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[sikkinixx]

Funny reading this since I got curious as well when I was installing SC2. I'm trying to get the GF to use one of the free 10 trials and see if she will like it. I don't really wanna play it solo (I did that a few years back for a few days) but it seems like something she would get into.

So far.... she doesn't wanna play it. But she said that about Animal Crossing and Plants vs Zombies too sooooo..........

 

[Mister Zimbu]

I agree. Gnomes are dumb. I only rolled horde to kill them repeatedly, which I do!

Fucking gnomes.

I'm a gnome warlock with the celestial steed.

I'm pretty much first kill target in any battleground

 

[JumpJeff84]

Played s'more last night. Actually talked to some people. Walked up to a couple of level 80s and started challenging them to duels. They laughed at me.

One guy gave me a pair of pants.

I'm level 8 now I think, so far I guess it's fun. Biggest complaint is all the running back and forth I have to do.

I'll play a little more though, at least so I can see what happens when I hit level 10.

 

[Mister Zimbu]

Played s'more last night. Actually talked to some people. Walked up to a couple of level 80s and started challenging them to duels. They laughed at me.

One guy gave me a pair of pants.

I'm level 8 now I think, so far I guess it's fun. Biggest complaint is all the running back and forth I have to do.

I'll play a little more though, at least so I can see what happens when I hit level 10.

The frequent running back and forth is mostly in the old 1-60 game, but it will probably get worse when you hit Darkshore, STV, and beyond. It's mostly been eliminated when you get to 60-80 (not to mention that at that point it becomes flying back and forth).

Oh god... bad memories of the runs back and forth between Darkshore and the graveyards where all the quest drops are...

 

[Acosta]

I'm a gnome warlock with the celestial steed.

I'm pretty much first kill target in any battleground

I'm trying to focus my concentrated hatred to kill your gnome in this very moment. Tell me if it works.

Spoiler

just joking

Spoiler

maybe...

Spoiler

not joking at all

For the OP, welcome to Azeroth, but I'm agree that you should have waited until Cata. In any case, enjoy the trip.

 

[Kos Luftar]

Should have played Guild Wars instead.

 

[TheExodu5]

Once you hit level 15, try the dungeons. Press I and join a queue for a random dungeon. It'll "matchmake" you with other players your level and teleport you to the dungeon.

 

[Bisnic]

You get a mount at lvl 20, which makes you run 60% faster. And its like 1 or 2 gold or something. A must have. And at lvl 40 you get one that runs 100% faster. And 60? Flying mount.

Also since you are a mage, you'll get free teleports to the major cities at later lvls. Mage is actually the best class to save time on travels once you get all the teleports. You won't waste your time waiting for a boat, a zeppelin and skip some wasted time on flight paths.

Been to Stormwind yet? You should, it's a nice city to visit the first time, and there is always a lot of players to make it feel alive.(unless you're on a ghost server)

 

[Philthy]

WoW is a pretty decent game, but I only come back for the expansions, play through with a new character from scratch with a few friends, max level, beat all the dungeons, do a few raids until it gets to the point of "doing the same raid every night" and then I just quit and wait for the next expansion. I don't have it in me to do raids over and over to get to the larger end game bosses, just all the basic raids, which is fine for me. Usually takes 1-2 months of gaming then I unsubscribe/

I'm waiting for the next expansion, it's going to be fun.

 

[Ricker]

Don't even know what that means.

Say hello to Samantha in STV once you get there,you certainly will see a lot of her

 

[JumpJeff84]

Once you hit level 15, try the dungeons. Press I and join a queue for a random dungeon. It'll "matchmake" you with other players your level and teleport you to the dungeon.

Will do, thanks!

 

[thefil]

Once you hit level 15, try the dungeons. Press I and join a queue for a random dungeon. It'll "matchmake" you with other players your level and teleport you to the dungeon.

Is it possible these days to level solely through dungeons? The 5-man is my favourite part of WoW and I haven't played since the new matchmaking system was implemented. I would love to just pop in and play instances every once and a while (though it might not be worth $15/month...).

