WoW: Worth the plunge?

[Dragor]

I've been sitting on the doorstep of WoW for a long time- I'm prepared to spend the money and all that guff, but I'm still not clear on most things. Here's a few questions. :smallsmile:

1.) Is it good without friends?

I've told my mates of my intention to get WoW and most of them aren't interested. One is interested in Silverfall, which doesn't look my cup of tea, and the others cannot spend the money per month.

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

I've heard about the roleplay servers, and I'm intrigued because the in-character rule isn't necessarily enforced. I want to have a good roleplaying time and (preferably) meet some likeminded people. Just want to get some insight here.

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

I'm going to try and make a parallel character to my D&D Knight- so I'm going to make a Human Paladin. Good choice or bad choice? I know they're good at PvP, but that's about it.

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

It's said that 40% of the people who play WoW get addicted. Now, not that I'm joining in with the regular burning that games get in the media, but I don't want to be so absorbed I'm not doing exercise and paying attention to my girlfriend + mates.

So, there you have it. Worth the plunge or not? Thanks.

[Corlindale]

My two cents:

1) Is it good without friends?

Can be. When I first started I didn't know anyone who played. I ran around in the game on my own for a while, and that was ok while I was still enchanted with the novelty of trying out an MMORPG.
I met some nice people after a while, got into their small guild. The game become quite a lot better after that, it was very nice to have someone to do quests and instances with. Sadly they outlevelled me after a while, and then we couldn't really do much together anymore, and I quested on my own again, though I was of course still in touch with them on Guild chat. It was about this time that the game started to get boring for me, and I quit shortly thereafter. WoW is not that interesting if you don't have anyone to play with, but it doesn't have to be IRL friends, it can also be nice people you meet in game, depending on your luck. There are probably some nice guilds out there to join, where more serious and mature players get together.

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

Not everyone, but MANY. You can be lucky and run into a fellow roleplayer, or you can perhaps get someone to play along if you "RP at them", even if they aren't used to it. Often you'll have to be "RP-mentor" for someone, because there are also a lot of people who'd like to get into Roleplaying, but have very little experience with it. Still, they're much better than the people who doesn't even make an effort, though you can usually avoid them.
Best place to find consistent, serious RP is probably within an RP guild.

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

I've not played a Paladin to high levels myself, but they have excellent survivability, and so they can solo some quite hard quests. They kill very slowly, though, but it is also hard to die with a paladin thanks to all the healing and shields they have. You need to get some good weapons to get a half-way decent kill-speed, paladins are very gear-dependant.
I don't know if any class if "best" to start with, probably depends on your playstyle. If you don't have any friends in game to start with, you might want a class good at soloing, like Hunter or Warlock. Paladins are ok soloers too, but they also have quite a lot of abilities that only shine in party-play.

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

No idea. I didn't become addicted. I played the game quite a bit initially, but nothing life-consuming, and I played less and less as I started to get bored with the game. If you get into a good guild and get some in-game aquitances, however, there might be some kind of pressure to "keep up" with their levels, so you won't get left behind with no one to quest with. That's what happened for me, because I didn't invest as much time in the game as my guildmates. I suppose you just need to play with someone who doesn't spend 24 hours a day levelling their characters and zooming ahead of you in power.

The game certainly rewards those who invest a lot of time in it, despite the rest-system, but always keep in mind that it's just a game, it's not worth forsaking anything important for. The day you turn down a party invitation in favour of level-grinding in WoW is probably the day you should hit "uninstall", but it probably won't come to that:smallbiggrin: Be cautious if you know you are the kind of person who becomes addicted to stuff.

[Dragor]

Thanks. That was extremely helpful, my friend.

Anyone else got their two cents on this?

[Sage in the Playground]

Just do it. Its awesome.

[TheThan]

Being a recovering WOW addict I can answer your question concerning paladins.

Unfortunately most paladins are stupid idiots. Very few paladins are actually good players. I don’t know what paladins are like now with the huge changes they made for the burning crusade update, but when I was playing I made a better healer than I did a warrior. I was the only defense build paladin I’ve ever seen, which meant I could take twice the hits as a typical Retro (read offense) paladin.

Even though I was a melee class with heavy armor I could not hold aggro as well as fighters can, but I did save my party from a total party wipe quite often. I couldn’t out damage enemies instead I simply out lasted them and they died of old age. Paladins work best with high damage classes like rogues, warriors, hunters, warlocks and mages. They’re not so good with other paladins and priests. I dunno how they team up with shamans though I imagine they should make a strong team. In fact the funest times I had was when I partnered up with a rogue guildmate and we went questing.

Lets see if you’re looking for a good starting class, I’d suggest the wizard or the warrior. They are both straightforward, warriors at least used to be very good, and wizards are quite powerful. Warlocks are a total blast but they take bit of skill to be good with and a lot of players find them “sucky” because of it. I also really enjoyed my shaman, simply because it fit my play style the best. Even though my warrior was great too.

I guess the best suggestion I could give you is to pick a class you think you’ll like, stick with it for a while and if you don’t like it, well you can always create a new character.

[Ailurus]

1) Is it good without friends?
Yes, it easily can be. I didn't know anyone who played when I started, and found a bunch of cool people in game. It may be best to start on a newer server if you don't know anyone, since then you can meet people while levelling up, and stick the good ones on your friends list.


2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?
Never really tried the RP servers, so can't comment on it. However, if you want RPing, there is almost none to be found on the other servers.


3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?
Paladin was my main class in WoW. I liked it a lot, but you probably won't if you want it to be like a D&D knight. While paladins are the class with the lowest damage, it doesn't affect levelling speed much, since downtime is low and you can solo a lot more than other classes can.

However, the big problem with paladins is this: I'd say 19/20 groups you run into in WoW will just say 'oh, you're a paladin, you can be the healer.' If they have good gear, paladins can do pretty decent damage, and with the changes with the expansion can be solid tanks (I'd gotten halfway through Karazhan as a pally tank before I left WoW), but most people still seem to regard a paladin as a healer.

