I'm an absolute newbie. Help, please?

[Wintermute]

There are abilities within the spec that while mobs are frozen you have a high chance to crit them, forget what its called, been a long time :l

Aye, but Blizzard doesn't crit though. Unless they changed it in the last 2-3 months.

[Kyo]

Yeah, but I hardly ever used blizzard unless I was fighting multiple enemies, maxed icebolt and the crit thingy was more than enough.

[Keria]

i'm actually sure blizzard can crit now ;x i think it was changed a couple of patches ago. i haven't used it much but i seem to remember seeing a few crits off it and wiki says it can also.

i usually idle in ice armour because well... not a lot of reasons. horde outnumber ally about 3:1 on my server though and it is really nice and a potential life saver when a stealthed rouge or druid tries it on and gets frozen straight away. i hate dying D: also the freeze procs a fair bit, and a frozen mob = shit ton more dmg and way less mp spent.

idk i guess i find the game finda fun and i hate wandering around not knowing shit, makes it less enjoyable. i'll try out some improved blizzard shenanigans next time i play. honestly though for soloing 1 mob at a time is plenty at the rate i get through them, i can usually kill in 3-4 nukes.

[sb]

I thought Blizzard didn't crit?

Crits now, and screw one enemy at a time, 3+ onry as a frost mage. Just have to watch out your not pulling ranged or casting mobs (for the reason most beasts and select humanoids are good for aoe grinding).

[Wintermute]

i'm actually sure blizzard can crit now ;x i think it was changed a couple of patches ago. i haven't used it much but i seem to remember seeing a few crits off it and wiki says it can also.

i usually idle in ice armour because well... not a lot of reasons. horde outnumber ally about 3:1 on my server though and it is really nice and a potential life saver when a stealthed rouge or druid tries it on and gets frozen straight away. i hate dying D: also the freeze procs a fair bit, and a frozen mob = shit ton more dmg and way less mp spent.

idk i guess i find the game finda fun and i hate wandering around not knowing shit, makes it less enjoyable. i'll try out some improved blizzard shenanigans next time i play. honestly though for soloing 1 mob at a time is plenty at the rate i get through them, i can usually kill in 3-4 nukes.

Blizzard shenanigans are best when you've pulled 5-10 mobs.
There's some good videos on youtubes that detail how to AoE farm/grind.

Frost AoE grinding - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft is good and links to "In Frost we Trust" which is a nice wee vid that lets you see it in action.

[Kyreth]

Blizzard now crits (as do all static AoE's) as of the 3.0.2 patch. Which was a big change for Frost mages. Used to be Blizzard was a modest DoT, now it's a brutal one and a good Frost mage knows that 3+ packs are yummy exp snacks, not something to be feared. Really good Frost mages? Hello to a dozen+ mobs at once, as the damage caps are the only limiter. As it is, a decently specced frostie in their 30's can start pulling smaller camps in places like Duskwood and blow away the lot in one good salvo.

I duo with a Hunter a lot, she'll tow a bunch of mobs around with her and the pet, then I'll just turn the entire lot into one big ice cube while she Volleys for good measure. Mows down instances like a machine gun, Hellfire was great fun that way.

[sb]

I duo with a Hunter a lot, she'll tow a bunch of mobs around with her and the pet, then I'll just turn the entire lot into one big ice cube while she Volleys for good measure.

Same, only I duo with my buddy on his Lock. He sends VW out to collect 3-[however many can be safely pulled mobs] (depending on spacing sometime three is the most you can safely pull, other times its 8 or so), I hit them with blizzard and he start his fire AoE after he see's them slowed.

The xp is actually better for me solo, but being with him and having his VW pull is a good safety measure and it counters the occasional and inevitable death from soloing that many mobs. I've also teamed up with pali's and it works quite well. I haven't had the chance to try, but I believe Dk's should be able to get in on some AoE grinding as well.

[Kohan]

Thank you again, everyone.

A lot of the stuff posted within this topic is over my head, but that's because it's evolved into a deeper discussion that I hope to understand eventually. I'll use the sites mentioned and will reference this again when I'm actually into the game.

Also hope this proves useful to other newbies as well.

[Wintermute]

Thank you again, everyone.

A lot of the stuff posted within this topic is over my head, but that's because it's evolved into a deeper discussion that I hope to understand eventually. I'll use the sites mentioned and will reference this again when I'm actually into the game.

Also hope this proves useful to other newbies as well.

You'll pick it up in no-time. WoW's popularity has a lot to do with it's ease of use.

I only read a few sites and I was up to speed in less than a month on most things except for end-game and PvP.

If you've got a friend to help you out in game it's that much easier.

[Korietsu]

If you pick up mage, be prepared for lots of keybinds 64+. Also, with respect to in frost we trust, its out of date now. With the changes to the blizzard mechanics you probably want to pick up frostbite and still put points into imp blizzard as well as shatter, since blizzard can crit now. However, be warned that if you do mess up a pack and it gets out of hand, you're pretty much dead =/. I've been pulling packs of 20+ mobs in icecrown and its not fun when you fubar a pack.

