PVP can result in some of the most awesome stories you can ever hope to tell about an MMO. But to a newbie, it has the potential to be incredibly frustrating to be continually ganked while they’re still figuring out the game and can turn them off to it entirely. Unless someone specifically wants PVP, I’d never recommend starting off on a PVP server.
Yeah, you can always flag yourself for PvP on a PvE server, if you feel like getting ganked by a higher level player for LOLs.
Oh please, continually ganked? Rarely happen unless you manage to piss someone off. The leveling zones are so sparsely populated these days that you’re unlikely to get ganked more than handful of times while leveling, with Hellfire Peninsula being the worst because of the relatively high concentration of players there. I even got through Stranglethorn Vale(!) a few months ago with any significant problems.
Fine, not continually, although while leveling I certainly saw my share of 80s dicking with the lowbies in Westfall, Duskwood, and the Crossroads even on PvE servers. I still don’t recommend it for a newbie unless they’re specifically looking for the PVP experience.
Even on PvP servers you’re not PvP flagged in your faction’s level 1-20 zones, so Westfall and the Barrens on a PvP server are no different from the same zones on a PvE server.
So? That just means that everyone gets dicked with in the Barrens and Westfall the same way, then when you move out of those zones you’re targetable.
I appreciate the factual corrections, but my overall point remains the same: don’t send a newbie to a PVP server unless they want the PVP experience. Or don’t want to level past 20, I don’t know.
It’s just that you seem to think that leveling on a PvP server is like walking through Harlem with a ‘I hate niggers’-sign, in my experience it isn’t like that, getting ganked by a level 80 is just random bad luck because you encountered one who was just passing through rather than out looking for lowbies to kill.
The reason you see asshats in Westfall and the Crossroads etc is that they know a lot of people level in those areas and they make easy targets to grief, but once you get past those areas the levelers are so spread out that there few convenient spots for the griefers to hang out.
I understand, and I acknowledge my perception may be overblown. But I would far prefer to send a new player to a PVE server where there is zero chance of that happening (save for flukes like buffing a PVP-flagged ally and such) than send them to a PVP server where there is still a non-zero chance of it happening.
I mean, “PVP servers are as safe as PVE servers, just with the occasional gank” isn’t very convincing when PVE servers are just as freely available.
And, again, if the new player wants that PVP experience, then by all means.
It isn’t(at least for me) about any PvP experience, in fact I find world PvP to be pretty pointless and usually try to avoid it, but it does introduce an element of uncertainty you don’t have on a PvE server which can make the experience a bit more exciting.
Telling a new player to avoid PvP servers unless they love PvP isn’t really fair either, in particular since the Dungeon Finder has eliminated the most troubling ganking spots -Summoning Stones.
The other day I was doing the fishing daily in WG and got invited to an ICC raid. I joined the raid and they summoned me via the stone - and upon arrival I was insta-ganked. I think I was ganked while my loading screen was still up because I was Dead on Arrival.
This isn’t to support either side of the PvE / PvP argument, just a funny anecdote.
If you can’t work out what you need to do for a quest, go to www.wowhead.com and enter the quest title into the search box. The comments section will generally have some great advice on what to do.
Thanks all! I ended up making a blood elf mage, and played for a while last night. Is there a way to find the guy who gave you a quest? I got lost… 
If you click on your map to open it up, it will show you where to go to turn in each quest. It will also show you the area you need to go to in order to complete each quest also, if you don’t know where to go.
These days there are quest indicators on the map(default key to open it is ‘m’), if you have completed the quest objective(s) you should see a yellow ? icon where you can hand it in.
Did you end up joining us on Cairne server? If not, be sure to join any guild when you can. People in guilds are friendly and like helping out new players.
