never instanced before...should i?

[luckenbach1]

only been playing a couple of months, rolled a few chars and leveled them all to about 15-20 and found i liked my hunter the best. i have a lvl 21 dwarf hunter running around and hear a ton of chatter lfg.

i have never done an instance, but i gather they are fun, or at least worth it in some way. my prob is that i have pretty slow laptop. i have like 256 ram on it, so i am worried that i will either freeze up or that i will slow everyone else down.

are there instances that you can play with just a few players? or that you can solo at a lower level (i know probably not 21, but maybe upper 20's or 30's)?

Thanks

[Jerkey]

The instances are normally 5-man and are sperated from the game world, you shouldn't have too many problems with running them.

[NOYB]

When you're at an inn talk to the innkeeper. Ask about the dungeons you can explore.

For your level I'd recommend deadmines in Westfall. In order to get the quest reward (which should be a nice tunic for you) you'll have to do a chain of quests leading up to the expedition into the mines.

A few tips for a beginner in instancing. (With some emphasis on hunters.)

Pay attention to how the designated puller grabs mobs. (As a hunter you may eventually be asked to perform this.)

Stay in the back with the cloth wearers.

Assist the DPS. Don't choose your own target. Using the "F1-F5" keys you can quickly target a teammate. Then, hit the "F" key. This will target the teammates target.

A note on hunter's pets. Keep your pet in passive mode at all times. Turn off auto growl. (Unless of course you don't have a warrior or druid tanking. In which case your pet may be the preferred tanker.)

Start fights with auto-shoot. This will keep your threat to a minimum while the tank builds aggro. As the fight progresses begin piling on your DPS.

Do not to use serpent sting. DOTs break CC. Instead use scorpid sting. It's preferable in a group, because the debuff will enable more net damage than serpent sting and reduce the amount of damage done to the main tank.

Before fights with more than one mob, drop a freezing trap. If a mob makes a break for your mage or priest it might buy time for the tank to grab aggro.

A final note on pets. Be prepared to dismiss your pet. There will come a time when the party will bypass a section of an instance. (Gnomeregan comes to mind.) Pets can do crazy things. You may jump straight down very carefully avoiding all mobs in the area. Your pet may choose to run the long way aggroing a dozen or more mobs and bringing them ever so quickly to you. It is better to dismiss the pet and call him back when you've made the detour.

[luckenbach1]

thanks guys. i will try deadmines soon. about how long will it take with a decent group? 45 min, an hour, longer????

[NOYB]

For a good group an hour sounds about right. It's possible that it could take longer. It just depends on how well everyone works together.

[kcma]

or just go in with whatever group. early instances really arent that hard.

[Chronicall]

Ive been playing for a week, my first time, and Ive done tons of instances, mostly the same ones over, and im already a level 24 as apposed to you lvl 15-20s in 2 months as to my 24 in a bit over a week. So.. do it ;)

[EphemeralIntelligence]

Instances often give you the best equipment for your level and sometimes the best for a while. I highly recommend it. Also, I've found that instances pass the time much better, so even if they don't give you as good xp/hour as pure questing/grinding it makes it seem easier. Go for it.

[luckenbach1]

i appreciate the advice. i will try one soon when i have over an hour or so that i know i can play. damn this work and family stuff that limits me to 30-45 min at a time.....

[Twoflower]

just make a instance after your family is in bed :)

[luckenbach1]

just ran my first dm at lvl 25. we were killin bad guys just fine, until the 'healer' decided he was going to join in the fight. i lost my pet, then the big ugly came right after me. guess i have to find a better group.

i will say that i had no problems with lag or mobility in the instance. actually my little 256 laptop did pretty well. i think that it worked better there than in regular realm play.

[Loriel]

As already mentioned in this thread, instances are seperate from the rest of the game world (hence the name) - and AFAIK they also run on dedicated servers. Consequently, frame rate and general game performance can in fact be better inside an instance. 256 MB RAM probably won't cut it for the 20-40 man endgame stuff, but it should be doable for the 5 mans.

I would add that instances are highly recommended for the fun and the challenge of it, and also to prepare you for what WoW endgame is like. NOYB posted some great tips and strategies for how to play in a group and cooperate with others. Playing to 60 solo simply won't teach you this stuff, ever. So jump in there asap - and have fun with it :)