I’m hosting Blizzcon next month, so a big part of my preparation — my job, which is still kind of hard to believe — is to play as much Blizzard games as I can. There’s no way I’m going to be as knowledgeable as the people who live and breathe these games, but I need to know my way around them, because it would be irresponsible not to.
For some games, this is really easy. I’ve been playing Diablo since day one, and I used to play StarCraft back in its first release, so playing those games is like visiting with an old friend, if that old friend hasn’t gotten all saggy and old and weak and unable to hold his liquor after midnight like, um, someone who is most certainly not me. That’s for damn sure. Not me. I’m doing great thanks.
If you follow me on Twitter, which I’ve explicitly told you not to do, you know that I’ve recently restarted Diablo III, and I’m going all the way through the story again. I’m playing a wizard (a class I’ve never played before. I sort of fell in love with the monk and never played any others) and I’ve been saying up way too late every night, while I try different spell combos and figure out what gear I like the best. Can I just mention how happy I am that I can transmogrify items now? Because I am the kind of player who would really fall in love with the way a hat looks, and never want to put on something better because it didn’t fit my style.
I can feel some of you rolling your eyes at how I’m a filthy “casual”, but you’ll get over it. The idea of loot runs and rushing bosses to level a character as fast as possible has never appealed to me, but playing through the story, experiencing areas and NPCs that I’d forgotten about or never came across before, and remembering the countless all-nighters I pulled in my twenties has been really fun and rewarding.
Anyway, I’ve put something like 50 hours into D3 in the recent past, and it would be very easy to hook myself up to some sort of iron lung-style device that keeps me alive, fed, and moderately hygienic for the next couple of weeks. It really is that much fun for me, and I’m only level 36 right now. I got a ring last night that spawns these little chubby troll things that blow up for no reason, and don’t seem to be useful in combat at all, but hold crap are they hilarious.
I’m doing my best to have a good work/life balance, though. I’m making time to walk my dogs every day, writing a little bit every day, eating right, and even seeing my wife once or even twice a day. Today, I even went outside while the sun was still up, so there’s that.
I’m also learning games that are new to me, like Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. I love Heroes of the Storm, and I made it through the training missions pretty easily, but when I try to play with actual humans, I am hilariously bad at it. I mean, I’m better at rolling d20s than I am at not dying in Heroes of the Storm. Ted Cruz is better at not being an asshole than I am at being useful to my team in Heroes of the Storm. True Detective Season 2 was more satisfying than — okay, you get the point.
But here’s the thing: every time I’ve played, I’ve told my team that I’m learning, and I stink, and I’m sorry but I’ll do my best. And every time I’ve played, my team has been friendly and patient and encouraging. Even when I’m stinking it up like the San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, the people I’ve played with haven’t been shitty to me. I asked my son, Ryan, who knows his way around these games much better than I do if that was normal, and he told me that, in his experience, people who play Blizzard games tend to be pretty decent to each other.
“They’ve built in all these controls to weed out the assholes,” he told me. “So the people who are playing are people who want to be playing, and it isn’t like League of Legends, where someone feeds the other team specifically to be a dick and ruin it for everyone.”
So if you’ve recently played Heroes of the Storm with a player who was so incompetent you thought that maybe a kitten had hopped onto a keyboard and was rolling around on it, and you were kind and patient with that person, there was a good chance it was me. And even if it wasn’t, give yourself a gold star for being awesome to someone who is struggling in a game. The only way we get more people to play games, and the only way we keep nice people in games, is when we help new players get comfortable.
Today, I’ve been playing a whole lot of Hearthstone, which is sort of like if you put Magic: The Gathering and Ascension into a blender, poured in five gallons of World of Warcraft, and put it on high speed for an hour. It’s silly as hell (in a good way) and easy to figure out, but difficult to master. My experience with deck builders and dueling games gives me an advantage to not sucking that isn’t present in Heroes of the Storm, and I’m probably going to be ready to attempt an actual, human opponent by the end of the weekend.
I have installed WoW, but I’m intimidated by and terrified of it. That’ll probably get played next week, sometime.
