New Player Guide: Orc Starting Zone- Valley of Trials 1-5

The great Cataclysm has shattered more than just the world. Warchief Thrall, arguably the most powerful living shaman has left his people behind so that he might stop the Cataclysm at its source. Yet in his absence the orc champion Garrosh Hellscream has become the Horde’s new Warchief. Though popular amongst the orcs for his victories against the Lich King, Garrosh’s reckless leadership has begun to cause a rift between himself and the other leaders of the Horde. With Durotar’s natural resources nearly depleted, Garrosh seeks to take whatever his people need to survive regardless of who stands in his way. A dangerous new era for the Horde has dawned and it falls to brave orcs like you to uphold the will of the new Warchief and assure the dominance of your people.

All great adventures start with a hero that is not yet a hero. The time has come for you to join the ranks of the brave defenders of Azeroth, but before you reach such heights, you must start, at the beginning. This guide will seek to help you do just that as you take your first steps into the World of Warcraft as one of the mightiest of races, the Orcs. We started our adventure with a popular race and class combination, the Orc Hunter.

Durotan

• Location: Mid-Eastern Portion of Kalimdor
• Racial Starting Zone: Orcs
• Faction: Horde
• Available Classes: Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, Monk, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
• Nearest Capital City: Orgrimmar - This is the seat of power for the Horde Warchief.

Being Orc: Each of the races of Azeroth has associated racial abilities. All orcs get Blood Fury which Increases melee and ranged attack power for 15 seconds. Orcs also have Racial Passives (abilities that don’t need to be actively used) which include, Hardiness and Command. You can view these and all of your other abilities both active and passive in the Spellbook & Abilities (P) Interface.

Valley of Trials

You’ll start your journey in the parched Valley of Trials after a brief opening cinematic. This is a small area within Durotar a region named for the great Orc Warchief Durotan. You’ll arrive near the center of the starting area, near a cozy little fire and a very stern looking orc who is ready to start you off on the path to take your place in the world by serving the Warchief.

*For players who have never played before, check out the Welcome to World of Warcraft – Basic Movement and Combat blog post for more information.

What’s Here:

• Starting Bind point - In your backpack (left-click or press b to open) is a Hearthstone that will automatically return you to the Valley of Trials on use (right-click to use). This is the starting bind point for your character. You’ll be able to change this at other locations by speaking to an innkeeper.
• Class Trainers - They’ll provide some guidance to set you on your path and provide additional information when the time comes.
• Vendors - You might want to sell unwanted items at the vendors to earn a little money. You can buy select items from vendors as well such as supplies for professions, food, or drink.
• Training Dummies- These can be used to test out some of your abilities and damage output without putting yourself in danger.

Your First Quest

While you’ll gain experience by killing monsters, one of the best ways to boost your experience (XP) is by completing quests. These also often reward money, items, and sometimes even reputation (press u to open the full listing of reputations) with various factions. In this case, you’ll be earning reputation with the orc faction of Orgrimmar.

Here’ you’ll speak with Kaltunk to begin your very first quest. He’s pretty easy to spot as a quest-giver, as it’s indicated by the yellow exclamation point above his head. Simply right-click on him with your mouse to see what he has to say. You’ll quickly learn that he thinks you’re ready to take your first steps toward serving the Warchief, but you’re just not ready to take on any dragons as of yet. You’ll need to do a few quests that suit your talents first before you can get anything more prestigious. He wants you to speak with Gornek who is not impressed with Kaltunk’s newest recruit. Speaking to him is all you’ll need to complete this quest. Once you’ve clicked the button “complete quest” you’ll receive a little experience and he’ll provide you with your very first task. You may want to cover your boar pet’s ears though because Gornek wants you to go kill mottled boars within the valley.

Hunter Tip: As a hunter, you’ll notice you have a pet boar already who will aid you on your journeys. If you target it (left-click), you’ll notice a character plate show up next to your own. Right-clicking on the panel will open up some new options. You can see details about the pet among other things, but most importantly, it’s not truly a pet until you’ve given it a name.  When you select this option, it will open up a dialogue box that you can type the name into. Just make sure you choose the name wisely. You won’t be able to change it again.

The mini map in the upper right corner of your screen will show you the area in which the quest objectives are located. You can also open the main map (M) to see the areas you will be able to complete the quest within.

Tag, you’re it!: World of Warcraft uses a “tapping” mechanism for monsters in which the player who first does damage to it will be the one to get credit for killing it. By grouping with other players, you can all get credit for kills. While solo, you’ll notice the monsters you’ve “tapped” as having a red nameplate over their head when targeted. If someone else has tapped it, the nameplate will be grayed out instead. There are some creatures that can be tapped by multiple people without being grouped as well. Just know that you may not get experience or loot from those that are grayed out for you, though it doesn’t hurt to help others out now and then either. They might just help you when you need it most.

