The Newbie Strikes Back: 2 Weeks In...

[innorton38]

Well I posted here when I first started playing about a week or two ago and I thought I'd pop in with an update about how it's going. At first, I was trying a human paladin, I got her to level 11 but I decided to try other chars just to learn more about them. I've since started a dwarven priest. I saw tons of people looking for healers for groups so I thought this would be a good way to meet people and I prefer to play a support role anyway and let the damage dealers get all the glory :wink: . It's just a personal preference. I've been enjoying it so far although I still have a ton to learn.

Some questions:

How do I post in the general chat channel? I can see everyone's messages but whenever I try to chat, I always just get the "say" command.

How do you get on the tram from Ironforge to stormwind and back again? I found it but I couldn't find any way to get on and eventually ended up running along the tunnel till I got to Stormwind. It took forever :rolleyes: .

I'm focusing on the Shadow tree for now because i read a guide that said that's the easiest way to level and then you respec to the holy tree to be an uber-healer. Is this a good approach?

I'm sure I'll think up more questions but this is a good start. Any advice is also appreciated.

Thanks everyone! :thumbsup:

[MalfoyKaine]

Well hello and welcome :)

To be honest I know nothing about the healer classes so I'll leave that question to those who know...but as for your other questions....

1) chatting in general can be done with ".1/blah blah blah" (without the speech marks)

2) The tram has two lines, one goes to Stormwind (sw) only the other goes to Ironforge (IF) only, I must admit I laughed my head off reading about you walking the length of the line as this was something I did myself not so long ago.

On a side note, what server are you on? I'm on Twisting Nether (EU)....

[Loriel]

Here are some quick replies:

As you travel to different zones you will automatically join different channels, and you may join (or even create) others yourself. The general chat channel should always be channel number 1, so to speak in general you need to prefix your message with /1 - like "/1 bla bla". Use the /chatinfo command to see all the channels you are currently subscribing to.

The tram? Well, you need to get to the station, in either IF or SW, and wait until the train gets there - there are two lines that overlap. Despite what the previous poster said, both lines actually go between IF and SW - you can pick either one. Each train has 3 cars, you can pick whichever car you like best ;) Sorry, but there really is no rocket science to this part.

Shadow tree is best for leveling, yes - especially if you plan to solo a lot. Put your first 5 points into Spirit Tap and then get Mind Flay as soon as possible (would be level 20, I guess). Shadowform at 40, respec at sometime between 55 and 60.

Good luck :)

[kennaaye]

there are 2 train lines...either will bring you to IF or SW.When you get to the 'Lobby",just wait for a Train to arrive...usually doesnt take to long,then hop on one of the Cars.There are 3 loading docks,just wait on one of those.

I agree Shadow spec until you get very high level.Shadow Priests can heal fine at the lower instances.There are plenty of guides in the Priest forum to lookat for Talent point placement.

[zkajan]

you also picked the (arugably) best kind of aliance priest a dwarf one
unlike other clases, priests get 2 spells unique to the race they pick. and fear ward is the best pve group skill in lvl 60 raid dungeons.

shadow spec is good for leveling becuase you do most of the leveling solo or in due/trio groups. If you could 5 man instance all the way to 55ish you'd be better off in holy and/or discipline, but most people don't do that. Next patch brings a lot of changes to the priests so keep that in mind too (mainly the holy and discipline trees are going to be buffed (made better) a lot).

Remember, you can always pay a nominal fee (that grows each time you do it, so a couple of times it's ok, all the time would be expensive soon) to have your trainer clear all your talents so you can change your spec.

[innorton38]

Thanks for the info guys! I'll give the tram another try when i get home tonight. It seemed like they were just whipping by and not stopping to pick anyone up and I couldn't find an operator or anything to talk to but I probably needed to pay closer attention.

I printed out a guide for the priest to follow so we'll see how it goes.

MalfoyKaine: I play on Rexxar (US) and I feel like I'm the only one on these forums that plays there. It's not even listed under the realms in the profile so I can't list it as my realm... Is there ever an opportunity to switch your characters to more popular realms?

Will it be easier to get money as I progress because I have like 20 silver and things I see for sale at the auction house are going for double digit gold....

Also, I've been seeing a lot about macros, mods, and UIs but I have only a vague idea what they are and they sound way too technical for to me. Are they necessary for the game or can you sneak by without getting into them? :grin:

Edit:
@zkajan-thanks for the info. I'm glad I picked a good race for my priest :thumbsup: . I'm looking forward to how he turns out. The guide I'm using doesn't look too complex which is a major plus for me...

[Baal]

There's no operator. It's literally just a 3 car "subway" that stops at Stormwind and Ironforge. When it stops, you'll notice each car is just connected to a sort of bridge or ramp on the station (which you'll see when you go in to the subway area) - just walk right on.