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WOW isn’t the same as it once was. I’m a WOW ‘veteran’, playing it since classic and in my opinion its a complete different game now even the playstyle is still the same. Well, i can only speak about german servers but trust me, the community is like hell. One fail and you’re out. Everyone is expecting, that you know everything. Nobody is willing to explain something and like i said – one fail and they kick you out of the group without any explanation. You can be happy if they don’t flame you afterwards. The looking for group tool was created for sure out of good intentions but now everything is so anonymous. You join, you complete the dungeon and then you go. No need to say anything, not even a simple ‘hi’. You can but dont expect any replies ^^
I stopped playing WOW active last year from one day to the other not only because of the bad mood inside my guild but also because of the lack of interest. Its way to more fun to write roleplays, having a good tabletop evening with friends, than the race for the next bosskill or the battle about the next item.
So do yourself a favour and stay away from WOW and keep your good times in Heroes of the Storm instead ^^
That’s not true, maybe you were in a shitty grp who kicks you out after 1 fail or so but i never saw something like that and I play on german and english servers.
I never started WOW. I’ve watched people play though. If I ever had played, the guild I would have been in would have consisted of the lan group at the gaming place I used to go to.
Another reason for not playing it is I have no desire to pay a monthly fee for a game.
Andrea, that has not been my experience at all. I had played my Rogue in forever and recently leveled him up. I told people in advance that my dps in every dugeon would be poor. I just tried not to stand in anything and kept moving with the group. Not one dungeon party booted me. Most of the groups were so overpowered that we were practically running through instances in 15-20 minutes tops. The looking for raid was a great idea so that you could experience reiad content at a minimal skill and item level. An active guild with 10-40 people on line at any given time is a must. It provides people to chat with, group up with and assist in crafting. Overall, wow remains the most active and best game of its kind!
I LOVE Diablo, have since the first one. Once Warcraft became a forced online game I quit it, but do wish I had keep my old games to revisit once in awhile.
I’m afraid I will not play Diablo in a “team” setting. I avoid online play as much as possible. “Back in the day” I never had to worry about being called out for “being a girl”, but when Quake 2 came along and I played online, things changed. Since then it’s single player only for me. 🙁
I never do multi-player. unless I ever get my old lan group back at which point we’ll all play one game online.
My skill isn’t the best. But I can be a 3rd or 4th wheel on a 4 person team
Not even Halo brings my skill up, but I’ve surprised opponents on occasion.
A little late to add my US$0.02, but regarding the intimidation factor in WoW, I’m gonna throw in with the people telling you to roll on an RP server. “New Players” servers, in my experience, tend a little too much toward bloody ghost towns. RP servers tend to be less competitive, less trolly, and generally, more pleasant. I’d like to say we’re a good community, but some of the recent advances in the game have brought us convenience at the cost of community, so we’re really kind of a mixed bag. There are still plenty of concentrations of great people, though, and from what I’ve found, they tend to drift together. The guild I’m in now has existed for 10 years and change (I joined about 6 months shy of their 10th anniversary), and I love it here.
Anything from this point on is skewed from the Alliance perspective, so if you’re going to roll Horde, I sadly have little advice (though my experience on Proudmoore was quite positive!)
Even as someone who loves bleeding edge, top level content, I found that the servers where you can readily get that (Stormrage, Zul’jin, and the like) have such toxic communities that I don’t want to play outside of raid.
I’d also say, since the merge, to stay away from Steamwheedle Cartel/Sentinels/Kirin Tor. Something didn’t mesh well in that merge. Having had toons on 2 of the 3 before they started merging servers, I know which one I suspect is responsible, but I’m sure its residents think one of the servers I’ve called home is to blame, so it’s best to just avoid all three at this point.
And even with all of that said… I’d see if you have friends that play, or see if your son and your wife, and maybe another friend or two, might join you and make new characters together. Honest to the gods, at this point, I can’t imagine enjoying the game alone. I’d throw my name into the chorus of people willing to help if you roll up on my server, but I can’t imagine you’d want to jump into a guild that knows you’re Wil Wheaton unless they know that because they know you IRL. Being a celebrity in such a setting is exhausting, I’m sure. I do hope you find a group you gel with though; the game’s a lot of fun if you have people to play it with, whether they’re friends you’ve made in-game or out. Two tables at my wedding reception comprised primarily people I met through WoW. The bonds are real, yo.
My heavily biased, but reasonably well-informed, opinion would be to recommend Feathermoon/Scarlet Crusade. Of the 5 (?) servers I’ve been on by this point, I like it the best. SWC was a close second, but, like I said, something went horribly wrong there when Blizz started merging servers. FM/SC seems to be pretty solid, aside from the occasional scuffle about which is better. It’s populated enough that there are people around, but it’s not overwhelming.
