Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting WoW Forever

Published Nov 7, 2026, 5:00 AM EST Although Kaitlyn grew up with a passion for both video games and writing, she never imagined she'd eventually combine them into a career. Now, with several years of experience in the industry across Guides, Features, News, & Reviews, Kaitlyn enjoys nothing more than continuing to deep dive into the games she's passionate about and share her findings with readers. In her downtime, Kaitlyn enjoys unwinding with her favorite horror films, despite being a major scaredy-cat. After a brief break following the beta period, World of Warcraft: Forever servers are finally live, bringing in tons of first-time WoW players. Those who are familiar with Classic or Retail should already know how things generally operate, so you likely won't need much assistance getting started. However, if you're one of the many who have opted to try out WoW for the first time in WoW Forever, then it can be a bit overwhelming to hop into servers full of players who all seem to know exactly what they're doing. For that reason, we've put together a few beginner tips for those who might be unsure where to start or are returning to WoW after a long break and are feeling a bit rusty. Play Whatever You Want This tip isn't exclusive to WoW Forever, but you should base your faction, race, and class on your own interests rather than on what the internet says. That probably sounds a bit hypocritical coming from me, but class tier lists and in-depth guides are not what a beginner should be concerned with. The most important thing early on is that you enjoy the game and learn the basics. Everyone has their own opinion and preferences, and what works best for some won't work best for others. So the problem with looking at in-depth guides like that as a beginner is that, rather than using them as a resource to consider other opinions as a seasoned player might, new players often end up pushed towards what is deemed the "best class" rather than something they might actually enjoy. There is no truly wrong option, so once you've made your basic decisions, you can then dive into build guides to help you build on the foundation you've already set for yourself. I promise this will result in a better experience all around. Not to mention, you can make multiple characters, so don't be scared to try out a few things. Many players often bounce back and forth between multiple characters. Grouping Can Ease The Burden Of Leveling Once you actually get started in the game and move beyond character creation, you'll quickly find that most quests, especially at the start, revolve around killing multiples of a specific enemy or retrieving specific items. While respawn rates are quick for enemies and these should be relatively easy to complete alone, this is one area where you can work smarter, not harder. Grouping allows you and other players to work towards the same goal and cut the workload for everyone. You can right-click on any nearby player to invite them to join you in a group. While in a group, everyone's progress towards any quests that you're collectively on will apply to all players grouped into a single party, meaning you'll only need to kill that number of enemies collectively rather than individually. It's obviously not required if you prefer a solo experience, but it can help you burn through tedious quests quickly, especially in starting areas. Don't Focus Too Heavily On Finishing Every Quest Speaking of quests, another thing you'll want to keep in mind, especially if you haven't played many MMORPGs, is that you do not need to do every quest. For one thing, it would likely take you an unfathomable amount of time, and it's also just not worth it. Several areas share the same quest level range to give players options and prevent everyone from grouping up in the same areas, but this means that once you're beyond this range, you don't need to go to other areas to complete more quests within that same range. Even though you won't complete every quest, you should try to pick up as many as are available while in a hub area. Often, multiple quests require tasks in the same cave or general area, so you save yourself a lot of backtracking if you pick everything up and can easily see which quests go together. There's nothing technically stopping you from completing quests beneath your level, but the rewards won't be worth the extra time. Plus, if you're too significantly over-leveled for certain quests, they won't even offer you any real experience benefit. So you're better off moving on once you've exceeded the max level of that area. Quests display a clear level for easy reference, but you can also refer to the color of the quest to see whether you're over-leveled for it. Set Your Home To One Of The Major Cities As you venture out beyond your starting area, you'll eventually have the option to change your home location. Every player starts WoW Forever with a Hearthstone in their inventory. This item has a 1-hour cooldown and allows you to travel to your assigned home location immediately. For those who may not know, to change your home location, simply speak with the innkeeper in a new location. By default, your starting area will be your initial home location. However, once you're able to reach major cities like Stormwind and Orgrimmar, it's a good idea to swap your home location. These cities not only have several resources you'll need for general upkeep, but they also provide quick travel access to nearly every other major area, making them an ideal spot to start at and report back to. Customize Your UI Early While other versions of WoW have been a bit more limited, WoW Forever offers players tons of freedom to customize their UI. So, given that this is how you'll access everything you need to play the game, it's a good idea to spend some time making sure everything is laid out the way that works best for you. This will look different for every player, so figure out what you're using and what's just causing unnecessary clutter. The UI customization is listed as 'edit mode' in the pause menu and can be accessed at any time. If you're playing on a controller or handheld console, edit mode can be a bit temperamental, so keep that in mind if you decide to mess with it. Familiarize Yourself With Your Class Abilities And Visit The Trainer For Your Class Frequently After you make a new character, you'll be given starting abilities depending on the race and class you selected. Naturally, as you level up, you'll continue to unlock new abilities, also specific to your class, but they won't appear on your taskbar automatically. To learn new abilities, you'll need to visit your Class Trainer. They're in most major hub areas, and you'll want to make it a habit to check in with them frequently to see what's newly available to you. Sometimes you'll also learn a new rank of a previously learned ability, and this is important to note because you'll need to change it manually. If you don't swap the ability for the higher-ranked version immediately, you might forget and unknowingly keep using the weaker version. Keep An Eye On The Auction House If you've played any MMO, then you know an auction house is usually chaos. That said, it's also a great way to make some money or find materials you'd rather not grind for yourself. This is especially true if you've chosen your primary professions in a way that leaves you unable to gather certain materials yourself. Since WoW Forever is just getting started, the market is great for anyone looking to purchase. Most items are being offered at low prices, considering that players are still building up their gold supply. Unfortunately, that also means you may want to hold off on selling in the auction house for a bit, as you'll often only get a small amount for a material that a standard merchant would pay more for. Start Working On Your Professions As Early As You Can With each new character, you'll be able to learn two main professions from the available gathering and crafting professions. Typically, most players will select one gathering and one crafting profession, but that's ultimately up to you. Either way, you'll be offered your choice between three manuals as a reward for an early quest at the start of the game. The options are mining, skinning, and herbalism, all of which are gathering professions. You'll only be able to select one and learn the associated skill by using the manual from your inventory. If you want, it might also be in your best interest to make your way to a major city as soon as you can to pick up your crafting profession and three secondary professions (fishing, first aid, and cooking) before heading back to complete quests. This way you're also leveling up those professions. Once you've selected your gathering profession, you must pay as much attention to it as you do to leveling your character. Gathered items have their own levels too, and if you neglect your profession while moving to areas that match your character level, you might find yourself unable to harvest materials because your profession level is too low for the area and materials there, forcing you to backtrack.