New to WoW

The Game Room
1

Hey hey, since it’s free to level 20 now, my wife and I thought we’d give it a try to see what all the fuss is about. :wink:

Here are my questions:

What are the roles people are always looking for in their parties?

Which race/class combos are best/most funnest for filling those roles?

Which race/class combos are good for “being up close and bashing them in the face” as my (very cute) wife puts it?

Is it possible to play the game solo? Duo?

Is it easy to find people to pick up for help with a quest, or is it pretty much necessary to join a guild or something?

What other questions should I be asking?

2

Many of these questions are unanswerable, opinions, or would require far too long to answer here. You might also start keeping tabs on the general thread and just ignore the parts you don’t understand. That said, here’s a quick stab at some of htem.

Tanks are the most in-demand role in 5-man groups (dungeons). You will always have instant (or near-instant) grouping using the “Random Dungeon Finder” tool (which puts you in a random group for dungeon runs).

That said, tanking is probably the most difficult role to fill immediately. You are expected to lead the way, and to know the layout. You will get the most blame.

Healers are second most “in demand”. I’ve never healed, so I cannot recommend or not recommend this for a first-time player.

Damage dealers (referred to as DPS) are the least in demand, but also the least demanding.

I would, in general, recommend a DPS role for a new player, but maybe that’s just me being conservative. It is also easier to play solo as a DPS player (doing quests, farming materials, etc…).

Races are almost entirely cosmetic. They all bring slight advantages, but none are super-important. You should basically play what you like the most.

Classes… funnest… that’s really personal taste. Do you want to play with a pet? Try a hunter or a warlock. You like casting? Druid (Moonkin spec) or mage would be a good bet. Feel like bashing up close? See below :slight_smile:

For up-close face-bashing you want a Warrior (Arms and Fury are the DPS specs), a Paladin (Retribution is the DPS spec), a Rogue (more sneaky than bashy), or a Feral Druid (plays as a Cat - although that might be after level 20…).

Yes. More so now than ever. As I mentioned you can join groups randomly starting at level 15. You can quest your way to 85 completely solo.

There really aren’t any quests you’ll need help with, to be honest. Wowhead.com will provide any information needed. You can always ask in “zone chat” for help if you need it for a group quest.

That said, guilds are great resources for starting out, and if you’re just starting you might want to consider the Cairne server and the Burning Dog Legion, staffed by many wonderful Dopers.

Lots, no doubt. But you can ask those as they come up! Have fun. :slight_smile:

3

Welcome!

The game has a ‘random dungeon finder’ which puts together a five man party consisting of 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 damage dealers (dps). The tank role is the most in-demand for this system, followed by healers.

If you’re just starting out, read up on the back story of each class and race and pick the one that’s most pleasing to you… every class is well balanced for every role, and all classes have fun and compelling aspects to their play.

It doesn’t get much bashier that being a Warrior (who can tank or dps). If being imposing is the goal, Tauren fit that bill.

Absolutely. There is some content that require groups (either 5, 10 or 25 man), but there is a world of material available for soloing / duoing. In addition, older 5/10/25 man content can be soloed or duoed by characters at the current maximum level.

While leveling it will be quite rare to receive help for a quest (many leveling zones, not a huge population leveling). However, there are no leveling quests which cannot be done by a duo. Actually, most can be soloed by nearly every class.

Joining a guild has the perks of advice from experienced players, likely to have someone available to help, and general social interaction. They’re not necessary, but really do improve the play experience.

Q: ‘Which server should I join and which side should I play?’

A: Cairne server, Horde side. Look for the SDMB guild, the Burning Dog Legion.

4

Oh, and just noticed that you are playing in tandem. If you’ll be playing primarily at the same time, and together, you might want to consider at least one of you having a class that can heal (even if your primary spec is not a healer). These would be Priests, Druids, Shaman, and Paladins. This will reduce your down-time since any damage you take can be healed up by your partner.

That said, any combination is perfectly good for questing and leveling.

5

Thanks so far.

You guys are saying that leveling quests and (other?) non-group quests are easily soloable. Does this mean, though, that if wife and I are doing them together, they’ll be too easy? Or does it rev up the challenge according to how many are there? Or does it not let you team up in these quests at all?

6

It will be pretty easy. I’d recommend starting as blood elves (race) on Cairne, as they still have (last time I looked) some group quests, particularly in the level 11-20 range, that could be a challenge.

7

It depends on what level and type of challenge you’re looking for. I love soloing in WoW, but that’s mostly as a relaxing counterpoint to the day. IMO you really have to actively seek out challenges in WoW. The primary sources of challenge in the game are:

  1. Dungeons / Raids (5-10-25 man groups) - these can require coordination, skillful use of character abilities, and appropriate responses to boss-monster abilities. As characters receive more powerful equipment the challenges are reduced.

  2. Plaver-vs-Player - you can fight in arena death matches or in competitive games (king of the mountain, capture the flag, etc.). Being placed against thinking opponents requires adaptation and learning your opponents’ capabilities.

  3. Making money - the Auction House economy becomes a game-within-a-game for some.

  4. Soloing out-moded content - returning to number 1, at a certain point your character can become powerful enough to single-handedly defeat dungeon or raid bosses that used to require more players. Some classes are better at this than others.

In addition to the above, there used to be a fair number of ‘group required’ leveling quests. Some of these could be soloed with extreme difficulty depending on character class. Due to the challenge of finding a same-level group for lower level content, most of these quests were toned down in the newest expansion.

I think that you and your wife will find that leveling is enjoyable and passes by smoothly. If you are in need of additional challenges you can try PvP (I believe this opens up at lvl 15) or two-manning a 5-man dungeon.

