So I'm Going To Pick Up WoW

[Audio]

If you are going to insist on playing it long term..dont rush to lvl80.
"the game doesnt start till later levels" is a 'catch 22'. Slow down, read each quest and do as much as you can. The game will be super dull till you get decent spells/skill at lvl 20-ish

If you are just trying WoW, Keep on eye on the clock as you play and look at how long it takes you to do things. Hours spent looking for something or getting somewhere. Think of the fun you could have had on another game ;D

 

[erto101]

It's a decent game no more. You'll need friends and patients. I didn't stick 'cos i didn't play enough to make it worth the pay. But horde ftw! *belf**drooling*

 

[Angerwing]

snip

~fixed~

Well that's a general guide. I haven't played in a while, so I'm a bit rusty on the classes.

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.

Then why put your useless, uneducated opinion in? You have absolutely no experience with this game, so you have no right to tell others whether or not to play it.

 

[Devon Dent]

DON"T DO IT, choose life, choose it.

 

[Master_Corruptor]

It's annoying to read all the one sided hate and non-explained rant against WoW.
As an ex mmo player (Eve Online - over two years) I can say that you need to look out for the ''Second job'' effect. Once you reach the lvl cap, you WILL have a character that you are truly bonded to. Be aware on how much you play and don't prioritize the game over real life (I sure did)
MMO's in general have a structure that is very simmilar to a real life job. Higher lvls = Better title. You will get more responsibility as you increase in strength, and that is where the timesink comes in. You need to manage more and eventually you spend more time setting up stuff than actually playing the game i think (i know i did).

 

[Avenant]

Ugh I couldn't enjoy WoW... I tried reactivating on two separate occasions. But look, I'm not going to bash it... too much.

I mean I can't stand the grid in the game and to me the game becomes more of a chore than it is fun once I get a little more into it. I do have fond memories of it though... it has fun at first.

Give it a try, but if you're like me you'll enjoy it for a while and eventually you'll realise there's more fun to be had in real life. If not, enjoy

 

[Zenoss]

The one tip I'd put in there is to check out the add-ons available for WoW. I found that i was really getting irritated with the layout and arrangement of stuff by about lvl 40, but once I grabbed some add-ons I was able to change the layout and behaviour of my buttons, get map addons to find my way around, and meters to help me track spell cooldowns and alert me to danger. It makes a world of difference to be able to customise your User Interface to exactly the way you like it.


And in terms of finding a good class to play with and have fun as a healer, I would definitely check out the shaman. Powerful group heals or supersmart group heals. Buffs from doom and damage protection shields. And then if you get bored with healing you can shoot lightning out of your hands, or use your magic to enhance a pair of axes and wail on people in the face. I've levelled a bunch of characters now and the shaman was by far and away the mose fun for me.

 

[Con Carne]

Just get the free trial, play the hell out of it, and if it sucks, don't bother getting the game. Also I'd probably wait for the next expansion to some out. Since you're a beginner at the game, it would suck for you to have to get used to everything when they're just gonna change most of the game anyway. Also, with every expansion, they make the game much easier for beginners, and 10x easier for veterans. They essentially keep taking the effort out of the game. So save your hard earned $20/month and wait for the new stuff.

 

[ZombiGenisis]

If you like healing, I know the game your playing. Pally, Druid, Shaman, and Priest all at level 80, and all with a healing spec(gear, etc.).

My one big piece of advice for playing a healer, is don't level as a healer. Each class has its advantages as a non-healer, with pallies and druids being the two classes that can do everything you'd ever want them to in end game. If you plan on doing most of your playing solo then I'd go with a paladin or a shaman(enhancement spec) as your first toon, both are really easy to learn and very powerful in solo play(anything short of a four man quest above my level I easily soloed on both). If you plan to play with a group then I still recommend not leveling as a healer, but shadow priests and druids become more useful and fun when playing with others.

Like it has been said, the game doesn't really start until you reach level cap when things become more challenging and more fun because of it. As a WoW addict, I do strongly encourage you not to judge the game if its something you really want to be involved with with your friends before you reach cap and have messed around a bit. If anyone starts annoying you just use your /ignore function without thinking really, their are always plenty of more players who aren't idiots. Never forget its a game, and take it from someone whose ruined a semester with it, always rule it never let it rule you.

 

[peel15]

I played WoW "seriously" for 6 months or so from November 2008.
It was a blast raiding every week. Tried getting back into the game, in December last year, but it was downright impossible to do anything with the Ulduar-ish gear I had. No luck in finding guilds, raids or anything.

Honestly, you should wait for Cataclysm if you want a chance of enjoying raiding. WotLK is at the end of its lifespan.

Wouldn't say it changed that much of my life to be honest.