[Wintermute]

If you pick up mage, be prepared for lots of keybinds 64+. Also, with respect to in frost we trust, its out of date now. With the changes to the blizzard mechanics you probably want to pick up frostbite and still put points into imp blizzard as well as shatter, since blizzard can crit now. However, be warned that if you do mess up a pack and it gets out of hand, you're pretty much dead =/. I've been pulling packs of 20+ mobs in icecrown and its not fun when you fubar a pack.

The video is still good to show you what to do, but it does use the old talent trees and doesn't touch on Cone of Cold grinding.

And yeah, I never did Fristbite because it tends to fuck up how clustered the mobs are.

I always seem to proc Frostbite on the nastiest mob, which then ends up out of Blizzard's AoE, and then likes to rush me.

[Korietsu]

The video is still good to show you what to do, but it does use the old talent trees and doesn't touch on Cone of Cold grinding.

And yeah, I never did Fristbite because it tends to fuck up how clustered the mobs are.

I always seem to proc Frostbite on the nastiest mob, which then ends up out of Blizzard's AoE, and then likes to rush me.

That is true. I've actually been AoE grinding with my water elemental/shattered barrier. I have no imp blizzard, and just do some nice shifting around and CoC stuff when it gets out of hand. I just need to find a frostfire bolt build I like for raiding and get on with the massive FFB crits.

[Maguspk]

Mage + Paladin duo ftmfw

40-60ish in like 3 days, so good.

[Kyreth]

The video is still good to show you what to do, but it does use the old talent trees and doesn't touch on Cone of Cold grinding.

And yeah, I never did Fristbite because it tends to fuck up how clustered the mobs are.

I always seem to proc Frostbite on the nastiest mob, which then ends up out of Blizzard's AoE, and then likes to rush me.

With the amount of snare you can get with Blizzard now, mobs don't usually have this problem, and the extra critical hit damage basically means you can charge in, Nova the crowd, and resume the AOE barrage without trouble. If it survives more than 2 full Blizzards, something is horribly wrong. Also, Shattered Barrier FTW, as it's a second Nova right there.

[Kyo]

Ok a few questions, I finally got the client to download and im gunna start my trial period here soon, what would be the best server to start on that not too crouded, or anyone have a good server they'd reccomned, Im gunna roll a gnome mage more than likely. Would be playing now but forgot they do updates and shit on tuesday.

[Elesirdur]

Blizzard has also stated in the past that Paladin (in PvE) was designed for casual or new players as it gives a sampling of melee and magic DPS as well as healing but without the complexities of Druid.

As others have mentioned, being a FFXI player will immediately put you leagues ahead of 90% of other players because you came from an MMO that requires you to be thinking all the time, not just during a raid boss.

I've had a lot of fun playing my Fury Warrior, but the magic classes have been a lot of fun too - just takes a different kind of planning.

Solo leveling is rarely ever a problem and generally it's easy to find people to team up with to complete an Elite quest. You will often run into people grinding the same quest as you and if you make the effort to ask if they want to team up and finish the quest quicker (and so you're not ganking each others quest mobs) they are typically receptive. Don't expect to form long-standing questing groups, though they can be found if not rarely, and if you do team up with people for some quest grinding in a zone it's very acceptable to start and stop playing together whenever one feels like it.

Outside of guilds, WoW is not as social as FFXI (in my opinion at least) as solo play is not only easy but productive. Getting together a PUG (pick-up group) for instances and raids is pretty easy, but the quality of players you will meet is pretty variable - and by variable I mean from bad to "are you actually mentally retarded or do you just suck that much?" I suppose if you didn't like the forced social system of FFXI then this will be a welcome change, but I found the game often very desolate even amongst the teeming masses.

[Mabubeezareel]

Being a relative newbie myself, I would recommend starting out on a PVE server. I started on a PVP server only because I have a few RL friends who were already there, and I absolutely abhorred it at first. Even now at level 70 I'm still not that keen on it, and would rather I be on a PVE server.

The first 20 or so levels you're protected from random PVP encounters, but once you venture out further from the starting areas, all bets are off and you're fair game to anyone of the opposition. Higher level players can, and most certainly will, gank you for no reason other than because they can (and that they're dicks). It's very frustrating at first to not have any recourse of your own. At least the penalty for death in WoW is nothing but a walk back to the spot you died. I eventually adapted, and it's not nearly as bad now, but I'm still not that great at PVP and get my ass handed to me more often than not.

Everything Elesirdur said is spot-on. While WoW does a great job of mitigating/eliminating many of the most common and frustrating aspects found in FFXI (hi2u critical % and ranged attack), it's also very lacking in the social areas. Part of that is that the game is much more solo-oriented for questing/leveling, and also that the player base is much more varied. It's not uncommon to run into other players who you think, "What are you, NINE?" only to find out that they actually are.

[Senoska]

Fuck PVE, PVP is the only fun in this game, random ganking is what it's about, if its done to you or you do it to people, just focusing on PVE, you're going to get bored quick

[izembo]

pve = boring and wouldnt wish it on anyone

[Correction]

being corpse-camped by assholes from 30-75 on a pvp server = boring and wouldn't wish it on anyone.