 

[zero margin]

lol unicornia.

 

[JumpJeff84]

lol unicornia.

I tried about 7 names that were all taken, then Unicornia just came to me. It's a good name, I like it. People seem to like me so far- I'm a very attractive redhead.

 

[Mr_Elysia]

Why? Almost everything "post-vanilla" is better than vanilla itself currently. You're probably one of those with rose-tinted glasses who think the 2004 WoW was the best they did. Never mind the fact that it was a huge mess of bugs & unbalanced stuff, raids were reserved to the true "hardcore", ie : people playing 8 hours a day. And not to mention the fact it was missing a lot of the current cool features.

I would much rather that Blizzard had never made WoW at all. But yes, the best time for it was before they realized they had a well that wouldn't run dry no matter how many times they went back to it.

 

[Bisnic]

Is it possible these days to level solely through dungeons? The 5-man is my favourite part of WoW and I haven't played since the new matchmaking system was implemented. I would love to just pop in and play instances every once and a while (though it might not be worth $15/month...).

What i've been doing recently with healing & tanking classes is quest until lvl 15 and only do dungeons until hitting lvl 80. The only quests im doing between 15 & 80 are the quests that will lead me to instances quests! :lol

 

[Shrennin]

I actually just got back into the game myself, although I have played it before. It's funny because I never really found a class that I really liked or really fit a play style I prefer. I didn't really like hunters, druids, or warriors and those were the classes I had put some time into. I was going to try to be a mage or pure magic user but my friend was already a warlock and I didn't want to get the same class as him and I wanted to be an Orc so that left mage off the table (until Catac. at least). Anyway, long story short: I chose Shaman and I'm lovin' it. It was a gamble because I thought shaman were really weak and I never heard much about them before but it turns out that I find them really fun and they're not too bad at PvP and I love soloing with them.

 

[Kite]

I started WoW a month ago, here are some stuff I found useful fand some random newbie thoughts

1. Download the Quest Helper addon, it has an arrow showing you where to go to complete the quest and turn it in. With it you can do all the quests in an area and do one massive turn in and saves on the whole running around thing.
2. Get bags asap so you don't have to keep running back to vendors to sell the junk, saves time.
3. Pick at least one gathering profession in order to make money for your first mount. I'd recommend skinning since you can skin any beast you kill, the other can be herbalism, mining or whatever is useful for your class.
4. Save $$ for your first mount at lvl 20
5. Hunters are insanely fast and easy to level, pretty fun as well. There is literally no down time once you get Aspect of the viper which regenerates mana and you have reliable crowd control with your traps. And pretty much any beast can be tamed and be your pet. Hunters seem to be able to solo everything.
6. Warlocks are more fun to play but are way more delicate and kill slower at low levels. And fear seems to be totally random and feared mobs seem to always bring back friends >.>
7. I just made a Unholy Death Knight tonight (yes I do like pet classes), seems to be fun so far.
8. The 2 newer races, blood elf and draenei look noticeably better, especially their females :3 I'm in love with the draenei and their instant heal over time spell. If only I could make a draenei warlock >.>

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Have fun in STV.

Stranglethorn is not the place it once was.

I actually kind of missed it when I leveled up my second character.

The constant PVPing was ridiculous at first but then i got used to it and it made it kindof fun...kindof.

Now...STV is a ghost town.

 

[Shrennin]

Good tips, Kite. Although I would make one different suggestion:

3. Pick at least one gathering profession in order to make money for your first mount. I'd recommend skinning since you can skin any beast you kill, the other can be herbalism, mining or whatever is useful for your class.

I would go for mining because you can make a whole lot more money off of it in the early levels. It may be true that you can skin almost every animal you come across, but minerals go for a whole lot more if you're on a popular server. On my server I can sell a stack of copper bars for at least 15 gold. Different types of leathers, etc. don't seem to go for nearly that much (I find most early level skins go for about 1g a stack).

