Breakfast Topic: Explaining to newbies
by Jennie Lees 
Apr 13th 2006 at 7:28AM
As is my wont, I've been helping a couple of
brand new WoW players get addicted lately, and it's been interesting. One comes from a heavy MMO background and is
fairly happy to be left alone and get on with it; the other is a console FPS gamer who has needed a lot of
hand-holding.In helping the latter, I've had to answer some questions which might seem commonplace to any WoW veteran but can be confusing as heck to newbies. Why is the run from Darnassus to Ironforge so unfriendly? Why do animals routinely carry weapons, armour and food, whereas humanoids with no known economy carry cash and cloth? Why does the pattern of night and day follow real time, so players who only have time at night never see places in blazing sunlight? How come a cloth armour merchant can repair my pointy sword? Why, if Alliance and Horde are sworn enemies, is there even a mechanism whereby they can't attack each other?
Some have easier answers than others -- we're not on RP servers, so coming up with plausible explanations isn't too taxing. However, it's almost like introducing a child to a new world. Things which we take for granted can suddenly seem strange and quirky. Obviously, a lot of the less-logical gameplay choices make the game ultimately more fun, if less realistic; what are the weird questions you've been asked by newbies (apart from "gief gold pls")?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Aaron Apr 13th 2006 10:00AM
I've recently had the same experience. I finally convinced a long time EQ/EQ2 buddy to make the switch. It's funny cause he swore off WOW for a long time, but he hit level 9 his first day playing. I had an Alt that was at level 17, in the time we've been playing together over the past week, his character is now up to lvl 18 and I am only at 19! It's been a lot of fun showing him around, but I am afraid we are powerleveling his guy too fast and he will miss out on the content of the game.
Alot of his questions are around the game interface, like using chat, the vendor interface, and the emotes.
Otherwise, it's been pretty easy for him.
Nara Apr 13th 2006 10:02AM
"Where is Darnassus?" Not a bad newbie question, but it was from outside the gate to Darnassus.
qor72 Apr 13th 2006 12:19PM
I always have fun helping new players. That could mean helping find a dude for a quest, bailing them out of trouble, or just answering questions. The bigger challenge is finding out who's behind the avatar. Are they really new or just toying with you? I've run into both.
The best was a lvl 6 in Elwynn asking my 18 Pally for money. I wasn't about to give him cash, so I gave him a few copper bars I had just made.
His comment? "Oh. Copper. How expensive. I asked for money."
/ignore ....
BobSaget Apr 13th 2006 2:39PM
Why DOES the pattern of night and day follow real time?
BobSaget Apr 13th 2006 2:46PM
Why DOES the pattern of night and day follow real time?
James Apr 13th 2006 3:33PM
I was trying to explain where Serga was in Crossroads to a newbie. She wasn't really getting it and it required several tells back and forth to get her in the right place. I was feeling generous, but on the inside I was wondering how anyone could miss someone in such a small town? Crossroads isn't very big, it wouldn't take more than about 2 minutes to explore everything and check the names of all the NPCs.