New Player Guides

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A newcomer's Guide to Warcraft - Toogie learned the hard way so you don't have to!

Hi. I decided to make this guide for fun and to kill some down time at work. I will cover many topics from character creation to strategies for making money. It's not a guide to tell you what to do but it will explain many things which should be considered when rolling your first character and many lessons I learned the hard way. I have played this game way too much so I hope this helps some people out there.

Making Your First Character

The first thing you will have to do after installing warcraft is pick a server. I chose based off where my friends were, some people pick one with a cool name which is fine. Keep in mind that you must be on the same server to play with friends. It's important to pick a server type that fits you. Here is a quick rundown of the different server types.

Normal- Sometimes called PVE servers. On these servers players must flag themselves before they can be attacked by other players. You can flag yourself by typing /pvp or attacking a flagged player or npc or by healing a pvp flagged member of your own faction. If you join a battleground you are automatically flagged. Characters made on PVE servers are only able to be transferred to Normal or RP servers.

PVP- On these servers you will be flagged for pvp by entering any area that is contested or belongs to the opposing faction. Pretty much after level 25, expect to be flagged pretty much anywhere you might be leveling. This means higher level players can and will hunt you down and kill you for sport. Starting areas and capital cities are safe zones. It is considered to be more difficult to level on these servers due to being killed by enemy players on a regular basis but it is also a lot of fun to kill them back. Characters made on a PVP server can be transferred to any server using the paid character transfer service.

RP- RP servers are just like normal servers with the exception of an additional set of rules to follow. These realms are catered to players that want to "role-play" or pretend they are actually the characters on the screen. The rules seem to be loosely enforced but you are generally expected to speak as if you were your character and have a name that fits a Medieval setting. The complete rules can be found here. http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01725p Characters made on RP servers are only able to be transferred to Normal or RP servers.

RPPVP- RPPVP servers are just like PVP servers with the exception of an additional set of rules to follow. These realms are catered to players that want to "role-play" or pretend they are actually the characters on the screen. The rules seem to be loosely enforced but you are generally expected to speak as if you were your character and have a name that fits a Medieval setting. The complete rules can be found here. http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01725p Characters made on RPPVP servers can be transferred to any server using the paid character transfer service.

Picking Your Race/Faction

After you have picked the server you will be taken to the character creation screen. From here you will need to pick the race, class and looks of your character. Also you will be choosing your faction. There are two factions Alliance and Horde. you cannot speak with or mail players of the other faction so If you plan on playing with friends you will want to be the same faction. On PVE or RP servers you can make characters of either faction. On PVP or RPPVP servers you can only have characters of the same faction. Keep in mind if you have characters in both factions they will not be able to mail things to eachother or transfer things by using nuetral auction houses. The Alliance are humans, dwarves, night elves, gnomes, and drenai. Horde are Orcs, Undead, Tauren, Trolls, and Blood Elves. If you have no preference on faction, read on and pick based off of which race/class combination sounds best to you. I'm going to give a run down of the races and classes. However not all classes are available to each race.

There are 10 total races in Warcraft. Each faction has 5. They are all pretty much equal but have little bonuses that are specific to each race. I suggest you don't let starting stats or racial bonuses determine what you choose to be. Instead I would pick your race by what looks best and sounds the most fun to play to you. Your enjoyment of playing the game will benefit from that more than some miniscule advantage you might have by picking a race you dislike. You will be defined by your class and not your race. When people try to find groups they will ask for a warrior or a priest, they wont care if you are a troll or an orc. So make this decision based off what you like.

Humans have a small bonus to sword and mace skills. They also have 5% bonus to spirit. They have an ability called perception which can help spot stealthed targets. It can be beneficial in PVP environments. They also recieve a 10% bonus to faction gains. This becomes more important later in the game, to recieve some tradeskill recipes or patterns you need to have a certain reputation level with them.

Dwarves get a bonus to gun skill and frost resistance. The also have a treasure finding ability. Most people don't use it because it interferes with the the tracking abilities of the gathering professions. Their main claim to fame is Stoneform. It gives a bonus to armor but what i like about it is it's ability to neutralize poisons and diseases. Get poisoned? Stoneform real quick and your cured. It used to slow your walking speed down but they changed that so this ability is quite nice.

Night Elves have a 1% bonus to dodge. A small bonus to nature resistance. The get wisp spirit which makes them move faster in ghost form. Which makes those long corpse runs not so bad. Their big ability is shadowmeld. It allows them to stealth as long as they don't move, cast a spell, fire a ranged weapon etc. Useful for hiding from things when you need to go afk or for ambushing pvp targets.

Gnomes get a bonus to thier skill if they choose to be engineers. They get a small bonus to arcane resistance and a bonus to intellect. Their big ability is called escape artist. It allows them to step out of movement impairing effects. Pretend you are in playing capture the flag and you have the flag and are running for your life and someone snares you with a ice trap, you hit escape artist and voila you are free to run again. They also get the unadvertised benefit of being hard to click on in PVP fights since compared to other races they are so small. It gives them a small edge since they are a little harder to target.

Drenai get a small bonus to jewel crafting professions. A bonus to shadow resistance. They also have either inspiring or heroic pressence. This grants party memebers a 1% chance to hit either melee or casting depending on what class you are. They also have a healing spell which is can come in handy paritcularly for warriors and rogues which have no natural healing ability.

Orcs get a small bonus to axes and pet damage. The also get a bonus to resist stunning effects it says 15% bonus but read the fine print first, It's not as great as it sounds. It means a 15% to your current resist. Not a flat 15% bonus. So if you have 10% base chance to resist stuns your orc would have 11.5% chance to resist, not 25%. They also have bloodfury. When activated it gives a nice bonus to attack power, which means more damage, at the expense that heals will be 50% less effective. Most of the time this is a good trade since most characters don't actively recieve heals. But I have screwed up and used this on a boss when I was main tank. Needless to say I couldn't be healed fast enough and caused a problem for my group. So this can be great, but use it wisely.

Undead, sometimes known as the Forsaken, get a bonus to shadow resistance. They can also be underwater 3 times longer than other races. This can come in handy in certain situations but not enough to say this is a great ability. The can also "cannnibalize" which means they can eat humanoid or undead corpses. It can save money on food or maybe come in handy if your first aid is on cooldown. I primarily used it to mock people by eating their corpse after killing them in PVP. The also get an ability called Will of the Forsaken. It can make you immune to fear, sleep, or charm. It's is awesome in PVP and has it's uses in PVE but not very frequently.

Tauren get a bonus to nature resistance and the herbalism skill. They also get a 5% bonus to health. It doesn't sound like much but I can't tell you how many times I died, where if I had gotten in one more hit I would have lived. They also get warstomp. It stuns up to 5 people for 2 secs. This is a good one for pvp and pve as it can interrupt spellcasting but you have to time it right since it has a casting time.

Trolls have a passive ability to regenerate health. It helps with down time and since it's 10% effective in combat it can help in those close calls but really isn't anything to be proud of. They get a small bonus to thrown weapons, bows, and damage against beasts. They have a beserking ability that increases their attack speed by 10-30% depending on how close to dieing you are. 10% at full health. I'm not sure of the health levels it uses to increase from 10% to the 30% max. It can come in handy in a pinch thats for sure.

Blood Elves get a small bonus to enchanting and to ALL resistances. They also have "mana tap" which drains a small amount of mana from target and gives you a charge of magical energy. This charge is used in the ability "arcane torrent" for classes with mana this gives you a bonus to your mana per charge of mana tap, for rogues it grants energy. It also silences casters around you for 2 secs. You don't have to have a mana tap to use arcane torrent and on my rogue I use this a lot to interrupt spell casting. Good for both PVP and PVE.

Choosing a Class

Classes might also be called jobs. It is the main definition of your characters abilities, skills, and play style. Each class has a function when grouping and when used correctly can make the difference between life and death of a party. I will summarize each class' strengths and weaknesses and their party role.

Druids are a hybrid class meaning they have aspects of other classes and no solid playstyle or position. They have different forms and can mimic other classes abilities. In bear form they are like warriors, in cat form like rogues, in normal form they are casters and have a mix of damage and healing spells. They also have aquatic form which makes you swim faster and breath in water. Also they have a travel form which makes them run faster. It helps ease the pain of not having a mount when you are under level 40. There are more forms but you get the idea. In a party you can do pretty much any role but mainly you'll probably be a designated healer since healers are important and usually the hardest class to come by when making a group. Their strength is versatility and survivability. You can do heavy damage as a cat then when low on health swich forms heal yourself and go back to catform for more damage dealing. Their weakness is that although they are versatile the animal forms aren't quite as good as the real class they mimic. This can be made up for with skill and good equipment. Druids are restricted to leather armor and the learning curve is kind of high since you have so many abilities to learn to use effectively. This isn't really a weakness but they are only available to the night elf or tauren races. I wish there were more races that could be druids.

Hunters are a high damage class. They also get to tame a pet at level 10. Hunters are argueably the easiest class to solo with. You have a pet that can take the damage while you stay back drilling your target with arrow after arrow or bullet after bullet etc. They also can "feign death" so if anything goes wrong they can effectively play dead, wait for things to reset, and try again. You also get a speed boost at 20 that helps you along until you have a mount. Hunters, in general, have a bad reputation in parties. Their have been too many bad hunters in the past and they have a role in a party that can easily be filled with other classes and in my opinion hunters are the least sought after party addition. There are a few instances where hunters can shine but most things can be done without them. In a party your job is to stay back and do damage and maintain a balance so your not doing too much damage that you pull aggro from the person tanking, also you should keep an eye on your healers and casters. If they are taking damage you should draw aggro from them since you can handle it better and your not as important. (Sorry, but true.) Now I did mention bad hunters; so I will give a couple examples of what makes a bad hunter so you don't do it yourself. When grouping you need to be able to control your pet. So many deaths have been caused by hunters having their pet either attacking something it shouldn't, chasing running monsters, or bad pathing by the AI. If you jump of a ledge your pet is going to take the long way around and bring everything along the way with it. Also you are a ranged class. Almost never should you be doing melee damage in a group. Be prepared for groups. Make sure you have lots of ammo. If you run out, you become a waste of space. I ran into this problem so much I started carrying around extra ammo in case I grouped with a hunter. A skilled hunter is definately a great group member though and can bring a lot to a party when used right. Strengths are excellent survivabilty and crowd control. They can kite better than anyone else. They are excellent for pvp in almost all scenarios. Weaknesses are bad melee ability and low priority when it comes to grouping. One thing that bothered me as a hunter was the need to have a bag slot designated for ammo. You can't carry as much as other classes and having a full inventory is quite frustrating. Finding pet food can be a chore at times and also eats bag space.

Mages are also a high damage class. They get some sweet abilities like being able to open portals to capital cities, major time saver. They can also conjure food and water, which saves lots of money. It can get annoying having people begging you to make them food though. Mages have excellent crowd control and are most effective with a hit and run play style. In parties you will mainly be dps but will probably be called upon to sheep different enemies on a regular basis. So strengths are high damage, crowd control abilities, and free food! Weakness is low health and cloth armor. You won't live long if something gets close enough to hurt you. Mages also have no healing ability.

