Wanting to give WoW a Shot!

[Bardlet]

The biggest, mot important tip I can give someone new to WoW who's moving over from FFXI... do NOT approach this game like you're used to playing FFXI.

In other words, when I first started playing WoW (back in 05), I got bored really, really quick. Mostly because I was trying to level in the same vein as FFXI- the majority of the exp was coming from grinding mobs, and I was only doing quests intermittenly. I got bored with WoW *really* fast, thought it was lame, etc.

It wasn't until I restarted my account for the 3rd time last August, and started focusing on just doing quests. I found that doing that, it was still keeping the game sort of fresh (I'd focus on questing out a hub, then moving on to the next) and wasn't the repititious snore-fest killing crabs and colibri can be. Really, once I accepted "Hey, this game plays differently than FFXI!" it really made it a different and more enjoyable experience. If you can stick it out until you're ~30 (shouldn't take long if you quest quest quest and log out in an inn for rested exp when you log at the end of a session), seriously make your way to Dustwallow Marsh. They revamped the whole zone quest-wise, and questing there was so smooth and easy, it was from that point on I got hooked.

As for the social aspect... it took me awhile to find a guild of decent people I liked chatting with. I was in 3 other casual guilds before I found one I liked, and from there I was recruited into a casual raiding guild with people that I've come to totally love playing with (hell, we all chat on Vent sometimes even when we're not playing WoW, and I'm actually going to hang out with 3 of my guildies at the end of next month in Chicago now). It just takes time, and with the higher population in WoW, it's kind of hit or miss.

Definitely download and use either QuestHelper or Carbonite as well as LightHeaded and Tomtom (if you really want to make questing stupidly easy), and websites like wowhead.com will be an invaluable resource for most of your "Where the hell is this?" questions.

[Cephius]

Yes, definitely use wowhead. Questhelper sometimes gives wrong information (like if an NPC you're supposed to visit appears in multiple places, it'll tell you to travel to the cloest one instead of the correct one) and wowhead is great for finding out exactly what to do. The comments section for each quest is usually full of (mostly) accurate info on the best/easiest ways to complete quests or kill mobs.

The other thing I'd point out is that the craft system in WoW is much, much different than that of FFXI. Everyone in WoW takes up 2 crafts, and at least one that benefits your character. Most don't take a large amount of gold to max (unless you powerlevel through it) and a lot grant you useful abilities. If you do enchanting, you get special self-only enchants to put on your armor. If you do mining, you get an extra ability that buffs your stamina (HP). Each profession grants you something unique, and crafting isn't the painstacking task it is in FFXI.

[Delirium]

I used to play WoW, quit when Naxx came out(the first time). Just came back a few weeks ago, grinded my mage to 80. If you played the old Warcraft games, the quests are pretty awesome from 70-80. A lot of lore added and some truely epic events. Soon as I pick up a new pc, gonna try and get into some raiding.

[Mirelle]

I'd actually recommend Carbonite over Questhelper for a beginner specially since it offers so many features to help you out; specially if you're on a PvP server, it has a little list which shows nearby people from the other faction and even marks them on the little map so you can be a little more prepared for ganks/whatnots.

[Cephius]

I'd actually recommend Carbonite over Questhelper for a beginner specially since it offers so many features to help you out; specially if you're on a PvP server, it has a little list which shows nearby people from the other faction and even marks them on the little map so you can be a little more prepared for ganks/whatnots.

Granted I'm on a medium-pop PvP server, but lowbie zones are like ghost towns these days. I just leveled a priest these last two months and I was ganked once from 1-60 and saw maybe a handful of opposite-faction players in my entire time leveling. It starts to heat up in Outland and Northrend, but even then most high level players can't be fucked to bother you.

[Penthesilea]

Granted I'm on a medium-pop PvP server, but lowbie zones are like ghost towns these days. I just leveled a priest these last two months and I was ganked once from 1-60 and saw maybe a handful of opposite-faction players in my entire time leveling. It starts to heat up in Outland and Northrend, but even then most high level players can't be fucked to bother you.

