Casual Leveler Looking To Take It To The Next Level...

[eighteez 1]

Hello.

First post here. I need help. :)

Ive looked around a bit. I found some very useful info here.

https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/2221-brand-new-90-heres-your-53-to-do-list/?p=47745

But I still could use a hand. Let me start with a bit of background.

I've played for a few years. Casually. I've never grouped with more than 4 other people and all are always good personal friends who I share outside game activities with as well. No strangers.

I have my first level 90 toon.

I mainly solo.

I've never pvp'd.

I'm not a powerhouse gamer at all.

I've only done a few dungeons.

I've never worked with reputation/valor pts/honor pts/justice pts/ etc...

I know how gold works. I've used the auction house.

I've done a decent amount of crafting but nothing substantial. And only for my own toons.

I've never raided.

I'm in a guild with some close friends. The same people I group with. All are similarly experienced like I am.

I enjoy PvE but I've always been intrigued by the other aspects of the game too.

-------------------

I want to take it to the next level. I don't know where to start. I'm overwhelmed with things right now and it's making me crazy. I guess I should start with optimizing my current gear. Or should I go look for new gear? Do I need to revisit old dungeons? Do I need a new guild? I just don't know where to begin. I'm willing to learn.

I could really use some one on one time with a patient pro whose willing to take this PvE only casual leveler, and show him the ropes of the other aspects of the game.

If it matters, my main toon is Krackshot. Marksmanship Hunter on Nesingwary.

I would like to keep the conversation general to start. I feel I can still learn a lot without delving into class specific stuff right yet.

Thank you to anyone who read this. And a huge thanks to anyone willing to lend an experienced hand.

[eighteez 1]

Some more info:

I have used zygor guides.

I'm just now a bit familiar with the ask mr robot site.

I've used a handful of Adonis. Curse client. Etc...

[kitsu 55]

be willing to redo your keybinds. if you find you are lacking in any way as far as your ability to do fight mechanics and dps, you may have a less than optimal way of controlling your character. a lot of people justify staying with what they have by saying they are used to how they play, but it's actually good for your brain to have to switch things up once in a while.

 

i got into the deeper aspects of wow by way of pvp. it really helped me learn every ability my toon has. i saw other people use those abilities against me and i was motivated to learn so i could win. one thing with starting out at pvp undergeared, you dont have to find a way to win, just a way to have fun. i think what really got me hooked was grouping with a mage and druid while i was on my shaman and finding a beast of a horde all alone and just cc chaining them for as long as we could. nothing was more fun than seeing them disappear because they ragequit.

 

if you have close friends and are willing to commit to something, challenge modes are also a great way to improve. you can get all golds in blue gear, but a lot of the time trial is on the tank and healer. just finishing a challenge mode dungeon is tough. any comp, with practice should be able to get at least all silvers no matter your gamer skill level, and that will get you a very nice mount. a great approach that wont burn you out is to try to have a challenge mode day each week and do a different dungeon every hour or two.

 

one last thing, dont get a complex ui package. if you cant visualize every aspect of your ui without being in front of a computer, something will be missing or in a different spot and you will feel lost. or something will be gone and you will be in the dark about a basic component of the game while you learn to play. the blizz ui has everything anyone needs to win. aside from a boss timers addon like Deadly Boss Mods.

 

and as far as min/maxing your gear goes, all the info on how to gear will be for current content raiders. dont worry about it until ilvl 540 or so. until then just focus on bonus rolls for weapon and trink upgrades and gem mostly agi once youre hit capped.

[kitsu 55]

there are definitely people out there who do current lfr and timeless isle to get a little bit of a gear advantage and then clear older raids like Mogushan Vaults or Heart of Fear. openraid forums might be a good place to look to set up a cross realm intro to raid group. one night a week is all it takes to progress. diligence will get you much farther than finding a superstar to carry you.

[eighteez 1]

"i think what really got me hooked was grouping with a mage and druid while i was on my shaman and finding a beast of a horde all alone and just cc chaining them for as long as we could. nothing was more fun than seeing them disappear because they ragequit"

What is "cc chaining"?

What is "ragequit"?

In this example are you talking about "world pvp"? Just wandering around looking for opposing faction players?