With your first task waiting for you, it’s time to hunt some mottled boars. You’ll see them in a penned area with a Durotan Farmer making the rounds. A yellow name over the boar’s heads means they won’t attack you until you attack them; these monsters are neutral until then. Much like interacting with a nonplayer character (NPC), to attack, you can right-click on a target with your mouse or push the 1 key on your keyboard. If you’re too far away from your target, you’ll receive the message “You are too far away!” Once you’re in range, you’ll be able to attack. Engaging a target with an attack sets you to auto-attack that target until your character is interrupted (either by you or something else in-game).

Upon attacking your first boar, your hunter pet will also automatically attack it. For now, that’s great. Later, you’ll get more options to control your pet so it doesn’t randomly attack things you don’t want it to or “agro” (make a monster angry) something you aren’t ready to handle. As a ranged class, you’ll find it easier to sit back and shoot arrows at the target while your pet does the up close work.

So shiny! Once you’ve killed your first boar, you’ll notice some sparkles coming from its corpse. This means there’s loot on it. Right-click on the corpse and a loot window will open. Right-clicking again will add the objects from the corpse to your backpack (which you can access anytime with B). If you’ve killed multiple monsters or creatures, you’ll automatically loot all of them within range so there’s no need to go to each one individually.

As a starting Hunter, you’ll have Arcane Shot (an instant shot that causes damage that can only be used with a ranged weapon). Once you’ve killed all of the boars, it’s time to return to Gornak. You’ll notice that your Objectives on the right side of the screen will have updated, letting you know to do just that. Gornak will be waiting for you, but instead of a yellow exclamation point, he’ll have a yellow question mark indicating that you’ve got a completed quest you can turn in to him. You’ll receive some experience, some money, reputation with Orgrimmar, and a new belt. To equip your new belt, open your backpack (B) and then right-click on the belt in your bag. You can also open your character pane (c) and drag them into the “waist” slot. You’ll want to start equipping any new items you receive within your armor class (leather for hunters).

Tracking Quests: As you progress through your new life, you’ll want to keep an eye out for quest-givers who might have new tasks for you. You can keep tabs on your quests within the quest log (L) and manually track them if they aren’t already being tracked by left-clicking on the quest you want to track and then clicking on the Track button You can also untrack quests in the same way. Quests that you are on or tracking will show up on the right side of your screen as Objectives, though it will only display a limited amount of quests at one time. You can also click on any of the listed objectives to open the quest text.

Ding! Grats! You’ll notice you’ve already gained a level already. You can see your progress through a level right within the toolbar at the bottom of your screen. As you progress, it will take more and more experience to advance to the next level.

Gornak will be impressed that you may actually have some skill. He’s got something a bit more important for you to do. It seems some humans have been found in Durotar and he’d like you to do a little house cleaning.

He has another quest you’ll want to pick up too. You’ll be given a parchment that will send you to meet your class trainer nearby, Karranisha. He’ll give you a pep talk on just how great hunters are and then give you a quest to get to level 3 so you can earn a new ability–Steady Shot. Once you’re level 3 you’ll need to go visit the training dummies and use your new ability on them in order to complete this quest.

Tip - Reading Quests:Many people skip over reading quests in a rush to pick them up as quickly as possible. While the map will tell you where to go and the Quest objectives will tell you what to do in general, the quest text often has additional clues to help you achieve completing them.  As you progress, many quests will have added complexities such as needing to damage a monster a bit before you can use an object on them. Knowing these things will help with any frustration you might experience when you just can’t figure out why your quest isn’t showing you’ve completed certain steps.

You’ll notice he’s not the only one with a quest to give, so make sure you stop by anyone else who has exclamation mark over their head and pick those up. You’ll notice that quests often can be done within the same area, so you’ll be able to explore a little and still get your quests done as you go.

One of your new quests will ask you to collect Cactus Apples. You will notice these items by the bright outline on them. When you mouse over them you will notice a small icon called a cog. This indicates that you can enact an action by clicking over that object. In the case of the Cactus Apples, it means collecting them by left-clicking on the object.

Eating and Drinking Tip: At lower levels you’ll gain health back relatively quickly but eventually, you’ll want to make sure you have food (health regeneration) or drink (mana regeneration) on you. You can eat and drink at the same time if you’re playing a class that needs both replenished. Higher level food and drink will often replenish both and even boost stats.

Your trainer will also give you a task to learn how to properly learn the Steady Shot ability. This will be your first opportunity to try out a training dummy. These dummies can be used as you progress in levels to test out different abilities and measure your effectiveness with them. We’ll talk about those some other time. You’ll notice that Steady Shot will help replenish your resource (Focus) while Arcane Shot will cost Focus. Using these two together should help keep you going.

