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The game of ''World of Warcraft'', or ''WoW'', is set in a fictional world known as Azeroth and in the expansion ''The Burning Crusade'' extended the game to another world called Outland. The expansion ''Wrath of the Lich King'' added Northrend, the frigid northern continent of Azeroth. In the expansion ''Cataclysm'', the classic continents of Azeroth were drastically changed as some zones were destroyed and new ones were unveiled. The expansion ''Mists of Pandaria'' added the southern continent, previously hidden behind a perennial mist cover, Pandaria. The latest released expansion, ''Warlords of Draenor'' adds Draenor, which is what Outland was before its partial destruction by Ner'zhul. In the game, players design a character to play based on a number of starting options, such as the race of character and its type or class. Gameplay primarily consists of completing quests, dungeon runs and raids, and other in-game activities, in order to obtain rewards which will allow one to improve one's character and equipment in order to be able to complete the more difficult quests, dungeon runs and raids. Players can also participate in player versus player combat, either in large groups, small team matches, or individual skirmishes. Over time, a number of additional features and improvements have been added to the game world, such as additional locations to explore, and seasonal and periodic events such as Halloween, Midsummer and weekly fishing competitions. Among the newer features added are a pet battle system akin to Pokémon, where players can collect pets all over the game world and battle with them and garrisons, which is an player-controlled area where players recruit non-player characters (NPC) to carry out quests to earn players or the NPCs items. Players can also modify their in-game experience through the use of third-party modifications such as macros and add-ons. Note that executable software that can edit the game mechanics (such as Glider) is against the terms of use. ==Characters== To start, players select a game realm or server to play on. Each realm is in one of four different categories, depending on which set of combat rules it uses. These can be either where players are mainly focused on defeating monsters and completing quests, and player versus player combat is not permitted unless inside opposing cities, (player versus environment or PVE), or where open combat between players is permitted (player versus player or PvP). There are also dedicated roleplay (or RP) versions of both these types, where players are encouraged to control their character as if they were an inhabitant of a fantasy world. Realms are also categorised by the language players are encouraged to use, offering in-game support in that language. Players are able to transfer their established characters between realms in the same territory (North America, Europe, etc.) for a fee. A player may create up to eleven characters per realm, with a maximum number of fifty characters per account. Once a player has selected a realm, an option to create a character is available. A player can select one of two opposing factions to place their character in: the Horde or the Alliance. Characters can only communicate and group with other characters of the same faction. Each faction has seven (including the Pandaren, that are neutral at the beginning) races to choose from. Race determines the character's appearance, starting location, and initial skill set, called "racial traits". The Alliance currently consists of humans, night elves, dwarves, gnomes, draenei and worgen; the Horde currently consists of orcs, tauren, Forsaken, trolls, blood elves and goblins. The draenei and blood elves were added as part of the ''Burning Crusade'' expansion. Worgen and goblins were added for the Alliance and Horde respectively in the following expansion pack, ''Cataclysm''. In the most recent expansion pack, ''Mists of Pandaria'', the pandaren were added as ''World of Warcraft's ''first ever "neutral" race. At the conclusion of the beginner zone quests for pandaren (around level 12), the player must choose to permanently join either the Alliance or the Horde. Further options to customize the appearance, such as hairstyles, skin tones, etc. are also available. Once set, the face and skintone are not able to be changed; however the hair style, color, and other decorations such as earrings and facial hair can be changed by visiting barbershops within capital cities. The entire character appearance (including face, skin tone, gender) can be changed Blizzard's paid character recustomisation service. Depending on the race chosen and the expansions installed, a player then has five to eight of the game's eleven character classes to choose from. The mechanics of each class vary, with some tending towards melee combat while others are more suited to attacking from range or casting spells. The game has three roles, DPS (damage dealer), tank and healer; a member of any class can be customized for the DPS role, while members of some classes, known as hybrids, can also be customized as healers, tanks or any of the three roles. Currently available classes are druids, death knights, hunters, mages, monks, paladins, priests, rogues, shamans, warlocks and warriors. Originally, paladins were available only to Alliance races and shamans were only available to Horde races, but both classes were made available to both sides in ''The Burning Crusade''. The death knight, introduced in ''Wrath of the Lich King'', is a hero class, with the characters beginning at level 55 (roughly mid-way to maximum level), already equipped with powerful gear. Creation of a death knight requires the player to already have at least one level 55 character on their account. The newest class is the monk class, introduced in ''Mists of Pandaria''. While a character can be played on its own, players can also group up with others in order to tackle more challenging content. In this way, character classes are used in specific roles within a group. Players are also able to customize their character through the use of talents, which are further abilities related to their character class. Characters are also able to learn two primary professions from a list of ten. These can be gathering professions, such as mining, herb gathering, or animal skinning. Characters can also choose from crafting professions, such as blacksmithing or leatherworking, or enhancement professions such as enchanting or inscription. Professions are not directly linked to a character's class (e.g., warriors can be alchemists, mages can be animal skinners, etc.). However, some skills available to certain classes (e.g., the ability to track animals) are useful to certain professions. Characters can also learn all secondary professions: cooking, fishing, first aid and, with the ''Cataclysm'' expansion, archaeology. In the ''Burning Crusade'' expansion, additional profession specialisations were added, allowing a character to gain new restricted techniques such as an alchemists mastering potions, elixirs, or transmutations. In the ''Cataclysm'' expansion, the secondary profession of archaeology was added which allows players to dig up and recover artifacts all over Azeroth and the other areas in the game.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Archaeology - Game - World of Warcraft )〕 As well as banding together to form groups, players can also band together to form a guild. These organizations allow players several benefits, such as easier communication through a shared chat channel and an identifying guild name and tabard. Guild members can also be given access to a central pool of resources known as a guild bank. Guilds can also make use of an in-game calendar, allowing guild members to view scheduled events, and respond to them with whether they can attend or not. This calendar can also be accessed without need to log-in to the game, using the Armory feature.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=World of Warcraft — Calendar )〕 Guild members that accomplish goals together gain guild experience and advance the level of their guild, granting guild members various benefits.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Chapter III: Playing Together - Game - World of Warcraft )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gameplay of World of Warcraft」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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