Key binds... I'll definitely look into that. Once I feel comfortable that I'm activating the proper abilities at all.

Thanks for the tips.

[eighteez 1]

"there are definitely people out there who do current lfr"

What is lfr?

[kitsu 55]

oh dear.

[kitsu 55]

What is "cc chaining"?

use abilities meant to control a player rather than hurt them. you have abilities that will slow or snare a player. in the example of me on my shaman i would turn the enemy into a frog and then the mage would turn them into a sheep. the druid would cyclone them and we would all use slows and snares to help us run away for a while and then we would turn the enemy into frogs and sheep again.

What is "ragequit"?

the enemy player got upset and left the game

In this example are you talking about "world pvp"? Just wandering around looking for opposing faction players?

i was talking about battlegrounds. hit the letter h and look for a button that says join random battleground. other players may say mean things to you, dont worry they say mean things to everyone and there is nothing you can do to change the fact that they want to say mean things. try not to let it ruin your fun.

[kitsu 55]

LFR stands for Looking for Raid. it automatically groups you with 25 random people and allows you to participate in an event similar to raiding. kind of like how a riot is similar to a parade. at the end of it, you sometimes win and get gear.

 

kidding aside blizzard looks at the raid fights, takes out some of the hard parts and lets people get a feel for what an easy version of raiding is like.

 

try not to take anything anyone says in LFR to heart. it's mostly superstition or angry ranting.

[kitsu 55]

try googling "openraid mature casual"

 

hmmm. safesearch should probably be set to the "on" position for that one.

[kitsu 55]

above all try things. if you didnt have fun, stop and try them on another day. theres a lot of luck involved in a lot of the casual features of the game.

[eighteez 1]

oh dear.

:)

Thanks for your patience.

I didn't figure I'd stand a chance in any pvp type stuff. Being a daisy fresh rookie straight off of the boat.

I assumed I need to get to "understands how the game works up here" first. The game for me from 1 to 90 has been the same thing over and over. Quest. Equip the better stuff I find. Craft some stuff to raise profession points. Repeat.

I guess I'm looking for guidance on how to bridge the gap from where I am to where I can possibly stand a chance when coming up against another player. Level 91 elite mobs are killing me almost immediately.

[eighteez 1]

I want to keep reaching for the "manual" when I see things like a vendor where all items are red to me and they are bought with something other than money. (Gold etc) What are these items and how are they purchased?

The pop up tips that help in the beginner stages just stop for some reason. There is no instruction for anything later down the line. It took forever before I figured out daily quests for cooking rewards.

There's no manual. How do you learn this stuff? I see that I gain reputation with different groups. I've never seen how that effects the game. It's just a number. For me most things are. Like I missed some crucial part of the game that explains all of these things.

[kitsu 55]

i learn by doing. and the nice thing about the internet is you dont see the same people over and over. i wouldnt get caught up with looking or doing good. trying hard is another thing that wont always get you that far. Observe. in pvp you get to observe a high number of battles, in a row. if you can figure out one thing that the other players are doing or one place people on your team seem to be trying to go, then youve learned a thing. and if you repeat that, eventually you'll learn all the things.

 

if you have free time i would say do as many things as you can. find people playing hunters once you get there. target them, right click their picture and set them as your focus. follow them around and watch what they do and what abilities they use. you can press "i" and go to a random dungeon with people. dont be afraid to be the baddie. just dont feel like you have to attack at all times, or start the fights. if ppl want to say mean stuff or kick you just, keep at it until you figure out what's up or have more specific questions.

[kitsu 55]

yeah you'll need other people to tell you. the people who made the game went over it once the day they invented it and since then they expect the info to just self propagate.

 

find older players who will be patient and get into a voice chat with you. people use a program called ventrillo to talk because the wow voice chat sucks. and blizzard doesnt dev the ingame voice because people use ventrillo. and check out the site called openraid. their forums should have people who want to run things that are fun spirited for newer players. just join up and then get someone to go over things with you in voice chat, while youre both ingame.

[eighteez 1]

I've used teamspeak. Our small group uses it.

I like the raid spectating suggestion. That would be useful. If I can recognize what they are doing.

