Priester Leveling

I will go ahead and try to explain strategies to that regard as well, as I have experimented with the PvP priest. This guide will be written with the knowledge of the state of the priest during closed beta, so I will try and research any new changes. I’ve been taking a break until release so I can keep the game fresh for me.

Start

When you first start out as a priest, you’ll find yourself with only a few spells, namely Power Word: Fortitude (the priest’s stamina buff), Smite (your holy magic based nuke), and Lesser Healing (if you need me to explain what this is, please choose another class!). You will also notice that they are marked as “Rank 1”. As you level, you will gain higher “ranks” of these spells which are, of course, more powerful versions of what you already have. In addition to these spells, you start out with a weapon proficiency in 1-handed maces. Although priests start out with only the 1-handed mace skill, you are able to learn how to use daggers and staves through a NPC trainer found in the main cities. Some of you may be wondering which weapon skill is the best. My initial answer to you is that most times, except when you are soloing or fighting easy encounters, you won’t be melee’ing very much. Although many people like to go against the mold, the priests are meant to be a group’s primary healer. So, most times you will find yourself standing back and healing, but this will mostly take place when you start grouping later down the road in your teens. With that said, there are many different weapons with stats and passive/active effects that can help the priest. In early levels, I’ve found that staves with enhancements to intellect and spirit are very prominent. When you start fighting in the Scarlet Monastery, there is a very nice dagger which can add a high amount of intellect. A higher level instance of the Monastery has the chance of dropping a mace which adds to your overall healing power. My advice would be to train all weapon skills and switch to whichever weapon you find to be your best option when it drops.

It is not as apparent when you first start out, but priests are a great solo class by virtue of the spell Power Word: Shield. The first rank of this shield is gained at level 6. The rank 1 version of Power Word: Shield absorbs up to 44 damage, while the rank 10 version obtained at level 60 absorbs up to 942 damage. This is the single best spell in the game, in my opinion, but it does fade relatively quickly, in about 30 seconds, so it is usually best cast right before you or the tank is about to engage a mob. Without the use of talents, there is a 30 second waiting period before you can cast it on the same person again, but we’ll get into talents a bit later. Another great use for Power Word: Shield is to give you more time to heal the person if they are losing health very quickly. It is an instant cast spell, so it can save lives in the right situations. For example, if you begin your heal and your tank is losing health very quickly, you can cancel the heal, then essentially give him an instant 942 hp, and then start casting a quick heal. As far as soloing goes, I usually lead off with a Power Word: Shield on myself, and then pull the intended mob or NPC. This shield coupled with your Power Word: Fortitude effectively increase your health pool. The most important aspect of the shield, though, is that you can continue casting heals and nukes uninterrupted, as if you were not getting hit at all.

At level 4, you receive the 1st rank of Shadow Word: Pain. This spell is a “damage over time” or “dot” for you rpg newbies. It is an instant cast spell, which you will find beneficial when chasing a mob, or person, down. The 1st rank will do 30 damage over 18 seconds, while the highest rank does 852 damage over 18 seconds. It can help wittle down those mobs while you choose to melee or are grouped. This does stack with other priests’ Shadow Word: Pain, so during a raid encounter, stacking these would prove to be very beneficial. Since it is essentially doing damage for you over time, you do not have to constantly re-cast it, thus allowing you to regenerate your mana if need be. A sample soloing situation would look like:

Holy Word: Shield self > Smite > Smite > Shadow Word: Pain > melee

I’ve found the above example to be relatively efficient early on in the game. Of course, you’ll have to fine tune the casts according to your mana, but generally you smite the mob/NPC to half health, use pain word, then melee to begin regenerating your mana. By the time you finish the fight, or by the time you find the next mob, you should have regenerated much of your mana, thus limiting down time. Later on down the road, at level 10, you’ll gain a quick nuke called Mind Blast which you can add to the mix. Though you should be using your mana efficiently, it is always good to have a supply of food and drink on you just in case. I usually just find a mage and ask politely if he/she wouldn’t mind summoning me food and/or drink.

Grouping

For grouping, the spells you will be using most often will be your healing line of spells, which include: Renew, Flash Heal, Lesser Healing, Healing, and Greater Healing. Renew is much like a healing version of Shadow Word: Pain. It heals the target player over time for a certain amount of health. At rank 1, the amount of health healed is 45 hp over 15 seconds; while at rank 9 it heals 810 hp over 15 seconds. In many cases, this is an extremely efficient method of healing the person. It costs little mana, and allows you to rest in between heals in order to regenerate the lost mana. If there is any spell that I keep on a tank while we are grouped, it is renew. Depending on the tank’s gear, renew is often good enough to keep him/her healed throughout the fight. You may need to throw a small heal in now and again during those moments the mob goes crazy and deals loads of damage, but for the most part, renew is probably the most efficient healing spell. A sample healing situation might look like:

Renew ? Shadow Word: Pain mob/NPC ? wait 15 seconds ? Renew ? Lesser Healing (or Flash Heal when you get it to top off the tank’s health bar)

Your healing strategies will differ with each fight. At higher levels, you will have Flash Heal, Renew, Prayer of Healing, and Greater Healing in your arsenal. Prayer of Healing is a group healing spell. It is nice in certain situations where a mob may be performing area effect (AE) attacks on the group, but this spell shouldn’t be used all too often due to the high mana cost. I often use it to top off the group if everyone has taken damage after a fight, and then quickly consume a drink to regain mana. During general encounters with a group, I find that greater healing is your best bet. It is a very big heal with the highest rank healing upwards of 2396 to 2674 hp, but the downside is that it has a relatively long casting time. It takes 4 seconds to cast, so timing is crucial when using greater healing as your main method of healing. I can’t tell you the correct time to start using greater healing. It depends on the rank of healing or greater healing that you have, and the rate at which your tank is losing HP. In most cases, starting greater healing when the tank reaches half health, or a bit above half health, is enough to heal him/her back to full when greater healing lands. But again, you need to tailor the timing according to your healing rank and the encounter itself. Some mobs deal damage faster, some don’t deal too much burst damage. If your tank is not losing health quickly, then a simple renew would be fine.

Boss

Boss encounters are quite different than the normal encounter. You’ll find that the tank will most likely lose health at too quick a rate for you to time greater heal to land and for renew to do much good. For those cases, keeping renew on the tank and then spamming flash heal as needed would prove to be a great healing strategy. You may burn through your mana quickly with this method, though. Being a priest is very meticulous. It takes a form of precision that most other classes will not recognize.

As far as gear goes, the main stats a priest will be focusing on are primarily intellect and spirit, with stamina not too far behind. Intellect will increase your overall mana pool, while spirit increases your overall mana regeneration rate per tick (a tick is about 2 seconds). Some priests like to go full intellect, while others go full spirit. I aim for a balance of the two, but having full intellect gear as backup will help during high end boss encounters. You cannot begin to regenerate mana until 5 seconds after your spell has been cast, so during those encounters where you will be healing non-stop, a huge mana pool would prove very useful. Although you are not meant to be a tank, having extra stamina is always a plus as a priest as you will catch a lot of agro through the hate generated by your healing spells. When you seem to catch agro and the tank hasn’t pulled the mob off of you, your Fade spell is a saving grace. Fade lasts 10 seconds and lowers the hate a mob has towards you. If fade doesn’t seem to work to get the mob off of you, then you have Power Word: Shield to help you take some extra damage while the tank tries to taunt off of you.

They have changed talents a bit since I’ve played, but I will do my best to describe sample trees that may prove useful for whichever type of priest you want to play: PvP, PvE, solo. The discipline tree remains the same, so I will start off with a sample talent build in discipline. The single most useful talent in the discipline specialization line is Inner Focus. When activated, it reduces the mana cost of your next spell by 100%, and also increases the chance for you to get a critical spell. Having a spell with a free mana cost is extremely valuable during those situations where you run out of mana and just need that one extra heal (i.e. an extra greater heal free of cost).

Discipline Build

Here is the minimal build for discipline for a primary healer:

Discipline Mastery

Unbreakable Will Rank 5

Improved Power Word: Shield Rank 3

Improved Power Word: Fortitiude Rank 2

Mental Agility Rank 5

Mental Strength Rank 5

Inner Focus Rank 1

Discipline Total: 21

Although Unbreakable Will never seemed to be all that powerful, you do need to invest in it or Silent Resolve. Unbreakable Will increases your chance to resist stun, fear and silence, so I find it to be a better investment than a talent that reduced threat generated by your damage spells when you are primarily healing.

Improved Power Words are a great benefit, especially the Shield version. The investment into gaining rank 3 in Improved Power Word: Shield will reduce the time you must wait before you can cast Power Word: Shield on the same person by 15 seconds.

Mental Agility reduces the mana cost of instant cast spells by 10%, while Mental Strength increases your overall mana by 10%.

And then, of course, Inner Focus which reduces your next spell’s mana cost to 0.

The Holy tree has shifted around a bit, and they have also removed the most useful spell of the Holy line, Combat Resurrection. It was a quick casting resurrection spell that resurrected the target with no sickness and most of their health and mana. The Holy tree wasn’t very impressive to begin with, but for someone who will be looking to be primarily a healer, it’s the best option to increase your mana efficiency.

Holy Build

But, anyway, here is a sample holy build for the primary healer:

Holy Mastery

Improved Renew Rank 5

Holy Specialization Rank 5

Spiritual Healing Rank 5

Subtlety Rank 4

Improved Healing Rank 5

Spirit of Redemption Rank 1

Master Healer Rank 5

Holy Total: 30

Improved Renew, at rank 5, will increase the amount healed by Renew by 15%, thus allowing it to heal more HP per tick.

Holy Specialization is mostly a throw-in talent. It increases the chance to gain a critical effect by your holy spells by 5%, which isn’t all that much. It’s not a very important skill, but something nice.

Spiritual Healing increases the amount healed by all your healing spells by 10% at the highest rank.

Subtlety will reduce the threat generated by your heals by 16% at rank 4. I chose to forego rank 5 in order to invest 1 point into Spirit of Redemption. Ultimately, the 4% difference between rank 4 and 5 is negligible, and you won’t notice much of a difference agro-wise. Spirit of Redemption is new to me as a talent. It was not in the game when I played, but it seems like a nice saving throw to a group, pending you have an extra class that can resurrect in the mix. I see a lot of utility in it as far as boss and raid encounters go.

Improved Healing and Master Healer are probably self-explanatory. Improved Healing will increase the amount that Lesser Heal, Heal, and Greater Heals will actually heal for by 15% at rank 5. Master Healer will reduce the casting time of your Heal and Greater Heals by 0.5 seconds. It may seem small, but anything that will shorten the duration of your 4 second Greater Heal cast is nice to have.

