Thinking about buying this game...

[goat song]

Hi, I'm gonna pick up this game soon. I've had a pretty extensive poke around the official site, and I've got a few (er, whole bunch of) questions, hope you guys could be kind enough to enlighten?

1. After a paid period of subscription expires, can I take a break from WoW - by simply not further paying my subscription - without any consequences to my character? ...And resume, say, a month or two later?

2. Can I take a break in the middle of a paid period of subscription? I mean, without losing what I've paid for...does the game count paid play time by DAYS, or only months? Or am I compelled to play for a month straight, if I buy one month?

3. Bonus question: I'm a seasoned Guild Wars (terrific game, if anyone's considering it) looking for a change of scenery and pace - hence all the anxiety about paid subscription. If by any chance anyone familiar with GW can compare gameplay between it and WoW, how would you? Faster, slower, easier, harder, more lighthearted, etc?

4. Do all male night elves have facial hair (oh noes!)? Are all male gnomes ugly? (the girls are so cute, what gives?)

5. What are some good classes for soloing? If you can think of one "best" one, cool, but I'd just like to know which ones work well. I am so thrilled about the prospect of casual soloing - soloing in GW really only works with very particular builds and a lot of practice.

6. What are some good professions for soloing? I'm thinking about Alchemy/Herbalism, because I like the idea of collecting plants :D Any thoughts about that? Anything you'd advise me to avoid?

7. As I level up and learn/raise various skills, is it necessary to do much planning in the way of what skill lines I should raise, or can I just try whatever and change it later? In GW builds can be changed in an instant, but I've played an MMO where once you chose how to spend your skill/attribute/xp points, you were stuck with it.

8. When I begin my first character, what are some things I should just generally NOT do? Anything in particular you'd recommend?

9. Which classes/races/professions are notably popular right now?

10. Tell me some random cool thing about WoW...I'm really excited about it! :D


PS: I just tried to post this on the official site forums, only to find they only allow subscribers to post! WTH!

[Baal]

PS: I just tried to post this on the official site forums, only to find they only allow subscribers to post! WTH!

I'm new too, looking to buy the game - so I can't really help. But I just wanted to agree with this. The Blizzard forums tend to be really stupid - only being able to register if you own the game. It just makes no sense to me.

[Spennce]

1.) Yes, your account stays and when you pay again you can pick up where you left off.


2.) No. You pay $14.99 for a months subscription, thats RL time, not game time.


3.) Dunno, never played GW.


4.) you can change the face hair on NE males, and ALL gnomes are ugly.


5.) I havent played all the classes (YET) but its generally understood that all can solo. others have advantages that some dont. You can learn more by playing and reading.

6.) Starting out with a new account i would go with 2 Gathering Professions (Skinning, Herbalism,mining) it makes a ton of cash which will set you up for your level 40 mount. If that doesnt matter to you then it really depends on what class you play.

7.) You will need to plan your talents, but if you respec (which you will) it costs gold, nothing is perminent.

8.) Dont beg. Dont join random guild invites.

9.) Hunters and Rogues are EVERYWHERE and might make your grouping life a bit hard, although you will solo well with either.

10.) not so random, but WOW is addicting, you are warned.

[jengelke]

Hi, I'm gonna pick up this game soon. I've had a pretty extensive poke around the official site, and I've got a few (er, whole bunch of) questions, hope you guys could be kind enough to enlighten?

Welcome, glad to have ya. Hope my input helps.

1. After a paid period of subscription expires, can I take a break from WoW - by simply not further paying my subscription - without any consequences to my character? ...And resume, say, a month or two later?

You can take a break of any length of time, as far as I know, and all characters on all servers will remain intact as you left them.

2. Can I take a break in the middle of a paid period of subscription? I mean, without losing what I've paid for...does the game count paid play time by DAYS, or only months? Or am I compelled to play for a month straight, if I buy one month?

If you purchase a month's worth of gameplay and cancel mid period, you will still be able to access your account until the stop date, so no, you can't just put it on hold mid-month.

