So I'm Going To Pick Up WoW

[Angerwing]

Oh, and about being a healer. I'd recommend against leveling as a healer. It's slow, and since you gain experience by killing things and questing (which pretty much unanimously consists of killing things for various reasons), healing gimps your leveling speed. Once you get 40, if you're really good at making money, or you have rich friends, then you can dual-specialise.

Also, keep in mind that every class has three different talent trees. I'll break them down for you.

Hunter:
-Marksmanship. This is based around ranged weapon damage and hard-hitting damage. Solid tree.
-Beast Mastery. This focuses on buffing your pet (and yourself) to make it a very dangerous piece of work. Great for leveling, and good for PvP/regular DPS.
-Survival. I wouldn't recommend it for leveling, but you can make it work.

Warrior:
-Protection. Tanking. Enough said.
-Arms. DPS.
-Fury. DPS.

Warlock:
-Demonology. This is based around your demon minions. It gives you an extra one, and it provides you with bonuses depending on which minion you have out. Good leveling tree when you unlock the new minion.
-Affliction. Based around 'curses' and DOT (damage over time) spells. Good damage.
-Destruction. As the name suggests, this one is based around nuke spells.

Mage:
-Fire. DPS. Has Pyroblast, the 'kamehameha' of the WoW world.
-Frost. DPS, but with a large amount of utility. Slows enemies down a lot, which makes this beautiful for PvP.
-Arcane. Honestly don't know that much about this tree. It's DPS, but I think it may be used primarily in conjunction with other trees. Don't quote me on that.

Priest:
-Holy. Healing. I don't really need to elaborate.
-Shadow. Priest DPS. Good class with some funky spells later on.
-Discipline. Healing also.

Paladin:
-Holy. Healing.
-Retribution. DPS. Pretty good DPS at the moment.
-Protection. Tanking.

Shaman:
-Elemental. Caster Shaman. Not bad.
-Enhancement. I'm not too familiar with this spec. I think it focuses more on melee-central damage.
-Restoration. Healing.

Druid:
-Feral. Now Druids are an odd class. They pretty much have 4 specs. Feral is divided into 2 parts, which often overlap. Cat, and Bear. Cat is feral DPS. This will be what you level as for the most part (until level 40 if you go Balance). Bear is feral tanking. Cat is probably one of the hardest DPS classes to pull off at level 80, but it can be incredible. Bear is a solid, respectable tanking build.
-Balance. Druid caster form. Not that great (but still alright) until level 40, where you unlock Moonkin form (affectionately nicknamed 'Boomkin'). This owns.
-Restoration. Druid healing. At a higher level (forget which), you unlock the tree form. This buffs your healing like crazy, but you move slower. Good thing healers don't have to move that much.

Rogue:
-Subtlety. Stealth based.
-Assassination. This is more burst damage. You pop em quick and clean, but in an extended solo fight, it isn't as good.
-Combat. Sustained DPS.

Death Knight (Note: You can't make a Death Knight until you have a level 55 character).
-Blood. Primarily a DPS spec. You can make a Blood tank, but it's more of a niche build than Frost. Blood DPS is high damage, well sustained, with lots of self-buffs and life-stealing to keep you in the game. Supreme for leveling.
-Frost. Primarily tanking, but you can DPS with it, I guess. Never really tried doing that.
-Unholy. DPS. It all comes down to personal opinion, but I prefer Blood. Unholy has ghoul minions that help you, and it works on diseases and stuff. Neither is really better than the other.

 

[Machiavellian007]

DON'T DO IT! YOU HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!

ahem.

I think the last (and only) Warcraft game I've played is Warcraft III, which was inordinate and equal amounts of fun and boredom.

I've heard WoW is like that. Only without the fun.

 

[tofulove]

Oh, and about being a healer. I'd recommend against leveling as a healer. It's slow, and since you gain experience by killing things and questing (which pretty much unanimously consists of killing things for various reasons), healing gimps your leveling speed. Once you get 40, if you're really good at making money, or you have rich friends, then you can dual-specialise.

