Gratz. Being able to fly ruined alts for me.
I still kinda miss Varimathras in undercity.
[quote=“Shot_From_Guns, post:6011, topic:488294”]
You won’t be able to really start gearing up until you figure out what spec you want to be. So do that first. You can build more than one set at a time, but you need to know which one you’re going to focus on. Healers tend to be the most in demand; tanks are also needed, but the weird thing is that it’s often hard to find a spot as a tank, because guilds tend to hold on to theirs for a loooong time. Ranged DPS are usually needed more than melee DPS. Overall, though, pick the spec **you **enjoy rather than the spec you think someone else will need: it’s a game and it’s supposed to be fun, which it won’t be if you’re stuck healing when you’d rather be DPSing, or DPSing when you’d rather be tanking.
[ul][li]First thing, you’ll be able to start dumping all that lovely money you’re making into BOE ilvl200 epics.[/li][li]Run as many Heroics as you can. You’ll get gear upgrades + badges you can spend on even better gear, plus experience.[/li][li]Start grinding your rep ASAP. Figure out which faction has the head chant you need and wear their tabard first. (E.g., Ebon Blade has melee DPS and Argent Crusade has the tanking one.) While you’re doing that, grind the hell out of your Hodir rep. Buy and turn in Relics of Ulduar if you have to–they’re pretty cheap these days.[/li][li]Start doing research on raid bosses. Go to YouTube and search for Tankspot: they have excellent videos up for every current raid boss. (Don’t let the name fool you–their videos are a great resource for every role, not just tanks.) WoWWiki’s strat pages for each boss are also useful, as are the pages and comments sections of Wowhead.[/li][li]Once you have a basic idea of how the bosses work, start looking for PUGs. Start with Naxx and OS. I know this isn’t the new, exciting stuff… but to be blunt, as a fresh 80, you aren’t anywhere close to having the gear or experience to run Ulduar or ToC, and you’d be hurting any raid you joined. In terms of badges-per-hour, you’ll actually get much better gear from running Heroics, but what Heroics won’t give you is experience in raids. Working in a group of 10 or 25 is much different from working in a group of five, especially for healers or tanks.[/li][li]If you’re having trouble finding PUGs, check your realm forum on the official WoW forums. You might find a thread there that lists some regular PUGs, or you could start a thread explaining that you’re a fresh 80 who wants to get into raiding and is looking for a group to run with.[/li][li]When it’s time to raid, be prepared. Come with buff food, flasks, potions (health, mana, or other effect as appropriate), and bandages. Have your gear properly gemmed and chanted. Even if it’s a blue piece, at least put a crappy chant on it to show you’re trying.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
I would add that even though most top end guilds all claim to focus on the player not the gear, it says something to them about your experience/dedication if you do not have every slot that can be filled with conquest badge gear actually filled with conquest badge gear; it will say something if you do not have at least rare gems and second best in slot enchants; it will say something if you do not have almost all purples from heroic instances.
My guild actually has a gear check that requires people to have at least conquest badge gear in every slot. We expect you to have a few triumph badge pieces as well.
I know what you mean. At least you can get regular flight at 60 now, and the speed was bumped up to 150%!
Exactly–gearing up is a sign of your dedication. Showing up in low-level gear says, “I expect you to do my work for me.” It says, “I expect you to carry me through content, giving me gear and experience while I give nothing in return but a warm body.” It says, “You can’t trust that I’ve put effort into other aspects of raiding, either, such that there’s a good chance I’ll do exactly what I’m not supposed to do, and probably get other people killed, and maybe wipe the raid.”
All else being equal, player > gear, but good players will want to show up with good gear, and my current guild has turned people down for not being geared to the point where they could keep up with our current content. (Now, it’s not going to be that Serious Business for less hardcore guilds, but the fundamental attitude is the same.)
Which also reminds me…I still actually have a few wands (from last year!) still in my bank which I will use the next time we team up to get “The Masquerade” achievement.
…Felwood, Winterspring and Silithius, which Words recommended?
I am in Sentinel Hill and have most (if not all) FP’s from there, but don’t know how to get to the above.
Thanks
Q
See, that’s actually kind of a turn-off for me. I want to join a guild to gear up with them. It doesn’t seem very fun if I’m expected to show up already decked out. I suppose if Conquest is the entry level, that’s not too bad, but it seems so very backwards to me to have to do the very thing I want a social network for.
I really don’t like PUGs as a general rule. I attribute most of my lack of irritation on MMOs to studiously avoiding them whenever possible. That means soloing for the most part, and when I group it’s always with guildmates. MMOs are just so much more fun when you run with a known group.
