WoW noob advice

GrimReaper

So, I just got myself the 10 free day trial from fileplanet for World Of Warcraft and whilst I wait for the 3GB file to download, i'm wondering.. what should I be doing once I start?

What nuggets of wisdom can you wizened old men of lore give such a WoW virgin?

In general, just advice on how to begin really, what to do.. what not to do etc.

FightTest

Stop your download and do something better with your life.

GrimReaper

FightTest wrote: »

Stop your download and do something better with your life.

Dear gods! Your cogent argument has me swayed! Whatever could I have been thinking by giving World Of Warcraft a go, that'll teach me for asking a question in the MMO forum.

Moron.

Mitten

Don't buy gear off the auction house, get it from instances or quest for it. It's overpriced and won't last you very long. There are exceptions, though; melee classes want to keep their weapons up to date, priests want high level wands for leveling, etc.

Pick two gathering professions, then decide what you really want to be later. Crafting professions require a huge investment but don't start pay off until the very end. This way you can spend your time wondering around picking flowers and stuff, making yourself some spending money, and leaving you with a base to fund whatever real profession you decide on. Choose them according to what will compliment what you think you want to be (ie: if you want to become an alchemist, level with herbalism and mining, then drop mining for alchemy).

In a similar fashion, if you want to be a protection warrior or a healer or something that doesn't solo very well, you might want to consider just designing a good leveling build to make things easier. Most classes can fill any of their intended rolls more than well enough early on, regardless of talent specialization. Although, for the most part, you should be okay with whatever spec you like.

Race is basically just cosmetic, beyond faction. Each has their own unique racial traits, but they don't make a huge difference, even if some are a bit more useful than others.

Learn all your fucking skills.

AyeJaye

Hunters are not a melee class.

Please for the love of God do not melee past level 10 on your hunter.

Edit: Neither are druids unless they're in an animal form, you do not need weapon skill on a feral druid since you never actually hit anything with your weapon. Classes that are not melee do not need melee weapon skill.

goodtimes

actually , playing for around 3 yrs now and I must say with what the dev's have done with the game and where I see it going Ill have to agree that is some good advice.

but if you are not swayed than let me try to give you some advice.

1. The server you pick is where you're going to be there are two things you should look for. Type and population.

Type pertains to PVP or PVE. there is also RPPVP or RPPVE. Oh player vs Player or player vs environment. This is your most important decision. you are allowed to transfer servers but if you decide to level on a PVE server and then transfer to a PVP server you are screwed. So my advice is a PVP server. If you don't like that style than you can always transfer for 25$ to a PVE server.

2. population is very important . older servers are more populated and have further progression and a larger player base and when you reach the level cap and want to play the end-game raids . having many guilds to choose from is key to being able to find a guild in need of your class. I would definitely NOT pick a suggested realm they notoriously low pop. with shitty progression. this is important. even though you're level 1 you're going to be 70 next month , maybe 2 if you suck hard. So go with a PVP server and at the very lowest medium population. also try and find a server on your timezone. If you're east coast and raiding on a pacific time server most people logging on at 7-8 pm pacific means you will be starting raids at 11pm.

3. Next choice is alliance or horde. I have more experience with horde but have also played alliance. In general alliance players have a larger player base than horde so that means there will be a higher percentage of people to group with the downside is they may be asshats. Horde has a smaller player base and so you may find yourself being the only player in the zone. I would reccomend rolling alliance . I love the horde dont get me wrong but if you are brand new I think starting as alliance will give you more opportunity to get help if you need it. That being said I dont think choosing alliance over horde is a huge decision you need to agonise over.

4. choosing your class is pretty important but really more of a choice you're going to have to make yourself based on what you want to do with the game. I can give some more specific advice but i really dont want to go into what class is better than some other class really just pick somthing you think you'd like if you dont like it or think its meh than roll somthing else the sooner the better.

please ask more questions and I will be happy to answer I'll even roll a lvl 1 character on whatever realm you pick and walk you through a few levels.

OH LAST THING. if you have friends in the game find out what server they are on and whether theyre alliance or horde . go there thats the best way to enjoy the game . you can level to 70 completely solo but you're going to be missing out on I'd say 90% of the content.

Thanatos

If it only takes you a month to hit 70 on your first character, you have no life. It's not a matter of "sucking," it's a matter of "deciding that there are things in real life more important than playing a game."

