A warm welcome to all of you!
First things first:
- English is not my native language so please forgive grammar, spelling mistakes.
- This might be a long one, if you’re not a fan of reading a wall of text, i will try to give a TLDR at the end. (Search for LSS [ctrl+f] it will bring you to that section)
- I made this post to give long time players, veterans and guildmembers/-leaders an overview on how it feels like to log in to your first Character as the “new guy on the block” and for new players an impression on what you are getting into.
- This will be my story, as i experienced WoW - specifically Classic Cata, so please don’t feel attacked or tell me: “thats totally different, you have it all wrong!”. I know that my experience doesn’t match all other experiences out there, but it will probably or hopefully give you a somewhat solid understanding on how it is for me/us new ones, at least i hope so.
- These are my opinions, it is totally valid to disagree.
With all of that out of the way lets get started.
My origin
I played WoW back in 2016 with Legion for the first time, i was a CoD kid before, playing Modern Warfare 1 and 2 (the OG’s) night in and night out. After that i turned to CS:GO, reached GE rang and stopped. In between some League of Legends. WoW i only played bc of some of my friends playing it. I Stopped at BFA, since studies and work took over life. I turned 30 last year and things change, as many of you can probably relate to.
Comming Back
I followed the release of Classic a few years back as probably all of you did. I got excited and hooked, i wanted to try out what many people have lived before me. As a fellow Nerd growing up with Video games i can relate to the Nostalgia. When Call of Duty Modern Warfare - the new one - got announced i probably felt the same, goosebumps, tears, shivers the whole story. Games like Witcher 3 left a long lasting impression and i will never forget the gaming evenings with friends on CS, LoL etc… So why not give WoW a shot. Sadly Life was in the way. A few years later WoW Classic Hardcore was announced and finally i had time to give it a go.
Hardcore
So naturally as every sane human being would decide, with 0 knowledge of classic and 0 experience in my belt i created a char on a hardcore classic server. Gotta say, i got hooked. The community was amazing and people were helpful, understanding and sharing. Groups would be interactive, chatty, humorous. It got me filled with joy and excitment, but, as many of you might have guessed by the first sentence of this section, it did not last long. My lack of experience and knowledge would never get me pass lvl 20 on classic HC. To be fair, i could’ve seen that comming. So i naturally decided to go to the next thing that came close to my: experience the old WoW. Classic Cata (cc).
My new me
I chose an undead protection warrior (pw), why you might ask? pw was the first class i played in Legion so i wanted to go back to what i am somewhat familiar with. Undead? Well … For the HORDE! oh and i love undead, don’t even know why. As a optimization runner definitely a bad choice, pw fits to other races way better, but i did not care and neither should any of you if you don’t wanna be on the leader for first kills. Also i find tank way more interesting than other roles. Heal has its moments too though and in Legion i fell in love with mistweaver, but monk is not here yet so it is not an option.
Level 1-40
I think this is the part that for many new players will make or break the deal. I mean, this game already costs money monthly its not a one time buy. It’s like a gym subscription and how many of use went 2-3 times, never came back, wishing they could exit the 1-2 year long contract (not sure if that works the same in every country though, but at least germans can relate i guess). This part was less important for me since i knew from Legion that the interesting part specially with expansions is at the end of the road.
I still want to give a solid impression on what it feels like:
The first 20 levels are amazing. I loved questing the ares, discovering undercity, ogrimmar and find out that i can freely choose on what to do next. I think cc does a good job at that. I know many people complain about joyous journeys (jj) being removed and are now celebrating it to come back, but for us new ones - please make it disabled by default!
Advance might be way to fast and i just recently found out what jj is in the first place. For Alts - amazing. For new ones? Horrible. But new ones do not know what the f* jj is, so don’t enable it by default. Make it an option at your class trainer or in major cities, whatever. Don’t take away the fun of exploring a world for the first time. During these levels i found my passion for fishing. I can earn some gold while watching my favorite TV show and don’t have to concentrate on anything, loving it. Also i don’t know why, it spreads a similar calm as real fishing, just be me and my weird brain though. Oh did i mention the other professions? Holy - gotta say i love that in the beginning you get this dude telling you everything and teaching you everything instead of looking for the right person/trainer like in HC, specially for me as a new one. I can read, get lectured, take my time and decide and are less likely to regret my choice later. And please: do not care if your choice is the best profession for your class/race. Everything will be covered anyway if you are in for the long run so choose whatever makes you happy. Of course certain choices will make your life easier and other harder but at the end of the day it should be about what you enjoy, at least on your very first char.
