new player to wowFollow

The usual advice is to get a trial account, see what interests you, and take a couple of toons to level 20. Any of the classes can solo fairly well and there is no point in trying to pick a flavor of the month class since balance tends to shift.

For a new player with a limited trial window that might be overly ambitious advice.

Getting a toon to twenty with no heirlooms, no time to accumulate significant reserves of rested XP and no boosts can run around 20 hours /played (unless Cata significantly reduced that) and that is if one is familiar with the game and the zones. With 10 days on the trial, he is probably only going to be able to hit 20 on three toons (and even that would take an average of six hours/day).

Given the classes he asked about, I'd suggest Warlock, Mage and Priest (in roughly that order), but if he already has friends playing it might be best to just ask what would fit in well with them. Cata hasn't reached the Chinese market, but I gather that the Blood Elf and Draenei areas are currently not quite as good as the others and that might be a reason not to pick those races at first.

Thanks, Aethien! I wasn't sure which races were still covered in trial.

They cut leveling time in the starter zones that much? Great news! I'm sure I'll have to play tourist once we get Cata and it is nice to know I won't have to spend quite so much time to do it.

Side note: I'll have to do the new racial areas, but are there revamped areas that are particularly worth trying?

While I was leveling my paladin levels went by in 30-45 minutes up to level 50ish. I even had a level or two between 40 and 50 that went by in 20-25 minutes.

Also, the new plaguelands were great. The entire new UD zones are insanely cool and I'm checking out the rest.
A huge downside is that the new zones (Cata included) have a near zero replay value because you'll go through every single quest while leveling and it's always in the same order because zones are basically one huge questchain now.

The other major downside to me is the negative part of a change in their quest design that is really a mixed blessing. Blizzard realizes that after the initial leveling wave, zones are going to be relatively empty, so they're going heavily away from elite/group quests that the average player (who will probably never do any endgame group content, and will almost certainly never raid) can't be expected to solo.

The problem is that the big quest chains still need an "epic" capstone. So you, the player, either end up with so many buffs (a la "Battle for Undercity") that you can't die and can't even fail as long as you press buttons - or you are literally a cheerleader (I'm looking at you, "Battle for Gilneas City") and the only way you can die is by actually trying to take part in the action.

They've also largely eliminated the elite areas, and tuned down e.g. the defias in Moonbrook, which were a nasty surprise. This is, in my mind, a bad thing - but I don't see how it's avoidable when the storyline is so linear now.

That said, the flow of e.g. Westfall is far, far cleaner. While I miss the challenge of the old, murderously dangerous at level, murloc camps, I don't miss collecting 15 eyes that are a 6% drop. While I preferred the old version of the Stalvan questline in Duskwood, the "Go to Moonbrook. Now to Stormwind. Now to the Abbey. Now stand on your head..." part of it was always the most tedious part.

Something to note also. If you, for any reason at all, decide that you do not like a class at any time you can always level a new class. I am not sure if Everquest had the problem with "once you get a character close to the level cap good luck with getting a new one near there anytime soon" syndrome that plague certain MMOs but WoW certainly does not have this problem. If you know your quests (excluding easy to level classes) you can plow through the levels real quick. Not to mention the game actually encourages you to level alts to play with. With heirloom gear and a guild high enough to give bonus xp you can level past each zone half way through the quests there. But I honestly don't recommend doing that unless you already have experienced those quests.

As Aethien pointed out, warlock or mage sounds like two classes you would enjoy. Possibly a deathknight once you get to 55 on a character. They are a melee class that has dot mechanics and can raise a ghoul to join you in battle (all the time if you spec unholy).

Good luck in the World of Warcraft and remember, pick what makes you happy not what someone else says is the "best" or "easiest".

It's been a while since I've played EQ, but if Bards are still a utility class that dabbles in a little of everything without being great at anything and requires being double-jointed and/or possessing extra fingers to play competently, no, WoW has nothing that compares.

I completely agree with this. It's happened to me a couple of times but I'll use Battle for Gilneas City, as you did, for an example. I was pretty excited about trying the worgen starting zone, since all the info I'd seen pre-release made it look pretty thick with atmosphere and lore, etc. And it is. The atmosphere is amazingly good but I was still bored most of the way through. My fiancée was playing next to me and, when I tried to describe what about it wasn't working for me, I said, "I don't feel like I'm doing much. I'm taking part in NPCs doing things. And then I move to another location to help other NPCs do things in front of me."

The Death Knight starting area is an epic example of taking the player through lore/character development in a series of player-responsible acts and quests. Plus, I got my *** handed to me once or twice on my first run through. (Although, Lights Hope Chapel is another example of visual storytelling without the player doing anything.)


I was questing as a warrior in the Cape of Stranglethorn the other day, doing the quests to kill the sea giants and rescue the princess on Jaguero Island from King Mukla, etc. I do love how I can plough through some levels quickly these days (especially if I'm looking to get to higher levels specifically) but, compared to old memories, the experience just felt lacking. Something about reaching the point of killing Gorlash the sea giant and figuring out how to solo him with your current class - or calling in a buddy for help - felt ... Adventurous. Now, I really don't want to suggest that dying = difficulty but the lack of death does feel significant. Almost like, as long as I'm actually at the keyboard doing something, there's not even a chance I might die. I'm facing a monstrous creature, ten times my size! Ho hum, time to face them like any other lowly mook.

On the flip side though, as people have mentioned, the flow of quest zones is a great improvement. I've actually stepped foot in Eastern Plaguelands and been inside Scholomance for the first time in ages. I also really understand the desire to not have lots of elite quests that the random person questing in a zone, without anyone else in sight, can't do and would need to ignore/skip. But, sometimes, it feels less like I'm absorbed in a world of adventure and, instead, the game is reminding me that I'm actually leaning back, lazily pressing key-binds; like the fat guy in 'Make Love Not Warcraft'.


Edited, Apr 19th 2011 4:29am by Smallsword

Excellent choice. I like you already.

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Dey took are jerbs!