Paladins are like warriors that can heal. They wear heavy armor and can use big two handed weapons. They get different auras and blessing to buff themselves and party members. They can be slow on the dps sometimes and can be slow to level but they can survive almost anything. They are heavily reliant on mana for damage and healing. Paladins are welcome into most groups and are usually designated healers. They can tank if the need arises and are excellent support class. Strengths are ability to heal and wear heavy armor. Great support class. Can ressurect dead party members. Weakness are no ranged ability and mana dependancy. Not quite as good as a warrior for tanking and aggro management and not quite as good as a priest for healing but a great blend of the two. With the right gear and skillful playing they can effectively replace either class.

Priests are the main healers. They have the best abilities to heal and shield party members from damage. If shadow specced they can do enough damage to rival a mage. Probably the most sought after class to group with. Many priests complain of being flooded with requests by strangers to group with them. They also have great buffs. Strengths are healing and damage ability and high demand for groups. Weaknesses are low health and pretty much no melee ability.

Rogues are light on armor and big on damage. They have tons of tricks to get into and out of bad situations. Stealthing is the primary ability that sets rogues apart from the crowd. They have some crowd control with sap. If things are going bad they can use vanish and just dissapear. They also can dual wield, but they can't use two handed weapons. They can also use lock picking to make some extra pocket change. In parties you will be the primary damage dealer. The hard part is learning to balance your damage output so the tank can keep aggro. Since rogues wear only leather armor they can die pretty easy in instances if they are the primary focus of an enemy so it's best to lay off the damage a little to make sure the tank is the one taking the hits. Strengths are their ability to do massive amounts of damage, ability to sneak through hard spots, and great abilities for escaping bad situations. Locking picking is essentially a free profession. I made more money with that than I did enchanting. Also they get to use poisons which make them even more deadly. Weaknesses are low armor in comparison to other melee classes and no way to heal themselves. There is a learning curve to be effective with combos and aggro management.

Shaman are another hybrid class. The main thing that sets them apart are their great totems. These provide buffs, do damage, slow down enemies, or even heal. Depending on how they spend talent points shaman can be really effective doing melee damage or spell damage. They are a blend of a warrior and a mage. They also get a ghostwolf form that makes you run faster and is nice until you get your mount. Shaman are excellent members for grouping. You will often be designated to heal but can easily fill a damage role if healing is already taken care of. Strengths are their great totems and buffs. exellent for pvp. Weaknesses are mana dependancy for damage and survivability. Totems are weak if targetted directly for damage. Poor ability to manage aggro. Would be a godly class if they could be main tanks.

Warlocks are an insane class. They have some many odd abilities. They primarily are damage dealers primarily their damage comes from dots. (damage over time spells) They can change health to mana and have abilities to drain mana or health from their target and use it themselves. They also get pets, but unlike hunters they don't get to name them. They can be incredibly deadly in certain scenarios. They can summon other players to them. They can make soulstones which will save a group probably everytime they are in groups. Strengths are damage output. Convienence of being able to summon, You get a pet. Weaknesses are poor armor and having to manage soulshards which are needed for certain spells. They are also a little hard to start off since most of their better abilities come after level 20 but if you can stick with it they are a blast to play.

Warriors are the tank class. Have the ability to take and dish out high amounts of damage. Have the best abilities in the game to manage aggro. Welcome in every party and are probably the most important member of the group, with the healer being the close rival. My personal favorite class. Strengths are high health and damage, ability to use any weapon and armor in the game with the exception of a wand. Important group role. Great abilities to maintain and control aggro. Very easy class to learn and be effective with. Weaknesses are weak ranged ability and no healing. They have a buff but it expires every two minutes so can be a pain to keep up constantly. They also have no good way to get out of bad situations. Usually it's hamstring then run and hope you have enough health to get far enough away that they stop chasing you before you die.

The Early Levels

Ok you've made your character. Now what? When you log in for the first time you will be greeted with a short "video" introduction to your races background. If you're like me you'll just hit the "Esc" key and get started as fast as possible. When you start you will see a NPC in front of you. NPCs are characters in the game that are not controlled by other players. Notice the yellow ! over their head. That means they have a quest for you. Right-click on the NPC and you will "talk" to them. It will give you some dialogue describing the quest and it's objectives. Their are thousands of quests in World of Warcraft but most fall under a few different categories. Go kill a specific number of monsters. Gather certain items. Or traveling quests which involve making deliveries or talking to people in different areas. The early quests are fairly straight forward and should not be difficult to understand. If you have any problems make sure you try to reread the quest; most of the questions will be answered in the quest description. You can access the quest log by pushing the "L" key. If you still have trouble you can ask other players for help. if you type in "/1 " and then your question it will show up in the chat box of all the players in your area. For example: "/1 Can anyone tell me where I can find the kobold miners?" most of the time the other players will be helpful and point you in the right direction. When you complete a quest the NPCs wil have a yellow ? above thier head. They will also show up on your mini map. Travel around your starting area and do all the quests you can. They will provide you with armor and small amounts of money which is needed to train your skills. Every other level (2,4,6,8....) you will be able to learn new skills from your class trainer. At some point in the starting area you will be given a quest to visit the class trainer. This is who teaches you your new spells or special skills. They charge a fee, but usually it's pretty reasonable and after the first few levels you shouldn't have any trouble having enough money for training. Eventually, you will complete all the quests in the area and be given a new quest that involves traveling to another town, you will usually be level 5 or 6 by then.

Follow the road out of the starting area and you should come across the town after a short walk. In the town you will find new class trainers and a handful of profession trainers. I'll cover professions in more detail later, but if you see something you like feel free to train it. The quests here are a little tougher than the starting area ones. You will start running into aggresive monsters that will attack you just for being too close to them. Also, sometimes when they get low on health they will run away and come back with friends. Just play careully and you'll do fine. Doing these quest should get you to level 10 or higher. When you get to level 10 go find your class trainer. For most classes they will have a special quest for you. This quest will usually give you a nice ability after you complete it. Hunters will get to train a pet, warriors learn defensive stance, druids learn bear form, etc. Also at level 10 you will get your first talent point. Press "N" on the keyboard to bring up the talents screen. Each class has three talent trees. Each tree gives bonuses to different aspects of the class. It's important to think about where you place your talent points. In general it's best to keep your talent points in one tree, so you can get to the better abilities that are farther down the tree sooner. Also, while leveling up it is usually best to put points in talents that boost your offensive abilities. So you do more damage. But there is no set way to do this and picking your talents is what makes you different from other players of your class. If you make a mistake, or feel like trying something new, you can visit a trainer and pay them to reset your talent points but it gets expensive if you do it a lot. The first time is 1 gold piece but after a while it can get as high as 50 gold! Eeventually, you will get a quest that will send you to your race's capital city, For most the races you just need to keep following the same road you used to get to the second town.

Capital cities are pretty big. As a new player I liked to just walk around them and take them all in. Each city is unique and has lots of sights to see. I recommend you visit the inn and set the inn as your home so you can use your hearthstone to warp back to it and have quick access to things you need. It's very handy to be able to hearth back to a big city because they usually have everything you can need. In the capital city you should be able to find class trainers, profession trainers, a bank for storing your extra things, weapon trainers, and the auction house. It can be hard to find things in big cities sometimes. If you right click on the guard NPCs they can give you directions to where you can find things around the city. Also in the city there is lots of chat going on and they have a trade channel where people try to sell things. To talk in the trade channel you need to type /2. It's similar to the general chat I described. What you will notice though is people linking items in their chat messages. If you click on the item, you can see it's stats. If you hold "ctrl" and click you will see what the item would like on your character. To link your own items hold down "shift" and click the item in your inventory. Make sure to check out the auction house. Here you will be able to put your items up for sale and buy items from other players.

After you are done exploring the city go back to the second town and finish any quests you might have left, and you'll get a quest that will take you to another town that will have a whole bunch of new quests and harder monsters to kill. These towns usually have an inn and a mailbox but no class trainers. Aren't you glad you set your hearthstone to your capital now? The town may also have a flight master. Talk to the flight master and you will learn the flight path. You will then be able to fly back to this flight master later on from other flight masters you find as you travel along. Eventually you will have a whole network of paths that criss cross their way across both continents, making travel quicker and more convienant. From here the strategy is pretty much the same. Complete the quests in the area and move on to next area. If you seem to have completed all the quests in an area or the quests seem to be too hard for your level it's best to take a break and go try a new town. You can travel to the starting areas of other races and do the quests there and get yourself up a couple levels before coming back and it will save you a lot of frustration. Just use chat to ask for directions on getting to a new area.

Grouping With Other Players

You will start getting quests for dungeons. They are often called instances as well. These instances are setup to encourage group play, provide different types of challenges, and they give out better than average equipment. You will need a well balanced party of similar levels to complete them. It might seem tempting to have your high level friend take you through these so you can hog all the items and get the quests done quickly but I recommend you try it with a group of players around your same level. You will learn a lot this way and later on in higher level instances you will know what you are doing and it will save you, and other players, lots of frustration. The earlier level instances are easier and give you time to figure things out. If you wait until later to learn party ettiquette and group skills you will often be kicked out of a group so they can find a better prepared player. Before doing an instance make sure your armor is repaired. You have plenty of food and bandages. You have ranged ammo if your class uses it. And you have any needed spell components. Shaman should have ankhs for self-resurecting, rogues should have their poisons and flash powder etc. Bringing along some health potions will always come in handy as well but people won't expect you to have them.

A typical 5-man group is usually one tank, one healer, one melee damage class, one ranged damage class, and one extra that can be any of the above. This is by no means the only way to do it, but this has been a proven formula for sucess. In higher levels you will do groups of 10, or 25, or even 40! But don't think you can slack off in a group. Each member is important. Even in a 40 man raid, each person has a job to do and if they don't do it the whole group will face disaster. In a 5 man group, The tank will usually "pull" the monsters to the group. Then he uses his skills to maintain aggro so the monsters will attack him and not the other members of the party. If he does a good job it makes life easier for the healer since they will only need to focus on healing one person and they won't run out of mana wasting heals on 3 different people. The job of the damage classes is to hit the same target the tank is fighting and do as much damage as they can without drawing the attention of the mob away from the tank. Also as a secondary job, they are to protect the healer. Healing will draw the attention of the mob away from the tank as well. So if you ever see a monster going for your healer, do everything you can to draw it away. If the healer dies, usually the whole party dies with him. If you save the healer even at the cost of your own life you did a good thing. The healer will be able to resurrect you shortly after the fight and you can continue on with minimal downtime. A good tank is the key to a good party though. If the tank is holding aggro well, the damage classes can go all out and the healer won't have to worry about being hurt since the monsters are all focused on the tank. A good healer is key to keeping the tank alive. And good damage classes are important for killing the monsters quickly so they die before the healer runs out of mana and can't heal the tank anymore. Each role supports one another and that's why if each member knows their role and does their job, your party will have an easy time even when things go wrong a good party will survive a catastrophie where an disorganized party would easily be killed.