Oh wait a moment, Steamwheedle Cartel/Sentinals/Kirin Tor is not bad. I has me and I’m an awesomely good player 🙂 There was some oddness right after the merge but that’s gone away. General chat is, well, generally helpful.
I’ve played Horde on Scarlet Crusade since beta, and while the faction ratio is… not great, I’ve rarely had any trouble with total dicks. I agree that usually there are people around, but not so many that you feel crowded except right after new content is released (which isn’t going to happen in the next month). So if you’d rather play for the GOOD GUYS instead of those Alliance freaks (fantasy racism!), Scarlet Crusade/Feathermoon is still a good choice! Just don’t hang around in General chat; it’s basically the WoW version of Reddit.
WoW is best when played with friends, either personal or internet. Even if their casual “friends” from a forum. You don’t have to worry about the hit or miss of joining a random guild, and you definitely don’t have to worry about some of the bullshit that comes from random groups/raids. Checkout the class guides at icy-veins.com and pay special attention to the recommended rotation to figure out which class looks like it’s the funnest and/or easiest to play.
‘The Network’ guild on Thorium Brotherhood lets me raid despite being a filthy casual. Most successful group of non elitist jerks I’ve come across. Of course, in a community of literally millions there are bound to be others. Actual advice if looking for the full guild experience: Whatever server you pick, go to wowprogress.com and look up the rankings on your server. Try to find a home in the middle somewhere. Too close to the top of the ranking and they’ll often be elitist douchebaggey e-peen waving fests, and too close to the bottom they’ll be more-or-less dead guilds.
I have to agree with twilytgardnfaery on the RP servers. Pick something in the middle on population and do your research.
For my own opinion: Cenarion Circle/Sisters of Elune is a fantastic server to start learning WoW – Role play server, medium population, and friendly people much more commonly found running around here.
Look in the guild finder for guilds that run legacy content and help newbies. Raid guilds are going to be way less fun for lower level people to learn the ropes.
I wish you luck, Wil, and hope your experience with all the Blizzard games are positive ones.
Who knows? Maybe you’ll find you are as addicted to it as we all are.
Laylora 😉
Because of the age of the game and many players’ dependence on the automated LFG tool, it can be tough to make friends in WoW if you don’t know anybody. People often stick to long-time guilds and rarely talk to unknown players or use public chat channels (which tend to be either really quiet or really full of trolls, depending on the server). I agree with the suggestion to try an RP server, which tend to be a bit friendlier.
The game itself is very easy to pick up, and all classes and races are viable, so that’s down to your personal preference. There’s really nothing to be intimidated by if you start out just doing some quests on your own. Many players prefer a lone wolf style, so you’ll hardly stand out if you’re just doing your own thing. Nobody’s going to bug you if you don’t bug them.
What you don’t want to do is use the LFG tool when you’re a complete beginner. In auto-formed groups people expect players to be experienced, and quickly get impatient with mistakes in that environment.
I would love to offer Bnet friendship, but I realize how risky it would be for you to give out that info to someone you don’t know. So I’ll just offer good luck!
Hey Wil, I love HotS and have found the videos of MFPallytime on Youtube to be an awesome resource for learning how to be a better player.
I love Heroes of the Storm,, I am a self admitted noob to mobo’s, but a pretty avid gamer in most other respects. I have watched enough streams to understand the point of the game, but I would to back up your point on how Blizzard specifically caters to the new players who want to learn and don’t want to immediately be kicked from a game or harassed in chat just because it is your first week playing. Lets face it, there are a large number of gamers who are assholes. No matter what they play, they are the best, and if you are not playing amazing then you are trash to them.
The team leveling aspect and the map objectives bring a whole new dimension to what is a very decent game. Plus with the in game gold and free to play rotation, you do not have to spend alot of money on playing some of your favorite Heros. I play an odd main, Sylvanas. Just out of curiosity, what is your favorite hero Mr. Wheaton?
Also don’t be intimidated by WOW,, it was the single game that brought me into the great world of PC gaming. Just long on and follow the story at first. Once you realize the scope of the game and size of the world you will be amazed. Also,,, no bias here,, Choose an Alliance character. Stormwind (the main city is amazing)
Klematic (steam and battletag)
I’ve played WoW since the beginning.