3. Bonus question: I'm a seasoned Guild Wars (terrific game, if anyone's considering it) looking for a change of scenery and pace - hence all the anxiety about paid subscription. If by any chance anyone familiar with GW can compare gameplay between it and WoW, how would you? Faster, slower, easier, harder, more lighthearted, etc?

WoW is just not the same caliber that GW is. In my opinion, GW ramps up in difficulty very quickly, whereas you can always fight something easier and still get exp for it in WoW. I found GW very difficult to solo as you went further in the game. For one, WoW is much more scenic than GW. While GW has some nice scenery, like the starting area, and the jungles later, there is a lot of desolation. Of course WoW has plenty of deserts and ruined land as well, but they have a large amount of nice areas as well. WoW seems more rewarding than GW as well, with more drops, reasonably priced nice weapons at lower levels, professions, and more races and classes to choose from. Also, there is a larger variation of armor looks, so there won't be quite as many people that look the same. While there are no cutscenes like in GW, there are scripted boss fights and such in instances, a unique dungeon where only your party can go in, which brings me to another point. WoW has a completely open world, unlike GW where you only encounted players in town. All in all, I'd say WoW is more rewarding than GW, though GW is still a fine game in it's own right. WoW can be as fast or slow as you want, as well as being as hard or easy as you want.

4. Do all male night elves have facial hair (oh noes!)? Are all male gnomes ugly? (the girls are so cute, what gives?)

I do believe you can leave facial hair off on most any race that has it. Also, there are some male gnome faces that are mostly normal, but gnomes are still creepy with their midgetyness, and their three-fingered hands.

5. What are some good classes for soloing? If you can think of one "best" one, cool, but I'd just like to know which ones work well. I am so thrilled about the prospect of casual soloing - soloing in GW really only works with very particular builds and a lot of practice.

The three best solo clases are as follows.

1. Hunter - Ultimate soloer. Has ranged attacks for damage, utility in traps and such and has a pet that can tank and hold aggro by taunting. Gains aspect of the cheetah at 20 for increased movement and aspect of the pack at 30 for party movement.

2. Druid - Can shapeshift into tank with bear form, rogue with cat form, and healer with the base form of Night Elf or Tauren. Very versatile. Also gets travel form at 30 to move quicker.

3. Paladin - Think priest and warrior rolled into one. Not the best at either but good at both. The ability to wear heavy armor and heal oneself along with shields and stuns makes this a good solo class. With work you can make a good healer or warrior substitute. Gets a free mount at 40 and a discounted mount at 60, although it takes a fair bit of work and you have to team in order to get specific parts of the quest. I think the Soul of the Charger is something you have to kill a high level instance boss for.

As for the rest, you can solo well with any class, though some may be harder than others or slower, priests are notoriously slow to solo.

6. What are some good professions for soloing? I'm thinking about Alchemy/Herbalism, because I like the idea of collecting plants :D Any thoughts about that? Anything you'd advise me to avoid?

A good set to start with is two gathering proffessions and sell everything you collect on the Auction House. Check other goods to see what the general price is. After you have a foothold in money, you can drop the proffession you don't want and gain the other and level it up. I would recomend herbalism and skinning first, since you want to do alchemy. Some say herbalism and mining, but you get a skill that makes herbs and ore show up on you map with each profession, and they only work one at a time, so you can either see the herbs or the ore, not both.

The professions you should steer clear of until you get a substantial cash flow are enchanting and engineering. Enchanting requires enchanting materials you get from disenchanting uncommon or higher quality items, meaning you won't be selling them for profit. Engineering items can only be used by engineers and usually takes odd amounts of materials from other classes, so it can get expensive. Of course I took engineering on my hunter and haven't looked back, so it can be done.

7. As I level up and learn/raise various skills, is it necessary to do much planning in the way of what skill lines I should raise, or can I just try whatever and change it later? In GW builds can be changed in an instant, but I've played an MMO where once you chose how to spend your skill/attribute/xp points, you were stuck with it.

Attribute points are automatically distributed as you level so no problem there. Talents are things that enhance powers or grant new ones. These can be unlearned and redistributed, but there is a catch. Initially it costs 1 gold (a lot at lower levels) and goes up each time you use it, capping at 50 gold. So you can unlearn them, but do it often and it might get pricey.