Some groups will have what's called an "off-tank" usually it's when they have an extra warrior around. The way an off-tank works is they will draw aggro from one monster and keep it away from the group and fight it one on one while the rest of the group kills the other monsters. It's usually a warrior because they need to be tough enough to take a beating while the healer focuses on the main tank. Once the group kills the other monsters they then heal the off-tank and help him finish off his monster. If the off-tank manages to kill it on his own, he would then go assist the party with the other remaining monsters. This really helps in pulls where there are multiple monsters. For example, the tank shoots his gun at a group of 4 monsters and they all start charging the party. The tank can try and hold the aggro of all 4 monsters but with each extra monster it's more difficult to keep each one focused on the tank. Usually with that big of a group the tank takes more hits, which means the healer is healing more, but the tank's aggro is split across 4 monsters and it won't take much for the healer to heal enough to catch the attention of a monster. That monster will start attacking the healer which may end up killing the healer causing the whole group die. But if you have an off-tank they would grab one of the monsters charging the party and lead it away from the group and it gives the tank just 3 to deal with. Meaning less hits, less healing, and better control of the group of monsters pulled. Some classes have what is referred to as crowd control, a way to take a monster temporarily out of combat. Mages can turns things into sheep, rogues can sap, warlocks can seduce, priests can shackle undead. The idea behind this is similar to the strategy of off-tanking. It gives the group one less monster to worry about and once they kill the rest of the group the can go back to the crowd controlled monster. The hardest part about it is getting everyone in the group to leave the crowd controlled monster alone. Because if you attack it while it's sheeped or sapped etc. it will free it to go cause trouble with the rest of the party. Communication is the key to coordinate what is being off-tanked, what is being crowd controlled etc.

We could talk about group strategy all day but it can be summed by saying know your role. Even as situations get harder fulfilling your role will be the key to survival in group enviroments. Most parties will have experienced players that know their role, and someone who doesn't sticks out like a sore thumb. Not filling your role will lead to your parties death and a long run back to your corpse. If you need help let the party know you are new, most players are happy to take a moment out to explain what you need to do or discuss the strategy for bosses. It's a lot easier to help someone than die and get frustrated and waste time running back to the instances, resurrecting, getting buffs, and getting organized again and then discuss strategy so it doesn't happen again. So make sure you ask for help when you need it. It saves a lot of time and energy. Not to mention a lot of times parties fall apart after a "wipe." They will get frustrated and leave the party. Once one person leaves it's usually hard to find a quick replacement and more people leave rather than wait around and eventually you have no party left and you will need to find a new party and start over again. After you have done it with a group, by all means have your high level buddy take you through it so you can have all the money and items. Just don't rob yourself of the chance to learn to do it right. It will pay off in the long run because it will make you a better player.

While we are discussing party tactics we should discuss how loot works in groups. One new thing you will find is when you are in a party some of the better items will ask players to roll for them. You will have a small window come up that asks you if you "need" or "greed" the item.The general rule is to roll need, if and only if the item is usable by you and is an upgrade to your current gear. Most players are very understanding when a player needs an item. But on the other hand it is a big deal if you take advantage of this and roll need on things you don't. Most parties will remove you from the group for doing it and it damages your reputation. If you have a reputation as a "ninja looter" you will find it hard to find people to group with. Some people even get kicked out of guilds for it. If more than one person chooses need the computer will "roll" and it generates a random number between 1-100 for each player and whoever has the higher number will recieve the item. If you don't need an item choose greed or if you are feeling generous you can pass on the item. All players that picked greed will then roll and the item given to the highest roll. If everyone passes then no one recieves the item automatically and it can be picked up by anyone that feels like looting the corpse. In some parties blue items (the extremely good items) will have special rules. Like everyone must pass and then let the group discuss who will recieve it. Either by talking out who could use it most or doing a more organized roll. The winner will then be allowed to loot the corpse to recieve the item. It is important to go over what the loot rules are early on. You'd hate to pass on a blue you could have used expecting to talk it out but have someone else who didn't know roll need and get it without you having a chance. Most blue items bind when they are picked up, so they can't be traded to other players. That's why most groups like to talk things over so mistakes aren't made, people get pretty upset when they lose out on good items unfairly and believe it or not people will leave groups over this. So make sure you are being fair when you choose need and things will work out just fine.

I'm Broke...

Getting money in wow can be frustrating, and trust me high level players will hate you if you beg for money. If you are fortunate you may have a high level friend that can be your benefactor and help you financially until your character can support itself. For the rest of us we have to blaze our own trail and become financially independant on our own. There are lots of ways to make money in warcraft and everyone has their own ideas on how to do it. I'm going to put in my strategies and you can use them or not but I do well with them. Probably the most important thing you need to do to make money is get big bags. I recommend you get big bags as soon as you can afford too. I usually start off with 12 slot bags. They are usually reasonably priced and will serve you well until you can move up to 14 or 16 slots. Being able to hold more will mean you will be able to either sell more since you don't need to pass up items or you will be more efficient since you don't have to run to town constantly to clear your small bags. Either way it's win/win. But to get big bags you need to be able to afford big bags and what's a player just starting out supposed to do?

At low levels the best way to make money is to get two gathering professions. I prefer mining and skinning personally but you can choose other ones. Why do I like mining? Well at early levels copper is pretty easy to find. A stack of 20 copper bars will sell for 1-2 gold on most servers. So while you do the quests early on you mine every copper node you come across. Also, coincidentally most the time mageweave bags (12 slot) sell for 1-2g on most servers. So with my first few copper sales I replace my bags and life is easier when you got bigger bags. After that you can use the money to buy upgrades your gear. I choose skinning because it doesn't interfere with the find minerals radar on the mini map. If you choose herbalism and mining you will have to switch between find minerals and find herbs radars. You can choose herbalism if you'd like to instead of mining. It is still profitable to pick the flowers and sell them. I just feel I make more money with copper. Check your auction house for prices and make an educated guess on what you will make more money doing.

But I want to have a craft you say? I think you should have a craft, I am merely recommending you wait for a while before you do it. Having two gathering professions will give you lots of material to sell and you will get a nice wallet a lot faster. You think selling crafted items is going to make you money? Well you are wrong. Crafting will actually cost you money. Say you are a blacksmith and you want to make a Copper Battle Axe. You have the all the copper and stone you need but you don't have the malachite. Now are you going to go out and mine until you find two malachite? Well some of you might, but the majority are going to run over to the auction house and buy it. Now you just spent money. But I just made this cool axe you say? Well what are you going to do sell it, use it? According to allakhazam.com the average selling price for the axe is 40 silver. Ooooh that's sounds good. But if you think about the materials that went into making it you probably could have made at least 1 gold selling them instead of making them into an axe. This formula is true for pretty much every item you can craft at lower levels. The materials cost more than the item you are making is worth. Sell the materials and use the money to buy items that other people are making. By gathering at first you will be better off. My last character I started on a new server had 700 gold by the time I turned level 40. I easily bought my mount, upgraded armor frequently along the way etc. I then dropped mining and took up leatherworking. I invested 100 gold into buying low level leather and within a couple hours I had my leather working up to a level where I was making upgrades to my level 40+ armor. And guess what. I still had 600 gold I could play with. I may have lost money spending 100g to work my crafting up. I made some of it back by selling things I made, but also I put money into other people's pockets. I most likely helped some other lower level skinners get established with money in their pocket. It's the circle of life. After you have a profession that is that high you will be able to find things you can make for a profit and use your craft to make money. It's just hard to do at low levels so just skip it and wait til you are level 40 or so and catch up easily in one day. And then when you are 60 or 70 and swimming in cash you can drop your other gathering profession and buy your way through another crafting skill if you feel like it.

Here are a few small things you can do to generate money. I like to find a vender that sells shirts. I like to buy Common Gray Shirts and sell them in the auction house. I buy them from the vendor for 4 silver and I stick them up on the auction house for 50 silver. I found they sell really well. The dark color looks good on rogues and I see a lot of them wearing it. Also, tailors don't make these shirts so there isn't going to be a million of them up so you won't have much competition. I guess the other people don't realize they can buy them a lot cheaper. I usually put 1 or 2 per day up and they almost always sell. In Orgrimmar and Stormwind the vender that sells these is just a stone's throw away from the auction house. Also, the meat that drops from low level animals is more valuable than most people realize. Things like stringy wolf meat only sell to vender for a few copper but you can sell them for around 2 silver each. I don't usually have a problem getting 50 silver out of a stack of 20 meat and most people simply sell it off to a vendor for a few coppers. The meat is handy for people that want to raise their cooking profession quickly. And like I mentioned before high level players normally find it a lot faster and easier to buy their way through professions.

The only other thing I want to add is to make sure you are getting a good deal on what you buy in the auction house. Don't update your gear every level. Wait until a piece is about 5 levels below you before you change it out, unless you find a bargain. A penny saved is a penny earned. Well not quite, but the less you spend the quicker you will have higher amounts of money. If you come across a blue item that isn't bind on pickup, I recommend you sell it rather than equip it. the blue item will normally sell for enough to buy 4 or 5 green items at least and you can turn what would be an upgrade to 1 piece of equipment into an upgrade to several pieces of equipment. Once you have a couple hundred gold tucked away it won't matter as much if you decide to just go ahead and equip it, but early on selling it will be extremely beneficial. Also, if you're willing to do a little work you can search the auction house for underpriced items and buy them and sell them for more. There is a mod called auctioneer that helps you find the bargain priced items, but I've never used it myself. It sounds handy though. I usually look the item up using allakhazam.com and see what the average price it sells for. If something is 8 gold and it normally sells for 15 gold I'll buy it and relist it and make a quick buck. This is a riskier way of generating money but it has the potential for big gains.

General Advice

I already mentioned this but get big bags as soon as possible.

Join a guild. Members of the guild are usually more willing to help eachother than strangers. Also if you are able to make groups of all guild members things usually run a lot smoother in instances. It's the easiest way to make friends in the game. And most guilds have crafters that are willing to craft items free of charge if you provide the materials needed. Some of the more generous ones will provide some of the materials themselves. A lot of times people will give you items just to help you out. Or say you need something like heavy leather. Someone in your guild might have or be willing to go farm some for you and will give it to you cheap. Guilds are good. You don't have to be in one but it helps.

Be courteous to other players. You never know who you might be playing with and sometimes simply being nice will be enough that people will want to reward you with a favor.

Be honest. While no one knows who you are in real life. That character on the screen has an identity and people will recognize and remember you. If you have a bad reputation it will be hard to find groups that will take you. People don't buy your auctions because they don't want to give you their money etc.

Make a low level character and run them to a big city and park them there. Then as you get full bags mail the items to them and have them sell them on the auction house for you. It will save you lots of time especially if you're nowhere close to an auction house. Items take 1 hour to arrive. If you ever need the money you can quickly mail it to yourself since money comes instantly.