Also, keep in mind that every class has three different talent trees. I'll break them down for you.

Hunter:
-Marksmanship. This is based around ranged weapon damage and hard-hitting damage. Solid tree.
-Beast Mastery. This focuses on buffing your pet (and yourself) to make it a very dangerous piece of work. Great for leveling, and good for PvP
-Survival. I wouldn't recommend it for leveling, but you can make it work. (but its no worce than leveling as marksmanship.)

Warrior:
-Protection. Tanking. Enough said.
-Arms. DPS.
-Fury. DPS.

Warlock:
-Demonology. This is based around your demon minions. It gives you an extra one, and it provides you with bonuses depending on which minion you have out. Good leveling tree when you unlock the new minion.
-Affliction. Based around 'curses' and DOT (damage over time) spells. Good damage.
-Destruction. As the name suggests, this one is based around nuke spells.

Mage:
-Fire. DPS. Has Pyroblast, ~shitty spell intell you can get the a talent to get to proc a instant caste of it~
-Frost. DPS, but with a large amount of utility. Slows enemies down a lot, which makes this beautiful for PvP.
-Arcane. ~the best dps spec for mages when you get arcane blast at lvl 64 i believe.~
Priest:
-Holy. Healing. I don't really need to elaborate.
-Shadow. Priest DPS. Good class with some funky spells later on.
-Discipline. Healing also.

Paladin:
-Holy. Healing.
-Retribution. DPS. Pretty good DPS at the moment.
-Protection. Tanking.

Shaman:
-Elemental. Caster Shaman. Not bad.
-Enhancement. ~melee dps shama~
-Restoration. Healing.

Druid:
-Feral. Now Druids are an odd class. They pretty much have 4 specs. Feral is divided into 2 parts, which often overlap. Cat, and Bear. Cat is feral DPS. This will be what you level as for the most part (until level 40 if you go Balance). Bear is feral tanking. Cat is probably one of the hardest DPS classes to pull off at level 80, but it can be incredible. Bear is a solid, respectable tanking build.
-Balance. Druid caster form. Not that great (but still alright) until level 40, where you unlock Moonkin form (affectionately nicknamed 'Boomkin'). This owns.
-Restoration. Druid healing. At a higher level (forget which), you unlock the tree form. This buffs your healing like crazy, ~you don't move slower any more~. Good thing healers don't have to move that much. ~but on some fights healers got to move a lot and the restro druid is the most mobile class cause most of there healing comes from instant cast.~

Rogue:
-Subtlety. Stealth based.
-Assassination. ~shitty in tell you can get mutilate~
-Combat. Sustained DPS. ~best leveling spec~

Death Knight (Note: You can't make a Death Knight until you have a level 55 character).
-Blood. Primarily ~tank spec, currently the best tank in the terms of survivability. according to the latest data gathered from guilds that are 11/12 + in icc hard modes.~
-Frost. ~duel wield dps or subpar tank spec. gives a great raid buff shared by enh shamans.~
-Unholy. DPS. It all comes down to personal opinion, but I prefer Blood. Unholy has ghoul minions that help you, and it works on diseases and stuff. Neither is really better than the other.

~fixed~

 

[Arcanite Ripper]

Looks like the main arguments have started, though i'll throw in my two cents.

If you end up enjoying the game, don't end up like me:
http://yfrog.com/5zwarcraftp

I don't know how it happened.

 

[slipknot4]

Well I have lots of WoW addicts for friends and my one friend said he'd level with me and get me to level 40 on like the first day I got it. As far as character's go I'm not really too sure. Since I have friends though so I doubt I'll have to solo I'll probably roll a healer

Pick a hybrid then, there are allot of fun ones. Druids, Paladins and Priests are all rather fun classes to play and can be used as hybrid healers/tanks/dps.

Or just a warlock, warlocks are awesome.

 

[Tharwen]

You friends will all offer to help you level. Personally, I'd recommend starting off with another new player on your first character.

Speaking of first characters, don't decide on a class until you've played most of them for a few levels.

