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So WoW.
After talking with a co-worker the other day, we were waxing lyrical about what we played and what we liked, He piqued my interest in WoW.
I've never played it, and I think it's about time I should at least give it a try.
So I'm downloading the (free) trial edition.

My question is, any advice for character creation? are there any well known pitfalls I should know about?
I'm probably going to play as a Rogue, as that's what I usually play as in an RPG.
Good idea or not?
Not a fan of magic users generally though.
I could be tempted to one of those kung fu pandas though....

So Dakkaites, any advice?

In my opinion, WoW had it's prime time in Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King (1. and 2. expansion), and not worth getting into today.

If you want to try it anyway, sure, why not. I still reactivate my account from time to time for 1-3 months.

DPS is the most played role, so you will have to wait for dungeon groups.
Aside from that, there are no difficulties. WoW holds your hand the whole time. Leveling is pretty much "do whatever you want". At max level, you should read up how to skill, play and equip your class. Pretty straight forward.

 Hanskrampf wrote:
In my opinion, WoW had it's prime time in Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King (1. and 2. expansion), and not worth getting into today.

This is only partially true. From my viewpoint, as someone who still plays WoW, Mists of Pandaria was the prime time, not BC or WotLK. Sure, WotLK had the highest subscription numbers, but by the time of Cata they were in free fall simply because of the game's age. MoP managed to put a brake on that free fall which is saying something, and it really showed that Blizzard had used what works from previous expansions while adding polish.

Now is actually a very good time to get into WoW, I'd argue. We're kind of in a pre-expansion lull until Legion comes out later this year, which is problematic for established players who have to make do without new content for a while (except me - RP hoooo) but absolutely no problem for you, as it simply gives you time to digest the current content.
Warlords of Draenor has received heavy criticism for its failures compared to previous expansions - which is very true - but as a new player you have an absolute mountain of content available to you, and since you're unlikely to do Mythic raiding or elite PvP any time soon, you won't be as affected by its shortcomings. Furthermore, WoD -did- have a top tier leveling experience.

DPS is the most played role, so you will have to wait for dungeon groups.

Arguably a non-issue most of the time. Call to Arms rewards and the like has reduced the waiting time significantly even at max level and in lower levels the waiting times are not only shorter but you can also quest while you wait.

Aside from that, there are no difficulties. WoW holds your hand the whole time. Leveling is pretty much "do whatever you want". At max level, you should read up how to skill, play and equip your class. Pretty straight forward.

Yes. Sites like http://www.icy-veins.com/wow/class-guides will help you play your chosen class and talent spec well, but you will do just fine clowning around until then.

I just advise you to choose the server you create your initial main on carefully, or create several alts to try them. The differences between PvE ('normal'), PvP, RP and RP-PvP servers are very significant.

Give it a go! I'm sure you'll hear lots of "advice" about how it's not as good as X number of years ago, but if you've never played, that means nothing to you or your enjoyment of the game.

Personally, I think it's past its heyday as well, but I still enjoy firing up the account once in a while and seeing what's new, as I'm behind the content due to not playing much.

I probably had the most fun in tbc but that's when I had the most time to play and the game was still reasonably new to me.

I get tired quickly of rep grinding, farming, metaing etc....but leveling has always been fun and the story telling and quest writing has only gotten better IMO.

Rogue isn't a bad choice. If you ever need to go AFK you can just stealth in a corner. Also, if you play on a pvp server you will be well suited to both ambushing other players and avoiding having the same done to you.

Besides if you like sneaking there really are only two options and druids can also cast spells which you said you didn't like as much. That class can literally do any role, but I still played a rogue and could never max out a druid .


Also don't worry about race toooo much. Due to pvp the racial attributes tend to be reasonably balanced. Usually. Pick for aesthetic/RP. Not to say that some of the active abilities wouldn't better suit rogue, but I don't think there's any way to cripple yourself at start up

MMOs are invariably most fun when you first start playing them, and they will be even more fun if you have plenty of people to play with as you start.

Although I never played WoW, I have played other MMOs such as Everquest (currently playing http://www.project1999.com), I suggest trying to get a group of likeminded individuals to roll up some new characters specifically to play with you.

As othes have mentioned, if you are brand new to wow its worth a spin (probably). I gave up mainly around lich king, BC being the best expansion imo.
However with no prior baggage or knowledge, you might enjoy it.
As to classes, there are 3 main types - tanks, healers or dps (with hybrids of each).
Depends on what you think you might enjoy as a role. Look up some youtube vids of gameplay and mechanics and judge it there.
And as mentioned research pve VS pvp servers etc as levelling can be quite different on each (read pvp = potentially ganking and frustration!).

Yes, I initially rolled on the PvP server Sylvanas to join my real life friends, but leveling proved all but impossible as the Alliance on that server systematically ganked Horde levelers with a degree of organisation I find baffling to this day.

Which was another reason added to the pile that resulted in me jumping over to Argent Dawn.

as the Alliance on that server systematically ganked Horde levelers with a degree of organisation I find baffling to this day.

Gotta love those roving bands of gankers around Tarren Mill :(
Remember the Yeti cave there? OMG.

I think WoW is a great game, I played it a lot but it was becomign too much of a life sucker, I had to give it up. Plus I was never a huge fan of the whole uberguild raid thing, I always liked the leveling up game better so I always had 1 maxed character and 502394 different alts.

I think if you're starting out with the game as a totally brand new player you'll have tons of really fun things to do, the game world is pretty huge so it could keep you busy for a long time.

If you havent even started look at a different game first. Unless your have set your heart on WoW I would shop around.

If you want a PvP game take a look at Dark Age of Camelot

For a regular MMO take a look at Guildwars 2 or Lord of the Rings online. The former has no subscription fees but charges for the core game latter is (almost) free and you can just download the client and give it a free try. Lotro has few detectable paywalls, and you can accumulate enough in game resources to bypass most of them. I would put a small amount of cash down just to raise to Premium account and to support the game.


Play WoW if you feel a specific urge for it, otherwise save some money by looking elsewhere. WoW is heavily hyped up, and while it is in no way a bad game you can get the same or better for less.