Holy Nova is a fun spell to have, but it isn’t a necessary talent to me. As far as the holy tree ultimate, it actually is somewhat disappointing. If you choose to use Holy Nova, you’ll have to give up Inner Focus in the discipline tree.

Here is a recap of a healer’s build:

Holy Mastery

Improved Renew Rank 5

Holy Specialization Rank 5

Spiritual Healing Rank 5

Subtlety Rank 4

Improved Healing Rank 5

Spirit of Redemption Rank 1

Master Healer Rank 5

Holy Total: 30

Discipline Mastery

Unbreakable Will Rank 5

Improved Power Word: Shield Rank 3

Improved Power Word: Fortitiude Rank 2

Mental Agility Rank 5

Mental Strength Rank 5

Inner Focus Rank 1

Discipline Total: 21

As far as soloing and PvE goes, many people like to have Spirit Tap in the Shadow tree. At rank 5, spirit tap increases your mana regeneration by 100% during periods of non-casting, and by 50% during times you are casting spells provided that you get the killing blow on a mob that gives you experience. This is a very valuable tool while soloing and has its usefulness during general PvE encounters. If you want to gain Spirit Tap with your healer’s build, then I would probably give up the 5 points into Master Healer and put them into Spirit Tap.

Shadow Build

For those who primarily would like to PvP, here is a build that I’ve found to be a consistent damage dealer:

Shadow Mastery

Blackout Rank 5

Improved Shadow Word: Pain Rank 2

Shadow Focus Rank 5

Improved Psychic Scream Rank 2

Improved Mind Blast Rank 3

Mind Flay Rank 1

Shadow Reach Rank 3

Silence Rank 1

Shadow Weaving Rank 5

Vampiric Embrace Rank 1

Darkness Rank 5

Shadowform Rank 1

Shadow Total: 34

Discipline Mastery

Unbreakable Will Rank 5

Improved Power Word: Shield Rank 3

Improved Power Word: Fortitiude Rank 2

Mental Agility Rank 5

Improved Mana Burn Rank 2

Discipline Total: 17

As far as PvP builds go, I find this one of the strongest. The shadow mastery tree of the Priest is probably our best designed talent tree as far as utility goes. It can totally change the game of the priest and make them an efficient damage dealer.

Blackout provides the priest with a 10% chance to stun their target for 3 seconds with any shadow spell you cast on the target. Although it is only a 10% chance, I have found that goes off quite a bit.

Shadow Focus reduces the target’s chance to resist your shadow spells by 10%. Some may argue the utility of Shadow Focus, but I find that it really does help during PvP if someone has high resists towards shadow.

Psychic Scream is one of your best shadow spells. It is an instant cast area effect fear. It comes in handy during both solo and group PvP, as well as solo PvE, situations. If someone gets the jump on you, you can fire off a psychic scream and fear kite them. It makes encounters so much easier.

Mind Flay is the bread and butter of the shadow mastery tree. Coupling mind flay with Power Word: Shield makes you a very dangerous damage dealer. It is a channeled spell which does a certain amount of damage per tick depending on which rank you are trained in. You can buy higher level ranks of Mind Flay at the Priest trainers. Along with the consistent damage that mind flay deals, it has the added effect of slowing the target’s movement speed down by 50%. An example encounter may look like:

Power Word: Shield self ? Psychic Scream ? Shadow Word: Pain target ? Mind Flay ? Mind Flay ? Mind Blast

While your target is busy running away from your psychic scream, you can DoT him and slow his movement back to you. Shadow Reach can help you in this regard as it increases the range of your shadow spells. For added measure, you can throw Vampiric Brace on the target. This will heal you for 20% of any shadow damage you deal to the target.

Shadow Weaving and Darkness both have the effect of increasing your shadow damage against a target. Shadow Weaving makes the person or mob vulnerable to shadow spells, thus lowering their resists by a bit and increasing your shadow damage.

Shadowform is, by far, the best talent ultimate of all the trees. It has the upside of increasing your shadow damage by 15%, while also reducing any physical damage dealt to you by 15%. The downside of being in shadowform is that you can only cast shadow and discipline based spells. This rules out the use of Smite and any of your heals while you are in shadowform. You can deactivate it quickly to gain the use of your heals again, but that is your call. Vampiric embrace is sort of your “replacement heal”.

Silence and Mana Burn are there to help you deal with casting classes. Silence stops the target from casting for 5 seconds, so the timing of its usage is pretty important. Improved Mana Burn will allow you to deplete your enemy’s mana even quicker due to reduced casting time.

The shadow/discipline build mentioned is mainly for PvP, but can also be used in solo PvE combat. You may choose to invest into Spirit Tap for soloing. I’ll let you decide which talent(s) to give up in order to gain Spirit Tap. Other than that, the previously mentioned build is good for either PvP or soloing in PvE (or for being a damage dealer in a group if that’s your thing).

Well, I think that’s it for now. I’ve rambled on for a few pages and I’m sure some of you got tired of reading halfway through. For those who have read all of it, I hope that what I’ve said has helped you gain a bit more insight into the class. Please feel free to post and correct anything I may have said that you feel is wrong. I’m writing this based on the knowledge gained from closed beta, and from what I’ve read, much has been changed around for the priest class.

Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy playing a priest!

WOW Warrior 1-20 done quick

The Warrior is a very “Item Dependent” class, you need to keep your armor and your weapons very close to your level or risk being “gimped”. If you are a player that likes to be in a group then, your items will be even more important as the group will expect you to take and HOLD agro.

Race played = Tauren
Level obtained = 20
Armor = cloth, leather, mail, (use mail if you have a choice) at level 40 you may use plate (with training)
Weapon of choice = Ax/Shield
Leveling Difficulty = Medium
NOTE: the cost to buy each skill is listed next to its name. The Warrior Leveling 1-15

The Warrior is a very “Item Dependent” class, you need to keep your armor and your weapons very close to your level or risk being “gimped”. If you are a player that likes to be in a group then, your items will be even more important as the group will expect you to take and HOLD agro. In the MMORPG Shadowbane a good tank was just about impossible to solo with any class, in DAOC, a S/S(S/S = Sword/Shield) tank could hold his own in PvP but really did not shine in any particular form. In WOW it is really going to be your choice, do you want to deal massive damage up front and in a mob’s face? If so then go 2 handed putting full talent points in “arms” and “fury”, want to play the shy defensive type? Then go 1 hand/Shield putting most of your points in the “protection” talent tree. As the end of Open Beta approached there was a LARGE number of debates going on about the Warrior class as allot of peeps simply felt that the warrior could not stand on its own as it it was built, regardless of the skills it used or the talents it took. The Warrior I played went Ax/Shield and although I had no problems soloing to level 15, I did start to see some weaknesses in the level 15-20 range, the problem was not damage output but rather being able to take damage, I am very used to a “block” with a shield being a “block”, however in WOW a “block” with a shield simply reduces the damage taken it does not erase it completely. Anyway I am not complaining about the Warrior class as that is not what I am here to do, I just mention it now because you might want to wait a few weeks, before playing this class as I am sure if Bliz sees the Warrior population being very tiny they will make some changes to get more people to play this class. nerf…( I don’t know what to nerf maybe ALL the mobs - lol) The first thing you want to do is open your inventory and right click on the scroll, or other object that will open the quest window on the left side of the screen and give you your first quest, accept the quest and if you look on your minimap you should see a little yellow dot this dot represents the NPC that you talk too to complete your first quest.(You may have to walk a little ways, but just starting off the quest NPC is usually very close to your starting location) For future reference anytime you see a little yellow dot on your minimap this is the location of an NPC that you have completed a quest for. When you get to level 5 you may take a trade skill, which may also show you little yellow dots on the minimap, these will either represent a “mine node” (if you have the skill “mining”)that can be mined or a “herb plant”(if you have the skill “herbalism”) that can be harvested.

Leveling 1-4

From level 1-4 you will have the following skills available:

Heroic Strike Level 1(free/quest)
Cost = 15 Rage —– Activation = Next melee attack —– Must have melee wep equipped. (Stance? SEE PARAGRAPH BELOW)
A Melee attack that raises melee damage by 10.

Battle Stance(free)
Cost = 0 —– Activation time = Instant —– Wipes out 100% of rage(there is a talent that will allow you to keep some rage while changing stances.
This “stance” is the normal stance at the lower levels and generates rage when you get hit and when you cause damage.

Battle Shout Level 1(10 copper)
Cost = 20 Rage —– Activation time = Instant
This ability raises the groups attack power by 19.(It will raise yours as well if solo)
Ability last 2 min..(This time can also be increased with the use of talents)

A caster in WOW starts out with health and mana, a Rouge starts out with health and 100 energy, a Warrior starts out with health and an empty “rage” bar. As the warrior hits a mob the rage bar will start to fill,(it has been my experience that the more damage the mob takes from your hit the more rage you receive) and you will also gain a very small amount of rage when you are hit. You can think of “rage” as a casters mana bar but it starts on empty, as it fills you have enough “rage” to use skills such as Heroic Strike. At this level you only have 1 “stance” so you will in that stance all the time that you are online. A typical combat until you get more skills is simply to close to melee range with a mob and click on the skill Heroic Strike anytime that you have enough rage to do so. The skill Battle Shout, should only be used if you know that within the next 2 minutes you will be in another melee combat. If you find that any skills are mentioned here or later in this article then simply open up your abilities window and left click on the skill then drag it to your hotbar and left click it again. To start combat simply right click a mob and move into melee range. At the lower levels you will only experience the “melee” type mob’s, later on you will face mobs that once you attack them they may start casting a spell on you. As you noticed above there is a message to “see paragraph below” this is in reference to numerous changes Bliz has made in the days(and with the last patch within hours) to the warrior class as of the close of Open Beta. Although this guide is only to get you to level 15, so for the most part you have nothing to worry about for now. But later on you will need to check with your trainer and see what skills require what stances, this will be very important to check BEFORE you start throwing points into talents. Remember, talent points are a “bonus” to your combat abilities, and you are not forced to place them when you start getting them at level 10, it is far better to save them for a few levels until you get clarification on topics such as required stances and such, then to place the talent points and have to pay 10 gold to get them untrained… From now until level 4 simply get within melee range and just whack him with your weapon a few times and he should die. By now you should be getting to level 4.

Leveling 4-6

At level 4 you may buy these skills:

Rend Level 1(50 copper)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– range = melee —– Must have melee wep equipped
Bleeds the target for 15 damage over 9 seconds.(a Minor DOT)

Charge Level 1(50 copper)
Cost = 0 —– Range = 10-25 yards —– Cooldown = 15 secs.
Charges at an enemy, stunning it for 2 secs and generating 9 rage, cannot be used while “in combat”.

