WoW

[BobChuck]

So... I've recently given in and started playing WoW. I'm currently just on Sisters of Elune as Horde, as that's the serve my brother mostly plays on and he wanted a Zebra. the X3 XP gain is rather nice too.

Recently the server had some weird downtime (in addition to the other recent weird downtime), so I picked another at random and made a Human Warrior to check them out. Apparently, that's a common practice - have one server for Horde and one for Alliance.

So my question is: which server should I pick? Where do you all tend to play as Alliance, and are you willing to put up with a noob?

[kenada]

So... I've recently given in and started playing WoW. I'm currently just on Sisters of Elune as Horde, as that's the serve my brother mostly plays on and he wanted a Zebra. the X3 XP gain is rather nice too.

/cackle

Recently the server had some weird downtime (in addition to the other recent weird downtime), so I picked another at random and made a Human Warrior to check them out. Apparently, that's a common practice - have one server for Horde and one for Alliance.

That’s probably due to PvP servers not allowing toons in both factions without using multiple accounts.

So my question is: which server should I pick? Where do you all tend to play as Alliance, and are you willing to put up with a noob?

I have a couple of toons on Firetree, but I don’t think I’ve played them at all. My main is an orc on Chromaggus.

[BobChuck]

thank you for the info.

It doesn't help me in the slightest, but thanks.

*throws a pie at Kenada*

[kenada]

It was a subtle encouragement to continue playing horde.  

[BobChuck]

My main char - my first, highest level char - is a level 23 Mage, with Tailoring and Enchanting, both between 110 and 120. I have yet to find a guild, and as you probably know OSU classes are rather difficult at the moment so my brother isn't on hardly at all.

Is all of the above why I'm having so much trouble dealing with mobs, or am I incompetent?

[Measure Zero]

Mages are quick to level when you have the technique down.  The key is to get blizzard, the talent that makes blizzard slow people more, and not the talent that freezes people.  Then find spots with lots of mobs that only do close range attacks and herd them.  If you do it right, you can kill more than 10 at once by using frost nova, blinking, blizzarding, then walking away and keeping blizzard going until they die.  Without statted equipment, you should be able to grind out levels about one per 30-90 minutes, depending on how often you die.  It gets much easier if you get more frost talents, that let you refresh your frost nova timer.

If you want a class that's easy to level, take Hunter.

[BobChuck]

That's pretty much what I'm hearing. I'd much rather find a leveling guild and use a guide to quest my way up - grinding SUCKS ASS. Final Fantasy already used my lifetime quota of it.

[Measure Zero]

That's pretty much what I'm hearing. I'd much rather find a leveling guild and use a guide to quest my way up - grinding SUCKS ASS. Final Fantasy already used my lifetime quota of it.

Normally I would agree with you, but I actually had fun grinding out 10 levels like this.  It's difficult enough to be interesting, especially when someone else tries to compete with you for spawns and you have to figure out how to get rid of them.  Learning to escape from bad situations when taking on entire camps at once is actually very useful, because you have to learn how to do jump shots with CoC in order to survive sometimes, and you must also become intimately familiar with the cooldown for frost nova.  I found quest grinding to be much worse than blizzard grinding.

[kenada]

My main char - my first, highest level char - is a level 23 Mage, with Tailoring and Enchanting, both between 110 and 120. I have yet to find a guild, and as you probably know OSU classes are rather difficult at the moment so my brother isn't on hardly at all.

Well, if you ever decide to roll a toon on Chromaggus, I can get you into ABS.

Is all of the above why I'm having so much trouble dealing with mobs, or am I incompetent?

What level are they? It’s generally fastest/easiest to only take on lower level mobs because they are much easier to kill than at- or higher level mobs.

That's pretty much what I'm hearing. I'd much rather find a leveling guild and use a guide to quest my way up - grinding SUCKS ASS. Final Fantasy already used my lifetime quota of it.

Normally I would agree with you, but I actually had fun grinding out 10 levels like this.  It's difficult enough to be interesting, especially when someone else tries to compete with you for spawns and you have to figure out how to get rid of them.  Learning to escape from bad situations when taking on entire camps at once is actually very useful, because you have to learn how to do jump shots with CoC in order to survive sometimes, and you must also become intimately familiar with the cooldown for frost nova.  I found quest grinding to be much worse than blizzard grinding.

