need some help on where to begin

RoyalMarine

im an absolute beginner for this and some help would be great!

i want to start playing world of warcraft. ive been looking for something to do with my time and this is something im interested in.

so i know nothing about it what so ever apart from leeroy jenkins

where do i begin?

Kiith

1. Buy the game.
2. Install the game.
3. Patch the game.
4. Load the game.
5. Play the game.
6. Kiss your life goodbye.

RoyalMarine

Kiith wrote: »

1. Buy the game.
2. Install the game.
3. Patch the game.
4. Load the game.
5. Play the game.
6. Kiss your life goodbye.

already done most of that. was wondering if there are any absolute basic beginner guides around

nicryan

there's not really...that being said, if you get stuck looking for something particular you could check wowhead.com ... or post a question here - I'd say avoid the bliz forums cause they tend to be full of people whining about their class and how X has changed and made them terrible now.


Nic

joe_chicken

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

already done most of that. was wondering if there are any absolute basic beginner guides around

The fun part for me was finding out the stuff.

Just learn how to use the chat and you can ask people in game about stuff.

Other than that I'd just say keep questing, follow the quest giver's instructions, eventually it'll get you to a city where you'll find lots of nice helpful people

Also, if you're stuck with a quest, or piece of info, there's always thottbot.com

Dr_Teeth

I'd suggest reading the official WoW forums, especially the forum for your class - you'll find a lot of guides to leveling, spells, equipment etc have been stickied there for new players.

Anti

As said above, there are no real beginners guides. Its best to just start playing the game and learning it for yourself rather then taking other peoples word for it. Also i have to agree with above " stay away from the blizz forums " for 2 reasons,

You wont have a clue what half of them are talking about
And the half you can understand are talking tripe

The most important thing is picking the right class to start off with. This is a list of what "I" find to be the easiest classes to play and why and why not. And this is from me being a bit of a nub myself as i only started playing before Xmas.

Hunter - Very easy to level as you have a pet you can send in to take the damage while you stand back and do the damage.
Warlock - Just to OP ( over powered ) They are insanely powerful, and like a hunter they have a pet to do the tanking.
Shaman - The starting area for shamans is incredibly homosexual, and i find them a little weak until they hit lvl 60 where they start being able to put out some crazy melee damage. But they are handy to have as they are a mixed class, they can heal or do damage. And both at the same time if needed.
Warriors - A tanking or dps class. If you pick one of these id advise picking it as dps ( even though everyone you come across will want you to tank in instances ) but tanking is quite hard to master, and very boring.
Mage - I never enjoyed playing this class myself, but i love having them around for the free food and water they produce. I like to call them Vending machines....most of them don't seem to like that though.
Paladins - I've tried levelling one a few times now, and its just sooo mind numbingly boring
Priests - Very very slow to progress through the game, And if not specced correctly, and played properly a mob of the same level will easily kill you.
Rogues - I haven't a clue on how to play these dudes at all, but when played right they are pretty awesome.

Some handy websites for you are:

www.wowhead.com
www.wowwiki.com
www.warcraftmovies.com - Some tutorials here

And lastly, take your time when levelling, enjoy the game and take your time. And if you have any questions be sure to ask here. The lads and lasses are very helpful.

Genghiz Cohen

/golfclap FTW

Berns

Well, just to add to anti's list , for rogue

Mainly DPS but can sometimes take down dungeon mobs of same level or higher with a few heals. Done BRD there and tank was on one fire elemental, I took other (was no warlock to banish or mage to sheep), think only had one small heal 1-2 k , few in group were goin wow

Also they have lockpicking to open ... locked chests/boxes & doors. People love ya for that too Best way i found to level LP is just pickpocket mobs as your leveling and lp them or mail them to alt if ur at the max for your level. Think it goes up about 5 a level. Think im 280 at level 56 now. Should be able to open scholo door's if ever get a group for there

Your also have posions that can be applied to your weapons that increases the damage, can reduce their healing, slow the person down or slow their casting time down. Also some reduced threat one at higher level but seems like it's no use tbh.