Pummel Level 1(1 silver)

Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = melee —– Cooldown = 10 secs.
Slams the target for 4 damage and interrupts the spell being cast for 5 secs.
NOTE: I will mention this skill here, but one of the last things I heard in the Closing of the Open Beta was that this skill was removed, check with your trainer as soon as you can in game. This is a “caster killer” skill witch interrupts spell casting, if you are equipped with a shield there is a skill called “Shield Bash” that you get at level 12 that does the same thing, interrupts spell casting.

Now you are a little better off, your new combat drill will be: Charge, Rend, Heroic Strike, Heroic Strike, Rend, Heroic Strike.(Don’t forget Battle Shout if you are going to be “chain pulling”(chain pulling is when you engage another mob within seconds of finishing the first mob you were fighting, at low levels this is fine, but do not try to do this at higher levels with mobs that are your same level if you are solo.) A Warrior does not have mana so it does not need to keep “drinkable” items in his inventory so either sell them or give them to a caster friend, however to lessen downtime between pulls always have a supply of food on hand, at later levels you will find drinks that give you stat adds these you may want to consume instead of selling them or giving them away. Another thing to keep in mind is that you Charge skill can be activated quite a distance away from your target so start getting closer to your target as you watch the slot that your Charge skill is in, when the number in the slot box turns from red to white you are close enough to activate this skill. Continue on to level 6, at level 6 you will most likely leave the “noob” town and make your way to another town to get new quests and higher level mobs. Up to now when you see a mob it was most likely yellow which means that these will not attack you if you get too close, however if see a mob that is red then this mob will attack you if you get to close, this is commonly called “agro”.

Leveling 6-8

At level 6 you may buy the following skill(s):

Thunderclap Level 1(1 silver)
Cost = 20 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Cooldown = 4 secs.
This is a PBAEO Thunder attack that will slow your enemies attack speed by 10% and do 7 Nature damage to them, this will last 10 seconds and will affect up to 4 targets.

I did not find the Thunderclap spell very useful, so I really did not use it, continue to complete all the quests you can and keep obtaining the best armor and weps you can without directly buying them from a merchant, for example: When doing a quest that offers you armor pieces as a reward always take the armor piece that will “add” the most armor value to your character, this is not always the highest piece offered. If you have a choice of a “50 armor chest piece” and a “30 armor pair of boots” and you are wearing a “45 armor chest piece” and a “5 armor pair of boots” take the new boots! By now you should be pretty familiar with the quest system as well as knowing what level mobs you can handle. It has been my playing experience that you should only kill mobs your level or 1-2 levels higher as anything else is going to cause too much down time and too much food consumed or a possible death, and you will find that the exp is not worth it at all, after you figure in the risk and the downtime needed to recover from the lost health. Also if you are going to take any trade skills get them now, even if you have to take some time to walk to your nearest capitol,(which is pretty close to you now, regardless which race you have chosen) You can get your 2 main tradeskills at lvl 5.

Leveling 8-10

At level 8 you may buy the following skills:

Hamstring Level 1(2 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Range = melee —– Must have melee Wep equipped
Hits the enemies legs for weapon damage + 5 additional damage, also slows the enemies movement by 60% for 15 secs.

Heroic Strike Level 2(2 silver)
Costs = 15 Rage —– Activation = Next melee attack - Must have melee wep equipped.
A melee attack that raises damage by 18.

Parry(2 silver)
Costs = 0 —– This is a passive skill, to see your actual Parry chance open your abilities window and click on the general tab then look at the skill named Parry.

Here you receive the skill Hamstring, because of my playing style I really did not use this, because at level 10 I trained in throwing knives, so if the mob ran away I would just chuck a knife or 2 at him and he would come running back.(If he did not run into hi friends and bring additional agro, lol) The Parry skill is useful even if you want to go 2 handed as this ability would also give your 2 handed wep a chance to parry. The next rank of Heroic Strike is here to help boost your damage output as well. It should be noted however that you could use Hamstring as an “emergency” skill, simply activate it and if it hits run as the mob would be too slow to keep whacking on you. By now you should have visited your capitol or have a quest that leads you to your capitol for your race. At level 10-11 you will most likely leave the level 5-10 “area” and be sent on a quest to visit a new location, this is also the level at which you may be introduced to your first “elite” quest. Elite quests are not meant to be done solo and no you cannot solo an “elite” mob that is your same level in most cases. I believe Bliz did this to encourage “grouping” after level 10 if you so desire. You can easily tell an “elite” mob from a normal mob by the word “elite” in the mobs name or the wreath around the mobs pic when you left click it. You can safely left click a mob to get info however if you right click it then you enter combat mode with that mob.

Leveling 10-12

At level 10 you may buy the following skills:

Punishing Blow Level 1(3 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Cooldown = 2 minutes —– Must have melee wep equipped.
A brutal attack that raises damage by 7 and causes allot of threat to yourself, lasts for 6 secs.

Defensive Stance(quest reward)
Cost = 0 —– Activation time = Instant —–Wipes out 100% of rage(there is a talent that will allow you to keep some rage while changing stances)
This is the Next stance you get after Battle Stance, you still generate rage when you hit and when your receive a hit but this Stance raises your Defense by 10 and allows some Stance restricted moves that you will obtain later

Blood Rage Level 1(3 silver)
Cost = 0 —–Cooldown = 20 secs —–requires defensive stance(I believe this requirement was changed recently check with your trainer)
This ability will generate 20 rage over 10 secs, BUT will take a chunk of health from you instantly, the warrior is also considered “in combat” so you cannot charge if you use this.

Taunt Level 1(silver)
Cost = 5 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Must be in Defensive Stance for this ability
Teases the target to attack you, increasing threat.

Punishing Blow I did not use as I was always solo, so there was simply nothing more I could do to make the mob attack me besides whacking him upside the head wit my ax, this is a “group” skill to try and get the agro off a healer or other caster. Defensive stance is the stance that I used most as this seemed to work the best for me, as I have stated earlier I never had a problem with damage output just being able to take damage even with the above average hit points. Blood Rage is really 2 sided, as it does give you the 20 rage but the health you lose is instant and it seemed to be about 10% of my hits, so as far as I am concerned this is really a toss up, if you use this in a tight battle I hope you have a big heal potions on your hotbar… Taunt, this is another skill I did not use since I was solo, however I have heard numerous problems with this, mainly as the warrior not being able to hold enough agro regardless if using it or not, not to cause a fuss but WOW is really new, which means we are all noobs playing it, and in my experience in past MMORPG’s I have seen many clerics spam casting large heals in battle, and then screaming when they get agro and cant figure out why and simply blame it on the tank that is supposed to be holding the agro, I am not saying this is the case in WOW, but I am sure this has happened here more then anyone will admit, after all it is a new game. By now you should understand the basics of playing a
Warrior, and at the capitol city you should also find your “bank” as this has numerous “slots” to store your items, before storing items see if you can “stack” them by dragging one item over the top of another items of the same type. Stackable items include: potions, food, water, crafting materials, and crafting supplies. Also depending on which type of server you are playing on PvP or PvE you may start to see enemies from the other “realm.” From level 10-20 the basics of the game and the mobs start to take you out of the “noobness” and into the full game, expect to fight “caster” mobs, “bow and arrow” mobs and mobs that will give you poison, stuns, or other negative status effects. You may also want to open your “social” window and flag yourself as “looking for a group” if that is a style of play that you desire.(You also may choose to pick a talent here, see the bottom of this post for a link to a list of the talents available.)

Leveling 12-14

At level 12 you may buy the following skills:

Overpower Level 1(8 silver)
Cost = 5 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = melee —– Cooldown = 5 secs —– Must have melee wep equipped —- Must be in Battle Stance.
This skill cannot be blocked, parried, or dodged, however you may only use it after your target dodges your attack, cause wep damage + 5.

Shield Bash Level 1(8 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = melee —– Cooldown = 10 secs —– Must have Shield equipped —– Must be in defensive stance
Slams the target for 6 damage with your shield, cancels the spell being cast for 8 seconds.

Battle Shout Level 2(8 silver)
Cost = 20 Rage —– Activation time = Instant
The next level in your battle shouts increasing your attack power by 35 as well as your groups attack power.
Skill lasts 2 minutes.

Overpower is a very useful skill IF you have your eyes glued to the hotbar to see when it lights up so you can use it. Shield Bash is the skill I mentioned earlier that is a necessity to use against caster class mobs, and battle shout now deserves a little more attention as the attack power increase will now be noticeable in the damage you do. I would set up a typical combat here but I have no idea how your are going to spec your character… Maybe you are going to go Dual Wield @ lvl 20, maybe you are using 2 handed weps by now, I believe the most important thing to remember is simply remembering to keep your armor and wep up to the closest you can to your level without wasting coin at the vendors, check the auctions,(located in Orgrimar for the Horde) I guess regardless how you play your warrior some fundamentals would be to STAY AWAY from casters, yeah you can run in and charge one, but what happens if you agro another caster close by? You will be getting nuked from a distance and if you run you will be getting nuked by the one you agroed and the one that you were fighting. At level 10 I went and bought the “thrown” skill for 10 silver and if I ever had to pull a caster mob for a quest I would throw a knife at it then run away, the caster mob would run after me and when it got far enough away for the other casters mobs I turned around and ran straight at it, I could not charge it since I was already flagged for combat but I was able to close and use my shield bash every chance I could, this worked out rather well for me. Another mob you want to stay away from if you can is a bow mob as these again have ranged attacks and you will face the same problem as if you were facing a caster class, and a caster that can heal itself is double trouble to a Warrior. For now it is probably best if you move on, if you are on the horde side and you are a Tauren, Orc or troll you should be at the crossroads(that’s a town), if you are Undead then you should be at the sepulcher. Here you will start to find that you are not in the lobie noob zones anymore. The majority of the mobs are aggressive(red con) and if you pull them and they have buddies nearby they will come also. You will also find mobs that “call” other mobs if they get hurt and are close to death, so if there are other mobs close by that are of the same type do not be surprised if they agro you when you have the mob you are working on almost dead. The best way to see this is to mouse over your chat window, go to the tab that says “combat” left click and hold and drag it to the right side of your screen to separate it from the chat window, now you can review all the damage and other combat related actions taken by you and the mob you were in combat with, as well as seeing any new chat messages in the chat window. At this level you really need to be paying full attention to your surroundings. If you are Undead and hanging around the sepulcher. Doing quests you may run into a unique mob named “son of aragul” this mob will agro you from far away, and will kill you in one to 2 hits, if you see him run, do not investigate unless you need a free trip to the graveyard… If you are Orc, troll or Tauren stay away from the “dinosaur looking” lizards south of the crossroads as they are melee and casters, and will zap you with lightning damage. Needless to say, now is a good time to get in a group. Also at the crossroads I am 99.9% sure you will experience your first PvP encounter… If you are Undead and want to go to the crossroads simply go to the “airport” a little north of the Undercity, look up and you might see one of the airships flying in to dock. Climb the stairs to the tower and take the “west” airship this will take you right outside of Orgrimar the Orc main city, after you get off the city id to the west about a 1 minute run. The trip in Open Beta was free, as you just walk onto the airship. Do not take the “east” airship as this takes you down close to Booty Bay and trust me you are not ready for that yet…

Leveling 14-20

At level 14 you may buy the following skills:

Revenge Level 1(12 silver)
Cost = 5 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = melee - Cooldown = 5 secs —– Must be in Defensive Stance
This skill Instantly strikes back at an opponent for 12-14 damage, however it can only be activated after you block, dodge or parry.