8. When I begin my first character, what are some things I should just generally NOT do? Anything in particular you'd recommend?

Don't be a jerk if you can help it.
Don't kill steal or loot something that someone else was obviously going to loot, say if they cleared and area of monsters. If in doubt ask. Usually people will let you know about things.
You should probably solo for the first 5-10 levels as you will get more experience, though you want to solo anyway, but group up if a quest gives you more trouble.
Don't rez at the spirit healer when you die. Your equipment will take a 25% durability loss, both what you're wearing and what's in your inventory.
Use general chat for anything you need to ask. Usually you can get an answer.
Don't buy a lot of stuff at vendors or the auction house. You'll get a lot of your gear from monster drops, and it will always be better than vendor stuff.
Don't try to take on elite monsters without help. Usually they will kill you before you can kill them. Elite monsters have a gold dragon around their picture. Monsters with a silver dragon around their pictures are 'rare' monsters, and they are okay. They are normally a few levels higher than the monsters around the area, but kill just the same they do.

9. Which classes/races/professions are notably popular right now?

People have said everyone and their dog has a rogue or a paladin, but this is not always a bad thing. I have a paladin and there's no overpopulation on my server.

10. Tell me some random cool thing about WoW...I'm really excited about it! :D

Killing huge monsters is always a cool thing. WoW has a unique feature that makes higher and higher level monsters usually get larger. Some ogres you fight at level 20 are not much bigger than a human, but fight some that are level 45 and they're double. Taking down such a huge monster is a cool feat when you think about it. Me and my friend just took down a drake last night, basically a huge dragon. It was hard but we managed.

EDIT: One last bit of advice. READ THE MANUAL. It has a lot of info in it that can be learned without having to spam the general chat for common knowledge. Of course, don't be afraid to ask in general chat about anything else. Note: Some items in the manual may be outdated, as the game has been updated and patched since the manual's printing, FYI.

[Hateblade]

Hiya!

First and foremost, welcome to a wonderful community! If you were a denizen of the GW version of these forums, then you will find these to be just as friendly and helpful!

First and foremost, SOLOING! When you start WoW, it is very similar to GW, except you don't have to walk outside ascalon. You will start right next to your very first quest-giver, and get sent on your way into adventure. You will probably notice fellow players running about thier business. The wonderful thing about this game is that you don't have to zone into a town area to interact with other players. They are all around you all the time!

Now then, you are going to find that leveling comes much faster in this game at the start, and then tapers off fairly quick. You will find that you can hit level 20, which is the GW cap, in about 4-6 hours of /played time. And, you can do this ALL BY YOURSELF. You won't be spending hours LFGing for that Fort Ranik mission, or that god aweful Thunderhead Keep mission. GOD, I hated those. Anyways, off-track a bit:laugh:. You will only need groups when you want to tackle some of the harder elite quests, or when you want to actually DO an instance. You will find people lfging for these often, and it's easy to just ask what is a good instance for your level range.

Talents and Attributes! Ours work a little differently. The Strength, agility, ect from GW is automatically given to you in WoW. By level 60, all classes and races will even out, in regards to what type they are(casters/melee). The kicker is our talents. These are like the "Skills" of GW. You will be heading to a trainer, just like GW, but you will ALSO be spending talent points to make your character stronger. You will find guides and help-files on this very forum, down in our Class Disccusion section. As one of the above posters stated, you will want to plan your talent points well. It costs a lot of money fairly quickly to re-train, and you can't just go into a town, and swap them around at will.

To make easy money, follow an above poster's advice to get skinning/mining/herbalism as a profession. They are easy, and will make you a lot of money early on. The nice thing about this game is that there are NO armor-crafting NPCs. Only a select few exist, and they are part of ultra-rare items and drops. You won't have any need to worry about those, until you are established in the game. Everything you will ever need will drop from the monsters you kill in the game. If you can't get it from those, you can buy it from another player, or have them make it for you. Most of your basic food and drink items can be purchased from vendors, or picked up from monsters you kill. You can even take up cooking, and make food from the meat that monsters drop! The possibilities are endless!