Equipment Tip: You can see all of your equipped items within the character pane (C) and swap out items as well. Simply hover your mouse over the equipment slot you want to look at and hold the ALT key. Any items that can be equipped in that slot will show up next to it. To equip another item, just (while still holding down the ALT key) simply left-click on it. This is a quick and convenient way to swap older items for newer more powerful items. You’ll also be able to compare a quest-reward item to one currently equipped by mousing over it on the quest-reward screen, or you can hold the Shift key and mouse over an item in your inventory to quickly compare items.

Your pet is probably going to become a bit fascinated with ‘killing’ the Training Dummy. You can call it back to you by using the Call Pet ability that’s on your task bar already.

Foreman Thazz’ril wants your help in ‘motivating’ some Lazy Peons. You’ll be given a Blackjack to use that should do the trick of waking them up and sending them back to work. You’ll also be given the task to collect Scorpid Worker tails. You’ll need to kill them and loot them to collect them.

Quest Tip: Quests that ask you to use an item will show the item within the Objectives list on the right side of your screen. To use the item, you’ll simply left-click on the object.

As you make your way to the Scorpid area and where you’ll find Lazy Peons, you’ll notice a lone Troll under a tree. If you picked up the quest from Canaga Earthcaller, you’ll have just located his missing friend. Hana’zua has a quest for you that you’ll want to pick up too as you’re progressing through this area. He has a big problem and he’d like you to take care of it for him. He’s been stung by a large Scorpid named Sarkoth while hunting the smaller scorpids and he wants you to kill him and bring his claw back to him. It’s a matter of honor.

You’ll find Sarkoth to the south of the tree and through a small passage. You can’t miss him. If you haven’t collected all of the Scorpid Worker Tails as of yet, you’ll be able to collect another one from Sarkoth along with his claw. Hana’zua isn’t doing well and isn’t going to make the trek back to the Den without help, so you’ll have to go get him some. We’re sure everything will work out just fine.

Returning to Gornak, you’ll receive a couple of more pieces of gear you’ll want to equip. Don’t forget to look around for more quests. Zureetha Fargaze has a new quest for you.

 If you haven’t found any Lazy Peons yet, don’t worry. Sometimes they’re just not being very lazy when you want them to be. (The nerve!) You can find them around the edges where you took out those pesky humans earlier and around various places in the valley. If you click on them, you’ll be treated to some pretty classic Warcraft Peon lines.

Vile Familiars are easy to find. You’ll notice they are little blue imps running around to the north near a cave labeled as The Burning Blade Coven. You shouldn’t have much trouble with them and should be able to rack up your 8 kills easily enough.

Once you return to the Den, you’ll turn in your quests and receive a new one from Zureetha Fargaze. The Burning Blade Coven is a big concern and she’d like your help in cleansing the coven and their ‘demonic taint’ from the area. You’ll need to kill Felstalkers and obtain a Burning Blade Medallion from a named NPC who is the leader of the Burning Blade Coven in this area. Foreman Thazz’ril also needs a little help, he’d like you to help him reclaim his lost pick. You’ll need to return to the cave in the north to find your new targets and retrieve the pick while you’re at it.

When you’re given a quest to kill a specific monster or NPC, you’ll be able to identify them by the exclamation point within their target frame when you select them. These are generally harder to kill than normal monsters (also referred to as “mobs”), so make sure you use all of your abilities to stay alive. Remember, there’s no shame in running away to fight another day if you have to.

You’ll find Thazz’ril’s Pick near a small indoor waterfall. It’s bathed in a weak beam of light, and is easy to spot. Feel free to explore the cave without fear of the creatures in it attacking you. They are non-hostile so you can explore at will. You’ll encounter many such caves in your new life but thankfully there’s a map to help guide you along the way.

Your main target, Yarrog Baneshadow is in the furthest point at the back of the cave. Make sure that when you kill him, you don’t forget to loot the Burning Blade Medallion from his corpse.

You can return to the Den by running back, or giving your Hearthstone a try. Just right-click it and you’ll be sent back to where you first met Kaltunk.

At level five and with these last quests turned in, your time in the Valley of Trials is at an end. You’ll now be asked to move on to the “Sen’jin Village to let them know the danger the Burning Blade poses.

Travel Tip: It’s generally a good idea to stay on any roads or paths to avoid being attacked by any roaming monsters, though safety is not always assured. Always keep your eye out for any lurking danger. Also note that as you travel through the world, new places will appear on your map as you discover them.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on your General chat pane for any new abilities you might gain while leveling. At lower levels, new abilities are also automatically added to your lower left action bar.

Read on in our next post for levels 5–10 as we travel on into Sen’jin Village and beyond to Razor Hill. When you’re done, visit the New Player forum to connect with other new players and our helpful veterans.