Shield Block(12 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Cooldown = 5 secs. —–Must have shield equipped —– Must be in defensive Stance.
Raises your chance to block by 75% for 5 seconds, but will only block 1 attack.

Demoralizing Shout Level 1(12 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Cooldown = 5 secs.
Lowers nearby enemies attack power by 30
Ability lasts 30 seconds.

Revenge I did not use as again this is a skill that you must constantly”baby-sit” to see if you can use it, Shield block works really well as it only has a 5 sec cooldown and it costs very little to use. Demoralizing shout is another very good skill to use when you are fighting more then 1 mob at a time. From here to level 20 it seemed to get harder and harder to take on mobs my own level or 1 level above me as, I was just taking too much damage I did the best I could to keep my items at my level and even crafted a few items for myself that added about 70 more armor. It just seemed that I was always 2-3 steps behind where I should be as far as taking damage was concerned. Pretty soon you will be heading to your second set of “elite quests”, so hopefully by now you have met quite a few players and already have some friends you can do the quests with. As you do your quests remember that the top most quest in your quest list under an area is the easiest one to complete, so in most cases you should do these quests first

WOW Schamane 1-20 done quick

The Shaman, Bliz describes this class as a Jack of all trades and master of none, we will see about that… The Shaman will definitely be a challenge for those of you who take him into high level PvP, as his skills are extremely spread around, not really being able to do any one thing like an expert.

Race played = Orc
Level obtained = 15
Armor = cloth, leather, can wear mail at 40 with training.
Weapon of choice = Mace/Shield until 10 then Ax/Shield(I switch to Ax at 10 to get that extra 5% Orc damage bonus for using axes.)
Leveling Difficulty = Medium (hard in PvP)
NOTE: the cost to buy each skill is listed next to its name.

The Shaman Leveling 1-20

At the lobie levels this is not apparent at all until you start to hit 10+, think of the Shaman as a pala… Oh?!? almost said the “p” word, being a Horde peep that is against my religion. The biggest single problem you will face will also be your greatest asset… Totems Yes they are awesome if used correctly, but even if used correctly will you be able to convince an alliance member to step inside your Shamanitstic totemic circle of doom? ummm no… In PvE where the mobs have the intelligence of a high school senior on prom night, they will simply run right up to you, never stopping once to see the 4 totems you have sitting on the ground. So if you dare to enter the world of the Shaman do not expect to get massive kills in PvP as the opposing side will simply nuke you from range or totally ignore you, its not like you can just pick your totems up and start chasing them, no the Air totems do not have the fly ability enabled. Am I bashing the Shaman? Oh no, quite the opposite, the shaman will be the greatest challenge of all to play in PvP. That is why 90% of peeps play MMORPG’s, for the challenge of being the best there is, and letting everyone else know it. Necessity is the mother of invention and if it is humanly possible to find a way to rack up the kills with a Shaman in PvP, then it will be done. O.K. lets get you to 15 before I start a Shaman ritual or something… The first thing you want to do is open your inventory and right click on the scroll, or other object that will open the quest window on the left side of the screen and give you your first quest, accept the quest and if you look on your minimap you should see a little yellow dot this dot represents the NPC that you talk too to complete your first quest.(You may have to walk a little ways, but just starting off the quest NPC is usually very close to your starting location) For future reference anytime you see a little yellow dot on your minimap this is the location of an NPC that you have completed a quest for. When you get to level 5 you may take a trade skill, which may also show you little yellow dots on the minimap, these will either represent a “mine node” (if you have the skill “mining”)that can be mined or a “herb plant”(if you have the skill “herbalism”) that can be harvested.

Leveling 1-4

You will have (or may buy) these skills at lvl 1-4

Lightning Bolt Level 1
Cost = 35 Mana —– Casting time = 1.5 secs. —– Range = 30 yards.
A lightning bolt that hits your target for 26-30 damage.

Healing Wave Level 1
Cost = 35 Mana —– Casting time = 1.5 secs. —– Range = 40 yards.
Heals yourself or a friendly target for 39 to 49.

RockBiter Weapon
Cost = 30 Mana —– Casting time = Instant.
Buffs the Shamans wep by increasing the attack power by 26.
Spell lasts 5 minutes.

Stoneskin Totem
Cost = 35 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Must have the tool “Earth Totem”
Instant cast
Tools: Earth Totem
Summons a Stoneskin Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem protects party members within 10 yards, reducing physical damage taken by 3. Lasts 45 seconds.

For your fist few levels The “Lightning Bolt” spell will be your main pulling spell, Healing wave is here as well in case you need to heal between pulls.(Notice the really fast 1.5 sec cast rate) RockBiter is a wep buff that you should always have on when about to begin melee, the stoneskin Totem is awarded to you after completing a quest, this is your first totem so make sure you get some good use out of it. Since Totems are insta cast spells, you really do not need to cast these before combat, simply cast one when you receive your first melee hit. Later on when you can drop 4 different totems you will have to do a little more advanced planning. Approach a “mob” and as you approach you will see that the numbered box that your Lightning Bolt spell is in turn from red to white, this means that the mob is in range for your spell. If the spell “Lightning Bolt” is not on your hotbar you will have to open your “abilities” page and left click to drag the icon to a place on your hotbar so that you may use it. So the mob is in range, what I do is right click the mob, this puts you into “combat mode” if the mob is in range you will swing at the mob with whatever weapon you have equipped, but hopefully the mob is still a little distance away so that you may cast Lightning Bolt to damage it. Once you do this, the mob will come to you to do battle.(At the lower levels you will only experience the “melee” type mob’s later on you will face mobs that once you cast a spell on them they will start casting spells on you!) Once you cast Lightning Bolt you will see the “timing bar” start to fill when the bar is fully filled the spell will be casted, IMMEDIATELY click the spell again so that you may start another Lightning Bolt spell. In most cases you will be able to get off 2-3 spells before the mob actually gets close enough to hit you. If the mob is in melee with you and you try to cast a spell the mob may hit you, if that happens your bar will “jump back” and the spell will attempt to continue casting. At the lower levels after the mob gets within melee range just whack him with your weapon a few times and he should die. A little trick on casting spells… some spells when you get higher level have a “cooldown” time so you cannot keep casting over and over again, however at the lower levels wait until you see the green bar hit the end of the line and click again, do not wait for the bar to fill and disappear, click it as soon as the bar is filled this gives you about a .1 - .2 seconds of advantage over other players that simply wait until the bar disappears. By now you should be getting to level 4.

Leveling 4-6

At level 4 you may buy these spells:

Earth Shock Level 1
Cost = 30 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 20 yards —– Cooldown = 6 secs.
This is an Insta cast spell that not only causes damage of 17-19 Nature damage, but also disrupts any spell being cast for 2 seconds.

This spell is very useful later on when facing casters, right now you just want to use this as an insta damage spell. As a Shaman since you can heal your self you really have no need for food, but keep all the drinks you find to replace your man to decrease downtime between pulls. Continue on to level 6, at level 6 you will most likely leave the “noob” town and make your way to another town to get new quests and higher level mobs. Up to now when you see a mob it was most likely yellow which means that these will not attack you if you get too close, however if see a mob that is red then this mob will attack you if you get to close, this is commonly called “agro”.

Leveling 6-8

At level 6 you may buy the following spells:

EarthBind Totem Level 1
Cost = 40 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Tolls required = Earth Totem
Creates an Earthbound Totem that slows enemies with 10 yards. Totem has 5 hit points.

Molten Blast Level 1
Cost = 30 Mana —– Casting time = 1.8 secs —– Range = 30 yards.
Flames the target for 18-26 damage

Healing Wave Level 2
Cost = 50 Mana —– Casting time = 2 secs. —– Range = 40 yards
Heals the caster or another friendly target for 64-78

The earthbound totem is really not needed at this level as you can just cast lightning bolt if a mob tries to run away. The molten blast spell is about the same power as the lightning bolt spell but has a little longer casting time. Healing wave 2 is an upgrade to your earlier Healing wave 1 spell. Still do as many quests as you can and always have the rockbiter buff on your weapon. By now you should be pretty familiar with the quest system as well as knowing what level mobs you can handle. It has been my playing experience that you should only kill mobs your level or 1-2 levels higher as anything else is going to cause a “mana dump” and a possible death, and you will find that the exp is not worth it at all, after you figure in the risk and the downtime needed to recover from the mana dumping. Also if you are going to take any trade skills get them now, even if you have to take some time to walk to your nearest capitol,(which is pretty close to you now, regardless which race you have chosen) You can get your 2 main tradeskills at lvl 5.

Leveling 8-10

At level 8 you may buy the following spells:

Lighting Shield Level 1
Cost = 45 Mana —– Casting time = Instant
This shields the caster with 3 balls of lightning, when the casters is hit in melee or by a ranged enemy they will be hit with of the lightning balls for 13 damage. Each hit that an attacker takes, takes away 1 lightning ball, the lightning balls will not discharge all at once and will only fire every few seconds.
Spell lasts 10 min. or until all 3 lightning balls are used up.

Lightning Bolt Level 2
Cost = 35 Mana —– Casting time = 2 secs. —– Range = 30 yards.
This is an upgrade from your Lightning Bolt level 1 spell and hits for 26-30 damage.

Earth Shock
Cost = 50 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 20 yards —– Cooldown = 6 secs.
This is an upgrade to your earth shock spell causing 33-35 lightning damage and interrupting spell casting for 2 secs.

StoneClaw Totem Level 1
Cost = 20 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Cooldown = 30 secs. —– Tools required = Earth Totem.
Creates a totem with 50 health for 15 secs, that tries to taunt creatures into attacking it.