This may or may not be a problem depending on what you want to do - if you're mostly just looking to level up slowly, explore stuff, and spend most of your time in the 5-man dungeons or out in the world, you can probably play a paladin like a D&D knight (opinions were slowly changing when I left a month ago, and for 5-man groups tanks are in almost as much demand as healers), but if you want to do raiding at all you'll probably find Warrior closer to the D&D knight. But Warrior is one of the harder classes to level up mostly solo.


4.) Will I become 'addicted'?
Can't comment about you, but I did. Again, it kind of depends on how far you want to go with it. For me, I was planning on taking it pretty casually, but ran into the issue of if you want to get anywhere once you hit max level its pretty much raid or die - yeah, there's the level 70 5-man instances, but you can only run those so many times before you get bored silly IMO. The other side is doing PvP, but doing PvP without epic-level gear (which you can't really get without excessive PvP or raiding) is probably going to be painful, since the people you're facing will have it.

If you do start raiding, you're probably going to have the problem of pouring in tons of time, which will probably lead to problems.


Overall, I'd say not worth the plunge. Its certainly enjoyable, especially on your first character up, but there's not that much substance to it when compared with Single player computer RPGs, and especially tabletop ones. While the classes have a lot of skills, most encounters will just have you using the same few over and over repeatedly (mages are generally best off just blasting fireballs or frostbolts all day, for example, with an occasional blizzard or something for packs of weak monsters). And after hitting the level cap, getting into the raiding scene is a huge timesink and even more monotony (there its pretty much just mashing 1 or 2 buttons the whole night long), while there isn't much to do outside of it.

It is a fun game, but the monthly costs and the time investments are just not worth it in my opinion.

[Erloas]

A paladin is probably a very good class to learn the game with. Their suvivability makes it so you can make a few mistakes and not have any major problems. Since they are also healers they are group friendly which is needed for a lot of the game though.

Most people seem to get fairly addicted to the first MMO they play. It just happens that WoW has a lot of people that WoW is their first MMO.

Personally I don't think WoW is worth the time. I played it for a while and it was fun for maybe 30-40 levels and then it was just more of the same after that. Right now there aren't a lot of great alternatives to WoW, so if you really want to play an MMO then go for it, otherwise I would just wait for the next few MMOs. You aren't really missing anything by skipping WoW. There was nothing in WoW that hasn't been in MMOs for 5-10 years (though WoW did a good job at doing the same thing as everyone else) and there is nothing good from WoW that you won't see in subsequent MMO releases. The time curve to getting competative in WoW is very long at this point and the community is not WoW's strong point.

[Amotis]

Nothing to add because I'm in the same boat, but great thread idea. I think I will play. Starting this summer, of course. School is not for failing.

[Sage in the Playground]

Being a recovering WOW addict I can answer your question concerning paladins.

Unfortunately most paladins are stupid idiots. Very few paladins are actually good players. I don’t know what paladins are like now with the huge changes they made for the burning crusade update, but when I was playing I made a better healer than I did a warrior. I was the only defense build paladin I’ve ever seen, which meant I could take twice the hits as a typical Retro (read offense) paladin.

Even though I was a melee class with heavy armor I could not hold aggro as well as fighters can, but I did save my party from a total party wipe quite often. I couldn’t out damage enemies instead I simply out lasted them and they died of old age. Paladins work best with high damage classes like rogues, warriors, hunters, warlocks and mages. They’re not so good with other paladins and priests. I dunno how they team up with shamans though I imagine they should make a strong team. In fact the funest times I had was when I partnered up with a rogue guildmate and we went questing.

Lets see if you’re looking for a good starting class, I’d suggest the wizard or the warrior. They are both straightforward, warriors at least used to be very good, and wizards are quite powerful. Warlocks are a total blast but they take bit of skill to be good with and a lot of players find them “sucky” because of it. I also really enjoyed my shaman, simply because it fit my play style the best. Even though my warrior was great too.

I guess the best suggestion I could give you is to pick a class you think you’ll like, stick with it for a while and if you don’t like it, well you can always create a new character.

Mages. The term is "Mages."


Warlocks own all, if you are willing to do a little research on how to optimize your class.

[TheThan]

Mages. The term is "Mages."


Warlocks own all, if you are willing to do a little research on how to optimize your class.

bah, not much diffrence and yes, warlocks can pwn most anything if you know what your doing.

[Holocron Coder]

1.) Is it good without friends?

Most of my gaming experience on WoW has been without any of the friends that joined me in the game. That said, I have a lot of fun playing the game, trying stuff out, exploring, etc. I meet the occasional person that's fun to play with in-game and add them to my friend list. It can be a fun experience either way. Make friends in-game and it's even more fun than normal.

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

I don't have a lot of experience in the roleplay servers, having stuck to PvE myself. That aside, you get some of that, especially in the lookingforgroup channel, which is optional to join (I wouldn't. It's no help anymore.). Other than that, any questions or comments are either: ignored, helped with, or they don't know either. I personally help people a lot.

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

It was my first class I brought to level 60. I had a lot of fun doing it. Especially since I could level and do quests by myself and didn't have to wait around for a group if the server was being scarce (as it was with my current main, a priest). They can heal and last forever and, if specced correctly, can do decent damage.

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

Depends. Do you have an addictive personality :P? I am not addicted, so much as having lots of free time. In opposition, my roommate ditches class to play. Don't do that :P

Overall, if the money is not an issue, go with it. Play, try it out. Get a 10-day trial version during a week you have a lot of free time (read: summer, spring break, winter break) and try it out.

BTW Shadowsong is my server if you want advice on the game while playing, although its PvE without roleplay.

[Sage in the Playground]

Dragor, if you don't have a good guild in a month, and you roll on Aerie Peak PM me. You would have to submit an application though. The reason I offer is that if you can obey the playgrounds rules, my guild's rules are a cake walk.