 

[Vhite]

One good advice against addiction,try to not get into a good guild and add least friends as possible,those are the ones who will keep you playing for too long.
I was playing WoW +/- 5 years (second half it was constan alternation between 2 months of playing and 2 months of not playing) and now i can finally say Im no longer addicted, its boring after all that but its worth of trying, just dont get too much into it.

 

[PhiMed]

Now now, as a community based around a website dedicated to gaming in all its manifestations, should we really be so quick to condemn someone for selecting a game that we personally may feel is "inferior" or "odd"?

It's getting really disheartening to see all this rabid hatred toward not only WoW, but MMO's in general, when there's clearly a legitimate market for them. Can't we just direct all this hate at the rising pseudo-game market dominated by Zynga?

What hatred? This is the tenth post of the thread, two of the posts are by the OP, and two of them are from you. None of the six posts from other people have had anything bad to say about it.

OT: My tip would be to pace yourself. If you tire of games that take a long time, large doses will cause that to happen more quickly.

 

[Ranorak]

I played WoW "seriously" for 6 months or so from November 2008.
It was a blast raiding every week. Tried getting back into the game, in December last year, but it was downright impossible to do anything with the Ulduar-ish gear I had. No luck in finding guilds, raids or anything.

Honestly, you should wait for Cataclysm if you want a chance of enjoying raiding. WotLK is at the end of its lifespan.

Wouldn't say it changed that much of my life to be honest.

With the new Looking for Group tool, you can find heroic groups much like battlegrounds in a instant. Use those to get some emblems to get some tier 9 gear, and you're back on track in the raiding scene.

 

[nezroy]

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

Everyone has their own playstyle of course, but IMO, power-leveling your first character is definitely going to result in you thinking the entire game is boring. The leveling game from 1-80 is easy-mode and extremely solo friendly. Every class can solo their way to 80 w/o breaking a sweat.

The environments are entertaining and the quests are fun the first time you do them with your first toon. There used to be gaps in leveling a long time ago, but now it's just going from one quest hub to the next and following the story and enjoying the atmosphere and the the cultural jokes. There's so much quest content and zones, etc. now that they've tweaked the leveling curve that you could level 3 or 4 toons easily before seeing most of what the game has to offer, as far as zones/story/quests. (EDIT: And approaching the 1-80 game as a single player game with lots of people around is the best way to go... WoW is worth it JUST as a single player RPG experience from 1-80, even if you never do ANY end-game stuff and just quit playing after spending a few months running several toons up through all the different zones, starter stories, etc. ... in fact it's far more entertaining even just for that than a lot of pure single player RPGs I've tried

I would definitely suggest taking the time to actually level your first toon from 1-80 the "normal" way. It won't take long... 5 or 6 weeks maybe. If you choose to instead have your friends power level you to level 40 on day 1 with the buddy system or whatever, I can promise the end-game is going to feel boring much more quickly. And if you really want the company, then depending on your friends/guild I'm sure a couple of them wouldn't mind rolling alts to go with you. Just remember there is no real game benefit to having people with you on the leveling curve (they just steal your XP and slow you down and, truly, solo leveling is super-easy no matter your class -- but it can be fun as a social thing though, and it's nice to be able to do the mid-game 5-man dungeons with competent people that you like.

However, DO ask your friends for a 20g loan. 20g on a 1-50 toon makes a HUGE difference. You can fill your bag slots with 12 or even 16 slot bags, buy a stack of health/mana potions so you always have an oh-shit button, never have to worry about affording class skills, and get to your first mount quickly which makes a huge diff in travel times. 20g goes a LONG way in the <50 range, yet 20g is literally pocket change for a lvl 80 toon. However, DON'T waste any of that 20g buying gear. Gear is irrelevant in the <80 range and you get so much good stuff thrown at you from quest rewards that you should never ever need to buy any gear at all until level 80. Yeah you might have a belt or something from 35 levels ago that never got upgraded, but it doesn't matter until lvl 80 anyway so don't waste money on gear at the auction house until you hit end-game. (EDIT: the one exception -- if you play a caster, buy a wand off the AH as soon as you can use it; lvl 7 or 8 I think. Last I remember they didn't have any wands as quest rewards for quite a while [like lvl 25 or something], but it's *incredibly* useful in the lower level range for casters. However the wands you'd get from the AH for this purpose should be very cheap; 20s or so (0.2g), depending on server).

