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

Short answer

Do the simple thing first. It is correct more often than the complicated thing people recommend instead.

  • Test it yourself where testing is cheap.
  • Do not build a routine around an edge case.
  • Check the version you are actually running before assuming anything is broken.

Twenty years of expansions mean half the advice online describes a version that no longer exists. Testing this yourself takes a few minutes and settles it definitively. Edge cases are genuinely rare, which is why the simple answer is usually the correct one.

The practical answer

Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. The accepted community answer is broadly right and wrong in a specific way that matters here. Nothing here depends on a setting you are unlikely to have. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you.

The mechanic behind it is simpler than the discussion around it suggests. Most of the disagreement online comes from people describing different versions of World of Warcraft. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

Worth knowing alongside this

It is worth separating what the game does from what players have concluded it does. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds.

  • Try the straightforward approach before the elaborate one.
  • Check which version any conflicting advice was written for.
  • Region and platform change more than people expect, so confirm both.
  • Note the exception cases — they are specific rather than vague.
  • Revisit after a major patch if the behaviour changes.

What to do instead

There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later.

The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on.

When the usual advice fails

Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. World of Warcraft is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows.

It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. 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.

Why it works this way

Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over.

Where people go wrong

  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Changing five things at once and then not knowing which one helped.
  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.
  • Assuming a guide from an older season still describes the current version.

WoW FAQ

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.

Does this change between platforms?

The behaviour does not. Where menu paths or prompts differ, that is noted above.

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.

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

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

Anything that shifts with the next World of Warcraft update will show up as a changed number, not a changed approach.