(If you are on Cairne, hit someone up for a guildinvite:1)/who Burning Dog 2)/w [name][message])
Be warned that a lot of players like to make jokes at the expense of blood elves. It’s mostly on the Blizzard forums, though, and I haven’t noticed much in-game. Blood elf is a good choice IMO because their starting zones, Eversong Woods and the Ghostlands, are arguably the best starting zones. The blood elf and draenei starting zones were made a few years after the other starting zones, and the developers had gotten a lot better at making quest zones by that time. Hopefully the Cataclysm overhaul of low-level content will bring the other zones up to current standards; right now the level 20-60 content (plus the “vanilla” starting zones) isn’t as polished as Outland or Northrend.
I suggest that you do a quick re-bind of a couple of keys. By default, the A and D keys make your character turn left or right, and the Q and E keys make your character strafe left or right. Set A and D to strafe left and right, and unbind Q and E for now. Turning should be done with the mouse and only the mouse. The reason for this is that key turning is very slow, too slow to be very useful in combat (especially PVP). In fact, the term “key turner” is a disparaging term for a hopeless noob whose enemies can literally run circles around him. Better to get used to doing only mouse turning now, because otherwise it can take a while break yourself of your key turning habits.
Later, when you have more spells and are feeling ambitious, you can rebind your Q, E, Z, and C keys for spells you need close at hand. I have Q as Ice Block, E as Counterspell, Z as Invisibility, and C as Polymorph. By default, Z is just to draw or sheath your weapon (no practical function), and C brings up your character pane (which I re-bound to G).
Now for some mage-specific advice. A lot of people will tell you to go frost spec for leveling, “for survivability”. This is not necessary, because you don’t need survivability for PVE content. I quested 1-70 as a fire mage (during Burning Crusade) and enjoyed it immensely. Let your personal taste decide whether to try fire or frost spec first.
Arcane currently isn’t that great for low level content. You currently can’t learn the serious arcane damage spells until the 60s; the developers plan to remedy this in Cataclysm, but that doesn’t help you much.
When you’re in a group in a dungeon, the number one rule for the DPS (“damage per second” i.e. damage dealers like mages) characters is that if you pull aggro off the tank, it is your fault. No exceptions. If the tank is bad at generating threat, it’s your responsibility to dial back your damage output. You’ll develop a feel for it after a while (and there are threat meter add-ons like Omen that you can install when you you get serious about dungeons or raiding), but for the most part you just have to wait a few seconds after the tank engages a target before joining in and attacking it. If you do pull aggro in the middle of a fight, it’s much more productive to apologize (“Sorry, I’m still trying to get a feel for this class.”) than to try to blame the tank (even if the tank screwed up).
I think you’ll like the mage class. They play somewhat like a DPS Druid from EQ, with more damage and no healing spells. You can kite mobs, sorta, with your frostbolts.
As for specialization…you may want to look around at Allakazam, Wowhead, or similar sites to check out some sample builds. Kahbueme is an arcane mage, with a few points in fire. Things have likely changed a lot since I played the game, so I can’t recommend any particular spec.
On group play–opening battle with PoM Pyro (at later levels) is fine when soloing, but contraindicated in groups. Save that…or whatever your biggest nuke is…until the mob is about halfway dead, so that even if you pull aggro, the mob will likely die before he reaches you.
UNLESS something is eating the healer. His life is more important than yours, so do whatever it takes to get the mob off him. I like to run in and hit that frost spell that freezes the target in place for a few seconds (forgot what it is called), then go all out to burn that mob down or die trying.
In case you didn’t know, when people talk about “specs” (eg. Frost, Fire or Arcane for mages) they’re talking about in which tree you put most of your talent points. You start getting talent points at level 10 and can spend them to improve or learn specific skills and abilities in any of the three “specs.” It’s generally favorable to focus most of your talents in one tree versus spreading them around.
I’ve never played a mage, but folks in our general WoW thread (or on other WoW websites or the official forums) can give you advice about spending your talents effectively, whichever specialization you choose.
[Apologies if you already know this basic information.]
Oh, sweetie, PoM-Pyro hasn’t been viable for years. Not only is Pyroblast proportionally weaker than it was back in the old days, but the Hot Streak talent makes PoM quite unnecessary.
don’t worry about specs. it’s not permanent and it’s more fun to experiment anyways, even though it’ll cost a little gold.