World of Warcraft
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Although this product has been released, it remains under active development - information may change frequently and could be outdated or irrelevant.
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 pertain to UI addons)
- Very active community
- Runs well on low-end machines
- Expansions must be bought to play in active endgame areas and activities
- Requires a monthly 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.
- 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 | Expansions released up to at least Legion were released on DVDs. Unsure about Battle for Azeroth. | |||
Battle.net | 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. |
- All versions require Battle.net DRM and a constant internet connection for all game modes.
- 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. | |
Battle for Azeroth |
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
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | <path-to-game>\WTF\Config.wtf[Note 1] |
macOS (OS X) | <path-to-game>\WTF\Config.wtf |
- Progress and stats are saved automatically by Battle.net
Video settings
Color blind mode
Enable color blind mode[1] |
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|
Input settings
Audio settings
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | enUS, enGB, enCN, enTW available. | |||
Simplified Chinese | ||||
Traditional Chinese | ||||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Italian | ||||
Korean | ||||
Portuguese | ||||
Brazilian Portuguese | ||||
Russian | ||||
Spanish | ||||
Latin American Spanish |
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.
VR support
Issues fixed
Windowed mode (OS X)
OS X - Windowed mode[citation needed] |
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|
FPS performance issues (OS X)
OS X - FPS performance issues[citation needed] |
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|
Sound issue (OS X)
OS X - Sound issue[citation needed] |
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|
Mature Filter Options Not Saving
Force a save to the server side[citation needed] |
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|
World of Warcraft unable to run after using Xbox app
Turn off your Game DVR on Xbox app[citation needed] |
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|
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 11, 12 | Previously contained Direct3D 9 and 10 modes until 2017. |
OpenGL | 2 | |
Metal support |
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows | |||
macOS (OS X) |
Visual enhancements
Increase graphical settings further than the sliders allow[citation needed] |
---|
Notes
|
DirectX 11 Rendering
- DirectX 11 can significantly boost performance in some scenarios.
Enable DirectX 11[2] |
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Requirements:
|
gxTextureCacheSize
gxTextureCacheSize[3] |
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Alternatively,
|
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.[4]
- According to the policy, "failure to abide by them [these rules] may result in measures up to and including taking formal legal action."[4]
AddOn Policy[citation needed] |
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|
Creating an AddOn
Creating an AddOn[citation needed] |
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## 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)
|
Troubleshooting an AddOn
"Interface action failed" error[citation needed] |
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|
System requirements
- A 64-bit system is required.
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 7 64-bit | 8.1 64-bit, 10 64-bit |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Core i5-760 AMD FX-8100 |
Intel Core i7-4770 AMD FX-8310 |
System memory (RAM) | 4 GB (8 GB for Intel HD Graphics 530) |
8 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 70 GB | 70 GB (SDD) |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 AMD Radeon HD 7850 Intel HD Graphics 530 2 GB of VRAM | Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 AMD Radeon R9 280 4 GB of VRAM |
Other | Minimum resolution of 1024x768. Broadband internet connection |
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 10.12 | 10.13 |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Core i5-760 | Intel Core i7-4770 |
System memory (RAM) | 4 GB | 8 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 70 GB | 70 GB (SDD) |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce GT 750M AMD Radeon R9 M290 Intel HD Graphics 530 2 GB of VRAM | Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4 GB of VRAM |
Other | Minimum resolution of 1024x768. Broadband internet connection |
- Support for Windows XP and Windows Vista was dropped at the end of 2017. The game no longer runs on these versions after this change.[5]
- At the game's launch, the game also supported Windows 98, ME, and 2000 as supported operating systems. These versions' support were dropped with the 2.2.3 patch in October 2007.
Notes
- ↑ 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).