Stupid Things I've Done That You Should Not

Swim from Darkshore to Desolace. Time spent 2 hours, XP gained none.

Max out your hunter with +Spirit items to get more mana regen.

Raid small villages by yourself.

Raid large cities by yourself.

Walk on the grass of the Tarren Mill.

Perform AoE spells on the boat at the end of the dead mines.

Fall off the walkway to the boat in the dead mines.

Jump off the twin towers in feralas without a goblin parachute

Use the goblin parachute in feralas, and then wait 5 seconds to jump off the twin towers.

Jump over what looks like a small hill between Tanaris and the Un'Goro crater to take a shortcut to Un'Goro but results in a 12 second freefall of doom. (You may or may not be able to reach your body, so you will end up with 10 min of res sickness)

Attempt to Solo deadmines or stockades at level 20.

Try to ride the Horde Wind Riders as an alliance member. (Right click the guy, I dare ya)

Stand there and look at Samantha Swift, while she kills you.

Stand there and look at Stitches, while he kills you.

Train King Bangalash, and keep him in the stable.

Join Arathi Basin when you are in the middle of a quest really far from IronForge.

Spec your warrior to defense at lower levels

Release your spirit when a boss in an instance is not dead yet.

Refer to the Ironforge moat as the "Bitch Ditch" in the forums. I fell into that ditch like a thousand times due to lag back when the only alliance auction house was in ironforge.

Tell people that Chuck Norris talk is annoying.

Make a post on your guild website saying what you sell to make good money in the early levels because no one will believe you anyway. And if they do you just have more competition in the AH. (Seriously copper sells well!)

Make an alt, then decide to delete it and accidentally delete your main.

Fall off The Great Lift near Thousand Needles. You WILL die! But the graveyard was like 10' away, so it wasn't that bad.

Try to figure out if you can jump off Deeprun Tram while it's moving. (Yes, you can. And it's a long walk back.)

Right click on gear icons in an instance and then ask "What happens when I push this?" (It releases all the monsters that just ambushed our group. Thanks nub.)

Join a guild that randomly invites you.

Try to start your own guild.

Sap people in Booty Bay so they miss the boat. Sure it's funny but the guards will treat you like your name is Rodney King.

Use bloodfury while main tanking an instance boss.

Unleash a Infernal into the auction house.

Summon people underwater so they drown. (Account suspended for "harassment")

Decide to twink a rogue. Put Crusader enchant on two swords and realize after that they are both meant for main-hand only and already are soul bound.

Go afk in a instance while you are qued for a battleground. (You will auto join the battleground after a couple minutes. Bye bye group.)

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General Reforging FaQ


Item and Ability enhancement has been around in World of Warcraft since day one and has steadily evolved into a massive core part of developing your character. Every single primary crafting profession has involved in this in some way:

And that is just a general over view. As of Patch 4.0.1 the steaks (Mooo) were raised once more and introduced a new way of itemization enhancements, independent of skill or professions. Welcome to Reforging

Table of contents

What is Reforging?

In a nutshell Reforging is a new game mechanic that allows you to reduce a statistic on your gear, and then gives you a choice of another statistic that you can replace it with.

Sounds simple; and I am sure the gears are turning in your head right now. However, there are a few ground rules you need to know.

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What Stats can I change?

You can change any secondary statistic on an item (except resilience), and replace it with a new secondary statistic that does not already exist on that item. (For example, reducing critical rating, and adding haste, when the item already has haste thus creating super lopsided itemization)

A secondary statistic is the inbuilt enchantment on that item, or in simple language, the green text:

As you can see the item I have exampled has haste on it, however you have decided you would like to have a bit more Critical rating instead. With reforging you can do exactly that.

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What secondary stats can I reforge?

You can swap any of the following stats with one another, providing you stay within the boundaries listed in the previous paragraph:

Critical Strike Rating, Dodge Rating, Expertise Rating, Haste Rating, Hit Rating, Mastery Rating, Parry Rating, Spirit

That means that Agility, Intellect, Stamina, Strength, Resilience, Attack Power are immune to reforging.

The one exception to the rule is Spirit. In 4.0.1 Spirit in effect took MP5 (mana generated every 5 seconds) under it's wing. MP5 used to be a secondary stat and didn't pop its head up as a raw stat until Burning Crusade. So, Spirit adopts the right to be the only primary stat at this time that is reforgeable.

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Are there any limitations?

There are a few limitations you do need to be aware of when reforging your gear. The first is the weight of the reforge. You can not take that 52 haste and turn it into 52 critical, you will only be able to reforge 40% of that value. So in theory you would be able to get 21 critical, leaving 31 haste as part of the original stat.

The second limitation is you can on reforge one stat on an item at a time. Don't panic though, as you can reforge an item as many times as you like, but you have to reset it's original state before you do so.

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Where can I Reforge?

As of 4.0.1 Arcane Reforger was the generic NPC introduced to all major cities with the exception of Shatrath City. Looking at the beta information they may individualize the mobs a little more. They can be found by the enchanting trainers.

Alliance:


(54.9,74.0)


(66.0,44.5)


(58.7,13.2)


(40.9,3.89)

Horde:

(53.3,37.7)


(44.8,37.7)


(61.5,61.1)


(70.1,24.2)

Sanctuaries:

(40.5,42.4)

After doing some of my famous pencil and paper scribbling I did come to the conclusion that in Cataclysm or 4.0.3 that Arcane Reforger will get a true identity. As this information becomes more set in stone I will integrate it in with this guide. For now you can read more about these mobs by following This Link

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What's the Cost?

If you have a limited supply of gold, I can be forgiven for saying, it's not cheap. Though if you reforge an item just once it's ultimately free (sort of)
The current pricing model Blizzard have implemented is the default vendor sale of the item. So if you vendor the item later and you reforged it once, you are not out of pocket. Also to reset an item to default, you do not pay for the reset.

This is thought to be one of the reasons blizzard allowed the vendor sale and disenchantment of unwanted PVP gear and such items.

Blizzard went on record by saying they do not intend players to feel the need to reforge every piece of gear; that they hope reforging allows more classes to feel the need to roll on something. They also no longer want to make it so that classes stack one particular stat in excess to be powerful in their character. In theory this makes sense, however, I do not honestly believe that they are going to achieve this yet and that the majority of players will indeed be routinely reforging gear, this remains to be seen.

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What can I reforge?

You can reforge any gear items (including pally books etc) with an item level of at least 200. You can reforge trinkets but the secondary stat has to be stationary and these are a little uncommon. Trinkets with variable itemization (You gain X spirit per spell cast stacking upto X times) do not provide that variable stat as a reforgeable option; this is also true of "on use" trinkets (stats that physically require you to use the trinket to activate).

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Thanks for reading as always
Jezz

All images used in this guide were constructed by wkjezz. Source files for the image layers were collected from www.wowhead.com

How to get the most out of Quest Rewards

About the Guide : A short but, hopefully helpful, guide that will help you save gold. Whether it be at level 80, finishing up Northrend quests, or at level 10, deciding on a quest reward when you can't use any of them. This will make saving easier, as long as you do it properly!



Table of Contents
I doubt this will be very needed, but I guess it should help once I expand it more in depth and such.
  1. The Purpose
  2. Addons
  3. How to Succeed
  4. Conclusion

1. The Purpose; Why You Should Read This

Simple List :

In-depth:
Using this guide, you will not choose unnecessary quest rewards only to find that they are not upgrades, and ending up losing money. For example, if Reward A sells for 2g at a vendor, but Reward B sells for 4, and neither are upgrades, you gain 2g by knowing that beforehand. Without knowing it beforehand, you may lose 2g because Reward A was for your spec but Reward B wasn't.

2. Add-ons; Helpers of the Questers

3. How To Succeed; From Rags to Riches.

Now, on to the main purpose of this guide, which is fairly simple. The key things to do to make additional gold from your quests are to..

  1. Make sure you're getting upgrades. Using Rating Buster, you should compare the stats on the gear usable to you, to check for upgrades. If none are found, you continue onto step two..

  2. When using gear that is better than a quest reward, you will be able to choose the one that is outlined by Vendor Bait.

  3. To save yourself some time, you could look up some quest rewards corresponding to quests in the zone you're in, or corresponding to Jame's guide, while you're unable to play. Preferably use Wowhead, and if you'd like, use their forums, which can be quite nice (As long as you don't stay in randomness).

4. Conclusion; Why I'm glad I wasted time on this guide.

I'm glad I spent time on this guide because, if all goes well, this may help many people gain a lot of money. This way, they'll be able to get things such as their epic fliers, Grand Mammoth Caravans, and everything else without as much wasted time Smiling. I'm hoping for criticism, and for this guide to be actually accepted, and used, by the public. Ha!

Though, this guide is in no way or form complete. If it was that easy to complete a half-decent guide, the internet would be overflowed, no?

Just Hit 80 - Gerpz's Guide to Preparing for Endgame Content

Have you just hit level 80 or are close and don't know what to do to prepare for end-game content? Follow this guide to become familiar with preparing for the endgame content.

Addons

Deadly Boss Mods - http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/deadly-boss-mods.aspx

- This addon is mostly self explanatory once you load it. It pretty much tells you what is going on in a fight and what to do. This is only a basic outline of the fight so be sure to still read up before the attempt.

GearScore - http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/gearscore.aspx

- This is a great addon to decide who to invite to a raid group and who not to. If you have been in a major city in the past month you have most likely heard this addon's name more than once. When you hover your mouse over a character in the little screen (bottom right corner) should be their name and below that their gearscore. This addon uses the average item level of your gear to give an estimate of how good your gear is. WARNING - Do not base what gear you wear and what gear you don't wear just to improve your gearscore. This will result in terribad performance and most likely a raid boot.

Tanks and Healers - Other than the addons above you will most likely need some others because you take on such an important role in any raid or dungeon.

Helpful Websites

Bosskillers - http://bosskillers.com/

- This site gives videos and explanations on what your role in the fight is so you don't screw things up Smiling.

Wow-pro - http://wow-pro.com/class_guides

- This website has many guides for specific classes and roles that you can find in the Class Guides section of the site.

Maxdps - http://www.maxdps.com

- This website is great for finding out what better gear you can get from what instances and/or what raids are available to your gear and experience.

Wow-heroes - http://www.wow-heroes.com

- Similar to the gearscore addon this website gives you a score based on the value of your gear. However, many raid organizers prefer this to the gearscore addon because of the fact that this site adds in a value for enchants and gems that are put into your gear.

WoW Forums - http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com/Forums.com

- Though this may seem obvious, this is a great place to get information on your class. I do not recommend going to the Class Roles forums section just because it is not specific to your class. Whenever you are having problems with your dps or deciding on a spec visit here and you'll be sure to find an answer.

Tankspot - http://www.Tankspot.com

- Like the World of Warcraft forums. This place has great info not only for tanking but for all roles and/or classes of the game.