Some people here telling you to play WoW a certain way… which is applicable at max level when you are looking to get into content. Until then just play the game, there is little need to optimize rotations for levels that will not last you more than a few hours. When doing dungeons along the way don’t shy away from the Looking for Group tool. There will be ass-hats but if you are trying to get a good feel for how WoW is you kind of need to experience it at least once. Just sort of like in Heros, often if you explain you are learning people are nice enough.
Playing the storyline in Diablo 3 is really the shortest part. The main part is the hunt for best in slot gear and for that it’s really hardcore grinding. You can get 1-70 in about 20 minutes when a friend will open up several greater rifts and clear them for you. After that you will experience the endgame and understand who diablo 3 is played by most players who did not come for the story and left the games years ago. Maybe it would be interesting for you to find a guy who helps you push a character that way and introduce you to the whole rift-farming item-hunting endgame. You wanted to undestand Blizzard games, you also should understand the non-casual ways.
Hey, I’ll play you in Hearthstone! I love that game, but I’m not great at it. You’ll probably beat me. LOL
Hi Wil!
I’ve never posted a comment before, but wanted to put my experience in here because you might find it relevant. I’m 46 and started playing WoW about 6 years ago – after finding and watching The Guild. My husband is a huge FPS gamer – Call of Duty for about 3 years straight, then onto Battlefield ever since – but was familiar with WoW and thought I would enjoy it. I resisted for years, mainly because I was far too intimidated to even try to crack the secret code of online gaming. Then I watched The Guild. That show, Felicia Day, those characters – I wanted to know what that felt like myself, so I went ahead and started playing WoW.
Paradoxically, I have never been in a guild, I never play with a group, I have never taken part in “the community” – overall, I have found the majority of other players to be not-so-nice. I am a completely solo player – I play PvE exclusively and have leveled two characters up to 100 all on my own. And I have had a FANTASTIC time. Azeroth is an entire world just waiting to be explored and it is just as amazing and fun to do it on your own. Leveling up your character, your skills, and your professions is just plain fun. Not to mention exploring all the lands and meeting all the NPCs and following the quest chains.
I second the advice you’ve been given about finding answers to any questions through online sites like Wowhead – asking a question in-game is a perfect way to see the absolute worst aspects of online humanity.
Look at starting WoW like starting college – if you look at the whole fours year’s worth of work you have to do to get to the end of it, it seems overwhelming and exhausting. But if you look at it one course at a time, it’s a fun experience!
I wish you many hours of fun in the marvelous world that is Azeroth. Lok’tar ogar – FOR THE HORDE!!!
P.S. You are just super-awesome and rule and when I met you at Emerald City Comic Con a few years ago I babbled like an idiot and you were kind and wonderful. So thank you and keep being super-awesome.
WoW is the crack cocaine of the internet. Be careful, Wil. I played everyday for 5 or so years and loved every minute of it, but as my family grew, my time grew less. It was hard to break the habit, but man did have a lot of fun. (I left when Kung Fu Panda was being released)
With Heroes of the Storm I have found like 3 tiers of behavior in people.
1- Practically everybody is friendly practically always. Then you are playing with humans vs A.I.
2- When the first miscoordination starts happening or someone seems AFK at the beginning of the game, the noob-calling will happen mostly there, right at the beginning. Then you are playing with humans vs humans in Quick Match.
3- You haven’t even started playing and someone already strongly disagrees with one of your decisions. Then you are playing with humans vs humans in Hero Leage.
—
In 1 ocassionally (i reckon .5% of the games) playing vs the most difficult A.I. the human team will be wildly out of coordination and the humans will lose. Then the strongest comment is usually in the way of “I can’t believe it, what a bunch of noobs”
In 2 and 3 sometimes it doesn’t go beyond the noobcalling if you redeem yourself from your bad decision/mistake, or sometimes it snowballs into more strong words (even if you haven’t made any other mistakes, and it’s just that the other team is playing better).
The difference between Heroes of the Storm and League of Legends is that on LoL you have both allies and enemy team on the same chat, and banter gets out of control frequently.
In Heroes you cannot talk to the enemy team (except on custom games where you probably know all 10 players) so that reduces the amount of abusive chat sources from 10 to 5, but in a way it also makes the trash talking a bit more sad because it usually comes on top of a game that is not going too well, often as a way to release the frustration of losing but being directed towards teammates doesn’t create the most appropriate environment to learn something from the mistakes made in the game.