[zkajan]

yes as you lvl up
- the monsters you fight are higher lvl and therefore drop more money. remember the troggs around anvilmar dropping 3 copper? and remember the (whatever humanoids you're fighting now) dropping 60 copper-1silver? This progression continues on up
- the monsters you fight are higher lvl and therefore drop better items. you know how you saw that axe on the auction house going for 10 gold? well what are you, as a priest, going to do when you kill a monster and it drops that axe? a) sell it to a vendor or b) put it on the AH for 10 gold?
- quest rewards give more money the higher lvl the quest is
- if you are a gathering profession(s) your can gather beter stuff, sell it for more on AH/trade channel
- if you are a crafting profesion(s) you can craft beter stuff, sell it for more on AH/trade channel


don't ever buy any gear upgrades on the auction house, in a few days you'll level past the range where it's useful anyway so it's just a waste of money. there are some exceptions though:
- some people have their main lvl 60 character with lots of gold and are bored, but they enjoy playing their lvl 19 or 29 or whatever character in the battlegrounds so they use their lvl 60's money to buy all the best possible equipment for their lvl 19 and that 19 will always be 19 and not lvl (intentionaly)
- you are max lvl or close to it and you don't forsee upgrading that item slot soon. let's say you are a priest lvl60 and you don't really run molten core all that often, it *might* be worth it to buy the epic Glowing Brightwood Staff


mods are something that make gameplay easier by simplifying some tasks or changing the way your GUI looks, etc... For example some of the mods I have:
- a maps mod that i can look at instance maps from anywhere and where the various npcs in them are
- a maps mod that keeps track each time I mine something or colect some herbs it marks my map so i can come back to that spot later and see if there is more minerals/herbs there
- a mod that writes a number on my vanish button (rogue skill that uses a reagent you have to buy) that tells me how many reagents i have (so i know that i'm runing low and have to buy more)
- a mod that puts a little timer bar on my screen whenever I stun something so I know exactly how much time i have left before it's unstunned without having to count in my head
- a mod that shows me my target's target, so for example if i'm playing my priest alt i can click an enemy monster and see who it wants to hit (so i know who needs healing.. and possibly yelling at for puling agro off the MT :D)
- a mod that keeps track of auction house prices. every few days I go to the auction house and click "scan" on the mod. The mod checks out the whole auction house and writes the prices of stuff down in a database. then whenever i want so sell/buy something i know what the going prices are and i won't get ripped off paying more for something that's not worth as much. and maybe i can make money by selling something for more than it's usualy sold for.
-etc...

edit: you don't HAVE to have mods, just something that simplifies your life or that of your groupmates in some way as you see by my examples. i believe this very website has a section full of mods. you can also google "wow mods" and look through the lists. beware of things that have executable files, those are not necessary and are probably a virus. the files should be .lua files and maybe some .txt files, all they are is scripts that WoW itself runs.

[WingedNazgul]

There's no operator for the vehicles in the game like the tram, boats, and zeppelins. You just hop in and go.

[Baal]

Hmm - I disagree very much with the auction hall comment.

If I hadn't bought almost all of my equipment there, I would be stuck with really, really crappy stuff. The only thing I don't have from the AH is my Axe - which I got only because I decided to randomly go into the deadmines with someone - other than that, I haven't done any other group work.

I tend to go to the AH every level and try to buy new eq if I can - because I know it'll generally help, and that I'm not going to get a better drop any time soon.

Without the auction hall my char would suck.

[Oatmealsmurf]

exactly what is the nominal fee for the first time... now that you bring it up. I keep meaning to check into it with my trainer but then I always get sidetracked and forget until I'm back out questing? I think I want to respec my hunter and am just curious how much it will cost.

[pipda]

Just going to toss my two copper in here.

First on the subject of the AH. I blew some money in there and got some good stuff, but looking back I realize I lost a ton of money. As a priest we are not as gear reliant as other classes. All our DPS really comes from our spells and not weapons and our armor comes from our shields. True having the +stats is great, but you really level out of that stuff quickly. The best stuff are from drops in instances and as a priest you won't have any trouble finding a group. At level 60 I am still using the Rotgrip mantle I picked up in mara until I can acquire the Dreadmist one. I would suggest sticking with your loot from instances and random drops. Do some research on what drops in the instances and what you see other people your level using and you will have plenty of good stuff and keep the coin in your pocket for when you need it.

As far as your spec as a priest I am still specced at shadow at 60. To get into a raiding guild you will be expected to be holy most likely, but if you so desire to stay shadow there is no reason to spec out. You will be able to heal just fine with a little bit of skill even in the upper level dungeons.

Best of luck.

[zkajan]

Hmm - I disagree very much with the auction hall comment.

If I hadn't bought almost all of my equipment there, I would be stuck with really, really crappy stuff. The only thing I don't have from the AH is my Axe - which I got only because I decided to randomly go into the deadmines with someone - other than that, I haven't done any other group work.

I tend to go to the AH every level and try to buy new eq if I can - because I know it'll generally help, and that I'm not going to get a better drop any time soon.

