Factions
Now that we have a server picked out, its time to pick a faction. There are two playable factions in WoW; the Alliance and the Horde. Neither is better than the other, despite what people may tell you. On some servers the Horde dominates in PvP combat and on some servers the Alliance dominates. Both factions have their share of good players and bad players.
Please note that the factions can not communicate with each other due to a language barrier. This is to prevent people from harassing other players based on their faction. Apparently back when WoW was first launched Forsaken could speak common and communicate with the Alliance, but there was so much harassment going on that Blizzard had to change it.
You can not learn the language of any other races, even those within your own faction, though there are addons that will simulate other languages.
Races
The Alliance
As a note, character customization IS limited, but you can change hair style and color, faces, piercings on some races, and horns and such on others.
Humans - Language: Common
Male:
Female:
Dwarves - Languages: Common and Dwarven
Male:
Female:
Gnomes - Languages: Common and Gnomish
Male:
Female: