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World of Warcraft

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 02:15, 19 February 2017 by Garrett (talk | contribs) (→‎System requirements: added note about XP and Vista support chaning)
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft cover
Developers
Blizzard Entertainment
Release dates
Windows November 23, 2004
macOS (OS X) November 23, 2004
World of Warcraft guide on StrategyWiki
World of Warcraft on Wikipedia

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
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Official website
Icon overlay.png
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.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
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.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Wrath of the Lich King Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Cataclysm Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Mists of Pandaria Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Warlords of Draenor Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Legion Can be bought from the Battle.net store.
Windows
macOS (OS X)

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

Save game cloud syncing

Progress and stats are saved automatically by Battle.net

Video settings

In-game general graphics settings.
In-game general graphics settings.
In-game advanced graphics settings.
In-game advanced graphics settings.

Template:Video settings

Color blind mode

Instructions

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Template: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

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.[1]
According to the policy, "failure to abide by them [these rules] may result in measures up to and including taking formal legal action."[1]
Instructions

Creating an AddOn

Instructions

Troubleshooting an AddOn

Instructions

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP, Vista, 7, 8
Processor (CPU) Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
AMD Phenom X3 720
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 45 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GT 440
AMD Radeon HD 5670
Intel HD Graphics 5000
Other Minimum resolution of 1024x768.
macOS (OS X)
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.10
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5-750
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 45 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GT 640M
ATI Radeon HD 4850
Intel HD Graphics 5000
Other Minimum resolution of 1024x768.
Support for Windows XP and Windows Vista will be dropped some time in 2017. The game will no longer run on these versions after this change.[2]

References