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By Teddy Pierson
12-28-05
Not a lot of guides up yet so here's my take. I've had the opportunity to level
2 hunters, a warrior, a mage, a priest and a druid past level 20. So I thought I
would share my experiences. Also from speaking with others in the game it's
amazing how many of the little things escape us. Here's a checklist of things
that are good to know, (some of it Alliance specific):
1. Hearthstone. Everyone has one in their inventory when they start. It's
basically a bind stone. By speaking to an innkeeper, you can bind to that inn.
Right clicking on the hearthstone will port you back to the last bound spot. The
tooltip over the hearthstone will tell you where you are bound.
2. Inns & Resting. Whenever you step into an inn or a major city, your level
counter is replaced by zzz's. And you will get the message "You feel rested".
Basically, the longer you stay in the 'zzz' mode, the more rested you are. Your
xp bar turns blue, and you should see a little pointer on the xp bar. All
fighting experience you acquire up until you reach that pointer will be doubled.
About to complete a quest? Don't worry, the pointer will automatically be
adjusted so you can still get the double xp from fighting. And the best part?
You can log off while parked in an inn and that pointer just keeps on moving, up
to a max of 1.5 levels. I tend to alternate characters, so I basically always
hunt with double xp bonus.
3. Food & Drink. You can eat and drink at the same time. Cooking, a secondary
skill, will allow you to make food and drink that also has special buff bonuses.
4. Alchemy & Potions. If you can, pick up alchemy and herbalism. Early on you
will be able to make instant health potions that can be used while in combat.
Also, you will be able to make helpful buffs early on, buffs that last 60
minutes (provided death does not come first). Other potions include water
breathing and increased swim speed.
5. Weapon Skills. All classes start out knowing a handful of weapon skills.
There are weapon trainers in the major cities that will teach you additional
weapon skills for 10 silver (each city has unique offerings). Night Elf hunters,
for example, can journey to Ironforge to learn guns. Warriors can learn maces
and 2handed mace, etc. Leveling a new skill goes very quickly, and you can
alternate weapons as you level to keep your skills up. Keeping unarmed skill up
is helpful for fighting mobs that disarm you.
6. Getting to Ironforge from Night Elf lands and back. This question gets asked
in general chat over and over again. Basically, from Darnassus you port to
coastal town. Here you can take bird or boat to Auberdine in Darkshore (which is
located on Horde continent). From Auberdine take boat to Menethil Harbor. If
it's your first time, you'll then need to run through the wetlands (20+ mobs),
to Loch Modan, then Dun Morogh. Remember to speak to the griffon masters in
Menethil and Ironforge so you don't have to do that long run ever again!
7. Getting from Stormwind to Booty Bay for Fishing Trainer. I tried running it
at level 20 and what a nightmare that was. Then someone suggested swimming from
Westfall along the coast to Booty Bay. Aside from one nasty rendez-vous with a
Murloc, I made it! Got my fishing book, found the griffon master and flew back
to Stormwind.
8. Crafting Mules. My strategy is to have my crafters parked in the major
cities, while my adventuring characters pick up the collecting professions. Then
I just mail the raw materials to my crafters. This works great, except
occasionally i do need to go xp my crafters since they need level 10 for expert
and level 20 for artisan.
9. Auction House. The only auction house is in Ironforge. I park one of my level
5 characters at the auction house full time. I use him to buy and sell on the
auction house, using the mail system to move the items and money to my other
characters. In my personal opinion the auction house is an awesome place to find
and sell items.
10. Mail System. Probably one of the best features WoW has to offer. I use the
mail system to transfer items between characters; leave messages for offline
friends, help new friends get started. Most of my characters are no longer
anywhere near the beginner zones. When new friend joins the game, I email them a
couple of crafted bags, some getting started hints, a weapon and some armor. I
don't have to roll a new character to join them and yet they still feel I'm
helping out!
11. Guards. In all the major cities and some of the smaller ones, you can right
click on any guard and ask for directions to trainers, merchants, banks, etc.!
12. First Hit gets the XP. First person to engage a creature in pve combat will
get the experience for the kill. The background color of the targeted mob title
bar will show the status of the mob. A gray background means that the mob has
already been engaged by someone else.
13. Looting Schemes. Still some confusion here. Round Robin is each person gets
a turn. Free for all is first come first serve cut throat looting! Group loot is
basically Free for All with rolling for special items. Need before Greed is
Round Robin looting with rolling for special items (so it was explained to me).
14. Power leveling and Aggro management. I tried to powerlevel a level 12 priest
with my level 24 hunter in Darkshire (20+ mobs). It was nasty. Aggro range is
directly proportional to relative level - the greater the difference in level,
the greater the aggro range. A level 20 wolf will aggro a level 12 priest from
an insane distance, while a level 12 wolf will only aggro a level 20 priest if
the priest is practically right on top of the wolf. Best way to Powerlevel was
to let the level 12 priest get the first hit (ungrouped) and then my level 24
hunter finish it off. Gets boring fast if you're the hunter :P
15. Talents. This becomes active at level 10. You get ONE talent point per level
starting at level 10. This allows you to specialize in 3 different schools,
based on your playing style. If you mess up or have a change of heart later on,
you can visit your trainer and (for a fee) get your points back.
There's probably more things to note and everyone makes mistakes so please feel
free to comment and build upon this. Happy hunting!
Gnarl
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