Without the auction hall my char would suck.
you have fun with that...


http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/02/02

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2005/20050202h.jpg

[zkajan]

until I can acquire the Dreadmist one..

you might want to pick up Devout instead, you can't upgrade Dreadmist to Deathmist once patch 1.10 rolls around, but you can upgrade Devout to <whatever the priest dungeon 2 armor is>. (dunegon 2 armor are next patches upgrade to dungeon 1 armor (shadowcraft/devout/dreadmist/etc..) via quests. 4 epics and 4 rares)

[Baal]

you have fun with that...


http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/02/02



Err - ok. I do have fun with it. Because, without it I'd still be stuck with below 100armor eq, no +stats, way less damage, protection, and survivability.

Just because you don't like the AH, doesn't mean it doesn't work for others and doesn't have its purposes.

I'm a solo player - I've earned every piece of EQ I have by myself (with the exception of that one run) - and so far all my drops have sucked. The AH has been a total blessing for me.

I go sell some bronze bars, make a bunch of money, then buy some eq on the AH - it's really very easy for me. Plus - what's the big deal when I can find some great eq for me for 60 Silver? Why not spend it? I make that much back in a few kills or selling some stuff I mined.

[moopy]

The only mod that you will need is CT Raid Assist. However, you won't need this until you're joining raids.

For PvE raids (fighting monsters in dungeons), this is around lv 55. People expect everyone to have this mod installed. It's particularly important for healers, as it lets you see everyone's health and mana without making the game grind to a complete halt- unlike Blizzard's own raid UI.

You might like to get it earlier, if you're planning to spend some time in the battlegrounds, it comes in handy there, as you generally fight in a raid (unless it's particularly poorly organised). Taking a priest into low level battlegrounds is a lot of fun (there are matches for people between lv 10 and 19, maybe take a look around lv 15 if you're interested).

Everything else is pretty much optional.

Hope that helps.

[Valas Azuviir]

Tramstation.


--B
l
l-A
l
l-B


B are the outer platforms. I suggest you wait at platform A, that way you can quickly board whatever tram comes into the station. Once, it has stopped, you got roughly 5 seconds to get on, after that it leaves again.

Baal, respectfully.
The best gear is going to come from either instances or quest rewards. The rewards often come from quests involving instances, or which deal with elites or both. While, you can solo to 60, if you want good gear, you're going to have to learn how to operate in a group. The sooner you start the better.

Can't get any groups over on the Alliance?? Then make a Horde character, tends to be a tad more mature crowd and a lot gentler on grouping newbies.

Could you keep equipping yourself through the AH, sure, but not only will you eventually reach a proverbial glass ceiling, the better gear is Bind on Pickup and the only way to get it is through grouping. Plus, it means not having the nestegg for your eventual mount.

Respeccing cost, iirc.
1 gold = first time
2 gold = second time
5 gold = third time
10 gold = fourth time
15 gold = fifth time
etc

With a 50 gold max.

[FlareCDE]

The only mod that you will need is CT Raid Assist. However, you won't need this until you're joining raids.
Not true. More and more people I know are stepping away from this mod. Blizzard fixed the raid frame lag with the last patch. CTRA's autocancel is no more as of 1.10. You can make it fine with the default UI all the way to and through endgame.

Also, I still strongly suggest avoiding buying off the AH. My priest had enough for her epic mount at level 55 because I saved my cash. You go through gear so fast that spending money on overpriced items on the AH is really a waste. A few extra instance runs here and there can keep you geared well enough. Quests help too.

[practo]

Edit: My question was: "How did you get all the gold?"

[Baal]

it hasn't cost that much gold - but I get it from selling Bronze Bars

[bwirum]

Yes, you can get that 60 silver back in notime. That's true. But remember that when you're level 40 you WILL want to have a mount. Trust me on that. And for that mount you'll be needing 90 gold. 72 for the mount and 18 for the training iirc. Now, if you don't start saving up some money you'll find it a lot harder getting your mount at level 40. You do NOT save money by going to the AH every level.

You're what, a warrior? Ok, go buy yourself a new weapon every 6-8 levels if you can't find one or get one by a quest. That's all you need. Your other equipment really don't have to be all that big and shiny.

Seriously, you can get by on drops and QUEST-REWARDS (!!!) all the way up to level 60.

Edit:
Hmm... come to think of it, forget what I said. If everybody started listening to that, who'd buy the stuff I put up on the AH?

[WingedNazgul]

Edit:
Hmm... come to think of it, forget what I said. If everybody started listening to that, who'd buy the stuff I put up on the AH?

I seriously LOL'ed.

[moopy]

Can't get any groups over on the Alliance?? Then make a Horde character, tends to be a tad more mature crowd and a lot gentler on grouping newbies.


Sorry, Valas, normally I am behind you waving a small flag and agreeing, but this is just complete horsefeathers.

It's a myth, a generalisation, total nonsense.

I have a few characters on both sides of the fence, and I have to say, the idiocy is every bit as rich on both sides. There is no statistically significant difference in the amount of teenage sociopath 'tards.

However, the horde does have barrens chat, which is possibly even worse than alliance darkshore chat. Worse yet, the horde has ROFLstompers, gotta love them.