Just a note for them , the poisions some people might think the items needed come from herbalisim. They don't, can buy them from vendor or, better option is from pickpocketin mobs. The lockboxes they carry contain the deathweed/dust of decay,agony/essence of sumfin or flash powder .... & some cash and junk , & the odd pearl or sumfin. Don't need to buy mine now as pp'd so many while leveling before fights & stuck in bank. Nobody will buy the lower level ones from AH as possibly did same :P

Berns

Bah, in summary , like was ment to

Rogues : - Pick locks, Poision ppl, Pickpocket, Crowd Control (sap & blind), High dps. However now AOE moves Buy some oil of immolation or some aoe pot / eng item or sumfin.

WellyJ

Anti wrote: »

Warriors - A tanking or dps class. If you pick one of these id advise picking it as dps ( even though everyone you come across will want you to tank in instances ) but tanking is quite hard to master, and very boring.

Actually tanking isnt that difficult to master at all, basically requiring learning the rotation of your abilities that gives you the most threat, and repeating it.

It is also not boring at all, there is nothing like leading 24 people into boss fights with your shield raised, knowing that one wrong step will wipe the raid.

I have always loved playing a warrior, they have always been and still are the best allround tank class, meaning you will never be short of a guild/pug as a tank, and their great Arena/BG viability makes PvP great fun with them also.

Hunter? Now that = insanely boring in raids, stand back, hit auto shot, go to the toilet, come back, loot.

WellyJ

Berns wrote: »

Bah, in summary , like was ment to

Rogues : - Pick locks, Poision ppl, Pickpocket, Crowd Control (sap & blind), High dps. However now AOE moves Buy some oil of immolation or some aoe pot / eng item or sumfin.

Amazed that you managed to leave Stealth out of the class description.

First thing I would use to advertise the class.

Jar_421

Anti wrote: »

Shaman - The starting area for shamans is incredibly homosexual

Emm, how is that?
So your basically saying that the Orc/Troll, Tauren and draenei starting areas are "homosexual"??

ZorbaTehZ

WellyJ wrote: »

Actually tanking isnt that difficult to master at all [snip] It is also not boring at all

qft, tanking is the shizzle.

copeyhagen

Jar_421 wrote: »

Emm, how is that?
So your basically saying that the Orc/Troll, Tauren and draenei starting areas are "homosexual"??

i have to agree, i have never levelled an orc or tauren or troll past about level 14 cuz theyre starting areas are gash..

give me the undead or bloodelf starting zones over them any day.. in particular the undead.

for a first toon i highly recommend a pet class, hunter is the easiest to level imo and i am having great fun with mine atm. in pvp he rocks, in pve he can solo elite mobs at least of the same level.

try an easy class to get used to the game, then when u hit the high levels u will have an understanding of the game and may choose to start a new alt toon.

try a blood elf hunter, think its level 10 or 13 u get ur pet. great craic trust me.

Anti

Jar_421 wrote: »

Emm, how is that?
So your basically saying that the Orc/Troll, Tauren and draenei starting areas are "homosexual"??

No just the dranei. I dont play horde so wouldnt know if them areas are as equally homosexual or more :pac:

RoyalMarine

lads talking like that is putting me off starting the game.

Genghiz Cohen

Start the game, pick horde side, unless you want to be seen as a puff, then choose either; Mage, Warlock or Hunter.
Look at the abilitys the different races have, I think Orcs have increased pet damages, that lends itself to Hunter. Undead have a resistance to Fear(lose control of your char and run around for a while) Charm(Lose control and fight friendlies) Sleep (lose control).
You wont have bought the expansion so you wont be able to choose Blood Elves.

I would say go Warlock, with either Orc (for the pet damage) or Undead (just because).

If by level 20 you don't like it and would like to sneak around more, make a Rogue, if you would like to stomp ppls heads in, make a Tauren Warrior (Taurens have extra health and a nice little attack that suits Warriors).

Ivan

Pretty much ignore them all OP. Alot of players of WoW like to elevate their chosen class/race/faction above the rest in order to give them a sense of superiority where none exists. These people truly have no right to dispense advice to new players when ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, they are new players themselves.