One big area of confusion is gear. I recently took someone's suggestion and found the timeless isle. I'm finding better gear. But I don't know anything about upgrading, sockets, reforging, or anything like that. Should I upgrade my current gear? Look for better? If so where? Buy? Craft? Know what I mean? Gold is hard to come by... I'd hate to blow gold upgrading stuff that is crap. How do I know it's crap?

I feel no difference at 90 than I did at 40. Flying was the last hurdle.

This probably doesn't make sense. It's hard to describe

[mortag 0]

I've used teamspeak. Our small group uses it.

One big area of confusion is gear. I recently took someone's suggestion and found the timeless isle. I'm finding better gear. But I don't know anything about upgrading, sockets, reforging, or anything like that. Should I upgrade my current gear? Look for better? If so where? Buy? Craft? Know what I mean? Gold is hard to come by... I'd hate to blow gold upgrading stuff that is crap. How do I know it's crap?

I feel no difference at 90 than I did at 40. Flying was the last hurdle.

This probably doesn't make sense. It's hard to describe

id say that when it comes to gear u would be best of upgradeing it as fast as u can, if u gett ur hands on a better pice then throw the old one away and upgrade the new one.

 

the items u gett in the game are rankt by item lvl this shows how good it is aswell as were u gott it (if u know the numbers)

for epic gear (purple name) that is the best  (except legendery but theres only the cloak atm) u gett ur gear in this order ehn gearing up:

 

tier 13 raids (mougushan vaults, heart of fear and tearece of the endles springs) LFR normal heroic in that order

 

tier 14 raid (throne of thunder) LFR normal and heroic in that order

 

valorpoint vendors ( this is what u need rep for, becus u need to gett higher rep whit the diffrent factions to buy gear from them, ur curent rep is shown in the reputation tab when pressing c as defult)

 

timles island (this is the best and fastest way to gett decent gear right now, u can find loads of it in chest and from monsters whit almost no efort)

 

crafting gear (im refering to the 530+ gear that needs the high mats like harndend magnificent hide and such)

 

tier 15 Sige of ogrimar LFR (as soon as u have 490 gear u can go in here and gett decent gear)

 

when u are at this point u can start doing flex raids but first u need to gem enchant reforge and mayby upgrade ur gear.

 

u said that u used the ask mr robot site, if so he can tell u the best way to do this

 

it will cost but its gona be worth it in the long run, then u can read the class guids here on for marksman hunters and to know what to do in raids there are tons of videos on youtube about it, i would personaly recomend fatboss.

[eighteez 1]

I was thinking I would start upgrading the purple and blue stuff per the Mr robot suggestions.

Then start looking at where I fit in for raids. (LFR)

This sounds like what you are suggesting. And as it was said earlier, get in there and learn by watching and doing.

I'm not sure what the tiers are about. If I go into the raid finder or whatever, are they broken down by tier?

[kitsu 55]

each raid has a tier of gear. theres a 2 piece bonus and a 4 piece bonus for having multiple pieces of a set of 5. the set includes head, shoulders, chest, hands and legs.

[Orthios 271]

Ok, my turn to attempt to clarify a few things.....

Gear:

You play a marksman hunter. This means that for gear you should prioritize higher item level (ilvl) gear that is mail and it's main stat is agility. Secondary stats don't really matter too much for hunters, you can deal relatively large amounts of damage with any combination of haste, crit, and mastery.

Currency:

Valor, justice, honor, and conquest points are a 'premium' currency of sorts. What this means is that you will not get them doing just quests or crafting (except the daily quests in pandaria, which give 5 valor each). Each of these 'premium' currencies is used to purchase gear from various vendors around pandaria.

Honor and conquest points are gained from doing pvp battles, such as random battle grounds or arenas. These are used to buy pvp oriented gear, which have their own set of pvp related bonuses.

Justice points are gained from doing dungeons, heroic dungeons, scenarios, and heroic scenarios. Heroics are harder than the normal version, but reward better gear and more justice points. Justice points are use to buy lower level pve oriented gear from various faction vendors (I'll explain this in a bit).

Valor points are gains from doing heroic dungeons, scenarios, heroic scenarios, and raids. Valor points are used to buy gear that is higher ilvl than justice point gear.

