I figure I will never be as funny as the two guys who do The Instance podcast, as connected as the guys who do the WoW Insider podcast, as knowledgeable and good at chitchat as the gal who does The Crafters Tome web site and performed the Epic Dolls podcast. Nor will I be as skilled at playing my characters as those guys who write blogs on how to play your hunter, destruction warlock, priest, druid, or what have you.
I am more of a generalist.
I have played every character class, race, profession in the game - more than once, in fact. The only thing I have not done and have no plans to do is play every spec of ever class.
However, I have played more than one of most classes and all three of some classes. Shadow & Discipline priest, Destruction & Demonology warlock, Balance & Feral druid, to name a few.
I am not a total noob. While I have created a great number of "alts" (alternate character) as we WoW gamers say, I have done a lot more than dabble around with them.
I have two level 80 characters, five characters in their seventies, a few in their sixties, at least one in its fifties, a few in their forties, some in their thirties, their twenties, their teens, and one or two that are below ten and so they do not even show in the armory.
I am a programmer by profession too. Or by trade, as those in the game would say. So, down the line I might have some things about programming WoW addons. I have already learned the basics of Lua programing and a little bit about writing addons for WoW.
I have used a decent number of addons too. Not a lot. I am a conservative guy plus I am running on a 1 GB of RAM computer. It is fast but it does not have the most RAM in the world. I use about a dozen.
They help me with routine aspects of the game mostly. Many people use a lot of extensions for their combat user interface. I do not. I recently adopted Decurse so I can quickly remove debuffs from fellow teammates but that is about it.
Now that I have a couple of 80's, I need to work on my DPS because both of my 80's are damage dealers - one melee, the other spell casting. So I will probably soon write come macros that I can apply to custom buttons for my most commonly used spell sequences.
Here is what I want to do:
- share knowledge of how other classes relate so that you can best opponents or at least stand up to them
- briefly describe 5 man party composition in terms of roles and what classes fulfill them
- explain how you and friends can help each other with your professions
- tell you what kind of professions and class specs you should avoid while leveling, especially for your first character
- tell where to find some good gear for your class(es) of character
- point out how to get some snazzy or useful items as quest rewards that you might regret missing entirely or throwing away before you realized how useful they could be
- give advice and tips for things to know, do, realize, and take advantage of when you land on a new server
- pass on some of the basics of how to earn and save gold in the game
- inform you of useful tools and options, as well as frivolous ones that make it more enjoyable
- warn you of things that will do you harm from people who mean you ill, both in game players and web privateers as well
I am not a guru of WoW. Just a regular player, like most of you who read this blog. I am not a genius or an expert at any one aspect or area. I just think I can do a good job explaining how a lot of important things fit together. Things that might seem hard to pick up at first, especially without going all over the web to find out.
Lesson one. Blizzard's printed manual, which is also included in PDF form on the game disc and installed on your computer, by the way, is pitifully short. It is well written and illustrated. However, in an effort to not give away two much, they have left a ton of questions every new and intermediate player soon has. I want to give you an extra boost on top of the head start their writers gave you.
I do think you should read their manual, by the way. There are useful tips in there. Things to consider when picking the class your your character, your first and maybe only character, that is. Things to watch out for when choosing your professions. Ways to level your character quickly by taking full advantage of the way the game intentionally works.
You do have to watch out for one thing as you play WoW and as you read advice. WoW's designers apparently never stop their designing. Even things that are really fundamental and you expect would never change do change in WoW. That is part of the fun of the game, and sometimes a point of serious frustration, shock, and disappointment.
Some examples of the latter that I have experienced are:
- crafting materials that turn from whites to grays overnight, indicating their are now worthless
- having something I had just disenchanted or prospected on a ship disappear forever from the game all by itself (this probably does not happen anymore)
- finding quests I had been working on have disappeared from the game
One of the main things about WoW which can help you is you can improve your personality a little with it. Experiment!
- If you are shy by nature, try being more outgoing.
- If you are more critical than average, try saying more supportive and encouraging.
- If you tend to be a loner, be more of a joiner. Go quest with someone you find nearby at the same level, or accept more of those invitations you get from guild mates or perfect strangers to go to a dungeon together.
- If you are really cautious, try experiencing some risk taking. You are not gambling with real money or property so you have little to lose and might learn something.
- If you are completely inexperienced at haggling or getting fair prices - or making a killing - in situations where goods have no fixed prices, try out the Auction House and the Trade channel.
- If you tend to swear a lot, try not doing that for a change: otherwise you could get kicked or suspended from the game.
- Be polite. There is little alternative and only so much leeway in WoW. Sooner or later, you will find that life is the same way.
Well, that is my charter for this blog. I hope I can stick to it and fulfill your expectations.