However, it generally evens up, even if my initial impressions were that the horde was a haven for gankers and idiots. I realised that this was a kneejerk response and overcame it once I actually had enough information to work with. I suggest you do the same, you naughty FUDder, you! :thumbsup:

[Valas Azuviir]

Sorry, Valas, normally I am behind you waving a small flag and agreeing, but this is just complete horsefeathers.

It's a myth, a generalisation, total nonsense.

I have a few characters on both sides of the fence, and I have to say, the idiocy is every bit as rich on both sides. There is no statistically significant difference in the amount of teenage sociopath 'tards.

However, the horde does have barrens chat, which is possibly even worse than alliance darkshore chat. Worse yet, the horde has ROFLstompers, gotta love them.

However, it generally evens up, even if my initial impressions were that the horde was a haven for gankers and idiots. I realised that this was a kneejerk response and overcame it once I actually had enough information to work with. I suggest you do the same, you naughty FUDder, you! :thumbsup:


Well, it's based more on my own observations. Maybe, I got lucky, or maybe it has to do with Barrens attracting all the foolishness, whereas the Alliance spreads it around, leading to the seeming appearance of less brainpower all round on the Alliance side.

I mean, I got my human pally, dwarven rogue, there's my Forsaken Mage and Tauren druid and a whole range of others waiting in the wings.

Have to say though, generally speaking Tirisfal chat is about on par with the chat over in Darnassus. But that may be the player population and what they're attracted to issue.

Don't get me wrong, met some good folks over on the Alliance side, same applies to the Horde side. Just that with the exception of Barren Chat, I see more annoying gits on the Alliance side overall, with the aforementioned Tirisfal and Darnassus being about equal.

[innorton38]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Because of you guys, I'm now a tram riding master. I also appreciate the advice about the auction house. I bought a mace there but it's usefulness dried up pretty quickly and I haven't been back since. I don't think it's in my best interest because I've found perfectly usable items on my own. I do want to get more involved with selling items though. My priest is now lvl 12 (almost 13) and he's having no trouble fighting baddies around his lvl. He can't handle groups very well though...

I did come up with another question though. Can someone tell me how the griffon's work? I'm getting tired of running all over the place and I see people zipping around all the time but I'm not sure how they work.

Also, can someone explain what a "wipe" is?

Thanks!

[WingedNazgul]

A wipe is when the whole party dies with no chance for someone to be able to recover and resurrect everybody else.

Griffons work by talking to the flight master. You can find flight masters by the green ! over their heads. Talking to them the first time will enable you to learn the flight path and connect it with any previous flight paths already learned. Talking to them again enables you to take griffon rides between learned flight paths for a nominal fee.

Typically, zones will have at least one flight master and there is one available at every major city.

[Oatmealsmurf]

Edit:
Hmm... come to think of it, forget what I said. If everybody started listening to that, who'd buy the stuff I put up on the AH?

I was wondering when you'd come to your senses.

[Athame]

The only thing worth buying at low level is a wand, they're pretty good at the start, doing about the same as mind flay - which you may not even have yet.

If you finish the mob off with a few wand shots so you haven't casted anything for 5 seconds, your mana regen will start up when the mob dies so you'll get full effect from the spirit tap. If you kill a mob with a mind blast, then the first 5 seconds of your spirit boost is only causing half of its mana regen potential.

That's also a reason not to cast a renew or flash heal immediately after you gain spirit tap. If you can, try not to cast while it lasts. You can use a bandage, or wand.

[innorton38]

Thanks for the additional info. I thought I had heard people "performing a wipe" but that doesn't sound like something you'd want to bring about voluntarily so I must have been mistaken.

MY priest is now lvl 14.5 and he's really not having too much trouble killing lvl 14 and 15 baddies. I'm using a staff because it's the best thing I've found so far. Should I be using a wand? I saw that what looked like a fairly good one was available as one of my quest rewards so I'll be trying that quest this weekend.

The advice about finishing things off with my staff was very useful. Getting that spirit tap active asap after fighting is a big bonus.

I also found my first gryffon master (the one in Westfall).

I do have another question though. Is there some protocol for the green items that you have to roll for in a group? Being a newbie, I basically need any good item I can get but I don't want to make my party made is I choose "need" when it's not going to be useful for that specific character. Also, if you choose "greed," do you win the item automatically? I haven't chosen "greed" yet basically because I don't want to be greedy. Imagine that!

Overall, it's been so far so good. Thanks for the help!

[WingedNazgul]

Need is if you plan on using that item and it is an upgrade to what you have.

Greed is anything else.

Need overrides Greed so if you choose Need, you will automatically beat out anyone who chose Greed for that item.

If more than one person chose Need or Greed, the game will have each person roll a random number from 1-100 with the higher roll winning.

For BOP items, most groups will all Pass to avoid misunderstandings and then discuss who should roll on the item afterwards.

