5punkywow Beginner's Guide

[Dog Pants]

Introduction
It might seem strange to write a beginner's guide to a five year old game that almost everyone has played, but surprisingly enough there have been a few 5punkers recently who have very little prior experience. There's probably more information about World of Warcraft on the internet than any other game, and sites such as WoWWiki, Wowhead, Thottbot and Alakhazam all provide masses of information. Unfortunately much of this information is geared towards experienced players, and a complete Warcraft Virgin (like I was) can get completely overloaded with the vast amount of information, containing masses of terms that mean nothing to them. So with that in mind, this little guide should help a 5punker who fancies giving the game a go find his feet. And remember, there's usually someone in the guild channel who'll be happy to help.

5punk In Game
The majority of 5punkers play Horde characters on the Emerald Dream server. We have set up a guild, called I Love Horses, which gives us access to a chat channel and a bank. Most members can invite a new player to the guild, just xfire someone and ask. The guild facilities are invaluable to us as tools for helping each other out; guild chat allows us all to talk about nonsense or ask for help, and the bank allows us to stash items and resources that might be of use to other people.
Interaction with other 5punkers in the game is generally limited to chatting over the guild channel, but occasionally characters will get together for a common purpose. On rare occassions an organised event will take place to complete a particular dungeon, usually with similarly levelled characters, and sometimes a lower level character will ask for help from a higher level to complete group quests or dungeons. There is no limit to who can team up together, but high level characters don't generally benefit from low level quests.

Races
There are 10 playable races in the game, 5 for each faction. Not all races can play all classes, and each race has a number of minor abilities. Not having played all races I won't list the abilities and available classes, but these are shown in the character selection screen.

Alliance
The Alliance are outwardly the 'good guys'. They are the traditional fantasy hero races, and as such are far more popular than the Horde. On Emerald Dream the Alliance outnumber the Horde by around 4:1, although exact figures vary with source. Plot wise, the Alliance are far from the good guys. Many may have good intentions, but their actions are as misinformed and predjudiced as one would expect a mostly human faction to be. From a 5punker point of view, playing as Horde, Alliance Player Characters will be more likely to be griefers or tards, simply by virtue of there being so many more of them. Luckily we don't have to actually communicate with them.

Human
Expansive and many, humans are found everywhere. They look like medieval Europeans. Warriors and Paladins appear popular among humans.

Dwarf
Dwarves are short and beardy. Hunter seems a popular class for them, and dwarves with guns are common. Female Dwarves have the biggest breasts in the game.

Night Elf
Night Elves have glowy eyes, very long pointy ears, and massive eyebrows. Popular with tards for some reason, Night Elf Hunters seem to outnumber every class and race on both sides.

Gnome
Gnomes are the shortest race in the game, but are not beardy like Dwarves. They excel in building weird mechanical things, and their racial mount is a lovely robot chicken thing.

Draenei
The race released with the Bumming Crusade expansion, required to play them. Draenei have the most difficult to spell name in the game, and are tall, blue demonic looking things. They are the only Alliance race who can play the Shaman class.

Horde
The Horde are a rough group of races who have been pushed out or wronged by the Alliance. They vary wildly from the peaceful Tauren to the downright naughty Undead, but all come together for survival. Alliance see the Horde as the bad guys, but in reality they tend to be more victims of circumstance.

Orc
Orcs are the main race of the Horde. They are stocky and have big teeth, and are often green. Baldness seems common in their females. They are generally an honourable race who are looking to rebuild their civilisation after being cast out into the New World by the Alliance.

Troll
Trolls are tall and skinny, with tusks, and are often blue. They talk with a Jamaican accent. They have a natural ability to slowly regenerate health, and they seem to commonly be spellcasters or hunters.

Tauren
Taurens are huge, bovine creatures, often referred to as cows. As powerful and resilient as they are, they are a fairly gentle race with a Native American outlook. Taurens are (I think) the only race in the game who have a sound effect for their 'moo' emote, so mooing at another character often causes much delight. Taurens scratch their bottoms more than any other race in the game.

Undead
The Undead, also known as the Forsaken, are the unfortunate remains of the Scourge (undead bad guys) invasion. They look like dead humans. The Forsaken seem to like chemical weapons, and a lot of their quests are quite evil in nature, although it's arguable whether they see it as such. Rogues seem to be popular amongst Undead, although Roman has declared they're actually a poor choice for the class.

Blood Elf
Blood Elves are the Horde equivalent of Night Elves and look pretty much the same to me. Presumably introduced for people who want to play Horde but want a race that looks pretty. Introduced to the Horde with the Bumming Crusade expansion, required to play them, they are the only Horde race who can play Paladins, and they ride big pink chickens.

Classes
There are 9 playable classes in the game, each of which can be specialised from three talent trees. These specialisations can drastically alter the role of the character, so there isn't one set way of playing any class. More detailed descriptions of how to play each class should come later from those who actually play them.