RockBiter Weapon Level 2
Cost = 55 Mana —– Casting time = Instant.
Upgraded weapon buff increasing the attack power by 53
Spell lasts 5 minutes

A good idea is too cast lightning shield and rockbiter 2 right after one another, if you are soloing then the Stoneclaw will simply attempt to pull the agro from you, I have found that the vast majority of the time this did not work well. At this level I was still using the Stoneskin totem and casting Lightning Bolt to pull and kept casting it until mob closed to melee then hit an earthshock for the insta damage and then melee the rest of it. By now you should have visited your capitol or have a quest that leads you to your capitol for your race. As a side note you cannot sell conjured food or water, yes I already tried… At level 10-11 you will most likely leave the level 5-10 “area” and be sent on a quest to visit a new location, this is also the level at which you may be introduced to your first “elite” quest. Elite quests are not meant to be done solo and no you cannot solo an “elite” mob that is your same level in most cases. I believe Bliz did this to encourage “grouping” after level 10 if you so desire. You can easily tell an “elite” mob from a normal mob by the word “elite” in the mobs name or the wreath around the mobs pic when you left click it. You can safely left click a mob to get info however if you right click it then you enter combat mode with that mob.

Leveling 10-12

At level 10 you may buy the following spells:

Strength of Earth Totem
Cost = 30 Mana —– casting time = Instant —– required tools = Earth Totem
Creates an Earth Totem that increase the strength of all party members as well as the caster by 10, totem has 5 hit points and works within a radius of 20 yards.
Spell lasts 45 secs.

Flametongue Weapon
Cost = 60 Mana —– Casting time = Instant
Buffs the casters weapon with 4-12 fire damage per hit, actual buff damage is based upon speed of the weapon.
Spell lasts 5 minutes

Flame shock Level 1
Cost = 55 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 20 yards —– Cooldown = 6 secs.
Insta cast spell that hits for 21 and then DOT’s for an additional 24 damage over 12 secs.

Searing Totem Level 1
Cost = 30 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– tools required = Fire Totem.
Creates a Totem that attacks a single enemy within 20 yards for 4-6 fire damage every 2 secs. Lasts 30 seconds. Totem has 5 hit points.

Here the Shaman can quest for a fire totem at level 11, once obtained the Shaman can now have 2 totems running at the same time a fire totem and an earth totem. Another bonus is another insta shock spell so now you have earth shock insta AND the Flame shock Intsa.(Use the Flame shock insta first as this is a DOT) You also can now buff your weapon with Flametongue instead of RockBiter, Flametongue overall is the better buff. By now you should understand the basics of playing a Mage, and at the capitol city you should also find your “bank” as this has numerous “slots” to store your items, before storing items see if you can “stack” them by dragging one item over the top of another items of the same type. Stackable items include: potions, food, water, crafting materials, and crafting supplies. Also depending on which type of server you are playing on PvP or PvE you may start to see enemies from the other “realm.” From level 10-20 the basics of the game and the mobs start to take you out of the “noobness” and into the full game, expect to fight “caster” mobs, “bow and arrow” mobs and mobs that will give you poison, stuns, or other negative status effects. You may also want to open your “social” window and flag yourself as “looking for a group” if that is a style of play that you desire.(You also may choose to pick a talent here, see the bottom of this post for a link to a list of the talents available.) Although the shaman, at this point does not have emergency “get away” spell if things turn bad, drop an EarthBind totem and run it usually works well.

Leveling 12-14

At level 12 you may buy the following spells:

Rebirth
Cost = 140 Mana —– Casting time = 10 secs —– Range = 30 yards.
This is a rez spell that restores a dead friendly target to life, make sure after the rez that you heal the target right away as the target will only have 1% health.

Purge Level 1
Cost = 45 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 30 yards
Remove 1 positive benefit effect from an enemy target.(Not to be confused with the DAOC realm ability “purge” LOL)

Healing Wave Level 3
Cost = 90 Mana —– Casting time = 2.5 secs. —– Range = 40 yards.
Heals the caster or a friendly target for 129-155.

Fire Nova Totem Level 1
Cost = 115 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Tools required = Fire Totem.—– Cooldown = 15 secs.
Creates a fire totem that will hit all enemies within 10 yards for 48-56 damage in 4 secs. Totem has 5 hit points.

Here we have a new interesting selection of new skills here, the Fire Nova Totem is kind of like a time bomb, after you place it it will “detonate” in 4 seconds, there is a talent that will lower this time down to 2 seconds, only bad thing here is the 15 second cooldown on it. Rebirth is a rez spell that only gives the target 1% of health and purge, to me just does not seem like a good skill in PvE. Healing wave is the upgrade from level 2. Well now it seems like it is time for you to move along to mobs that are a little harder, start out in search of a town called the crossroads. Here you will start to find that you are not in the lobie noob zones anymore. The majority of the mobs are aggressive(red con) and if you pull them and they have buddies nearby they will come also. You will also find mobs that “call” other mobs if they get hurt and are close to death, so if there are other mobs close by that are of the same type do not be surprised if they agro you when you have the mob you are working on almost dead. The best way to see this is to mouse over your chat window, go to the tab that says “combat” left click and hold and drag it to the right side of your screen to separate it from the chat window, now you can review all the damage and other combat related actions taken by you and the mob you were in combat with, as well as seeing any new chat messages in the chat window. At this level you really need to be paying full attention to your surroundings. Stay away from the “dinosaur looking” lizards south of the crossroads as they are melee and casters, and will zap you with lightning damage. Needless to say, now is a good time to get in a group. Also at the crossroads I am 99.9% sure you will experience your first PvP encounter…

Leveling 14-20

At level 14 you may buy the following spells:

Lightning Bolt Level 3
Cost = 55 Mana —– Casting time = 2.5 secs. —– Range = 30 yards.
Hurls lightning Bolt for 45-53 damage.

Earth Shock Level 3
Cost = 85 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 20 yards —– Cooldown = 6 secs.
Socks the target hitting for 60-64 damage and interrupting the spell being cast for 2 secs.

Stoneskin Totem Level 2
Cost = 75 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– tools required = Earth Totem
Creates Totem with 5 hit points, reducing physical damage to all party members within 20 yards.
Spell lasts 1 minute.

Molten Blast Level 2
Cost = 45 Mana —– Casting time = 2 secs. —– Range = 30 yards.
Blasts the target for 32-44 fire damage.

Lightning Bolt is an Upgrade as well as the other 3 spells you get at this level. Something very important to remember about totems: you cannot “cast” a totem unless you have the actual totem somewhere in your inventory. By the time you hit the 14-15 range you will have figured out by now that the Shaman at these levels are really melee’s using totems as “buff” If you can see Shaman in this way I believe it will make your leveling allot easier. Pretty soon you will be heading to your second set of “elite quests”, so hopefully by now you have met quite a few players and already have some friends you can do the quests with. As you do your quests remember that the top most quest in your quest list under an area is the easiest one to complete, so in most cases you should do these quests first.

WOW Magier 1-20 power leveling

O.K. So you are already to play the Mage class. The first thing you want to do is open your inventory and right click on the scroll, or other object that will open the quest window on the left side of the screen and give you your first quest, accept the quest!

Race played = Undead
Level obtained = 20
Armor = cloth only
Weapon of choice = Staff until lvl 10, then Dagger/Offhand, Wand (at levels 15-20 you will find items that you may hold in your off hand that have stat adds like “branches” and “orbs” and other items. So it may be advisable to go dagger at level 10 to get that weapon skill raised. Wands, I believe are broke as of the Open Beta, but I still equipped one for the stat adds :)
Leveling Difficulty = Easy
NOTE: the cost to buy each skill is listed next to its name.

The Mage Leveling 1-20

if you look on your minimap you should see a little yellow dot this dot represents the NPC that you talk too to complete your first quest.(You may have to walk a little ways, but just starting off the quest NPC is usually very close to your starting location) For future reference anytime you see a little yellow dot on your minimap this is the location of an NPC that you have completed a quest for. When you get to level 5 you may take a trade skill, which may also show you little yellow dots on the minimap, these will either represent a “mine node” (if you have the skill “mining”)that can be mined or a “herb plant”(if you have the skill “herbalism”) that can be harvested.

Leveling 1-4

This will go by extremely quickly and in most cases will take roughly 30 to 45 minutes. Get any and all quests from any NPC that has a yellow explanation point above its head. The spells you will have at lvl 1-4 are:

Frost Armor Level 1(free)
Cost = 60 Mana —– Casting time = instant
Increases armor by 20. If hit while active enemy may have their movement slowed to 50% and attacks slowed by 20%.
Spell lasts 30 minutes.

Fireball Level 1(free)
Cost = 30 Mana —– Casting time = 1.5 secs —– Range = 30 yards
Creates a Fireball, causes 14 to 22 fire damage and an additional 2 damage over 4 seconds.

Arcane Intellect Level 1(10 copper)
Cost = 60 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 30 yards
Raises the target’s INT by 3
Spell lasts for 30 minutes.

Frost Armor should always be “on” as this raises your armor class, Arcane Intellect should also always be “on” as this raises your INT, thereby increasing your spell damage. Fireball is the spell that you will “pull” with.

Approach a “mob” and as you approach you will see that the numbered box that your fireball spell is in will turn from red to white, this means that the mob is in range for your spell. If the spell “Fireball” is not on your hotbar you will have to open your “abilities” page and left click to drag the icon to a place on your hotbar so that you may use it. O.K. so the mob is in range, what I do is right click the mob, this puts you into “combat mode” if the mob is in range you will swing at the mob with whatever weapon you have equipped, but hopefully the mob is still a little distance away so that you may cast fireball to damage it.

Once you do this the mob will come to you to do battle.(At the lower levels you will only experience the “melee” type mob’s later on you will face mobs that once you cast a spell on them they will start casting spells on you!) Once you cast fireball you will see the “timing bar” start to fill when the bar is fully filled the spell will be casted, IMMEDIATELY click the spell again so that you may start another fireball spell. In most cases you will be able to get off 2-3 spells before the mob actually gets close enough to hit you. If the mob is in melee with you and you try to cast a spell the mob may hit you, if that happens your bar will “jump back” and the spell will attempt to continue casting.

At the lower levels after the mob gets within melee range just whack him with your weapon a few times and he should die. A little trick on casting spells… some spells when you get higher level have a “cooldown” time so you cannot keep casting over and over again, however at the lower levels wait until you see the green bar hit the end of the line and click again, do not wait for the bar to fill and disappear, click it as soon as the bar is filled this gives you about a .1 - .2 seconds of advantage over other players that simply wait until the bar disappears. By now you should be getting to level 4.

Leveling 4-6

At level 4 you can buy the following skills:

Conjure water Level 1(50 copper)
Cost = 60 Mana —– Casting time = 3 secs
Makes 2 bottles of water, This will be put in the caster’s inventory. Conjured items disappear if logged out for more than 15 minutes. This Item can be traded but not sold. Also at higher levels this same spell will create more then just 2 drinks.

