on-Player Characters (NPCs) are characters controlled by the server or computer. These characters include merchants , skill trainers, quest related characters, gossip characters, and flavor characters. You can identify an NPC by their name tag vs. the common player name tag.   Merchants Read more about merchants .     Trainers Talk to a trainer to learn new class-specific abilities or trade skills.   Gossip Some NPCs have something to tell you which can give you information, entertain you, or lead you to a quest.   Quest Talk to these NPCs to get or turn in a quest.   Bank Talk to these NPCs to access your bank account.   Auction Houses Talk to the auctioneers to have them sell your wares.   Air Travel Travel by air to another part of the world. Ask for Directions! Some NPCs can give you directions in the big cities. For example, walk up to a Stormwind guard that has a speech bubble. Talk to that guard and they will offer to tell you how to get to various places. Once you select the location they will place a special arrow on your minimap in the top right showing you where to go! Guard Defense System The guard system enables NPCs to call for guards when they see an enemy as well as when they are attacked. The guards will chase players and then return to the NPC that called for help once they lose track of, or kill the player. If a guard is killed, another guard will be called to take its place. There is a limit to how many guards each town can have which will recharge over time. Guard posts will send existing guards before creating new ones. Patch 1.8 Changes Disturbance at the Great Trees Something is amiss in the Emerald Dream. Immense dragons with the shimmering emerald scales of the Green Dragonflight have been sighted guarding the portals at the Great Trees... but these once-noble creatures crawl with a new, strange menace, not the peace for which Ysera is known. Bring many allies should you dare to confront them; their powers are formidable and they will not hesitate to crush any who draw near. The Stirring of the Silithid The arid sands of Silithus are shifting. Something is awakening beyond the wall to the south... Aid the Druids of the Cenarion Circle as they delve into the mysteries of the desert. Seek answers behind the Twilight Hammer's presence. Discover more about the alien creatures known as the Silithid as you explore their hives. Many new endeavors await the high-level adventurer! Hallow's End When the decorations of Hallow's End light up Azeroth's cities, you know there's mischief afoot! Seek special vendors in Orgrimmar or Ironforge and get your hands on treats! Aid a sick orphan in a little trick-or-treating! Deathcaller Yanka, attending the Forsaken's Wickerman Festival, and Sergeant Hartman of Southshore are seeking your aid in keeping the enemy out of their holiday affairs -- are you up to the challenge? General Instant Attacks The mechanics of most instant melee attacks have been modified to improve item balance. Previously, instant melee attacks did damage based on the damage range of the weapon, plus a bonus for the player's attack power. This bonus was then multiplied by the speed of the weapon. As a result, slow weapons did more damage than was intended, and fast weapons were considered inferior by most players. We have changed the way the attack power bonus is calculated for instant attacks. This change does NOT affect attack power calculations for normal melee attacks. Instead of multiplying by the speed of the weapon, the attack power bonus is now multiplied by a fixed number pulled from the following table: Two-handed weapons: 3.3 Daggers: 1.7 All other one-handed weapons: 2.4 As a direct result of this, many weapons have shifted position in their relative power. In particular, many Epic (purple) quality items are now more powerful than slower Superior (blue) weapons. This change was not made to reduce the power of instant attacks, but to correct the relative imbalance of weapon itemization. At a given level requirement, epic quality weapons should always be more powerful than superior quality weapons. Please also note that all normal weapon swings will be completely unaffected by this change. The following abilities are affected by the design change: Sinister Strike, Ambush, Backstab, Whirlwind, Mortal Strike, and Overpower. The cost per point of durability to repair plate, chain, and leather items has been reduced to be equal to the cost of repairing cloth items of the same quality. You can now repurchase up to 12 items that you have sold to a vendor. There is now a buyback tab on all merchants that you can select to repurchase the last 12 items you sold since you last logged in. When your character leaves the game, this list of items will be cleared, so if you have accidentally sold something, don?t wait to buy it back. Buy it back immediately. Perception (Human Racial) is now usable while stealthed. There is now a spell effect when you increase your reputation to a new level. The loading screen upon login now displays gameplay tips. Channeled spells that are cancelled by movement can no longer be cast while moving. Fixed bug where the debuff Tetanus was reducing stamina by one more than it should. Pets no longer break off attacks when their target is affected by Warlock Fear. The "Knockout" mechanic has been renamed "Disorient" and all tooltips that referenced this mechanic should be updated.