So I took the plunge

I decided to go buy this game today. Since my brother and a bunch of my old HS buds play up in NorCal (I now live in SoCal) I figured it would be a good way to keep in touch. I always knew I'd like the game but avoided it as I've already had a DAOC addiction. The nice thing is I'll be bankrolled and helped as they are already 70's. I figure it will take me some time to get up there but my brother is starting a new one as well.

Anyway, I have some questions (understand I'm assuming this game works like DAOC):

I'm leaning towards a Night Elf Rogue or a Human Druid, are these decent classes for PVP, and are they ones that are welcome in groups when leveling?

Can I play characters on different servers with one account?

Can I ruin my player in the early levels if I spec him out wrong?

How long will it take me to get to 20...to 70? (I'll be well funded and have ppl to help me level)

Anyway, I'll be on Uther in the Alliance (which I wanted to do Horde but oh well) and I'm sure it will be a blast.

1. Humans cant be druids, and there's too many rogues out there :P

2. You can make characters on as many servers as you want.

3. You won't ruin your character, most people respec a bunch of times, dont sweat it while leveling, since youll probably respec at 70 anyway.

4. As for leveling, depends on what they do with you, if you're just grinding, i'd say a week. They reduced the time it takes, and if they give you gold for good gear you should fly through it.

If there's a ton of rogues I may not do it.. I dont necessarily want to tank and I dont want a pet. I dont want to be one of the classes that everyone specs into, but I dont want a lowly class that will stink in pvp either.

Oh, one more thing, are any of the classes archers?

Don't necessarily rush through to 70 since it's your first time playing, a bunch of the stuff is cool if you've never seen it before. A druid can do whatever, so they're usually welcome in groups (but be ready to tank or heal), but you have to be a night elf. And yeah, hunters are basically archers, but they have the pet thing going on.

If you want to play support, go druid all the way. Spec feral (melee dmg) for lvling, then switch to resto (healing) at 70. Will always be welcomed in groups. If you go rogue, don't go night elf. Night elves are useless and you should never make one unless you're a druid (in which case you're forced). Spec combat swords/maces/fists for lvling - stay away from daggers since they suck for lvling. Archer class is hunter, but they use pets which you said you don't want to deal with. If you want to be a melee, but don't want to go rogue - then go warrior. Stay away from the hybrid melee's like ret pally and enhancement shaman if you want to really get into pvp later on.

roll a lock or a hunter, they are great classes for leveling and they are good on PVP and raiding. also good for learning the game.
if you want to tank/heal go druid or paladin.
if you have no idea of what you want, roll a lock, its impossible to feel sorry about rolling a lock.

only thing i can tell you is this

NO MATTER WHAT LEARN TO PLAY YOUR CLASS

what class did you enjoy in daoc? you can pay gold to respec so messing up your talents at a low level doesn't really matter. leveling between 20-60 was made easier with a recent patch. I just took a new shaman from 33 to 60 in 6 days of playing about 8 hours per day.

the character creation system is similar to daoc, if you are on a pvp server you can only play one side, but if you are on a pve server you can make both factions on the same server. you are allowed to have 10 or 11 characters per server.

Get familiar with Wowhead: Not soulbound. Share it with your friends! (http://www.wowhead.com) as it is a huge database for everything in the game including quests, class skills, tradeskills, beastiary, pretty much everything. Thottbot: World of Warcraft (http://www.thottbot.com) does the same thing but i like the layout of wowhead more.

don't start playing this game, seriously

what class did you enjoy in daoc?

I was a Scout in DAOC, which was horrible leveling but once I got to PVP, it was awesome. I was one of the top pvp players on the server, and it was basically because I could stealth and shoot at range. I played a merc and hated it, but they were an bugged class in DAOC.

Hunters sound really cool, I may go that route.

Hunters are a pretty nice choice for all aspects of the game. Cake leveling, good in PvP, etc.

1. There is a character limit. You can make 10 per server, PvP/RPPvP all one side, Normal/RP can be both sides. But if you make too many characters on one account the game will stop you if you try to make a new one and it's over limit. I'm guessing the total character limit is 45 - 55.

2. If your friends plan on babysitting you then just do dungeon runs. With normal mobs and them grouping with you it'll crash your mob kill XP to stupidly low levels. In dungeons it's not as low because they are all elite and worth more than normal.