[zkajan]

there is a griffon master in stormwind (just ask a guard for directions, they'll mark it on your map). go grab that one. then you can fly from ironforge to stormwind to westfall if you wanted to.

let's say something drops
2 people roll need, 2 people roll greed, 1 pases
the 2 people that did need would roll a random number between 1 and 100 and the higher number gets the item

let's say item drops
3 people roll greed, 2 people pass
the 3 people that did greed would roll a random number between 1 and 100 and the higher number gets the item

let's say item drops
everyone passes
the item now just sits on the corpse and anyone can pick it up



the intended use is
need if it's something you can equip and will be equiping/using because it's an upgrade over what you currently have
greed is if you want it to sell it to a vendor/auction house it/disenchant it/give it to an alt/give it to a friend/etc...
pass is if you don't want the item at all, maybe becuase you have a lot of money already or maybe you just don't have room for it in your bag or whatever

if someone wins a roll (need or greed) and they have no room in their backpack the item remains on the corpse and is lootable by anyone so.. make sure you have room if you really want it

[Caldrak]

For BOP items,

To avoid the next question:

BOP - Bind on pickup (an item that becomes soulbound when you loot it) Similar to all green quest rewards you get. Such items can not be auctioned or given to other people.

BOE - Bind on equip (an item that becomes soulbound when you equip it)

[innorton38]

To avoid the next question:

BOP - Bind on pickup (an item that becomes soulbound when you loot it) Similar to all green quest rewards you get. Such items can not be auctioned or given to other people.

BOE - Bind on equip (an item that becomes soulbound when you equip it)

Haha. You, sir, know me all too well. I was actually wondering what that meant but I thought I should hold off on asking and I could figure it out for myself.

I was completely opposite on what the need-greed meant while looting. I though choosing "need" meant you wanted it but preferred it go to the person who needs it the most and I thought greed was for people who wanted to be greedy and it gave them a better chance to get it. Thanks for the important clarification.

What's the best way to get additional bags? My paladin found a 4 or 6 slot bag (I don't remember which) from like the 3rd thing she killed but my priest is at lvl 14.5 and he's never found any additional bags. All he has is his original backpack and the feedbag quest item. Space is often running short but I'm hesitant to buy a bag cause they are expensive even at the AH.

Also, I read somewhere about a mod that let you see the sell value of things when you are looting and I think that'd be really helpful, especially early on. Can someone point me in the direction of it?
Thanks and St. Patty's Day!

[fictionwelive]

If your original Paladin is on the same server, log on as him/her and send your priest that bag you picked up. Trust me, you need it.

They are expensive at first, but you'll get the money back in no time. Make it to the AH and buy some cheap 6 or 8 slot bags. I think you can get them pretty cheap, less than 30s, but I'm not sure I never had to buy the smaller bags.

But you really need them as soon as you can get them, the more stuff you can carry the less trips you have to take back to town, the more money you make in less time.

[Caldrak]

Also, I read somewhere about a mod that let you see the sell value of things when you are looting and I think that'd be really helpful, especially early on. Can someone point me in the direction of it?
Thanks and St. Patty's Day!

http://ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=156 - SellValue. One thing to note is that it just keeps track of items that get priced while you're at a vendor. So, fill up your bags, go to a vendor and sell the trash, then the next time your in the field, if you've already picked on of thos crispy spider legs up before and had it in a bag when you visited a vendor, you know how much it will sell for.

I agree with fictionwelive as well. The more room you have in your bags the more time you can spend in the field. I went so far as to buy my alt 4 travelers backpacks right off the bat and man do i notice a difference.

[WingedNazgul]

Unless you can find a nice guild willing to help lowbies out with bags, your best bet would be to have one of your characters pick up the Tailoring profession. Tailoring will let you craft bags out of cloth you find from humanoid mobs. Since Tailoring will also let you craft cloth aromor, it makes more sense for your Priest to learn it rather than your Paladin.

[Valas Azuviir]

What's the best way to get additional bags? My paladin found a 4 or 6 slot bag (I don't remember which) from like the 3rd thing she killed but my priest is at lvl 14.5 and he's never found any additional bags. All he has is his original backpack and the feedbag quest item. Space is often running short but I'm hesitant to buy a bag cause they are expensive even at the AH.



a) Buy them anyway, it'll pay itself back bigtime.
b) Get a low level tailor to make them for you in exchange for the mats (materials in this case: 3 coarse threads and 6 pieces of linen cloth or 1 piece of fine thread and 9 pieces of wool) and a slight monetary tip, or you give him/her more mats in exchange. in exchange for the mats you want.

Note what I mentioned, makes one bag only, so one linen bag or one woolen bag

[Caldrak]

Let someone else take up the tailoring job. Unless you plan to do something with it at later levels. Consider this (i'm using mean prices from a website, these prices will vary from server to server).

Linen bag (6 slot) Average auction price = 7s 16c
Woolen bag (8 slot) Average auction price = 20s
Silk bag (10 slot) Average auction price = 75s (on my server they go for 50s, i buy them for new guildies all the time).

Assuming you picked up leatherworking and mining as professions.
1 copper ore auctions for around 6s.
1 light leather auctions for around 2s 40c

1 Linen Cloth auctions for around 1s 90c
1 wool cloth auctions for around 5s 50c.

It's very easy to gain the money to be able to buy yourself 4 bags. Pick up one or two gathering professions and auction what you get, or just collect the cloth and auction that. People pay lots of $ for tradegoods because we're too lazy to collect them ourselves. It's nice because that means that lower level people who are just starting out in the game can collect a goodly amount of coin in a short period of time.