I’m going to be watching the recruitment channels, I suppose, and keep my eye out for casual-ish guilds who are running heroics as well as raids. I’m not looking for hardcore raiders just yet. I’ve already seen a couple of potential guilds, but checking their Armory pages shows Paladins are pretty much the most popular class right now and I always prefer filling gaps instead of adding to gluts. One guild even explicitly said No Paladins in their recruitment chant. 
Flightpaths won’t connect you to the other continent (the gryphon would definitely get tired); all three of those zones are on the continent of Kalimdor. Sentinel Hill is on the Eastern Kingdoms continent; if you go to Stormwind, you can take a boat to Kalimdor (you’ll dock in the town Auberdine, zone Darkshore). If you haven’t been to Kalimdor before, you can follow the road south through Darkshore into Ashenvale, then take the northern turn into Felwood. Lots of questing there, and it will lead into Winterspring. Felwood starts around level 49 and goes to around level 55; Winterspring is 54 to 60, if I remember correctly. Those two areas aren’t quite as intense as the Plaguelands, so you may find them a little easier to work in.
Remember that it’s not “high end raiding guild or nothing”. There are plenty of lower level raiding guilds you could join to work on getting geared with other people. Just don’t be one of those people who gets their gear and moves on to better things.
What’s most important is to know your class and know what you’re doing in a group context.
Thanks, Words, I am in Auberdine now. (Man that boat from SW harbor was hard to find! Wolkie and Silka had to do a LOT of jumpin’ to even GET there! The Guard showed us the way, but after that dayum!)
Headed to Ashenvale, Whoo-hoo! 
But is there a Flight-Master I can connect to here, somewhere?
Change of scenery is just what we needed! THANK YOU!
Quasi/Wolkie and Silka
Quasi, I wanted to say that I’m enjoying your posts. It reminds me of the sense of discovery I had when I first started playing Wow.
If you’re looking for a flight master, look for the guy with the green exclamation mark over his head. You can search for the guy if he’s not in sight by setting your Tracking button on your minimap to “Flight Master” and then running around Auberdine until you see the gold dot on the map. Then it should be easier for you to get to that dot.
Thank you, lizardling, and thanks for enjoying the posts, tacoloco, I’ll bet you weren’t as ignrn’t as me when you staryed!
Trying to get to Felwood, but I think the flight-master is my best bet.
Right here in Auberdine, I don’t think there are any quests for me.
Thanks
Q
If you haven’t been to Felwood before, you won’t be able to fly there from Auberdine. Go ahead and get the flight point at Auberdine (she’s on the big platform south of the inn), but you’ll have to travel through Darkshore and Ashenvale (get the flight point at Astranaar in Ashenvale, also), then find the road north into Felwood. There’s a neutral flight point a little way into the zone (and some quests that are level-appropriate), off to your right. Then the Alliance flightpoint is way up north and they should have some quests, too.
You CAN do quests in Darkshore and Ashenvale, but you won’t get very much experience from them. They would be done at this point mostly for reputation. Just skip them for now.
Sorry, jayjay! I canot find her! What’s her name?
She’s in Auberdine, right?
Thanks
Q
Her name’s Caylais Moonfeather. There’s a great big platform almost on the beach, just south of the inn there. She’s up there. You should see a light green quest marker (exclamation point “!”) on your minimap.
I found her, but she didn’t have a green ! over her head when I saw her. (She was about as hard to find as the boat to Darkshore! :eek:)
We’re headed to Duskmallow Marsh, and see if we can connect to anything from there…
Maybe tonight, I’ll just explore and find flight paths.
Hippo Gryph?
Never rode one of those before!
Thanks again!
Quasi
ETA: Sorry! Didn’t catch the part of the light green thing on the mini-map! Was looking for it over her head!
No problem, Quasi! At least you found her.
Hehe…I got the Hallowed Helm! In the gift you get after you bring the Orphan Matron the scorched rune, no less.
Beem right-clicking on it, but we don’t seem to get anything?
Need to be a higher level, I guess?
Thanks
Q
How do you get this GNERD Rage? The G.N.E.R.D.S. candy just says it gives something like +5 Defense Rating. I looked at the achievement, and … I didn’t get it.
My human pally got a Male Tauren and a Male Dwarf. Very scaaaaary!
You know, I thought my belf pally’s wyvern seemed faster than the snowy gryphon my human pally got way back when.
I think you can only hit each candy bucket once per day. Also, make sure you right-click and open the “Handful of Candy” you get. If it’s still sitting in your bags unopened, you can’t get anything from other buckets (that “duplicate item found” thing again).