 

[P.Tsunami]

What do you mean by "how to stick with a game"? It's WoW; if you're like most of the people who play it, you're going to stick with it whether you like it or not.

Yeah, it's kind of like asking for advice on how to keep doing heroin. Don't worry, the drug's got that covered.

 

[Natdaprat]

Well as anyone can tell you, WoW is the best MMO online today.

Just because it's the most popular, it doesn't mean it's the best. Is smoking good because so many people do it? Are Britney Spears, Hannah Montanna,the Jonas Brothers and all the other popular shit talented just because they have people drooling over them? Is Glee, Twilight and all the other american gimmicky shite any good just because lots of people like it? If you said yes, then you're simply a drone.

WoW sucks as an MMO. It's a disgrace that brought down the quality of the MMO genre, and now every developer wants a part of the WoW pie, leaving little room for innovative and actually good games.

 

[Bek359]

Hope you like single-click grindtastic combat.

 

[P.Tsunami]

Well as anyone can tell you, WoW is the best MMO online today.

Just because it's the most popular, it doesn't mean it's the best. Is smoking good because so many people do it? Are Britney Spears, Hannah Montanna,the Jonas Brothers and all the other popular shit talented just because they have people drooling over them? Is Glee, Twilight and all the other american gimmicky shite any good just because lots of people like it? If you said yes, then you're simply a drone.

WoW sucks as an MMO. It's a disgrace that brought down the quality of the MMO genre, and now every developer wants a part of the WoW pie, leaving little room for innovative and actually good games.

This person is 100% correct. Terrible game.

 

[tofulove]

Well as anyone can tell you, WoW is the best MMO online today.

Just because it's the most popular, it doesn't mean it's the best. Is smoking good because so many people do it? Are Britney Spears, Hannah Montanna,the Jonas Brothers and all the other popular shit talented just because they have people drooling over them? Is Glee, Twilight and all the other american gimmicky shite any good just because lots of people like it? If you said yes, then you're simply a drone.

WoW sucks as an MMO. It's a disgrace that brought down the quality of the MMO genre, and now every developer wants a part of the WoW pie, leaving little room for innovative and actually good games.

same logic can be applied to the beetles, the doors rolling stones and pink floyd, some things that are popular suck, but the things you listed are popular with kids, wow is mostly played by adults regardless of what people who have very little experience playing it say.

 

[P.Tsunami]

Well as anyone can tell you, WoW is the best MMO online today.

Just because it's the most popular, it doesn't mean it's the best. Is smoking good because so many people do it? Are Britney Spears, Hannah Montanna,the Jonas Brothers and all the other popular shit talented just because they have people drooling over them? Is Glee, Twilight and all the other american gimmicky shite any good just because lots of people like it? If you said yes, then you're simply a drone.

WoW sucks as an MMO. It's a disgrace that brought down the quality of the MMO genre, and now every developer wants a part of the WoW pie, leaving little room for innovative and actually good games.

same logic can be applied to the beetles, the doors rolling stones and pink floyd, some things that are popular suck, but the things you listed are popular with kids, wow is mostly played by adults regardless of what people who have very little experience playing it say.

Applying his logic to the beetles (sic) doesn't really accomplish anything, though. I'm pretty sure Natdaprat isn't arguing that there aren't popular things that are also of good quality. He's arguing, and rightly so in my opinion, that just because something is popular, does not make it good. And why you're bringing in whether or not WoW is played by adults or kids, I honestly have no idea. What does that have to do with anything?

 

[Deadlock Radium]

1 DON"T LISTEN TO THE NAYSAYERS
2 find a good guild or have friends that play it
3 if bored quit

That. I did that, and quit when my friends quit.

 

[tofulove]

Well as anyone can tell you, WoW is the best MMO online today.

Just because it's the most popular, it doesn't mean it's the best. Is smoking good because so many people do it? Are Britney Spears, Hannah Montanna,the Jonas Brothers and all the other popular shit talented just because they have people drooling over them? Is Glee, Twilight and all the other american gimmicky shite any good just because lots of people like it? If you said yes, then you're simply a drone.