Of course I have two gathering professions so I can not only sell what I get but also get an excess of minerals and herbs for later levels when I may change my profession.

 

[Gully State]

Played s'more last night. Actually talked to some people. Walked up to a couple of level 80s and started challenging them to duels. They laughed at me.

One guy gave me a pair of pants.

I'm level 8 now I think, so far I guess it's fun. Biggest complaint is all the running back and forth I have to do.

I'll play a little more though, at least so I can see what happens when I hit level 10.

As a mage, WoW didn't really pick up for me until I was around level 20 or so..

 

[JumpJeff84]

I started WoW a month ago, here are some stuff I found useful fand some random newbie thoughts

1. Download the Quest Helper addon, it has an arrow showing you where to go to complete the quest and turn it in. With it you can do all the quests in an area and do one massive turn in and saves on the whole running around thing.
2. Get bags asap so you don't have to keep running back to vendors to sell the junk, saves time.
3. Pick at least one gathering profession in order to make money for your first mount. I'd recommend skinning since you can skin any beast you kill, the other can be herbalism, mining or whatever is useful for your class.
4. Save $$ for your first mount at lvl 20
5. Hunters are insanely fast and easy to level, pretty fun as well. There is literally no down time once you get Aspect of the viper which regenerates mana and you have reliable crowd control with your traps. And pretty much any beast can be tamed and be your pet. Hunters seem to be able to solo everything.
6. Warlocks are more fun to play but are way more delicate and kill slower at low levels. And fear seems to be totally random and feared mobs seem to always bring back friends >.>
7. I just made a Unholy Death Knight tonight (yes I do like pet classes), seems to be fun so far.
8. The 2 newer races, blood elf and draenei look noticeably better, especially their females :3 I'm in love with the draenei and their instant heal over time spell. If only I could make a draenei warlock >.>

I like the sound of this. How hard is it to download/apply this? Dumb question I know, but I'm really lousy with PCs.

 

[vilmer_]

I like the sound of this. How hard is it to download/apply this? Dumb question I know, but I'm really lousy with PCs.

All you need is the Curse client installed. Then you can just browse through the addons and install directly from within Curse. Super easy

 

[joelseph]

Last time I was playing I remember this one addon that drew those timing circles on the ground. God that thing was amazing, have they broken it yet?

 

[zero margin]

I tried about 7 names that were all taken, then Unicornia just came to me. It's a good name, I like it. People seem to like me so far- I'm a very attractive redhead.

It's a fine name.

 

[JumpJeff84]

All you need is the Curse client installed. Then you can just browse through the addons and install directly from within Curse. Super easy

Thanks!

 

[No45]

I like the sound of this. How hard is it to download/apply this? Dumb question I know, but I'm really lousy with PCs.

Addons are pretty easy to install (Download, unzip to your \Interface\AddOns folder in the game directory), but can be difficult to configure (And sometime will stop working after a patch).

Getting around in the game has improved immeasurably since the early days, so the need for QuestHelper and the like is greatly reduced. Personally I'd say play with the default UI, and look for Addons that fix problems you yourself come across.

This comes from someone who often spends more time fucking with their UI than playing the game. Definitely going to keep it as simple as possible next time.

 

[Flib]

Last time I was playing I remember this one addon that drew those timing circles on the ground. God that thing was amazing, have they broken it yet?

Yes, it was called ARV

 

[Glowingmonx]

Once you hit max level head over to http://elitistjerks.com/f34/ to learn all about your class. Min maxing, the math behind it, the rotation/priority system you use etc.. For older players this is standard, but for new players it can get a bit complicated.

I just love reading the banhammer section on that website. ''Infraction for jmon: 9. Do not sign your posts.''

