A free, open-source leveling guide for World of Warcraft: Forever (client 1.60). Ding shows what to do next, points the way with its own arrow and moves forward on its own as you accept, complete and turn in quests. It is built from the ground up to be played with a gamepad.
Version 1.8, released during the Forever beta. Alliance 1–60: Human, Dwarf/Gnome and Night Elf starting zones up to level 20, then a common route to 60. Horde 1–60: Orc/Troll, Tauren and Undead starting zones up to level 20, then a common route to 60. Levels 30 to 60 have not been played in game yet (the beta stops at 30): they are checked by the offline tools only. Please report what you find in the issues.
Install Ding from CurseForge,
or copy the Ding/ folder of this repository into World of Warcraft/_forever_/Interface/AddOns/
(during the beta: _classic_beta_ instead of _forever_). That is all: Ding carries its own
game data, QuestieDB is no longer needed (you may remove it if no other addon uses it).
Ding has its own arrow: TomTom is not needed. If it is installed, its arrow can be used instead from the Arrow tab of the settings (off by default).
- Guides optimized for XP per hour. The routes are generated offline from the game data: quests grouped to avoid back-and-forth, poor-value detours left out, never a quest above your level (one level above at most). The new quests of Forever are included.
- Class quests. A separate pack, Ding! - Class quests (Guide tab, under "Class"): the guide of your class and side, its important quest chains in level order. A druid's bear, aquatic and cat forms, a hunter's first pet, a warlock's demons and dreadsteed, a warrior's stances and Whirlwind weapon, a paladin's Redemption and charger, a shaman's totems, a rogue's poisons, the priests' and mages' race and class quests, with Forever's own (the Skyborne, the Forsaken paladins, the Alliance shamans...). Each chain says from which level it opens and what it teaches; you only see your class. Steps inside a dungeon show with the Dungeon quests option of the Route tab.
- Dungeon quests. A separate pack, Ding! - Dungeon quests (Guide tab, under "Dungeons"): one guide per dungeon for your side, listed by level. It takes you to every quest giver of the dungeon and through the chains that lead to them, then to the entrance, through the dungeon with a note for each quest (which boss drops what, where it waits), and back to the turn-ins. From Ragefire Chasm and the Deadmines to Scholomance and Stratholme, with Forever's own dungeons (the Hall of Thanes, the Ruins of Lordaeron, the Excavation Site, the City of Dalaran). Each chain says what it brings and when it is long or far; raids are not in it.
- A setup assistant at the first launch: four short screens, a few choices each, the
recommended ones already selected. How you play (gamepad or keyboard and mouse), what Ding
does for you (quests, gray items, repairs), your route (hearthstone, group quests, death
skips), then the guide to start with. "Keep the recommended settings" ends it from any
screen; everything else is on by default, and all of it can be changed later in the settings.
Run it again from the Guide tab ("Run the setup assistant again") or with
/ding intro. - Resumes where you really are. Ding picks the guide for your race, class and level. When you resume, it first sends you to finish the guide's old quests still in your log, then skips what you have done.
- Themes. Pick the look in the settings (Appearance), with a live preview while you choose: Forever · Halo (the default: no frame, a soft veil under the text, the game's gold), Forever · Slate (a dark panel with gold hairlines), Forever · Bands (a band behind each line, outlined text for light scenes) or Ding dark (Ding!'s original look). The background's opacity follows the theme until you set your own. The arrow has its own picker (Arrow and maps): the theme's arrow, or any of the others (the gold arrow of Ding!'s icon among them), with any theme.
- Guide window. One line per action and objective, with counters (2/6), done / to do / not yet possible states and the guide's notes. Hover a line to see its quest (name, level, objectives); click it to send the arrow there. Right-click the window to mark the step as done or skip it for later: steps left by hand keep their own color (violet: marked done, amber: skipped); go back to such a step ("previous") to undo it, from the line under it or the same menu. Minimizes to a single line, automatically in combat if you want. Closing it hides the arrow too; the minimap button brings both back.
- Waypoint arrow. Distance and time to the target, in the theme's "turn around" color when it is behind you. Among the monsters you have to kill, it tells you you're in the area. When you die, it leads your ghost back to your corpse.