Overall, I highly approve of this game over GW. If you are into the "long-haul" type MMOs, and the thrill of world PvP and 40man raids, then WoW is the place for you! Take heed to the advice to read the manual. It is a bit out of date, but still holds a lot of sound information that will have you moving along fine. Any questions you have can most likely be answered by players around you in game. If worse comes to worse, come back here, and see if we have information about it. And, you can always make a post here, and I'm sure that our community here would be happy to help.

Once again, welcome to WoW, and we hope you come back! :thumbsup:

[Gorny]

Level 20 in 4 - 6 hours ?

That does not sound right, even with rest bonus.

More like grind a level in 4 - 6 hours unrested and 2 - 4 rested, depending on your level and monster's level.

Not counting Exp. from quest rewards though, but I don't think level 20 in 4 to 6 hours is accurate.

[goat song]

After you have a foothold in money, you can drop the proffession you don't want and gain the other and level it up. I would recomend herbalism and skinning first, since you want to do alchemy.

wait, I can switch professions after I choose them? Like, I could do herbalism/skinning until I'm say, lv30, then go herbalism/alchemy? Or by "drop" did you just mean stop using one of the profs?


Don't rez at the spirit healer when you die. Your equipment will take a 25% durability loss, both what you're wearing and what's in your inventory.

Okay, I saw the official site's description of the death system and saw these terms, and from what I read I'm guessing spirit healer res is the "lazy" route? As opposed to traveling all the way back to your corpse as a ghost?


People have said everyone and their dog has a rogue or a paladin, but this is not always a bad thing.

cool, cos I kind of had my heart set on a rogue :D sneaking past monsters sounds so cool, definitely a novelty for me after a year of playing aggro-intense GW.

thanks so much for the great reply :)

[goat song]

And, you can do this ALL BY YOURSELF. You won't be spending hours LFGing for that Fort Ranik mission, or that god aweful Thunderhead Keep mission. GOD, I hated those.

lol, I've actually come to love THK, believe it or not. It was a ***** the first time I encountered it, but now I can beat it pretty well every time I do it.

but yeah, I am very much looking forward to being able to solo! In GW soloing is such a tense experience, maintaining enchants/stances, always half a second away from certain death...running out on my own and picking flowers sounds terrific :D

[Hateblade]

Level 20 in 4 - 6 hours ?

That does not sound right, even with rest bonus.

More like grind a level in 4 - 6 hours unrested and 2 - 4 rested, depending on your level and monster's level.

Not counting Exp. from quest rewards though, but I don't think level 20 in 4 to 6 hours is accurate.


Eh? You are probably right. I'm also using my own experience, and not that of a new player. He will be running around exploring, and taking in the sights, so it would indeed take him longer.

Aye, maybe 12 hours /played. Either or, it takes nowhere near the time to level to 20 in this game, as it would in Guild Wars. I think that was my point. I might be confused. :ponder: hrm. Something like that though, :grin: Either or, you'll like it, we promise:thumbsup:

EDIT:

lol, I've actually come to love THK, believe it or not. It was a ***** the first time I encountered it, but now I can beat it pretty well every time I do it.

but yeah, I am very much looking forward to being able to solo! In GW soloing is such a tense experience, maintaining enchants/stances, always half a second away from certain death...running out on my own and picking flowers sounds terrific :D

I never could come to like that quest. Nothing short of all guildies with 3-4 runs under our belts ever seemed to succeed. >< Have fun pickin flowers. If you do become a rogue, I'll give a :thumbsup: to getting Herbalism and Alchemy as your professions. Rogues can become evil creatures with the right pots, and you will find Fadeleaf, which is used by rogues for blind powder. It's fairly expensive on my server, so it's nice to get it myself.

[WingedNazgul]

wait, I can switch professions after I choose them? Like, I could do herbalism/skinning until I'm say, lv30, then go herbalism/alchemy? Or by "drop" did you just mean stop using one of the profs?


You can only learn a maximum of 2 Professions but dropping one of them to learn another takes but a click of the mouse. Of course, you will lose all learned skill and recipes from the dropped Profession.