Playing solo as a mage can get really annoying in the beginning because you have to drink after every 3 kills. But AOEing at high lvl is awesome. I remember going from lvl 79 to 80 in like 2 hours with my mage doing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3_CQ8bAtJc but they fixed it now I think

Paladins and Druids are still the most fun classes to play IMO because you can play different roles like tanking, healing and DPSing

 

[Niblet]

Was planning on jumping in before cata to experience the world before the change, but the overwhelming consensus is wait for it. I want to experience WoW at its best so I will wait. Maybe in the meantime I will investigate servers and potential guilds.

 

[Xtyle]

funny
I put in 1 month subscription time, server transferred too, just last night after not playing over a half year and after some quests, I was about to give up.

 

[Bisnic]

Quest helper addon isnt really a necessity. Blizzard recently put their own "quest helper" where it shows you on your world map where you need to go to find monsters or items and where to go once its completed.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

I agree. Gnomes are dumb. I only rolled horde to kill them repeatedly, which I do!

Fucking gnomes.

Gnomes are fine, Dwarves rock. Draenei are all those allies who wanted/needed a shaman or rerolled dwarves.

Humans and Nelfs bug me, but it may be an echo from seeing Ironforge for the first time in 2005 and the only short people were NPCs...

 

[Lé Blade Runner]

I started playing WoW ( pretty casually ) this summer, thanks to a few real-life friends who also began. Now we have a thriving guild, and at lvl 54 ( as a Dwarven warrior ) I have to say that the game is very easy to pick up, but very hard to put down. Very, very entertaining is the key-word here.

 

[Flib]

Just wait until all of you see the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content/zones. It's like a completely different game.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Was planning on jumping in before cata to experience the world before the change, but the overwhelming consensus is wait for it. I want to experience WoW at its best so I will wait. Maybe in the meantime I will investigate servers and potential guilds.

The current content has some pretty fantastic parts to it though. It's going to get a lot better apparently, but I'm really glad that I checked out the existing stuff quite extensively as well.

 

[McNei1y]

I've been playing for about 5-6 years now. On and off though. The longest I've been away from wow would probably be about 7 months. I took a break this past January and then recently started back up in June. I rerolled an Orc Shaman and got him to 40 in about 2 weeks.

The game is so easy to waste time on. Not a bad thing though. I have so much free time after work/class and then into the night so its perfect. People think I'm hooked but I'm really not. I can take time off whenever I feel like it. I haven't played my shammy/warlock main in about 2 weeks now.

wow may be my top 3 games. (definitely my most played game).

The first time I played was a Tauren Druid. Leveling 1-60 during that time was epic. That DEFINITELY was an awesome moment.

 

[Subterranean]

Yeah, WoW can be good fun in moderation. I was pretty addicted to it when I first got the game, that was around the time before BC came out. Now I haven't played since March and Cataclysm is looking really good so I kind of want to start up again, but school/work is going to kick my ass this fall.

The best advice I can give to someone new to the game is to join a guild and get some friends in game, playing the game alone really sucks out the experience that you could be having.

 

[pyrealnova]

Been playing on and off since late 2005. Just got back into it about 2 months ago. Just joined a new guild with my rogue. Hopefully get some ICC action before Cata hits.

Ferrio -- you lurking in this thread? I started reading the original WoW official thread a few days ago and got up to page 150 something. I was hooked on the story of your guild's progression and your quest for Thunderfury. When did you end up quitting?

 

[Sykotik]

I've also been a player for around 5-6 years with 3-6 month breaks here and there. I've made friends, lost them too.. but, most of all, I've lost a lot of rolls and that shit sucks. Lost the roll on 277 shoulders 2 raids in a row! Bah.

Definitely make some friends, or bring one with you into WoW. It really does make the experience that much better. Also, do your best to stay un-addicted. The game is great in moderation.

 

[McNei1y]

I've also been a player for around 5-6 years with 3-6 month breaks here and there. I've made friends, lost them too.. but, most of all, I've lost a lot of rolls and that shit sucks. Lost the roll on 277 shoulders 2 raids in a row! Bah.

