A casual player's guide to WoW

World of Warcraft is a complex, multi-layered game that will reward you not just for putting in a lot of time, but simply for exploring all the options you have available to you. There are a lot of users (some would say most) who play on a regular basis, but if you're only playing once or twice a week, is it really worth investing?

Sure! World of Warcraft is an extremely accessible game, and if you want to play casually, there's more than enough to do. Levelling from 1-60 will takes a good while, and then all the expansion content kicks in and things can get really exciting as you start seeing your damage and health skyrocket.

So what makes a casual World of Warcraft experience different to, say, a casual night on partypoker.com? Well, story, primarily. A lot of hardcore players tend to level at crazy speeds, gathering quests and taking little time so soak up the atmosphere as they steamroll areas, striving towards their next "ding"

You, however, can take it slow. Enjoy the story, take a look around, and level at your own pace. This is important, because even though you mind find it harder to get a group together once the main rush of players are out of the new expansion areas, it's not a big deal - there are so many quests that you'll breeze past instances if you don't want to, or aren't able to get a PUG or group of people you know together.

The best part is there's no pressure. See that main tank in the high-end raiding guild? He may enjoy himself, but trust me, there's a lot of pressure on him to perform well in-raid. Same with the Arena champions, PUG healers, and so on. Casual players can relax, enjoy the game, re-roll whenever they like, switch servers... There's never any stress, unless you're completing a difficult quest.

So don't be worried - WoW isn't a hardcore-only game, and you can make it as hardcore or as casual as you want it to be.