WoW:Tips for the New Player
Posted on: 04/27/2008 - By: Chris

So you have just picked up World of Warcraft, got home, installed and patched the game, fired it up, and you have no idea what to do next. Getting started in an MMO can be the hardest part, and having a person who can hold you up while you take your first MMO baby steps can be the difference between a fun time and falling on your ass and crying. The first time someone steps into the world of MMOs, it can be an overwhelming experience. There can literally be so much to do that a person can feel like there isn’t a way for them to catch up to those that have already started playing. Rest assured that there are plenty of ways to catch up to those who have been playing the game from day one. This is not a leveling guide, or a guide to make money, or how to PVP. This is simply a guide for the new player to check out while they are on the road to the maximum level.

The first few choices you are given are what server you want to play on and whether you want to play as Horde or Alliance. If you plan to play with friends, then the obvious choice is to follow them. If you are going at it alone, then your best bet is to go to the official World of Warcraft Realm forums and check out what others have to say about the server you are interested in. A few minutes of research can save you from choosing a server that you aren't happy playing on. Things to consider when choosing a server to play on include: the server’s population, whether it is a player versus player, or player versus environment server, and the age of the server. The higher the server’s population, the more likely you will encounter queues when trying to log in, as well as having more difficulty when trying to travel to certain areas. More players on a server basically mean more people trying to do the exact same thing you are doing. One good point about these high population servers is the economy should be fairly stable, and trade goods should be readily available. The exact opposite will be true for low population servers, where goods and services will be more in demand and prices will be higher.

Once you have chosen a server to play on, you will be allowed to create a character. Creating a character is a simple and straightforward process. When you are choosing a race and class, choose something that you will enjoy playing. Consider what you would like to do, in regards to what role you want to have, and whether or not you want to become a hardcore PVP-er or PVE-er. There are many racial abilities that a new player wouldn't consider when making a character, which can certainly help out with either PVP or PVE. The best rule of thumb when it comes to trying out a class is to get to level 10 with the class you have chosen, and if you are unhappy with it, then reconsider. Most classes start to develop after level 10, so any opinion of them before that time isn't well researched.

Once you have gained a few levels, you will find that it is time to choose your primary professions. Primary professions are broken up into two categories. The first is crafting professions, which include blacksmithing, tailoring, leather working, jewel crafting, alchemy, and engineering. The second category is gathering professions, which include mining, herbalism and skinning. The are two different paths you can take when it comes to professions. You can either pick up two gathering professions, and then level up those professions, and simply sell all of the goods you gather, or you can pick up two matching professions. Dual gatherer professions will help bring in the gold early on, however if you decide later on that you would like to pick a crafting profession, you would have to drop one of your gathering professions to do so. If you choose to pick a crafting and gathering profession, you want to pick up professions that compliment each other. It wouldn't do you much good to pick up herbalism and leatherworking, and they don't benefit from each other, where as if you pick up skinning to go with leatherworking, or alchemy to go with herbalism, you would be fine. Cooking, fishing, and first aid are considered secondary professions, and unlike primary professions, you can obtain all three of them, and while they are often overlooked, once maxed out, they are certainly beneficial. Fishing gives the player free food to eat or sell for profit, and can be used with certain cooking recipes, cooking provides the player with recipes for food that give out “Well Fed” buffs, which once maxed out, can be fairly powerful, where as first aid allows any player to heal themselves, or others using cloth bandages. Both primary and secondary professions, while taking a long time to max out, are certainly powerful enough to take on the challenge.

