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.

Level 1: Quest 2–Fighting Basics

Your second quest teaches you how to use your class abilities to fight.  You will see one or two buttons on your toolbar have icons.  Usually one is simply an attack or auto-attack button.  The other is a special class skill.  On the right, if your race has a spell it can activate, it will be in the 0 slot. Run your mouse over each one and see what it is.

Warrior Level 1 action bar has an attack button, a dark second button for Strike because it cannot be used yet, and on the right the Orc special ability called Blood Fury that increases attack power.  Not all classes benefit from attack power, but warriors sure do.  Many racial perks, like skill with certain weapons, only benefit some classes.

You will also see some mobs with flickering yellow nameplates.  You may have to move in the direction of a golden arrow on your minimap to see them.  The yellow name means the mob is neutral and won't attack you unless you attack it.  More about the colors on nameplates elsewhere.

The numbers on the attack bar correspond to your computer number keys.  Tapping the number 1 will activate whatever spell or ability is labeled with that icon.  Go up to a mob that has got the yellow name above it and hit your 1 button.  Just stand there and watch what happens.

If you have a second button, it may or may not be lit.  Warriors, for example, have to build up rage before they can use most of their skills.  Once it is lit, you can tap that one again.  It will go dark for a period of time called its "cooldown." Once it is lit again, you can use it.

You can activate a skill by right-clicking on the button with your mouse (control-click works too if you have a one-click Mac mouse. ) Or you can use the number buttons. You will use the number keys most of the time at upper levels, so start now.  Your most common spells/abilities should be on your 1-4 keys. (More on how to set up keybindings elsewhere.)

Once you start hitting the mob, its name will turn red.  Even if you are out of range, if you right-click to activate your auto-attack,  the mob's name turns red.

Level 1: Quest 1–Accepting and Turning in Quests

The minimap orients you (arrow) to
quests (! and ?) and trainers (book).

You arrive in front of someone with a gold ! over his or her head.  Right click on that person and you are told to report to someone else.  You will see a gold ? appear on your mini-map in the upper right hand corner.  (Sometimes you will also see the gold ? on your main screen.) Doing this very basic quest teaches you how to figure out how to use your mouse to move (explained here) and how to read the mini-map to find the marker. 

Right-click on the person to
turn in a quest and receive your reward.

The quest you get will ask you to go kill a certain number of (usually) beasts of some kind.  That's next.