Definitely make some friends, or bring one with you into WoW. It really does make the experience that much better. Also, do your best to stay un-addicted. The game is great in moderation.

Yeah. I started playing around my Junior year in high school and that was 5-6 years ago. I was brought into the game by a friend and my high interest in WC3. About 2 months after my friend brought me in, we had about 5-6 other friends joining us. It was really cool. Being able to have 5-6 friends playing, leveling, and feeling the same experience was really awesome. We would gank people together, run instances together, and basically stay around the same level. Then 60 hit. The friend that pulled me in and I were then recruited into a top guild since we were both Druids and resto was a big thing back then. We got to experience everything. :lol :lol

The friends quit after awhile and so did we but we are the only ones who came back on and off for about another few years. Then he stopped. Now I'm the only one playing with. I recommend playing with some friends or making some friends through the game. It makes the experience that much better. Currently I have a couple in game people I run raids with and such.

 

[Zaptruder]

I did buy the full game- came with a 30 day trial. I guess it's not impossible that I'll re-up once it expires, but I sorta looked at it as "I'm spending $ 25 on a game to play for a month."

I only hear the horror stories of people who've become addicted, surely there are some who just played the game for a bit, had fun, and moved on.

Right?

Most play the game for a bit too much, had fun, then move on once the pain of grinding (for whatever; raids, BG, money, etc) becomes too much.

 

[JumpJeff84]

Think I may be done...

Played a few more hours on Friday night, hit level 10. Had some fun, but then I just kinda decided to move on. Didn't quite uninstall it, so I may relapse. My intention is to just walk away now, maybe check out Cataclysm for a bit.

I had fun with the game (yes, I know I didn't even see 3 % of what this game has to offer) and I'm glad I checked it out, but I think I'd rather not focus on one game. I never have enough time to try out all the games I'm interested in, and if I got into WOW that'd get even worse.

Fun game from what I saw, though. Enjoyed my brief time in Azeroth. If I come crawling back to it I'll bump this and eat crow.

Thanks for all the advice guys!

 

[etiolate]

Is it possible these days to level solely through dungeons? The 5-man is my favourite part of WoW and I haven't played since the new matchmaking system was implemented. I would love to just pop in and play instances every once and a while (though it might not be worth $15/month...).

You can level by sitting in a city and queuing between BGs and Dungeons.

edit for OP: Catac is just more of the same, almost an insult to the intelligence of the playerbase. I am not sure it will draw you back.

 

[DangerousDave]

I just passed the level 70 mark.

I entered in Northrend in 68, and I flied those 2 levels. But now it goes slooooooow...

 

[Sciz]

edit for OP: Catac is just more of the same, almost an insult to the intelligence of the playerbase. I am not sure it will draw you back.

What exactly do you want out of an expansion?

 

[etiolate]

What exactly do you want out of an expansion?

I'd like an actual reworking of the archaic design of the game. Not previous content remixed and repackaged, the same skills and talents before repackaged as traits, and the same old problems that continually exist. Same old enemies, some old boss encounters in different skins, same old... it's just an old game now and was never more than mediocre. It needs a major overhaul.

 

[dismas]

Hope you enjoy it! I've had tons of WoW trials but never actually bothered to play.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I started playing a few months ago. I bought game only because a lady friend of mine had it and said I should get it and join her and being the drooling, knuckle dragging ape man that most of us men are, I bought it and tried it out. I always had little interest in this game.

Now, I'm freaking hooked. It's ridiculously addictive, especially once you begin figuring things out. You chose wisely on a mage. They're easy to play. They mostly spam one or two spells, so you won't have too much to figure out. As for a Warlock, they are lots of fun, but more complicated. The solo-ing with a Warlock everyone is referring to here is called "Drain Tanking". If you're curious, check it up on Youtube.

You need hit level 15, at least. Putting the game down at level 10 is not going to show you what is truly ahead. At 15, you'll be able to get into dungeons with groups and learn the ropes. You're also going to get an idea of what "spec" you want your mage to be.