Your First Toon - Make a Human Hunter

Make a human hunter.  Don't agonize over it.  This is the one you will play to a) see if you like the game at all and b) to learn the basic mechanics so you can be more in control of your style of play.

Human hunters start in Northshire with wolf pet. 

I tell new players to make a hunter first because hunters get a combat pet that helps you fight. You may not know the mechanics of the game, but your pet does, at least when it comes to combat.  And combat for a new player - AKA a "noob" - is where you can get totally confused when you are mobbed. But your pet keeps going because your pet knows how the game works.  I've had people who started WoW once and hated it try again with a hunter at my suggestion and they really get into the game that way, even if they never make another hunter toon.  I suggest you play a human because you get a reputation bonus, and the pet you get to start with, the wolf, gives you a hit bonus as well.  The only down side of the human hunter as a start toon is that the starting zone will be crowded because humans are the most popular race in WoW.

Once you hit level 20, you'll have some idea of the game.  If you like the hunter, keep it (hunters are one of the most popular classes for a reason).  If you like your human avatar great. If not, start a new toon.  Leveling to 20 will be so much easier the second time.  You can decide if you like playing a hunter or want a different class that has a different style of playing.  If you prefer mixing it up fighting in close range, you want a melee character. If you like the distance fighting of the hunter, but want more raw damage power, there are other ranged classes. If you want to be able to heal yourself as you fight and don't care about hit power, then a priest is another ranged fighting choice.  Then there are hybrid classes that do a little bit of everything but are harder to learn for that reason. They are all fun in different ways, though most people tend to have favorite classes.  Changing races also changes the game feel, just not as much as class.  (My thoughts about the races here.)

Hunters are loved by some and called "huntards" by others. People who don't like them say that a hunter doesn't have to know how to play the game but just lets the pet do the work of fighting. I say for a "noob" that is fine.  You're still trying to figure out how to read the map, find your trainer, learn your professions, buy and sell items, all the while not dying too often (for you will die...it is not failure to die, just part of the play). Some of the hunter abilities you get include tracking so that you can see where  "mobs" (the game creatures who "mob" you) are in relation to your location even if they are hiding.  Also, as you get a little better at using your pet to take damage while you shoot from a distance, you learn the basic etiquette of dungeons.  (More on that later. You cannot go into dungeons before level 15.)

Level 2-3: Targets and Tasks

By the time you finish your first 2 quests, you should reach Level 2.  Your next quests will expand your skills.  This is usually when you have to find and fight a stealthed target, a spy or lurker of some kind that semi-transparent and so is hard to see.  Hard to see if you don't have enemy name plates activated, that it.  Press the V key to toggle nameplates on.  Now even a stealthed enemy will have a giant yellow health bar over its head.

Use your TAB key to select one.  (If nothing selects, you are too far away.)  You will see a corresponding yellow circle at the feet of the selected mob and its name plate will appear in the upper left corner of your screen next to yours.  Make sure you have not targeted the wrong thing.  Tabbing when you are in a dungeon can get you in awful trouble, but now, as you play solo, it is a good idea.

Notice the sounds.  When your tab chooses a target, you get a short pfft sound.  When a stealthed character is near, you hear a fading tone.  The game brilliantly adds these to trigger your attention so your unconscious can do more and more of the work as you level up.

Click on the square badge next to the objective to activate it.

At some point here, you will get a quest that is a task to accomplish rather than one for mobs to kill.  Usually, you will be given an object that appears as a Quest Item in your bags.  And next to the quest description in the Objectives list on the right side of the screen, you will see a tiny badge.  If, say, you have to bandage an ally, you need to select an ally.  A dot appears in the badge.  If you are too far away from the target, the dot will be red.  When you get in range, the dot turns white.  Click the badge and the task is done. If for some reason you cannot see the quest item you must use on your objectives list, you can open your bags and right-click the item to use it.


Another bonus you may get here is that one of the mobs you loot will have a 6-slot bag.  When you loot it, it will automatically go into your backpack.  You have 4 bag slots in addition to the backpack.  More about bags later.

Sell Your Junk

You get new equipment when you turn in quests.  After you put it on, you should sell your old stuff.  Go to a vendor.  You will see a bag or an anvil when you move your cursor over the NPC (Non-Playing Character) if the vendor also can repair your damaged weapons and armor.  I have an addon that automatically opens my bags when I open a vendor window and that sells my grey items without me having to think about it.  However, your old gear will not sell itself.  You have to click on it and manually move it to the buyback tab. 