A Good Guild

Whether you are looking to PvP or PvE you will most likely do much better with a guild. I would not recommend looking in trade chat for a guild unless they ask for an application. I prefer going to the WoW Forums which were mentioned above and, looking in your realm's forum NOT the Guild Recruitment forum.

Getting Geared

When you have first gotten to level 80 you are going to want to run heroics until you can't stand it anymore.... and then run a ton more. Running heroics is your key to getting geared for raids like ICC and RS. You should always enchant and gem your gear before you use it as this will improve your role greatly. I will not go into what gear you should be purchasing with your newly earned emblems but you should be able to find that kind of info in the forums I listed above.

Thank you as this is my first guide that I have written. Please feel free to flame and leave comments on how to improve my guide to best fit the reader.

Thanks,
Gerpz

Newb-No-More Guide

A big welcome to everyone coming here from www.worldofwarcraft.com! I hope the info in this guide helps. There are plenty of other guides on this site that may be able to help you out. Feel free to look around, and leave a comment!

Hello, everyone. My name is Lycander, and welcome to the Newb-No-More guide. This guide was originally written by Bladetooth and with Jame's permission, I've taken it over. Bladetooth originally designed this to be a compilation of various new player guides he'd written to help people new to MMOs in general as well as World of Warcraft. With that in mind I'll be covering a lot of different topics as we go. This is meant only to cover the basics and get you familiar with WoW. Wow-Pro provides guides for pretty much everything, so please head to the guides section for further info on classes, professions and pretty much anything else you could want. Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated!

Important Note: For the most part, I'm not going to be repeating Blizzard's information. This applies to such topics as class abilities, racial benefits, etc. I don't want this to be a re-write of the user manual.



Introduction


This guide was originally designed to help people new to World of Warcraft, and to MMOs in general. I'll try to cover everything that you'll need to get started and hopefully have fun playing. Please note that this is NOT a leveling guide. If you want one of those, there are plenty of excellent ones right here. What this guide is for is to help you get in and understand the game, and hopefully allow you to enjoy it.
Throughout this guide, I use a few color codes. They are as follows:
So, how does one go about starting to play this game? Well, there are a few things you have to do before you can take your first steps out into the World of Warcraft. They are:
  1. Choose the realm you'll create your character on.
  2. Create your first character on that realm.
    • Select your race (which will also select your faction). You will also select your gender at this time, but since is has absolutely no effect on gameplay this is the last time I'll mention it.
    • Select your Class
    • Give your character a name. Blizzard has a pretty extensive naming policy which you'll need to abide by.
  3. Enter the game
What does all this stuff mean? See below for explanation of the different parts.




Realms


The first major decision to make is the Realm on which you'll be playing. If you have friends that play and you want to join them, you MUST create a character on the same realm as they are if you want to play with them. You'll also need to be the same Faction. There are three factors which should influence your choice of realm. They are Type, Population and Location, each of which are covered below.
TIP: Each server is set to the Local Time for it's physical location. This should give you an idea if you're close to your server. If it's 12 hours ahead, it's going to be half-way around the world or so.




Your Character


There are 3 major choices that you will need to make when creating your character. They are Faction, Race and Class. Faction determines what race you can be, and race determines what classes you can be. There are 2 playable factions, 5 races per faction and 10 classes. Not every race can be every class, and some classes are restricted to only 1 race per faction. I will be presenting Classes first, since this is what you'll be playing.


Classes

Classes are what really define how you will play the game. They will determine how frequently you will be needed in a group, how you will survive when battling, how you will be dealing your damage, etc. Make sure you pick a class you will have fun with.

In some of the cases below, I've listed the most common nicknames given to each class, at least the non-derogatory ones. I haven't included ones that are merely stating the talent tree, such as "ret pally", since those should be explanatory. Most of these names come from what is usually considered the "defining" talent from a tree, such as Tree of Life is why resto druids are called "Trees".


Please remember that these are guidelines - there are exceptions to every rule. An arms warrior might be able to tank an instance, and a balance druid may be able to heal it. These are just guidelines to help you choose something to fit your playstyle. The classes are detailed out below.


Death Knight (DK)

Death Knights are WoW's first Hero Class. You can only create a DK if you have at least one character level 55+ and have Wrath of the Lich King installed, and you are only allowed one DK per realm. DKs start at level 55, and are an incredibly powerful class. They are a melee class that can be either a Tank or DPS. A DK's abilities either generate or consume Runic Power and Runes.



Druid (Kitty; Bear; Tree; Boomkin)

Druids are the most versatile hybrid class. As they rise in level, they gain access to various forms that grant them access to a wide variety of abilities. This also works against them, as the gear for one form may be useless in another and most druids tend to have multiple sets of gear which leaves less bag space. Depending on what form a druid is in, abilities either use rage, energy or mana. Druids can wear up to leather armor, but certain talents and forms increase this amount to the equivalent of plate. Druids are also the only class that can bring a dead player back to life in the middle of combat.



Hunter

Hunters are the only class whose primary source of damage comes from ranged weapons. Adding to that is the wide variety of pets a hunter can control, and these are part of their damage potential. Hunters have some melee capabilities, but those are usually focused around letting them get farther away from their opponent so they can start shooting again. Hunters are also one of the primary crowd control classes. And if things go horribly wrong, hunters can Feign Death to get out of a lot of situations.



Mage

Mages are generally considered the best AoE class, and are exquisite ranged DPS. Their ability to Polymorph opponents can often mean the difference when things go wrong.



Paladin (Pally; Healadin; Tankadin)

Paladins are another hybrid class, similar to Druids. Warriors of the Light, paladins are capable of doing melee damage, tanking and healing. Using Repentance, paladins can provide back-up crowd control as needed. With the ability to wear plate armor, paladins are also hard to kill.



Priest (Spriest)

Priests are the class that most people think of when they think "healer", but are a very good DPS class as well. They can deal Holy damage, which is a type very few things can resist. They have the ability to reduce the damage they take significantly, and can return health and even mana to their entire party with spells.



Rogue

Rogues are one of the primary melee DPS classes in the game. They can use poisons on their weapons to provide extra damage or weaken their opponents. Their Stealth ability allows them to get a lot of places alone that others can't, and their ability to Vanish can get them out of almost any situation. Their Sap ability is an excellent piece of crowd control. Finally, rogues are the only class that can open locked chests and items without the need for a separate profession.



Shaman (Shammy)

This is another hybrid class. A shaman is capable of enchanting their own weapons with various effects for limited periods of time, and can use various totems to provide several benefits to their group. They also have excellent melee and ranged capacity. Their Astral Recall gives them an extra hearth which is useful while leveling. They can also Reincarnate. However, totems are usually easily destroyed if attacked directly, and their major crowd control ability is only available at level 80.



Warlock

Warlocks are WoW's second pet class, along with hunters. However, where a hunter's pet is designed to contribute to his damage output directly, a Warlock's pet is used more for support. Warlocks specialize in spells that do damage over time, but also have an arsenal of spells that can deal massive direct and area damage. Warlocks are capable of creating items that can be used to heal others, or even allow someone to ressurect themselves after dying. They are also the only class that can summon other players to their location without needing to leave the area they're in.



Warrior

A warrior has 2 choices of play style - Tank or DPS. One of only 3 classes capable of wearing the heaviest armor in the game, they excel at taking punishment as well as dishing it out. Warriors have Stances that they switch between, giving bonuses and penalties while providing access to different abilities in each stance. Warrior abilities cost Rage, which is generated when you deal or take damage.

When discussing classes, anytime there is something in brackets beside the name, such as Druid (Balance), It refers to the area that person should have spent their talents in. I'll usually only use this when there's a massive difference between the various talent trees. For instance, Whether a mage has specialized in Arcane, Frost or Fire trees, they are still a ranged damage dealer. However, a shaman that's spent thier points in the Enchancement tree is melee dps while one that's spent their points in Elemental is ranged dps.




Factions

In the World of Warcraft, there are but two playable factions: The Horde and the Alliance. Neither side is considered good or bad, so don't let that affect your decision. The Horde has Blood Elves, Forsaken, Goblins, Orcs, Taurens, and Trolls. The Alliance has Draenei, Dwarves, Gnomes, Humans, Night Elves and Worgen. Remember that if you are flagged for PvP, any member of the opposite faction can attack you. The same goes for NPCs, but they can attack you even you aren't flagged.

When you are a faction, either Horde or Alliance, you are unable to talk, mail, or in any other way communicate with the other side. The only means of communicating is by the use of emotes and killing. Make sure that if your friends play WoW, you pick the same faction as them if you want to talk to them. Also note that if you have alts in different factions, you can't mail items or money to them, so be careful.

Note: The term Faction also applies to any group you can gain reputation with. There are quite a number of them, and gaining reputation with some may cause you to lose reputation with others. As there are plenty of guides talking about factions, I'll leave the details out of here.




Races

You should have chosen the class you want to play, or at least narrowed it down. Since each race can only be certain classes, you'll need to choose one that can be the class you want. Each race offers certain abilities, but the difference at the higher levels is miniscule so choose a race you think you'd have fun playing as opposed to strictly for the benefits. Some races grant benefit to professions. While this provides a jump at the start, there is no difference between a 450 and a 455 jewelcrafting or herbalism, for instance, so you don't necessarily need to pick a race with a bump to whatever profession you choose.

A Size chart showing the genders of each race can be viewed here.

A complete list of the various racial abilities can be found here


ALLIANCE



Draenei

Dwarf

Gnome

Human

Night Elf

Worgen


HORDE



Blood Elf

Forsaken

Goblin

Orc

Tauren

Troll



Stats

First, know what the stats are and mean. There are 5 stats: Strength, Agility, Stamina, Intelligence and Spirit. Here's a list of the stats, as well as the base effect. of each one. Please note that some classes can receive additional benefit from certain stats. Druids, for instance, may receive part of their intellect or spirit as spell power. Also note that most player stats affect the stats of your pets, if you have any.

From these stats, you have a set of derived stats that will be affected. For instance, Attack Power increases the damage you do with your weapon. Each class, and even the different specs for a specific class, usually require that you concentrate on different stats. Please refer to a class guide to figure out what's best to build for.

For any of the other stats, such as mana regen, crit chance, haste rating, etc., you can hover over that stat on your character sheet and it will tell you what it does.

Talents

What are talents? The short answer is they are the area your character specializes in. Now, for the long answer. You get 1 talent point whenever you gain a new level, starting at level 10. You won't even be able to access your talent screen until then. Each talent point can be spent to get increases to existing abilities, or even entirely new ones only available through the talent tree. Ones farther down the tree require that you have spent X number of points earlier in the tree. You are required to spend your first 31 points only in one tree, and the remaining points can be spent in any of the other trees. You will have 41 points when you hit 85, and to get to the last talent in any specific tree you'll have to spend 31, leaving only 10 for other trees, or to finish spending in that tree. Please refer to the various Class Guides available here for suggestions on how to spend your points.