EDIT: You might not want to roll on Aerie Peak. It has the most expensive Auction House, and is quite high population, though since the new servers opened up thats not so much of a problem.

[The Orange Zergling]

1.) Is it good without friends?I, personally, find the game a bit boring without a guild and/or friends (at least online ones).

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?Not really, Goldshire is like that, but it can easily be avoided. If you're looking to RP, arranged RP is your best bet. Random is sadly not very common.

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?My main is a Paladin, and I'm enjoying it, for the most part. Cant comment on it being a good starting class, though. (My first was a Hunter.)

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?Depends on your definition of addicted.

[Shadow of the Sun]

Frankly I got bored of grinding and quit.

[Wehrkind]

1: It can be fun with online friends if you get lucky. I have a few that I bump into periodically and have a good time, but I usually run with my fiance and/or roomate, so I can't really claim to know. I have a good enough time running around and doing things solo though. The game really lends itself to soloing, short instances. Getting into a good guild is important, though your definition of "good" may vary.

2: I am on Argent Dawn, the first RP server. No one RP's that I know of save a few guilds. You do get less people names "Haxx0rMcPwnage" however. Most people are pretty decent; it seems that RP servers tend to not attract the really competitive/unpleasant people.

3: If you are going to solo/do pick ups, I would say shaman/pally is a good way to go, since you can heal yourself and fight well. (Pallys can do great damage as retribution spec, can heal fantastically as holy spec.) I don't know how pally's do tanking high level, but I went from 1-60 tanking with my shaman way back in the day, before being outclassed by instances and rolling a warrior (whom I love dearly).
If you want to do PvP, and want to heal/live forever, go paladin holy. Warrior can be a little rough in PvP; I prefer rolling with my rogue for that. My fiance's hunter also rips giant holes in people, and she is hardly an optimal player, just good. (Her main is a priest.) So PvP, damage classes are more fun, PvE all are pretty good.

4: You might. Depends on how you are. We played religiously for a year or so, then I took time off for fighting season, then my fiance took time off because she felt she was spending too much time in game. (She used to get up early to farm before work.) Honestly, unless you get into a raiding guild, I suspect it is pretty hard to become seriously addicted. PvP is great fun, but gets old after a bit, and matches are rarely longer than 20 minutes, so while the "just one more game" thing can be a problem, it isn't like "Ok, I need to dedicate 8 hours Thursday for this raid that I can only get into that day." That seems to be what gets people in trouble.

[Dragor]

Well, I like what I'm hearing so far, and thank you, Sage in the Playground, for the guild offer. I may just do that when I get the time.

On the subject of addiction, I played Guild Wars (and before that, Runescape). They didn't captivate me much- on Guild Wars, I couldn't keep up with my friends, and my Guild (consisting of 10 people) was falling to pieces communication wise. After a while, I simply gave it up because I didn't feel like I was actually achieving anything.

Now, WoW looks more enticing for me because it looks like a place I can, well, get lost in. Although if there weren't any fees I would have snapped it up as fast as you can say "KEK".

On the subject of classes, Paladin sounds pretty sweet to me. I was tempted to go for Warrior straight away, because I love my combat. I have, however, heard that Warriors are more for absorbing damage than actually dealing it, leaving that job for the spellcasters. This saddened me a little. Why should I have to play a spellcaster if I want to deal damage? Although I've never been that interested in magic, I think I'm going to play a Human Mage. However, my mind is still racing over what choice I should make.

[Dragor]

Well, I like what I'm hearing so far, and thank you, Sage in the Playground, for the guild offer. I may just do that when I get the time.

On the subject of addiction, I played Guild Wars (and before that, Runescape). They didn't captivate me much- on Guild Wars, I couldn't keep up with my friends, and my Guild (consisting of 10 people) was falling to pieces communication wise. After a while, I simply gave it up because I didn't feel like I was actually achieving anything.

Now, WoW looks more enticing for me because it looks like a place I can, well, get lost in. Although if there weren't any fees I would have snapped it up as fast as you can say "KEK".

On the subject of classes, Paladin sounds pretty sweet to me. I was tempted to go for Warrior straight away, because I love my combat. I have, however, heard that Warriors are more for absorbing damage than actually dealing it, leaving that job for the spellcasters. This saddened me a little. Why should I have to play a spellcaster if I want to deal damage? Although I've never been that interested in magic, I think I'm going to play a Human Mage. However, my mind is still racing over what choice I should make.

--EDIT--

Sorry for the double post, my net is playing up a wee bit.

[The Evil Thing]

I'm an olde semi-veteran. I played the game for a month some time ago. I'll tell you what I remember.

1.) Is it good without friends?

It honestly depends how social you are. Unless you are really, really bad, you can probably get away with soloing up to maximum level. It's just a little dull.


2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

Never went on the RP servers so I can't comment. But if the forum community is anything to go by, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they did.

It's better to be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.


3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

I can't answer that reliably. Given that they seem to be rather prolific, I assume that they are "good" classes to play. And by "good", I mean easy. :smallwink:


4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

This honestly depends on how willing you are to maintain your character. I found the biggest pull factor was that I had invested weeks of time and effort into a character that I was going to effectively bin. That wasn't a pleasant thought and so I put off the decision even though I wasn't enjoying the game. I don't know if it's like that for you.

If by addicted you mean some horrific compulsion to play solidly to the expense of everything else in the world, I doubt that's the case any more than any other (good) computer game.



I won't use this thread to advertise EVE Online (which is an excellent MMOG - you should definitely play it instead). Do, however, take a quick look at the monthly fee to see how much it is going to cost you in a year (or more... assume you'll be playing the game indefinitely forever). Think how many games you could buy with that. :smallbiggrin:

[Tengu]

I think that if WoW is not worth the monthly fee, neither is an economic game full of griefers and scammers.