Just remember where the block/report buttons are on the scoreboard, and glhf 🙂
Hey, I have way more time than I know what to do with right now. If you want a levelling buddy, let me know. I mostly play horde but I can do Alliance no sweat. I can show you the neat story bits here and there. Also maybe give Blizzard Watch’s class guides a look see.
While you’ll probably find the leveling in World of Warcraft pretty fun, you’re not going to be anywhere near enough prepared for anything relating to that without having it under your belt for at least a year with some raiding (even if its casual raiding). You’re best bet is to level with friends who have some years of experience and can explain some jokes / memes that has happened throughout WoW’s 10 year history.
If you want, email me and I will jump back into WoW JUST to jump in a guild with you of people who play for fun and don’t give a fuck about TPKs. That’s one of the main reasons I quit in the first place.
DO NOT USE YOUR CHARACTER LEVEL UP TO 90 in WoW. You think it is intimidating now… just wait. Read through the classes, pick one you think you will like, give it a solid shot, and don’t be afraid to start a new character. That being said, Druids are jack of all trades. They have Tanking, Healing, Melee DPS, and Ranged DPS covered. I don’t know about the Alliance; but, the Tauren Druid story line is amazing. This comes from someone that generally hates reading.
What Bryce said! Do not use the level boost on your first character! The best way to learn the game is to level. It’s fun and the lore is incredible. As a geek you’ll appreciate the stories!
is it just me or has your “wilwheaton.net” house been remodeled? i feel…strange, but…good. Familiar, but new.
I’m soooo glad you’ll be hosting Blizzcon! And don’t be intimidated by WoW, despite all the people being negative about it, it is an amazing game. I play for almost 10 years with my wife and we’re still having a blast. Have fun at Blizzcon, we’ll be watching you 😉
WoW is great. Easy and fun. Come play Horde on Icecrown/Malygos. I’ll get you into Team Rocket. 😉
I’ve played WoW since day one, and I still enjoy most of the content and features (no pvp, though). I’d be happy to make a toon wherever you land and help you when I’m online. I’m sure you’ll get a million invites like this, but let this be the million and first!
You can let WoW be as intimidating or as simple as you want. The glory of the game is that there are SO many different things you can do. Want to play completely alone and never interact with someone? No problem. Want to hard-core raid in groups of 20 players? We have you covered. Want to battle other players? A big part of the game can be about that. Want to explore? Oh GOSH the map is HUGE. Want to make a million gold? Play the auction house as if you were on Wall Street? Farm for items you can use and/or sell? Create items to use and/or sell? Run dungeons in groups of five? I think I’m only scratching the surface. You can pick one thing and go for it or try a little of everything.
I’m on a PvP (player vs player) server, meaning players of opposite factions can attack each other, basically at will. I don’t really enjoy PvP and if I had to do it over again I’d start on a Normal or RP non PvP server. But I’ve been playing since release and have put a lot into the server I’m on, Boulderfist (Horde,) so I just keep going hard at it. I’ve had some experience with every aspect of the game and have enjoyed it all at one time or another.
I hope you get some enjoyment out of the game and grats on the gig! 🙂
Just ask Felicia to help you with it !
I agree that WoW isn’t what it used to be, but when you start out you’re going to be in the content that WAS what use to be.. until you do dungeons anyway.. if you can avoid dungeons for as long as possible, you’ll most likely avoid all the asshats that ruin the game. And, since you like to play for the story and not for speed leveling, then not doing dungeons is best since dungeons level you faster than doing quests and following the story line.
My advice is to play WOW like a single player game unless you can get with a group of people you know or get with a good guild. LFG isn’t very fun if you don’t know the dungeons and don’t like to speed through them. I’ve been playing off and on for 7 years and I primarily quest and raise my professions. It’s more fun for me to focus on the storyline and fun rather than fighting with the occasional group of jerks. The storyline is awesome.
WoW is a lot friendlier to new players than it used to be and there are a lot of resources available to help bridge the knowledge gap. Wowhead.com is a good place to go for information. A few points of advice:
If you’ve obtained a copy of Warlords of Draenor, then you’ve been granted a ‘character boost to 90’. I would hold off on using that until you’re ready to commit to a class.
If you’re really unsure of what class you want to play, I’d suggest taking a class that has the potential to fulfill all three ‘roles’ (damage, healing & tanking). That would be Paladins, Monks, & Druids. At least that way you’ll have the opportunity to experience different aspects of group play on the same character. This assumes that you want to ‘raid’ at the end game. Healers are generally in short supply and don’t spend as long waiting to join groups.