There's no "minimum time" by which you should be at 70. Just remember that getting to 70 sucks, and that's when the game starts to be "fun."

Endomatic

Fun if you like having a second job.

Raiding takes a massive time investment. Most raiding guilds require a minimum amount of time investment throughout the week.

Many don't, but finding and getting into those guilds can be quite tough.

Arena isn't so bad for time involved, but you pretty much have to have the cookie cutter class make ups to really get anywhere unless you're extremely skilled and sadistic.

GrimReaper

Hmm, well.. nowadays gaming only takes up a tiny fraction of my time. So I doubt i'd ever be able to put in constant solid time, it would be occasional stuff. The fact that there is a OS X WoW client is a plus since I won't have to reboot into windows when using my MB Pro. (i've sort of migrated to using my laptop more than my desktop machine nowadays)

FrylockHolmes

If you only play video games for small amounts of time, expect to either be forced to roll an alt once you hit 70 or be shoehorned into PvP, which as someone has already said usually requires you to be a specific class/spec to be effective.

Basically, if you don't enjoy leveling or PvP in WoW, with your schedule it probably isn't the right game for you.

Evan Waters

I've been having fun just with PvE, focusing on quests- it takes longer to level but I suppose that's okay. There are a lot of little things to keep you distracted.

As for time investment; I've been going on a couple of hours a day, sometimes more- you do have to budget time if you're tackling a big group thing, but it's not been a huge problem. Learn to use the Looking For Group tool and channel.

The game does "slow" a bit I think when you hit the late teens and twenties- that's pretty much where I am now, but even at this phase there's still usually stuff to do.

815165

Read the full quest logs, don't just skip to the instructions. I skipped through at first and having gone back while levelling alts and actually read all the quests I realised I kinda cheated myself out of some of the experience first time round.
Don't take time learning everything about the game before you play, keep the newness factor for as long as you can. Don't be afraid to explore; the world is brilliant.

Evan Waters

Yeah, the best part is definitely seeing places for the first time (one of my favorite game features is that you get XP for "discovering" most areas- never a lot, obviously, but it's still fun.)

And if you ever find yourself in a zone where everything's got about 5-10 levels on you, for the love of God, STAY ON THE ROAD and don't stop until you hit something resembling civilization.

SanderJK

Pick one class and stick out it out until 20 (The end of the trial I think). The start of WoW is very, very, very easy, and is purely designed to get you familiar with all the side things. It won't be until level 10 that anything challenging comes along at all, and only at 20 will you start to see the first signs of what WoW becomes later (your first instancing, have to cooperate etcet).

I would advice starting as a blood elf or draenei, because their zones were created much later, and are far more varied, and the quest rewards are better. I would second the "pick 2 gathering professions". for now. Don't get to involved in theorycraft, optimal builds, geardrops just yet.

Seattle Thread

Stick around in your race's starting zone until level five, then hoof it over to Azuremyst Isle (Alliance) or Eversong Woods (Horde). The results are well worth it.

GrimReaper

So, it finished downloading.. I created an account then it started downloading a 500MB+/- patch.

Looks like I won't be playing it tonight.

By the way, i've noticed there is a enGB patch. I've been downloading the enUS version. Are there any kind of differences between the two? Since i'm in the UK it'd be curious to know what differences there are.

dylman

You'll need the enGb version to log in to the European servers.

GrimReaper

dylman wrote: »

You'll need the enGb version to log in to the European servers.

Oh nuts.

EDIT: Well, i've set it downloading the enGB version as well as the 2.2.0 patch. Hopefully i'll be able to play WoW tomorrow. Unless Blizzard decide to release a new patch.

Kalkino

You need to think about how much time you are going to invest into the game now and in say 3 months, as this will determine what you mind end up doing once at 70. If you have enough spare time/fixed schedule that you could easily devote a regular 15-20 hours a week then you might end up raiding with a guild.

If that sounds like something you would want to do then you should carefully research your class. For example - a good tank or healer will nearly always be wanted on nearly any server, whereas a pure DPS class can often have a harder time getting into a guild as there always seems to be a surplus of such types - you usually need to work harder to get into a raid group if you are one of these.

Whereas if you don't have a lot of time, or you can't commit to a game schedule then go w/e you want and have fun. You might want to consider playing a class that can heal and DPS, as they are good to solo with/pvp with/or pve, plus they give you the option of later totally changing your spec/play style.