Factions:

Across pandaria, there a many different factions you come across and quest for, such as the klaxxi in dread wastes or the shado-pan in townlong steppes. Each faction has a series of daily quests that you can do to help raise your reputation with that faction. Higher reputation means that you can buy more gear from their faction vendor, and upon reaching exalted, a mount.

Raids:

Raiding is a fun way to learn how various class mechanics work, and how they don't work sometimes. In lfr raids, it's hit or miss whether or not you get a good group, but don't let a bad group get you down. Start with mogu Shan vaults and work your way up. Just because you can go into a higher level raid doesn't mean you're ready to. Unless a boss doesn't have any gear pieces that are better than what you have on (check using the dungeon journal, shift-j, and setting a class filter), then use a bonus roll on every boss, or if you are limited on bonus rolls, look specifically for weapons, trinkets, and tier pieces that can drop from bosses and use your bonus rolls on them.

Hope this helps clarify some things up for you :)

[antimetica 3]

It's good to have a goal with a character if you want to develop it.  What is fun for you to play?

 

For me, I really like the appearance of armor sets, especially some of the raid things I never had access to before because I am a casual player.  I find out about sets by browsing a visual guide on the web and picking out ones I like, then I make a plan how to get that set.  The transmogrification visual guides up top will show you where to find the things you like.  They also have the tier details too.  

 

I like pets and mounts :D

 

Crafting will help you a lot, if you max it out.  Recipes drop in the LFR and also you can craft decent stuff for yourself.  I tend to never have enough mats to sell things I craft and just have enough for myself, but it helps.  

 

Flying expense is ridiculous I agree.  Sometimes I do not even buy Pandaria flying, I just dungeon level 85-90 all the way and hit the Timeless Isle and lfr at 90.  I do have 1 character that farms and has flying though.

 

Have fun!

[mortag 0]

i noticed that theres one question still thats not been awnserd tho, "do i need to change guild?"

i would say that this all depends on alot of things, such as

 

is ur goal to do normal raids or rated batellgrounds?

 

do the guild ur in atm have an active rooster above 10?

 

does ur friends in the guild ur in atm have the same goal as u?

 

if u awnser yes to these 3 questions then u dont need to change guild but if u didnt then changing guild is somthing that u will need to do at some point in order to progress, but do u need to do it before u can handle noramal raidning? no

 

so for the time being i would recomend u to stay in the guild ur in atm whit ur friends, and mayby try to expand the guild insted?

[eighteez 1]

diligence will get you much farther than finding a superstar to carry you.

 

 

Not looking to be carried. Just for some direction. I feel overwhelmed with all of the things I know nothing about. You’d think after making all the way to 90 you’d pick these things up. But that is in no way the truth. Its like I’m done with part one of the game, now I move into part 2. But its not clear what part 2 is… I don’t even know if I know what all of my options are.

 

I feel like I walked into the “so, you are level 90 now” room. I’m waiting for someone to walk up and say “Ok, now your lvl 90. Lets have a look… Ok, no no no this wont work at all. In any PvP contest, prepare to be trounced. Go work on this. I’d suggest going here and here and here. Once you have that worked out then come on back and we’ll talk again.”

 

Openraid: I looked at that site. It made my head spin. I have no clue what most of the forum topics even mean. There are so many abbreviations I don't know where to start...

 

tier 13 raids (mougushan vaults, heart of fear and tearece of the endles springs) LFR normal heroic in that order

 

 

I'm assuming this is a suggestion to do Mougushan Vaults on normal first. Then Heart of Fear on normal, then Tearece of the endless springs on normal. 

 

Then all 3 on heroic once I finish them on normal. 

 

each raid has a tier of gear. theres a 2 piece bonus and a 4 piece bonus for having multiple pieces of a set of 5. the set includes head, shoulders, chest, hands and legs.

 

 

Not sure I follow here. Each raid has 5 pieces of gear that are like a matched set? And if you have certain combinations of pieces there are bonuses involved? Completing the raid awards some of this gear? Will I need to do the same raid multiple times to receive the entire set? Is that set of gear useful only until I complete the next raid up the tier list? Then I'm scrapping it for the next set?

 

 

Ok, my turn to attempt to clarify a few things.....

Gear:

Currency:

Factions:

Raids:

Hope this helps clarify some things up for you 

 

 

Very helpful, thank you. 