IMPORTANT: Once you spend a talent point, it's locked into place. You can reset your talent points, known as a respec, by visiting your class trainer. However, it costs 1 GOLD the first time. After that, it goes up to 5, then increases by 5 every time after that until it hits the max of 50 GOLD. Every month that goes by and you haven't respecced, the cost drops by 5 gold, to a minimum of 10 gold. Do some research before you spend them and save yourself some money.



Professions and Secondary Skills

Professions and Secondary Skills are available to every race and class. They area each described below.

Professions
Your character is allowed to learn up to two (2) professions. Professions fall into two categories - Gathering and Crafting. Gathering professions are used to get materials from the environment, and the crafting skills allow the player to create various items, some that only they can use.
Giving your character two gathering professions is a great way to make money. If you want to take a crafting skill, it's highly recommended that you take the appropriate gathering skill to keep yourself supplied with materials. The exception to this is tailoring, which uses the cloth that drops off mobs. Enchanting goes well with this, as the items you craft with tailoring can be disenchated to give you mats for enchanting. Otherwise, any gathering profession is a good pairing.

An important note regarding professions: Professions have 6 levels of skill. You have to both a) get your skill to a certain level and b) get your character to a certain level in order to train in the next level of the skill. The different ranks are listed below. Also please note that Gathering skills (Mining, Herbalism and Skinning) can be accessed at lower character levels than the crafting professions.

RankSkill LevelChar LevelMax Skill Level
Apprentice0575
Journeyman5010150
Expert12520225
Artisan20035300
Master27555375
Grand Master35065450


Secondary Skills
Players can learn all of the following secondary skills in addition to their two professions.


Equipment


Now that we've covered the stats, it's time to figure out what to do with them. While you get a small bump to your skills every time you level, the main way you'll become more powerful is through gear.
Gear comes in six levels, listed below:
To give you an idea, compare the following:
As you can see, there is a marked power difference between the items. Now, for the exceptions:

The gear from each new expansion is much more powerful than the items from the previous ones, even though the item's required level may be the same, or even less. For instance, take Stoneblade Slicer and Vindicator's Brand. There's not a huge difference, yet the epic costs over 200 gold, while the green requires that you do a quest and get gold!




Bind to Account


Blizzard has introduced a new class of item called "Bind to Account" or "BoA". BoA items can be traded between any character on the purchasing account as long as the characters are on the same server.

BoA items include vanity pets, some enchantments, skills and Heirloom equipment.
Heirloom equipment has several benefits:
For the most part, BoA items can only be acquired by level 80+ characters. The main exceptions to this are the vanity pets, which can be obtained by characters of any level.




Chatspeak


It's important you know what all the lingo that comes out of a lazy player's keyboard means. Chatspeak is a mean of communication which abbreviates common phrases or words for a means for faster chat. I won't cover it here, but Wow-Pro has a comprehensive chatspeak page here. You should check it out and familiarize yourself with the basics.




Welcome to the World (of Warcraft)


You should now be logged in. You're looking around the area you've started in. There are some creatures wandering around, and someone near you has a large gold exclamation point over their head. Now what?

Well, first off, spend a few moments getting to know the controls. You'll be using a combination of your keyboard and mouse, along with any other input device(s) you may have. I can't cover everything, but the default basic commands (for a PC, at least) are:
Now, about the stuff you see around you. The names of any creatures or players are color-coded, as are their respective level to you. what these colors mean is listed below.

Creatures


Players
The colors for players are a little more extensive.

Rob's Guide to Choosing the Right Class/Race Combo & Role

Introduction

So, you've finally caved in, huh? You went and purchased World of Warcraft? Good! You can finally begin enjoying the things you've been reading upon!

    Maybe you are new to the game? Or maybe, you're just an altoholic? Someone who can't stick to a character?
    Or, finally, maybe you're someone who just needs guidance in the right direction.
Either way, this guide can help you select the right class/race combination for you!

How Will This Work For Me?

This guide works for anyone (hopefully). From the most pro player of all time, to some random newbie, stuck on what to do.

This guide will hopefully make you consider other classes, and finally, choose the class destined for you.

We will:

    Take into account the pros and cons of each class, Decide what role you want to play,
    Where you want to play that role (RP? PvP? PvE? All three?),
    Look at what type of person you are (e.g. a peaceful person wouldn't really suit a warrior),
    Decide whether that class is in demand on your server,
    Look at what races you would like to play,
    And finally, formulate the race/class combination you were destined to play.

Let's Crack On... So, let's have a look at what's available.
Note: Expierienced WoW players might not neccessarily need this section. But, it's still helpful.

Okay, first let's choose what faction you want to play. You may want to look at the Alliance:Horde ratio of your server, as it may help you in your decision.

Note that Horde cannot communicate with Alliance AT ALL, and vice versa. So if you have friends on a particular faction, you'd best choose that faction.

Just look at some factors and decide, as the faction you play doesnt have THAT much of an impact on your gameplay.
Also, while looking here, you may decide on what race you would like to try out. But please note, not ALL classes are available to every race, so I'd choose your class first.

Horde: The Horde are more brutal and fierce looking. They are the most abnormal looking, too, as opposed to the Alliance. Their races consist of:

    Undead: For matter of simplicity, they are dead humans who are 'alive'. They have next to no flesh, and are basically your typical stereotype zombie. Their starter area is considered by me as quite difficult for the majority of classes that undead have, and isn't the most well set-out. Their normal mounts, in my opinion, are pretty crappy looking, but their epic mounts look awesome.

    Orc: Greenskinned, angry, and brutal is what they're portrayed as. They're like a school bully: They look angry and horrid on the outside, but once you know them, their inside is as soft as a fluffy kitten on a cloud. Okay, maybe that's taking the piss, but oh well. Their starter area is pretty well designed, but again, not the most excellent. Not to mention an annoying quest that has almost 0% droprate. Their mounts are okay, I guess. But I dislike the colours.

    Troll: Blue skinned folk who were taken in by the orcs. (I told you orcs are softies at heart). They start in the same area as orcs. Their mounts are pretty cool.

    Tauren: 'Cows'. They look like cows. Get over it :<. To be honest, I despise the Tauren starter area. Some may disagree, but I think the quests are bad. The layout is okay, but other than that, completely poop. Their mounts make me wanna puke and.. Lets just stop talking about them, okay?

    (TBC Only) Blood Elf: Since this race was released some time after WoW was released, their starter area is significantly better layout, with better quests and a more in-depth storyline. Their mounts are big chickens which are kind of cool.

Maybe I sound a bit biased... Well, I don't really like the Horde races. So, please don't take my opinions as your own. Ask other people, or expierience them yourself.


Alliance: The Alliance are more 'normal' looking, and are considered much more 'peaceful' and less brutal. I, myself play an Alliance character and think that most starter areas are well layout. Their races consist of:
    Humans: Look at yourself. That's what a Human is. Smiling Their starter area is quite difficult for some, and, in my opinion, is badly setout. There involves alot of traveling, and quests aren't clumped together in one quest hub. Their mounts are basically horses which is sort of cool, but not exactly 'fantasy' like.

    Dwarves: These fatties are small folk who are basically Scottish alchoholics. 'Nuff said. Their starter area has a nice storyline and is rather well designed. Much better than the Human starter area imo. Their mounts are goat-like rams with spirally horns and stuff. Pretty good Smiling

    Gnomes: They look like obese babies and start in the same area as the dwarves. Their mounts are fuel guzzling mechanostriders, which make a TERRIBLE noise if you like to have your volume turned up.

    Night Elf: Peace loving, immortal and druidic. Who'd want more? Their starter area is like the Human starter area mixed with the Dwarf starter area. (Quest-wise that is). Some areas have quests all clumped together, where others have quests spread out. Their mounts are saber's with huge fangs and stripes. Yay! Smiling

    (TBC Only) Draenei: Blue skinned, alien, octupus-like things who crash landed on Azeroth in a spaceship. Not very WoW like, I know, but hey, whatever Blizzard says goes. Since their starter area was made quite a while after the release of WoW, it is MUCH better layed out with a much more indepth storyline to their quests. Basically, you are a survivor of the spaceship crash and are learning to live in Azeroth. Their mounts are kind of like elephants. Big thinks with tusks and a trunk. Kind of cool.

So there's your races. To discover more about mounts, visit this page. Please do not take my opinion as your own. You may like Tauren where I do not. Ask around, look at the WoW (EU) forums and look about. Go to the WoW (EU) site and take a look there. And finally, there are many many guides on this site to help you.


The Pros and Cons for each Class.
Each class in this game has its own negatives and positives, with the exception of Death Knights, who have a LOT more positives than any other class. So, here we are:

Death Knights:
Pros:

    Death Knights are a hero class, and therefore are complete ownage. They can defeat mobs in milliseconds, and are now considered the most overpowered class. They get a free epic mount, their own place to hang out, and their own flying mounts. Need I say more?

    Comment by Matthias: Although Death Knights are overpowered now, they were never meant to be, and they WILL be nerfed.

    Comment by Jiyambi: as a raider and PvE person, DKs are really NOT overpowered. They are uber for leveling, but most people just do not know how to play them well in raids. It's not that the class isn't good enough for either tanking or DPS, its just that every idiot and his mom made one and mostly they don't know how to use them. Some mention of the fact that DK damage/tanking rotations can be a little more difficult to play might be mentioned.

Cons:

    You need to have Wrath of the Lich King installed, and a level 55 character is required to unlock Death Knights. Not to mention, you get alot of whines thrown at you for being so overpowered.

Druids:
Pros:

    You get to transform into at LEAST 6 different forms. Druid are hybrid, which means they have an easier choice on whether to be DPS, Tank or Healer. You get the normal flying skill for 7 gold, and a flying form. You get stealth in cat form and there is not an abundancy of druids.

Cons:

    You are restricted to ONE race per faction. Leveling from 1-20 is a pain in the arse, and sometimes you are demanded to respec to healing or tanking.

Hunters:
Pros:

    You are twice as strong. You get a pet at level ten, and hardly die at all. You can track down most enemy mobs, and most friendly mobs. You just send your pet in, pull your bow a few times, repeat, and you are level 80 in no time. You are considered to be the most easiest and fastest levelers in the game, but this can sometimes be a negative. You get Feign Death at level 30 which makes you almost invincible in PvE, not to mention many different 'Aspect of the ' spells.

Cons:

    The only REAL negative hunters face is people not accepting you into groups, being called a kid, and being downgraded because your class is too easy. Some people would say you don't know how to play the game, and chose Hunter as an easy option. A few other negatives are that you have to spend a fair amount of money on arrows and meat for your pet to keep him happy.

Mages:
Pros:

    You can make portals to all your factions major cities, conjure water and food, and can DPS a hell of a lot. Your damage is sometimes insane and you are kind of a huge plus in PvE.

Cons:

    Mages are 'Glass Cannons' which basically means all damage and no defense. Although some may disagree with this notion, it is mostly true. Players of mages need to learn alot about their class, and also, learn to deal with having a hell of a lot of deaths while leveling. Mages are not the best in PvP, but are fairly good at it. You are seen as a walking vending machine.

