World of Warcraft for a newbie

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Well, I finally decided to get it, most of all because an upgrade to a faster DSL.
This will be my first time with an online game which I guess will have nothing to do with my LAN experience.
I read around that if you want to get higher levels you have to play about 10 hours at day for about one month... I can't. Is too much time that I don't have.
This takes me to the questions: what's the game about? Do you play missions, kind of Diablo 2 quests? Or is free roaming, killing monsters or killing another players? Do you have to join a clan or something or can you play solo?
Which are the best servers?
Well, for now, this is all I need to know. I guess that the character thing I'll figure out myself, trying everything I can, seeing that some people have lots of them. By the way, the characters, do they work like heroes in Warcraft 3? I mean, with the little slots to carry things, like spells and upgrading things?
Thanks!

 

You can level at whatever pace you want, one level a month or one level a day it is all up to you. Just play as much as you want and dnot rush anything.

You can do all of the things you listed above and it basically comes down to what you feel like doing for the time being.

As for servers I would advice you to go to one of the newer servers, basically what they recommend to you. There are a few Spanish speaking servers and if you think that sounds interesting you should check them out. It is nice to have a clan/guild if only to have someone to chit chat with and a bit easier time to find people to help when you need help and such.

The characters work like they work, more like most other rpgs than WC3 I would imagine.

 

The dos and don't are many, sadly.

Do quests. Don't buy white items or green items from vendors (NPCs) unless specifically told to do so in a quest. If the item is white (unless it's armor/weapon), sell it in the AH, if it's grey, sell it to a vendor.

Ask questions and LISTEN to more experienced players.

Those are just a few. The best way to learn is by experience.

 

Sydax, there is no amount you need play to reach the higher levels, i spend 6months with roughly 2hours a day to hit the level cap. after that some stuff like raiding do require around 4-5hours of game time each day, but its not a must.

secondly about where to start, take a pve or rp server unless you want to fight the other faction and have the risk of getting jumped by high lvl people who kill you just because they are bored.

thirdly try out the different classes at first, until you find what your like. then you should be set.

oh and most importently, play horde

 

Sydax I just ordered the game aswell I should start playing Thursday or Friday, like yourself I am completely new to WoW so if you'd like our pathetic new characters to join up sometime and explore the WoW for the first time I'd be happy to, I don't tend to join guilds or anything when I first get a game because I want to experience it without spoilers and explore for myself, so just let me know if your interested mate.

 

Do yourself a favor and join an RP-PVP server. That's my advice.

 

Sorry for the thread necromancy here, but if all goes well, within 24 to 48 hours, I'll be starting on WoW with the free trial.

I've settled on a Dwarf Paladin for my first attempt. I'll probably try to do some questing on an RP PvP server. And from there, get in contact with my family and friends that play to see where they play and when...

 

You might want to try and find out which servers your friends are on beforehand, otherwise you will more than likely have to reroll on their server in order to play with them.

 

This is surprisingly timely, I was just about to open a thread to ask these very questions. I am probably not going to pursue WoW but with the current free trial offer out, I may give it a try.
Thanks for everyone's willingness to share their experience with us newbies!

 

I'll be posting on Facecrack to find out which servers my family and friends play on and whether they are horde or alliance. I want to try all the races and classes somewhere along the line anyway...

 

Okay, now that I've had a chance to play a bit, I'm trying to figure out the optimal hotkey configuration. For my Troll Hunter, Should Berserk be right beside my melee powers? What about Aspect of the Monkey or Hunter's Mark. Where should they (or powers like them) be placed on the hot bar. Am I right to hotkey Healing potions?

Likely as I play around with my pally more I may have questions about him too. Then again, I also want to try more of the classes at some point too.

 

Berserk is a pretty underpowered ability, I definitely would not hotkey it to a "good" key (you will need to hotkey many abilities later on and you'll probably find yourself running out of easy-to-press keys). In fact, to keep things simple I would macro it to another skill. As for what skill, I could not say as I never have played a hunter.

There is nothing wrong with hotkeying healing potions. I never have as they can't be used in arena. (Arena is the only place I've found that timing skills is crucial).

 

Not much point in giving you specific advice on your keybindings as it is ofcourse tailored to the individual. When I played, my friend used all the number keys, I found that a bit of a stretch, especially in pvp where quick responses are essential. So I used e, f, r, z, x, c, v, q and tab. Shift with all of those. and then 1, 2, 3 for my stances (my main was a warrior). Theres no real key as in "bind heals to e", just do what feels most natural and it will soom become second instinct when using your bindings.

 

Make sure you have all the action bars up so you can get to anything you might need in a fight quickly with your mouse, even if it's not hotkeyed.

Hotkeying is pretty much a personal taste thing, and depends on things like what abilities you find yourself using as well as how you physically control your character with your mouse and keyboard (Do you keyboard or mouse turn? Do you use the WASD keys or TFGH or something else? Do you find it easier to click on your abilities instead of finding them on the numpad? etc.).

I generally only hotkey abilities that I might use more than once in a fight that lasts less than a minute. Anything with a cooldown of longer than a minute, or any buffs/protections that don't need to be reapplied every minute I usually have elsewhere on my action bars.

 

It's all about PVP servers. It's where the fun is at. If some higher player spanks you, big deal, it's all part of the fun. Keep levelling and you'll be able to do it before long! Most people will eave you well alone though, unless you roll a rogue...

 

...and if you roll an undead rogue even other players from your faction will smoke signal alliances to reveal your position! That's how hated you'll be .

On the upside though, you'll be playing the funniest class of the lot (IMHO) and you'll be able to stand on your own in PvP and generally pick your fights through stealth (and skip a lot of boring content if you feel like it).

But I'll agree with Barmy on the PvP server part. I used to play an Undead Rogue on Stormreaver. Before that I played a Gnome Mage on Thunderhorn, and the PvP server were so much more fun!

 

I have an undead rogue (70) and undead priest (75) on Bloodscalp server (PVP). As you can tell, I'm new to Wrath.

 

I'm trying to get the best feel for it. I'm trying to train myself to use WASD for moving, but in some of the "pick off" scenarios, I use the arrow key with my right hand and my left to keep firing special shots as I retreat from the pack...

 

I generally keep "Cooldowns" off on a seperate task bar so that you don't accidentally burn one when you don't mean to. Cooldowns are generally abilities that you can only use once every 2 minutes or longer.

As for what you hotkey, it depends on the class and whether or not you like/want macros. I personally avoid making macro's and it has served me well all the way through Sunwell and 25 man naxx.

My main is Cyranus on Vek'nilash should anyone care to hit me up.

Also, once you choose what class you want to play I would do a little reading to see what stats and whatnot you should use. www.wowhead.com and www.elitestjerks.com have excellent info on all classes. They go alot into the theory crafting and stuff but you can skip over that and find info on talent specs, rotations, gear itemization and glyphs. Use www.thottbot.com and www.wowhead.com if you get stuck on quests or need to find something in specific, both have huge databases with every quest and item in the game. Also, don't be afraid to get some addons. UI addons can make the interface look so much better, and there are inventory management addons, addons to tell you if an item you have is an upgrade or not, and even addons to help with quests and resource gathering. With your first toon you may wish to avoid questhelper but it is a great addon that will save you alot of time looking for where to go pm qiests....it tells you WHERE to go not what your doing there necessarily.

Hope that helps BTW, Paladins kick ass.

 

Holy moly Illusion, you've dedicated some time to it! Nearly 600 Emblems of Heroism!