World of Warcraft
From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
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this product has been released, it remains under active development - information may change frequently and could be outdated or irrelevant.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 |
Reception | |
Metacritic | 93 |
IGDB | 86 |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | DLC, Expansion pack |
Microtransactions | Boost, Cosmetic, Currency |
Series | Warcraft |
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.
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
- 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 are available on DVDs. | |||
Battle.net | First 20 levels are free to play. Subscription includes The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor and Legion 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 | Available for free. Included with all full versions of the game. | |
Battle for Azeroth | 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.
Microtransactions
- 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.[1]
- Cosmetic: Cosmetics like mounts and pets are real money purchases.[2]
- Unlock: Unlocks include race change, character transfer, faction change, name change, guild services, etc.[3]
- Boost: Level boosts, e.g. Level 120 Character Boost.[4]
- Pay-to-skip: Because WoW Tokens can be redeemed for Blizzard Balance it makes it technically possible to achieve all microtransactions through grinding in-game Gold.
- Infinite cap: 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.
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 settings
Color blind mode
Enable color blind mode[5] |
---|
|
Input settings
Audio settings
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
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 January 2018. Direct3D 12 is available for both Windows 7 and 10. |
OpenGL | 2 | |
Metal support |
Executable | PPC | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | Only the 64-bit client is supported as of 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. |
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[6] |
---|
Requirements:
|
gxTextureCacheSize
gxTextureCacheSize[7] |
---|
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.[8]
- According to the policy, "failure to abide by them [these rules] may result in measures up to and including taking formal legal action."[8]
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
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 |
- At the game's launch, the game also supported Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP as supported operating systems. 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[9].
- A 64-bit system is required.
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 |
- PowerPC Mac support was dropped with patch 4.0.1.
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).
References
- ↑ World of Warcraft's WoW Token allows trading gold for game time - last accessed on 2020-04-18
- "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."
- ↑ Cosmetic Armor Pieces—Now Available on Blizzard Store - last accessed on 2020-04-18
- ↑ World of Warcraft - Blizzard Shop - last accessed on 2020-04-18
- ↑ World of Warcraft - Blizzard Shop - last accessed on 2020-04-18
- ↑ Color Blind Mode - Battle.net Support
- ↑ Reference
- ↑ http://www.wowwiki.com/CVar_gxTextureCacheSize
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1021053914
- ↑ Ending Support for Windows XP and Vista - World of Warcraft Forums