Warrior 1
Warriors are very heavily armoured fighters. Percieved as tanks by most, they can also fill a melee DPS role.

Hunter
Hunters are medium (heavy at higher levels) armoured ranged DPS. They have the ability to be accompanied by a pet who can assist them by tanking or causing extra melee damage. They also can use traps to control their opponents. Hunters are a popular solo class as they are very self-sufficient. Conversely they are often (arguably unfairly) shunned from groups for not filling a useful role, and have a reputation for trying to take loot from other players as they can use a wide range of equipment, enhancing their unpopularity.

Rogue
Rogues are technically melee DPS specialists, but their abilities to become undetected by NPCs and some nice alpha strike abilities makes them more like hit and run, first strike specialists. Rogues are medium armoured, but can't survive well toe-to-toe like other melee DPS characters, instead relying on tactics and singling out opponents. Rogues are quite playable as solo characters, but require a little tactical thought to do so.

Mage
Mages are lightly armoured spellcasters used for ranged DPS and crowd control. Their light armour and weak melee ability makes them unpopular as a solo class. They have an ability to create portals to allow other characters to reach difficult places (such as level-limited cities like Shattrath and Dalaran) which makes them in great demand.

Warlock
Warlocks are lightly armoured spellcasters who fill either a ranged DPS role or provide DoTs (Damage over Time) on a large number of enemies. Unlike Mages, Warlocks have demonic pets who can tank for them or provide extra ranged or melee damage. They have the ability to summon party members anywhere (with the help of two other party members) and cast water-breathing on anyone.

Priest
Priests are lightly armoured spellcasters who generally fill the role of healers. Priests can also fill an effective ranged DPS role, depending on their specialisation, but as healers are in great demand they will be popular aming those looking for team members for instances.

Druid
Druids are medium armoured spellcasters who can fill several roles. Very versatile depending on their specialisation, Druids can fill a tank, melee DPS, or alpha strike (like Rogues) role. Druids are unique in that they change their form into various animals to set their role, so can genuinely perform off-spec roles, albeit at a slight disadvantage. Because of their versatility, Druids make solid solo characters.

Shaman
Shaman are medium (later heavy) armoured spellcasters. Like Druids they are quite versatile, able to fill a ranged DPS, melee DPS, or healing role. Their role does depend on their specialisation, so role switcing like the Druid is not as easy. Their mix of armour, DPS and healing, while weak in non-specialist areas, make Shamen decent solo characters.

Paladin
Paladins are very heavily armoured mixtures of fighter and spellcaster. Primarily a melee class, they can also provide area buffs for those around them. Generally Paladins are employed as tanks, but they can equally proficiently fill the role of melee DPS or healer, depending on specialisation. High survivability and versatility make Paladins good solo characters

Death Knight
Death Knighs are made available when a character on the same server reaches level 55. As an elite class they are understandably powerful, and can fill the role of melee DPS and tank almost equally well regardless of specialisation. Due to the level restriction, new players will not be able to play a Death Knight.

Professions
Professions are additional skills a character can have that allow them to create things for use in the game. Each character can choose two professions, but everyone also has access to Cooking, Fishing and First Aid. Some professions provide the resources for others, and some create items that are more useful to certain classes than others. There is no limitation on who chooses which professions, and no obligation to choose a gathering and a crafting professions - indeed, some people take two gathering professions and simply sell everything they gather.

Herbalism
Herbalism is used for gathering plants used mainly in Alchemy, and also for inks in Inscription. These can be found scattered around the world in relative abundance and levelling the skill comes fairly easily.

Mining
Mining is used to extract ore from the nodes that are scattered around the world, and to smelt those ores into metal. These nodes are fairly common, but levelling Mining, even with smelting, can be difficult. The metals can be worth a lot if sold though, even at low levels. Metals are used in Blacksmithing, Engineering and Jewelcrafting.

Skinning
Skinning is used to gather leather and other skins from the corpses of beasts to be used in Leatherworking. Supplies are abundant in areas with lots of wildlife.

Fishing
Fishing is a free (known as secondary) profession that doesn't count towards the two profession limit. It is used to gather fish to be used in cooking and some potions, and can sometimes be profitable.

Enchanting
Enchanting is a combination of gathering and crafting skill. Resources are attained through disenchanting existing magic items, which can then in turn be used to cast permanent or temporary enchantments on other items. High level enchanters are often in demand to create enchantments on pieces of high level equipment. It is often paired with Tailoring, as you require a vast number of manufactured items to disenchant to generate your source materials, and tailoring is the only manufacturing skill where you don't need a specific collection profession to feed it.

