World of Warcraft: Forever launches on November 4, and unless you’re someone who’s already deeply buried in the community, it probably sounds a little daunting. What even is it? Original WoW , but not? Lighting effects and torches? Something about some new blue elves?

I’ve been trying to explain WoW: Forever to friends and colleagues again and again for weeks now, but I have become tired and now I am just writing it all down for anyone to read. I’ve broken this up into two parts: the first half or so is for people who are familiar with some version of WoW already, but the second half addresses anyone who’s never even touched WoW and doesn’t know the first thing they should be doing.…