If you pick a crafting profession, pick one that you think your going to use for a while, because they are really money sinks in the beginning (unless you plan to use what you make). Later on they have the potential to generate cash, but there's a huge investiment that goes in first.

my 2 cents.

[zkajan]

if he's a priest he could definitely use tailoring

then maybe a gathering profession to suplement cash earning. i'd recommend skining since
- some tailoring recipes ask for leather (boot ones usualy)
- he's a dwarf and unlike mining/herbalism, skining won't interfere with dwarf racial treasurefinding

[Thalassicus]

A note on professions: the best money-making tradeskills while levelling up are usually Herbalism and Skinning. Mining is also good to replace Skinning, although you'll have to alternate the tracking type. Herbalism is especially good around level 30+ where you can find Kingsblood, which sells for about 50 silver each. Both herbalism and skinning are very easy to skill up, requiring little extra work on your part, and mostly involve things you'd be doing anyways (such as killing beasts).

With Herb/Skinning I usually have more than enough gold by the time a character hits level 40 to get a mount.

Something to note on Auction House purchases.

You can make money much, much faster at level 60 than at previous levels. At level 10 you might be able to make 2 gold per hour, whereas at level 60 you can quite easily make 40 gold per hour or more doing nothing but killing creatures. If you keep your character up to date in equipment, you will level faster, as superior equipment allows you to kill mobs faster and have less downtime (spent drinking or eating to regain health and mana). Quest gear is typically 5 levels lower than the level you can reasonably complete the quest. For example, if you can complete a solo quest at level 25, the reward you get is usually a level 20 green.

Buying things on the Auction House is a great levelling tool. Without this, you might level in 15 days /played time and have 500 gold to spare (as a very high estimate), but by keeping your character in good gear, you might level in 14 days with little gold in the bank. You shaved off only a day of your levelling time, but 24 hours' worth of farming at level 60 is easily worth 24 * 40 = 960 gold, more than you could ever have made at earlier levels in a reasonable amount of time.

Some tips on buying things at the Auction House:

1) Look for items ahead of your level. At level 30 I search for any gear in the 35-40 range. That way you can put it in the bank, and when you level up, you can equip it right away. It also gives you something to look forward to.

2) Be wary of overpriced items. There's quite a few "farmers" (people who are paid to kill monsters to make gold for selling online) on most every server, and they often place gear on the auction house for extravagent prices (a level 15 ring up for 30 gold, for example).

3) Similar to the previous point, almost always buy just green items -- blues are usually insanely overpriced. For example, if you see a level 30 blue-colored-name (rare) item up for twenty gold, it's not worth it. In five more levels you can equip a green-colored (uncommon) item of the same stats for perhaps 1 gold.

4) Usually it's good to have the majority of your gear no more than 5 levels behind (level 25 items at level 30), 10 at most. Otherwise you'll probably have trouble killing creatures the same level as you.

If you gear is all up to date as a shadow priest, it's possible to take on two mobs your level at once, or one mob up to 5 levels higher than yourself. Shadow Focus (talent in the shadow tree) is important -- it basically increases the level of a creature you can take on by 1 or 2. For example, as a level 51 priest you can kill Lar'korwi, a level 56 raptor boss in Un'Goro crater, after a few attempts. For most classes this is impossible since the majority of attacks would be dodged or resisted, or they'd run out of health/mana. :smiley:

[innorton38]

More great advice everyone. I came up with another question. Items that are soulbound can't be sold at the AH or sent to alts, right? So is selling them to vendor's the only option remaining? Thanks again!

[WingedNazgul]

Soulbound items can only be vendored or disenchanted if you are an Enchanter.

[innorton38]

Soulbound items can only be vendored or disenchanted if you are an Enchanter.

Thanks for the input. I've just been selling them because I don't have an enchanter and I don't want to take the time to find one. I don't think the items I've sold have been too great so I don't feel bad selling them.


Update for week three: My Priest is now lvl 20 and he's cruising right along. I did my first instance at lvl 18. It was the Deadmines and I was very surprised at the difficulty... Luckily I had a very skillful and understanding group and we moved very slowly. I passed on any mail or leather green items that popped up and they in turn let me get all the green cloth items and a nice blue staff. I ended up with some really nice gear. I only died a couple times but I made up for it because when we fought some huge guy everyone died (despite my healing, we just got overwhelmed) except me and one pally. But with the pally tanking and me healing and protecting, we eventually brought him down just before I ran out of mana. It was very exciting. I ressurected everyone and we looted the body. Somebody got a really nice item based on how much everyone who didn't get it was cursing him. It was all in good fun though.

So overall, it's been going really well and I definitely think I made a good choice by going with a priest. I'm tempted to go in the opposite direction and create a crazy damage dealer like a mage next but we'll see. I think I'm going to progress with my priest for a while first. :thumbsup:

[cyradis2003]

You can only disenchant your own soulbound items so you would have to be an enchanter on that character.