 Don't worry if you sell something by mistake. The most recent 12 items stay in there for a while, so even if you go away, do a quest and then realize you messed up, the item will most likely still be there.  However, if you fill the windows with more items, the top ones will disappear and cannot be retrieved.

If you are on a trial account, you have to sell all your stuff this way.  You cannot use the auction house or get mail until you are a paid subscriber.  Just so you know.

Buffs: Food

The slice of cheese next to the minimap indicates a food buff
and shows the time remaining.  If you scroll your cursor over it,
it will tell you what exactly is being buffed.

Some food just heals you once you are out of combat. Other foods not only give you health (and sometimes mana), they also give you a buff to your stats for a period of time.  Most give 2 buffs:  stamina since everyone can use stamina plus one other.  Low level food buffs are for stamina and spirit. The spirit only helps toons that use mana as a resource since spirit speeds up the regeneration of mana. If you don't use mana, it provides no benefit. 

Foods that contain buffs are almost all made using the cooking profession.  At higher levels, foods start to add other buffs that increase useful stats for different toons.  At that point it becomes important to know which ones will give you an advantage and learn to make those foods with your cooking skill.  Or you can buy them in the Auction House, since food is not soulbound.  Food without buffs can be bought at most inns, many vendors, and is dropped by mobs. 

Level 5: Leaving the Start Zone

Sometime at level 5, you will finish all the quests in your start zone.  You will be given a request to report to a small town outside a major city.  This is where you will quest from for a while...maybe 10 levels.  At 15 you unlock the Dungeon finder, and your game play starts to include choices of where you want to quest.   The village may be a hike, but stay on the roads instead of heading straight across the map in the arrow direction unless you are not worried about being mobbed and killed.  Advice on travel by foot here.

You can change zones here if you like... I have favorite areas for leveling as do most players.  But if this is your first, you home zone will be fine, and save you from some possible headaches. For example, races that can not be shamans don't have any shaman trainers in the town at this level.

Questing: Where Your Arrow Points

Your minimap will have a golden arrow pointing to where IT THINKS you should go.  It may not be the same direction you want to go next.  The quest it is directing you to either perform or turn in is marked with a golden circle in the list of objectives.  I can't tell you how many times I have followed it in one direction to do something that is in a faraway zone, while the quest that want ten feet away is left in my dust.

The cactus I am facing is sparkling to show that it is something I need for my current quest, but minimap arrow points me in a different direction because the cactus apple quest is not the one that is in gold on my Objectives list.

If you the quest you want is not the one lit in gold, click on it in the list of objectives.  That will bring up the quest with all the instructions.  (You can do this to check on what you need to do as well.)  That window will have a "show map" icon. If you click that, another window pops up and shows where you should go for the quest.  This changes the priority of your objectives list to show that one on your minimap as well.

Simplify Your Settings

Before you start to play, change a few settings that will make your gameplay easier.  Hit the escape key.  This will bring up the game menu.  Go to interface and choose "controls."










Check the box for "auto loot."  That way you don't have to click on every single item to pick it up.  The game does it for you.

Then check the "block guild invites" box.  This will block all the automatic guild messages that fill up your chat and drive you crazy.  You will still get whispers from some people inviting you (if you are not a trial account...trial accounts can't whisper).  These are at least invites from real people and you can answer them.  A guild can give you perks and gives you a chat channel that is not so overloaded as the general one.  However, guilds can get intense, and you might want to wait before joining one.  Your call.  If you do decide to join one, turn guild invites back on or the game will block the invitation.

(Sometimes, if you are not in a guild (and not a trial member), someone will whisper you asking your help in forming a guild.  New guilds need "signatures" from 4 non-affiliated players to form.  Often people asking will tip and it can give you a good boost of cash since game gold is hard to come by in the beginning.  As soon as the guild forms, you can leave it or stay as you wish. Either way you get to keep your "tip.")

I like to add extra action bars right away even though I won't need them for a while.  On the side menu,  choose "action bars" and check them all.  If you don't also check the box to see the empty slots at all times, these boxes for spells and stuff will be invisible but available.  Save this and you're "r" (ready).