In patch 1.6, players were given the opportunity to plunder the first new 40-player raid dungeon added since launch: Blackwing Lair. However, a more peaceful distraction appeared traveling across Azeroth and coming to rest in Mulgore and Elwynn Forest on opposing months called The Darkmoon Faire. The Darkmoon Faire features attractions from across the globe such as the world’s strongest woman, a petting zoo for some of Azeroth’s most interesting creatures, various games of skill, a fortune teller, a giant human-launching cannon, and plenty of ale.

Players can perform quests for various members of the Faire and receive Darkmoon Prize Tickets in return. These tickets can then be redeemed for items of various quality, from Month-Old Mutton to epic-quality jewelry. Additionally, players can occasionally find Darkmoon Cards scattered throughout the world. Eight sets exist at the present time: Beasts, Elementals, Portals, Warlords, Blessings, Furies, Lunacy, and Storms.[22] Collecting all eight cards of a set (Ace through allows the player to combine them into a deck and redeem them for a powerful, epic-quality trinket depending on which set was completed.

The Faire sees sporadic updates and expansions in a semi-regular fashion. The most recent addition was a ‘battle’ minigame in which players take control of tiny, remote controlled tanks called ‘Tonks’ which use various weapons to disable other Tonks.

Recently, in celebration of the upcoming Blizzcon ’07, the Darkmoon Faire has appeared outside of Shattrath City in Outlands. The popular band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain, will be performing their one sound “Power of the Horde” at every hour”. Just be warned, the ogre bouncers do not take kindly to any kind of disturbance during the concert.

For a time, it was argued that dynamic world-changing events were in extremely short supply in Warcraft. There was an overall feeling that the ongoing “wars” from which the game takes its name were external and out of touch from the player base. The only cross-faction interaction took place during server-crashing city raids and skirmishes in certain “hot spots” around the world such as the popular “Southshore Tug of War” in which Alliance and Horde forces would fight back and forth over the stretch of land between Southshore and Tarren Mill.

The first world events were added in the form of outdoor raid bosses that could be accessed without entering an instance. These bosses were the blue dragon Azuregos of Azshara and the Burning Legion demon Lord Kazzak in the Blasted Lands. These were followed by four green dragons corrupted by the “Emerald Nightmare.” In addition, certain areas of Azeroth experience an “elemental invasion” where waves of elemental-class monsters will run rampant for a time or until they are destroyed.[21]

Blizzard has also implemented holiday content that could be considered a world event. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, as well as New Year’s and its lunar counterpart all have their Warcraft-themed counterparts. During these week-long events players partake in holiday-themed quests usually involving humorous references to real-world pop culture surrounding the holiday. For example, one of the Winter’s Veil (Christmas) quests involves fighting a creature known as the Greench and rescuing a kidnapped reindeer named Metzen (styled after lead designer, Chris Metzen).

The current virtual world consists of two planets; Azeroth and Draenor (a.k.a Outlands). Azeroth consists of two main continents, Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles which are located northwest of Kalimdor, and Teldrassil which is also located to the northwest of Kalimdor.

Kalimdor contains the starting areas for Horde races of the Orcs, Trolls, and Tauren. The Alliance Night Elves and Draenei both begin in areas off the coast of Kalimdor (Darnassus and Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles respectively), but move to the mainland fairly early. The Eastern Kingdoms contains the beginning areas for the Horde races of the Undead and Blood Elves as well as the Alliance races of the Humans, Dwarves, and Gnomes.

Draenor, added with the release of The Burning Crusade, is only accessible to those who have purchased and activated the expansion pack. It is reached through the Dark Portal in the south of Eastern Kingdoms or through in-game teleportation such as Hearthstones, mage teleports, or engineering devices. Draenor was the original home of the Draenei.

The Wrath of the Lich King expansion will add the continent of Northrend in the northern region of Azeroth and will be available exclusively to those players who purchase and activate that expansion pack.[15]

There are two types of characters in the game: Player Characters (PC) and Non-Player Characters (NPCs). A Player Character is a player’s avatar in the world of Azeroth. The color of a PC’s name tag can vary from white, green, yellow or red depending on faction and Player vs. Player (PvP) status. Non-Player Characters are AI-controlled characters that can only interact with PCs through scripted events or artificial intelligence (AI).

There are three types of NPCs. Friendly NPCs, whose names are displayed in green, cannot attack friendly characters and vice versa. Hostile NPCs, whose names are in red, are either of the opposing faction or are mobs (enemies controlled by AI) and will freely attack any PC with whom they are hostile. Neutral NPCs, whose names are displayed in yellow, are neutral and will only attack if provoked.

Some NPC interaction is affected by the reputation a PC has with them. For example, certain NPC merchants will have more items available for sale if that PC has a higher reputation with the merchant’s faction. PCs’ standing with a faction can be increased or decreased by killing certain mobs or handing in items to certain NPCs. However, PCs cannot gain reputation with opposing factions, so a Horde character cannot gain reputation with any Alliance-only faction and vice versa.

NPCs in major and minor cities can buy and sell merchandise, train class and profession skills, give quests and provide a large number of services that are needed in the game. While some will merely offer advice or further the story, others, such as city guards, patrol around set paths to keep cities defended against attacking PCs or hostile NPCs that may attempt to invade.