In WOW, do you create your character and then just walk around talking to people hoping someone will ask you to join their group so you can begin a quest or can you go out single handed? Also, are the people there civil or is there a lot of bad mouthing and other game spoiling experiences?
I have never played an MMORPG and sometimes I get the urge to try like now.

From what I'm told, you create your character and then can do quite a few quests on your own. In general for MMORPGs, it's friendlier if you don't select a player versus player server. The folks I know playing this haven't had bad experiences, and received a lot of great help and friendship when they joined guilds, and found lots of helpful folk along the way. Run a search on this forum for some other Gameboomer members that are playing it, if you like, and they don't see this thread.

I did do a search before I posted, but I didn't get much. Thanks for the info, Nickie. Does a player server mean you're playing the computer? I'm not familiar with that terminology.

Hi, Debra. I have been playing for several months now and am thoroughly enjoying the game. I only solo, but am often invited to join a group or a guild. (A "group" can work together for only one or for more quests, depending on how well they work together.) I did try a group a few times but I go bonkers and play horribly. Guess I'm nervous when others seen my lack of skill. :-) Folks are mostly nice. Some kids behave poorly, but I think there are observers or a reporting system that bans those who get too far out of line.

There are a couple of ways to play. I play "Player vs Environment" or PvE. That simply means other players can't attack me. Now, the Enemy (controlled by computer) can attack, but not other game players. Then there are "Players vs Players" PvP, where players do attack each other. I haven't come close to trying that! You can enable or disable, but if you attack or heal a PvP player, it is automatically enabled.

There are so many facets of WoW that I can't begin to explain them all. You ahve professions that you raise your skill on and can use them to improve your own armor sell to raise money. You acquire "goods" during the battles that can be sold at the auction house.

I'm a rather bashful grandmother and somewhat conservative, but I am loving the game. Feel free to email me if you have further questions. I don't check the board here as often as when I am playing other games, as there don't seem to be a lot of us WoW addictees!

By the way, you also chose a server (or realm) when you first begin. I am on Exodar, which they chose for me as it was fairly new and not so crowded. There will be great crowds in the first few areas, but as you advance there are not so many except in the main cities.

Have fun!

Thanks Peggy!

Thanks for that info Peggy. I've be thinking of giving this game a try myself. I like the idea on Player vs Enviroment, like you I'm not very skillful and would rather play alone. My son plays Final Fantasy games online and really likes it. He has told me I should give it a try. I do believe that there is a free trial to try it out first?

Linda

someone recomemnded wow to me a year ago but when i looked it up it said it was £9 a month to play

I play warcraft Player vs player. so anyone can attack me it gets annoying when people grief ya and just sit and kill ya over nad over so you cant play. but lotsa people are helpful enough to stop that from happening You can solo the entire thing and hit the highest level I have done so. I rarely group with others.

oh yes and i know someones son who had such a great level with his character he sold it for good money

Sorry, it took me a while to get back Life 101 gets in the way. Peggy, that explains a lot. I am glad you can play PvE instead of PvP (now that I know what that term is :)).
So, for $14.99/mo you can play an unlimited amount each day? Do you have all the strategy guides and so forth? Do you recommend the Battle Chest version or should I just get the basic game?
Do these MMORPG games ever just go off line for good?

Debra, that monthly subscription fee for WoW will allow you to play the game as many hours as you want, whenever you want. And it's highly unlikely that WoW will be going offline any time soon; it has millions of users, and there is another expansion on the way to be released later this year.

It's pretty simple to activate/deactivate your subscription, as well. We have done this several times in this house when there would be a 1-month-or-longer period when we thought there would be not enough time to play, and starting it up again was very simple and we experienced no problems at all.

WoW can be played and enjoyed as a solo player for quite a while; there will come a time, though, when your character reaches a certain level, where you will want to join a group in order to complete some of the quests, as the quests will require "strength in numbers" in order to succeed.

It's a beautiful game and I would definitely recommend that you give it a try.