3. Play a class to 20, by then you should have a reasonable idea on how to play to consider going ahead or rolling another class.

4. Don't go paladin on your first character. The gear available to you is horrid until lvl 52 and even then there's not much in Blackrock. You'll tanking/healing won't be as good as warriors/priests/druids and your gear will be restricted to pretty much warrior gear and random caster mail/plate greens. Better to go something else first and then come back to pally.

oh yeah another thing you will find out lurking these forums. I am sure others will back me up on this also.

dont listen to Feannag

That last post by Feannag wasn't too bad though.

Except for that inane part about paladins. Be one if you want, you would level as ret or prot and just use warrior gear anyway.

elemental shaman have a ridiculous amount of burst, can heal and have totems. Also if you're going to be playing with friends you should roll something that fits in with their classes.

That last post by Feannag wasn't too bad though.

Except for that inane part about paladins. Be one if you want, you would level as ret or prot and just use warrior gear anyway.

That is true, but if you are PUG'ing then you're kinda fubared. Because most other people will expect you to tank or heal, and with just warrior gear that's more difficult.

+spellpower gear helps tanking, especially when prot-spec but since there is really no +spellpower mail/plater before 40 (and even then it's rare) you're kinda fucked.

Healing is even worse because once again, without +spellpower gear to help even when Holy-specced any other healer will have more mana than you will and paladain healing is not kind to your mana pool.

So you can smash faces with Ret, but don't expect to get into any groups once until you hit Outlands. And even then if you wanted to tank or heal you'll pretty much be learning from scratch or from a website or from a friend. That could prove more problematic versus learning yourself as you go as all the other classes can.

Pluses to that is you can PvP well enough to keep most people your level off you and you met out some resonable DPS with a good 2H and warrior gear. But then when you hit Outlands you'll have to take a crash course in knowing what gear you should be picking up and how to heal or tank once you get there, and by that time some players may not look kindly to you trying to learn from mistakes in a dungeon.

Personally I'd go with something else, play as you go and learn and not have to worry about re-learning. If you want to heal the easiest path is probably priest. You can spec shadow and melt faces and solo/grind very well and still be able to heal through the lower dungeons. I haven't healed as a druid or shaman but from what I hear the talent specs make their respective healing so much more effective, but if you do that you're pretty much stuck to that spec and you'd either have to suck it up and solo and do okay or you will be shackled to constantly finding dungeon runs.

Up to you, if you have friends willing to babysit you that works as well. I find it less fun that way and you probably wouldn't be able to count on them in the long term. I'd done my share of babysitting and as well-intentioned as you want to see it does start to suck really quickly.

Instead of listening to what other people tell you, why not pick a class that looks like fun to you, and then pick your talents based on how you play and what you'd like to improve.

You know, almost like playing the game yourself.

This type of game was so much more fun before the website strategy guide cookie cutter min max bullshit. They only accomplish two things: they make it harder to spot the good players, because at a glance everybody is the same; and they completely strip the game of learning curve - which is the real travesty because grasping the basics of something is easy, but learning how to play well is the actual fun.

don't start playing this game, seriously

Instead of listening to what other people tell you, why not pick a class that looks like fun to you, and then pick your talents based on how you play and what you'd like to improve.

You know, almost like playing the game yourself.

This type of game was so much more fun before the website strategy guide cookie cutter min max bullshit. They only accomplish two things: they make it harder to spot the good players, because at a glance everybody is the same; and they completely strip the game of learning curve - which is the real travesty because grasping the basics of something is easy, but learning how to play well is the actual fun.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Play a race/class that looks like fun.

Think skeletons look cool? Roll undead. You can't go wrong with undead. :D

Do you like being big and strong? Roll a warrior.

Like nuking from afar? You have many choices there...

You will probably play your main character a whole lot... So choose a race that looks nice to you, and a class that you think will be the most fun. Don't worry about what other people roll.

For example, when I started this game a long time ago, I wanted to roll a mage, but BOTH of my brothers rolled mages, so I was like "Crap, I guess I'll roll something else." I rolled a rogue, hit 60 just before BC came out and never wanted to play my rogue ever again. It's been collecting dust and never really even saw the outlands... What a shame...

Roll whatever is the most fun for you...