It has been a long time since I was able to play WoW and as such I am a bit rusty with game play and things like that, but I am going to do my best to explain the game (and why its awesome). This will basically be like a guide for newbies.
Topics we will cover:
Introduction
Servers
Factions
Races
Classes
Capitol Cities
General Gameplay
Chat
Terms
Quests
Kills
Death
Guilds
Dungeons
Mounts, Pets, and Professions
Achievements
PvP
Roleplay
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World of Warcraft is an MMORPG. What that means, for those of you not in the loop, is that its a roleplaying game that lots of people play together online. So imagine playing a game like Skyrim, only instead of it being a single player game, there are millions of other players all over the world logged in and playing along side you.
Obviously, if you want to avoid other people then WoW prolly isn't the game for you. However, it is entirely possible to play the game without having much interaction with other players. We call this soloing, and its usually how I play.
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The first thing you want to do is choose a server to play on. The game is divided into many different servers (or realms). The game world, npcs, quests, etc are the same on every server, but each type of server has its own rules for game play.
There are four types of servers; PvP, PvE, RP, and RP-PvP.
PvP - On a PvP server, Player vs Player combat is not optional. Entering certain areas (known as contested zones) will automatically flag you for PvP.
This means that players from the opposite faction can kill you randomly. Some people like the extra challenge, but it will get old after a while, especially if you're trying to quest and someone keeps killing you repeatedly. This is not a good server to start out on.
PvE - This is whats known as a "normal" server. PvP is optional, there are no special rules really, and you just play the game how you want to. This is a great server for when you're just starting out.
RP - Roleplay servers are like PvE in that PvP is optional, but they have different rules. Of course RP server rules are rarely enforced (much to the dismay of the actual roleplayers). Not everyone on an RP server is an RPer either. These servers have naming rules and game play rules. Your character is supposed to have a realistic name (so a name like "Pwnsyou" would be against the rules) and you are supposed to be in character the majority of the time. But like I said, these rules are rarely enforced.
RP-PvP - A PvP server with the same rules as an RP server.
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Go to Part II - Creating a Character