The best advice I can give a new player is; Dont ask for advice. The large majority of the fun of WoW is that everything is so new and shiny that it is fun to be the newb that knows nothing. Alot of the hardened players seem to have forgotten this and have gone the way of min/maxing (as we call it) and essentially remove, a large part of what makes this game unique; the novelty of doing things for the first time.

If you must have some information before dipping your toes into the water, have a look at Hamsters thread a few pages back and comfort yourself in the knowledge that you arent the only one that is struggling to make sense of it all. Once you accept this, you will have alot of fun doing the simple things that the more experienced players would call mundane.

Have fun and enjoy it while it lasts, I do envy you

Blowfish

Anti wrote: »

Priests - Very very slow to progress through the game

I'd disagree with that. Shadow spec + spirit tap plus using FSR properly and as soon as you've taken out a mob you are at full health and mana again ready for the next one. Priests also really aren't all that gear dependant. I hit outland while still wearing ZF gear, plus some crap green bracers I'd had for 30+ levels.

Anti wrote:

And if not specced correctly, and played properly a mob of the same level will easily kill you.

An elite maybe, but a non-elite definitely not. As shadow your dps will nuke it easily, and as disc or holy, the mob will struggle to out damage your renew.

Hunters definitely do have much better survivability though.

Ivan

Blowfish wrote: »

I'd disagree with that. Shadow spec + spirit tap plus using FSR properly and as soon as you've taken out a mob you are at full health and mana again ready for the next one. Priests also really aren't all that gear dependant. I hit outland while still wearing ZF gear, plus some crap green bracers I'd had for 30+ levels.An elite maybe, but a non-elite definitely not. As shadow your dps will nuke it easily, and as disc or holy, the mob will struggle to out damage your renew.

Hunters definitely do have much better survivability though.

Trust me, that is just one of a long list of errors in Anti's "advice". As such, I would advise people to take it with a grain of salt.

Insidious

My advice.. If you must play the game.... Its a hell of a lot of fun.. Discover the stuff for yourself.. Later on when you hit 30th or even 40th level take the time and start researching the guilds on your server. Find a group of people with similar time and flexibility to match your own.. and talk to them. You will need a good guild.
I had some great times playing this game.. but only after playing for two years did i actually realize that I had lost two years of my life ..... When you sit down to the pc to raid.. expect to give the game at least 5-7 hours..... at each sitting.. if you dont mind giving up all your time for the foreseable future.. have a blast.. cause it is addictive..
have fun.

Sid.

copeyhagen

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

lads talking like that is putting me off starting the game.

dont be a g-lord!!

trust me, play a hunter for ur first toon. i wish i had instead of opting for the hardest class in the game imo - warrior.

decide whether u want alliance or horde then pick ur class.

seriously though mate, go hunter : )

tman

copeyhagen wrote: »

trust me, play a hunter for ur first toon. i wish i had instead of opting for the hardest class in the game imo - warrior.

Yep, my first character was a human warrior, think I got him all the way to level 10 before i realised that I'd picked the wrong faction (a mate talked me into joining him)
Rolled a Tauren hunter then and I haven't looked back since. Great class for solo play, and still has its uses in groups.

Anti

Ivan wrote: »

Trust me, that is just one of a long list of errors in Anti's "advice". As such, I would advise people to take it with a grain of salt.

Jesus, your a bit of a knob arnt you ? I did say in my post, that it way "My" oppinion. And that im fairly new to the game myself.

Since what ive said is so wrong why dont you go for it and give him some helpfull advice ! Instead of sitting back and criticizing other people comments.

ZorbaTehZ

Ivan wrote: »

Pretty much ignore them all OP. Alot of players of WoW like to elevate their chosen class/race/faction above the rest in order to give them a sense of superiority where none exists. These people truly have no right to dispense advice to new players when ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, they are new players themselves.

What's the view like from up there on your high horse...

tman

He's just bitter because he rolled a gnome...

WellyJ

Anti wrote: »

Jesus, your a bit of a knob arnt you ? I did say in my post, that it way "My" oppinion. And that im fairly new to the game myself.

