Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

World of Warcraft

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Dev general icon.svg
Although this product has been released, it remains under active development - information may change frequently and could be outdated or irrelevant.
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft cover
Developers
Blizzard Entertainment
Release dates
Windows November 23, 2004
macOS (OS X) November 23, 2004
Reception
Metacritic 93
IGDB 86
Taxonomy
Monetization Expansion pack, Subscription
Microtransactions Boost, Cosmetic, Currency
Modes Multiplayer
Pacing Persistent, Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres MMORPG
Art styles Cartoon
Themes Fantasy
Series Warcraft
World of Warcraft on HowLongToBeat
World of Warcraft on IGDB
World of Warcraft guide on StrategyWiki
World of Warcraft on MobyGames
World of Warcraft on Wikipedia
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

Warnings

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

World of Warcraft is a third-person MMORPG made by Blizzard Entertainment. The game is set in the Warcraft series of games, and is the first game released in the series not to be a RTS game.

The game was released November 23, 2004 in North America. In the week of launch, Realm (server) capacity could not meet player demand resulting in queues and latency.[1] Over the years, Blizzard opened new servers to meet demand[2] as player numbers reached 12 million in October 2010. However, a declining player population resulted in a Connected Realms feature which results in virtual server merges on September 10, 2013.[3]

The engine has seen several changes, most notably the original 32-bit client ran DirectX 9/11 which was deprecated in favour of a 64-bit client that ran only DirectX 11/12 on July 1, 2018 with the Battle for Azeroth patch, which also dropped support for 'exclusive fullscreen' mode.[4][5][6]

World of Warcraft has had several expansion packs which added new content. World of Warcraft Classic, a new game mode based on 'vanilla' or pre-The Burning Crusade content was released August 26, 2019.

AddOns are the primary method of modding the game, which extends the game's interface providing communication tools, maps, statistics, minigames, etc. AddOns can be found on websites such as WoW Interface and CurseForge and often need updating every time the game is patched. The game also has a history of extensive communities based in 'private' or emulated servers, which are against Blizzard's Terms of Service, a famous example of which was a server called Nostalrius which was shut down on April 10, 2016.

General information

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.
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.
CurseForge and WoWInterface are both great addon sources.

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Icon overlay.png
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
Expansions are available on DVDs.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Battle.net
Icon overlay.png
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
First 20 levels are free-to-play. Subscription includes all available expansions (except for the latest expansion).
Windows
macOS (OS X)
All versions require Battle.net DRM and a constant internet connection for all game modes.
The playable characters from all expansions are available (except for the latest expansion), even if the player has not bought any expansion packs.

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 1000 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.

Monetization

Type Notes
Subscription To play beyond Starter Edition limitations, a subscription is required as a real money purchase in 1, 3 and 6 month increments. The subscription includes access to World of Warcraft and WoW Classic. Subscription time can be earned in-game via the WoW Token.

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 Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Battle for Azeroth Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Shadowlands Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Dragonflight Can be bought from the Battle.net store.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
The War Within Coming soon.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Midnight Coming soon.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
The Last Titan Coming soon.
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Microtransactions

Type Notes
Boost Level boosts, e.g. Level 50 Character Boost.[7]
Cosmetic Cosmetics like mounts and pets are real money purchases.[8]
Currency WoW Token was introduced March 5, 2015, and is a real money purchase which can be traded in-game or redeemed for added subscription time or Blizzard Balance which is credit for the Blizzard Store.[9]
Free-to-grind Because WoW Tokens can be redeemed for Blizzard Balance it makes it technically possible to achieve all microtransactions through grinding in-game Gold.
Infinite spend The shop updates frequently with new unlocks and cosmetics, and the existence of WoW Tokens means that there is no practical limit to how much can be spent on the game in addition to subscription costs.
Unlock Unlocks include race change, character transfer, faction change, name change, guild services, etc.[10]

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\_retail_\WTF\Config.wtf[Note 1]
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game>\WTF\Config.wtf
Progress and stats are saved automatically by Battle.net

Video

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

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
FXAA, CMAA, MSAA and SSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Frame rate is capped at 200 FPS.[11]
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)
Ray traced shadows added with Shadowlands expansion.[12]
Color blind mode
Set in Accessibility settings.[13] See Color blind mode for further options. [Incorrect implementation, Applies filter to simulate colorblindness]

Color blind mode

Enable color blind mode[14]
  1. Go to Menu, then Interface.
  2. Choose Accessibility, then enable color blind mode.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Can be changed using the Mouse section of the Interface menu.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Enable with /console GamePadEnable 1 limited UI support without addons
Full controller support
As of 9.0.1 native controller support for retail however with lack of proper controller UI. Classic still requires third party software. ConsolePort provides UI for both versions of the game and third party software to add support to classic.
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Uses Mouse Look Speed settings in Camera options menu
Controller Y-axis inversion
Uses Invert Mouse option in Camera options menu
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Addons such as ConsolePort provide correct button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
Addons such as ConsolePort provide correct button prompts
PlayStation button prompts
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Generic/other controllers
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