8

Excellent advice is given above. What follows are my own opinions, which are worth whatever value you choose to assign to them…

You can easily solo or duo from level 1 to 85, without ever even entering a dungeon or a battleground (team pvp play).

I strongly suggest you pick a “normal” or a “roleplay” server to start on, and Cairne would be a great choice if you choose to go Horde, because of the very helpful and friendly doper guild, Burning Dog Legion on that server. I strongly advise against starting on a PVP server. Once you learn the game a bit, that may be something you’d like to try, but it’s a different, and considerably harder, way to play the game.

Don’t bother spending any gold on buying equipment/armor while leveling up. You’ll be fine with whatever you get from loot/quest rewards, and you’ll want that coin for other things later…like mounts/riding skill.

Do spend gold on outfitting your toons with the biggest bags you can afford. More bag space means fewer trips to town to sell your loot, and more time spent playing.

The first thing you should do after entering a new zone is got to the closest fligtmaster, and click on him to get credit for the flight path. Once you’ve done that, you can fly on the giffon taxis to go there again.

If you’re going to be duo with your wife, you probably want to go with the same races. Otherwise you’ll be in different starting areas, and it might be a little challenging to get together at low levels.

For classes, I’d go with a Tank/Healer duo. Together, you can likely handle any “group quest” in the game outside of dungeons/raids without need for anyone else. A pair of paladins or druids gives you both maximum flexibility, as those classes can fill all three roles–Tank/Heals/DPS, but the downside is you’ll both want the same gear when it drops.

Really, any combination of classes is viable as a duo. Play whatever you like. Maybe try different races/classes/specs on multiple toons. You get up to 10 characters per server (realm), and 50 maximum across all realms.

You might want to look into the “refer a friend” program. I do not know exactly how it works, but it provides certain advantages when teaming with your “friend”. It’s really intended for an established player and a newbie, but might be worth considering for two newbies.

Once you get started, any question you may have about the game can probably be answered by someone right here on the Dope, in the massive WoW thread.

Never, ever, under any circumstances should you give your passwords to anyone other than your spouse. Blizzard employees will never ask for your password.

Never, ever, under any circumstances should you buy in game items or services (ie, leveling services) from out of game sources. Not only is that a violation of the EULA, subject to banning, but you’ll also get your account stolen.

9

Viable, sure, but I’d avoid a ranged dps class (mage, hunter, warlock) and a melee dps class combo. I’ve tried it and it ends up being frustrating for the melee guy when killing normal mobs outside of dungeons - the ranged guy pretty much kills the enemy before the melee guy can get to it. A healer and a tank (as you recommended) is far more fun and allows you to duo dungeons if you feel like up to the challenge.

10

In some ways a Paladin/Shaman pair would be nice - both have some healing capability, both can DPS. The Paladin can tank where the Shaman can’t, but the Shaman has access to range attacks the Paladin doesn’t.

11

Leveling quests are designed so anyone at all can do them, they already are too easy for most people.

12

If you find the quests too easy in one area you can always move to a higher level area.

13

Didn’t they pretty much kill this in the Cataclysm? You can’t get quests until they are level-appropriate for you these days, which is a shame. :frowning:

Dungeons on the other hand can be fun if you like challenge: I was soloing Scarlet Monastery with my 37 beastmastery Hunter back when I last played and it was definitely hard at places. I wouldn’t try that as a newbie to the game, but duoing dungeons should be a lot easier, especially with something like a paladin and a shaman, yes.

14

Not much to add to the above - it is very thorough - I just wanted to add that I play solo (although I tried guilds a couple of times) and managed to get to level 85 and it only took me 2 1/2 years (this is NOT normal, okay?;)).

Admittedly, I had help along the way, most of it from right here in this thread. My friends here have made it possible to enjoy this game and they’ve been very kind.

My advice is to stay with our thread here and ask away. There are always folks who will answer your questions without any kind of teasing or name-calling, such as what you get on the WoW forums.

Welcome to our thread, to WoW and may you have just as much fun as I am!

Quasi

15

That has pretty much always been the case - you couldn’t get quests until they were at least theoretically possible.

16

Back in the old days you could get red (5+ levels above you) quests though. These days it’s rare to get even orange (3-4 levels above you) quests, you are pretty much limited to yellows and greens as you level up.

17

That thread is long and filled with a lot of discussion on high-level matters. At least it was that way the last time I seriously tracked it (about 4 months). He’d have to cut down several thousand cherry trees for a few cherries. I’d recommend newbies avoid that thread.

Just my opinion, of course.

18

I’d agree that newbies don’t really have much to gain from wading through that entire thread, but it can still be a useful place to pop in and ask questions…because there is probably somebody in that thread that could answer almost anything a newbie would want to know. They make pick up useful tidbits of info to file away for later, or even just get accustomed to all of the game specific lingo/common acronyms.

19

Related question: Is it worth making a trial account if I have no desire whatsoever to end up paying for the service? That is, once I hit level 20, will there still be worthwhile things to do for several hours per week, or would I have to keep making new characters in order to be stimulated?

20

You seem interested, so yeah, it’s worth at least checking out. You can’t advance past level 20 with a trial account, which you may know. Not sure how much fun it would be remaining level 20 for an extended period. After doing most or all of the level appropriate quests, you may get bored very quickly. You can’t even chat or join a group or trade or shop the auction house or use the mail box for entertainment. The best thing you could do, in my opinion, if you want an extended trial experience that will be fun, is to run all the classes to level 20. Test drive them. You’ll know which one(s) you’ll like if you decide to activate your trial account. However, the first 20 levels go so fast now even that may not sustain you for long. But trying each class is certainly better than languishing at level 20 with the same class. You get to explore the different areas. Try Alliance and Horde. Depending on your tolerance, you could entertain yourself for at least a few months.