Professions are significantly easier to catch up on once you’ve established a Garrison on Draenor. Until that time I would suggest ignoring crafting and gathering professions.
Oh, you probably should research a server rather than just accept w/e one the game throws at you. Time Zones are a concern (the game may not necessarily suggest a server that is in your time zone). Population is another. Higher population servers have more robust in-game economies, meaning you can probably expand your character’s bag space earlier for less. Later in the game high population grants more opportunities to find a raiding guild (if that’s what you want).
If you’ve level capped and it turns out the class you chose isn’t for you, look up the details regarding ‘heirloom gear’. Essentially, they’re pieces of gear owned by your account that can be used by any of your characters that scale with a character’s level and often grant bonus XP gain. You’ll be able to level another character faster and most gear slots won’t require replacement.
welcome to WoW… try out a European server! If you want to experience a nice social guild, and get lot’s of help and support leveling, company in dungeons, teams for PvP and questing, and once your level is high enough try some end game content, feel free to join our guild. It has been around for 8 years, it has had its ups and downs, but is now a fairly stable guild with many veteran players mixed in with new players of all ages and walks of life…
Join US-Uldum and I’ll give ya some gold and even help ya level whatever toon you want, I can even get you into a few raids to give you the whole experience! , I’m a master a fast leveling! Just do /who Irish I’m sure to be on, or even e mail me.
I’m jealous that you will be discovering Azeroth for the first time. You don’t get first times but once, y’know. 🙂 I see some folks are warning you about the community. Honestly, good people are everywhere, they’re just not as noisy as the mean ones. Don’t read trade chat and you’ll be fine. I hope you enjoy your time in game and that you will want to keep playing after Blizzcon. Regards, Telsek-Khaz Modan
It’s been years since we’ve played cards together, Wil (back in the old US-legal PokerStars days). I remember how chill you were, even with all the dickitude that some folks were flinging your way. Would be awesome to sit across a Hearthstone table with you, n00b to n00b. Feel free to contact if you’re up for it.
Well, this should be interesting! Good luck with WoW next week. It can be a really fun game, and like any game you can expect your mix of helpful people and trolls. Your best bet for group stuff is to explain at the beginning that you’re new, or have a friend with you who can help you out. Perhaps you could cajole some friends into playing the game with you and teaching you the basics at the same time. I know at least some of the Aquisitions, Inc. crew used to play WoW. (And I think it would be pretty damn awesome to see videos of the A.I. crew in WoW. Been too long since we’ve had new adventures with Aeofel!)
Anyway, don’t let the trolls get you down, and remember to have fun!
I play wow a couple months a year and haven’t since June but if you want a friendly person to level up with (my favorite part of the game) let me know via here and I’ll start it up.
There’s a lot more to do in WoW these days. I’ve played since vanilla, and have seen a lot added to the game. Whether you prefer role-playing, pvp, leveling, pet battles or raiding, there’s always something to do. My personal favorite activities are leveling characters and pet battles. I still remember when I first started playing WoW. I read all the quest details thoroughly and enjoyed learning bits of lore through the NPCs. Wowhead is also a really good game resource. I hope you have a friend to level with, it’s so much more fun to chat with someone about the experience as you go along. Good luck! Maybe if you’re on Feathermoon ( on a horde character) sometime we’ll run across each other.
Server choice is very important. Higher population is good. It means a better economy and more guilds to choose from. Be wary of PvP servers with even Alliance and Horde populations. Won’t be fun for you.
https://realmpop.com/us.html
Probably wanna stick to PvE servers on warcraft, they’re kinder to you during the leveling experience. Grab your lady or your kids and make it a group activity, it really does play better with a group of friends. Try the dungeon finder once you hit the right level, and don’t roll a tank to start with unless you want non stop complaints aimed at you and your mother and your mother’s hamster while you’re doing a dungeon. Wow players seem to like quick leveling experiences in the dungeon finder, so my suggestion would be to do each new one as it comes along, but go enjoy leveling in the wider world, you’ll get a more rounded experience. Also, Ally/Horde doesn’t matter, just pick the character you would like to play.
If your looking for a fun and filthy casual guild, The Pod People on Whisperwind are a good bet. Been around since launch and while we don’t have nearly the numbers we used to have its still a decent guild and our Guild Leader Scruffi takes pains to make sure it stays that way. We only raid 1 night a week but that enough for most of the guild.
