstone It gives a large swing when fully upgraded that was very satisfying, especially after a Hooked Reaver. I really liked to play Warlock in Kobolds and Catacombs. (Not Cubelock, I couldn't afford that deck. Just some kind of self-damage new player jank. It was pretty successful though.)
• Epic: Libram of Hope isn't released yet, bu I've already fallen in love with it. It fulfills my dream deck of a Control Paladin with heals, taunts, and a consistent game plan.
• Legendary: Tirion Fordring! Crafted him in Golden, became broke, but it was worth it. Simply glorious. Put your faith in the Light!
• My other Golden Legendary: Whizbang the Wonderful - Playing full golden decks is a dream I could never achieve without Whizbang. Whenever a new expansion comes out, instead of risky Day 1 crafts, Whizbang gives me all the decks I need.

Honorable mentions: Unstable Evolution, Renounce Darkness, Deathwing, Mad Aspect (for the best entrance music)

As you can see, I really like good anti-Aggro tools. I don't hate that archetype, the only reason is that these give the most "Whew, I'm saved!" moments.