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It takes all kinds (of players) to make a (game) world - but now that Blizzard is shaping game content specifically to slingshot players into endgame raiding content, it's easy to get the impression that raiding is "the" way to play WoW. New players seem expected to sail through the levels and zip gleefully into PuGs or a raiding guild. All those "accessible" raids and achievements and gear are suddenly sounding more and more like "requirements." DPS minimums, required achievements and Armory checks serve as your credentials to get into groups. Everywhere a new level 80 turns, there's something new to measure up to.

So what if you don't know where to start? What if you miss the mark in the wrong group with the wrong players - will you forever be known as a "scrub"? Will you find yourself blacklisted from the PuG circuit? Is it still practically possible to gear up and catch up? What if you can't get into a successful progression guild? Will you be labeled an oddball or outsider? What if you can't break in - or what if you decide you don't want to?

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You can't talk to the enemy in the World of Warcraft. Shouting "KEK" when you're on your Alliance character doesn't read as "LOL" to the Horde players, no matter how many times you've heard that rumor. You can't Mind Control the enemy and then babble away in your own tongue (although that did work for one amazing, once-upon-a-time period in a long-ago patch). The truth is, trying to leapfrog the Alliance/Horde language barrier is a bannable offense; you're just not supposed to talk to the enemy.

That said, there is a way you can make your intentions known to players of the opposite faction: standard, pre-set emotes. The only emotes that work between factions are the ones that are already in place in the game. Creating your own emote by typing "/e yourmessage" only works for players of your own faction; for others, it translates to "X makes some strange gestures" – pretty antagonistic, really, no matter what you're actually intending to convey.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

There's no doubt about it: it's trickier and twitchier to level a character on a PvP (player versus player) realm than it is on a "Care Bear," PvE (player versus environment) realm. Some players thrive on the electric anticipation of the unexpected ambush; others wilt under the unrelenting stress. Being an experienced gamer and having the proverbial "friends in high places" can make the experience a lot more enjoyable – so is leveling on a PvP realm beyond the reach of a WoW rookie? Absolutely not!

But make no mistake, it's war out there ... and only the savvy will survive unscathed. Sounds ominous, eh? Let's knock off some of the mystery. First, we direct you to Zach Yonzon's insightful introduction to the PvP attitude. Zach explains exactly what is different about playing on a PvP realm, as well as the basics of concepts such as "flagging" and "honor." Soak up the basics, then join us after the break for 20 tips to help you survive your time as a WoW rookie, PvP style.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

Looky, Mom, we're all original: we didn't call this post "Home is where the hearth is" (but only because that title was already taken). And speaking of being trite, hearthstones may seem like a rather mundane matter -- not exactly high-value gaming strategy, eh? -- yet seasoned players manage to accumulate a little hearthing savvy that makes life in Azeroth (and the Outland and Northrend) a little more convenient.

Hearthstones link you to an inn in a location of your choosing, allowing you to transport ("hearth") back there once every 30 minutes. Prior to Patch 3.1, when you could only use your hearthstone once per hour, choosing where to bind and how to most efficiently order your errands and quests called for more than an insignificant amount of thought. The lower cooldown time today makes planning simpler, but there are still a few points worth knowing to help tune up your efficiency and dial down your travel time.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

You've always wanted to be the eye of the storm: a World of Warcraft tank. You're working your way up toward level 80, quest by quest and zone by zone. Maybe you've consulted a leveling guide and done some research around the internet, and you're sporting a shiny, efficient leveling spec. Or maybe you're taking things more casually, experimenting with different specs and abilities on your own and devoting most of your energy to soaking up the sights and the lore, meeting new friends and settling into your first guild.

Either way, you're beginning to feel the first tendrils of apprehension curling around your ankles. You haven't been able to get many instance groups to knock the shine off that new armor. Heck, maybe you're not even tanking-specced yet at all. What's going to happen when you hit 80? Everyone's going to expect you to know the pointy end of the sword from what's under that fluffy tail you feel inclined to tuck beneath you ... What can you bring to the table with absolutely (gulp) zero experience?

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

Today's WoW Rookie will not help you improve your game or your character's performance. The advice here won't help you become a "better" player; in fact, we'd encourage you to guard against the urge. As a new player in an older game (and make no mistake, with an established game world that's turned away from leveling and original content, the World of Warcraft definitely qualifies), you are quite assuredly behind the curve. You're a noob -- and that's ok. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

As a new player in the World of Warcraft, you deserve your time in the sun. It's called WORLD of Warcraft for a reason. A massive game world awaits, ripe for exploration, screenshots, wonder. Slowly peeling back the layers of lore and story reveals tales of glory, honor, humor and tragedy. This is your chance to soak it in, to bask and stretch and revel in the delightfully silly little surprises that Blizzard has scattered throughout the game.

And you'll miss all of that if your game is a tunnel-vision race to max level, purple armor and a belt notched with raiding achievements.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

What's that? You can't hear because you're wanding? That's a good thing, young caster, a very good thing – because doing damage from afar is the savvy caster's modus operandi. At higher levels, wands are usually reserved for backup duty when you've run out of mana. For a leveling player, however, a wand is an effective method of killing mobs while reserving your limited mana pool for crowd control or healing.

As a caster, resist the temptation to tough it out and let mobs (monsters) get up in your face. Wands put out fairly healthy DPS (damage per second), and you'll do more damage wanding than you will whacking things with your melee weapon. Besides, using your wand helps you get used to keeping your distance; you're wearing cloth armor and should avoid taking direct hits whenever possible. Wands also give you an efficient, effective finish for fights. You can finish off runners without having to physically chase them down, and polishing off that last bit of damage without using mana gives you a head start on regenerating for the next encounter.

