So just started playing WoW...

[LightningBanks]

I downloaded the trail today with my friend, and thinking of buying the full game (A game card), So my question to the escapists this evening is...any tips for a starting player?

Whats your good and bad experiences of Wow?

Whens the best time to buy any expansion pack for the game?

 

[Wolfram23]

Um well starting the game out now you will find it pretty deserted as you grind and grind away, because everyone already has top level characters. Grouping for the lowbie dungeons and such will be nigh impossible. Fortunately leveling isn't too hard and if you have a friend to grind out all the quests with it'll probably go pretty fast...

However, with Catalyst coming out, a LOT of people will be making new characters because of new races and the complete change of Azeroth. So once that happens you'll have a lot of opportunity to group up I should think. Just don't get jealous of all the low levels with crazy gear lol.

Anyway, just have fun. Try picking up some proffesions if that's your thing, as you can make a lot of gold eventually (but at first it's slow and costly usually).

I had mining and blacksmithing, and they didn't do much for me until lvl 80, where I eventually was making 3k gold per day just selling blue crafted items on the AH haha. Good times.

And you'll have to get all the expansions basically right away. That is, if you decide to play the game. It's a huge time sink tho, I hope you can afford to waste tons of time in it. Not to say it's necessarily time wasted, just it does require a LOT of time.

Anyway, good luck. (From an ex player)

 

[Vakz]

You should probably not buy the expansions before they are actually required to keep leveling.

It would be pretty hard to give you advice now, since the world-changing patch is being applied at the moment (yesterday, if you're US), and A LOT is changing.

IMHO, the most important thing to do when just starting the game, is to find a guild with people to talk to, and ask for help. Getting stuck somewhere on the way, and having no one to ask, really kills the experience too early, and something as minor as not knowing where to go level can feel like a major issue when you have no one to ask, and could probably even put a few off continuing playing.

Second; if you can be arsed, it could be a good idea to look around on the realm forums (and on the realms themselves) and find a server that seems nice. I play on a high-pop server (Kazzak EU). It's easy to find guilds, fairly stable economy, always a lot of people in the cities, but at the same time, it can feel very impersonal. A downside with there being many guilds, means there are also A LOT of guildhoppers (people who don't stay in one guild. They just join a guild, do a few raids, get some loot, and then they leave and find another guild). The most fun I've had in the game, was when I played on a medium populated server. It was harder to find groups, but I had a guild with great people, and it was easier getting to know each other, when people weren't just joining and leaving all the time (simply because there weren't that many guilds to "choose" between).

I should also recommend you this site: www.wowhead.com
It's a databank with all the quests and items etc, where people can leave comments, so you can get suggestions what to do if you get stuck on a quest. As you level for the first time, you really should only use it as a last resort, and it kinda messes up the whole leveling experience when all you do is get quest - check wowhead - complete quest, and you lose some of the whole exploration-part.

 

[The Madman]

You picked a perfect time to give it a try since the new patch just hit and people will be making a ton of new characters to explore the all new content. My advice? Just take your time and have fun. Too many players get all sucked into the competitive aspect of MMO's when personally I find the most entertaining thing to do in WOW is just to explore and enjoy the ambiance.

As for the expansion packs, don't bother picking those up till you're sure you absolutely need them and you're sure that you're willing to invest money into WOW. Don't actually need them till level 60+ after all, and just getting to that point can take quite a long time, especially if you're like me and enjoy trying out new characters all the time as well.

 

[CheckD3]

Explore the classes and their uses. It took me a few toons to find out that I liked priests best, and that healing was my happy place. I've made a few other toons, but none as loved as my priest. My gf fell in love w/ Druids, and while she has a few other small characters, she loves her main class

You gotta find what you like to do, and how you like to do it, if that is redundant enough

 

[GrindBass]

If you're sure you want to buy into the game I'd say get the expansions now direct from Blizzard - there's a sale on. Otherwise wait until you actually need them to continue leveling (unless you want a race or profession or something that was added in an expansion).

 

[Catalyst6]

Like the others have said, things have changed with the Cataclysm patch going live. However, a few general tips...


1. Pick a class/race that you like and stick with it. Being a alt-aholic won't let you see any of the better content.

2. (And this is a huge timesaver) Pick up every quest that you can before heading out to actually complete them. If there's five quests available on an island, get them all. The reason behind this is that many quests take place in the same destinations, so you can make one trip and complete 2+ quests.
3. Stay AWAY from the auction house. Unless you're selling materials. Then USE the auction house.

4. Know the lingo. You'll pick up a lot of the language as you play, but if someone's shouting at you that "You drew aggro from an elite" and you don't know what that means then it's a long walk back to your corpse for you.

5. While potions now have a cooldown for use, nerfing their capabilities in combat, a great low-level profession to adopt would be Alchemy. Unfortunately a great deal of the professions are money-sinks at lower levels, but Alchemy will have you producing pots (potions) all throughout leveling.

6. And speaking of professions, if you're planning on playing for any amount of time then you should get a "gathering profession", which is Mining or Herbology, right away. You'll come across places to use these skills while leveling up, so you'll level up your gathering as you level your character, which is SO necessary. Plus, you can sell the mats (materials) for SO much money on the auction house.

7. Play Horde. Sorry, just gettin' that out there.

Good luck, have fun!

...However, with Catalyst coming out...

On an aside, this was a momentary "BWUH?" me as I was scrolling down the page a second time. I know that it's a mistype, I was just cracking up at the "Do you know something I don't?!" thought that I got.