Since what ive said is so wrong why dont you go for it and give him some helpfull advice ! Instead of sitting back and criticizing other people comments.

To be honest I would have to agree with Ivan here,

Your class explanations are far too flawed to be useful.

For a guy starting out, wondering what class to choose, they would do more harm than good.

As for this Warrior = hard enigma, what is so hard about them exactly?

They have possibly the fewest abilities to worry about while grinding.

Everything is clear and obvious, my first 60 was a warrior and I don't remember ever having trouble (Gankage in STV aside), or thinking that the going was tough.

The only thing that you need to remember with a warrior is that they are a lot more gear dependant than other classes, you need to keep your weapon up to date all the time, and to a lesser extent your armor.

I loved every minute of it, and for this new guy to dismiss the class because of some unfounded advice would be a shame.

Ivan

Anti wrote: »

Jesus, your a bit of a knob arnt you ? I did say in my post, that it way "My" oppinion. And that im fairly new to the game myself.

Since what ive said is so wrong why dont you go for it and give him some helpfull advice ! Instead of sitting back and criticizing other people comments.

Yes, and as an opinion it is open to being criticised. But more importantly, it can still be wrong. As I felt you were a few times. Rather than quote it all and point out what I believe to be wrong, I decided to advise the OP to just ignore it all. My apologies if this offended you, but as a self-confessed new player yourself, should you really be handing out advice to people about what way each class is played? People make their decisions based on these types of discussions so you'll have to excuse me for attempting to inject a small amount of skepticism into the conversation.

ZorbaTehZ wrote: »

What's the view like from up there on your high horse...

Just like the view down there where all you plebs inhabit, but the weather is much nicer thanks

Blowfish

Best piece of advice I can give is to just play the class you find the most fun. Levelling isn't particularly difficult with any class, as long as you are willing to take the time to work out how the class works.

Other bits of advice, create a bank alt, get a spam filter add-on, and don't rush to level, have fun on the way instead.

DapperGent

Don't take too much advice from anyone. Read the class sketches on the WoW site or the manual and pick the one that seems coolest to you, the mechanics of actually playing in you'll have to discover for yourself whether you like, all the classes are enjoyable.

Having done that just go and play the game, it's so ridiculously well designed and fun that leveling is a pleasure you'll eventually miss. One of the main reasons that WoW has been so successful is that anyone can pick up and character at level one and have a blast getting it up with needing help or advice from anyone. Just play the game.

pedro ferio-vti

Have to agree with Ivan, Copey and Welly here. Just jump in and play

Berns

WellyJ wrote: »

Amazed that you managed to leave Stealth out of the class description.

First thing I would use to advertise the class.

That too , and i spelt no as now :eek:

Ya could prob level to 10 in a day's play. I've got stuck about 58ish on rogue as most ppl that level are goin to Outland but i just need those few extra levels to get there. Started a Shaman there till level 12ish to have a try at it over the weekend. Can they shapeshift ?? Thougth they coulda been a bear (know druid can) but can only find the ghost wolf one.

Funky

Shaman only have ghost wolf, which is only a pseudo-shapeshift anyway compared to druids.

copeyhagen

Berns wrote: »

That too , and i spelt no as now :eek:

Ya could prob level to 10 in a day's play. I've got stuck about 58ish on rogue as most ppl that level are goin to Outland but i just need those few extra levels to get there. .

just head to outlands as soon as you hit 58, if you havent already. i find the plaguelands boring so never really spent much time there. when you hit hellfire peninsula its like an entirely new game!

Berns

The first boar thing outta the gates of thrall kill me lol , well did at 57 anyhow Prob do a bit tonight if can. Shammy don't look that much fun now Maybe get him up to 20 so can get ghost wolf and go about minin and herbin when wanna break from rogue. Copper bars seem to be sellin

mocata

I am a total noob as well, but i found that the questhelper add on made things much more fun for me, cos i spent less time running round aimlessly

Kiith

Ahh, remember the days before thottbot where you had to actually communicate with other people to get help completing quests, and were'nt shouted at with "use thottbot you lazy prick" or somesuch.