Yes, play time is unlimited. And I do have strategy guides, but my best thing is the Atlas, but I am a map fanatic...I must know where places are in relation to each other. The ingame maps are good, but the atlas also helps locate people and that is wonderful! I would probably now get the Battle Chest (although I don't really know what all is included). I have added the Burning Crusade expansion, but you won't head into that for ages.

Helpful online spots are Thottbot, Allakhazam and Wowheads. It takes a while to figure which is most helpful in which ways. I usually run a search on the quest name and then check each of the main websites for the most helpful info.

I hope you enjoy the game as much as I have. This is my first MMORPG so I don't know if they ever end. I think people play over and over with new characters (toons). By the way, there is a LOT of ingame lingo and I have not figured that all out either, but the guides have some "definitions" as do the above websites.

Will watch to see how you do or if you have more questions that I am able to answer.

Marian is right about high level soloing...it does become quite difficult to do many of the quests. I am nearing level 64 and have had to abandon quite a number.

dungeon keeper 2 went off line, but unlike wow, you can play it on your computer too

Thanks for all the great information everyone! I tried to download the trial, but I am behind a firewall. By the time I reconfigure my computer, my trial will be over.
I think I will get the Battlechest as it has the guides in it. Did you buy the atlas separately somewhere?

I got the games downloaded them and now I can't download the patch because I'm behind a firewall. The FAQ page told which ports needed to be opened and so forth, but isn't this dangerous? Did anyone run into this problem?

You might want to ask on glitches Debra - I just don't know.

I bought the Atlas at Game Stop and it was alone, much like a regular SG.

I get a message with each download (they come periodically) that says one of my drivers needs to be updated before the download can continue but it continues anyway! I guess it is just telling me that if it doesn't work I have been warned. I did try to update the driver but unfortunately the company has quit making upgrades. Everything runs to my satisfaction but I do wonder what it would be like if I was up to snuff?? :-)

I added two port numbers last night, uninstalled the game and defragged the system. I will try again today. There are 118 more ports it says should be open and I will have to call my internet sevice to see about that. Why can't things just work??

OK, after a 2 hr download time for the patch (because even after learning how to open ports and add them it didn't work) and then waiting for maintainence to be done on the site, I am now a level 5 Paladin and have died 3 times so far. One time I died because I couldn't get turned in the right direction I am really enjoying the game even with the dying. Characters are doing all kinds of things; dancing, flips, begging for money. It's interesting just to sit and watch. Sort of like being in an airport
I play the game with everything going in the background; virus protection, spybot, firewall and all- no problems so far. I guess the patches are just going to be a slow go for me.
Thanks to everyone for listening to my whine and moan about trying to get it to work.

I have a question about the Burning Crusade Expansion. I was scared to download the expansion because of the problems I was having. If I download it now, will it let me continue from where I am or will I be starting in another area?

If you are able to play then your WoW is all patched and up to date. Tuesdays are realm maintenance and usually begin in the wee morning hours (Pacific Time)and end around 11AM. Patches appear when you first are signing on and just are automatically downloaded before you can play the game. I just got a new one yesterday. Usually are pretty fast.

Don't worry about Burning Crusade yet. You won't be able to go there until you have played for quite a while. Once you are pretty comfortable with how it all works you can add it. I am still learning (and dying). I don't think other players die as much as I do...I use to have lots of company in the graveyards, but now I usually have them all to myself! :-(

I'm so glad the installation problems are over and you are enjoying the game. Should run like a champ now!

Not sure what game features are blocked on a trial account.

If you decide to d/l Burning Crusade, PeggyH is correct that you won't play *most* of the content till much, much later. However, the BC expansion introduces two new races (one Alliance, one Horde) with their own level 1-20 areas. You can create characters & play this content from the getgo....that is, assuming the trial account allows you to do so.

Have fun.

P.S. It might help to know you can create & play 10 characters per server. So, don't be afraid to try out different races and classes and see how you like 'em. Again, the trial acct. may limit this number to less. All your "alts" will patiently wait just where you left them last in the game. After logging in, the first screen will show them all and you can pick which one to play.