Paladins:
Pros:

    The Retribution spec is extremely efficient and good at PvP. You have a bubble, heals, stuns and awesome DPS. Paladins are fairly good at leveling fast, and get a free mount at level 30. They get an epic mount at level 61, but this requires the 150 riding skill which costs 500g.

Cons:

    You are too overpowered! People will flame you for choosing an easy class, and their attitude towards you will be sour. You are referred to often as a 'Retardin' or similar, just as Hunters are frequently referred to as 'Huntards'.

Priest:
Pros:

    You are needed ALOT as a healer. You can mind control people, and do a fair amount of DPS as a Spriest (Shadow Priest). You will be loved by groups and other players.

Cons:

    Priests aren't the most fastest leveling classes. They aren't the best at PvP, nor can they take on too many mobs. You will be whined at in groups for not healing, or when there is a wipe that isn't your fault, you are still blamed. You are always required to resurrect players, and will be shouted at for wasting mana on DPS if you are healing.

Rogues:
Pros:

    You can stealth, vanish and do awesome DPS which makes you great at both PvE and PvP. Rogues aren't the most fastest levelers, but are quite decent. You deal bucket loads of DPS in instances and raids, and will be liked by groups. Rogues are the dogs bollocks in PvP, for you can jump out unexpectedly on that level 11 priest in WSG, trying to guard the flag Eye.

Cons:

    Sometimes, stealth can be detected, so it isn't always the best option. You must avoid Flares at all costs, and dodge traps. Rogues are prone to dying alot, and this can be highly annoying.

Shaman:
Pros:

    You can heal! Yay! You have many totems to aid you in combat and have a range of shocks to kite mobs and enemy players. Shamans have Ghost Wolf to escape tricky situations and are quite efficient at leveling. Shamans are good at both PvP and PvE, and deal good DPS. You can also equip mail at level 40! Woo!

Cons:

    Again, Shamans are quite prone to death which is annoying. The large range of totems sometimes confuses you, and you may get shouted at for aggroing mobs with your totems.. Eye.

Warlocks:
Pros:

    You are like hunters: You have pet demons which makes you almost invincible. You can summon players to you with the aid of two others, and you get a free mount at level 30, and an epic looking mount at level 61. (Req. 150 riding skill which costs 500g). Warlocks are sometimes seen as the second fastest levelers in the game, and are good at both PvP and PvE. You can spam fear :]

Cons:

    If your pet dies, you're doomed to hell. Warlocks die alot, and like hunters, levels 1-10 are a complete pain the arse.

Warriors:
Pros:

    Tank! Tank! Tank! WOOOOOOOO! Yeah. You are needed in PvE, and can sometimes prove well in PvP. Warriors can level fairly quick, but it depends on how you play the class.

Cons:

    Getting whispers saying 'kan tank plz 4 dm? last spot n kan somon' can get pretty annoying. Warriors sometimes have trouble taking on many mobs at a time.
Please note I have not had much expierience with Warriors. Please comment to correct me if I'm wrong Smiling


Deciding What Role You Want To Play.
In World of Warcraft, there are three primary roles.
    Healing, Tanking,
    and DPS. (Damage Per Second).

Healing does what it says on the tin. You heal people. You resurrect people, and you buff up people. Every good group needs at least one healer, so this role is often in demand quite alot. Healers tend to stand quite far back at a range, and mainly heal the tank. There are currently four classes which can heal: Druid, Shaman, Priest and Paladin, each with their own healing talent tree (Restoration and Holy). Leveling as a healer is considered rather difficult, and is not reccomended in Jame's Guides. Healers have an extremely important role in groups. The available races here are:

Horde: All races on Horde have at least one healing class available.

Alliance: Humans, Dwarves, Night Elves and Draenei all have at least one healing class each. The only race that does NOT have a healing class are the Gnomes.

Tanking again, does what it says on the tin. You act like a tank, being the frontal force. The one who can sustain large amounts of damage, while also dealing damage, and maintaining aggro. (Keeping mobs from attacking other's, and forcing it to attack you). Again, every group needs at least one tank, so this role is often in demand. Tanks are up close fighters who are fierce, corageous and not afraid. There are currently three classes which can tank: Paladin, Warrior and Druid. Excluding Death Knights due to their level 55 requirement. The talent trees to go for to tank are: Protection for Paladin & Warrior, and Feral for Druid. Leveling while tanking is considered fairly easy, but sometimes can prove difficult. Tanks hold a rather important role in groups. It is not reccomended in Jame's Guides to level as a tank. (With the exception of druids). The available races are:

Horde: All races on Horde have at least one tanking class available.

Alliance: All races on Alliance have at least one tanking class available.

DPS is basically doing as much damage as possible in a minimum amount of time. ALL classes have at least one talent tree branch for DPSing, therefore DPS classes are usually NOT in high demand. In a group of 5, there are normally 3 DPSers, whose job is normally to keep aggro if the tank loses his own aggro, as well as killing adds and adding to the damage the tank is doing on other mobs. DPSers usually stand beside the tank, helping him bring down mobs, OR can guard the healer to keep off any aggro. DPSers do not hold that much of an important role in groups. Is is highly reccomended in Jame's Guides to level as a DPSer, for you will find it much easier and quicker. ALL races have at least one DPSer, thus it is not neccessary for me to create a Horde/Alliance seperation.

Choosing a role will help you choose a class MAJORLY. So choose which one attracts you.


Where do you intend to play that role?
So, you've decided what type of role you wanna play. You've got a basic idea on what different classes are like, and are drawn to one or the other.
But wait: Different roles and classes mix well in different situations. A mage DPSer isnt TOO good in PvP, but is greatly welcomed in PvE. This section of the guide will explain where different roles are strongest and weakest.

Healing: Healing is greatly admired in PvP and is welcome in PvE. Therefore healers have a wider choice of where to go and what to do.
Despite this, different types of healers will not do well in certain areas.

    Example A: A priest is running with a rogue in WSG. The rogue has the flag, and the priest is healing. Who're you gonna kill first? The priest of course! Priests die extremely fast, so the rogue wont have much time to run away.

    Example B: A DRUID is running with a rogue in WSG. Same scenario. The opposing faction is killing the druid. The druid can just cast bear form, and he all of a sudden has a significant health boost. This gives the rogue much more time to run away.

    Example B applies to Paladins and in some cases, Shaman aswell. Although Shaman have Ghost Wolf. He and the rogue could spring away together and escape.

Therefore, if you are a healer, you can swap between both PvE and PvP rather easily, although PvE is more reccomended.

Tanking: Tanks aren't that great in PvP. Although tanks survive longer, they do not do much DPS and therefore will eventually die. If you are planning on making a tank, I would advise you not to PvP that much, and stick to PvE as PvE is their strong point. Again, people may disagree. But this guide is based on my own opinion.

DPS: Melee DPS is excellent in PvP, so I'd go for Rogue/Ret Paladin/Enh Shaman etc. Casters are quite good, but die alot, and as for hunters... Well, in past expieriences, only twinked hunters are good in PvP. Caster DPSers are more strong in PvE rather than PvP, and therefore I advise casters to stick to PvE. So basically: Melee DPS are good at both, whilst ranged DPS suits PvE more.

A basic summary consisting of my opinion:
Healing in PvE is suitable for Priests, Druids, Paladins and Shamans.
Healing in PvP is suitable for Druids, Paladins and Shamans.

Tanking in PvE is suitable for Paladins, Warriors and Druids.
Tanking in PvP is suitable for Paladins, Warriors and Druids. Although it is not highly needed/reccomended.

DPSing in PvE is suitable for ALL classes of the right spec.
DPSing in PvP is suitable for Rogues, Druids, Warriors, Paladins, Shamans.

Side Note: The above is not supposed to fix classes to certain roles. It is just a baseline of what different classes are most good at. For example: You may like leveling Warriors, but don't like tanking. So what's the point in leveling all that time just to discover you're gonna be asked to do something you don't like?

Decide which of the above you'd most like to do. This will cancel your choice of class down. (With the exception of PvE DPS).


What Type of Person Are You?
At this stage, you should hopefully have a base idea of what class you want to make.

So, to cancel this down even more, let's "Open you up" a bit. Choose one of the following:

    A) I love nature, animals and the world. B) I like war and things to do with it.
    C) I like to be up close to goings on, and I like to know all the latest gossip.
    D) I'm a people-person, but I'm a bitch at times.
    E) I like to stay far away, and stay by myself.

If you answered A you are cancelled down to the following: Druid, Hunter, Shaman.
If you answered B you are cancelled down to the following: Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight, Rogue.
If you answered C you are cancalled down to the following: Rogue, Paladin, Druid, Shaman.
If you answered D you are cancelled down to the following: Warlock, Mage, Rogue, Priest.
If you answered E you are cancelled down to the following: Priest, Mage, Warlock.

You should now be really thinking of what class suits you best.


What's in demand on your server?
Look at what classes you are left with, and go and log in a character on the server you intend to play on. Try and do this stage during peak hours on your server, when there are the most people online.
Type /who 80 [THE CLASSES WHICH YOU WERE CANCELLED DOWN TO (One at a time ofc)] [DIFFERENT RACES THIS CLASS IS AVAILABLE TO]

See which one is the MOST in demand.

If you are stuck between two, then just look at the pros and cons again. See which one you would most like, and then pick this class.

Congratulations! You will of hopefully decided on a class to play!


Woah.. Wait.. I havent chosen a race yet...
Have no fear! The armour sets are here!
Choosing a race can sometimes be a real pain in the arse. Go to this page, select the class you have decided on, see what races are available, choose an armour set and then see what looks coolest. Also consider this: You're gonna be playing your character for a fair amount of time. Don't pick a race you don't like the model of for it really affects your gameplay.

You will now hopefully have your race/class combo! Congratulations!

Go to this page and select the guide for your race.

And there you have it. Your character. :]

I really hope this guide has steered at least one person in the right direction to picking a race. It may of confused you a bit, cos I waffle on alot. Sorry about that ^_^
This guide won't neccessarily guarentee a class for you, I made it to help you in your decision.

This was written based on my own opinions, so you may disagree with some of it and was written during patch 3.0.9.

Please leave a comment if you wish to add something, or if there is a mistake. Please be constructive with criticism.. I'm a coding noob and it took me 2/3 hours to figure out and write this >_>

Regards,
Rob.

Rob's Survival Guide To WoW

Introduction
Hey.. It's me again Smiling In this guide, I'm gonna try and help you and 'survive' the horrible little munchkins of WoW, I.E. the people who like to make you feel like nothing. The ones who think they're cool, and the ones who think the internet grants them almighty power.

I will explain what to do when these type of people appear, and how YOU can avoid being that type of person.

I will be rewriting some of puxohe's guide whilst also using my own words Smiling

Overview:

    What the not so nice people of WoW are like How to spot them
    How to avoid and deal with them
    How to avoid becoming one of them
    and finally, Etiquette & How to be nice.