Level 20-40 is the first testing ground, things will slow down significantly and dungeons become somewhat of a must. Here i am at the first positive and negative. The dungeons are by now easy enough to not fail horribly and since 80% of people you will find with dungeon finder are alts for experienced players with heirlooms, flasks, food and knowledge they will nuke the whole dungeon solo anyway if you let them. But that’s a negative too. I had 0 interactions in any dungeon until like level 75~. Holy even a simple hi is too much. Everyone is running for their lifes to the last boss for exp and weekly bonuses. The WoW community is so hardcore optimized it is nearly impossible to keep up or have time to read and explore the world. Please, i beg you, next time you are running an alt, check your group by inspect, if you find someone without heirlooms talk to them. Teach them, explain, try to ask what they like and don’t like. One day you will depend on them filling your empty guild slots, start looking at the game as a game again and not a competition. I know it is not all of you, but the majority. But i am also very aware that 90% of people who i call out here will never read this post.
Also questing becomes a bit tedious, but nothing that imo would do the game bad, same for professions.
Level 40-80
This part tests your willpower if you don’t have heirlooms and are not a hardcore story fan. For everyone that’s not reading every quest text it will be a bit boring, most people are already max level so there are not many groups or fellow levelers in your region. Just hang in there.
So this for me is the time i started looking for a guild. I was thinking about what do i want from this game. Will it stop at 85? Will i do LFG for the rest of my life? Answer came quickly, i want to have fun with a group instead of being alone all day.
So i opened up the guild tab and started looking. What shall i say. I, got, lucky, as, hell.
I found a guild that had a handfull of old players, enough to fill a 10 man raid on good days, looking for new fits. They had a discord and more important. They were helpful and understanding. I don’t think i would’ve stayed with WoW without them. It was exactly what i was looking for and i am so grateful for the people i have met in that guild. Even better, people i would have never met in real life, because all of the lifes are so different. Age, job, country, the whole attitude towards life, but all of them shard the same interest: WoW.
I think this is what many people miss. It is not the game itself, it is experiencing the game with a group and learning on the way. It is not the gear upgrade that people miss but still chase after since they hope it will give them the next dopamine high when the gear lvl rises. It is the feeling of learning, helping getting better as a group. They shared all their knowledge, with Chatgpt i learned your weird language of chat shorts and i had fun more than ever before. Every questions was answered immediately, there was no stupid question. Sometimes you get mocked and sometimes you mock back. But no one blamed you for being new or you being you.
At this point i have to give a special shout out to my guild vengeful spirit. Thanks for keeping me in and teaching me. I would’ve turned towards other games a long time ago.
So what do i wanna share here: For all the new ones. Don’t give up on guilds. Do it early! And do not join a mass guild. There are still some groups out there willing to keep the old nostalgia alive, even if it is just a little bit. For the veterans: Please, talk with your guild. Make it open for recruitment, invite a random newbie you find on the way. Just like a company if you want to stay alive, you have to fill the gaps. Be open for teaching and helping. Be open for having fun again on failing, on exploring and don’t chase the next record on gear or clear time, they have been broken many times anyway and you will not be the next leeroy in 99 out of 100 cases, probably more. It is your duty to keep this alive. I learned with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019 that nostalgia comes from memories, but i also learned that the strongest memories are not made by numbers, best KDA in CoD, best gear in WoW, but by memories with people. The one time you finally helped your friend getting a nuke on wasteland. The time you cleared your first heroic. Chasing optimization will make no one happy.
Level 80-85
Grinding starts. With the guild at my side it went smoothly. I got to 85 pretty fast. My guild provided gear, gems and echants for me to start dungeons. To be fair this is the part that new players who are alone will also enjoy the most, since the whole games pace is balanced around level 80-85. If you managed to stay until here, you will have a better time, but i still highly suggest you searching for a group to explore WoW together with. Either friends or others. To all veterans: Keep an eye out for newbies. All who made it here have endurance and are willing to fail a couple of times to learn if you let them and help them.
Professions become a horrible grind though. If you have stuff like enchanting, engineering, blacksmithing etc. be prepared, it’s horrible, don’t pressure yourself. If you want to get to 525 with those you either have months of work ahead or invest 20-40 bucks for WoW Tokens to buy all the crap you need right away.