Peggy I'm hanging out in the cemetaries really often. If you get lonesome come see me. I seem to get to level 8-10 then start having dying problems. Yaphette, I have been creating different characters, but they all have similar quest types just different starting areas. I liked my Blood Elf mage best but she's gotten not as good as she used to be. I'm stuck on a quest to get some guy's head near where ships have been taken over. This guy is tough and has magic, melee skills and two buddies with him. I've been to the cemetary 5 times so far and finally just switched to my warrior. She's having trouble with multiple wolves = 3x to the cemetary. Now, I'm playing a gnome warlock, but I can't find a cave I need so the trainer will give me the imp conjuring skill. She's level 4 now. I'm going to try a Druid and a Hunter later.
Any advice as to what works for youal? PS I'm on the Anator server as Imperious, Gloriousfire and I can't remember the darn gnomes name cause it was generated. It starts with a "p" and I have green hair in a beehive hairdo

When I run into quests I can't seem to handle I wait on that one and go on to something I can handle. I frequently abandon a quest because it is too hard to handle alone. The quest log will tell you if it is a suggested group (sometimes just two players). In most games I like to finish every quest that I possibly can, but in WoW, there are so very many that it really does not seem to matter. And you can abandon (if quest log fills up )and get them again later. Notice that the quests are different colors. Orange when you get the largest amount of experience, then yellow, green and gray. Once they get to gray you either get no or a much smaller amount of experience.

Also, work some all along on your professions. If you get frustrated with fighting, go fishing! Those skills get to be much harder to raise as you go and you do need them. I'd suggest sticking with your favorite character for a while until you are very comfortable with the game. Switch the quests around and work on them as you become more proficient. Don'g want to get too exasperated!! :-( lol

I didn't notice the quests were colored to note how hard they are. I think I've finally settled on two characters I like - a Night Elf Druid and a (starts with a "D") Shaman. That's weird because I usually don't play a heavy magic user, but both of these can melee fairly well so far.
I just got the fishing skill on my Shaman which is on a different server. Mine was locked last night.
If someone disbands a group is it because your were not very good at what they expected you to do? I'm group shy at this point. Myself and another player killed one of those "bring me the head of" quests. He was super nice, but disbanded us after the quest. I admit to getting wild when fighting big bad guys, but I kept my distance and spelled the dickens out of the boss character. It went off well so, I wasn't sure about the end result.
Also, when you get to level 40 it says you get a mount. Can you tell me how much they cost? Also, what has been the best way to earn money in your opinion?

I know Peggy can give you lots more info than I can, but just wanted to mention that there are folks in your game that go around helping others, so they would disband afterwards because you accomplished whatever you set out to do, no negative meaning to it. Hope you're having fun!

Yes, Debra, Nickie is right. Some groups stay together for a few quests, sometimes only one. Many quests are easily done by one player so it is preferable not to share the loot and experience. Even though the experience goes down as your levels go up I find it often evens out when you wait to do a hard one alone. I would ask to be disbanded because I like to just roam around and I frequently go off on sudden tangents as the mood stikes me (much as in the real world. lol). I also sometimes change zones when I get tired of the same "view" or critters. That's another reason people don't stay together as a group all of the time. You will notice in the chat box that someone might ask for players to join a quest and that may be the only one they do together. Just differs from time to time, so don't worry about it.

Sounds like you are getting a good feel for the game. It does get easier in the sense that you know what you are doing more and more as you go along. Glad you seem to be enjoying. Kinda different, huh?

Thanks for the info about disbanding. At least I don't feel like it was klutzness that caused the disbanding. I had my first converstion with a player and was told I was cool. I often wonder if they would think I still was if they knew they were playing with a 55 y/o grandmother.
Yesterday I flew to a destination on a Hippogriff (shades of Harry Potter). I am now looking for a fishing trainer. I know there's one out there somewhere.
I also tried to get an Atlas, but EB games didn't have one. The 2nd edition is due to come out in January 08. Rats! I forget where the people are that gave me the many quests and unless the yellow question mark shows up on the minimap sometimes it's just luck if I find them.
Peggy, how much does it cost for one of those mounts at level 40? I envy those people riding around on their tigers and such.