Choose the realm you wish to play on.
Horde vs. Alliance Split

The Horde is battling the Alliance in the world of Azeroth. Horde and Alliance players are unable to group/party with each other, trade, create guilds, or even talk to each other. If you wish to play with other friends, make sure you select races that are allied with each other. You can have characters on your account of either Horde or Alliance faction on the Player vs. Environment servers. On Player vs. Player servers you can only have either Horde or Alliance characters but not both. You and your friends must choose whether you all will create Alliance or Horde characters to play together. When selecting your race we suggest you first read about the racial bonuses.

Horde Races: Alliance Races:
Orcs
Tauren
Trolls
Undead
Humans
Dwarves
Gnomes
Night Elves

Creating Your Character

Creating your character is very easy. Select your race, sex, and class. Be reminded that players of the Horde and Alliance will not be able to play with each other.

Character Customization

You can customize various aspects of your character. If you find this takes too much time, simply click the "randomize" button to have the game create a random character for you. Hit this button several times until it creates a character that you like. The game will offer other methods of character customization in game.

Create your name

You will have to stay with this name for the rest of your playing career so make sure that you create a name that you can live with. Be aware of the naming policy so that you do not risk having to rename your character or other penalties.

Now enter the world.
Now you're in the World of Warcraft!

A Note on Dying
Maybe I should die more often.
In the event that you die in World of Warcraft, you will become a ghost and be transported to a nearby graveyard. You will have to run back to your corpse to revive yourself. Look to your minimap for directions to your corpse. Read more here.