Starting Player Compressed Almanac

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Starting Player Compressed Almanac

Postby Smrtnik » Tue Dec 24, 2013 12:00 pm

So my fiancee has expressed interest in playing casually with me. She has never played an MMO. For that matter she hasn't played anything more complex than Plants vs. Zombies. She's a smart cookie, just hasn't really been into games. So she's been asking questions but my verbal questions have either intrigued her, scared her, or confused her. Mostly the latter. So I wanted to make a little compressed "the minimum you need to know to create a character" guide for her, and I figured a) would be nice to get some critique from the guild on it and b) if someone else can use it to get a friend/relative/so into the game so much the better. (I realized this should be in General rather than Guild Chat for her to be able to see it).

Any and all comments welcome.

================================Terms (minimum vocabulary needed so we are all on same page)================================================
- player character/toon: a character being controlled by a person
- mob: computer controlled character you can kill
- boss: very strong mob that you likely need more than one person to kill
- npc: computer controlled character that is friendly and may offer you goods/services/quests
- race: the physical shape, origin, flavor, etc... of your character. think human/dwarf/elf/orc/etc... locked in at character creation
- class: your character's job. locked in at character creation
- spec: your character's job's career track. can change whenever you want at no penalty (just a bit of gold)
- faction: political grouping of races. there are two factions in game, horde and alliance. locked in at character creation based on race you pick. characters on opposite factions can't directly communicate in game. npcs of one faction are hostile to npcs and players of the other faction.
- pve: player versus environment. doing quests, dungeons, raids, etc... when referring to a server it means one where people on opposite faction can't attack you unless you allow it
- pvp: player versus player. fighting other player characters. when referring to a server it means one where people on opposite faction can attack you whether you want it or not
- dps (damage per second): character whose main purpose in group play is to do damage to mobs. in solo play, every character is dps. usually least responsibility for pacing in groups
- tank: character who has so many ways to avoid, ignore, or mitigate damage that in group play their main purpose is to get everything to hit them instead of other people in group. usually most responsibility for pacing in groups. does less damage than dps, unless he's being hit by many things, or one thing hitting hard.
- healer: character who keeps other characters alive. does less damage than dps.
- nuke: a damage or heal spell/action that damages/heals in one big chunk.
- dot (damage over time): a damage spell/action that takes X amount of seconds to do the full damage ("ticks" over time)
- hot (heal over time): a heal spell/action that takes X amount of seconds to do the full heal
- shield (when referring to a heal): puts a "bubble" of power around the target so damage has to come out of the bubble before it can come out of the character's health
- channel: a dot or hot that your character has to stand still for the duration of X seconds and the whole time the effect is happening.
- instant: a dot, hot, or nuke that is instant and takes no time
- casted: a dot, hot, or nuke that your character has to stand still for a second or two, then flies out
- buff: a spell that raises someone's strength/speed/whatever.... for a period of time
- debuff: a spell that lowers someone's strength/speed/whatever.... for a period of time
- aoe (area of effect): a move that affects an area rather than a single target
- melee: fighting in very close range, where one can hit the target with a sword/axe/etc...
- range: fighting further than melee, with shooting guns/bows, etc... or casting spells
- pet: a helper you control during combat for additional actions. some classes/specs are considered a pet class/spec because a good portion of their gameplay is dependent on pets
- guardian: a pet you don't control directly but still hangs out near you and helps you out. some classes/specs have ways of getting temporary or permanent guardians out
- companion: a pet that doesn't fight for you at all, just follows you looking cute. there is an extensive minigame where these fight each other, kind of similar to Pokemon
- dungeon: a place that requires group play, takes 5 people (1 tank, 1 healer, 3 dps)
- raid: a place that requires group play, takes 10-25 people (2 tanks, 2-6 healers, rest dps)

================================Races================================================
As casual you shouldn't worry about the slight bonuses different races get. Go for flavor, what looks and feels cool. Some races have been around since 2004 and look dated, so Blizzard is working on new models for them. They'll look similar, just better/more detailed.

