Right now is a really good time to get into World of Warcraft - they have a special thing going where if you adventure with a friend who's under level 60, they get triple the XP and can 'gift' you with some, to the point where someone in that situation can go from level 10 to level 49 in about 15 minutes.
The fee is flat - no matter what you got or don't got installed, it's the same fee. $14.95/mo, with breaks for paying in 3 mont, 6 month and 1 year installments. An interesting hack is that for a while Amazon was selling 60 day cards for $25, which is less than 2 months normally costs.
The other thing to consider is that in a few months, the next expansion comes out. You'll need the basic World of Warcraft set, and the first xpac, The Burning Crusade, to install the second one, Wrath of the Lich King. You may want to invest in the The World of Warcraft Battlechest, which has both of them, and a pair of books (the Burning Crusade one has a walkthrough of the first 20 levels for the Blood Elves and the Draenei; the original one is.... not so good) about stuff in the game, and at $45 is cheaper than the main and expansion together.
My recommendation for classes, based on your comments, would be Paladin, Druid or Shaman. In the endgame, Druids get a lot of flexibility, as they can cover the three big bases of Damage Per Second, Tanking and Healing depending on spec (more about that later). Shamans are good at all three, but more gear dependant, and most of the time a paladin will go to either tanking (holding the monster(s) in place while other people beat it up) or healing.
One of the nice options in WoW is the talent system. Each class has three talent trees, and from level 10 on you get a point to buy something on the talent trees. Most of them have a "requires x points in this tree" on the higher level talents.
As far as races go, it depends on which side you prefer. Alliance side, you can have night elf druids, human paladins, dwarf paladins, and draenei paladins or shaman. Hordeside give you orc shamans, tauren druids and shaman, and Blood Elf paladins.
I recommend reading at http://www.wowwiki.com/ for information on classes, races, the lore (background info) and things like that.
Also, there's sites like http://www.wowhead.com/ which are pretty deep databases of Stuff In Game.
There's also podcasts about the game - my personal favorite is The Instance, which is basically a talk-about-the-news podcast, but also has interesting things like the Mod Of The Week (WoW has a built-in plug-in format, and there's a lot of mods you can plug in to do stuff to your user experience, everything from cosmetic changes to event recording.
And, as with everything else, there's worldofwarcraft, because there's a community for EVERYTHING on LJ.
I'm not saying to not do it. But once you do, there's no going back.
Just kidding. But seriously, it's a mediocre game that Blizzard is using to line its pockets by making you pay to play it even after you've bought it. That's pretty lame.
Guild Wars is pretty much the same game, and there's no fee to play it.
LOL. Yeah, well, they'd have to keep my attention past the one month trial, though. Which can be difficult unless I have a decent group of folks to hang with on a consistant basis (otherwise, I can stick with Oblivion and Final Fantasy offline, thanks :).)
I do agree the 'charge after you've already paid for it' thing is pretty lame--it's why my 360 and PS3 never got hooked up to the net in the first place. But again, I'd be doing it as much for interaction with other RPers (since I don't have a local gaming group to hang with) as anything else, and it might be worth the fee, again, if I'm entertained and having enough fun with other people. I mean hell, you can go out with your friends to a bar and spend $15 on a couple of drinks and still have 6 hours to go before time to retire home.
I've seen Guild Wars, saw a video in fact when it first came out years ago at Frys, heard okay and not so okay reviews, and so forth. Good to know there's another option that won't hurt the pocketbook so much. Do you actually play there?
You should come play with me and Del on the Zanagarmarsh server. Horde side, naturally. ;) We have a fun little guild that we futz around with, called "Has Candy." (So when it appears under your character's name, it reads "SallyMae Has Candy.")
You should play a paladin, f'r sure. Big whompy swords/hammers, good healing, great for soloing and grouping. The only Horde-side race that has paladin as an option is Blood Elves.
I...pretty much play exclusively as a Blood Elf. >_> They're shiny.
I'd recommend being tauren shaman. Jack-of-all-trades class; plenty of smashing, versatile weaponry (dual-wielding or weapon/shield combo) and healing spells and totems to back up. Their specs make them the most versatile in terms of what role they play in a group as well. (Not to mention the down-to-earth, naturalist personalities of the tauren seems to suit you. Very native-american, those guys.)
Just last night, I had to deal with Alliance peeps rolling Horde alts JUST so they could yell at me and my brother for killing their character after they started the fight. :V So yeah. There are immature people all across the bored, but Alliance seems to have them more readily apparent.
