Quests

As a fun way to learn more about Azeroth and advance the story line, quests form the foundation of the World of Warcraft adventure experience. From simple tasks such as gathering supplies for a local blacksmith to complicated endeavors such as infiltrating the stronghold of a twisted cult, quests are a constant source of risks and rewards for characters of every race.
Thanks to their wide range of complexity and the sheer numbers, quests will continually provide players with engaging and worthwhile challenges, regardless of how often those players can play each day. And while many quests can be finished by individual players relatively quickly, others can require multiple players to adventure together for a week or more.

Performing the actual work involved for a quest has its own rewards, but an additional experience-point bonus will usually be awarded once the character reports to the appropriate NPC (non-player character) to conclude the quest. Characters can also receive money and/or magic items in exchange for completing quests, not to mention trade-skill recipes, spells, buffs, and much more. Also, World of Warcraft features a flexible reward system: players are often able to choose from a selection of quest rewards that best suit their character or their tastes.

Finding Quests

Quests are easy to find and acquire. Most commonly, players must simply talk to an NPC with an exclamation point (!) above his or her head. The exclamation point indicates that that particular NPC has a quest available. A question mark (?) above an NPCs head makes it easy for players to see which NPC they must return to in order to complete their quests. There are also indicators to let players know which NPCs will have quests available in the near future. A number of other ways to activate quests exist in the game, which we'll leave to players to discover.

NPCs noted with an orange exclamation have one or more available quests
An orange question mark means you and the NPC have outstanding business
NPCs noted with a silver exclamation have quests that will be available when your character reaches a higher level

Quest Log

Quests that have been accepted appear in the players quest log, color coded by difficulty level. The details of each accepted quest -- including the quests requirements, which NPC to speak with once those requirements are satisfied, and the reward(s) that will be available are easily accessible in the log. Quests can be abandoned at any time, and they can easily be reacquired as well. Furthermore, quests are divided up in the log by region to help players identify which ones to work toward completing depending on where they happen to be in the world.

Quest Highlights

Quests are themed to specific areas. For example, quests found in the Undead regions of Azeroth are much different from those found in the Human regions. Quests often have multiple reward choices. Players can select the reward that interests them the most.

Quests help players explore the world, gradually leading them into new areas. This helps players become familiar with their surroundings at a good pace and opens up new challenges for them as they expand their boundaries. Single-step quests are available for busy people without a lot of time to play, and large, multi-part quests that build to epic conclusions are available as well.

Many cool things can be found only by completing certain quests.