WoW. No, Really

[silverthorne]

[Poll #1243842]

Comments

[mephron]

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.

[/dissertation]

[ninjagaijin.livejournal.com]

Oh, God help you. :(

[cheezdanish.livejournal.com]

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.

[del-the-psycho.livejournal.com]

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 don't be Alliance. Just don't be Alliance.

[pariker.livejournal.com]

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*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_geekie_/]

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.

ok

[aquila-dominus.livejournal.com]

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.

I'd love to see you online :)