As many as you want! I have several that are spread out over several servers, to play with different people, friends and coworkers. And on each sever, you can have as many characters as you desire. The only stipulation is dependent on what kind of server you're on.
That being, if you're on a PvE sever (Player vs. Environment, where the opposite faction can't attack you unless you're flagged to allow such), you can roll on either side. If you're on a PvP server (where it's a free-for-all and, depending on what zones you're in, can be attacked or attack the other side), you can only roll the first faction you picked. So if you rolled an orc on a PvP server, you can't roll a human as well.
Yeah, they all have unique names and, if you don't have one in mind, you can just get one recommended to you by the game based on what kind you want, where you're located, and how full they are.
Otherwise, since you've got a lot of people already inviting you to some, you can just scroll down the list and find it, easy-peasy. (Like Beth said, we're mainly situated on the one named Zangamarsh.)
Seconding DEL! on the tauren shaman idea. Tauren are my favorite race, and they've got some pretty awesome stats/racial abilities, too (5% extra health, War Stomp (AoE stun effect) and increased herbalism skill.
Shamans are a fun class because you can be good at healing AND smashing things.
I'd also reccommend looking into druids as well (also tauren). They're pretty much a jack-of-all trades class-- shapeshifters, and stuff.
I am also in the Has Candy guild as well! >_> I need to play there more... *ahem*
See, that's actually a concern of mine; how much any one person's presence could affect the rest of their playmates. I wouldn't want to be 'that guy' who's around for most of a gig, and then suddenly disappears for a month because of RL and leaves everyone else hanging. Or not be able to get on when everyone else does.
While Tauren Shamans rock, I'm partial to the trolls, since I have a retired level 70 troll shaman. :D
The husband and I are currently playing on a legacy server (a server that has been open since launch), but I would recommend it to no one. It's truly a "hive of scum and villany", people are rude, quote the latest 4-chan memes when they get bored, and it's just not a good environment for a newbie. Someone up-thread recommended Zangarmarsh; from what I understand, it's a smaller server and is brand-new, so you will find more opportunities for groups and guilds there than you would on a legacy server.
I suggested rolling a warrior in the poll, but in truth, I'm not so sure now. The warrior class is deceptively technical, and actually carries some hidden responsibilities for keeping us squishier folk alive. My current main is a Draenei shadow priest - yep, I play those Interdimensional aliens with Slavic accents, and ride elephants! (And no, not all Alliance players are noobs or kids - I mean, am I either? I hope not. Any time you have a larger population, you'll get a larger population of the "bad sort" as well. ;p)
Anyway, you might really like a shaman. Hunters and rogues are, as that one board game claims, "easy to learn but hard to master". They're simple to pick up and play, but to be good, you really have to learn how to gear them and play them properly.
As for the pay, I suggest you ride out your thirty day free trial and decide if WOW is for you before you decide which payment method works best for your pocket. Leon and I pay $66/6 months, for example, but some people prefer month or month or getting the prepaid cards.
Yeah, the shaman class is looking pretty good...although being able to shapeshift looks like fun.
I could probably do the more technical ones, but it would take me a while to get it figured out, probably to the horror of my guild. XD. The good news is that once I figured it out, I'd probably kick ass. Provided my guild mates hadn't killed me yet in a fit of frustration, that is. *g*
so, I've not read the other comments and I'm a relative newbie however, here's my take.
Race: Dwarf. I really love the fact that I can see where the treasure is around my simply by glancing at my map icon. There are other benefits but I really like that one.
Class: Paladin. You get to be right up in the face of the enemy but get some limited magic including and especially heals.
As to the software, I would recommend the set I got. It has WoW and the first major expansion plus a couple of guide books. As a Noob I found those books to be really helpful.
Yeah, Paladin is one of the classes I'm looking at, along with Hunter, Shaman and Druid.
If it's the Battle chest set, Mephron suggested it above.
Yeah. I definitely would like to get together with one of my characters with you, there's likely to be one for each of the classes I'm considering). Do you have a pref of Alliance or Horde?
It is the battlechest listed above and I can create a character on Zanagarmarsh. I tend to play mostly on Cenarius though will be creating on Cenarian Circle shortly as well. I won't level as fast but it will be fun playing with those I know having characters on multiple servers.
If I have the funds (some bills MUST BE PAID this Friday, and I have to sock back the vet fees for Ula's yearly shots for next month), I'll snag the set this weekend. Definitely will set up a Z-server charrie or two, and will see if I can worm into Cenerius or Cenarius Circle, if you want (and which one if I can?). I'll probably also announce it here, and definietly email/IM you at least before I commence the creation so that we can get set up in the right area together.