Alchemy
Alchemy uses herbs and oils to create potions. Useful to any profession their effects are many. At higher levels Alchemists can transmute various metals and elements into others. While not particularly profitable, as consumables are often in decent supply, health and mana potions in particular will always sell and always be useful to yourself and your guild.

Tailoring
Tailoring uses cloth, looted from humanoids, to create cloth armour for squishy spellcasters, and also bags which are very much in demand. No gathering skill is required for the resources.

Leatherworking
Leatherworking uses skins and leather to create medium (leather) and heavy (mail) armour, and also armour patches that can be used by other characters for an armour bonus to their equipment. Rogues, Druids, Shamen and Hunters all wear the leather armour created, and the latter two can also wear the mail at higher levels.

Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing uses the metal and stone from mining to create weapons, armour and sharpening stones (damage buffs). While the weapons are useful to most classes, the armour works nicely for very heavily armoured classes like Warriors and Paladins.

Engineering
Engineering uses metal and stone, as well as a few precious stones and cloth, to create gadgets, guns, bombs and ammunition. Engineering is very heavily dependant on resources and is difficult to level, but the results are often quite interesting. Hunters often choose engineering for the guns and ammunition it created.

Jewelcrafting
Jewelcrafting uses metals and gems (found with prospecting, a skill that requires both Jewelcrafting and mining) to create rings, necklaces, and gems for socketed equipment. All classes can use the items created by Jewelcrafters, and drops of equivalent equipment aren't very common. Despite this, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of demand for their wares.

Inscription
Inscription is a new professions introduced with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. It uses herbs to create scrolls, enchantments, and glyphs. Glyphs can be used by any character as a permanent buff to certain skills and abilities, but must be discovered first. Due to its novelty value there appears to be a lot of Inscription about at the moment.

Getting Around
World of Warcraft is a big game. You can get pretty much anywhere on the planet by foot, as well as a few places not on the planet. Indeed, the fisrt time you go anywhere it is generally by foot, but repeating the journey again and again would be tiresome. To avoid this, most encampments have a taxi service in the form of flying beasties that will take you to places you've been before for a small fee.
The flight points only link up camps in the same area. To get between continents you need to catch a ride on a ship or zeppelin. These are set routes between two places that are free and don't require you to have visited the far end.
A cheap and fast method of travel is the hearthstone. This sets an inn, found in quest hubs and cities, as a home location and allows you to teleport there from anywhere in the game. This is generally used to head back into town in order to sell up and restock, as it has a lengthy recharge time.
Later, at level 30, players have the opportunity to get mounts of their own which will increase movement speed by a good amount. Mounts too jhave various levels, with higher levels being faster, or being able to fly, or both.

Other People
Warcraft is the biggest MMO in the world, and that means there will be other people playing the game at the same time as you. The laws of averages state that many of them will be idiots, so bear that in mind. However, there are also a number of decent sorts out there. Fortunately there is little need to team up with randoms if you don't want to. The game is entirely soloable, although some quests and all instances require a group. Very little interaction with the tards out there is required if you don't want to. Excluding 5punkers of course.

Useful Stuff
As already mentioned, there's a wealth of information out there. Every quest, item, NPC and location in the game has information available from Wowhead, making it virtually impossible to get stuck. Thre are thousands of addons to make the game more suited to how you want to play too. QuestHelper is popular as it gives you an arrow to follow and marks quest objectives on the minimap, and Auctioneer gives you an idea of what items are worth on the auction house. Check out the addons thread for more details.

***Please contribute specific guides to your main class(es), or correct information in the first post***

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Human
Expansive and many, humans are found everywhere. Unimaginative leet speaking fucktards.

Fix'd

[Fear]

Rogues?

edit: I had a go, but I'm only 16 days into this game, so I might need correcting.

Rogue
Rogues are lightly armoured close-range high damage. The specialise in the sneaky, and can walk past equal and lower level baddies undetected. You need a bit more patience to play this class, and can struggle with large mobs. Taking out a lone baddie a few levels higher than you is a walk in the park.

[Dog Pants]

Nah, there's no such thing as Rogues.



Damn.

[Fear]

I like how you used absolutely nothing I wrote.

Also, they can only use leather and cloth, which to me is light armour, with mail being medium.

[Dog Pants]

I figured it would look out of place if it wasn't in my writing style, but I'm open to corrections. My way of thinking wity armour is cloth = light, leather = medium, mail = heavy, plate = very heavy. Otherwise there's no differentiation between cloth and leather.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I figured it would look out of place if it wasn't in my writing style, but I'm open to corrections. My way of thinking wity armour is cloth = light, leather = medium, mail = heavy, plate = very heavy. Otherwise there's no differentiation between cloth and leather.

makes sense to me.

[centerededgedesign]

Mage
Mages are lightly armoured spellcasters used for ranged DPS and crowd control. Their light armour and weak melee ability makes them unpopular as a solo class.