Heroics and Infernals
Oh boy.
You will loose every last standing newbie here.
Not gonna lie.
this is awful. This community is so optimized and trained you are not allowed to do a single mistake once you enter heroic alone, let alone infernals.
I will keep this short: As a tank i got kicked often for not knowing stuff. I simply don’t run infernals without at least 2 guild members anymore. Not worth it. Most players are impatient and feel like these dungeons are a waste of time needed to be done for the currency, so the attitude is not learning, teaching, having fun, but more: Get it over with.
I have never in my life seen so many ragequits, league would be proud of you boys. But also: ignorance. I know this is my experience and i don’t say its normal or always the case, but as a tank you are usually the one first to blame. If you don’t tank the adds on first boss in grim batol you’re getting kicked. When the explode next to the boss enraging the little trolls and buffing the boss. You are getting kicked.
I am not kidding, my first clear of grim batol was on inferno bc in heroic all DPS was tilted after a few mins.
So please, to all guild members and veterans out there who are part of a small guild of people you know: think about letting someone new in. Grab up a new player in a dungeon and teach them, see if you vibe together. And to all the others: Stop chasing numbers in limited time. You will not have fun, the rest of the dungeon neither. To the new ones: endure or quit here.
To the youtubers and Guide peoples out there if any will ever read it:
Boss guides are nice, but cover more. No one teaches you as a new tank how trash works. I wiped more often on trash than bosses, because there are dozens of guides for bosses but 0 on the rest.
My first Raid
This thursday i had my first firelands as a tank with my guild. I got to 361 iLevel until than and my guild threw all of there stuff in a pot to get me to 364 before raid by gifting me gems, gear, enchants, later flasks and food. It was insane. No one cared about the grind behind all of that, it was just about getting me raid ready for the evening. I am very grateful for that.
The raid was amazing. The second tank whispering me all the time stuff i had to look after. The guild leader taking extra time explaining all the bosses to me even though they cleared it on HC multiple times already and it was probably very boring for at least 50% of the raid. I loved it.
This is what i expected from WoW. Not mount farming (even though it is by now my guilty pleasure), not gearing up until u can brag in OG about how big your char is and how non existing your real life (sarcasm), not leveling your 8th alt, not earning the 15k valor points for gear you don’t even need anymore just because weekly/daily bonuses wants you to.
I owe my guild a ton and i will continue raiding with them. I told me wife i will be occupied every thursday from now on for guild raids.
It is them, what got me hooked, not the game.
And i dearly want to let everyone out there know: You are not seeking numbers, you are not seeking nostalgic memories of times past, you are not seeking the best clear of your life. You are seeking people that share those things with you.
And all those elites and veterans out there are working hard for ruining the next generation of people who could share that with you. Become more open towards newbies, towards mistakes. Not on your way from OG to Firelands or doing dailies. No, in the LFG dungeons. Become patient in the things that became routine for you long time ago and teaching will give you more satisfaction than just being done with Blackrook Caverns in less than 10 mins.
Even after just a few months i found people i like to spend time with, simply by them being open to new things.
Long story short LSS
I just finished my first raid, firelands, within a found guild on cata classic. For a new player this was one of the best experiences i had in a long time in an multiplayer game. Be open minded for new players if you are a long time veteran. Don’t take Heroics to seriously. Interact with people you find online. Look at their gear - do they wear herilooms? if no talk to them. Do people in HC make mistakes? Don’t quit right away. Do you belong to a long time guild of the same players since maybe even more than a decade? Be open for new players, consider inviting one or two you find in LFG.
To all new players: level 1-20 and 80-85 are the best. The rest is a grind, be prepared for that. Start looking for a guild ASAP, not a mass guild. If in doubt ask a random player you find in OG whos in a guild u cant find with the guild finding tool.
This is my story. I hope i could contribute a bit. I am looking forward to running with the people i found along the way, consider finding new ones yourself, but i guess i will skip infernos for a while as long as i dont find 2-3 members i can invite.
I was looking for the game experience, but realized only later at level 85 that it is the community experience that makes this game as famous as it is. Thanks for reading, have a good one and best of luck on your next journey whether it will be WoW, a video game or life.
PS: ofc i will keep track of this topic, not sure i will respond though, since it is more a report to put out there and share with all of you.
a mod.
have you been able to get past the blue color parses yet?