WoW sucks as an MMO. It's a disgrace that brought down the quality of the MMO genre, and now every developer wants a part of the WoW pie, leaving little room for innovative and actually good games.

same logic can be applied to the beetles, the doors rolling stones and pink floyd, some things that are popular suck, but the things you listed are popular with kids, wow is mostly played by adults regardless of what people who have very little experience playing it say.

Applying his logic to the beetles (sic) doesn't really accomplish anything, though. I'm pretty sure Natdaprat isn't arguing that there aren't popular things that are also of good quality. He's arguing, and rightly so in my opinion, that just because something is popular, does not make it good. And why you're bringing in whether or not WoW is played by adults or kids, I honestly have no idea. What does that have to do with anything?

the fact every thing he listed is mainly popular with kids. and wow is stereotyped as being played by kids but in fact is not.

and ive played a few of other mmos, and imo not one of them is as good as wow. list is, everquest 1 and 2, starwars galaxies, warhammer online.

 

[Kasawd]

Right, then, five tips or "pointers" that have led me to enjoy WoW:

1.Make an attempt to appreciate the scenery:

At it's core, WoW is a simplistic game, stylistically. The graphics use cell shading and aren't even close to being as detailed as modern games. Thing is, every area has a personality to it. Where it lacks in detail it makes up for in atmosphere. Find an area you like, get into the scene.

2. Become an "Altoholic":

While the mastery of rotations may be complex, they are deceptively easy. There is a lot going into what your character does and that's the truth but it can be extremely boring. Make sure to experience every class and race.

3. Develop thick skin:

Make no mistake, everyone's making mistakes but it's never the person making them. Get ready to group up with people out-of-your-server. This may seem trivial, at first but people will be quick to blame you for doing something wrong if your group wipes. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that everyone has to work together. The dps wust watch his dps according to the efficiency of the tank. Just be ready to treat the game like a game even if those around you aren't.

4. These aren't the livers you were looking for:

Collect quests. Every wolf may have a heart but you'll have to kill forty to acquire ten. This is where the grind really shows itself.

5. Welcome to trade, lowbie

WELCOME TO TRADE

 

[P.Tsunami]

the fact every thing he listed is mainly popular with kids. and wow is stereotyped as being played by kids but in fact is not.

and ive played a few of other mmos, and imo not one of them is as good as wow. list is, everquest 1 and 2, starwars galaxies, warhammer online.

Everything he listed is not mainly popular with kids. Britney Spears is not mainly popular with kids. Britney Spears was -partly- popular with kids in her earlier efforts. Today, her mainstream fans have grown up, which is exactly why Spears is pouring out much more sexually explicit lyrics such as "If You Seek Amy" and "3" these days. Maybe WoW is being stereotyped with being played by kids. I wouldn't know, I've never heard anyone make that claim. More importantly, though, Natdaprat did not make that claim, so it seems irrelevant to bring up.

 

[Denizen]

It's really good until you hit level 20. Everything goes downhill after that. I would have to write an entire analysis just to get down to every aspect that made me quit WoW later on but I do not regret lvl 1 - 20 at all. I even filled up the maximum character amount for that server but anyway I hope your experience exceeds my consideration for the game.

It's strange that I had more fun playing solo and with a good friend occasionally. Although I should mention that my favorite thing to do after grinding was making allies (the alliance faction) call for help when me (undead warlock) and a good friend (undead rogue) would singlehandedly clear territories of it's newbs until their higher level backup came - and they always showed up! We even took down level 70s when we were 40-50s (and they were "twinks")!

Since you expressed being a priest and multi-task healing (which is a very valuable role), make sure you spec holy but some of the discipline traits as well when you reach that level. I had a priest for a while but got tired of watching the people I heal not do their job correctly and take me for granted (take forever killing the target and forgetting im there/not sharing the drops correctly). Makes me wish I could RTS in WoW

P.S. Yeah i know the level cap has gone beyond 70 already.

 

[Thoric485]

Unless you're playing with real life friends i'd recommend a RP realm. People are generally nicer and more communicative, plus it's the only place where you can feel the RPG aspect.