Frostbolt Level 1(50 copper)
Cost = 25 Mana —– Casting time = 1.5 secs —– Range = 30 yards
Creates a bolt of Frost, causing 18 to 20 frost damage and slows movement speed for 5 seconds.

O.K. things change now, the conjure water spell allows you to create your own water. As a Mage you should NEVER buy a “drink” or “food” from a vendor as you can create your own free of charge.(You get “create food” at lvl 6) Now do not pull with your fireball spell anymore. Now place your “Frostbolt” icon where your fireball icon used to be and move your fireball icon 1 space to the right.

as the bar is filled, cast fireball, and keep casting fireball until the mob is within melee range, then whack him with your weapon. Continue on to level 6, at level 6 you will most likely leave the “noob” town and make your way to another town to get new quests and higher level mobs. Up to now when you see a mob it was most likely yellow which means that these will not attack you if you get too close, however if see a mob that is red then this mob will attack you if you get to close, this is commonly called “agro”.

Leveling 6-8

At level 6 you may buy the following skills:

Conjure Food Level 1(1 silver)
Cost = 60 Mana —– Casting time = 3 secs
Makes 2 muffins. This will be put in the casters inventory. Conjured items disappear if logged out for more than 15 minutes. This item can be traded but not sold.

Fireblast Level 1(1 silver)
Cost = 40 Mana —– Casting time = instant —– Cooldown = 8 secs —- Range = 20 yards
Burns target with fire for 25 to 33 fire damage.

Fireball Level 2(1 silver)
Cost = 45 Mana —– Casting time = 2 secs —– Range = 35 yards
Creates a Fireball, causes 31 to 45 fire damage and an additional 3 damage over 6 seconds.

Again things change a little, replace the spell “Fireball Level 1″ on your hotbar with “Fireball Level 2″ and add the spell “Fireblast Level 1″ to the hotbar space right of your spell “Fireball Level 2″. Now when you approach a mob, cast your Frostbolt, then 1 or 2 Fireballs and when the mob is in melee range, click on Fireblast. Fireblast is an “instant cast” spell, there is no “spell bar” to fill up, when you click it, it is cast instantly.

By now you should be pretty familiar with the quest system as well as knowing what level mobs you can handle. It has been my playing experience that you should only kill mobs your level or 1-2 levels higher as anything else is going to cause a “mana dump” and a possible death, and you will find that the exp is not worth it at all, after you figure in the risk and the downtime needed to recover from the mana dumping. Also if you are going to take any trade skills get them now, even if you have to take some time to walk to your nearest capitol,(which is pretty close to you now, regardless which race you have chosen) You can get your 2 main tradeskills at lvl 5.

Leveling 8-10

At Level 8 you may buy the following skills:

Arcane Missiles Level 1(2 silver)
Cost = 85 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 30 yards.
Slings Arcane Missiles, causing 24 damage per second for 3 seconds.(Must channel this spell)

Polymorph Level 1(2 silver)
Cost = 60 Mana —– Casting time = 1.5 secs - Range = 30 yards.
Mutates target into a sheep, making it walk around aimlessly for up to 20 seconds. While walking, the sheep cannot attack or cast spells, but will regain health very quickly. Any damage will cancel the mutation and turn the target back into its original form. Only one target can be mutated at a time. Can only be casted on Beasts, Dragons, Giants, Humanoids, and Critters.

Frostbolt Level 2(2 silver)
Cost = 35 Mana —– Casting time = 1.8 secs - Range = 30 yards.
Creates a Bolt of Frost, causing 31 to 35 frost damage and slows movement speed for 6 seconds.

O.K. At level 8 you want to replace your Frostbolt Level 1 with Frostbolt Level 2, I would also put “Arcane Missiles” on my hotbar to the right of Fireblast, and put “Polymorph” on my hotbar all the way to the right as this is your “emergency” spell. If at any time(and this will happen) you find yourself in a losing battle or you got more then 1 mob when you pulled, you can cast Polymorph on a Beast, Dragon, Giant, Humanoid, or a Critter.

This will turn the mob into a sheep, do not cast a spell or whack on the sheep as this will cancel the spell, while the mob is in sheep form they will regenerate health at a very high rate so when it comes out of sheep form, count on it having a full health bar. This spell DOES work in PvP and is very funny… Arcane missiles is a little misleading, as although this is an “instant” cast spell it is a “channeling” spell so you must stand there while the green bar fills and the spell does damage if you want the full effect. By now you should have visited your capitol or have a quest that leads you to your capitol for your race.

As a side note you cannot sell conjured food or water, yes I already tried… At level 10-11 you will most likely leave the level 5-10 “area” and be sent on a quest to visit a new location, this is also the level at which you may be introduced to your first “elite” quest. Elite quests are not meant to be done solo and no you cannot solo an “elite” mob that is your same level in most cases. I believe Bliz did this to encourage “grouping” after level 10 if you so desire. You can easily tell an “elite” mob from a normal mob by the word “elite” in the mobs name or the wreath around the mobs pic when you left click it. You can safely left click a mob to get info however if you right click it then you enter combat mode with that mob.

Leveling 10-12

At level 10 you may buy the following skills:

Frost Armor Level 2(4 silver)
Cost = 125 Mana —– Casting time = Instant
Increases armor by 40. If hit while active enemy may have their movement slowed to 50% and attacks slowed by 20%.
Spell lasts 30 minutes.

Frost Nova Level 1(4 silver)
Cost = 55 Mana — Casting time = Instant - Cooldown = 15 secs.
Hits enemies close to the caster for 19 to 21 cold damage and freezes them in place for up to 10 seconds.

Conjure Water Level 2(4 silver)
Cost = 105 Mana —– Casting time = 3 secs.
Makes 2 bottles of fresh water, This will be put in the caster’s inventory. Conjured items disappear if logged out for more than 15 minutes. This Item can be traded but not sold. Also at higher levels this same spell will create more then just 2 drinks.

At level 10 you want to replace Frost Armor 1 with Frost Armor 2 and replace Conjure Water 1 with Conjure water 2. You also get a new spell Frost Nova, this spell is another “emergency” spell as it is an instant cast spell and basically freezes or roots a mob in its location, you may continue to cast damage dealing spells at the mob, but this also increase the chances that the mob will break free early.

By now you should understand the basics of playing a Mage, and at the capitol city you should also find your “bank” as this has numerous “slots” to store your items, before storing items see if you can “stack” them by dragging one item over the top of another items of the same type. Stackable items include: potions, food, water, crafting materials, and crafting supplies. Also depending on which type of server you are playing on PvP or PvE you may start to see enemies from the other “realm.” From level 10-20 the basics of the game and the mobs start to take you out of the “noobness” and into the full game, expect to fight “caster” mobs, “bow and arrow” mobs and mobs that will give you poison, stuns, or other negative status effects. You may also want to open your “social” window and flag yourself as “looking for a group” if that is a style of play that you desire.(You also may choose to pick a talent here, see the bottom of this post for a link to a list of the talents available.)

Leveling 12-14

At level 12 you may buy the following skills:

Dampen Magic Level 1(6 silver)
Cost = 80 Mana —– Casting time = Instant = Range = 30 yards.
Reduces magic damage against the targeted party member by 10 and reduces the healing of healing spells by 20.
Spell last 3 minutes.

Conjure Food Level 2(6 silver)
Cost = 105 Mana —– Casting time = 3 secs.
Makes 2 loaves of bread. This will be put in the casters inventory. Conjured items disappear if logged out for more than 15 minutes. This item can be traded but not sold.

Fireball Level 3(6 silver)
Cost = 65 Mana —– Casting time = 2.5 secs - Range = 40 yards.
Creates a Fireball, causes 53 to 73 fire damage and an additional 6 damage over 6 seconds.

At level 12, replace Conjure food 1 with Conjured food 2 and Fireball 2 with Fireball 3. You receive the new spell “Dampen Magic”, this spell is very powerful if used correctly, and if used incorrectly will get you or(if you are in a group) one of you group members killed. This lowers the amount of magic damage that you take from an enemy, it DOES NOT lower the amount of melee damage that you take. It also lowers healing spells that are used on you, so if a healing spell was supposed to heal you for 60, it would only heal you for 40 if you have this buff on. If you are not fighting caster type mobs then this is a total waste of mana.

Ahhh so you are here now, if you are on the horde side and you are a Tauren, Orc or troll you should be at the crossroads(that’s a town), if you are Undead then you should be at the sepulcher. Here you will start to find that you are not in the lobie noob zones anymore. The majority of the mobs are aggressive(red con) and if you pull them and they have buddies nearby they will come also. You will also find mobs that “call” other mobs if they get hurt and are close to death, so if there are other mobs close by that are of the same type do not be surprised if they agro you when you have the mob you are working on almost dead. The best way to see this is to mouse over your chat window, go to the tab that says “combat” left click and hold and drag it to the right side of your screen to separate it from the chat window, now you can review all the damage and other combat related actions taken by you and the mob you were in combat with, as well as seeing any new chat messages in the chat window.

At this level you really need to be paying full attention to your surroundings. If you are Undead and hanging around the sepulcher. Doing quests you may run into a unique mob named “son of aragul” this mob will agro you from far away, and will kill you in one to 2 hits, if you see him run, do not investigate unless you need a free trip to the graveyard… If you are Orc, troll or Tauren stay away from the “dinosaur looking” lizards south of the crossroads as they are melee and casters, and will zap you with lightning damage. Needless to say, now is a good time to get in a group.

Also at the crossroads I am 99.9% sure you will experience your first PvP encounter… If you are Undead and want to go to the crossroads simply go to the “airport” a little north of the Undercity, look up and you might see one of the airships flying in to dock. Climb the stairs to the tower and take the “west” airship this will take you right outside of Orgrimar the Orc main city, after you get off the city id to the west about a 1 minute run. The trip in Open Beta was free, as you just walk onto the airship. Do not take the “east” airship as this takes you down close to Booty Bay and trust me you are not ready for that yet…

Leveling 14-20

At level 14 you may buy the following skills:

Arcane Explosion Level 1(9 silver)

Cost = 75 Mana —– Casting time = 1.5 secs
Creates an explosion around the caster, causing 32 to 36 damage to all targets within 10 yards.

Arcane Intellect Level 2(9 silver)
Cost = 185 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 30 yards.
Raises the targets INT 8.
Spell lasts for 30 minutes.

FireBlast Level 2(9 silver)
Cost = 80 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Cooldown = 8 secs —– Range = 20 yards.
Burns the target with fire for 64 to 80 fire damage.