EDIT2: Also, don't waste any of that 20g trying to skill up your primary professions (you get to pick two primary professions as you go, like enchanting/tailoring). Generally you should just start with two of the gathering professions -- mining/herbalism, skinning, or enchanting (disenchant specifically). Sell the stuff you collect this way on the AH to get started on making a ton of cash, or else bank the materials you gather for lvl80, when you decide to pick a "real" crafting profession and quickly powerlevel it to max skill. However, do keep on top of your secondary professions: first aid, cooking, and (optionally if you can stand it) fishing. It's WAY easier to level these "as you go", and virtually free to do so, because all of the materials you will collect as you quest and level. But it's really a PITA if you let your cooking/first-aid fall behind, because then at lvl80 you have to go buy a bunch of low-level stuff off the AH and, trust me, people will gouge you for that

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

You mentioned you have friends that play it. Good, roll with them. Whenever you start a game like WoW it helps to have other people help you start out. I don't play it, though, so I don't have too much to give in the way of advice.

 

[Crops]

Actually, I'm honestly curious as to why you say this. I just recently got my main up to 55 (well...59 now), and I rolled a death knight almost immediately. I have to say, that opening series of events was quite well done and affecting, and the class seems to be fun so far.

I'm only 58, and I've returned to concentrating on my Alliance characters, but is there anything I should watch out for?

Death Knight can be fun to play indeed, but;

-Death Knights are commonly considered unskilled players for various reasons, for example because they are fairly simple to level, and they start at level 55. They are often seen as the latest 'lolclass', which can be considered true for a large group of them.
Because of this, many players tend to avoid grouping with a DK, especially one that recently hit 80 and isn't very well-geared.
You'll have a very hard time finding a group that will let you join. If you find a group through LFG, chances are you'll be kicked because players assume you're not capable enough.

-Because Death Knights are fast and easy to level, a lot of people have a DK alt, which results in overpopulation.
This means you will have a hard time getting accepted into a guild; "Sorry, we're full on DK's".
It's also very easy for a raid group to find a better geared Death Knight.

-Death Knights have a fairly bad rep for ninjaing all kinds of gear in the early Wotlk days.
There were a lot of DK 'needing' on tanking gear "for offspec", disregarding the fact that their tank actually needed the piece as well. This was particularly annoying when the piece in question focused on Block rating.
As were there DK needing leather dps gear, all kinds of useless weapons, and even Spellpower gear. I'm not just talking about random incidents, this happened quite a lot in pugs.

-Death Knights were considered overpowered in the early days, partly because player's didn't know how to handle them in pvp, partly because they were. (though not quite as overpowered as most people would state)

These are factors that lead to a general hostility towards Death Knights, which might make your endgame experience less enjoyable.

Don't get me wrong here, this isn't a DK flame post. I'm just stating experiences from the servers I've played on. I've had a lv 80 DK alt at some point, which I had a lot of fun with before I switched back to my other toons.
I've also been out of WoW for a while now, and while I doubt it, things may have changed.

All I'm saying is that being a DK isn't advisable for new players.
Unless you're already in a guild, have a group of people to play with regularly, eliminating a high need for pugging.
In that case, you may disregard the above, but don't be surprised at people randomly calling you a 'noob' or 'faceroller' just because you're a Death Knight.

 

[DarthNinja]

You may want to have a look at Aion before buying WoW, a lot of reviews say that Aion is much better. I've only played Aion (not WoW) so I can't comment, however I would like to say that Aion is like the Crysis of mmos in terms of graphics.
(Although the framerate is better )

 

[Sansha]

Well I have an issue with getting really into a game for a few months then just finding it boring.

You'll find out if you're going to stick with it within the first few hours. It'll either bore you after two hours or suck you right in like a thousand-dollar whore.

 

[Ghostkai]

Decent classes for beginners;
Druid, Paladin - Those are quite versatile, and will give you a fairly easy time while leveling. Seeing how both can also fulfill any role in PvP and PvE, you can try a lot of different things and see what you like the most.
Hunter, Warlock - Both use pets to soak up damage and tank for them, making it fairly simple and safe classes to level up with since you're standing a mile away from danger shooting arrows/spells at the enemy.

Less decent classes for beginners;
Mage - At lower levels (up to 30-35) you'll run out of mana all the time, so you'll spend a lot of time replenishing mana (doing nothing while your character sits there drinking water) It gets better at higher levels, but chances are you won't be patient enough if it's your first.
Warrior - A class that depends on equipment a lot, which is hard to keep up to date while leveling, especially when it's your first character. At higher levels this can become a pretty complicated class to play, lots of fun, but it needs lots of work too.

Other than that;
Shaman - Starts out fairly boring, but slowly gains more and more tools, becoming more fun at later levels. Though all the different things could be overwhelming at first.
Rogue - Really just needs two proper weapons to function, if you get the hang of it fast it's pretty easy to play, but if you don't, prepare to die a lot. Pretty repetitive qua leveling.
Priest - I honestly haven't leveled a priest, but friends who have were often bored while doing so. Especially at low levels you'll spend a lot of time and mana per enemy.