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

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Master, sound, music, ambience, dialog.
A selected number of optional sounds can also be fully disabled
Surround sound
5.1 and 7.1[15]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 3.[16] XP compatibility mode is also required from Vista onwards (besides DirectSound3D restoration).[17]
64-bit build is unsupported.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
EnUS, enGB, enCN, enTW available.
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Korean
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Online play

Connection types

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 80, 3724, 1119
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
G3D
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Devices
3RD Space Gaming Vest

Issues fixed

Windowed mode (OS X)

OS X - Windowed mode[citation needed]
The window size can sometimes not be changed by dragging after entering windowed mode.
  1. Open World of Warcraft
  2. Disable all add-ons at the character screen
  3. Enter the game
  4. Enter windowed mode (command+m or command+enter)
  5. Force quit the game
  6. Relaunch it as normal

FPS performance issues (OS X)

OS X - FPS performance issues[citation needed]
World of Warcraft might run sluggishly on older-model Macs despite having the required specs.

Sound issue (OS X)

OS X - Sound issue[citation needed]
If the machine overheats during gameplay, the sound can become distorted, which causes the framerate to fall dramatically.
This issue only seems to occur on older MacBooks (PowerBook series, early MacBook series).
  • Shut off the sound by going into the settings and removing Master volume.

Mature Filter Options Not Saving

Force a save to the server side[citation needed]
  1. Open the options menu.
  2. Change the setting (whether on or off).
  3. Run /reload to force settings save.
  4. Use Alt+F4 to forcibly close the game.
  5. Re-open the game and the new setting should be saved properly.

World of Warcraft unable to run after using Xbox app

Turn off your Game DVR on Xbox app[citation needed]
  1. Open the Xbox app (search for Xbox and you'll find it).
  2. Click the settings button that looks like a gear. It's at the row of buttons on the left of the screen, all the way on the bottom.
  3. Click "Game DVR" on the top of the screen.
  4. Turn the Game DVR off.
  5. This should let you play World of Warcraft again.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11, 12 Previously contained Direct3D 9 and 10 modes until January 2018.
Direct3D 12 is available for both Windows 7 and 10, but only on cards supporting Tier 3 resource binding.[19]
Software renderer
Run the game with the -allowSoftwareRenderer command line parameter.
Metal support
Executable 32-bit 64-bitARM Notes
Windows
Only the 64-bit client is supported as of patch 8.0.1 for both classic and retail. One Shadowlands test realm for native ARM was reported to exist as of May 2021.[18]32-bit support was dropped in January 2018 with patch 8.0.1.
macOS (OS X)
PowerPC support was dropped in October 2010 with patch 4.0.1.
32-bit support was dropped in January 2018 with patch 8.0.1.
ARM support was added in November 2020.

Command line arguments

Command[20] Description
-help (or -h) Displays the help message window
-version (or -v) Displays the build number
-windowed Runs the game in windowed mode
-fullscreen Runs the game in borderless windowed mode
-console Enables the in-game console (called by default by ~)
-d3d11 Forces Gx to use the DirectX 11 API (as of version 4.0.1)
-d3d11legacy Forces Gx to use the legacy DirectX 11 API (as of version 8.1.5)
-d3d12 Forces Gx to use the DirectX 12 API (as of version 8.1.5)
-config [filename] Overrides the default configuration file with a specified one
-[width]x[height] Sets custom resolution (obsolete)
-metal Runs the game using Metal
-opengl (or -ogl41) Runs the game using OpenGL (4.1) (obsolete)
-allowSoftwareRenderer Runs the game using a software renderer
-nosound Disables game audio


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.[21]
According to the policy, "failure to abide by them [these rules] may result in measures up to and including taking formal legal action."[21]
AddOn Policy[citation needed]
  1. AddOns must be free of charge.
  2. AddOn code must be completely visible.
  3. AddOns must not negatively impact World of Warcraft realms or other players.
  4. AddOns may not include advertisements.
  5. AddOns may not solicit donations.
  6. AddOns must not contain offensive or objectionable material.
  7. AddOns must abide by World of Warcraft ToU and EULA.
  8. Blizzard Entertainment has the right to disable AddOn functionality as it sees fit.

Creating an AddOn

Creating an AddOn[citation needed]
  1. Create a new directory in Interface\AddOns. The name of this directory is important, as it is what other AddOns use to refer to this AddOn in dependencies. Using version numbers in this directory name is not recommended, as other AddOns may "break" when the version is changed.
  2. Create a .toc file. .toc is short for "table of contents". A functioning AddOn will need a file named <YourAddOnDirectoryName>.toc in "Interface\AddOns\YourAddOnDirectoryName\".
  3. Add the following required elements to the file: an interface keyword with a correct interface number and the name(s) of one or more files to load.
Blizzard requests that at least these five client-recognized tag lines must be included.
## Interface: <API_LatestInterface>
## Title: My Add On
## Version: 1.0.0
## Notes: A short description of my AddOn
## Author: Your name or memorable descriptor (e.g. LuckyLuke)
<API_LatestInterface> is the current interface number.
Do not have any extra spaces at the end of the line with the filename specified. The extra space is taken as part of the filename and will cause the AddOn to fail to load silently.
The interface number in the .toc file must match the current build or the AddOn will not be loaded/active, unless the user has explicitly told the game to load out-of-date Addons. If the .toc file declares an interface number prior to 2.0.0 (i.e. pre-The Burning Crusade), the AddOn can not be loaded, regardless of the load-out-of-date AddOns setting.
If a Bindings.xml file is included, it does not have to be included in the .toc list of files to load, as the game loads this file automatically. This file is used to set key bindings specific to the AddOn.
Please check out The TOC Format for a more detailed list of other keywords in the .toc file.