FrostBolt Level 3(9 silver)
Cost = 50 Mana —– Casting time = 2.2 secs —– Range = 30 yards.
Creates Bolt of Frost, causing 51 to 57 frost damage and slows movement speed for 6 seconds.

At level 14 you should already know to replace your weaker versions of spells with the newer and stronger ones you just bought. The new spell “Arcane Explosion” is a PBAOE(Point Blank Area OF Effect) spell, basically meaning that when you cast this(its an instant cast) every enemy within 10 yards of you will be hit by it instantly.

This is kind of an emergency spell as the “mana to damage” rate is really not that great, this is really mostly used in groups at this low level and only then when you can afford to mana dump. Pretty soon you will be heading to your second set of “elite quests”, so hopefully by now you have met quite a few players and already have some friends you can do the quests with. As you do your quests remember that the top most quest in your quest list under an area is the easiest one to complete, so in most cases you should do these quests first. Your general combat at this level should go something like this: Frostbolt, fireball, fireball, Fireblast, whack whack, Fireblast and its dead. Whack is a term I use for “melee attack”. If you followed that series of actions and the mob is not dead then hit that “frost Nova” button and back away from the mob and use a Frostbolt or fireball and Fireblast it again, if you are not out of mana by then…

WOW äger level guide 1-20

The Hunter class plays at a medium difficulty level until level 10 at which point it may chose to find a pet. After the hunter gets a pet, it is by far the easiest class to play and level.(If done correctly) So you are already to play the Hunter class

Race played = Troll
Level obtained = 20
Armor = cloth, leather(use leather when you have a choice) at level 40 may use Chain.(With training)
Weapon of choice = Dagger —– Dagger/Dagger at lvl 20.(Hunter gets Dual Wield @20 - due to the lack of Offhand axes, it is suggested to go Dagger)
Leveling Difficulty = Medium until level 10 then very easy as Hunter gets a pet at 10.
NOTE: the cost to buy each skill is listed next to its name.

The Hunter Leveling 1-15

The Hunter class plays at a medium difficulty level until level 10 at which point it may chose to find a pet. After the hunter gets a pet, it is by far the easiest class to play and level.(If done correctly) So you are already to play the Hunter class. The first thing you want to do is open your inventory and right click on the scroll, or other object that will open the quest window on the left side of the screen and give you your first quest, accept the quest and if you look on your minimap you should see a little yellow dot this dot represents the NPC that you talk too to complete your first quest.(You may have to walk a little ways, but just starting off the quest NPC is usually very close to your starting location) For future reference anytime you see a little yellow dot on your minimap this is the location of an NPC that you have completed a quest for. When you get to level 5 you may take a trade skill, which may also show you little yellow dots on the minimap, these will either represent a “mine node” (if you have the skill “mining”)that can be mined or a “herb plant”(if you have the skill “herbalism”) that can be harvested.

Leveling 1-4

This will go by very quickly and in most cases will take roughly 30 to 45 minutes. Get any and all quests from any NPC that has a yellow explanation point above its head. The spells you will have at lvl 1-4 are:

Raptor Strike Level 1(2 silver)
Cost = 25 Mana —– Activation time = Next melee attack —– Cooldown = 6 secs. —– Must have melee wep equipped
A melee attack that raises damage by 11.

Serpent Sting Level 1(50 copper)
Cost = 15 Mana —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = 8-35 yards —– Must have Ranged wep equipped.
Shoots target, causing 20 Nature damage over 15 secs. You may only have 1 Sting per Hunter on any one target.(DOT Damage Over Time)

The Hunter class is always best at ranged combat, only using his/her melee weps as a last resort. At these lower levels it is very important to make sure that you only start an attack at the maximum range possible. A skill that the Hunter receives here is the skill “Autoshot” which is a simple skill that keeps firing arrows at a target once you initiate ranged combat. Approach a “mob” and as you approach you will see that the numbered box on the skill “Serpent Sting” turns white, when this turns white it lets you know that you are now in range to use that skill, click the “Serpent Sting” skill and you will see the ranged combat begin, your character should keep shooting arrows,(or bullets if you are equipped with a gun) until the mob closes within 8 yards of you, at this point click the skill “Raptor Strike” and and you will see your character animate into a melee attack, it is important to note that you CANNOT keep shooting a mob with a ranged wep once it closes to within melee range of you. Also if any of the skills mentioned here are not already on your hotbar you will have to open your “abilities window” and left click the skill to drag it down to your hotbar. (At the lower levels you will only experience the “melee” type mob’s later on you will face mobs that once you cast a spell on them they will start casting spells on you!) In most cases you will be able to get off 3-4 shots before the mob actually gets close enough to hit you. If the mob is in melee with you and you try to shoot it it will fail telling you that the mob is too close for ranged combat. At the lower levels after the mob gets within melee range just whack him with your weapon a few times and he should die. If you have already played other character type classes in WOW there is one very important thing to remember, as a hunter if a mob runs from you DO NOT chase it, simply let it move more then 8 yards away and shoot it :) By now you should be getting to level 4.

Leveling 4-6

At level 4 you will be able to buy the following skills:

Aspect of the Monkey(50 copper)
Cost = 20 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Self Buff only
The hunter gains the dodging skill of a monkey, increasing by 8% the chance to dodge. You may only have 1 Aspect active at a time, later on you will get additional choices.

Arcane Shot Level 1(1 silver)
Cost = 25 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Cooldown = 6 secs —– Range = 8-35 yards —– Must have ranged wep equipped
Instantly hits the target for 13 Arcane damage.

The skill “Aspect of the Monkey” is a “buff” that adds to your chance to dodge, you should ALWAYS have this skill active until you get “Aspect of the Hawk” at level 10. You also have a new skill here “Arcane Shot” Now when you pull you would pull with Serpent Sting and then immediately click on Arcane shot,(there is a delay between all skills of about .5 of a sec so u may have to wait a tad) Because there is a cooldown of 6 secs on your Arcane Shot you will most likely not be able to use that skill again until the next mob you engage or the current mob you are in combat with runs away. DO NOT spam use the skill Serpent Sting as this is a DOT and will not stack, if you do this it will simply cause you to mana dump,(yes I did this as a noob and felt really stupid after I figured that it does not stack) thereby increasing your down time before you can engage another mob. One of the “undesirable traits of a Hunter is that in order to lower your downtime(downtime is the time it takes you to rest between engaging mobs) you must use food and drink if you want to level in the shortest amount of time. So unless you are vastly overstocked never throw away or sell food or drink, how do you throw away an item? - Left click it(don’t right click an item or you will “use it”) and drag it over the playing screen left click again, a little box will appear asking if you really wish to destroy this item… Continue on to level 6, at level 6 you will most likely leave the “noob” town and make your way to another town to get new quests and higher level mobs. Up to now when you see a mob it was most likely yellow which means that these will not attack you if you get too close, however if see a mob that is red then this mob will attack you if you get to close, this is commonly called “agro”.

Leveling 6-8

At level 6 you will be able to buy the following skill(s):

Hunter’s Mark Level 1(1 silver)
Cost = 15 Mana —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = 100 yards
Places a red downwards pointing arrow over the target.(referred to as the “Hunters Mark” in game) this increases the ranged attack power of ALL attackers by 20. Also the target can always be seen by the hunter even if the target turns invisible or stealth’s.(Not sure if this works against a Rogue using the advanced skill of “Vanish”) The target will also remain Visible on the Hunters minimap for 10 min..(Unless it dies)

Track Beasts
Cost = ? —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = appears on the minimap.(NOTE: SEE PARAGRAPH BELOW)
Track Humanoids
Cost = ? —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = appears on the minimap.(NOTE: SEE PARAGRAPH BELOW)
Track Undead
Cost = ? —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = appears on the minimap.(NOTE: SEE PARAGRAPH BELOW)

The skill “Hunters Mark” should always be cast first, and should be casted as soon as you decide on a target, this has an effective range of 100 yards so why not cast it from far away and let your mana regen while you move closer to engage the target? So, now combat would be: Hunters Mark, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, Raptor Strike(when in melee) and whack with melee wep until dead, remember don’t chase the mob if it runs just shoot it. About the 3 tracking skills listed above, I am not exactly sure when you get them, I do remember that at level 20 I had all 3 of them. I was going to try to find out the info from websites and such but after looking at 4 different ones they all had different levels listed!(these skills were probably moved around allot in the beta tests) So instead of giving you possibly wrong info, I will simply tell you that when you go to a trainer look at the skills that are listed as “unavailable” and you can see exactly at what level you get these skills. You probably will not be able to see this on the trainer in the noob zone as he is only lvl 5 and can only train you up to level 5 skills, but any trainer above level 20,(you can see you trainers level when you mouse over him/her or left click on one) will be able to show you. The skill “Track Humanoids” does work in PvP, however when you have more then 30-40 targets on your minimap it tends to lag a little, and YOU WILL have 30-40 targets on your minimap at one time when engaged in PvP. It is still a nice skill though, see that little red dot on your minimap away from the main “zerg” in PvP, yep that’s a straggler cast Hunters Mark on him and sic your pet on him, when you get close enough use concussion shot to slow him down and…. wait a minute I am sorry this is not the PvP article! and you are only level 6, you do not have concussion shot or a pet yet!(sorry, PvP tends to get me in an uproar) Anyway back to the leveling, if you are going to take any trade skills get them now, even if you have to take some time to walk to your nearest capitol,(which is pretty close to you now, regardless which race you have chosen) You can get your 2 main tradeskills at lvl 5.

Leveling 8-10
At level 8 you may buy the following skills:

Parry(2 silver)
Cost = 0 —– Must have melee wep equipped to use this passive skill.
Parry is a passive skill(a passive skill is one that you do not do anything at all to use it its just there and will “activate” itself when the time is right) that gives you a chance to use your wep to “block” an incoming attack, you can find the exact % chance to “Parry” by opening your abilities window, then click on the “general” tab and look at the skill named “Parry”

Raptor Strike Level 2(2 silver)
Cost = 25 Mana —– Activation time = next melee attack —– Cooldown = 6 secs —– Must have melee wep equipped.
A melee attack that raises damage by 11.