-------- Alliance Races --------
- Humans: you're a human in real life. Their capital is the capital of the whole Alliance. It is next to a forest. Their early quests have them fighting bandits, helping out farmers, and fighting orcs.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/human
Spoiler:
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- Dwarf: short humans (sort of). They like to drink and have steampunk tech. Their capital is carved out of the inside of a snowy mountain. Their early quests have them fighting troggs ("Neanderthal" dwarves essentially), trolls, and hanging out in Switzerland.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/dwarf
Spoiler:
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- Gnomes: even shorter humans (sort of). They are too clever for their own good and have very advanced tech. They irradiated their own city (oops) so they now live with dwarves. Similar early questing as dwarves.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/gnome
Spoiler:
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- Worgen: humans that got infected with Lycanthropy in another kingdom, and are now werewolves. Their capital has been taken over by the Forsaken (Undead), so now they are slumming in the human capital. Their early quests have them figuring out that they got infected and dealing with that and the Forsaken invasion.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/worgen
Spoiler:
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- Night Elves: Nocturnal elves from across the sea, evolved magically from Trolls. Matriarchal society where the women are priests and warriors, and men are druids and merchants (except the game lets anyone be anything). Live in a giant tree (height of a mountain). Their early quests have them figuring out why their tree is sick, why animals there are going crazy, etc....
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/night-elf
Spoiler:
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- Dranei: Space aliens with goat legs. Very noble and while Humans and Dwarves worship the Holy Light as their religion, the Dranei have spent time in company of what would be angels of Holy Light. One lives in their capital which is their crashed spaceship. Their early quests have you waking up in the crash and figuring out what happened, and fighting the wildlife that your ship crash made go crazy.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/draenei
Spoiler:
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-------- Horde Races --------
- Orcs: They lived on another planet with the Dranei until they got corrupted by demons. Killed off most Dranei there (the spaceship was an escape plan). Came to planet where Alliance lives through a dimensional portal. Wrecked havok for a while, now live in a state of cold war with Alliance with some flare ups and quite downs. Their capital is the Horde capital, and is carved out of canyons in a dessert. Their early quests have you hunting wildlife, and looking for any remaining demon corruption.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/orc
Spoiler:
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- Trolls: Lusty voodoo cannibals. Live on a lush tropical island off the desert by Orc capital. Used to live in orc capital until they were thrown out by Horde leadership for not being bloodthirsty enough. Their early quests have you hunting wildlife and making their new island home safe.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/troll
Spoiler:
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- Tauren: Cow people. Live on mesas in a prairie. Their early quests have you hunting wildlife and killing centaurs (half horse half people) and quillien (boar people) who threaten their settlements.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/tauren
Spoiler:
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- Forsaken (Undead): Human corpses raised to fight in Lich King's army, at one point regained their freedom but still remain walking corpses. Allied with Horde for self preservation. Live in expanded sewers of their ruined capital (was a northern human city). Their early quests have them brewing poisons, killing humans and worgen, and killing the undead that didn't break free of Lich King.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/undead
Spoiler:
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- Goblins: They look like mini Orcs. Greedy schemers. Smart like gnomes, but they like to build bombs rather than computers. They live in the slums of the Orc capital after their home island blew up in a volcano explosion. Their early quests have you fleeing from the volcano and surviving a shipwreck on a tropical island.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/goblin
Spoiler:
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- Blood Elves: Elves that long ago used to be Night Elves, had a disagreement about Arcane Magic, called themselves High Elves. Then the Lich King wrecked their lands, they became literally addicted to magic like it's heroin, and now call themselves Blood Elves. Were buddies with the humans that became the Forsaken. Their early quests have them dealing with their addiction, killing those of them that have gone crazy with the addiction, and killing the remnants of the Lich King's armies that are still in their lands.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/blood-elf
Spoiler:
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------- Neutral Race -----------
Pandaren: Panda people. Live on the back of a giant sea turtle, are very asian (Chinese mainly) influenced. Have been living on the turtle for a long time, but originally used to live on a land called Pandaria. Both the turtle and Pandaria have been shrouded in mists for millenia, so nobody knew they were there. Recently an Alliance flying ship carrying some Horde prisoners crashes on their island and that's how they are introduced into the wider world. Their early quests have them figuring out what's wrong with the land they are on (the turtle is not happy about the ship). At the end you have to choose if you now want to join the Horde or the Alliance.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/race/pandaren
Spoiler:
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============================== Classes ==================================================
Remember to pick something that looks fun as casual. Go for flavor and feel. At casual level there is no difference in balance of strength. Note one thing though, generally tanks and healers have faster queues for dungeons and raids than dps.

