Tips for Beginner World Of Warcraft Players

 This is an article for people who have recently purchased or begun playing the MMOG World of Warcraft. I have played for a couple of years now and have decided to share some tips that will help you get your WoW character off to a good start.

Before you play, you will need to create a character. This should feel right to you, as you will watch this character grow into a powerful force of good or evil, as you choose. The main to things to choose here are race, which species you wish to be and which class. Although races all have different abilities and stats, this is not noticable past the first few levels. Choosing Horde or Alliance does not matter either. Both are equal, the only differences are in race and which zones your side controls, and at higher levels, which factions you can ally yourself with. If this all sounds very complicated to you, don't worry, you will learn as you progress until it all makes perfect sense!

 Choosing a class will influence your game a great deal, so think carefully before picking. When you select a class in the 'Create a Character' screen, in the bottom right hand corner, a short explanation of the class is provided. I have outlined all the classes below:

Druid- A very versatile class that can fill any role by shapeshifting into creatures such as bears (increased armor and health, takes less damage) and cats (Agile, does increased melee damage) and travel forms, such as cheetah and seal, that allow you to move faster in and out of water.

Hunters- Hunters can cause good damage from further away through use of bows and guns. They can also tame wild animals to fight by their side in battle.

Mage- Can do a lot of damage from further away through magic (fire, frost and arcane). Are possibly the best choice for AoE (Area of Effect, abilities that damage more that one enemy).

Paladin- Can wear the heaviest of armour and use shields, coupled with their ability to heal results in good survivalbility in PvE (player versus enviroment, fighting enemies in the game) and PvP (player versus player, fighting other real players)

Priest- An excellent healer, with a range of healing abilities, but can also cause damage with shadow magic.

Rogue- Can deal high melee damage wielding two weapons, one in each hand. Has a few abilities to stun the enemy, incapacitating them for a short time)

Shaman- Can be good healer or damage with spells. Can also use a shield, decreasing the damage they take. They can summon totems to increase their or attack the enemy.

Warlock- Use both fire and shadow magic against enemies. They don't do much immediate damage but have excellen DoTs (damage over time, spella that cause x damage over x seconds). Can also summon demons ot aid them in battle.

Warrior- They wear the heaviest armour and shields to become armoured juggernauts, or wield massive two handed weapons to deal decent melee damage like a beserker.

Death Knight- Only available to accounts with at least one character level 55+. They are a bit like a warrior with heavy armour and shields, but also control dark magic to disease their enemies.

Once you have your character, it's time to play! You might want to use these tips to help you:

1- If you see a monster, but where its level should be, there is a skull, it means it is too high level for you to see. I wouldn't recomend fighting it.

2-If you die, it's best to run from the graveyard as a ghost back to your body (which will be indicated on your minimap), rather that speaking to the Spirit Healer becuase your equipment will be severly damaged and you will have to pay for repairs.

3-Use your characters strengths! I see a suprising amount of mages using their melee weapons instead of spells ect. By all means train your melee and ranged skills, but generally, use your strengths.

4- If you se another character killing the enemies you need to, don't argue with them, try to work in a group. It gets done much faster.

5-It's good to ask other players for buffs (helpful spells classes can cast on their allies), they help you out a lot when questing. And, vice-versa, if you can cast them, give them to other people.

6-If you see a member of the opposite faction, you don't have to, but its more fun to fight them. If you want to wait until they are out of combat and fully healed, that's fine, but if the server rivalry is bitter, or if you just want to, fight dirty!

7-Know what you can take. Know how many enemies you can fight at once, what levels you can take on. If you don't know, find out. Worst case scenario, you die and know that was one too many enemies!

8-Be social! Play in groups, join a guild, whatever. It's more fun and you can get things done faster with help. You can overcome challenges that would be impossible on your own and it's always handy to have someone to chat to, or to watch your back in dangerous areas.

9- Possibly the most important tip with WoW: Take breaks. Never let your game time drift out of control. This game can be a addictive, but if you keep it under control, its a lot of fun!

10- Use sites such as Thottbot.com to help you research item, quests or creatures. You might be interested in purchasing the Bradygames WoW guides. They have a lot of useful info in them and have helped my greatly over the years.