[Wehrkind]

Nah, you would be amazed at the damage warriors can put out. Or at least pleasantly surprised. Arms (MS = Mortal Strike = Love) warriors can do great burst damage with a two hander (pre expansion pvp I was 2-3 hitting clothies, essentially 3.6 second kills). Fury warriors dual wield, doing less burst but overall more steady dps. That's my current build, and though I haven't done any pvp with it, I tear through mobs, and the healing it gives really cuts down on down time (I usually can go through 4-10 mobs without resting.)

Paladins can do great damage too (my roommate used to steal aggro from me constantly in PvE) but in my opinion can't tank the same way a warrior can without lots of specialization in it, and can't tank as well as a defensive warrior in general. I might be wrong about that, since I play horde so haven't seem first hand pally's tanking in big instances yet. All the pally off tanks I have seen are so so.

Holy paladins are invincible in pvp though. The don't kill anything, but rather delay until their buddies show up to kill people for them, and keep them alive. I have seen my roommate and one hunter hold off waves of 3-10 people in AV for over 8 minutes. He never got below 20% mana. It was just sick. He isn't even twinked in any raid gear, or epics at all. I think that is why paladins get their reputation as being heal bots. They are just SO good at it, it is hard to justify not doing it.

Me... I could just barely remember to heal myself as my shaman. As a warrior, I got into the habit of waiting for MS to cool down, then whirlwind, then ms... etc. So, depends on what you dig.

Roll Horde though. In all seriousness. Alliance is better for raiding and pvp on most servers, but Horde is more... elite? I don't know, but playing alliance alts made my stomach hurt, and I know a lot of folks that jumped from Alliance to Horde, and none that went the other way.

[Elidyr]

I've been sitting on the doorstep of WoW for a long time- I'm prepared to spend the money and all that guff, but I'm still not clear on most things. Here's a few questions. :smallsmile:

1.) Is it good without friends?

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

So, there you have it. Worth the plunge or not? Thanks.

1.) No, not worth playing a MMO without friends.

2.) It's a MMO, so you will meet the idiots as well as nice people.

3.) Paladins are great, they level really easily, however, many people have wrong expectations of them and think they can play a damage dealer with them. If you want to be a support player that heals others, go ahead, otherwise, dont.

4.) If you have a addictive personallity, avoid the game. I've seen people get so absorbed into the game, I feel sorry for them. Then again, some people have a good sense of reality and can easily stop playing whenever they want.


Anyway, if you plan on starting WoW now, keep in mind that there's tonnes of people with superior gear and experience, so you can pretty much forget getting into a high end guild unless you have lots of friends in them.

While there's nothing wrong being in a casual guild, it will make your time in WoW rather boring. Not only will you get steamrolled by the epic geared crowd, you will be doomed to do pick up groups for 5 man instances for all eternity (read: boring grind).

Most people in the game are bored of it all, so dont expect any wonderful experiences, there's almost no world pvp, people tend to stick to their own groups and avoid you. People are mostly grinding battlegrounds, instances and arenas mindlessly and without any real effort, which ends up as lackluster mmo experience.

Basically, unless you get several friends to play the game, you wont have any fun at all.

[Ronsian]

1) It can be fun, I played it for awhile without friends , was kinda boring. IT was really fun when a few friends of mine picked it up.

2) Go alliance, If you EVER step into Barrens, it is worse. "OMG!! CHUCK NORRIS FTW UR MOM!!!! PWNZORS!!!"

3)They're very powerful, but after playing them alot they were REALLY boring. Druids are fun, and so are like Warriors. Priests get invites to random groups 24/7.

4) I dunno, I could say I used to be addicted, I wanted to jump up. I played several hours a day, but now I play for fun.

Closing Comments: It's a great game for a first MMORPG, if you've never tried one pick it up. It's a good deal better then everything else, but after a year or so of play it can get boring.

[Valairn]

I'm not gonna answer any particular question, but I will say wow can be an extremely fun game. I have a mage at max level and am currently leveling a pally, and if you are looking for a knight in shining armor that can handle a lot of punishment, pally is definitely the way to go.

I've quit and come back a couple of times, but the thing that does bring me back is my guild, great bunch of people. Roleplaying servers..... good luck is all I can say.

[Gnome Barbarian]

Same as Valarin Im nto gonna answer any question particular. It is an extremely fun game that I played for abotu a year and a half straight. I had a good time on the RP servers even though i didnt have any friends who played WoW at the time that I knew IRL. You probably will get addicted because well I did and Im not one who has an addictive personalty. I finally had to give it up so I could have a some what a life outside of WoW.

[Beleriphon]

On the topic of RP servers. Yes you will get lots of YUR A N00B stuff, but at the same time they are the only servers where people will roleplay. I got into a guild very early on that had set up an in game rivalry with another guild. So whenever we found somebody from the other guild we'd duel for the honor of our guilds.

The big key is to get into a guild that does RP. If you're in one of the major cities then you can ask in the guild recruitment channel.

Also if you plan on getting the game, get Burning Crusade. Most the new content is for Outlands, and thus level 58+, but the addition of the Draenai and Alliance shamans may be what you want. The real bonus with BC is that you can play whatever class you want for either the Horde or the Alliance.

As for classes I would recommend make a character in every class, try them out to around level 12. Once yiou get the hang of the game and the quest system you can get a character to level 10 or 12 in about four hours. That way you can see which one you like the best. As a note I find the paladin to be tons of fun, I have one at 64, but the shaman class is really nifty. If you get a chance give it a go.

[BrokenButterfly]

I've had it for a few months, but I haven't played it for ages (error with the Blizzard Downloader stops patches downloading after a bit).

I enjoyed playing the game, but I wasn't crazy about it. I played the game to see the world, not to be the strongest or to socialise with people. I think it's decent, but probably not worth paying for if you're seriously unsure about it. I'd never played an MMORPG before, and I hear that WOW is better if it's the first one that you ever play.