Old world content is pretty dead, so he shouldn’t have too much trouble grinding up levels, and while the quest design in classic content is pretty horrible, it is better in The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content. Even at level 80, I find the Barrens a horrible zone to quest in (for rep and the Loremaster achievement).

One thing worth noting is that Blizzard did reduce the amount of XP required to level between levels 20–60 and increased the amount given for quests between 30–60 in patch 2.3.0. If Rob can duo with his brother (for triple XP rewards) and/or follow a leveling guide that this could be faster than just grinding mobs for hours on end.

[BobChuck]

My main char - my first, highest level char - is a level 23 Mage, with Tailoring and Enchanting, both between 110 and 120. I have yet to find a guild, and as you probably know OSU classes are rather difficult at the moment so my brother isn't on hardly at all.

Is all of the above why I'm having so much trouble dealing with mobs, or am I incompetent?

Okay, that was Thursday. Well, that was my status Wednesday night. It's now Tuesday, and my status as of Monday night is much better.

Level 37 Mage, with Tailoring and enchanting both at 175. I'm not finding Mageweave much yet, so Tailoring has stopped, and I cannot afford an Iridescent Pearl to make my Runed Golden Rod (things 15g in the AH), so Enchanting is capped ATM. I also have a mount (two actually, blue hawkstrider and black hawkstrider), and the four main teleport spells.

Things got ALOT easier around level 26. I'm not sure why; probably a combination of Frost Talents, spells, and improved playing skills. At one point when I was level 35, I was by the Dalaran crater and feeling adventurous, so I picked a fight with the level 40 archmage guy and won. Technically it took two tries, but only because he sheeped me with less than 100 hp left, ran back to his spot, and autohealed.

I'm also in a guild, and I've been through Scarlet Monastery once. Got the achievement. Currently parked in the Troll Village on the coast next to Desolace, working on quests in that region.

Is that a lot of progress? I think it's a lot of progress, but I'm not sure. I know I keep on leveling past people, so I know I'm going faster than average. My brother has a level 20 char and a level 60 char, so I'm on my own until I go through the Dark Portal.

EDIT: one more thing: I've got at least 75g worth of stuff up in the AH, including the recipe for Boots of Speed (leatherworking 200 I think), so gold isn't a problem. I just spent a lot getting my skills up and ran into the Golden Rod wall.

[Measure Zero]

Engineering is fun if you need something to dump gold into.  Engineers can make and wear scouters eventually.  Combine that with the mage tendency to charge up glowing balls of energy, throw off energy auras, etc., and you have some real comedy.  I think I got over spellpower 300 at level 39.

[BobChuck]

you didn't get it to 9,000 so it doesn't count.

[kenada]

Blizzard removed the stealth detection from the engineering goggles in 3.1. AFAIK none of the engineer-only enchants are as nice as the ones you get from other professions.

Edit: To be somewhat more constructive….

Tailoring and enchanting are both pretty good choices for a mage. AFAIK the tailoring-only spellthreads are the best cloak enchants currently available for cloth casters, and being able to Disenchant items is very handy. It helps defray the cost of leveling other professions when you can shard the junk you make to skillup and sell the shards on the Auction House, and being able to make your own enchanting mats helps reduce the cost of keeping your gear enchanted.

Yes, I am looking at this from the perspective of a max-level raider. However, while leveling up, enchanting lets you shard stuff, which is a nice source of money, and tailoring has a couple of nice pieces you can make. Plus, tailors can make flying carpets.

[BobChuck]

FLYING CARPETS!?!?

WHEN CAN I MAKE FLYING CARPETS?

*slows down, check wiki*

ok. level 70, 410 in tailoring.

ok. wow. It's... it's gonna be a long time before I get Tailoring to 410. I'm STILL not finding much Mageweave (I got 18 pieces atm, and I've used none yet).

Ah well, I can't learn to ride flying mounts until 70 anyways.

But a carpet will be awesome.

[Measure Zero]

Blizzard removed the stealth detection from the engineering goggles in 3.1. AFAIK none of the engineer-only enchants are as nice as the ones you get from other professions.

Those goggles were the equivalent of a level 55ish blue on a level 39 character, so they were very good at the time.  Plus, rocket boots and rocket helm.  The rocket helm was the same size as the rest of my character sprite, and it gave me an extra sheep once per battle or so.  Max level raiding sucks.