Love Thy Character!

I am a paladin. No questions about it, that’s the character I play and I’m proud of what I can do with my paladin.  But how I got to the point where I can get the most out of her involved a lot more work than I originally thought it would take!

I started playing WoW over a year ago now. At the time, I had settled on playing a warlock, which seemed to sit well with me at the time. I had previously played MMOs in which I was a caster/pet type and figured I would start off with something familiar. I also had the Refer-A-Friend bonus then, which ended up being a double-edged sword; I was able to level ridiculously fast, but I also knew nothing about how to really play a warlock. Eventually I switched to the paladin class, found some people who were fantastic paladins who helped me out here and there, and was turned on to how to really get the most out of your characters.

Side Note: If this is your first foray into MMOs, I suggest that you play a bunch of different characters. Start them, take them to level 10 or 15, get a feel for how the mechanics are, and talk to other people who play those classes. Then, chose one character (or two if you’re still really undecided) to continue working on. Don’t neglect any part of them, either. Glyphs, talents, gear, and even professions all go into making a character really shine.The bottom line is this: the amount of work that you put into a character is what you will get out of it. Read up on your class, download addons that will help make things easier, and get ready for a lot of reading.

The first thing that you’re going to want to do is to start poking around for resources. Online, my rule of thumb when googling for information is to always check the date. With the massive changes that happened to WoW with Cataclysm, it’s very easy to find information that is completely outdated. To help weed that kind of stuff out of my search results, I usually put in the current patch numbers along with the topic I’m searching for. Another good notion is to check with several sources before making choices on what to do with your character. I must have consulted a ton of different retribution paladin blogs/websites/message boards before I ended up with my current set of glyphs!

Something any good WoW player worth their stuff should at least know about are the following places on the internet: WoWWiki, Wowhead, MMO Champion, and Elitist Jerks.

• WoWWiki is an encyclopedia for WoW.  It contains entries on damn near everything in the game, and offers a veritable bottomless pit of information.  I especially like this site for the lore aspect of the game.  "Wait, WHO killed Cairne Bloodhoof?!?"
• Wowhead has a permanent place on my internet browser’s bookmark bar. I use it constantly! It’s a great tool to use when you need to find certain NPCs, items, etc.  I find that it is handy due mainly to the ease of navigation and the user comments section.  “Yes, I know that the Mysterious Camel Figurines are found in Uldum, but are they really worth finding?” The user comments often have insightful tips and tricks that may just be exactly what you really are looking for in the first place. 
• MMO-Champion is a great website for looking at upcoming patch details, as well as more in-depth information about a wide variety of things. They also routinely have information direct from Blizzard, so if you’re questioning quality/validity of certain things, look for blue posts here, and you’re golden. The only downside to this place is that they also have information on a bunch of other MMOs, so I occasionally find myself wandering elsewhere in search of more WoW-centralized information.
• Elitist Jerks has long been the think-tank of WoW, where all the most intellectual WoWers go to discuss mechanics that would make casual gamers need a new pair of pants due to the sheer volume and depth that these people go to to understand the game. They have a wealth of information and usually have well-written guides for all sorts of specs, playstyles, and walk-throughs.

Keep in mind that you should not consider any one website or person the gospel truth or totally discount them either.  With each resource, I’ve found a great many handy posts/advice, and I suggest blending together all of the information you find to figure out what works for you!

If you have any other questions, ask around in game! Just don’t do it in trade chat, because half the time you’ll get idiots giving you all sorts of responses that won’t do you much good. Rather, ask your guild; if they are a decent guild they will at least point you in the right direction if they don’t have the information you’re looking for.

And don’t forget to have fun with your characters! This is a game, after all.


~Kita ^.~

P.S.:  Yes, this was originally posted months ago on my guild website (bforged.com), but now that I have my own blog, I'm trying to put everything in a central location.