General tips;

-Thottbot and Wowhead are your friends. These two sites have just about all the info you'll ever need about your character, where to level, what to do next, etc. etc.
Though I wouldn't visit these sites for the first few levels or so if you like figuring things out for yourself.

Social:
-Be polite and respectful to people, they really will like you for it.
-If people are being rude to you for any reason, just ignore them.
-Use grammar and spelling. No one minds a typo, but 'txt language' is generally associated with stupidity.
-Don't ever beg for money, items or equipment, it is extremely annoying.
-Don't spam in any chat but Guild Chat. It's annoying and you'll end up on the ignore list of decent people that you might want to play with.
-Even if others are doing it, and it seems funny at the time, don't spam.
-Seriously, don't.
-If you're lost, read the quest text. If you're still lost, ask politely.

Enjoying the game:
-While leveling, try to find a fun leveling/social guild, you'll have people to help you do hard quests, give you advice, or just randomly chat and have fun with.
-Playing with friends makes the game a lot more fun, if you don't have any real-life friends on your server, try making some friends to play with ingame.
-Having someone to level with makes everything a lot easier, and more fun.
-You will run into jerks every now and then. Don't let it get to you.

Misc:
-Never be afraid to admit that you don't know something. Most people won't mind explaining a boss beforehand, but they will hate you if you kill off the party because you didn't know the tactics.
-It's allright to ask a high-level player for advice, but sometimes they might be too busy to have a chat, respect that and they'll be more likely to make time for you later.
-If you're planning on making a Death Knight, don't, or at least level a different character to 80 first. I won't go into detail as to why, but you'll see.
-Pick two gathering professions (of which one is skinning) and put everything you find on the auction house for some extra income. You'll have plenty of time to focus on other professions later.

-Have fun. Remember that no matter where you end up, doing what. Don't let it end up your second job. You're not playing a game to please others or kill time, you're playing to enjoy yourself,

Well said, some great advice in there OP, be sure to read it.

Now for all the naysayers who are coming out with comments of "no lifers", "one click combat" and "grindfest", all your doing is making it painfully obvious that you have no idea what WoW is like nowadays. The game is now very casual orientated, leveling is easier than ever, and so is gearing up at 80. So, please guys, don't talk out your arse, it's not the same WoW as from 5 years ago.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

As a long term casual wow player, yes I've found it possible to enjoy WOW for years without getting sucked into life controlling end game raiding, I'd suggest:

1. That the free trial is awful, a level limit of 20 means you'll hardly get to experience dungeons and playing as a group, and no Auction house access cuts out the financial side of the game too. I understand why the limits are there, but it could be far better than it is.

2. That sure, the graphics are not technically brilliant, but they have an artistic style that allows it to still look fairly good while actually being playable on a 5 year old PC, so long as you've got 2gb+ of memory.

3. That it's not all about end game, at least not for everyone. Many people have different ways to play, and enjoy different aspects of the game, and it's quite possible to enjoy the game without devoting 5 evenings and 40 hours a week to it.

4. I'd get in now, before the next expansion, so that you can truly appreciate what the expansion will bring. I personally think it's going to be really interesting to see the chaos that Cataclysm will bring to all the old low level zones, and it wouldn't be the same for someone who didn't know how it used to be.

5. As someone else said, find a casual levelling guild, where you won't get idiots abusing you over your gear or level or 'newbie'ness. I personally find 'lol noob' one of the weakest insults ever created, and it's one of the most popular. To me it translates as 'lol you've spent less time in front of the screen than me' is all. Of course your friends can probably find you a space, and maybe even make an alt and join the 'recruit a friend' scheme with you, for bonus xp and a free mount each!

6. My personal opinion is that race doesn't matter, the racials are minor buffs really, so go for something you like the look of, as you'll be looking at it for months to come, same goes for picking a name, 'lolilikepie' might seem witty now, but you'll regret it when you've invested months of gameplay into making him an epic hero, honestly, I've seen worse names, like smellybum and istabyou and orcwarrior.

7. I'd say it's worth trying a class to 20 before giving up, as most classes have something interesting going on by 20 and it's fairly quick to get there. Also, trying each class means you have some understanding of what to expect when you're teamed up with them.

8. Money, I imagine your friends will dump some cash on you to start with, but if not, mining and skinning, and auction off all the stone, gems, ore, and leather you find.

9. Don't go deleting characters unless you're sure, and keep at least one as someone you can mail stuff to. It's often easier to find a mailbox than a bank, so leaving someone at a bank that you can mail stuff to is an awesome time saver!

Also , blatant plug, if anyone else is in Europe and considering starting, we welcome all comers on Agrammar in the Sunken Temple Pilots