--------- Priest -----------
A scholar of the divine, uses divine power to help friends and hurt enemies. Alliance priests pray to the Holy Light, as do the Forsaken and Blood Elves. Night Elves pray to Goddess of the Moon. Troll priests pray to a smorgasbord of gods. Gameplay wise it doesn't matter though.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/priest
Specs:
- Holy (healer): Uses nuke heals, hots, and aoe heals for direct healing of others in group. Even if they die they can keep healing as a while in a ghost form. Very versatile.
- Discipline (healer): Uses shield heals and channeled heals for healing others in the group. Alternatively can smite the enemies with holy power and a % of the damage done heals friends standing near what's being hit. The latter doesn't do as much damage as dedicated dps specs, or as much healing as direct healing.
- Shadow (ranged dps): Uses the dark side of their divine power to put dots on enemies and drain their life like a vampire.
Spoiler:
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-------- Mage ----------
A scholar of the arcane, uses magic to hurt enemies. Think Merlin. Think Dumbledore.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/mage
Specs:
- Fire (ranged dps): shoots balls of fire and sets enemies on fire. think Pyromaniac.
- Frost (ranged dps): shoots icicles and freezes enemies. Gets a guardian water elemental that helps them freeze things.
- Arcane (ranged dps): shoots pure magic at enemies.
Spoiler:
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--------- Warlock --------
A mage that took a shortcut to power by consorting with demons. The darker side of magic. All warlocks enslave several demon pets and make them fight for the warlock. A warlock things nothing of sacrificing the life of their demon if it furthers their end. Over many years a demon may develop respect, camaaderie, and even lust (never love) for their master, but given the chance would still backstab the master. Some demons can act as mini-tanks for their master.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/warlock
Specs:
- Destruction (ranged dps): Specializing in putting out as much pain as fast as possible. Sets enemies on fire, makes it rain fire and blood from the sky, etc...
- Affliction (ranged dps): puts curses (dots and debuffs) on enemies, drains their life, etc...
- Demonology (ranged dps): All about the demons, their demons are stronger than that of other warlocks, and can summon some that others cannot. Eventually can learn to turn into a demon for a time.
Spoiler:
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-------- Rogue -----------
A scoundrel and a thief. Picks pockets, fights dirty. Very nimble. Can hide in shadows (well, plain sight in game), and has attacks that only work when stealthed like that. Has various poisons that can slow target movement, target spellcasting speed, do damage to target, make it harder for target to heal itself, paralyse the target, etc...
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/rogue
Specs:
- Combat (melee dps): Classic swashbuckler. Think pirate with a sword in each hand, and flashy moves. Can swing their weapons wide to hit more than one enemy with same move.
- Assassination (melee dps): A poison-centric killer. Most moves concentrate on injecting target with virulent poisons that do direct (nuke-like) damage or leave lasting (dot) damage. Better poisons than other rogues.
- Subtlety (melee dps): Focuses on stealth and bleeds (dots). Can do often moves that require stealth without actually being in stealth.
Spoiler:
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---------- Monk --------
Kung fu inspired class. Think any Hong Kong Movie you've ever seen, Jackie Chan, and The Matrix, with some buddhist mythology thrown in. Their animations make you go "ha-ya!" in real life. Can put down a statue that comes to life as a guardian to help out.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/monk
Specs:
- Windwalker (melee dps): classic kung fu fighter guy. does flying kicks, jabs, and air punching.
- Brewmaster (tank): inspired by the "drunken master" movies (Jackie Chan has a bunch). This guy is so drunk the enemies keep missing him, and even when they hit him he's so wasted it barely phases him. Then he chugs some liquor and spits it out on enemies while setting it on fire. Then he throws a keg on them.
- Mistweaver (healer): this is the guy that drinks tea and meditates, and channels healing mists at friends to heal them. Or he can get in up close into melee and hit the enemy with fists, and then use the zest that arises in him/her from that exertion to heal. (I could use some help here, I'm not 100% on how Fistweavers work)
Spoiler:
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----------- Druid ----------
Druids are nature lovers and master shapeshifters. All druids can transform into some shapes, while some shapes are reserved for specs. All druids can become a cheeta/deer to run faster, a bird (to fly), a sea lion (to swim faster), a panther (to do some damage in melee or stealth like a rogue (though not as good at it)), or a bear (to do different damage in melee, with a bit more armor).
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/druid
Specs:
- Restoration (healer): uses the power of nature (wind and rain) to provide soothing relief to friends in form of hots and aoe heals. Can transform briefly into a walking tree (think mini Ent/Treebeard) to boost own heals.
- Balance (range dps): uses the destructive power of nature (wind, power of sun and moon) to shoot spells at enemies. Tries to remain in balance between moon and sun (some spells are moon some are sun). Can transform into a moonkin (a half owl half bear creature that has a close connection to nature).