 

Is there any particular order that I should be doing things? It feels like improving my gear is priority one right now. Is the best way to do that (in anyone's opinion) to loot it from drops in game? Where? Quests? Dungeons? Or build up rep so I can buy it? Or to do raids to get it?

 

See how this can be overwhelming to a noob? Maybe its just me.

It's good to have a goal with a character if you want to develop it.  What is fun for you to play?

 

For me, I really like the appearance of armor sets, especially some of the raid things I never had access to before because I am a casual player.  I find out about sets by browsing a visual guide on the web and picking out ones I like, then I make a plan how to get that set.  The transmogrification visual guides up top will show you where to find the things you like.  They also have the tier details too.  

 

I like pets and mounts 

 

Crafting will help you a lot, if you max it out.  Recipes drop in the LFR and also you can craft decent stuff for yourself.  I tend to never have enough mats to sell things I craft and just have enough for myself, but it helps.  

 

Flying expense is ridiculous I agree.  Sometimes I do not even buy Pandaria flying, I just dungeon level 85-90 all the way and hit the Timeless Isle and lfr at 90.  I do have 1 character that farms and has flying though.

 

Have fun!

 

For me, the fun comes from the challenge, but a possible challenge. Staying in the part of the curve where you need to work for it but there is a chance of success. I'm getting my ass handed to me everywhere I go now that I've bailed out of the "linear questing chains". Apparently I'm powerful enough to take on the quest mobs, but any of the big elites lumbering around will stomp me instantly. Everything on the timeless aisle is stomping me. Where does a lvl 90 go when they are done questing? 

 

I do enjoy different pets and mounts. The visual side of stuff hasn't intrigued me any. My main toon is a gatherer. Herbalism and Mining are his profs. Supplying stuff for my alts. Or selling stuff when I can. 

 

I pretty much skipped dungeons. They don't seem to be necessary to get to 90. Perhaps they would have allowed me to get there quicker. My issue with dungeons is it forces me to play with strangers and I am quite apprehensive to do so as I havent a clue what the expectation is of me. I mash buttons... I have no strategy. I need hunter classes. I missed the part of the game where your class trainers actually train you. They just add buttons to my action bars. No training at all. "Here, another button for you. Good luck!"

i noticed that theres one question still thats not been awnserd tho, "do i need to change guild?"

i would say that this all depends on alot of things, such as

 

is ur goal to do normal raids or rated batellgrounds?

 

do the guild ur in atm have an active rooster above 10?

 

does ur friends in the guild ur in atm have the same goal as u?

 

if u awnser yes to these 3 questions then u dont need to change guild but if u didnt then changing guild is somthing that u will need to do at some point in order to progress, but do u need to do it before u can handle noramal raidning? no

 

so for the time being i would recomend u to stay in the guild ur in atm whit ur friends, and mayby try to expand the guild insted?

 

 

my goal? I dont know what my goal is now. I'm done leveling. I know that much. What are my options now? Raids and Battlegrounds? Those are the 2? Or are there more? 

 

My guild is useless. There are about 3 active members. All PvE levelers like me. I have felt like a hamster on a treadmill from day one. Now I'm off the treadmill. Looking for the real meat of this game. 

 

Not having any comfort level with strangers has me wondering if my involvement with WoW is finished. As from here on out its 100% playing with others it seems. My days of soloing are over I think. True?

 

What is it that being in an active guild is supposed to accomplish? Is it just the social aspect? Making friends to play with? Or are there game mechanics that are necessary to be competitive?

 

I'm great with stupid analogies. I feel like getting to 90 is graduating high school. Now I'm out. 

Edited January 14, 2014 by eighteez

[Flopdot 1]

I think the most important thing you need to figure out which direction of end content you guys want to do. Is it your goal to start raiding ( basicly a larger dungeon that takes a lot more time to finish instead of the normal dungeon) or do you guys like the pvp end of the game? Because the gearing for both end content is a bit different. There is a lot of information out on the internet for pve or pvp. On this site you can find a lot of guides for different classes with a gearing-up guide and if you read them some things might get clarified in the process

[eighteez 1]

Are those the 2 ways to go? 

 

Raids or PvP?