So...hey. Not quite tabletop, but it'll do, right? :)
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 01:53 pm (UTC)The fee is flat - no matter what you got or don't got installed, it's the same fee. $14.95/mo, with breaks for paying in 3 mont, 6 month and 1 year installments. An interesting hack is that for a while Amazon was selling 60 day cards for $25, which is less than 2 months normally costs.
The other thing to consider is that in a few months, the next expansion comes out. You'll need the basic World of Warcraft set, and the first xpac, The Burning Crusade, to install the second one, Wrath of the Lich King. You may want to invest in the The World of Warcraft Battlechest, which has both of them, and a pair of books (the Burning Crusade one has a walkthrough of the first 20 levels for the Blood Elves and the Draenei; the original one is.... not so good) about stuff in the game, and at $45 is cheaper than the main and expansion together.
My recommendation for classes, based on your comments, would be Paladin, Druid or Shaman. In the endgame, Druids get a lot of flexibility, as they can cover the three big bases of Damage Per Second, Tanking and Healing depending on spec (more about that later). Shamans are good at all three, but more gear dependant, and most of the time a paladin will go to either tanking (holding the monster(s) in place while other people beat it up) or healing.
One of the nice options in WoW is the talent system. Each class has three talent trees, and from level 10 on you get a point to buy something on the talent trees. Most of them have a "requires x points in this tree" on the higher level talents.
As far as races go, it depends on which side you prefer. Alliance side, you can have night elf druids, human paladins, dwarf paladins, and draenei paladins or shaman. Hordeside give you orc shamans, tauren druids and shaman, and Blood Elf paladins.
I recommend reading at http://www.wowwiki.com/ for information on classes, races, the lore (background info) and things like that.
[/dissertation]
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 02:07 pm (UTC)There's also podcasts about the game - my personal favorite is The Instance, which is basically a talk-about-the-news podcast, but also has interesting things like the Mod Of The Week (WoW has a built-in plug-in format, and there's a lot of mods you can plug in to do stuff to your user experience, everything from cosmetic changes to event recording.
And, as with everything else, there's
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 03:12 pm (UTC)(and yes, dissenting opinions are wanted as well. I haven't done it yet).
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 03:17 pm (UTC)Just kidding. But seriously, it's a mediocre game that Blizzard is using to line its pockets by making you pay to play it even after you've bought it. That's pretty lame.
Guild Wars is pretty much the same game, and there's no fee to play it.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 03:40 pm (UTC)LOL. Yeah, well, they'd have to keep my attention past the one month trial, though. Which can be difficult unless I have a decent group of folks to hang with on a consistant basis (otherwise, I can stick with Oblivion and Final Fantasy offline, thanks :).)
I do agree the 'charge after you've already paid for it' thing is pretty lame--it's why my 360 and PS3 never got hooked up to the net in the first place. But again, I'd be doing it as much for interaction with other RPers (since I don't have a local gaming group to hang with) as anything else, and it might be worth the fee, again, if I'm entertained and having enough fun with other people. I mean hell, you can go out with your friends to a bar and spend $15 on a couple of drinks and still have 6 hours to go before time to retire home.
I've seen Guild Wars, saw a video in fact when it first came out years ago at Frys, heard okay and not so okay reviews, and so forth. Good to know there's another option that won't hurt the pocketbook so much. Do you actually play there?
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 08:26 pm (UTC)The bar analogy is close, but it's more like buying a movie, and then paying a fee each month to watch it.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 03:53 pm (UTC)You should play a paladin, f'r sure. Big whompy swords/hammers, good healing, great for soloing and grouping. The only Horde-side race that has paladin as an option is Blood Elves.
I...pretty much play exclusively as a Blood Elf. >_> They're shiny.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:13 pm (UTC)(yes, I'm being silly, but I did notice the night elves had cat mounts on the other side. I'd name mine -Footnula- or maybe -Ulafoot- *g*)
On a more serious note, I'll take a more serious look at those options.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:16 pm (UTC)Night elves get the cat mounts, but Nelfs are dumb. About 90% of all really egregiously stupid players are Nelf rogues.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:30 pm (UTC)2) ...I wonder why.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:25 pm (UTC)Just don't be Alliance. Just don't be Alliance.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:29 pm (UTC)Man, everyone I've ever seen mention a 'side' has been 'NO ALLIANCE ARGH!!!!' XD
Are there really that many nimrods on the Alliance side?