Warlock
Warlocks are lightly armoured spellcasters who fill a ranged DPS role. Unlike Mages, Warlocks have demonic pets who can tank for them or provide extra ranged or melee damage. This makes them more appealing as a solo class spellcaster, and their ability to create portals to allow other characters to reach difficult places (such as level-limited cities like Stattrath and Dalaran) makes them in great demand.

I believe it's the Mages that can make portals, Warlocks can summon party members with the assistance of 2 other party members, but I HAVE seen a mage open a portal, but not a Warlock. It also requires a soul shard, which Warlocks are cursed to carry about with them in areas where they're unable to gain experience due to their level, somewhat nerfing their bag slots.

Warlocks need soul shards to create health stones, (heals damage, and has seperate timer from potions, nice for an extra bit of healing), soul stones, which allow a character to self-resurrect and last for 30 minutes, to summon most minions, to summon party members, and to create other 'conjured' items that grant bonus to weapons and things.

Imho, a great solo class, as you can send your minion in to melee as a tank, and stand back and dish out dps. If the minion's going to die, get away from it a bit, and summon another in time to soak up the aggro before the enemy gets in range to hurt you! The soul stones are awesome for self-resurrection, and have allowed me to solo all the instances up to Gnomeregan thus far, (at level 40-41 ish, mind you)

Enchanting
Enchanting is a combination of gathering and crafting skill. Resources are attained through disenchanting existing magic items, which can then in turn be used to cast permanent or temporary enchantments on other items. High level enchanters are often in demand to create enchantments on pieces of high level equipment. It is often paired with Tailoring, although I'm not sure why.

The answer to this one is :WANDS

The low level enchanter can create wands, a boon to any spellcaster that wants to do ranged DPS w/out spending mana like crazy. A low level tailor can create some robes for cheap that are actually magical, (brown robes or some such thing), and then disenchant them for the magical bits required to make a wand. The only other requirement is wood, which as far as I can tell, is only available through a vendor.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Is correct on the mage/portal lock/summon thing.

Also, I must say I've been impressed by FJ's survivability as a lock in the past, they do very well for clothies.

[FatherJack]

Switched the portal to mage, plus put in the Summon/Water breathing for Warlocks and a bit on why tailoring's a good match for enchanting in the main post.

[FatherJack]

Warlocks need soul shards to create health stones, (heals damage, and has seperate timer from potions, nice for an extra bit of healing), soul stones, which allow a character to self-resurrect and last for 30 minutes, to summon most minions, to summon party members, and to create other 'conjured' items that grant bonus to weapons and things.

Having to carry the shards is a bit of a pain, but you get some big containers for them from Warlock-specific quests - you just have to accept than you lose a bag slot to them and keep them topped up - 15 or so should be easily enough if you're going to a low-level area where you can't generate them from kills.

You can Soul Stone anyone you want, doesn't have to be yourself, mages and healers are good choices.

I'll do a bit of writing on Warlocks as I have a few, and there are a number of ways you can play them, depending on the talents you pick, plus some very cool toys and tricks you get to play with.

[Dog Pants]

Thanks Dres, that's the sort of expertise I'm looking for. Thanks FJ for editing my post for me

I'm going to write a piece on Shamen at some point and link the heading to it, so if one of you guys does one on 'Locks that would be great. I think the casters are the least understood classes, as my posts have proved.

[Joose]

To quickly clear up the difference between Warlock portals and Mage portals:

Mages can learn to make portals to any of the major cities. They can then open them up for other people to use. You have probably seen people running about asking for a "portal to shat". That's because a mage can make a portal from anywhere to Shatrath city, where you can then set your hearthstone and use to portal to other places for free. This lets you get to Shatrath a few levels earlier than you otherwise would.

It does cost the mage a fair lump to learn the portal in the first place, and I believe it needs a reagent to cast, so if you do get a mage to portal for you, don't forget to tip them.

[Sheriff Fatman]

It does cost the mage a fair lump to learn the portal in the first place, and I believe it needs a reagent to cast, so if you do get a mage to portal for you, don't forget to tip them.

Requires a rune stone iirc. Mages can also conjure water and food, which can come in handy.

[The Shutting Downs]

Rogues also have the wonderful pick pocket ability, which can make you quite a bit of cash if used correctly.

[Killavodka]

Mages: Bus service and food vendor.

edit: Also druids can be ranged DPS (Moonkin form, AKA BOOOMKIN/OOMKIN)

[Dog Pants]

I was hoping we could get more specific information about classes in larger posts by experienced players of them. I'll chuck a Shaman one up at some point, but outside that I'm not well informed enough.

[Wiggy]

Good idea, I shall try and do a Paladin one tonight.

[Roman Totale]

I'll try and do a Rogue one this weekend.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Death knights:

do whatever the fuck you like and still come out on top