[Lemur]

1. Yes, but the game is definitely better if you have people you know that you can play with.

2. No. However, you won't be able to just act "in character" just whenever and wherever without seeming a little odd. If you want to roleplay, you'll have to find people who are of similar mind. Of course, that's the whole trick of this kind of game, regardless of what you're interested in.

As it's been said before, there are idiots, and there are good people, no matter where you are.

3. I'm not sure I can answer this question specifically. My usual advice is to experiment with various classes and figure out which game functions you enjoy the most. It might be that the WoW paladin isn't your style. I'd discard any preconceptions you have about the classes based on their names from other sources, and just look at what they can do in this particular game.

4. Maybe, I can't really say. Having RL friends you can play with might help avoid this, since if you only play together at the same time, you'll have a much more solid form of limiting playtime. If you all become addicted together, I suppose there's not much you can do.

[Reinboom]

Personally, WoW isn't worth it to me.
During the short time I played it, I found it rather drawn out and boring. Given, this was some time ago.
However, I realize the social impact, and I'm a socially addictive person. Had I found a group of people when I played, I probably wouldn't of stopped. Now that a huge group of my friends play, I try to avoid it as much as I can due to the realization of how much time I would waste via WoW.
Given that there's also a monthly fee and I don't have much money anyways, an addiction to such a game could make horrible impact on me. I treat it as though I would get addicted to it for the best.
I would recommend you also do the same - if you go to college and work, or have a demanding job, I wouldn't recommend the game. Although a bit pessimistic, never underestimate your own social addiction.

[Poison_Fish]

SEIIIBAAAA!!!

*ahem* excuse me.

Anyway, I find that WoW helps me keep in contact with most of my friends. Though, as of recent, we are forming into a more organized group with certain times, which does have me worry. I'm more of a spur of the moment kind of guy, really. I figure I can manage with it, as long as it doesn't get to out of hand. If it really is a problem for me, I can always just decide to tone it down. No one should reasonably expect a time commitment like that. People play the game for what they want to do. If you want to play the game like a job, more power to you.

Of course, with costs coming into play, and having to look for work over the summer, I'm debating the whole thing. But I really do enjoy my community. Oh, decisions and life.

[Dragor]

Yes! The die is cast! I bought WoW today and I'm installing it now.

Azeroth beckons... I'll post later with my joy/woe/jellyfish to an amazed audience.

[Om]

Damnations. I was about to suggest that you send the monthly fee to me instead :smallannoyed:

[Dragor]

Damnations. I was about to suggest that you send the monthly fee to me instead :smallannoyed:

Oooh, you evil fiend you. I'm not paying tribute :smallsmile:

And besides, I already did my good deed today and helped my friend get Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (which is brilliantly done, I had about a 30 min play of it).

[Jensik]

Word of advice (if it hasn't already been said) if you are new do NOT join a PvP server. I made that mistake. Imagine killing bandits in an abandoned old town and then BAM! Some Undead Rougue fourty or so levels above you knifes you in the back, spits on your corpse, laughs at your pain and then repeats this process until you quit for the day (or go somewhere else and at that level there aren't many options.)

As for RP servers... I've never tried one. Sounds like fun but I'm already spread across three servers as it is.

[Catch]

1.) Is it good without friends?

Not at all. Honestly, unless you have a crowd of folks to keep pace with, the game gets very monotonous (and a tad lonely).

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

Sadly, yes. I've been on quite a few, and they're all either composed of very clique-ish RP groups or a bunch of kids who don't know what RP is and refuse to reroll on a server better suited to them.

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

"Good" and "bad" are subjective, but I will tell you that Paladins take the longest to level and are the most hum-drum when it comes to combat. You'll spend most of your time just auto-attacking and hoping for SoJ procs. Bleh.

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

Yes. 40%? Lies It's 110%. Honestly, if you play the game to it's fullest, it'll suck up your time like nobody's business. Sure, in the beginning it's easy to level, but by the time you're in the 40-50 range, it just becomes a real grind. Even getting a level a day can get to be a real chore, especially if you play a slow-leveling class (Paladin, Druid).

Me, I just decided to go cold turkey. I really don't regret it at all now that I have forum RPs that are less time-consuming.

- 2 gp

[Om]

Oooh, you evil fiend you. I'm not paying tribute :smallsmile: You managed to see through my cunning ruse.

Seriously though I honestly can't understand the motivations behind buying a game and then paying a monthly charge. Perhaps its my student "brokeness" but that has always struck me as... insane.

[Dragor]

You managed to see through my cunning ruse.

Seriously though I honestly can't understand the motivations behind buying a game and then paying a monthly charge. Perhaps its my student "brokeness" but that has always struck me as... insane.

It's good that I managed to negotiate a deal with my Dad then- I do chores for monthly fees, simple as :smallsmile:

[Erloas]

You managed to see through my cunning ruse.

Seriously though I honestly can't understand the motivations behind buying a game and then paying a monthly charge. Perhaps its my student "brokeness" but that has always struck me as... insane.

Paying the monthly fee has nothing to do with the motivations of playing the game though. Its not like people are playing so that they can pay the fee.
But as far as the fee goes (I'm also not one to lightly part with my money) once you have any sort of real income then the fee is rather trivial. When you consider the time spent enjoying the game (any MMO) to the cost of the fee you would rarily find anything else coming even close in terms of cost per time spent. Even a really long single player game pales in comparision to play time that a good MMO offers.

There is also a large amount of cost for the company to keep the game going. Unlike a single player game where once it is developed the cost for the company is pretty much done at that point, in MMOs the cost to the company is always there for the hosting costs, customer service/moderators, and developing new content. Some, even most games have a decent amount of free content being added as they go along with the normal expansions, EVE for instance has had upwards of 5-10 major expansions released that were free, being paid for by sub fees. Servers are not cheap and they have to be there for players to use the game. A good highly reliable network provider to connect the servers is also an expensive and reoccuring fee that must be paid for by the company. There are a few games that manage without monthly fees but its often a case of getting what you pay for and those games generally aren't worth it even when you aren't paying for them.