- Automation. Accepts and turns in the guide's quests when you talk to an NPC (you still choose your reward), catches up on missing prerequisite quests, can skip gray quests.
- Quest item button. A floating button with the item the step needs: one press of a gamepad button uses it. Shows the cooldown and when you are out of range.
- NPC directory. Bags full, out of food, a weapon to learn? The directory (its key
binding, the pin button of the guide window, or
/ding find) lists, anywhere in the world, the NPC of each kind that is the fewest seconds away: vendor, repair, food and drink, ammunition, reagents, poisons, innkeeper, flight master, class trainer, weapon masters by weapon, profession trainers by profession, trade supplies, bank, auction house, stable master. A second tab lists the capitals of your side and the neutral towns (Booty Bay, Gadgetzan, Ratchet, Everlook) with what each offers. Each row says how long it takes and by which way (flight, boat, zeppelin, tram, hearthstone). Pick one: the arrow takes you there leg by leg, the guide window says what to take, and the guide resumes once you talk to that NPC. When you carry (or a quest offers) a weapon your class can use but you have not learned, the guide window says so, why, and which weapon master teaches it; right-click it (Left in focus mode) never to see that weapon suggested again. - Report a problem. An NPC missing, the arrow pointing to the wrong place, a quest not
offered? The orange flag in the guide window's title bar ("Problem with this step?", beside the
NPC directory's pin), its key binding or
/ding bugwrites a precise report for you: the step, where you stand, your quests and their counters, what the arrow points at, your route settings, never your character's name. See Report a problem. - Minimap button. Left-click for the settings, right-click to show or hide the guide.
- Community guides. Ding runs other guides too: install a guide pack and pick it in the settings (Guide tab, first list), then its section in the second list. See Community guide packs.
- DingDB, an open game database. Ding's game data (quests, NPCs, objects, items, places,
names in 9 languages) is open: other addons can read it (
LibDingDB), and anyone can correct it or add to it. See docs/dingdb.md. - Languages. English, French, German, Spanish (Spain and Latin America), Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese: Ding follows your game's language. Quest, NPC and item names come from Ding's game data in that language. Each language has its own files; to add one, see docs/SPEC.md.
On first launch, RB + Up opens Ding's settings (LB + Up if you already use RB + Up); the
setup assistant shows it on its first screen (the D-pad picks a choice, A ticks it, LB / RB
change screens, Y keeps the recommended settings, B closes). In the Keybinds tab, bind "Next
step", "Previous step" and "Use the quest item" too: a single button, or two buttons (hold one,
press the other: LB + Up, LT + A…), which Ding watches itself and keeps from the game while you
hold the first; tap B to cancel, hold B to bind B itself. /ding help reminds you how to open
the settings.
Easy Controller and Ding work side by side: see
docs/compatibility.md.
In the settings window: A selects, B closes, LB / RB change tabs, the D-pad picks and adjusts,
Y resets to default.
The guide window never takes a button away from the game. To browse it with the gamepad, bind "Browse the guide with the gamepad" (focus mode): the D-pad picks a line, A sends the arrow there (or uses the item), X shows its quest, LB / RB change steps, Y minimizes the window, B gives the gamepad back to the game. Up from the first line, the focus reaches the NPC directory's button, then the "Report a problem" flag beside it.
The NPC directory (bind "NPC directory", or use the guide window's pin button): LB / RB change
tabs, the D-pad picks, A opens a list or sends the arrow, B goes back or closes. To cancel a trip:
the "Cancel the trip" line under it in the guide window (a click, or A in focus mode), the first
entry of the right-click menu, the directory's first row, or /ding cancel; moving the guide
(next, skip, mark as done...) ends it too.
The settings also move the window, the arrow and the item button with the D-pad, set the opacity and the size, minimize the guide in combat and pick the button names (Xbox or PlayStation). They also open from the window's menu button, the minimap button or Options > AddOns > Ding.