Higher level players may scoff at your interest in wands – but remember, they have more talents, stats, gear and spells at their disposal. At their level, wands are valued more for their juicy, mana-boosting stats, resistances and spellpower. As you gain spellpower and mana regeneration through leveling, wands will become relatively less effective. For now, make the most of them!

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

Hey, isn't that the same screenshot we used for WoW Rookie just two weeks ago? Indeed it is, faithful readers – because frankly, "Who wants my man meat?" is the perfect illustration for today's topic.

The World of Warcraft is your refuge at the end of a long, hard day – and the last thing you want to see rolling across your screen is the kind of lowbrow posturing that's given Barrens chat its notorious reputation. Or perhaps you'd like to let the kids try their hands at WoW, but you don't want them soaking up the rough language that seems to turn up more and more frequently in busy city Trade and General channels.

It's time to take charge of your game chat.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

It doesn't take keyboard gymnastics to prevent your account from getting hacked. As a new player, you're bound to be concerned – and if you do any digging at all, you're also bound to uncover a tangle of acerbic, rather arcane-sounding comments (many of them on posts right here at WoW Insider) about what operating systems, browsers and browser add-ons are most secure.

You really don't have to change your entire computer system simply to keep your WoW account safe. This week, WoW Rookie rounds up a selection of WoW Insider posts that show you how (and why) to keep your WoW account from being hacked and prevent your computer from spilling its beans to the world at large.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

Just spent half an hour fruitlessly spamming the Trade channel in hopes of getting your new gear enchanted? Maybe (just maybe) the players on your server aren't the most unfriendly, unhelpful people this side of Silithus. Maybe you simply haven't figured out the most effective way to use [2:Trade].

According to loyal WoW Insider reader Sarabande, there's more to successful in-game transactions than simply advising someone to "use the Trade channel for trade." We agree – so this week, let's cover some basic tactics to get your sales sold, your portals ported and your enchantments enchanted.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

To a new player, navigating the Auction House and the server's trade economy can seem as intimidating as the national debt. What sells? What doesn't? How do you find bargains? How do you know what prices to set for your goods? Is undercutting a wise idea? What's the fastest way to rake in gold – and what's the safest way?

The best guide to the actual mechanics of using the Auction House comes from Blizzard itself. A careful review will give you a firm grasp of the basic parameters for profitable buying or selling. Beyond the basics, what most players want is solid advice on what's worth selling on the AH, how much to charge and how to get the best buys. Let's touch on those areas next.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

Welcome, O WoW rookie, to patch week madness. If you thought run-of-the-mill maintenance and minor patch days could be dicey, here's your chance to enjoy the epic-level chaos wrought by epic-level content patches.

World of Warcraft has evolved considerably since its launch in what's now been almost a handful of years ago. Blizzard regularly releases downloadable updates, called "patches," to add new content and features, fix problems and tweak game play and balance. Through patches, players have gained access to new quests, instances, Battlegrounds, events, items and tools.

This week's Patch 3.1 is known as a content patch – a nice way of saying "a ton of new stuff we've added to the game that's going to make all hell break loose." The realms go up, the realms go down. The realms go up. Did we mention they also go down? You may log in only to find your characters nowhere in sight ("Oh #%$&, my characters are all gone!"). You may experience disappearing mail or auctions, random disconnections from the game and insufferable lag. You may find yourself merrily rolling along only to find the NPCs have disappeared, you can't zone in or out of instances or log out of the game, and you and every other player who's trapped in your zone are left with nothing to do but chat about the whole thing. (Almost makes you wonder if the Ice Stone has melted yet.)

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"Oops GTG TTYL bye" – heard that one before, in the middle of an instance? You don't want to be that guy.

Today's World of Warcraft is a far cry from Tomb Raider or Lego Indiana Jones, which can leave you writhing in your chair for what seems like an eternity before your next save point. For an MMO, WoW's gameplay has become reasonably bite-sized – so don't get caught virtually chewing with your mouth open by dropping out of groups early.

True, many instances can be completed so quickly and many players are so experienced that dashing through a quick instance can seem almost trivial. But a group is a social creature, and accepting a group invitation means accepting a reasonable responsibility to treat the other players' time with respect.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

Probably one of the top requests WoW Rookie gets from new players is a plea for an explanation of WoW and gaming terminology. Even a casual skim of WoW Insider's front page can prove challenging to new gamers. Example: what to experienced players is a routine update on new PTR schedules can be an exercise in frustration for readers who are still sorting out WTT from WTF. ("PTR? WTF?!?")

It's not just WoW-specific abbreviations and acronyms that puzzle new players. Add in gaming lingo and internet chat terms, and you have the recipe for a truly intimidating mix.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.

Your character's name is literally the essence of your World of Warcraft experience. Think about it: from the way you think of your character (a roleplaying personality, a tool for gaming achievements, an expression of yourself) to the way others see you, your name plays a defining role.

While Blizzard indulges in the occasional sly riff on pop culture and even pays homage to the WoW community when naming NPCs (non-player characters) and items, you may find yourself dismayed by the results after attempting to do the same with your own characters. The way we see it, character names are like tattoos – and what seemed like a great idea at 1 a.m. on a Saturday night might not smell so fresh in the harsh light of day.

Naming characters can seem overwhelming to a new player, especially if you're creating a character on an established server where many popular name combinations have already been claimed. Let's cover the basics of finding an appealing name that won't wear thin or break any rules.