Monthly fees aren't great, but they are a necessary evil and is never just a case of the company taking more money without giving anything in return.

[Reinforcements]

1.) Is it good without friends?

Not at all. Honestly, unless you have a crowd of folks to keep pace with, the game gets very monotonous (and a tad lonely).
This isn't true at all. I've never played with anyone I know and I haven't had a problem enjoying the game. Not that I wouldn't love to actually play with people I know, but you kinda all have to start at the same time or it just doesn't work.

[Om]

Monthly fees aren't great, but they are a necessary evil and is never just a case of the company taking more money without giving anything in return.There's huge profits to be made from these games for a reason :smallwink:

Perhaps I'm old fashioned but I like the idea of purchasing a game and knowing that this product is now mine. With MMO's you buy the game and then have to pay someone to play it. Its a different business model and one that I don't like.

[Kyrsis]

Well here's my thoughts -
1.) Is it good without friends?

Yes, most of the game can be played solo, or you can easily find people in game working on the same quests as you.

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?
You get stupid people on all servers, but my RP realm has been pretty good, and you can find people to RP with. When the expansion came out we got a lot of that, but it died down pretty quick, especially when everyone started reporting the offenders. I prefer the RP server (or normal, I'm not big on PVP)

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?
Don't know, never played one. My friend loves playing hers though.

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?
Not necessarily. I've been playing almost a year now and I haven't been. It's still just a regular video game to me. It is a blast too

The other selling point for me with WoW is it's very easy to play, for people like me that have issues starting off. I gave other MMOs their fair chance, including FF, DDO and Everquest, and WoW is the only one I still care for.

[Valairn]

Update on Paladinism in wow.

First of all, whenever you go about picking a class, I'd go out and do some research on it first, so you know what to do with them. Some classes aren't straight forward.

www.wowwiki.com will help for a lot of things. Be aware some of the info there is old.

Also

www.wowhead.com is also an extremely helpful resource. Do yourself a favor and get a mod that will put coordinates on your map. I reccomend ctmod which updates your bars and buff/debuff list. Its a little clunky at first but it has some functionality I appreciate.

If you need any help with the game shoot me a PM and I can tell you a whole bunch.

For paladins, I would recommend this, if you aren't afraid of a grind, go like this for leveling. Spec retribution until level 35, After that spec in protection up into reckoning, go do some protection grinding. I think you may enjoy this, for this simple reason, imagine having 6 to 8 enemies attacking you at once and ending the fight without breaking a sweat. You can feasibly do that until level 60, then I would recommend switching to.... HOLY! Be aware, only do prot grinding with coffee/good drinks, and food at hand and talk to somebody online while you do it or something cause DEAR LORD talk about tedious (but its worth it, the amount of xp you get is more than any othe character I've been able to manage)

If you haven't noticed by now, I may in fact know a little too much about this game. But even with all my leveling advice, I'll come back and say this, if at any moment you aren't having fun, if you get bored, get up and stop playing. The easiest way to get yourself addicted is to keep playing long after its fun.

There are all sorts of fun things to try on characters and you'd be suprised at just how much fun the game can be. Also if you need any help, make a level 1 horde alt on Smolderthorn and whisper seer(my pally) or hydrophobia(my mage), and I'd be happy to help. Just tell me who you are cause WoW is literally full of crazies.

[Erloas]

There's huge profits to be made from these games for a reason :smallwink:

Perhaps I'm old fashioned but I like the idea of purchasing a game and knowing that this product is now mine. With MMO's you buy the game and then have to pay someone to play it. Its a different business model and one that I don't like.

Well if they tied in cost of making and hosting the game entirely within the initial purchase it would be too much for most people. They might be making a good profit but they aren't making a huge profit compared to equally successful non MMO games, they make money too. WoW is a bit of an exception, because most MMOs haven't managed those kinds of numbers and their profits aren't anything spectacular. If you consider that most people probably end up playing an MMO for about a year and the costs involved in that, plus the original development costs would put the initial cost of the game around $150 or more. There is also the fact that many of the single player games are at least $50, sometimes 60 or more for some but most MMOs still start at $40, which is a level of cost that they would never make back their initial development costs at, let alone pay for hosting and the other expenses. They sell the game at a price where they know they won't be making a profit unless people really like their game and want to continue playing it. It also allows them to give out fully functional demos which allows a player to know the game ok before making any purchase at all, which is not something most other types of games can do, and really is better for the consumer since they know what they get before they give them any money at all. But thats usually a little ways down the game lifecycle and not right at release.

There is always more being added too, so even though you might have to pay to play it you are always getting more to do and many of the games keep evolving and improving for years. Most non MMOs you are lucky to get one expansion, and only a few patches that fix minor things and then the game is done and if you came back to the game a year after playing it the first time (which isn't all that likely with most games) it will be exactly the same game it was before and nothing at all has changed. MMOs on the other hand are still adding content and constantly fixing things even and there is more there then when you left a year ago. As far as the cost vs playtime though you will still most likely come out ahead in an MMO then vs a normal "one time cost" sort of game. There are a few fanatics of some games where that wouldn't be the case, but for most people it will be.

One month of heavy gaming and pretty much any non MMO you will have seen and done everything and have to move on to another $50 game but a month of heavy gaming in an MMO and you are out $15 and have usually only seen a small portion of the game. Every MMO player I've meet (where this sort of thing has came up) have said they've spent a lot less money on games after they started playing MMOs compared to what they spent before and they are playing and enjoying what they play just as much. Unless you are playing games less then a couple hours a week you will probably get more game for your money with MMOs then anywhere else.

[Dragor]

Well, after about 6 hours of WoW I can safely that it's brilliant.

I'm a Level 11 Paladin, doing fairly well and got to Westfall. Where WoW succeeds is in its 'fun grinding'- you KNOW that it's a grind, but, it isn't dull, it's quite engaging. And riding on a Gryphon was a brilliant experience.