Everything works without a gamepad too. In the settings, click to choose, toggle or confirm (click again when a button asks), right-click to put a setting back to its default or to unbind a key, and press Escape to close. To bind a key, click its row and press the key. To move the guide window, the arrow or the item button, drag it with the mouse, then click Save. In the setup assistant, click a choice, Previous, Next or "Keep the recommended settings"; Escape closes it. Chosen "Keyboard and mouse" there, the Keybinds tab does not open after it. The gamepad hints at the bottom ("A Open", "Y Reset"…) can be clicked too. Without a gamepad plugged in, that help speaks of the mouse and the keyboard, and the buttons show no gamepad button.
/ding show/hide · /ding config settings · /ding intro (the setup assistant again) · /ding list (guides and their sections) ·
/ding guide <id> · /ding where (your position, for guide authors) · /ding passages [n] (the
lifts, gates and tunnels near you, for testers; the arrow points at the n-th) · /ding import (a guide as
text) · /ding export [id] (a guide as text) · /ding find <text> (the NPC directory: a service,
a weapon, a profession or a name, in your game's language or in English, such as
/ding find gun, /ding find bank, /ding find Buliwyf) · /ding cancel (end the directory's
trip: the arrow follows the guide again) · /ding bug (report a problem) · /ding next · /ding prev · /ding skip · /ding back · /ding reset (take the guide up
where you are) · /ding scale <0.5-1.5> · /ding arrow · /ding arrowflip ·
/ding minimap · /ding debug
Something wrong with a step? Ding writes the report for you, in game:
- Open Report a problem with the guide: the orange flag in the guide window's title bar
("Problem with this step?", beside the NPC directory's pin; with a gamepad, up from the first
line in focus mode), its key binding
(Keybinds tab: a button or two, like the others) or
/ding bug. - The window shows what the report will contain: the guide, the step ("Step 19 / 161") and its place in the guide's file, where you stand, your character, the step's quests and their counters, what the arrow points at, the settings that change your route, Ding's and the game's versions. Never your character's name, your realm or your account.
- Pick what went wrong ("The NPC is not there", "The arrow points to the wrong place", "The quest is not offered", "Something else") and, if you can type, add a few words.
- Create the text: the window shows, in order, the address of a new report on GitHub to open, then the text to paste into it. Each has a button that selects it; copy with Ctrl+C (an addon cannot copy for you). The text's first line can be the title.
No keyboard at hand? Ding keeps your last 20 reports in
WTF\Account\<account>\SavedVariables\Ding.lua (written when you log out or reload): send that
file instead.
Anyone can write a guide for Ding and share it as a guide pack: a small addon of Lua files with quest ids, places and notes, which Ding plays like its own guide. Once installed, a pack shows up in the settings (Guide tab) next to Ding's guide.
Write a pack: docs/guide-packs.md explains every file, step by step, how to test it in the game and how to check it offline. A working example to start from: examples/DingExamplePack.
Or a guide as text, with an AI: docs/create-a-guide-with-ai.md
gives the format, a complete example and a prompt ready to copy. Paste the result in the
game with /ding import: Ding checks every id and lists what is wrong, step by step.
Known packs: none yet. Published one? Open an
issue titled Guide pack: <name> and it
will be listed here.
Nothing runs in the game here: the offline tools load Ding with a mocked WoW API and play
every guide. See tools/README.md and CLAUDE.md.
Every pull request runs the whole suite (.github/workflows/tests.yml); pushing a v* tag
publishes the release on CurseForge and GitHub once the suite passes
(.github/workflows/release.yml).
Ding is free software, released under the GNU GPL v3 (see LICENSE): you may use, modify and redistribute it, provided you publish your modified versions under the same license, with their source code.
Everything built on Ding stays free: a guide pack for Ding (an addon that calls
Ding.RegisterGuidePack and Ding.RegisterGuide) is a derivative work and must be released
under the GPL v3 as well. There is no exception.
The Noto Sans fonts in Ding/Media/Fonts are under the SIL Open Font License 1.1
(OFL.txt). TomTom is a separate addon; Ding ships none of its code.
DingDB, Ding's game data (Ding/DB: quests, NPCs, objects, items, places and their names), is built
from the database of Questie and
QuestieDB, released under the GNU GPL v3: thanks to
their authors and contributors. See Ding/DB/CREDITS.md.