My little bit of advice would be to gather as much cloth as you can, as a dwarf priest you probably recall the silverload mine in Loch Modan? That is a great place to get linen - those kobolds drop heaps of it. The Troggs are also good for cloth and when you are bigger there are even Ogres.

Now, once you have this cloth I would recommend asking a tailor to make you linen packs to tide you over - sell your wool on the auction house and use that cash to buy silk packs. A silk pack will cost a bit less than one 20 stack of wool will sell for yet it will last you quite a while. I was happy with my silk packs all the way to level 40ish before I upgraded them to Mageweave ones. On my first character I used wool bags until about 20 but still ran out of room regularly and wound up selling everything I had to buy silk ones. Personally I think wool bags are a waste of time - spend a tiny bit more cash up front and you will make it back by being able to sell the vender loot.

Never leave loot on a body. Always pick everything up - as the cartoon said it may be gross but the venders will buy it.

Learn first aid, once you have your silk packs you can start using the cloth you find to train up in first aid. Some people wonder why a healer class will want it but lets face it, someday you are out of mana - low on health and that monster you just feared is going to be coming back SOON to ask why you killed his best friend. Slap on a bandaid, chug down a mana potion and let him know he picked the wrong dwarf. (you can only drink potions every so often and mana ones are on the same timer as health so you can only drink one or the other. Sure you could mana pot and heal yourself but now you are out of mana again ans somehow beating monsters on the head with a stick is less satisfying than melting his face right off)

Get a wand! Wands are in addition to staffs not instead of them. They are kind of the caster's answer to a bow and arrow. You should pull the shoot icon out of your general skill tab and add it to your skill bar (in place of attack if that is still on your skill bar - you can attack by clicking) Wands use no mana, they can be used from a distance while hiding behind a warrior as you save your mana for healing. Just remember the wand will auto shoot so you have to interupt it when you want to cast a heal. You can either jump (my personal favorite) or just step back, forward, to the side etc. This lets you add damage in a group without using up your mana pool which you need to conserve for healing.

Always have fun. Part of the beauty of this game is that you can do goofy stuff like high dive off the Stormwind flight master deck. (just be sure to jump from the one on the right or you will smack into the ground) Take it at your own pace and enjoy the ride. People rush to 60 and miss a lot of the fun to be had along the way. Don't become all wrapped up in the items available and forget the things you started out loving about the game. By all means deck yourself out in epic gear but don't forget to enjoy it.

:grin: And that concludes the soapbox portion of today's program!

[innorton38]

Great advice here. I did track down a wand a while back and after only having a staff for a long time, it's made all the difference, especially when those little buggers run away just as I'm about to kill them.

I didn't know that about enchanting, looks like I'll keep selling the gear.

I have spent a lot of time making bandages for first aid. I think I'm up to lvl 74 or something. Almost able to make wool bandages. I'll look into selling the wool at the AH for now though...

As for just having fun, don't worry, I'm not the type of player who misses the forest for the trees. I've been excited to gain lvls but I'm enjoying learning the world most of all. Last night there was a minor horde invasion on my realm and I had a blast running around with all the other Alliance players teaching them not to mess with us. Then we had a dance party

That brings me to my new question. While we were fighting the Horde, I got credit for 3 honorable kills. What differentiate honorable from dishonorable kills? What's the purpose of acquiring these kills?

Thanks!

[zkajan]

once you get to lvl 75 first aid you cannot train past that until you train (at the first aid trainer) to journeyman level so keep that in mind

you get an honor kill every time you kill a player of the oposite faction that's "green" or higher to you. (just like mobs, you know how if you are lvl 20 and click on a lvl 20 mob they are yellow, a lvl 28 mob is red, and a lvl 5 mob is gray, same deal here). Depending on your lvl, the oponent's lvl, and the oponent's rank (private, seargeant, general, etc...) you get awarded some amount of CP, or contrubution points. This is not shown to you actualy, though there are some mods that try to estimate it. Also if you continuosly kill the same person over and over you get less and less each time. this resets after a while. so if you kill somene and you get 200cp, let's say. then you kill them again 10 minutes later and you get 100cp. then again an hour later and you get 70cp. then a day passes, you kill them, you get 200cp. these are not exact numbers, just an example.
well, at the end of the week during the tuesday maintanance, one of the things blizzard does is to add up all the points that all the aliance earned that week. and add up all the points that all the horde earned that week. then it ranks people based on how much they contributed. then it averages that rank across the previous weeks that person has pvpd. it's a bunch of semicomplex forumals that if you realy care in detail about you can poke around the pvp forums i supose, but the end result is that at the end of the week you either move up or move down in standing some. you move up if you pvpd a certain amount, you move down if you pvpd less than a certain amount. the amount depends on your lvl and how much you pvpd before. move up high enough and you rank up to a new title (private, seargeant, kinight, etc...). The flip side is if you reach say rank 8 then don't pvp for a few weeks at all you end up falling a rank or so each week. Each rank brings its own benefits. It's an exponential curve, with just about everyone being rank 1, and only one or two people per faction being rank 14 (the highest) at any one week. Basicaly you are competing against your fellow faction-mates.