So I would say that if you decide you like WOW roll a druid/paladin/priest or shaman - all can do at least two or sometimes three distinct roles. There are two downsides to these classes tho - sometimes gear itemisation can suck and sometimes your fellow players may not be accepting of your spec choice.

Oh and there are heaps of useful levelling guides on the official forums, but there are also a lot of jerks there.

Beck

I would look at the Racial Abilities of each race before you roll the class you want to play. A Tauren Shaman, for example, is better than a Troll Shaman, since he gets a stun (warstomp) and 5% more health, which at 70 is actually quite a lot. It's actually one of my big regrets in WoW, not rolling a Tauren. Originally I did, but at the time 5% more health wasn't much (it is now, however. ) so I switched to Troll because I hardly saw any of them around.

Asamof the Horrible

There's a ton of great information on places like www.wowwiki.com and the official forums

Soviet Waffle

Beck wrote: »

I would look at the Racial Abilities of each race before you roll the class you want to play. A Tauren Shaman, for example, is better than a Troll Shaman, since he gets a stun (warstomp) and 5% more health, which at 70 is actually quite a lot. It's actually one of my big regrets in WoW, not rolling a Tauren. Originally I did, but at the time 5% more health wasn't much (it is now, however. ) so I switched to Troll because I hardly saw any of them around.

Actually, I'd choose a race you want for the aesthetic feel, though Blood Elves and Dranenai have better levelling areas (But aren't accessible if you don't have TBC). Racials change all the time, back in the day the troll Racial was never used, but now it's an ok PvE damage spell, and no one knew how useful Stoneform would be

Zombiemambo

Soviet Waffle wrote: »

Beck wrote: »

I would look at the Racial Abilities of each race before you roll the class you want to play. A Tauren Shaman, for example, is better than a Troll Shaman, since he gets a stun (warstomp) and 5% more health, which at 70 is actually quite a lot. It's actually one of my big regrets in WoW, not rolling a Tauren. Originally I did, but at the time 5% more health wasn't much (it is now, however. ) so I switched to Troll because I hardly saw any of them around.

Actually, I'd choose a race you want for the aesthetic feel, though Blood Elves and Dranenai have better levelling areas (But aren't accessible if you don't have TBC). Racials change all the time, back in the day the troll Racial was never used, but now it's an ok PvE damage spell, and no one knew how useful Stoneform would be

Agreed. Don't play a Tauren Shaman because it's better, play it because you like Tauren. While racial abilities are useful, unless you're a hardcore player they won't make a huge difference.

Afty

Horde is generally regarded as the better faction to play and from personal experience i would agree. ( My first character was an Alliance Warlock and now i have an Orc Hunter ).

Try a couple of different type of characters to see what you like. Dont be afraid to have them all on the go at once. Melee Classes like warrior or rogue play much differently to a mage or a priest and paladins and shaman are different again.

Most importantly i think, take your time wow has very rich storylines if you spend the time to read the quest texts and character dialogues

You will occasionally group with idiots - it can't be avoided (even on the horde side argh!) but dont let that ruin your experience.

Derrick

5% really isn't a big deal, especially for a shaman. You will have what, 10,000 health? 10% would be 1,000, half that is 500. That's like one or two weak hits. Not that big a deal imo.

GrimReaper

Right, so go with the Horde then? I'm about to fire up WoW now.

blizzard224

GrimReaper wrote: »

Right, so go with the Horde then? I'm about to fire up WoW now.

Listen, there's nothing inherently wrong with alliance, but unless you have an insatiable desire to play one of their races your probably better served going with the Horde - and I would suggest blood elf as well, as they have pretty much unarguably the best 1-20 zones in the game.

dojango

One advice, too, is also, the various dungeons can be quite fun... even the lower level ones. (Except RFC, the horde's first one... that one sucks). But hardly anyone's doing them any more. Unfortunately. So try and find a few good people as you're levelling up, and try and run the lower level dungeons. Even if they don't have great stuff for you, they're worth seeing, I think.

Bigity

I have some advice, DO NOT SPEND ONE GOLD at the AH until you have 90g for your mount at 40, and then don't spend any more until you have the 640 or whatever for a mount at 60. Do tradeskills as you can but it sucks to be 62 or so in Outlands putzing around on a slow lvl 40 mount.

