What is the World of Warcraft?

World of Warcraft (WoW for short) is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing game (MMORPG) first published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004, and regularly update with expansion packs and updates since that time. As a massively-multiplayer online game, hundreds of players engage in the same digital environment with capability to compete with, cooperate with, or form communities with, a wide range of other players.

WoW gameplay has enormous variation with different players focusing on character progression and increasing power, and overcoming challenges through combat whether against the game AI (Player versus Environment or PvE) or in competition with other players (Player versus Player or PvP).

PvE content includes open-world activities which are usually conducted individually, or organised groups in Dungeons (typically five-person teams) and Raids (teams of ten or more players, or a fixed roster of 20 players for Mythic level Raids).

PvP content can also occur in the open world for players who have chosen to enable PvP for their character, or in organised content including two and three player arena combat, and battlegrounds with larger teams of dozens of players.

Some players also choose to focus on activities other than combat and character power, including performative role-playing of character personas, collecting gold, titles, achievements, pets, mounts and character appearances (and more!).

Current Content

Since launch there have been eight expansion packs added to the game, the latest being the Shadowlands expansion pack released in November 2020. Each expansion pack also receives several major updates, including new zones, new game mechanics or other player abilities, new PvE Raids and Dungeons, and a new PvP season.

The next major update is the first Shadowlands update (Patch 9.1: Chains of Domination) which is expected to hit live servers in c.July 2021. The patch is currently (as of June 2021) in testing on the Public Test Realm (PTR) which interested players can access.

Major Resources

Wowhead

Wowhead is the premier information resource for World of Warcraft players.

Icy Veins

Icy Veins is a well-regarded information resource for World of Warcraft players.

WoW Official

Blizzard Entertainment's offical World of Warcraft website.

r/CompetitiveWoW

The Competitive WoW Subreddit is a great source of information on World of Warcraft from a high-level player perspective.

BlizzardCS (Twitter)

The Blizzard Customer Service Twitter account is the best place to find out why Blizzard online games are experiencing downtime.

Player Help Sites

Raidbots

Raidbots allows players to simulate (sim) their damage output across different gear sets, simulated fight mechanics, enchantments/gems, and other variables. Uses 'simc' addon data.

Blood Mallet

Bloodmallet offers pre-simulated damage outputs by character class across different game mechanics including Shadowlands covenants and souldbinds, races, legendaries, talents, trinkets, and simulated fight mechanics.

Hero Damage

Similar to Blodmallet, Hero Damage offers pre-simulated damage output by character class across a range of in-game criteria and mechanics.

Tank Notes

Tanknotes focuses on assisting players with Mythic+ and Raid mechanics, particularly from the tank perspective.

Questionably Epic

Questionably Epic is a healer-focussed resource for World of Warcraft.

Mythic Trap

Mythic+ Dungeon and Raid mechanics including both trash and bosses.

Subcreation.net

Subcreation provides statistical analyses of M+, Raid and PvP in World of Warcraft including top talents, covenants, soulbinds, conduits, legendaries, gear, enchants and gems.