I've already made some friends, and done loads of quests. I think WoW will have me hooked for a long time.

Server = Hellfire
Char Name = Maeia
Level = 11
Guild = None

Feel free to add me to your friends list if you visit the Hellfire server.

[Om]

Oh I understand the concept behind the MMO business model Erloas, I just don't agree with it :smallwink:

To my mind the stickler is simple. When I spend 50 quid on a game that copy becomes mine. I can play it or stick it on a shelf or use it as a Frisbee, it matters not a jot. On the other hand if I pay 50 quid for a MMO then I am expected to pay an additional €15 a month for the privilege of playing what is supposed to my game. It makes a mockery of having to purchase a retail copy and indeed the very concept of "owning" a game.

[elliott20]

maybe I have game ADHD or something but I tried playing it on my friends computer and I got bored within the first 2 hours of playing.

I guess this is why I play fighting games.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

1.) Is it good without friends?

No, but it doesn't have to be your RL friends. The game sucks to play past about level 20 by yourself, but there are thousands of guilds out there. Find one with a Vent server, and you'll be fine.

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

Sorry, I only play on PVP. And even there, it's very uncommon.

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

Paladins are great. I am one. There's also the fact that you'll save a bundle on your mount.

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

You don't have to. It's not really as addictive as they say.

Worth the plunge? Honestly? Get a trial first. See how that works for you.

[Arlanthe]

Oh I understand the concept behind the MMO business model Erloas, I just don't agree with it :smallwink:

To my mind the stickler is simple. When I spend 50 quid on a game that copy becomes mine. I can play it or stick it on a shelf or use it as a Frisbee, it matters not a jot. On the other hand if I pay 50 quid for a MMO then I am expected to pay an additional €15 a month for the privilege of playing what is supposed to my game. It makes a mockery of having to purchase a retail copy and indeed the very concept of "owning" a game.

MMOs should now be seen as a service, not a product.

You pay your 50 quid up fron, yes, but that's like a gym "start up" fee and what not. Or a country club "entrance" fee. AFter that, you pay your dues to use the facility, and the facility is cleaned, updated, monitored, and new features added.

[Vaynor]

WoW is fun, but it gets boring fast.

Also, mages are a really easy class to start out as, really easy to learn, but a lot harder than paladins at lower levels. If you want a paladin, however, here's some tips for spec.

- Retribution until level 40. I mostly used a one hand and a shield, and just neglected to put points in improved two-hand. If you do retribution aura + blessing of might, then judgement of light the enemy, then put on seal of the crusader it's a killer combo.
- At level 40, respec to protection. Here's (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/paladin/talents.html?0000000000000000000055005103500001500 10000000000000000000000000) what I would go into at 40.
- Continue protection until you get bored or you want a change, then I would go retribution again. Get a two-hand this time, and by now you will most likely be around level 50. Play whatever you want until you get to end-game then switch to holy.

EDIT: I have a level 45 protection paladin and he can take down 11 level 47's at a time without Lay on Hands, 13 with. :smallsmile:

[Weebl]

I started WoW recently so heres my views on it.

1) You should make friends easyily so its good genrally. You may run into the odd Scandinavian on Hellfire and some players are serious addicts who hate the company of others.

2)On my EU server (Defias Brotherhood RPPVP) hardly anyone is like that. I havemet 1 before when a mate got run through an instance by 2 highbies. One is now a great fried of him and the other is now a real grouch.

3) Paladins are alright but they can arguably be one of the most boring classes but the survivability can be a real boost for morale for a beginer. I personaly don't like them but it isn't my play style.

4) Trust me, you won't. You get a real high when you first play but if you still try to get 5 levels a day, stop. You need to know that unless you are a natually fast leveler you are as addicted to it as the blood elves to magic.

I'll give you my mains name and stuff and my Hellfire character.
Realm: Defias Brotherhood
Name: Arkonar
Faction: Horde
Race: Blood Elf
Class: Rogue
Spec: Assasination
Level: 19 (non-twink)

Realm: Hellfire
Faction: Alliance
Race: Dwarf
Name: Hobodave
Class: Hunter
Level:7

and here are my mates characters
Realm: Defias Brotherhood
Faction:Horde

Race: Tauren
Name: Gothral
Class: Druid
Level: 60
Spec: Feral

Race: Blood Elf

Name: Larhtog
Class: Hunter
Level: 55
Spec: Beast Mastery

Name: Dalashnar
Class: Warlock
Level: 25*
Spec: Affliction

* Last checked early this morning. Probly leveled by now

[Driderman]

Crap, too late to warn you off.
World of Warcraft is boring and pointless and you will most likely spend way too much time playing it and start talking about it way too much in public, alienating people and annoying your mates...

If you want to play an online roleplaying game with focus on roleplaying and not gear and stat-increases, play Neverwinter Nights.

I will say this: Wow is definitely better than it's very similiar precursor, Diablo, in terms of online-community.

[Indon]

Okay, you have the game, so I guess I don't need to detail much on my opinions on the game, so I'll give some advice:



2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

I've heard about the roleplay servers, and I'm intrigued because the in-character rule isn't necessarily enforced. I want to have a good roleplaying time and (preferably) meet some likeminded people. Just want to get some insight here.


If you want to run with a good pack on an RP server, you're going to have to go looking. While I don't actually play anymore, it was my experience that basically, most of the good RP communities knew each other and got along, so if you get into one you start making connections and before long your friend list is filled with people who don't waste oxygen.

[lumberofdabeast]

Crap, too late to warn you off.
World of Warcraft is boring and pointless and you will most likely spend way too much time playing it and start talking about it way too much in public, alienating people and annoying your mates...
*sigh* Why don't people think before they post...?

If it's boring and pointless, why would he spend way too much time playing it? Or talk about it at all?

[Driderman]

*sigh* Why don't people think before they post...?

If it's boring and pointless, why would he spend way too much time playing it? Or talk about it at all?