"OHMAIGAD YOU MOTHERBEEPING BEEPER SON OF A BEEP" The Dark Face of WoW.
Despite being an awesome, addictive game, World of Warcrack has its bad guys. Just like the real world, you get your little hermits who hate everybody and everything they meet. Only there is a difference: This is the internet. Unfortunatley, the internet seems to create a sort of 'bubble' for some people, and they have a false sense of security and a false sense of 'power' and 'greatness'.

See, on WoW, all you see is an avatar, not a real person. This therefore makes the person think "Aha! They will never see me! I can say whatever I want! The cops won't get me! AHAHAHA! AHA! AHAHA! -Cough-." So, they do that. They say WHATEVER they want, making you feel degraded and thinking they are the best. These people think they are awesome cos they have better weapons than you, and better armour. More HP, AP, Armour, whatever. A great achievement? Do you think being morbidly obese, living in your room 24/7 on WoW is an achievement!?!? HA!

Okay, granted there are quite alot of people with 'epix' who are NOT morbidly obese and fit the description above. But, just think that, and you will feel better Smiling

Sometimes, you can also get teenagers or kids who're like this too. As a teen myself, I think the majority of us teens on WoW do get regarded as immature, just because of these people who like to make life bad for everybody else. This isn't true and you shouldn't stereotype people, just as you shouldn't think everyone in the game who has epix is like that either.


The general attitude of these people is sour and bitter. They don't like many things. Maybe they are angry in real life, and take it out online? We will never know WHY these people do it for definite, but their attitude is obnoxious and they give off a sense of 'I'm better than everybody else.' These people can also sometimes act a know-it-all about WoW and argue with people rather than debate with them.

"Always remember the key rule to all MMORPG's: Those who have more than you have no life, and those who have less are noobs." - Anon.
If you know the guy who came up with this, please post a comment.


How to Spot these Obnoxious Twats
Again, their attitude is obnoxious and bitter. Please do not assume everyone who has a bitter attitude is one of these people - They may just be having "one of them days" and have come on WoW to relax.

Example Chat:

    ] [Whisper][Haithar]: Hey, are you holy? We need a healer for SM.

    [Whisper][Epiclulzpala]: ffs nub u made me die u can fuk off now

Example 2:

    [Party][Haithar]: Right, do we all know what to do here?
    [Party][Iamrandomdotcom]: yup
    [Party][Lulzorzftw]: yh
    [Party][Wtfbbqpwnt]: im not a fkin noob, tard.
    [Party][Wtfbbqpwnt]: if you dnt no how to kill this boss by now u rly need to l2p. infact you shudnt even be playin this game.
    [Party][Haithar]: And if you don't know how to spell, you really need to learn to. In fact, you shouldn't even be alive.
    Wtfbbqpwnt was kicked from the party.

OHWEND! NHOOB! Sorry.
But you get the idea. They tend to talk in text language or 'leetspeak'. Basically, very abbreviated sentences and words. They have't grasped the concept of Year 2 (3rd Grade?) grammar or speling. Again, not everybody who speaks like this is obnoxious. If you can work out the abbreviations without a professional translator, you will see for yourself.


Dealing With Them.
You have many choices depending on where you stand:
    Kick them from your group. Leave the group.
    Ask the leader to kick them from the group.
    Put them on ignore.
    Report them to a GM (Only if they harass/threaten you).
    Tell yourself you are better than them. (Which you are, of course).

Really, the best place for these people is your ignore list. They really aren't worth your time, so just /ignore [NAME]
and hit the enter button.
If you are the leader of the group, simply /kick [NAME] and then you're done Eye

GMs should only be petitioned under serious circumstances. If they are making you feel REALLY degraded and down, or if they're harassing you too much or threatening you, then make a ticket explaining the following:

    Their character name. The time and place of the event.
    The event itself.

A GM will (eventually) get to you and question you further about it. Hopefully the offender will get their comeuppance. (Is that how you spell that word? Heck, is it even a word? >_<).


How to Avoid Becoming 'One of Them'.
First and foremost, learn to spell properly in whatever language you're speaking.
Then take the following action:
    Exsponge all evil players from your brain and screen. Ignore them. Try not to be around them. Its a contageous disease, I believe.
    Avoid bullying people for whatever reason.
    Avoid using the word 'retard' and using abbreviations over excessivley.
    Avoid using player-made talk such as "Huntard, d0rf, 00mie, retardin" etc.

Completing the above list will hopefully save you from the Wrath of the Evil Obnoxious King, (See what I did there? Cool) and eventually, extinct this God forbidden species.


How to be nice yourself, and etiquette.
Being nice in WoW is as easy as saying the alphabet. There are countless ways to make people feel good, or to help them along their journeys.

In WoW, use your basic manners and etiquette. You wouldn't go up to some stranger and say to them "Oh my god, those clothes make you ugly", would you? So don't make derogetory comments about gear!

Again, real life manners. Don't use racism, ageism, sexism etc to make people feel down. Whether intended or not, it still hurts.

Use proper punctuation, grammar and spelling in WoW. I cannot STAND when people use 'an' instead of 'a' in the wrong places (e.g. I got an level today). It really will make more people like you, not to mention, make you look professional and cool without being horrible.

Here are a few tips on how to be nice to people:

    If you are rich ingame, give away gold! Help people earn gold or levels.
    Instead of stealing a mob/named mob kill, group up with someone. If they decline, just wait your turn. Let them get it first.
    Don't spam!
    Try not to retaliate to comments aimed towards you.
    Tell people they're doing good on the leveling front, or ask them where they got a certain item from. Even if you know where you get it, it still gives a sense of "Wow. I have a cool item!" to the person.
    Ask people before you invite them!

There are probably hundreds, thousands of ways to be nice to people in WoW. If you have any suggestions, then please leave a comment below.


So, that concludes my guide. I hope this will help you in avoiding those nasty elves, and I hope it has tought you how to be a nice player. It really will make you more friends than enemies.
If you spot any typos/errors/mistakes or wish to add, leave a comment and I'll edit Eye

Regards,
Rob.

Thanks to puxohe for his etiqutte guide..
Thanks to my mom for making this all possible.
Thanks to the guy at the fertiliser store for also making this possible.
I'd like to thank my cat for always being there for me.
And finally, I'd like to thank my pet cow, who always gave me a shoulder to cry on.

WoW Chat Etiquette

Note: This is not a guide on gameplay, grouping, or guild Etiquette!

Thanks to Jame, Jiyambi, and requiem for sharing their ideas for the guide!

Proper etiquette is a more important part of WoW than many people may think. Being polite, typing correctly, and seeming intelligent can work wonders for your game experience (and other people's too!). This guide is intended to increase the amount of fun you have in WoW by improving your etiquette. Enjoy!

Contents

(i)Politeness
(ii)Typing

(i)Politeness

“Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.” - Arthur Schopenhauer

Being polite in World of Warcraft is like being polite in real life. If you are considerate and kind, people will return the favor (If not, I feel sorry for them!).

From the Brady Games Second Edition World of Warcraft Master Guide:

Quote:
The more polite you are the more often questions are answered. Also, players tend to provide more information when they feel connected to the person asking the question. "Does anyone know if the Mo'Grosh Crystal is a shared drop? :)" will get more attention than "Is Mo'Grosh crystal shared?"

It may seem insignificant, but it is not. It's the same concept as someone saying "Excuse me" instead of "Move".

(ii)Typing

"OMFG XROADZ RAED U COMEE?!?!?1"- Various Fools

Typing well is a valuable skill because people may judge your intelligence based on how you type(Not just in wow...). You should try to think back to at least 3rd grade English when you learned how to capitalize and punctuate, it pays off.

However, when you are in a dungeon and the tank just botched the pull, healer died, or someone just disconnected in the middle of the fight,ect.: There is not enough time to to be picky about grammar. BUT U SHULD NEVAR EVAR TIPE L1EK THIZ LOLZOMGROFL!!!1!!!one

Here are some additions to this section from other wow-pro users:

Quote:

1. When you're asking something from someone. Don't forget to say Please. Not plz, pls or PLZZ PLZ PLZ. That's ANNOYING. Just say "please". Honestly, you're asking someone a service and you can't even make the effort to type please fully?
2. Say "Thanks" or "thank you", not "thx" or "thz", or whatever else. Unless you're in a real hurry, spell the words properly and entirely. "THX" just shows laziness and ungratefulness.
3. When you ask a question, only ONE question mark is needed. You don't need to put 10 question mark, it's unnecessary and it's annoying.

Example:

"wer is first aid trainer??????????????????????" BAD
"Can someone please tell me where the first aid trainer is?" GOOD

4. It's not COOL to use numbers to replace letters. It wasn't cool 10 years ago, and it's even less cool nowadays.

This is bad: "any1 4 utgard keep?"
This is good: "Anyone for Utgarde Keep?"

And the list goes on:

Bad: "u" Good: "you"
Bad: "ur" Good: "your"
Bad: "ure" Good: "you're" or "you are"
Bad: "i need help" Good: "I need help"
Bad: "im ready" Good: "I'm ready"


-Jame

Quote:
In guild chat, trade, etc. I usually type exactly like I would on here - correctly. When whispering folks or even just in party chat, I often ignore capitals - I basically see it as a less formal situation so I drop 'em. Especially when you have close to 6 conversations going on at once, which is not uncommon as a guild leader Sticking out tongue "Leet speak" is pretty much never appropriate, as you explain (Except when making fun of it!Smiling)

-Jiyambi

Quote:
I always try to use correct spelling, proper punctuation, and capitalization unless we're joking around in guild chat or I'm in the middle of the instance, there is no time to deal with punctuation and capitalization while trying to keep the tank alive! (although I do always try to use proper spelling, unless I'm using abbreviations like "lfm" "lfg" etc. Spelling things improperly on purpose is a real pet peeves of mine. If you know how to spell correctly, DO!).

-requiem

I would love to see this guide get bigger so it can be more useful! Please leave a comment or send me a PM if you have information or advice that you think belongs in this guide, it will be GREATLY appreciated, and due credit will be given Eye

Constructive criticism is always welcome... please be nice.

Cataclysm Leveling Guides 1-85

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Tips

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1. Print the guides. There is a "Printer Friendly Version" link at the bottom of every guide, you just have to click on it. However, that might be expansive (and probably expensive), because the guides are big, very big. Another downside is that my guides are updated very frequently, so if you print it you'll miss the latest updates.

2. Playing WOW in Windowed Mode feels very comfortable while following along with this guide.

Click on "Apply".

Your screen will look exactly as if you were playing wow in full screen mode, besides you will be able to ALT-TAB to the guide INSTANTLY.

This is how I play wow while following my guide, when I don't feel like booting up my 2nd computer Smiling

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Answer- A few days after the release of Cataclysm. A few days for Uldum, about a week for Twilight Highlands.

Question- When are the 1-60 guides going to be revamped?

Answer- A lot of them already are finished, and many are currently being revamped. All zones should be covered within a few weeks after the release.

Question- When you release new guides, I'd like to know ASAP. Is there a place where you post those news?

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