DK are disonorable kills. The only way currently to get them is to kill "civilian" npcs of the opposite faction. These are usualy questgivers. This is a mechananism that blizzard justifies as "so that people who want to quest can do so without having all their NPCs missing" which I guess is ok on PVE server but is beyond retarded on a PVP server. Anyways, getting a DK will hugely cut into your CP. Might even derank you if you are high enough.

If you are solo it's pretty cut and dry. If you are in a group, the CP are split, the same way exp is split. That means that let's say you and 2 other guys are partied. 2 of you kill a hordie of your lvl, and the 3rd guy is on the other side of the map. He does not get any cp. You and the guy you were with split equaly the cp you got from the hordie, even if only one of you did 100% of the dmg. That means you can get a class that does dmg and a class that heals together and the healer keeps the dmg dealer alive to do the dmg, and the dmg dealer does the killing, and they split the rewards. Just like when you party to kill a monster.

Here is another scenario. You and a random aliance guy you are not partied with see a horde. you start fighting and you do 40% of the dmg and the other guy does 60% of the dmg. you'll get 40% of the CP and the other guy will get 60% of it. if the other aliance guy is saying "heal me heal me" tell him to invite you first otherwise so you can split the CP otherwise you're just giving him cp with nothing in return.

[innorton38]

thanks for the PvP info. I never really got too into PvP in Diablo 2, mostly because there wasn't really a reason for it. I like that there's a built in incentive to go PvP in WoW (the whole Allliance v. Horde thing). I know I won't focus on PvP but it was fun to feel like I was defending my home land...

I came up with another question. I always hear people saying things like "If you go ninja, I'll boot you from the group." I think we can all agree that ninjas are about the coolest thing since Vikings but what does this mean in WoW parlance and why the negative connotation?

Thanks!


EDIT: Never mind, I found the glossary and answered my own question... :grin:

So I'll replace it with a new question. Can someone explain how looting in parties works? Does it just rotate through the group as to who gets first crack at a given corpse and then you roll on the uncommon loot?

Thanks again!

[zkajan]

thanks for the PvP info. I never really got too into PvP in Diablo 2, mostly because there wasn't really a reason for it. I like that there's a built in incentive to go PvP in WoW (the whole Allliance v. Horde thing). I know I won't focus on PvP but it was fun to feel like I was defending my home land...

I came up with another question. I always hear people saying things like "If you go ninja, I'll boot you from the group." I think we can all agree that ninjas are about the coolest thing since Vikings but what does this mean in WoW parlance and why the negative connotation?

Thanks!


EDIT: Never mind, I found the glossary and answered my own question... :grin:

So I'll replace it with a new question. Can someone explain how looting in parties works? Does it just rotate through the group as to who gets first crack at a given corpse and then you roll on the uncommon loot?

Thanks again!
the party leader (the one that invited everyone else) sets one of the following options
- free for all (everythign on every corpse is available to everyone for the taking with no prompts of any kind, first person to pick it up makes it theirs)
- round robin (each time a monster is killed another person gets to loot it and can pick up everything and anything, next monster it's next person, and so on, eventualy back to the first person. if someone leaves somethign non-picked up, anyone else can pick it up like in ffa)
- group loot (the leader also sets a treshold for this one based on rarity (green item/blue item/etc..). any items below the treshold are treated as round robin. any items at or above the treshold are rolled for. the default treshold is uncommon/green. when rolling one can click the dice icon (need), the coin icon (greed), or the x (pass).)
- need before greed (works like group loot with the exception that if a character can't use the item in question they won't get the roll box. so if a 2 handed sword drops the mage won't get the box. a warrior that has not trained 2 handed swords yet won't get the box either. if nobody is eligible the loot becomes available to anyone like in ffa)
- master looter (has a treshold like group loot below which things are round robin. at or above the treshold only the master looter can determine who gets it. by default the master looter is the party leader, though the party leader can designate another person to be the master looter if they wanted to. when the master looter right clicks an item at or above the treshold, he gets a menu of names of everyone in the group and picks a name to give the item to. the other people will seee the corpse is shiny but won't see any items on it, only the ML can see the items on the corpse)

those are the in-game options. often, players will invent their own rules like "we're using group loot except if the item is bind on pickup, in which case everyone passes so we can discuss it, then we'll do /random 100 and the one with the highest number gets it, unless it's a full moon and the wind is blowing from the west in which case we all do jumping jacks IRL and the person who does the most gets it" or some such.... usualy every server will evolve over time some particular bizaro loot ruleset that's different than on the other servers.


master looter used to be bugged such that if someone died and got released before the monster died and didn't get resed before someone went over to loot the corpse, that dead player would be ineligible to recive the loot (in end game dungeons most of the boses take longer than 6 minutes). blizzard fixed this but most people still consider ml bugged for that reason and will yell at people who loot before everyone is resed up if ML is in use.