[goat song]

you will lose all learned skill and recipes from the dropped Profession.

...permanently?

er, sorry if this seems a dim question: in GW we have primary and secondary classes, your secondary class skills become unvailable if you switch secondaries, but you do keep them and can use them again right away if you switch back.

[jengelke]

wait, I can switch professions after I choose them? Like, I could do herbalism/skinning until I'm say, lv30, then go herbalism/alchemy? Or by "drop" did you just mean stop using one of the profs?

Yes, you can actually do exactly what you described. You can have gathering up til 30 or so, and completely unlearn one profession and gain another. You can even relearn that profession again later, although you start at the bottom again.

Okay, I saw the official site's description of the death system and saw these terms, and from what I read I'm guessing spirit healer res is the "lazy" route? As opposed to traveling all the way back to your corpse as a ghost?

Usually, though sometimes it's much easier to rez at the spirit healer if you are going to die multiple times after rezzing at your corpse, say if you were inside an instance and there are a lot of enemies between the instance entrance and the open world. An example of this would be the Deadmines, where you have to go through a mine area full of enemies before you get to the entrance. Also, you can have one of the rezzing classes rez you without any penalty other than the 10% durability loss you gain when you die. Rezzing by a corpse run or by way of character rez incurs no penalty.

cool, cos I kind of had my heart set on a rogue :D sneaking past monsters sounds so cool, definitely a novelty for me after a year of playing aggro-intense GW.

thanks so much for the great reply :)

One last thing. There is no aggro circle on your minimap in this game, and enemies only show up on your minimap if you have the proper skill, such as Detect Beasts from the hunter skillset will show all Beast class monsters, and the Detect Undead from the Paladin will show all undead. Hunters have quite a few of these type of skills but only one can be active at a time.

But yes, sneaking is fun, and so is pickpocketing, though you can't pickpocket other players, hehe.

[WingedNazgul]

...permanently?

Yes, if you decide to take up the dropped Profession again, you must start over from scratch.

[Spennce]

The three best solo clases are as follows.

1. Hunter - Ultimate soloer. Has ranged attacks for damage, utility in traps and such and has a pet that can tank and hold aggro by taunting. Gains aspect of the cheetah at 20 for increased movement and aspect of the pack at 30 for party movement.

2. Druid - Can shapeshift into tank with bear form, rogue with cat form, and healer with the base form of Night Elf or Tauren. Very versatile. Also gets travel form at 30 to move quicker.

3. Paladin - Think priest and warrior rolled into one. Not the best at either but good at both. The ability to wear heavy armor and heal oneself along with shields and stuns makes this a good solo class. With work you can make a good healer or warrior substitute. Gets a free mount at 40 and a discounted mount at 60, although it takes a fair bit of work and you have to team in order to get specific parts of the quest. I think the Soul of the Charger is something you have to kill a high level instance boss for.


cant see how any "best soloer" list could not have a rogue on it, in terms of survibility and DPS not many match a rogue. Not taking away from any other class though.

[WingedNazgul]

cant see how any "best soloer" list could not have a rogue on it, in terms of survibility and DPS not many match a rogue. Not taking away from any other class though.

Yeah, I don't quite agree with that list. For me, best means fastest. While every class can solo in this game, certain classes are faster (hence better) at it than others. Paladin and Druid I would place at the bottom as probably the slowest levellers in this game.

I would go:

1) Hunter
2) Rogue
3) Mage

For the fastest and easiest to level to 60 solo.

[Valas Azuviir]

...permanently?

er, sorry if this seems a dim question: in GW we have primary and secondary classes, your secondary class skills become unvailable if you switch secondaries, but you do keep them and can use them again right away if you switch back.

WoW has secondary skills: like cooking, fishing and first aid. And it has professions: gathering or production related. Of the latter you can only have two, of the former you can and should have all three.

But to expand on the professions. Suppose you pick herbalism and skinning, then round level 30 you decide to drop skinning. You then go to your char sheet and click the small X next to skinning to unlearn it. If, you were to learn skinning again, you'd have to start from scratch. Then again, having given up skinning, you may now learn alchemy and thus go on your merry way.

