World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

Developers
	Blizzard Entertainment
Release dates
Windows	November 23, 2004
macOS (OS X)	November 23, 2004

Warnings

This game requires a constant internet connection for all game modes.

Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans	1994
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness	1995
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans	Cancelled
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition	1999
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos	2002
World of Warcraft	2004
Hearthstone	2014
Warcraft III: Reforged	2020

Key points

Mod friendly (Mods pertains to UI addons)

Very active community

One of the largest MMORPGs around

Updated frequently

Runs well on low end machines

Expansions must be bought to play in active endgame areas and activities

Game requires per month subscription fee

General information

Official Blizzard community site for US

Official Blizzard community site for EU

Blizzard Watch "WoW" Category - A news site dedicated to all Blizzard Entertainment news.

Wowpedia - A huge wiki for everything World of Warcraft related. Also handles anything Warcraft universe related.

Thottbot - A old but expansive database on anything that can be found or used in-game. Same database as Wowhead currently.

Wowhead - An expansive database on anything that can be found or used in-game. Has a clean interface.

Statista - A ranking on the distribution of characters across EU and U.S. realms. Other statistics on World of Warcraft accessible.

Curse and WoWInterface are both great addon sources.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Official website		First 20 levels are free to play. Base game purchase includes the Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor expansions.

The playable characters from all expansions are available, even if the player has not bought any expansion packs.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
The Burning Crusade	Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Wrath of the Lich King	Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Cataclysm	Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Mists of Pandaria	Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Warlords of Draenor	Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Legion	Can be bought from the Battle.net store.

Version differences

Starter Edition

The World of Warcraft Starter Edition is a free but limited version of World of Warcraft.

• Characters can be created and leveled up to 20, and professions to 100.
• Each character can earn up to 10 Gold.
• Cannot access expansion zones or quests, join guilds, hold Pet Battles, or use the Auction House.
• All achievements and progress carry over to the full version.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location

Save game cloud syncing

Progress and stats are saved automatically by Battle.net

Video settings

In-game general graphics settings.

In-game advanced graphics settings.

Field of view (FOV)

Instructions

Color blind mode

Instructions

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				American English and British English available.
French
Russian
Brazilian Portuguese
Spanish				Both Spanish and Latin American.
German
Italian

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
LAN play
Online play

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	3724, 1119
UDP	3724, 1119

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Windowed mode (OS X)

Instructions

FPS performance issues (OS X)

Instructions

Sound issue (OS X)

Instructions

Mature Filter Options Not Saving

Instructions

World of Warcraft unable to run after using Xbox app

Instructions

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9, 11
OpenGL	2
Metal support

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Visual enhancements

Instructions

DirectX 11 Rendering

DirectX 11 can significantly boost performance in some scenarios.

Instructions

gxTextureCacheSize

Instructions

Addons

World of Warcraft's UI is developed via LUA scripting, and XML data.

AddOns are essentially mods, files to add to the installation folder that can improve interaction with the game.

AddOns are generally self-contained User Interface (UI) modification components. However, some AddOns can be dependent on other AddOns to work, and some AddOns are actually collections of other AddOns. Some are built on libraries such as Sea or Ace. There is no size restriction on AddOns; some can grow to be quite massive.

Blizzard's AddOn Policy

With the release of Patch 3.1, Blizzard Entertainment introduced a new UI AddOn development policy.

According to the policy, "failure to abide by them [these rules] may result in measures up to and including taking formal legal action."

Instructions

Creating an AddOn

Instructions

Troubleshooting an AddOn

Instructions

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7, 8	10 64-bit with latest service pack
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 AMD Phenom X3 720	Intel Core i5-3330 AMD FX 6300
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	45 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GT 440 AMD Radeon HD 5670 Intel HD Graphics 5000	Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti AMD Radeon R7 260X
Other	Minimum resolution of 1024x768.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.10	10.11
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5-750	Intel Core i5-4670
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	45 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GT 640M ATI Radeon HD 4850 Intel HD Graphics 5000	Nvidia GeForce GT 775M AMD Radeon R9 M290X
Other	Minimum resolution of 1024x768.