You sure about that, JAG? A bunch of my friends from my guild on Arthas made a bunch of little Hordies on Eonar, and I’d hate to think that I just missed the character-creation window.
Also, just wanted to add that Thottbot is your friend. Just about every quest you’ll ever do is listed there with map coordinates and instructions. (You’ll need a UI mod that adds map coordinates to your UI - most mods are Blizzard-approved, so don’t worry about violating ToS - curse-gaming.com should have something. I like TitanPanel, myself.)
Oh, and get Fishing. It’s a secondary skill so you can learn it even if your two primary skill slots are full. Most fish you can catch are edible raw, so you don’t even have to learn cooking to get use out of it, especially if you’re a hunter (cats and bears (the most popular hunter pets) both eat fish). Plus, you can sell fish that are used for alchemy (oily blackmouth, firefin, and stonescale eel) on the AH for a pretty copper. PLUS, you can occasionally catch interesting things other than fish. My 34 shaman caught a 12-slot bag out of the river in Stranglethorn Vale last week (which was MUCH appreciated!).
The rule was implemented, I believe, for the opening of AQ. The first server to open the gates was overrun by hundreds on lvl 1 characters running to the gateway and lagging out the server. Bliz transported all of them back to their starting areas and stopped character creation on the server. They did almost all the servers as their opening neared. They may have just put everything back to normal now that most realms have AQ open.
Forgive my ignorance, but I have a question about servers. Why would you need to create different characters for different servers? Aren’t the characters you create portable? Do I have to create a separate character for PvP?
Okay, first of all, every server has the entire game world on it. If there are twenty servers (and there are many more than that) then there are twenty separate game worlds. When you create a character, it can only be played on the server it was created on. You can have up to 50 characters total, but only 10 on a single server. On PvE and RP servers, you can create characters of both factions on the same server. On PvP servers, you are limited to only being able to create characters of a single faction on each server. (F’rinstance, you can have all horde characters on one server, but if you want PvP alliance characters, you have to start them on a different PvP server)
No, characters are absolutely not portable. Don’t ask at all.
There are organized character migrations occasionally but that’s “from server A to new server B”, you can’t just transfer your character to another server because that’s where your new SO plays.
There’s been talk for ages of a “pay to transfer” scheme, but it hasn’t been implemented and there’s no ETA.
PvP is both a kind of server and a kind of thing (Battlegrounds, area raids) that happen on all kinds of servers. You can be in a PvERPG server (which is as not-a-PvP-server as it gets) and still take part on PvP stuff. My little pink-ponytailed warrior is working on her PvP rank right now (her mechanical chicken will be cheaper if she can make Sergeant).
No, the characters are not portable. The server you make a character on can only be changed if Blizzard decides that that server is too full and offers a (usually one-time) migration option from that server to a specific other server.
As for PvP, you can always choose to flag your character for PvP on a PvE server, but on a Pvp server your flag will almost always be turned on automatically. PvE servers still have Battlegrounds, if you want some PvP-only action (no mobs on the Battlegrounds, as far as I know). Bottom line: if your character is on a PvP server, PvP will be turned on for most of the game; if your character is on a PvE server, PvP will be turned off most of the game unless you turn it on or join a Battleground.
Here is Blizzard’s explanation of the PvP server vs. PvE server thing.
No, they’re not (Blizzard keeps promising open server transfers–I’ll believe it when I see it). Each server is basically it’s own world, and there is no way to transfer between them on the same toon (Caveat–there’s almost always transfers to new realms from some of hte overpopulated ones, but that’s an exception). Also, I should note that on the PvP servers you can only have Horde or Alliance, you can’t have both on the same PvP server.
Depends on how you look at it. If you’re on a normal server and want to try a PvP one, yes you’ll have ot create a new character. In general, though, no–however a lot of people will build their character’s gear and talents specifically for one or the other. You can carry two sets of gear if you wish, and there are talent builds which work well in both for all classes (you have to pay an ever-increasing cost to switch talents), but while you can’t have it all, there’s no reason you can’t do both with one toon. I know some people who happen to have 2 60s will do PvE with one and PvP with the one they don’t care as much about raiding with. However, PvP on the normal realms is a bit different–you’ll rarely if ever see any outside of the designated PvP zones. There used to be city raids int he past, but when Blizzard brought in the honour system for PvP and dishonourable kills for killing certain NPCs, they pretty much died (which is probalby a good thing for snyone questing in the Southshore-Tarren Mill area)
Yeah, Tarren Mills practically liveable (well…semblance-of-liveable. We ARE talking about the walking dead) now. Used to be you couldn’t go five minutes without a raid from Southshore dodging Creepers on the front lawn…
The only thing on the horizon that might pull players from WOW (like me for instance) is Vanguard. I don’t think they are set to dominate WOW’s market by any means, but it does look like it will be a better game overall. Also, it is made by the original Everquest gang. According to what I have read, this is what Everquest 2 was supposed to be.
I’ve been playing WoW for a year now. I originally played a paladin to 60 on a PvP server, now I play a 60 priest on a RP/PvE server (Silver Hand, alliance side).
