Tips, and things I wish I knew when starting WoW(for new players)

**pattamus** · 04-15-2008

I recently made it to level 70, and here are some things I would tell a brand-new player about the game to get them started. I tried to cover the areas I wasn't sure of myself when just starting. Also, some of it is based on the questions I get asked by my new-player friends alot. Yes, most will know all of this, but it's not common sense to newbs, as some of this I didn't know when I was new. I wish someone told me all of this, and I hope it helps others.

-About a week before starting, download the Auctioneer addon and install. Create a character (not the one you'll be using.) I'd suggest Human for Alliance, and Orc for Horde(these are easy to get to main city). Now, take this toon to the major city and go to the Auction House. Now, you will be scanning the AH around 2-4 times a day, as much as possible, for a week. This will mean having current and accurate data you will be using to make profits very early on, If you cannot wait to start playing, then still make sure to scan alot. You WILL need this data, it's a tremendous help. After the week, keep scanning 2-4 times a day for at least another week. After that, you won't need to scan so much , but you will still do it to keep data current.

-The toon you just made will be your mail and AH, and extra storage guy. You do need one, it cuts downtime significantly. What you will do is mail that toon your items you want to sell, extra potions, etc. He will stay by a mailbox in a major city permanently. He will be the one selling all your items, he will also hold your extra potions, food, etc. This way you wont be traveling near as much. When you get time each day you will mail him all your stuff, he sells, and he also mails you back gold , food, potions, whatever you need. It took me a long time to figure out this is so much more convient than going back and forth, it will save you LOTS of time and travel and make the game much more fun.

-There are plenty of auctioneer guides out there, so I won't go into detail about that. But remember grey items should be the ONLY item you sell to a vendor! all white items and above have a use that someone will probably pay for, and they will pay much higher than a vendor would. The reason for scanning for a week will come in handy now, as mousing over the white or above item will tell you it's current value at the AH. Use that as a base, but make sure to do a search for the item to see it's current going rate. Make the item slightly less than the cheapest one currently in the AH so that it will be the first one to be bought. I'd suggest using 24 hours or more auction time.

-Don't have the mail alt join your main guild! The reason I say this is that when I reached higher levels , guildies would message my AH alt to request help from my main. Sometimes I just didn't want to help because all I wanted to do is do AH stuff. This caused me to just not login my alt at all, and I probably lost money. So just don't let guildies know about him. If you could care less about telling people to just **** off than disregard this :P

-If you are thinking of rolling a warlock or paladin because of the "free" mount, remember that they get free mounts to offset costs that are almost just as much (such as pet training for locks). Not saying don't pick them of course, just that nothings really free

-Some good starter add-ons to choose are "cosmos", "mobmap" and "gatherer". Cosmos is a set of useful mods, mobmap lets you search on-map for mobs/npcs, gatherer keeps track of gathers of course, and of nodes found by guildies too. You install by extracting them into your program files\world of warcraft\interface\addons directory. Then go under addons on that characters screen and check "load out of date add-ons" (just to be sure, plus it helps when they do go out of date).

-Professions. If you are reading this, it's probably your first toon, so you will want to take 2 gathering professions at least till higher levels. Yes it's nice to make stuff, but it costs alot to level these professions up. You need to be bringing money in instead of a profession hindering you. Plus alot of the stuff you can make , you will already have better gear by the level you can make it. If I could go back, i'd have definately taken 2 gathering professions. Mining and skinning are good, or mining and herbalism. With skinning , you make those beast kills worth more , and you can skin other peoples kills for easy profit. With herbalism / mining both wont show in the radar, only one at a time, something to think about. Make absolutely sure these are kept skilled up with the level. If you get to a zone and can't mine the nodes there, you need to go back to the previous zone and mine till you can, etc.

-Talents. They are much more important than I thought they were when I first started playing. Picking the wrong ones can hinder your leveling, while the right ones can make it SO much easier. I suggest you read some guides for picking talents for your class. Until level 10, it won't matter though.

-Keep enough food/water on you at all times! I know it's really common sense, but I see so many lowbies not do this. It will slow you down tremendously. Also, keep checking to make sure you have the latest usable food/water. As you level, you'll get upgrades. Also, check the AH for cheap potions. The first potions you can get are very cheap because they are mass-made, and required to level up for profs. They can come in handy, take advantage. Also at later levels look out for "food-buffs" which is food that will give you a buff after eaten. I always use them.

-Guilds. Before you join one, see what level the GM is. If hes low level, it is probably a better idea to wait. Also the name can be pretty telling, such as "HORD KILLINK RAGE MACHINEZ", unless you love chuck norris, and running into walls stay away

If the guild is too high of a level with not many lowbies it could be nice financially, but maybe not enough people to quest with. Again, use discretion. Don't think you must find a guild quickly, shop around! You will most likely be in several before you even hit 70, then when you do, unless you all leveled together you'll find yet another.

-PvP, battlegrounds. Unless you are on a PvP server, your amount of pvp won't be much until level 70 unless you do Bg's.The battlegrounds will offer you items for sale in exchange for honor points. Don't feel the need to farm honor before higher levels, you get honor MUCH faster then, and it's more beneficial to do so then. Also, unless you want the pvp experience, items are easier gotten other ways(lower levels, at 70 they ARE easier to get pvp)You might want the trinkets though. They can be helpful for situations (breaking fear).

-Instances(dungeons) These are the places where you'll want to get a 5 man group together and do for exp. and good items. I recommend doing these when you get a chance. The experience is good if you are in the reccomended level bracket. Also you will have a chance at some rare items, and greens and items to sell for decent gold. Alot of really new players will pick "need" when an item is to be rolled on. You do not "need" an item unless it is an upgrade from what you are currently wearing/using. If you still think you need it for other reasons, ask before you choose "need" or just greed it. If you don't you'll be labeled a ninja, and could get booted from the group. Also alot of people will tell others to not let you in groups. It's not worth it, remember most are bind on pickup, so you couldn't AH it anyway, and vendor won't give you shit for it. Let the proper person take it, and wait your turn!

-Shooting, thrown, bow. You will have to have the skill which is learned from a trainer(some aren't though). Then you will need to manually drag the skill to the action bar from your manual. Then you will need to put the ammo in the ammo slot on your character (press "c"). I've been asked how to do this several times

-Gearing up. I see alot of people being slowed down and broke due to the fact they think they need to buy "the best" gear from the AH for their first toon. Unless you are making a twink, you will simply out level that expensive gear, and it will have been a waste. Now I am not saying don't buy a few greens when you need them, but don't go buying epics or high priced blues please. The difference will be nominal at lower levels, and like I said, you'll outlevel them SOON. Plus you need ALL the gold you can get for mount/training/epic mount/flying mount. It adds up. Save your money, get your gear questing, buy reasonably priced stuff IF really needed.
Also , make sure you read a few class guides to get the idea of what kind of stats you will be looking for in gear. Seen alot of people badly geared because they failed to do this.. Don't assume you know based on another game.

Well that's about it for now... yeah yeah, wall o text,

I'll add more if/when I think of it.

I found this site quite awhile back, and made a post bitching about a gold seller. Just recently came back and started reading the guides. Don't want to be a leecher, as I see you guys call non-contributors. If this guide doesn't tell you anything you don't already know, please keep in mind that this is for brand new players, and I tried to add stuff not covered by other "newb" guides. I hope someone can benefit from this

(tried to post under "guides" , wouldn't let me without 5 "rep" )