Once you have been playing WoW for a little bit and have created a character and chosen a few professions, you are going to want to know what you can do to gain the edge when it comes to leveling. The first, and one of the most important tasks you can do, is obtain larger bags. While questing, you may pick up a couple of small four slot, or six slot bags, however this is not what you want. If you are playing with a higher level friend, do whatever you have to do to get him or her to purchase four of the sixteen slot netherweave bags. If you are unfortunate enough to not have someone to play with, then your best bet it to save the money to purchase these bags yourself. They usually sell for anywhere between five to ten gold for one, and are worth every copper. More bag space means you will have more room for all of the junk items that you obtain while questing, meaning fewer trips to town to sell items, and in general means that you will actually be making more money in the long run. The second most important task you can do to help yourself it to install a few simple, yet powerful mods. Hit up www.curse.com which is an awesome website with a large section devoted to World of Warcraft mods. While you can surf around and download any mod that you want, the ones that we are most concerned with are Quest Helper, Cartographer, Gatherer, Rating Buster, Bagnon, and Atlas Loot Enhanced. Quest Helper is a wonderful mod that scans your quest log and marks off where you need to travel for each quest. Cartographer opens up many new options on the map that you already have available. Gatherer will mark on the map any location that you find a mine, or flowers to herb. Rating Buster is a customizable mod that shows you the difference between an item that you have equipped and what you have your mouse over. This is an awesome way to figure out if you have picked up an item that is better then what you are using. Bagnon is a simple mod that groups all of your bags together into one large bag. Instead of opening each bag individually, you can open them all with one button. Atlas Loot Enhanced displays various loot tables, such as those in instances and PVP rewards. This will allow you to know beforehand if a boss in an instance will drop an item that you want.

There are a few minor topics that need to be addressed, as they can bring a large amount of grief to a player. If you decide to go into a battleground between levels 11 through 19, which is considered the 19 bracket, you will most certainly come across a twink character. This is a person who has created a character solely for PVP, and will keep this character at 19, possibly 29, or 39, to fight in those brackets. The point of a twink character is to obtain the best gear and weapons for that level, get the best enchants put on that gear, and then go into a battleground to wreak havoc. Many of the higher level players have mixed feelings about a twink character. Some feel that it is not fair, since it takes away from the fun that others can have because there isnt a way to evenly fight a twink character. Others don’t mind those who do it.

A nice feature that Blizzard put into the game to help the casual player is the idea of rested experience. Rested experience is accrued when you are in a capital city, or in an inn, and you continue to gain rested experience until you leave. Any creature you kill that gives experience, you will obtain twice the amount of experience, until you run out of rested experience. Quests do not use rested experience, and when you turn in a quest and have the rested experience, you will see that the experience bar has just been moved. When you log out at night, you want to make sure that you are logging out inside a capital city or inn so you will receive as much rested experience as possible.

When playing with others, especially when it comes to heading into an instance, there is usually an unspoken rule about how loot gets divvied out. The general rule is that if something drops and it is Bind on Pickup, meaning once someone gets it, they are stuck with it until they sell it or destroy it, then if you want it, roll need for it, and if you don’t need it, hit greed. If a Bind on Equip drops, meaning that whoever gets it can give it away to anyone they want, then everyone usually hits greed. If a BOE (Bind on Equip) item drops and you do want it, it is considered polite to ask for the item before hitting need. To sum it up, if it will help you, then take it, but don’t be greedy about it.

After questing for a while, you are bound to pick up several goodies that you either don’t need right now, or can’t use yet, but you want to keep them around. Anytime you are in a capital city, you can ask a guard where the bank is. You can fill the bank with bags just like your inventory, and access those items from any capital city, as well as several goblin cities. The bank is the easiest way to hold on to what you need later, and keeps your own bags clean.

With so many people playing the game, you are bound to meet people that either try to trick you, or worse. What you want to stay away from are gold farmers, bots, and ridiculous in game scams. Gold farmers are companies, or groups of people who obtain gold for the purpose of selling it to others for real world money. There are several acticles on the internet that discuss the impact of such groups, and while opinions may differ, you should stay away from them because interaction with them breaks the EULA that Blizzard has for WoW, and will easily get your account banned. Some players turn to different bot programs to take control of their character for the purpose of leveling or grinding. Using any type of bot, which is any program that interacts with your character without you doing anything yourself, is also against Blizzards EULA. Just like the real world, scammers are always out to cheat you out of your hard earned gold and gear. There are several different videos on youtube showing players how to “cheat” blizzards automated system to get in game gold, which usually involves sending your account information to a third party email account. Generally if it looks too good to be true, or simply sounds like its fishy, don't listen to it. If you have a question about something, you can always contact blizzard support, or an in game GM.

Following this guide isn't going to help you set any records for leveling a character, however it should help you set the ground work for steady leveling. The best advice a seasoned WoW player can give it to keep at it, and if you, as the new player have questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you cannot get any help in game from other players, you can always go online to www.thottbot.com, www.wowhead.com, or www.wow.allakhazam.com.