Couple of things:
You can create a character on any server. The one caveat is that during primetime, the higher population servers will usually have a queue to log in. During that time, you cannot create a new character if you don’t already have one on that server. So, if you want to play on a particular server, you may have to create your character during the off hours (anytime other than say 6-11pm Eastern US time).
If you want to play on a PvP server, I’d start with a new one. Most of the people will be in the lower levels, and there won’t be huge gear discrepancies that there can be versus a L60 with ultra end game gear, and your L25 toosh running around in a contested zone. Keep in mind though, most of the people playing on these new servers are just other experienced players playing new characters there. If you are thinking PvE (which I think you may be, since you mentioned Everquest), start on an established server. There is more cash floating around, so if you pick up a gathering skill or two, you will always have plenty of cash for stuff you may want to buy, as well as a bigger selection.
On most servers, Alliance severely outnumber Horde. So if you plan to play Horde on a PvP server, expect to be ganked a lot. PvE servers have the battleground PvP areas (3 separate areas that hold between 10 and 40 players, and they fight the other side for various objectives…capture the flag scenario, resource gathering scenario, and a massive full-out war (a.k.a zerg vs zerg) scenario), but they do not have world PvP unless you flag yourself purposely. Also, because Horde are usually outnumbered, if you want to play Horde and do a battleground, the wait time is drastically shorter, just because there are often many more Alliance waiting to play, than Horde.
I’d suggest if you want to get money quick, start off with 2 gathering skills. Skinning and Mining, or Skinning and Herbalism. Herbalism and Mining are not good together, because you can only have one of the two flagged on your map at any one time, so it’s better to have skinning and one of the others. There’s a mod called ‘gatherer’ which logs every herb you pick, every box you open and every lode you mine. Look into that, it’s well handy for tracking those rare herbs/minerals that you want to farm and sell. Leather sells really well.
Don’t bother going into a crafting profession until later in the game. You’ve got to spend a lot of money and do a lot of levelling to get anything decent in any of the crafting professions (like smithing or tailoring etc). The only exception to this, that I’ve found, is enchanting. Enchanting is technically a crafting profession, and can cost a lot of money/time to level up. But you can use it as a gathering profession as well. There’s always a market for enchanting essences/dusts on the AH. Enchanters need them to do their stuff, and non-enchanters like to buy them, so they can get an Enchanter to upgrade their items without spending too much on tips. Disenchant low-to-medium level greens that are only worth a few silver each, sell the resulting essences on the AH - profit! I’ve got a lvl 16 Shammy who’s already made 15g just selling skins and essences on the AH.
I also second the suggestion to learn how to play the AH. There’s a few mods you can get that monitor the AH each time you go there, and whenever you get an item they’ll give you a breakdown of the average selling price of that item. It’s helpful not only for finding great deals that you will be able to sell on for a small profit, but it’s also helpful for looking at that natty blue sword you really want, and working out if it’s /really/ worth eight gold or not.
Don’t be too discouraged by PvP servers, they are a lot of fun.
The way I see it, a human adversary is the ultimate ‘mob’- they have their unique sense of justice (some will kill you but leave you alone when they realize you aren’t a threat, others will corpse camp you into the next ice age). Fighting human-controlled opponents also helps you build up personal skills, like having better situational awareness (is it safe to go AFK here?) and allows you to use your class skills to the limit.
Plus, human players have human failings, such as,
*Pummeling the hell out of their hapless mind-controlled buddy
*Falling off cliffs chasing after you while you slow fall/parachute/divine shield down
*Get themselves pecked to death by your mechanical chicken
Also, if you run as a group, you don’t have to worry as much about getting ganked. Personally, starting now isn’t bad at all- get a gathering profession as others have said. If you find a rare item, see how much people are selling it at the Auction House. Since a lot of people are making uber low-leveld characters for battlegrounds (twinks) there is a huge demand for low-level rare items. As a lowbie, you have a fairly good chance of finding some from sheer dumb luck, and with the money you can earn auctioning it off, you can be well on your way to earning a fortune.
Generally, fortunes can be made hawking items that most players are too lazy to gather themselves. Reagents for spells, materials needed to powerlevel professions, etc are easy to get at low levels and sell for decent moolah these days.
Haha, assuming I do it, prepare to get your butt nuked into next Thursday. (Assuming I go mage instead of making another rogue; in the case of the latter, prepare to get your butt stabbed into next Thursday…and not see it coming!)
Out of curiousity, and to hijack the thread ever so slightly, if one has more money than sense (such as myself) and just about 300 in Engineering, is the Arcanite Dragonling worth it?
I strongly second this recommendation. It’s through relentless use of Auctioneer that I got more money than sense. (The money part; the lack of sense comes naturally.)
Different servers have different atmospheres. Some are pvp heavy, others aren’t. Most are alliance heavy. I play alliance on a horde heavy pvp server and horde on a alliance heavy pve server. Two very different attitudes.
… umm, I was sure.