I got stuck in some ice in some northland place and an Alliance MC'd me and got me out, haha.

[Despain]

So after playing WoW for about 3-4 days, I've decided to upgrade my trial account and actually give this game a fair shot. The solo play interests me a lot, and I'm sure I'll meet people eventually.

I've learned the basics. Its not too complicated. I'm gonna investigate further into crafting, and see what I can do. Advice is always welcome. :D Thanks everyone.

[Correction]

First character: 2 gathering professions, wait on crafting till you actually have a good pool of money saved up because lately the 275-375 grind is a bear due to the lack of people actively farming the mats you'll need, which inflates prices at the AH. Farming them yourself is a huge waste of time, also.

Getting to 80 with thousands and thousands of gold quickly (skinning/herb) > Getting to 80 slowly because you crafted while you leveled and are too poor to even buy a flying mount. (non gathering professions)

You can always switch later.

[Plow]

1-80 Alliance & Horde Leveling Guides! | World of Warcraft Pro


Jame's guides own the living shit out of questhelper, etc.

A lot of people disagree, I honestly don't even grasp what the hell they're thinking.


You can know every single quest in the entire game absolutely perfectly, unless you personally sit down and take the time to perfect the routes like Jame has, it's just not even comparable.

[Demetrius*]

nvm

[Correction]

1-80 Alliance & Horde Leveling Guides! | World of Warcraft Pro


Jame's guides own the living shit out of questhelper, etc.

A lot of people disagree, I honestly don't even grasp what the hell they're thinking.


You can know every single quest in the entire game absolutely perfectly, unless you personally sit down and take the time to perfect the routes like Jame has, it's just not even comparable.

I used Jame's guides for two characters from 1-70.

Then I switched to TourGuide: TourGuide : WoWInterface Downloads : Tekkub's Emporium of Random Crap

I didn't notice that much of a difference, except that TourGuide + TomTom was overall much more efficient than alt-tabbing between wow and an open browser to keep checking Jame's guides. I'm not looking back. I see Jame still hasn't updated some of his inaccurate crap, like his horrible 'optional' Blasted Lands grinding circuit that nobody in their right mind should even consider doing, even optionally.

[Plow]

Jame's guide is available as a downloadable addon now.


Also he has actively gone through and heavily updated it, the optional stuff is just leftovers from before all the exp updates, and most of it he actually says he highly recommends skipping.

[Rivero]

I used to play WoW, quit when Naxx came out(the first time). Just came back a few weeks ago, grinded my mage to 80. If you played the old Warcraft games, the quests are pretty awesome from 70-80. A lot of lore added and some truely epic events. Soon as I pick up a new pc, gonna try and get into some raiding.

Yeah. I agree with Delirium, If you have played Warcraft III you'd love WoW. One of the reasons WoW just rapes all other MMO's is because of its awesome lore. :D

[Despain]

Also wtf @30+ hours to install this game D:

[Correction]

Also wtf @30+ hours to install this game D:

Are you installing it from an online download?

My longest reinstalls are only about 5 hours or so, installing both expansions from discs and patching from there. That's par for the course for any long-lived MMO.

[Despain]

Are you installing it from an online download?

My longest reinstalls are only about 5 hours or so, installing both expansions from discs and patching from there. That's par for the course for any long-lived MMO.

Yeah online. If this is just the initial install, I wonder how long the patches are gonna be D: fuckkk

[Norellicus]

If it's direct from blizzard they may have been smart enough to slipstream the patches in...

If not, godspeed >.>

[Jodwahh]

Go to wowwiki and look for the patch mirrors, they have prepatched downloads. Might be a little late for you to find that out though.

[rezn0r]

World of Warcraft AddOns & Mods - WoW AddOns :: WowMatrix

[Despain]

This has officially lasted over 24 hours (in this time its shifted from 4 hours - 14, 16, 20 hours). Its @74%... god I hope downloading the fucking patches won't take this long. I just wanna start playing, haha.