 

[Squidden]

When I played it a year or 2 ago, I noticed that the grinding was often forgotten about with the awesome scenery detail. While yes, it most likely will only be that way if you have a good computer, it really does help the game alot.

 

[Sion_Barzahd]

I agree with Aylaine, wowhead.com is my go-to on most thing and curse.com will save you so much agony with addons.

Don't be afraid to start looking into addons early, i avoided them worried they'd ruin the experience. Things like Atlasloot which make excellent references are hardily game-breaking and become like an adventurers bible.

Another tip is keep your professions up to meet or exceed your level. Also remember that you can always ask in general or trade chat if you're ever confused on any matters, most players are pretty helpful.

 

[Vaccine]

If you see yourself sticking with it, Burning Crusade and Wrath just went up for $5 and $10. [http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1220626#blog]

As said, addons and professions are great when picked up early.

Unbind your turning keys and use your mouse, keyboard turning is a bad habit and generally best not to get used to it.
Because we're heading into Cata, I suggest just getting 2 gathering professions, raw materials are stupidly good money around now with everyone leveling alts and such, you don't really need 2, but you'll certainly need 1 starting from scratch.

 

[elvor0]

If you bought it today...by god you're going to be surprised tomorrow morning, that's all I can say.

Furthermore, dont buy the expansion packs just yet, you wont need them till level 60 anyway, and by that time I'm sure you'll know whether you want to invest money into the expansion packs.

 

[Yureina]

I uninstalled WoW from my computer yesterday after 5 1/2 years of playing.

One person leaves, another joins. I guess that's how this goes.

As for tips, Wowhead is a yummy site, though alot of things are changing with the new expansion coming out. Much of the information you may find about this game might be obsolete. Keep that in mind.

Oh, and if you get into this game and if you ever get the idea of becoming a psychotic moneymaking machine... message me. I know how it works better than most.

 

[LetalisK]

I downloaded the trail today with my friend, and thinking of buying the full game (A game card), So my question to the escapists this evening is...any tips for a starting player?

Whats your good and bad experiences of Wow?

Whens the best time to buy any expansion pack for the game?

Now. Blizzard is having a huge sell on their Warcraft games. You can get the original, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King for $20. The normal price for just the original WoW is $20. You connect the dots.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

www.wowhead.com
www.elitistjerks.com
www.wow.joystiq.com

Everything you need to know about the game is in those 3 sites. EJ is much more advanced than you're ready for, but once you understand some of the terminology and mechanics, it is a bottomless well of knowledge.

As for general tips... use the Auction House as much as possible. You'd be amazed how much gold you can get at a low level with little to no effort. Once you reach the level cap, gold is very easy to acquire. So people hit this barrier where their time becomes much more valuable than gold... so they become lazy spenders. Take full advantage of that.

 

[Sam Doctorman]

tip: know when to stop it is more addicting then mind craft

 

[twilinova07]

okay, since I jumped into the game blinder that an eye-less bat in a pitch black batch of chocolate mash, ill share with you my lessons from my first time.

1) Your first character will most likely suck.
Most people (I know) dont stick with there first characters. Even if they do, they'll typically make their second character their main playing character. Why? because the first one is screwed up, and they dont want to improve him/her because by level 40 its easier just to start from scratch. There are several reasons for this, maybe they dont like the racial abilities, maybe they've fallen WAY behind the proper stat numbers for their lvl, maybe they dont like the class they thought they would like, or maybe they just realized that a gnome warrior is less hilarious than first assumed. The point is, once you've got a hang of the game mechanics, you'll probably realize what you really wanted out of you character.

2) Learn the lingo.
Like learning any language, this takes time. However, unlike other languages, its mostly broken english and 7335 speak. Also, dont worry about knowing everything at first. Just get the basic phrases down at the start. Learn the group make-ups (tank,DPS,healer) "aggro"(how close you can get until enemies try to kill you) and all the abbrevations. WTS=want to sell. LFG=looking for group, ect.

3)Figure out the auction house.
Trust me on this, if you dont want to be perpetually broke, figure out this thing as soon as you can. There are guides on maximizing profits from it, but you wont need that money untill late in the game. All you need to know in the beggining is if the items name is white or gray, sell it to a merchant (this does not apply to items gained thorugh proffesions, peopl ereally need those) . If its colored, put it on the auction house (make sure to check on any items of the sam elevel so you know what price to set).

4)Also learn your proffesions.
Another way to screw your self-financially is to ignore these. Prof's give access to very well selling items that everyone needs. Just make sure you take a gathering proffesion that goes along with a proper crafting proffesion. Going blacksmith AND alchemy may seem like a good idea, but it quickly becomes apparent that your not going to go anywhere.

5)Have a friend tell you all this.
I didn't have this, so be glad you actually have someone to act as a proper tour guide. Unless your both new, then um... good luck

6)Figure out if this is stuff is enjoyable in any way.
The quicker you realize what it is you finf fun about th egame, the better you'll stay in there. That being said, if you find yourself at level 55 and suddenly cant give a crap about this stuff anymore, then feel free to leave. Its just a game after all, just dont be surprised if you get the WoW bug some months later.

7)Finally, go alliance.
Because we have night elves and werewolves

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

7)Finally, go alliance.
Because we have night elves and werewolves

Wuvlycuddles glares at twilinova07 angrily

Ignore this fool, go horde, we have moocows and zombies!

 

[Squidden]

7)Finally, go alliance.
Because we have night elves and werewolves

Wuvlycuddles glares at twilinova07 angrily

Ignore this fool, go horde, we have moocows and zombies!

HORDE! FUCK YEAH!

Anyways, I really wish WoW was less than 15 bucks a month, I'd probably play it more....