[jengelke]

Yeah, I don't quite agree with that list. For me, best means fastest. While every class can solo in this game, certain classes are faster (hence better) at it than others. Paladin and Druid I would place at the bottom as probably the slowest levellers in this game.

I would go:

1) Hunter
2) Rogue
3) Mage

For the fastest and easiest to level to 60 solo.

Perhaps rogue could go on the list, but I was only listing what I have heard the majority of people say is great soloing classes. I would have to strongly disagree with mage being a soloer, as I have no problems getting my paladin and my hunter up past 20, but I am running into great difficulty with my mage, almost to the point of having to group to quest and fight things my level.

Perhaps if you kill lots of thing several levels below you, it's very easy to hit 60 with a mage, but with normal questing and killing things near your level range, hunters and paladins and shamans too I think are pretty good for soloing. I can't confirm it, but I've heard druids are good to solo as well.

[goat song]

WoW has secondary skills: like cooking, fishing and first aid. And it has professions: gathering or production related. Of the latter you can only have two, of the former you can and should have all three.

But to expand on the professions. Suppose you pick herbalism and skinning, then round level 30 you decide to drop skinning. You then go to your char sheet and click the small X next to skinning to unlearn it. If, you were to learn skinning again, you'd have to start from scratch. Then again, having given up skinning, you may now learn alchemy and thus go on your merry way.

cool, i think i will do just that :)

[goat song]

wow. what does blizzard do to people like him ^^^?

i believe arenanet bans them...

[minerenginer]

You sound like a very nice guy/girl and i hope you choose horde as your faction. :) Rogues are tons of fun and very good in soloing and PvP. Note: If you do choose a horde character and you encounter something called "Barrens Chat":
RUN! I MEAN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jengelke]

wow. what does blizzard do to people like him ^^^?

i believe arenanet bans them...

Just a question. Who and what are you talking about?

[practo]

Just a question. Who and what are you talking about?
There was a guy advertising gold and power levelling!

[Gorny]

There was a guy advertising gold and power levelling!


Fluffy ate him for lunch ;)

[jengelke]

Good deal. :)

[Hateblade]

wow. what does blizzard do to people like him ^^^?

i believe arenanet bans them...

When Blizzard can catch them, or get reports about them, they are swiftly banned. You will find that in WoW, there isn't the same amount of spam as there is in GW. You won't have people walking around like the Hall of Heros, spamming thier website such and such. The WoW community across all servers is pretty good about getting those people swiftly punted. You may catch the occasional whisper about it, but they are quickly reported as well.

As far as here on the forums, Fluffy ate him for lunch ;)

Sums it up nicely. :grin:

[goat song]

haha, well done :D

I bought the game last night! I have started a - yes, very over done - night elf rogue. I am glad I picked NE in any case for the starting area is beautiful...the other race contender was undead, and the tipping point for me was the thought that perhaps horde environments are uglier or scarier than alliance ones. I want my flowers and mosses, y'know!

Anyway, thank you to everyone who responded (except for the gold-seller). You have all been very helpful :)

[Gorny]

Fluffy was actually created by Rplusplus when he was a mod.

He got involved with "The Thing" (DII OTF reference) and has since spawned many fluffy things.

[WingedNazgul]

Yeah, I don't quite agree with that list. For me, best means fastest. While every class can solo in this game, certain classes are faster (hence better) at it than others. Paladin and Druid I would place at the bottom as probably the slowest levellers in this game.


After dusting off my 53 Druid I had languishing for some time, I decided to respec to full Feral from the Resto build he had and invest in some quality Feral gear.

I now withdraw my earlier statement about Druids being slow levellers. With the right spec and gear, they can kill about as fast as anything around their level with little downtime. Paladins are still slow as molasses though.

[Aerath]

After dusting off my 53 Druid I had languishing for some time, I decided to respec to full Feral from the Resto build he had and invest in some quality Feral gear.

I now withdraw my earlier statement about Druids being slow levellers. With the right spec and gear, they can kill about as fast as anything around their level with little downtime. Paladins are still slow as molasses though.

Another convert ! :evil:

:thumbsup: