Hello fellow Forumers !
After yonks of writing and much bumming around, my Newby guide to be is finally in a shape where it's starting to look like something. I haven't gotten round to formatting yet, nor the index.
The FAQ and the Abbreviations part are still 'under construction', so to speak, but give me feedback on what I've got so far, before I post a finalised version
(Sorry for making you read a book ! I promise the real version will be easier to navigate !)
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Begin Newby Guide Here
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First of all - welcome to the forums, and welcome to World of Warcraft.
I've compiled in this guide a ton of advice gathered from various places, including this forum. I'm not going to take credit for it, nor am I going to bother linking to a 100 different places.
**Part 1 - I Got The Game... Now What ?**
What Race/Class should I pick, and Horde or Alliance ?
There's no easy answer here. Everyone enjoys something else. I'll give a quick description of the classes, and give one example of why race doesn't matter all that much for classes.
I'll tackle the second question first, as it's actually the more important one;
Pick whichever side you want. There's no hard n solid rules about which sides rules the battlegrounds or which is more popular on a server. You can have a slew of characters, so if all else fails, you can always make a second character to take a peek at the other side. Both sides have their share of asshats, both sides have great friendly players.
The following is a list of the various classes
and their expected role in instances.
Of course, there's always exceptions to what's expected, but you might run into a lot of frustration if you pick, say, a Warrior to be that massive damage dealer and find out people want to use you as meatshield. Let me stress again that these are
generalisations, and as such put down a bit more strongly than you might experience things.
* Druid: Jack of all trades. You can heal about as well as a priest, tank about as well as a warrior and do respectable damage in catform. One minor downside, you can't do it all at once, and switching between all those roles takes some practise.
On the upside, you can answer any call for a "Looking for Member!". On the downside, you'll basically be wanted most for the position of healer.
* Hunter: Master of the Loners. You have a solid damage output and your own personal tank in the form of a pet. You can grind unlike anything upon the world of Azeroth.
Downside, many players are wary of Hunters. There's a ton of 'em on every server and all that soloing means they might not have the proper skills for an instance, causing the party to wipe through stupid actions. A good hunter is a blessing, a poor hunter a nightmare.
* Mage: Caster, Damage dealer and Water carrier. You have some nice spells to disable enemies, deal massive damage, but will keel over dead as soon as someone blinks at you.
Downside, you'll get tired of the repeated whispers for "Water Plx" and people expecting to use your Portal spells as a fast taxi-service to some distant city.
* Paladin: Holy warrior in disguise. Pretty much unparalled survivability. You'll be a blessing to parties with all your different blessings, longetivity and healing... downside is that outside of parties you'll be hurting as your damage starts to fall behind compared to other classes. It'll take some practise to keep an eye on everything, and as a paladin you'll want to do that.
As the game progresses, you'll turn more into a Plate-clad healer than into a Holy Warrior with a Vengeance and some side Healing (tm).
* Priest: Leveling up, you can do some mean damage in shadow form. You can outheal everyone in the game if set-up properly.
Downside, You can pretty much forget about getting into a group as damage dealer, no matter how much you can outdamage those silly mages. The problem is, with their linen bandages those Mages can't keep everyone standing and all parties are looking for that last elusive member: healer!
* Rogue: Stealth ! Pickpocketing ! Backstabbing people ! Stunlock something and kill it whilst it doesn't even touch you ! All that and more.
You can put out some incredible damage and have good uses in instances too through being able to take a Humanoid mob out for a bit.
Downsides, there's 15,000 rogues too many running around on the server. And, for every competent rogue, there's 2 that wipe a party. As with Hunters, a good rogue is a great addition to a party. A bad rogue will make you cringe time and time again.
* Shaman: Super PvP God ! All Alliance hate them ! They get to play with totems ! Spells, healing, melee, they can do it all ! Aye. Indeed. A fairly common class on horde side and one that's rather versatile.
Downsides, you're stronger in PvP than PvE and really late game you'll mostly be brought on board for healing purposes only. Until then, you'll be a stop gap for whatever a group needs, though rarely a 'main' class (healer, tank) but rather a backup.
* Warlock: Many, many spells that slowly eat away at an opponent's life. Or, just straight out nuke them. You'll get to manage pets, a massive amount of curses and turn health into mana.
Downsides, Warlock can be tricky to master initially as there's a lot going on. Managing different curses and your pet demons can be challenging. You'll grow tired of "can you summon my friend"-whispers soon. Some people find soul shards (an ingredient for many warlock spells) a nuisance. On the upside, you can give a party a free wipe-insurance and provide the tank with another 'health potion' and bring along solid damage.
* Warrior: Barbaric Monsters of Damage with Big Freaking Axes and lugging about hefty Armour. Well, yea. Except that's exceedingly rarely what you'll ever get to do in a party. All of the people expect you to bring a shield, a one handed pansy weapon and take all the hits rather than deal massive damage. It's a role that's definitely not for everyone, but is rather involving.
What Race should I pick ?
Now, let me give you a quick example of why Race doesn't matter all that much. Let's say you want to play a Rogue, and picked the Alliance side. All Races on Alliance side can be a Rogue.
Stat wise, you'll find that at level 60, there's very little difference between the classes. Most of the Statistics will come from your equipment. So, that means we can ignore that part.
Let's take a look @ the Racial Abilities
Human: Improved Mace and Sword skill. Rather useful, as it will improve your overall damage when fighting higher level Mobs (as in Dungeons) or when you haven't maxed out your weapon skill yet. Of course, you have to be using a Mace or Sword for this, but there's loads of those around for a Rogue.
Additionally, they have the Diplomacy skill. This will increase the reputation you get when completing quests. Since a lot of the end game involves getting up to the right Reputation levels with certain factors, this is a rather hefty bonus (some people consider it to be the best PvE bonus...)
Dwarf: Stoneform can get rid of Poisons and Diseases. Since these stop a Rogue from stealthing, it's a great bonus. The Find Treasure ability is also a god-send when you are trying to find lockboxes to level up your Lockpicking.
Gnome: Escape Artist is great when you don't want to waste a Vanish on getting out of a net or something similar. It's a very useful ability in both PvE and PvP.
Night Elf: A passive bonus to Stealthing and an improved Dodge chance. How could you not like that for a Rogue ?
--Exception--
There's one exception to this - the Priests all get a Race-based spell.
For the min-maxers among us, if Alliance pick a Dwarven Priest. If Horde, pick an Undead one.
If you just don't care that much, pick whichever you think looks best.
b. What Server should I pick ?
In short:
PvE: You won't get any 'accidental' Player vs Player action. This does make the world safer, but might also take away from some of the excitement when moving into a contested zone. Some people argue it might be a smart choice to start here initially as it will let you get a taste of the game first without getting 'disturbed' by evil (Allies/Horde).
PvP: The gaming experience can be much more intense when you see that dreaded "The Zone You're In/Heading To Is Under Attack" pop up in your chatlog. However, truth be told, both sides have a fairly safe leveling zone for the first 20 or so levels, meaning you won't instantly run into lvl 60 characters trying to take down the newbies. Battlegrounds tend to be more active on these server as well, but that's a fairly generic sweeping statement which needn't necessarily hold true.
RP: Use either the PvE or the PvP rule-set. Tends to draw a slightly more mature crowd and you might even find some actual Roleplaying. Note, Lewtwhore, Roflcopter or a similar name will likely get you reported on a server of this kind.
Ganking; Generally where someone is attacked in such a way that they have no chance whatsoever (either by a Gang of people, or by higher level characters). You will find this happening on PvP servers. Part of the thrill is escaping here, or turning the tables on them. Certain zones are dreaded and avoided for largely this reason as higher level characters and lower level characters mix here (Stranglethorn Vale comes to mind). If you do roll on a PvP server, remember that complaining about ganking will only be answered by "Learn2reroll". Instead, avoid 'em, kill 'em yourself or bring friends. Remember, all's fair in love and war and this certainly ain't love.
**Part 2 - How Do I Get Rich ?**
Now this is the clinger. You're level 38 and suddenly realised you need 70 more gold for your mount, which is coming up in 2 levels. Do not fear, there's ways.
For starters, take a gathering profession (or two). Mining, Herbalism and Leatherworking all bring in goods you can sell at the auction house. Check the prices to see if Copper Bars, Briarthorn and Light/Heavy Leather are worth anything at all.
Keep in mind that some of this stuff is needed for Reputation related quests for high level characters who'd rather be lazy and spend some money than farm it themselves. Look for Kingsblood, Heavy Leather and Iron Bars in particular.
Rogues need Swiftthistle and Fadeleaf for their skills, you can sell stacks of these for decent money.
Low level cloth sells well too. Linen, Wool and Silk can fairly easily be farmed by a lvl 30+ character and should bring some nice money in the Auction House.
Fishing brings money - Oily Blackmouths, Firefin Snappers and later Stonescale Eels are needed by Alchemists (and in the Tier 0.5 quest in the case of the latter) and bring cash.
With Sergeant Rank (third PvP rank) you get a 10% discount on everything you buy. Honoured with the faction you're dealing with gets you another 10% discount. Spending some time in the Battlegrounds might save you a lot of cash in the long run.
You can often disenchant items and make a profit on the materials. For example, I tend to buy high level blue items to disenchant them into Large Brilliant Shards. If those shards sell for 5-6 gold, I can easily spend 3gold on an item and still make a profit.
People are idiots. Honestly. That, and lazy. On a new server I recently earned 20gold by level 19... just by buying Herb Pouches in Ironforge (10silver from vendor) and selling them in the Auction House for 50s-75s. They sold on buyout every single time. [Note, 12slot bags on that particular server went for 1-1.5gold. This won't work on a more established server.]
Vendor bought limited recipes work just as well. Det tested it a while earlier. He walked into town with a few silver and from recipes
sold in Ironforge, he had over 10g a week later without setting a foot outside of town.
On the people are idiots note, you can use the Auction House as a gambling hall. Buy cheap items and resell them for a slightly less price. (Never use the buy low, sell high rule. Since everyone else does, you'll never ever sell high...)
You can use the add-on Auctioneer if your memory isn't up to scratch on remembering all that. Gorny's made a tutorial about that specific add-on.
If you want an interesting read, check out kcma's threads in the Hunter forums. He started on another server, and was aiming for 1k gold and level 40 in 7 days /played. If contains a few pointers which you might find useful.
**Part x - How do groups and instances work ?**
Loot Systems
Someone invited you to a party and now you can't loot your own kill anymore !
Don't worry. You just got told that the "grouping is now changed to group loot". This means that the actual looting will be done in turns. Your turn will come.
Some quest items can be looted by all people (on that quest) at the same time, so you don't have to kill the same baddy a dozen times over.
There will be a cut-off (generally at 'green' or 'uncommon' items) where a Roll system pops up. There's a 'coin' (greed) and 'dice' (need). You can also pass using the [x] to close the pop up. How each group deals with this might vary, so if you're unsure, it's best to check up front with the rest of the party. (You can use /p to switch to the party chat. E.g. /p Hey Guys !)
If you hit Need, it will be for -that- character to use and equip. Not to sell it for profit (but I need that mount! is not a valid excuse), or to send it to an alt (everyone can roll a dozen alts). Generally, custom requires for your character to actually equip the item on the spot.
If you hit Greed, you just want to sell it in the Auction House, disenchant it (no, that's not a Need either) or send it to an alt.
First, the system will check if people have hit Need and roll for them. Highest roll wins it and that person receives the item. (Occasionally, people roll the same highest roll, in that case the game decides randomly on the lucky winner.) If noone needed the item, the people who pressed Greed get their turn.
Some items are Bind on Pickup (BoP). This means that you can't trade 'em to other people after you acquired it. This goes for Quest items/rewards, but also for drops you might get in an instance. Be especially careful with these, as people tend to get annoyed when you hit 'Need' on a BoP item, confirm that you want to 'Need' it... and then can't even(/ever) use it.
If noone wants needs a BoP item, it happens that the Enchanter in the party will 'Need' it and then Disenchant ('Shard') the item. People will then do a manual roll (/roll) to see who gets the result of the Disenchanting.
Another system you might find used in your party is the "Master Looter" system. This will set one person to be the Master Looter. Anything above the cut off level (again, generally green or better), will only be visible to them. They can then loot the corpse and decide who to give it to. Green BoE (Bind on Equip) items will generally get a random roll for the lucky winner, Blue (rare) items will get a check for who wants/needs them. On the one hand, this system is safer because there can be no 'mistakes' with BoP-needing. It's also faster than the regular group loot if you have a good Master Looter. It can be abused, obviously, so it's important to know what's going on and that you trust the Master Looter here.
Aggro
Fighting in Instances works differently from fighting outside by yourself. (Even fighting in groups is different from soloing). Monsters don't stop chasing you after a while, but follow you to the entrance of the instance. All running generally does is delay the group.
Monsters have a system for deciding who to attack. The way this works is called Aggro. Monsters decide who are the biggest threat to them and then go attack that person.
Simply coming close to a monster will lead to it attacking you. Dealing damage to a monster causes threat. Healing a party member causes threat. Some abilities reduce threat (e.g. Rogue's Feint) or increase it (e.g. Warrior's Sunder Armour or Heroic Strike). In short, you want the Monsters to focus on the Warrior and ignore the rest of the group. This makes your life easier, as the healer only has to focus on keeping one person alive, and Warriors are a lot easier to keep alive than, say, Mages.
Dealing too much damage on a Monster might make it focus on you instead. Having a few monsters and the Warrior only focusing on one will mean that the rest will likely go for the Healer instead. The first instances will probably see you trying to work this out properly, but it will become increasingly important as you progress through the game.
Raids
It's also possible to extend your group to be larger than 5 people. This is done through transforming it into a Raid group. (Hit 'o' to open your Social window. Then go to the 'Raid' tab. If you are the Group Leader, you can click 'Convert to Raid' to turn your regular group in to a Raid group). In a Raid group, you can not finish regular quests and you'll get a lot less experience per killed Monster. Some quests though have to be finished in a Raid group. The first Raid instance you will find is Blackrock Spire, which is accessible to a 10 man Raid. After that are the End Game instances. Zul'Gurub and Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj are for 20 people. The remaining Raid Instances are for 40 peope. Don't worry about this too much yet, as it will take a while for you to get there.
You are more likely to find yourself in a Raid Group when you hit the Battlegrounds (more on that below).
First instances on horde/alliance side
Horde: You get it easy, with the first instance smack-bang in the middle of main town Orgrimmar. RageFire Chasm (RFC) is aimed for characters around their 12th-16th level. You can find quests scattered all over the place (including at the other end of the world, in Undercity!). Be careful not to step into the lava =)
The Wailing Caverns in the Barrens are up next, those are aimed at characters around their 20th level.
Alliance: You'll have to wait till your 18th level or thereabouts to enter the Deadmines in Westfall. There will be quite an extensive quest line leading up to the final confrontation and it continues from there into the next instance, the Stockades in Stormwind (for mid 20s to 30 or so).
The Alliance can do quests in the Wailing Caverns, but getting there might be a problem on PvP servers. On top of that, the zones you'll be passing through may prove to be a bit deadly for level 20 characters.
Battlegrounds
Currently, there are three different Battlegrounds. Warsong Gulch (WSG), Arathi Basin (AB) and Alterac Valley (AV).
The level ranges for these are:
WSG: 10-19, 20-29 ... 50-59 and 60
AB: 20-29, 30-39 ... 50-59 and 60
AV: 51-60
In these, you'll fight a team of the opposing side. WSG is a classic capture the flag, AB will see you trying to control Resource Nodes and AV is a full out war where you attempt to kill the General of the other side.
WSG is for a 10 man raid group, AB for 15 and AV can hold up to 40 people on either end.
In WSG and AB you can enter as a (pre-made, or fixed) group, in AV you can only enter as a sole person.
Fighting and winning in these Battlegrounds will see you with Reputation and Honour. Honour ranks give you access to armour and weapons, and each Battleground will have rewards specific to them when you get high enough Reputation there. Exact details on these rewards can be found at the official site.
Particularly in the 10-19 and 20-29 bracket it's well possible to run into 'twinked' characters. These characters have the best gear available at that level and high level enchantments, turning them into very dangerous opponents. This practise gets more common the older the server gets.
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