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James Yu Senior Hardware Editor |
Random World of Warcraft Answers and Advice
Before joining GameSpot, I was fortunate enough to participate in the World of Warcraft alpha test. I started back in November during the dwarf push and played through the undead and tri-horde pushes all the way up to the current alliance test.
Just when I thought I had to remove myself from the alpha after accepting my new position here (no journalists were allowed in the alpha test), Blizzard opened the beta test and saved me from having to pick up a nasty drug habit to deal with the inevitable alpha withdrawal symptoms.
Since several of my fellow editors here have just started playing the World of Warcraft beta, I'm using my space in this episode of GameSpotting to record some of the answers and advice I've given out in the past week:
How long will the beta last? What classes and races can I play?
First off, Blizzard has indicated that the beta will last for approximately five months, and the current beta push is all alliance. You can play as human, dwarf, gnome, or night elf. The current classes available are warrior, paladin, priest, mage, rogue, and warlock. Other classes and races will become available in future beta releases.
If you're wondering why there are so many high-level night elf rogues running around, it's because the night elf race and the rogue class only became available in the last alpha push before the beta. The gnome race also became available at the same time, but many alpha testers, including me, had been waiting months to become walking clichés.
What's the level cap?
The current level cap is 30, but there are early indications that the level cap will be 60 in the retail release. Expect Blizzard to raise the beta cap as higher-level content becomes available for testing. You can reach level 7 or 8 after a night of playing. According to my "/played" time report, it took me just over 96 hours of gameplay for my character to reach level 30.
How do I turn off the trade channel? The trade chat scrolls nontrade messages off my screen way too fast!
You can enter "/leave trade" into the text box to exit the trade channel, but I strongly advise you to stay in the channel to learn about all the items available in the game and to keep up to date on market pricing.
It is entirely possible to reach the level cap relying only on monster item drops, crafting, NPC vendors, and quest rewards for equipment upgrades, but participating in the trade channel will help you upgrade your gear at a much faster rate. The trade chat channels are divided by geographical region, but Elwynn Forest (Stormwind City) is the only trade channel with any significant activity. Quick tip: You can shift-click an item to make it linkable in chat. Other players will then be able to click on the item name to see its stats.
What can I do with these talent and skill points?
You earn talent and skill points every time you gain a level. You can spend talent points to increase character stats or to develop weapon and attack specializations. Click the "unavailable" box in the view section of your talents menu to see the entire talent tree for your character class. Begin stockpiling talent points once you hit level 25 since a lot of powerful talents will become available only at level 30, and you won't be able to get all of them unless you start saving early. Spend skill points on gathering skills like mining, herbalism, skinning, fishing, and lock-picking or on tradecraft skills like blacksmithing, leatherworking, tailoring, engineering, enchanting, cooking, or alchemy. You can also use skill points to gain the ability to use new weapon classes. Currently, there is no way to unlearn or redistribute talent points. You can, however, unlearn skills and redistribute skill points.
General Advice
Even if you heed the server's message of the day and are careful not to jump while riding the elevator of death in Ironforge City, you can still fall through the floor and, you guessed it, plummet to your death. Your ghost will inexplicably appear at the faraway Kharanos bindstone instead of the Ironforge stone. The three-minute run back to your corpse is as good a time as any to type warning messages to your friends.
Some people consider it rude to inspect someone without asking. Be polite and ask first before inspecting. If you see a nice item on a player, feel free to ask where he or she found the item. You might learn something useful like the spawn location of the named mob (monster or beast) that drops the item. When joining an unknown group, always establish looting rules ahead of time to avoid possible disputes. Common rules are "need before greed" and rolling for any items that multiple party members can use. Enter "/f" into the text box while you have another player selected to automatically follow that player. Use "numlock" to turn on autorun if you are unable to hitch a free ride.
Guardians of Blizzard (GoBs) guard unfinished areas of the game. During the alpha, GoBs appeared as glowing, green infernals and yelled warnings before teleporting you back to town. Players were able to sneak around these easy-to-spot GoBs and explore the unfinished areas with impunity. There seems to be a deadly new breed of GoB in the beta. Now disguised as ambient creatures, these GoBs will slay you without warning once you step into detection range. Be careful if you're near the border of an off-limits area and you suddenly see a large cluster of player corpses with no visible enemies in sight. You could get slain by a squirrel.
There is a very large level-44+ dragon wandering around the Alterac Mountains. If your screen starts shaking and you hear large, booming footfalls, drop whatever you're doing and run. If you are unable to escape, turn around and take a screenshot for posterity.
Finally, if you're currently using a mouse and keyboard setup, pick up a Logitech Marble or another trackball-type device. Switch from the mouse to the trackball between sessions. It won't improve your game, but it will allow you to change up your clicking motion and reduce downtime due to repetitive stress injury.
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