- Feral (melee dps): gets stronger panther form and then fights like that. slashes and rips at the enemy, to hurt them and make them bleed as dots.
- Guardian (tank): gets stronger bear form and fights like that. bashes, thrashes, and bear hugs the enemy. thick skin and fur and lots of health helps with tanking.
Spoiler:
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------------ Hunter ------------
Walks around with a bow/crossbow/gun and shoots at things. Also tames beasts of the wild to be his/her pets. Can have many pets in stable, 3 at beck and call, and one out at a time fighting with the hunter. Unlike warlock, these are your best friends. The pets themselves can be specced to be a tank or a dps or half/half. All pets provide some baseline moves, but each "species" has something extra, making the hunter very versatile. All hunters have traps they can chuck at enemies (think bear trap but instead it does fire damage, or it freezes an enemy into a chunk of ice, or releases a bunch of snakes when they step on it)
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/hunter
Specs:
- Marksmanship (range dps): It's all about shooting for this one. Aimed shots, trick shots, fast shots, slow shots. It's Ted Nugent and Chartlon Heston rolled into one.
- Beastmastery (range dps): Concentrates on making their pets better, and taming some that other hunters cannot. Has additional moves for pet.
- Survival (range dps): stronger traps. uses poisons on their ammunition/arrows to put dots on enemy.
Spoiler:
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------------ Shaman ------------
Communicates with the elements (fire, water, earth, air). Gets power from the spirits of elements. Puts down totems (think Pacific Northwest Native American totems, but shrunken into handy portable form) to provide various aoe affects such as burning enemies, healing friends, slowing enemy walking, etc....
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/shaman
Specs:
- Elemental (range dps): shoots out lightning bolts, magma (earth melted by fire), etc... can make chain lightning that jumps from enemy to enemy if they are close enough.
- Restoration (healer): heals people with elemental powers of water and fire. can make heal lightning that jumps from friend to friend to heal them if they are close enough.
- Enhancement (melee dps): boosts power of their weapons with elements (make an axe extra spiky with earth and set it on fire for example), then hits the enemy with it. summons spirits of wolf to fight for him/her as guardians.
Spoiler:
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------------ Warrior ---------
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/warrior
Classic plate armor fighter. A brawler or a tactician. Charges or leaps into the fray and cleaves down his enemies. A Knight. Can put down banners that inspire friends, or can yell at them.
Specs:
- Protection (tank): Uses a shield to absorb the enemies blows, and even reflect the enemies spells right back at them. Intercepts hits that were going to hit friends.
- Arms (melee dps): a master of martial weapons. Swings a giant two handed weapon. Makes you bleed (dot) and does aoe attacks by sweeping the weapon. Think Conan the Barbarian.
- Fury (melee dps): a berserker. A weapon in each hand and a fury in his eyes. Think Bravehart, or dwarves in Lord of the Rings.
Spoiler:
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---------- Paladin ----------
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/paladin
A holy warrior. Either a priest that put on plate armor and took martial training, or a pious warrior that joined the church. All paladins can cast blessings on allies (buffs) and put out aoe auras that provide even more buffs. All paladins can put protective bubbles on self or others. Alliance and Tauren paladins worship the Holy Light and ask it to give them power (Tauren version is more tribal). Blood Elf paladins take the power from the Holy Light, asking is for sissies.
Specs:
- Protection (tank): Uses divine power to enhance his/her shield and protect self and allies. Can chuck the shield like Captain America. The evil shall not pass.
- Retribution (melee dps): Uses divine power to enhance his/her giant 2 handed weapon and smite the enemies with God's wrath. Take that you evildoer!
- Holy (healing): Uses divine power to heal allies with nuke heals and bubbles. Can cast a spell on a target making that target get healed whenever they heal anyone else.
Spoiler:
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--------- Death Knight ----------
A twisted warrior that used to work for the Lich King but has since attained freedom. You have to have a level 55 character on your account before the game will let you make a Death Knight, but Death Knights also start off at level 55 (instead of 1). Think Nazgul from Lord of the Rings, except Nazgul handed in his resignation letter to Sauron. All Death Knights have a guardian ghoul (think nimble zombie). Death Knights make the ground under the enemies desecrated to do aoe damage.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/death-knight
Specs:
- Blood (tank): Hits enemy with big weapon and leeches life from the enemy. Or blocks the attacks with same weapon.
- Unholy (melee dps): Hits enemies with big weapon and puts diseases (dots and debuffs) on enemy. Better ghoul. Can summon briefly a guardian gargoyle.
- Frost (melee dps): Hits enemies with either a big weapon or a weapon in each hand, and freezes them. Think those frozen guys in Game of Thrones up North.
Spoiler:
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And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
Smrtnik
Retired
 
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:21 pm

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