*Sigh*
Why do people insist on being asses and picking apart the semantics of a post even though the point of it is nigh impossible to misunderstand... :smallconfused:

[lumberofdabeast]

*Sigh*
Why do people insist on being asses and picking apart the semantics of a post even though the point of it is nigh impossible to misunderstand... :smallconfused:

Because semantics matter, damn it. In my experience, people don't care about what you say nearly as much as how you say it.

What's your excuse?

[Driderman]

Because semantics matter, damn it. In my experience, people don't care about what you say nearly as much as how you say it.

What's your excuse?

So you decided to join the club?
I suggest you try and look for the point of the subject next time you're about to argue semantics, instead of playing grammar-nazi when it really isn't relevant...

But I digress from topic and have no wish to continue this rather inane conversation.
Have a nice day

[lumberofdabeast]

So you decided to join the club?
I suggest you try and look for the point of the subject next time you're about to argue semantics, instead of playing grammar-nazi when it really isn't relevant...

But I digress from topic and have no wish to continue this rather inane conversation.

I consider form and function equally important. What this actually means is that I'll point out anything that I perceive as incorrect, be it the decision made or the logic used to support it.

EDIT: Speaking of, I wasn't critizising your grammar, and thus the term grammar-nazi was incorrect.

As a side note, it seems that, every time I point out a mistake someone has made, they insist on outright arguing with me instead of simply correcting it, or explaining why I'm wrong and their choice of words was correct. Then, they try to dismiss the subject, while attempting to blame me for their errors at the same time.

Interesting.


Have a nice day
Always do. You too.

And you forgot the period at the end.

[Quincunx]

From my group of MMORPG-playing friends (a few dozen), those that still play have generally settled on WoW as the best of what's available. Their initial game was UO or EQ, mostly, and they look for games which avoid the worst aspects of those two. The people who have confused playtime with skill have gone to Vanguard after dismissing WoW as "too easy to master" and "not enough end game"; the people who dismissed WoW as "not requiring any skill" have generally quit playing MMOs altogether, although there are more choices for them now. The people who specifically dislike WoW have disliked it for the art style (it is distinctive, but distinctive can be divisive) or for the difficulty of not leveling up too quickly to enjoy it. Now, and for the foreseeable future, World of Warcraft is the best introduction to MMORPGs.

Om--I disagree, but that's the best explanation from the anti-subscription gamer's viewpoint I've read. Thanks for giving me something to think over.

[Keyblade Master]

wow is a good game..therfore i started with the rouge class

[Indon]

the rouge class

Dude, that's like the most overpowered class in WoW. No doubt if you went to the forums and commented on how powerful rouge was, many would agree.

[Dragor]

Just a comment.... it's rogue, not rouge. Rouge is 'red'.

And Rogue, overpowered? Yes, I'm agreeing with that one. Just haven't seen many people playing Rogue's on my server.

I'm still going strong with my Pally, 18th level now. I've got some decent equipment and joined a Guild of people all around my age- so it's all good. It probably proves that WoW isn't about bringing your friends; its about making new ones.

[Logic]

1.) Is it good without friends?

It wasn't for me. I had only one "Real Life" friend that I played WoW with, and I lost interest after 2 months.

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

I have no experience to answer this question adequetely.

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

I liked it quite a bit, but I did not play long enough to get a real feel for the class.

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

I didn't, and I am normally one to become addicted to games until completion, ignoring several "Real Life" responsibilities.

[DarkLightDragon]

1.) Is it good without friends?

Yes.

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

No idea, but there are some interesting roleplays going in in the forums. I remember a few patricularly good ones... I should start roleplaying again...

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

Paladin wasn't my first class, but I found it rather boring. Only got to level 7 before I got bored enough to quit. Everyone likes different things, though, so I won't stop you. You seem to be enjoying it.

4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

Depends on the person.

[Indon]

Just a comment.... it's rogue, not rouge. Rouge is 'red'.

And Rogue, overpowered? Yes, I'm agreeing with that one. Just haven't seen many people playing Rogue's on my server.


I know, it's a joke! And I doubt rogues are any more overpowered than all the other classes, though admittedly I haven't been keeping track anymore.

[Krytha]

If its worth saying WOW WHERED MY MONEY GO then I guess it is.

[stainboy]

1.) Is it good without friends?

As other people have said, you'll meet people on the game as you level up. Best way to meet other players is to do instances.

2.) Is everyone "LOL UR A N00B" on Roleplay servers?

I just can't imagine roleplaying on WoW. It's a MMO. I'm sure you're familiar with the conventions of the genre, but it seems to me the game would just be a constant assault on the suspension of disbelief. The two big sticking points for me would be constantly dying and returning to life, and killing unique mobs multiple times.

3.) Is Paladin a good starting class?

WoW paladins would be called clerics in D&D. If you want to make a character based on your D&D Knight, the class you want is warrior.

If you think you might be interested in playing the game as far as it goes (basically, if you think you might get addicted), choose your character based on what you think you'd like to do in groups. If you want to tank, roll a warrior. If you want to heal, any class that can heal is a viable choice (and conversely, if you don't want to be expected to be a full-time healer, don't roll any class that can heal). If you want to deal damage, roll a rogue, hunter, mage, or warlock.

If you just want a beginner-friendly class, you'll be fine with anything except priest, shaman, or warlock.


4.) Will I become 'addicted'?

You may, you may not.

I think this is a good test: If played through the Final Fantasy games once each and went to the last boss as soon as the plot sent you there, WoW will just be a fun way to kill some time. If you've replayed them several times, and you hunted through them looking for every summon/materia/rare item/whatever, WoW will be digital crack. Figure out where you fall between these two extremes.

EDIT: Also, if you're a very competitive or vindictive person, and you play on a PvP server, you will very likely get addicted. The thing that got me addicted to the game was wanting to have the higher level or the better gear to gank the people who ganked me when I was levelling.