Mitsuhide

Hey guys, haven't been posting much, mostly lurking nowadays (not that anyone knows me anyway >>)
and this thread seems like a good place to ask a few questions, methinks. :P

The fam finally decided to buy a new PC. (I get the old one, woohoo. 256 megs of RAM away!)
The new one is a Compaq, which I have warned my mother about. Good thing, too. She was going to get Vista on a 512DDR machine. Anyway, the damage is done, and the new box is coming for xmas, just in time for gift suggestions. I have decided I want WoW. :P I don't really care about the soul sucking this thing does, I have played many MMOs (all free), and have decided I want to play a good one for a change.

But, I have a few questions regarding CD Keys, and payment. I would much rather straight download the game, instead of paying for the discs. I know that a good chunk of the expenses go towards paying for an account, but if I just downloaded the game -and instead of paying monthly for an account- bought time cards, would I have to buy anything else?

GrimReaper

I'd suggest you try the trial beforehand like i'm doing Mitsuhide, i'm liking it so far.

Also, behold! Bone McGubbins! (albeit name cutdown, it sucks you can't have a longer name with spaces)




The no nonsense horned fellow, can you dig it?

Also, is it possible to click on somewhere and make your character go there? (akin to Guild Wars)

TL DR

GrimReaper wrote: »

The no nonsense horned fellow, can you dig it?

Also, is it possible to click on somewhere and make your character go there? (akin to Guild Wars)

Yes and yes.

Look in the interface options menu for click-to-move.

Kalkino

Like its been said, server population/balance should be something you look into - generally Alliance is a safer bet as more people seem to go it. That being said it can vary - my old PVP server was majority Horde while I played here, and it had queues most nights. So it pays to research

Wavechaser

Hurt and Burn wrote: »

GrimReaper wrote: »

The no nonsense horned fellow, can you dig it?

Also, is it possible to click on somewhere and make your character go there? (akin to Guild Wars)

Yes and yes.

Look in the interface options menu for click-to-move.

My god, people use that!?

I was hoping that things like this and keyboard turning had gone to the wayside...

Fatty-McPhat

Yeah the only time I really even use WSAD is in PvP. Autorun bound to a mouse button and turning with right click is how I get pretty much everywhere.

GrimReaper

Thanks for the help and info guys, i've levelled up a bit and started working my way through it.

So far it's like crack cocaine, in game form.

Beck

Derrick wrote: »

5% really isn't a big deal, especially for a shaman. You will have what, 10,000 health? 10% would be 1,000, half that is 500. That's like one or two weak hits. Not that big a deal imo.

You also get a stun. So, yeah, it's kind of a large advantage and can be the difference between losing a game and winning one.

But I can understand rolling a race because you like how they look. I just look back at it as a mistake and I really regret it.

Zombiemambo

Beck wrote: »

Derrick wrote: »

5% really isn't a big deal, especially for a shaman. You will have what, 10,000 health? 10% would be 1,000, half that is 500. That's like one or two weak hits. Not that big a deal imo.

You also get a stun. So, yeah, it's kind of a large advantage and can be the difference between losing a game and winning one.

But I can understand rolling a race because you like how they look. I just look back at it as a mistake and I really regret it.

Well, he's not going to regret it during a trial, if at all.

Seg

The two second stun you get as a Tauren is useful, but not game breaking.

The increased stun resistance that Orcs get, or the skill that increases your attack/casting speed can both be pretty useful as well.

The Muffin Man

Seg wrote: »

The two second stun you get as a Tauren is useful, but not game breaking.

The increased stun resistance that Orcs get, or the skill that increases your attack/casting speed can both be pretty useful as well.

So can a quick minor recharge/silence and breaking out of fear. But given a choice, I'll take extra skill with bows, extra damage to beasts, and berserking.
Simply because I love trolls, tolerate orcs, and hate Undead, Tauren, and Blood Elves.
Still consider myself a hordie...

blizzard224

Wavechaser wrote: »

Hurt and Burn wrote: »

GrimReaper wrote: »

The no nonsense horned fellow, can you dig it?

Also, is it possible to click on somewhere and make your character go there? (akin to Guild Wars)

Yes and yes.

Look in the interface options menu for click-to-move.

My god, people use that!?

I was hoping that things like this and keyboard turning had gone to the wayside...

It's excellent for just running around questing and stuff, can put your feet up and read a book and not have to use auto run. Easier to pace yourself.