If you wanna chill with the dude you met at the sushi restaurant with the Batman leg, roll horde on Bloodhoof.
The funny thing is the WoW community is so awful they have already opened a thread pitying Wil Wheaton for having agreed to host Blizzcon. Here is the thread enjoy http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1875928-Poor-Wil-Wheaton?p=36567755#post36567755
If you’re just starting to play Hearthstone I highly recommend watching Trump’s (the streamer, not the presidential candidate) educational starter series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KjtRokhpvM&list=PLvEIxIeBRKSjprrvlbAcbVjzHsnH9PjDX
Hey Wil, just letting you know that the Blizzcon crowd (well, most of us) is looking forward to your hosting of the ‘con.
Ignore the naysayers and knee-biters, you know how the ‘tubes be; I am sure if BACON were somehow hosting Blizzcon (mmm bacon), you’d get the same bunch of wow-web-ragers decrying how BACON (mmm bacon) doesn’t… blah, blah, blah.
Oh, and btw, you’ve not TRULY played HotS until you have been trounced as Abathur. NOT AFK!
See you there!
P.S. Would you sign my Wesley Crusher action figure if I hunt you down at the ‘con?
WoW is the easiest of Blizzard’s games to begin, to get involved as much as you want. The game play is easy, quests are well written. Story arcs are expansive, sometimes deeply philosophical, sometimes snort laughing silly. Raiding that requires surgical provision won’t be available to you without borrowing someone’s account (need to be a higher level than you are likely to get in a week or two).
Reading other comments, I think you will get all this and more but if you are not getting the camaraderie that being in a guild with people and running together and knowing you all speak the same WoW “geek” language – ask people at blizzard which guilds they are in. They work there because they love games and they play them. They play their own games for fun too! You can be who you are and not feel inexperienced or weird or overly enthusiastic even in front of them. They have their personal friends and family in their guilds – people where is is their first video game, up to people who developed the game.
This game is like when you used to play D&D with your friends and had such a great time because of the camaraderie as much as the insane fabulous interesting game – but in this one, they can be anywhere in the world and you can wear your pajamas.
Enjoy!
WoW is pretty easy to pick up, it was the first MMO that I ever played (I started played about 9 months after it came out). Player/Community wise it really depends on the Server (and faction). My main character is Alliance on Bloodhoof, and I have Horde characters on Madoran, Out of the 2 I much prefer the community on Modoran as the players there don’t seem to be as elietist (though I am sure there some that are),
I’m a WoW player who conquered Molten Core and Blackwing Lair in their early days (those raids requered 40 people). I loved the game back then: challenge and accomplishment made it insanely addicting. After, I played every expansion but stopped after cataclysm. The game lost its appeal because everything was made for smaller groups, more accessible to the casual gamer. Believe it or not, I was a casual gamer as well. But those 4 hours I gamed a week, I just put in WoW.
It’s become a rather large comment, when all I wanted to point out was that WoW is a whole other game now than it was in 2004 😉
Diablo sure is fun, but it’s made with a focus on loot, not story (unfortunately!) so once you’ve beaten it, and you’re not into loot grinding (farming) you most likely will want to put it down for some time.
I know you’re friendly with Gabe and Tycho over at PA… Ask Gabe for some advice about Hearthstone. He was (is?) into it pretty hardcore. From what I understand, playing ranked games is actually pretty solid, as you play against people at roughly your own skill level… Whereas if you play unranked games, you could end up playing a super hardcore player who is just testing out a new deck, or something along those lines, and who will spank you mercilessly.
Adam Baldwin? Is that you?
I am really late to this party but a frequent poster on http://www.blizzwatch.com of all things fun is Gimmlette on US-A, Llane server, GM of a guild called Spectacular Death. They would happily give you a guild home. Also “Of the Queue” (Alliance) and “Of the Horde” (Horde natch) on US- Nesingwary would be a great group of folks to hang out with. Not only do they play nice with others, they have lots of lore fans who could help out if you wanted to know more about this and that. Best of luck in WOW!
You probably already rolled a toon and started to run around Azeroth. As a veteran WOW player, my only advice is this: Roll a toon, and reroll until you find a character that has a voice, then do quests. Jump a lot. Read the story. The world is the best character in all of WOW. Raiding, PVPing are totally optional. 🙂 (Kirin Tor server has been my home for 6 years, they’re great people and will help the nubcakes.)