I am considering playing the free trial. What are some tips for maximizing my 10 day trial period?
Just get in there and do some quests. The game will lead you in some fun directions.
The easiest starting area is probably when you play as a human.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=484129
Check out this thread about Burning Dog Legion (Doper Guild). Lots of real friendly, helpful folks there. And they let me in…which probably doesn’t say much about their taste, but still …
Also, check out the forums at Allakazam for tips on classes, races, and general game chatter.
Unless they’ve changed things recently, you won’t have access to some of the features of the game. Off the top of my head, you can’t trade, use the mail system, or use the auction house, which limits your selection of equipment to what you can find. I would recommend a magic using class, which is less dependent on equipment, at least initially, than the melee classes.
Also keep in mind, the first 20 levels or so are probably the least interesting part of the game. You really won’t have access to great gear, and only have a few skills and talents to play with. The trial can give you a good idea of the gameplay mechanics, but unfortunately to really enjoy the game you need more time.
All the cool people play Horde. 
Mooma, Eonar EU, Tauren Druid, Tree of Life
You’re welcome to join the SDMB guild; we have plenty of newbies and former newbies. Follow the link in Oakminster’s post for info.
If you have general questions about races and classes, you can ask them here or in the WoW forums.
In addition to Fly Pusher’s list of limitations in the Free Trial, you can’t whisper to other players either, which is a pain when you have in-game questions. Another advantage to being in a guild…
I would recommend playing multiple classes and races up to about level 10-15. Each race (except Trolls and Gnomes) has its own distinct starting area. Try them! And the classes all play differently. Try several. Don’t worry about getting good gear. What you get from quests is enough to get by.
I actually enjoy the early game more than the late game. Leveling isn’t a race; enjoy the quests and story lines. Everything converges to the same areas by mid-game, no need to rush to it.
If it’s your trial period, I would suggest you spend it just running around doing the chains of quests that’ll be thrown at you. Especially in the initial stages, they make sure that you get to enjoy the whole gamut of questing (killing, collecting, communicating, parcel-running, etc).
It would be ideal if you had someone of a similar mindest (a friend, a spouse) running these stages with you. I say ‘of the same mindset’ because the early phases are about exploring the world - running around to look at that pretty tree and checking to see what’s on the top floor of this cottage and ohmygod-the-human-male-dance-is-so-awesome and so on. 
You don’t want some experienced and consequently impatient bugger forcing you to do your quests in a focused-must-level-NOW manner. The Doper guild might be a great idea provided no one rushes you around in the name of efficiency. Trials periods are not about levelling efficiently - they’re about checking if you like the universe you’re immersed in. Even if you have prior MMO experience.
One Caveat: Try to hit level 15+ by the end of your trial. On multiple characters, if possible! You’ll get more spells and abilities as you level up and about level 10-12 is when you start really feeling the class you have chosen.
Regarding startting areas, choose according to your personal likes and dislikes.
Alliance areas are usually more colourful, with Night Elf and Draenei areas being sort of ethereal (think Tolkien-ish elves), Human areas being very cottagey-homely, and Gnomes and Dwarfs starting in snowy moutains. Horde areas are more rugged, with Trolls and Orcs starting in a desert, Tauren starting in a verdant plain, Undead in a forest of firs and Blood Elves in a colourful yet pansy-assed compound. (Who, me? Biased? No way!)
So basically, pick your flavour.
Through personal experience, I know that Dark Iron (US) is an active and humorous realm. Frostmourne (Oceanic) is active too, but seems to have a much younger player profile.
Azeroth awaits! Good luck!
…
(On preview)
I see **Pleonast **and I are of the same mind, except I have verbal diarrhoea and he doesn’t.
…beautiful half-ruined magical city surrounded by gorgeous scenery, thank you very much. 
–w11, proud 70 blood elf mage
I’d definitely recommend that you come join the Burning Dog Legion on Cairne (recruit link above). Game is more entertaining if you have people to talk to and answer questions.
Others have covered most of it. Try several different classes, sometimes one that looks really interesting at first isn’t later. Other times one of the major class roles look interesting but really isn’t later. I’d suggest some quick research to see which classes you’d want to try by reading through the class overviews on their website.
While I’m not a member of the Burning dog Legion, I play with some real life friends and I have to say that having a guild that is willing to back you up by answering questions, help with quests, give advice, etc. is enormously helpful. The largest part of the game is playing cooperatively with others and that’s where a good guild comes in.
Another thing, this is a very good time to be picking up the game. There is a new exansion coming out in less than 2 months. That’s enough time to get to or near the current level cap so you won’t be very far behind at all and won’t have all the baggage of how things currently work that some of us struggled with in the transition to into the last expansion.