Concussive Shot Level 1(2 silver)
Cost = 25 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 8-35 yards —– Cooldown = 10 secs. —– Must have ranged wep equipped.
Slows the targets movement speed to 50% of normal for 3 seconds.(NOTE: this causes a high amount of threat)

The skill Parry is self explanatory, Raptor Strike is an upgrade of a previous skill, which leaves Concussion Shot, this now changes your combat style yet again. What Concussion shot does, is it slows your target, by doing this it gives you more time to shoot it, which in the end means higher damage output before the mob can close to melee range with you.(This is another skill that is extremely useful in PvP) Now the combat should look something like this: Hunters Mark,(let mana regen after using this skill - it only takes a second or 2 and does not cause the mob to agro to you) Concussion Shot, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, (mob closes to melee range) Raptor Strike,and whack on it until dead.(Keep using the Raptor Strike skill after it cools down) Huh? You wants some hints? You can use Concussion Shot and Arcane shot while running! - these are insta skills which have no activation time.(Did I mention how useful the Hunter is in PvP?) By now you should have visited your capitol or have a quest that leads you to your capitol for your race. As a side note you cannot sell conjured food or water, yes I already tried… At level 10-11 you will most likely leave the level 5-10 “area” and be sent on a quest to visit a new location, this is also the level at which you may be introduced to your first “elite” quest. Elite quests are not meant to be done solo and no you cannot solo an “elite” mob that is your same level in most cases. I believe Bliz did this to encourage “grouping” after level 10 if you so desire. You can easily tell an “elite” mob from a normal mob by the word “elite” in the mobs name or the wreath around the mobs pic when you left click it. You can safely left click a mob to get info however if you right click it then you enter combat mode with that mob. In My opinion the Hunter is by FAR the easiest class to solo with, as long as you get the right pet type, see the next paragraph…

Leveling 10-12

At level 10 you may buy the following skills:

Revive Pet(3 silver)
Cost = 369 Mana —– Casting time = 10 secs.
After your pet dies this is the skill you use to bring it back to life. After you pet is rezzed feed him because he is going to be mad.(No that’s not a joke)

Aspect of the Hawk Level 1(3 silver)
Cost = 20 Mana —– Casting time = Instant
The Hunter gains the ranged skill of a Hawk, raising Ranged Attack Power by 20. You may only have 1 Aspect active at a time, later on you will get additional choices.

Feed Pet(3 silver)
Cost = 0 —– Casting time = 0 —– Range = 10 yards —– Must select food to feed your pet.
This skill allows you to feed your pet. Click the skill “feed pet”, then open your inventory and left click on a food item that you pet eats.(Do not click on a food item in your hotbar as this will cause you to eat it, you must “check” your pets details to see what type of food it likes(this is done by right clicking on your pets pic and choosing “pet Details” from the drop down menu. If you keep your pet “happy”(that means well fed) he will deal 125% of normal damage. If you try to feed your pet something it does not like it will not eat it, if you try to feed your pet a food item that is below his level he will gain less happiness then if you fed him food at his level.

Beats Training(quest reward)
Cost = 0 —– this skill cannot be “bought” it is a quest reward.
As you gain levels and your pet does he will get “training points” if your pet has enough”training points” and he is of high enough level you may teach him a new skill. New skills can be “bought” from a “pet trainer” or “acquired” from pets with different skills.

Serpent Sting Level 2(3 silver)
Cost = 30 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 8-35 yards —– Must have ranged wep equipped.
Shoots target, causing 40 Nature damage over 15 secs. You may only have 1 Sting per Hunter on any one target.(DOT Damage Over Time)

Call Pet(quest reward? or 3 silver)
Cost = 0 —– Casting time = Instant —– This is the skill you use if your pet is not with you and he is not dead. If you make your pet really mad by not feeding him then he may leave your “control” and may even attack you! BAD PET!

O.K. This is what you were waiting on right? For starters as soon as you hit level 10, go to your trainer. Your trainer will send you on (if I remember correctly) 3 quests, 1 at a time. These quests will give you 2 of your pet skills, the others must be bought from a trainer. Do the trainer quests BEFORE going after a pet you want to keep. After you complete his quests “Abandon” your current pet.(Abandon means get rid of it forever, when you do this give it the “stay” command and move away from it, because as soon as you “Abandon it” it will attack you. - do not confuse “Abandon” with “Dismiss” - Dismiss simply means that you are telling your pet to “go away” and come back again when you use the “Call Pet” skill, yes when you call him he will be mad because you dismissed him, so have the correct food ready and waiting) You can also “store” your pet at a “stables” location although it will cost you a small amount of coin to “buy” a slot. Now about your pet, everyone will have a different opinion on what type of pet to get, I went with a “tank” class.(My pet was a “Raptor” strictly meat eater only, very high hit points, very high armor. A raptor is the small dinosaur looking things running around the barrens on 2 legs, not to be confused with thunder lizards.) A secret little spot for exactly level 10 raptors? Walk out of the south entrance of Orgrimar turn to the east as if you were going to catch a ride on the airships stationed there. Keep walking past the “airport” and start looking around that is where you will find level 9-10 raptors. O.K. you spotted your “pet to be” left click it and then use the “Tame Pet” ability, you will see little red hearts above the mobs head as you get him to fall in love with you… the pet will run up and start whacking on you!!! DO NOT MOVE or stop casting you must sit there and keep channeling the spell until it completes, at that point the mob is your pet. I have never had this “Tame Pet” ability fail, but I came close to dieng quite a few times. The raptor pet comes with the ability “growl level 2″ make sure you set this to “auto cast” - On your little pet hotbar you will see the “growl” ability(or if you have a different pet you may have different abilities) if there is a little white square and its all lit up and going around the edges that means it is in the “auto-cast” mode, if you do not see this, then left or right click the ability and it will “turn on” Keep your pet well fed, as long as your pet is “happy”(his little face icon will be green) then he will do 125% of normal damage. When feeding your pet watch the combat window, when I was feeding my pet food at his level it was raising happiness at 35 points per tick, when I fed him food below his level it was only raising his happiness at 17 points per tick. KEEP plenty of food in you inventory at all times, my pet ate about 10-15 portions an hour, but I worked him really hard and he died a few times LOL. This level you also get Serpent Sting 2, which is an upgrade from the previous skill of the same name and a new skill “Aspect of the Hawk” this new skill should ALWAYS be active unless you are finding yourself in allot of melee If you do it right you will have you pet holding the agro about 80-95% of the time and and be killing mobs your level about as fast as a hot knife goes through warm butter - enjoy it… By now you should understand the basics of playing a Hunter and be well on your way in the art of mastering your pet, at the capitol city you should also find your “bank” as this has numerous “slots” to store your items, before storing items see if you can “stack” them by dragging one item over the top of another items of the same type. Stackable items include: potions, food, water, crafting materials, and crafting supplies. Also depending on which type of server you are playing on PvP or PvE you may start to see enemies from the other “realm.” From level 10-20 the basics of the game and the mobs start to take you out of the “noobness” and into the full game, expect to fight “caster” mobs, “bow and arrow” mobs and mobs that will give you poison, stuns, or other negative status effects. You may also want to open your “social” window and flag yourself as “looking for a group” if that is a style of play that you desire.(You also may choose to pick a talent here, see the bottom of this post for a link to a list of the talents available.)

Leveling 12-14

At level 12 you may buy the following Skills:

Mend Pet Level 1(8 silver)
Cost = 50 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 20 yards —– This is a channeling spell.(You must stay still and keep channeling this spell until it is done to get the full effect.)
Funnels health to your pet from your Mana gives your pet 20 health every second for 5 seconds.(As long as you stay channeling)

Wing Clip Level 1(8 silver)
Cost = 40 Mana —– Casting time = Instant - Range = Melee —– Must have melee wep equipped.
Causes 5 damage and slows the targets movement speed to 50% of normal.
Ability lasts 10 secs.

Arcane shot Level 2(8 silver)
Cost = 35 Mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Cooldown = 6 secs —– Range = 8-35 yards —– Must have ranged wep equipped.
Instantly hits the target for 21 Arcane damage.

The “Mend Pet” ability can be used anytime including in the middle of combat.(It does cause a high amount of threat though be prepared for your pet to lose the agro even with the growl ability) Arcane shot is an upgrade for a skill, Wing clip really is not needed as long as you have your pet alive, there is an easy talent skill to get that increases your pets outdoor speed by 30% and it only costs 1 point once you get to that spot in the tree. By the time you hit this level you should be seeing your pets “Loyalty” hitting level 3-5, the highest I have ever seen my pets loyalty level was 6 and I was level 20 and he was level 19. At this point in your leveling you should move on to a higher area, you should be at the crossroads(that’s a town). Here you will start to find that you are not in the lobie noob zones anymore. The majority of the mobs are aggressive(red con) and if you pull them and they have buddies nearby they will come also. You will also find mobs that “call” other mobs if they get hurt and are close to death, so if there are other mobs close by that are of the same type do not be surprised if they agro you when you have the mob you are working on almost dead. The best way to see this is to mouse over your chat window, go to the tab that says “combat” left click and hold and drag it to the right side of your screen to separate it from the chat window, now you can review all the damage and other combat related actions taken by you and the mob you were in combat with, as well as seeing any new chat messages in the chat window. At this level you really need to be paying full attention to your surroundings. Stay away from the “dinosaur looking” lizards south of the crossroads as they are melee and casters, and will zap you with lightning damage. Needless to say, now is a good time to get in a group. Also at the crossroads I am 99.9% sure you will experience your first PvP encounter… If you would rather not jump into PvP just yet then instead of going to the Crossroads(which will always be heavy in PvP) go to the “airport” a little east of Orgrimar and catch the “south” airship this will take you to the “airport” right outside of the Undercity.(Where all the Undead peeps are at) its a free trip so why not?

Leveling 14-20

At level 14 you may buy the following skills:

Scare Beast Level 1(12 silver)
Cost = 35 Mana —– casting time = 1.5 secs —– Cooldown = 30 secs —– Range = 10 yards.
Scares the currently targeted mob, cause it to run away for up to 10 secs. You may only fear 1 mob at a time and any damage caused will bring the mob back to its normal self and back to whacking on you.

Eyes of the Beats(12 silver)
Cost = 20 Mana —– Casting time = 3 secs —– Range - 50000 yards
This ability allows you to see through your pets eyes for 60 secs, as well as control him.

Eagle Eye(12 silver)
Cost = 25 mana —– Casting time = Instant —– Range = 50,000 yards
This ability is only useable outdoors and brings up a green targeting reticule, which you can move with your mouse, when you left click your view will zoom into the area where you put the reticule.

The skills “Eye of the Beats” and “Eagle eye” are in my opinion eye candy only, although the “eagle Eye” skill may have a little PvP usage in it. Scare Beast, is an “emergency” spell and with a timer of 30 secs, you should only use it as such. At this point as a Hunter you should be having no problems at all completing quest at or slightly above your level, your pet,(if a tank class) should easily be able to handle 2 at a time with your full time ranged attack skills. A few times my pet had to take on 3 at one time, yes he died but all 3 died as well and I was only down to half hits. Pretty soon you will be heading to your second set of “elite quests”, so hopefully by now you have met quite a few players and already have some friends you can do the quests with. As you do your quests remember that the top most quest in your quest list under an area is the easiest one to complete, so in most cases you should do these quests first.