This comes up often enough in World of Warcraft that it deserves a straight answer rather than a thread to scroll through.

Short answer

The direct answer is above the fold; the reasoning underneath is there for when the direct answer does not fit your situation.

  • Revisit after a major patch if the behaviour changes.
  • Check which version any conflicting advice was written for.
  • Read the whole sequence once before doing the first step.

Twenty years of expansions mean half the advice online describes a version that no longer exists. The mechanic behind it is simpler than the discussion around it suggests. Testing this yourself takes a few minutes and settles it definitively.

Worth knowing alongside this

Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. The accepted community answer is broadly right and wrong in a specific way that matters here. Edge cases are genuinely rare, which is why the simple answer is usually the correct one. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why.

Nothing here depends on a setting you are unlikely to have. Most of the disagreement online comes from people describing different versions of World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look.

Why it works this way

It is worth separating what the game does from what players have concluded it does. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration.

  • Do not build a routine around an edge case.
  • Test it yourself where testing is cheap.
  • Prefer the in-game option over an external tool when both exist.
  • Note the exception cases — they are specific rather than vague.
  • Try the straightforward approach before the elaborate one.
  • If a menu path does not exist for you, your build is older or newer than the one described.

When the usual advice fails

If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you.

Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

What to do instead

Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about.

The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it.

The practical answer

If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of.

Where people go wrong

  • Changing five things at once and then not knowing which one helped.
  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.
  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Trusting a video thumbnail that promises a result the video never actually shows.

WoW FAQ

What is the short answer?

It is the paragraph near the top. Everything after it exists for the cases where that paragraph does not quite fit.

Do I need any mods or third-party tools for this?

No. Everything described here works with the base game on any supported platform.

Why do other guides describe this differently?

Most were written for an earlier version and never revisited. Compare the steps against what your build actually shows.

How long does this take?

Minutes if it goes cleanly, an evening if you hit the edge case in the caveats list. Neither is unusual.

If you only take one thing from this: the answer near the top is the part that matters, the rest is context.