WoW Rookie: Metagaming for newbies
by Lisa Poisso 
Dec 31st 2008 at 6:00PM
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.It's ok to admit it: WoW has sucked you in. You pop up WoW Insider in your browser during breaks at work. You replay your shining moment of glory from your Sunday night group's near-wipe over and over in your head as you sit in traffic. You drift off to sleep wishing you'd remembered to look up the proc rate on that new drop. You're hooked – and you're hungry for more knowledge, eager to pounce on all the insider information you sense is dangling somewhere just out of line of sight ...
Welcome to metagaming. Researching your WoW game – your crunchy bits -- can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of playing World of Warcraft. While some players relish tackling new content with no preparations and no spoilers, others enjoy digging up encounter strategies and mapping out intricate leveling, gear and crafting plans. We'll introduce you to some basic resources for "theorycrafting" to start your New Year in WoW off with a (quantifiable) bang!
For now, let's look at a few of the best places to get started getting your crunch on.
Crunchy Bits 101
- wowhead.com Today's standard for looking up gear and other items. Reader comments generally always list "the trick" you may not be getting to finish that persnickety quest.
- Wowwiki.com What instances are at your level? What strategy will defeat this boss? What specs are currently effective for my class? How can I build rep with this faction? All this, and more.
- Kaliban's Class Loot Lists An easy way to browse what gear is out there and what's accessible to you.
- Be Imba All the rage in online theorycrafting tools; tweak your character's gear for optimum PvE performance.
- MaxDPS Gear rankings, spell rotations and tactics for – you guessed it – maximum DPS (Damage Per Second).
- Elitist Jerks The forums at EJ are where the big boys rattle their theorycrafting sabers. Approach with caution; this is definitely way more detail than a WoW Rookie really needs to know. If you're curious about arcane formulae that make the eyes of end-game players dance with glee, though, you'll quiver with delight.
The best starting spot for information on your class is Blizzard's own class forums – not the discussion threads themselves, but the informative stickies at the top.
From there, reach out and Google around. We're sure the comments will fill up with reader favorites, too. There's sooo much meaty goodness beyond these basics. Dig in and enjoy!
Right here at WoW Insider
- WoW Rookie Tips to help new WoW players get off to a good start.
- WoW Insider Directory
- WoW Insider leveling guides
WoW Rookie feeds you the basics to get you off to a good start in the World of Warcraft, from tips on character creation to tactics to keep your account safe.Filed under: Tips, Features, WoW Rookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Trieclipse Dec 31st 2008 6:08PM
Some of these are excellent websites, but others like MaxDPS...well frankly that one is simply garbage.
Turtlehead Jan 2nd 2009 11:22PM
Seconded. MaxDPS ranges from iffy to "are they kidding?"
Rawr should be on the list of tools, though it will make some nervous (stand alone program) and is currently nearly unusable for Mac players.
Tread carefully with game mechanics information on Wowwiki. It's not always accurate and often not up-to-date. (Ie., it's a wiki.) Useful for lore info and quest chains, etc, though.
The single mod to have, before all others, is RatingBuster. Once you have some idea of the value of stats (summation pages on EJ can help here if you don't want to do tests yourself) it makes eyeballing sooo much easier.
Cheezburgler Dec 31st 2008 6:10PM
tanking in general
http://www.tankspot.com/
paladin tanking specifically -
http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/
shadow priests -
http://www.shadowpriest.com/
all are more heavily moderated than the official forums and thus, produce less crap and more awesome thoughtful material
Agelamer Jan 1st 2009 12:01AM
At the new players reading this, just read Elitist Jerks.
No, don't post, that's a quick way to get yourself banned, but read and try to understand. Take it one post at a time.
LanceG33 Dec 31st 2008 6:25PM
The Warlock's Den is a good halfway point between the Official Forums and Elitist Jerks:
http://www.wowmb.net/
Gear guides, build discussion etc. All the essentials.
Azizrael Dec 31st 2008 6:33PM
I think I spend more time playing with http://www.chardev.org/ than I do in-game lately.
Trech Dec 31st 2008 7:02PM
I was not aware of this site. It....looks.....Awesome!
P.S. for DK's check out the forums on http://www.deathknight.info
Daniel Dec 31st 2008 7:03PM
I am one of these people like like to plunge right in, muck around for awhile, back off, do some "theorycrafting," and the rinse and repeat.
I found thottbot.com to be the best of all the item specific guides, especially for questing. And don't forget the new and revised official WOW armory. I find myself using it more and more. One nifty thing about it is that you can look up other people with your class and you level and see how they have equipped their character. I've had more than one "aha" moment that way.
Wowwiki is great for those who are interested in lore or when you just need the basic facts quickly (is that a Horde area or not?). I have found it less useful for some of the other stuff you mention as I think there are specific sites that do things better.
My main is a spirit druid and despite its name I think restroforlife.com is the best site for all druids. It's a fairly advanced site so I don't think a druid should look at it before level 40; but it does a marvelous job of helping you understand what your options are and what the in-game consequences of those options happen to be.
Finally, an underutilized site which I wish I had known about when I was starting out was mapwow.com. It's a must for any of the people in the gathering professions.
Hesston Dec 31st 2008 7:00PM
My god, that first paragraph just described my descent into a non-casual WoW player ... and I love it.
I spent most of my morning, before work, tweaking the nuances of my hunter gear for the evening's Naxx raid. Seriously, it's a sickness, but a great one to have.
Keep on keepin' on WoWInsider.
Kia Dec 31st 2008 8:27PM
I just have to say...You know you're a roleplayer when you see "Metagaming for newbies" and instantly think "Why?!"
Mogura Dec 31st 2008 10:28PM
@Trieclipse I totally agree. I hadn't heard of Maxdps.com so I checked it out...I'm still trying to figure out what it was...
Right now I'm liking these,
http://www.wow-heroes.com/
http://www.quickarmory.com
http://www.warcrafter.net/
Malkeior Jan 1st 2009 12:38AM
www.codeplex.com/rawr
Who needs a site when you have an application?
Feldur Jan 1st 2009 2:45AM
The obvious answer would be those who refuse to run Windows.
Charlatan Jan 1st 2009 8:10AM
Hunters:
www.bigredkitty.net (also writes for Wowinsider)
www.qqpewpew.com
Hunter Pets:
http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/
Gotta say the Hunter posts on Wowinsider have been very useful lately too (what's up with the other classes tho?)
Shad0wembrace Jan 1st 2009 8:46AM
I just want to say that EJ.com is one of my Bible's. They are the first thing I go to when I am wondering about something class specific.
naylz Jan 1st 2009 12:32PM
Thank you!!
These are awesome sites for vet players and noobs both!
I would like to add gear-wishlist.appspot.com for all those, vets and noobs, who want to know, quickly, which piece of gear is an upgrade for them.
Kaaylia Jan 1st 2009 2:03PM
As a tree druid, I use the forums over at plusheal.com quite a bit in addition to EJ and resto4life.com. Used to use warcrafter.net quite a bit, but I've fallen off lately. It can be a real time consumer. lootrank.com has also served me well in the past.
ShadowShift Jan 1st 2009 4:20PM
TY, very kewl info for new & vet playerz.
An invaluable site for all professionz in crafting is:
http://wow.crafterstome.com/home.html
It'z a great site to help on what matz are
needed for the chant/bag/bow/helm you want,
& where a recipe is sold or dropped.