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:34 pm (UTC)Also, Horde is just plain cooler.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 04:48 pm (UTC)That being, if you're on a PvE sever (Player vs. Environment, where the opposite faction can't attack you unless you're flagged to allow such), you can roll on either side. If you're on a PvP server (where it's a free-for-all and, depending on what zones you're in, can be attacked or attack the other side), you can only roll the first faction you picked. So if you rolled an orc on a PvP server, you can't roll a human as well.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 05:17 pm (UTC)Otherwise, since you've got a lot of people already inviting you to some, you can just scroll down the list and find it, easy-peasy. (Like Beth said, we're mainly situated on the one named Zangamarsh.)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 05:23 pm (UTC)...I just won't tell you all about the alliance character I have over there. ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 05:34 pm (UTC)Shamans are a fun class because you can be good at healing AND smashing things.
I'd also reccommend looking into druids as well (also tauren). They're pretty much a jack-of-all trades class-- shapeshifters, and stuff.
I am also in the Has Candy guild as well! >_> I need to play there more... *ahem*
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 09:33 pm (UTC)SHYEAH :P We can run Alterac Valley together.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 06:04 pm (UTC)The husband and I are currently playing on a legacy server (a server that has been open since launch), but I would recommend it to no one. It's truly a "hive of scum and villany", people are rude, quote the latest 4-chan memes when they get bored, and it's just not a good environment for a newbie. Someone up-thread recommended Zangarmarsh; from what I understand, it's a smaller server and is brand-new, so you will find more opportunities for groups and guilds there than you would on a legacy server.
I suggested rolling a warrior in the poll, but in truth, I'm not so sure now. The warrior class is deceptively technical, and actually carries some hidden responsibilities for keeping us squishier folk alive. My current main is a Draenei shadow priest - yep, I play those Interdimensional aliens with Slavic accents, and ride elephants! (And no, not all Alliance players are noobs or kids - I mean, am I either? I hope not. Any time you have a larger population, you'll get a larger population of the "bad sort" as well. ;p)
Anyway, you might really like a shaman. Hunters and rogues are, as that one board game claims, "easy to learn but hard to master". They're simple to pick up and play, but to be good, you really have to learn how to gear them and play them properly.
As for the pay, I suggest you ride out your thirty day free trial and decide if WOW is for you before you decide which payment method works best for your pocket. Leon and I pay $66/6 months, for example, but some people prefer month or month or getting the prepaid cards.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 08:07 pm (UTC)Yeah, the shaman class is looking pretty good...although being able to shapeshift looks like fun.
I could probably do the more technical ones, but it would take me a while to get it figured out, probably to the horror of my guild. XD. The good news is that once I figured it out, I'd probably kick ass. Provided my guild mates hadn't killed me yet in a fit of frustration, that is. *g*
ok
Date: 2008-08-19 11:57 pm (UTC)Race: Dwarf. I really love the fact that I can see where the treasure is around my simply by glancing at my map icon. There are other benefits but I really like that one.
Class: Paladin. You get to be right up in the face of the enemy but get some limited magic including and especially heals.
As to the software, I would recommend the set I got. It has WoW and the first major expansion plus a couple of guide books. As a Noob I found those books to be really helpful.
I'd love to see you online :)
Re: ok
Date: 2008-08-20 12:08 am (UTC)Yeah, Paladin is one of the classes I'm looking at, along with Hunter, Shaman and Druid.
If it's the Battle chest set, Mephron suggested it above.
Yeah. I definitely would like to get together with one of my characters with you, there's likely to be one for each of the classes I'm considering). Do you have a pref of Alliance or Horde?
Re: ok
Date: 2008-08-20 12:12 am (UTC)Re: ok
Date: 2008-08-20 02:12 am (UTC)Re: ok
Date: 2008-08-20 02:28 am (UTC)If I have the funds (some bills MUST BE PAID this Friday, and I have to sock back the vet fees for Ula's yearly shots for next month), I'll snag the set this weekend. Definitely will set up a Z-server charrie or two, and will see if I can worm into Cenerius or Cenarius Circle, if you want (and which one if I can?). I'll probably also announce it here, and definietly email/IM you at least before I commence the creation so that we can get set up in the right area together.
So...hey. Not quite tabletop, but it'll do, right? :)
Re: ok
Date: 2008-08-20 03:00 am (UTC)The circle is probably the better place to set up the other character, that's where I'm likely to move most of my playing.
Re: ok
Date: 2008-08-20 03:03 am (UTC)Cool.
Now watch my funds be fucked for two months. :P