One thing you might consider if you already have any friends who play (or if you make one during your trial period) is the “Recruit-a-Friend” program. If your friend recruits you and you sign up (and pay for) two months in advance, the friend gets a special mount and if you level with your friend, you get three times normal experience. It would definitely help you level faster, though I’m not sure leveling as fast as possible is a good thing for a first-timer. The world is rich, detailed, and full of cool stuff, and you miss enough of it leveling at the “normal” rate (which was doubled from what it was previously).
YMMV, though–if you want to get to high level fast, that’s one good way to do it.
It is a good time to be coming to the game. But I’m not so sure a complete newbie could get all the way to level 70 before the expansion comes out. However, with the new class starting out at level 55, as long you’re at that level or higher, you should have plenty of players near your level to group with.
Thanks for the tips and advice. I like the idea of joining the SDMB guild. I just need to figure out the best timing, since I have some vacation coming up in a few weeks and I want to get 2 weekends worth of play in during the trial.
Or should I just start a trial now and start another one up later? Do they prevent you from doing a trial more than once?
Go ahead and use your trial whenever is convenient for ya…and then sign up as a paying customer if you enjoy the game.
General WoW newbie tips:
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You really don’t need to spend money on gear in the early levels. Whatever you get in loot or as quest rewards will be fine for pve play.
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Do spend money on the biggest bags you can afford. It’s worth it. More bag space means fewer trips to a vendor to sell, and more time actually playing the game.
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Any time you go to a new city, town, or zone, find the Flight Path guy, and click on him so you’ll be able to ride a griffon (or equivalent) next time you want to got to that zone or city.
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When you find a city or even a town close to a good hunting/questing area for your level, find the Inn, talk to the Innkeeper, and you can set your hearthstone to that location, if you like. You can always set it somewhere else later. I usually keep mine in a major city, where there’s access to a bank, auction house, and class/profession trainers.
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For professions–you don’t really want to spend much time/money leveling a crafting profession on a first character. Instead, take 2 gathering professions…choose from mining, skinning, or herbalism. The reason is you can sell whatever you gather on the auction house for decent prices, and bank the gold for later expenses.
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Speaking of later expenses, if you are not a warlock or a paladin, at level 30 you will want to buy a mount and riding lessons. Start saving now. I think the first mount and lessons run around 40 gold or so? I don’t remember the exact price.
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Every time you “ding” an even numbered level, visit a class trainer to learn new spells/abilities. Some will upgrade spells you already have, some will be new to you. Spells cost money. This is why we don’t buy gear at low levels. We buy spells and save for our mount mentioned above.
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Put some thought into how you want to spend your talent points. You get your first point at level 10, and then 1 per level after that. Each class has three “talent trees” which are designed to work a little differently. Druids, for example, can chose from Feral, Balance, or Restoration. Feral is a melee combat oriented tree. Balance is for ranged DPS and healing. Restoration is more of a “pure healer” tree. You may want to research this part further on Allakhazam or WoW Wiki.
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Don’t beg people for stuff. They will hate you for it.
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Don’t deal with gold sellers, leveling services, or ever give your password to anybody for any reason. That could get you banned, or otherwise screwed royally.
Some very good tips so far. However, I am currently in “sampling” mode. I am unsure if I want to commit money to something that could be a major time sink.
I figure if I stay in trial mode, I might be able to avoid getting permanently sucked in.
Has anyone come across a guide for free-mode players?
I think I’m missing something here. If you don’t want to play long-term, why bother with the trial? You can’t experience a (soon to be) 80 level, multi-class MMORPG using a limited 10-day trial.
Although, if you meant you want to keep playing trials, so you don’t have to actually pay for the game, well, I’m pretty sure you’re only allowed one trial per person. How you get around that is your own headache. No tips or guides for that here.
I don’t know if you can do more than one trial, but even if you could you’d have to start over with new characters each time. It wouldn’t be worth it.
(If you buy the game, you can keep the characters you created in trial).
Some folks enjoy making new characters and extract the most joy from the early parts of the game, not the level grind to 75. Maybe I will like skipping around newbie island?
If they don’t let me re-do the 10-day trial, then I want to get the most out of the one trial that I am allowed.
I hope nobody minds me doing a quick bump to clarify something: I’m about to start my first character, and I’m trying to decide between a Mage, for the DPS and crowd control, or a Druid/Shaman for the versatility. I was just wondering, as you get up into the 20s and beyond, is the Mage noticeably better in his specialties than the shaman and druid, or would the versatility I’d get from either class more than outweigh the (presumably) less efficient DPS and crowd control abilities?