Troubleshooting an AddOn

"Interface action failed" error[citation needed]
As of Patch 2.3, if the message "Interface action failed because of an AddOn" appears, an AddOn interfered with the Blizzard UI in some way.
  1. Enter the following into chat: /console taintLog 1.
  2. Restart the game and try to reproduce it.
  3. If the issue is reproduced, quit the game and search through the file Logs\taint.log for the word blocked and mail the log to the author of the AddOn listed there.
  4. Turn off logging by entering the following into chat: /console taintLog 0.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5-3450
AMD FX-8300
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
(8 GB for Intel HD Graphics series)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 100 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 760
AMD Radeon RX 560
Intel HD Graphics 630
2 GB of VRAM
Other Minimum resolution of 1024x768.
Broadband internet connection
The original system requirements were as follows: 98/2000/ME/XP, Intel Pentium 3 800 MHz or AMD Duron 800 MHz, 256 MB RAM, a 32 MB 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as an NVIDIA Geforce FX 5700 class card or above, a DirectX compatible sound card, and 4 GB hard drive space. The manual stated that you will have to install DirectX 9.0c to properly run World of Warcraft.
98 and ME support were dropped with the 2.2.3 patch in October 2007, 2000 support was dropped with the 4.0.1 patch in 2010, and XP support was dropped shortly before the 8.0.1 patch at the start of 2018, along with Windows Vista.[22]
32-bit support was retired in 2018.
macOS (OS X)
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.13
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5-4670
Apple M1
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 100 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GT 750M
AMD Radeon R9 M290
Intel UHD 630
2 GB of VRAM
Other Minimum resolution of 1024x768.
Broadband internet connection
The original system requirements were as follows: Mac OS X 10.3.5, 933 MHz G4/G5, 512 MB RAM, an ATI or NVIDIA graphics processor with 32MB VRAM, and 4GB hard drive space
PowerPC Mac support was dropped with patch 4.0.1.


Notes

  1. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

  1. Remembering the Launch of World of Warcraft - last accessed on 2020-05-19
    "It’s fun remembering the times in the past when we, as World of Warcraft, had to battle against server queues, errors, and latency during the original launch of WoW."
  2. Timeline of the creation of US realms - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  3. Patch 5.4.0 -- Wowpedia - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  4. Support Ending for World of Warcraft 32-Bit Client This Summer - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  5. World of Warcraft now supports DirectX 12 -- OC3D News - last accessed on 2020-05-19
  6. Worried about removal of exclusive fullscreen mode in BFA? Check here - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  7. Shadowlands-Level Character Boost - World of Warcraft - last accessed on 2021-01-2
  8. Cosmetic Armor Pieces—Now Available on Blizzard Store - last accessed on 2020-04-18
  9. World of Warcraft's WoW Token allows trading gold for game time - last accessed on 2024-02-21
    "Called the WoW Token, the in-game item works similarly to EVE Online's PLEX or Wildstar's CREDD. It needs to be bought for real money via the World of Warcraft in-game Shop, though the exact pricing is yet to be announced. The buyer can then sell the WoW Token via the in-game Auction House's Token Exchange for in-game currency at a market price set by Blizzard, which will circumvent players trying to exploit the system."
  10. World of Warcraft - Blizzard Shop - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  11. Wowpedia - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  12. World of Warcraft - Engineer’s Workshop: Enabling Ray-Traced Shadows in Shadowlands - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  13. New Colorblind Support in Patch 6.1 - World of Warcraft - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  14. Color Blind Mode - Battle.net Support - last accessed on May 2023
  15. 5.1 surround sound not working in 64-bit - World of Warcraft forums (retrieved)
  16. SoundBlaster.com - World of Warcraft® - last accessed on 21 February 2024
  17. Creative EAX Help - World of Warcraft forums (retrieved)
  18. You can now play World of Warcraft on your Windows 10 on ARM device - last accessed on 2021-07-14
  19. Can't Enable DirectX 12 in WOW - World of Warcraft Forums - last accessed on 2024-02-21
  20. List of Command-Line Switches - Wowpedia - Your wiki guide to the World of Warcraft - last accessed on May 2023
  21. 21.0 21.1 https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/1642
  22. Ending Support for Windows XP and Vista - World of Warcraft Forums - last accessed on May 2023