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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What was your most memorable noob moment?
by Chris Clow 
Dec 2nd 2011 at 8:00AM
Everyone began this game with very little idea of what they wanted to do. We all had even less of an idea of how we were going to do things. One byproduct of this fact is that it engenders a cheerful nostalgia, an aura of innocence that plays across our memories in the finest rose tints. Things seemed simpler back then; the community seemed nicer and the game more original. While I don't actually believe that WoW was significantly better back in its earlier encounters, I do look back fondly on killing murlocs in Elwynn Forest, while I find current chores (despite their similarity) to be somewhat odious in their tediousness.
The other byproduct of our naïveté in our early days in Azeroth is the noob moment. These are the events we look back on and say, "I can't believe I was that bad!" Those of us with more fragile egos repress those moments entirely.
For me, the noob moment that remains burned in my memory was a Gnomeregan run. I've been tanking since level 10 on my first character, and it was on that first character that I found myself tanking for a group that was chock-full of clothies. The run went fairly well, and despite a couple wipes here and there, we managed to down Thermaplugg. He dropped the Electromagnetic Gigaflux Reactivator, which had significantly more armor than the Hallowed Helm I had equipped at the moment. So I rolled need and won the item over the priest, mage, and warlock. My attempts to explain about the armor were shouted down, and I slinked away wondering what I did wrong.
It wasn't until I was around level 50 that I realized why that group was so angry at me. Looking back, it's one of my secret shames.
Have you ever suffered a noob moment?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 10)
RS Dec 2nd 2011 8:24AM
In the culling of Strathholm, I talked to Arthas while the rest of the group was off around the corner taking out the last mob before you fight the demon....god can't remember his name at the moment.
Anyway, me and arthas got owned quickly....
Felt like a real noob...but it was only my second time in it, didn't quite know the order of things.
From that I learned the lesson of don't talk to any npc, until the group is good to go.
Anti Dec 2nd 2011 8:25AM
I originally did not understand about durability and I kept buying new armor when the old stuff wore down....
Ika Dec 2nd 2011 8:43AM
That still happens to me.... :P
vwgreen77 Dec 2nd 2011 8:28AM
I followed a stealthed rogue in my first dungeon >.>
slim1256 Dec 2nd 2011 8:50AM
Heh - I was going to post this...
Our group leader's main is a rogue, and when 4.1 dropped (fine - I'm still a noob! I didn't start playing until early this year!), we were in ZG. He was marked so the group could easily see him to follow him through the dungeon that was new to us all, and he started running forward (he does all the marking targets).
I followed him in, facepulled everything, and we wiped. Paladins clanking around in plate mail are apparently way more noticeable to mobs than filthy, sneaky rogues.
That's how I learned to stop worrying and follow the tank.
eclipse Dec 2nd 2011 8:30AM
Back in 2007 my undead mage first crossed from Tirisfal Glades to Western Plaguelands around level 7. A huge spider killed proceeded to appear from nowhere and killed me. I had no idea what had happened. It was the first time I saw the skull in place of the mob's level.
A lvl 60 who saw that happen and told me I was too low to be in that area. I stayed the hell away from those spiders until I was higher level. Then I took out my revenge.
Fun times.
eclipse Dec 2nd 2011 8:31AM
Another noob moment right there: words where they shouldn't be. It's too early.
Xantenise Dec 2nd 2011 8:41AM
I've done that before, only I got eaten by a bear. So many Forsaken noobs have been eaten by bears or spiders in WPL...
That's where the "welcome bear" comes from.
Karen Lindsay Dec 2nd 2011 9:06AM
This was mine. My husband and I decided to go exploring - the Bulwark looked so inviting back then! *welcomebear* chomp.
Tenebrae Dec 2nd 2011 9:22AM
I saw this happen just other day. I tried to explain to the two lvl 10 toons trying to get into the PL that is was to high for them. I guess my advice fell on deaf ears, because they continued to try for a good 20 minutes. It was pretty funny to watch to be honest. I even threw a bubble on the one toon to see if he could even down a mob, without needing to worry about dieing. Turns out he could not.
StClair Dec 2nd 2011 10:40PM
And even if you went the way you were supposed to...
*sonofarugal*
Dea ex Machina Dec 4th 2011 9:40AM
I did that, AND got on the zeppelin for Stranglethorn Vale out of curiosity. Oh, gawd, the raptors, the RAPTORS... so, so many raptors... *whimper*
Rezai Dec 2nd 2011 8:30AM
My first toon was a warrior. I decided to tank deadmines. I read taunt and saw it drew aggro off a mob so when we got to the first boss I kept my sunder stacks up and taunted him every chance I could thinking I was getting more aggro (from the other players).
We made it through but the other players constantly made fun of me and at the end question how we beat it. No one ever told me that I didnt need to taunt unless someone else was being attacked. It actually kept me from tanking until wrath but I dont know how I didnt know what a taunt was for.
Jay Dec 2nd 2011 9:54AM
I play alot of alts through dungeons at all levels and I see people doing this every day at all ranges from 15-85. I usually nicely explains the taunt mechanic to them and they are grateful but I've also encountered people who've been rude and still insisted that it's a part of the rotation.
So to make you feel better: It's a common mistake :)
Automan2k Dec 2nd 2011 4:25PM
I was running through Dire Maul the other day with a NE Warrior tank that had macro'd his taunt with /roar.
Yaaaahhhh!!!
Clank.. slash
Yaaaahhhh!!!
Clank... slash
Yaaaahhhh!!!
I had a headache long before finishing that place.
neder Dec 2nd 2011 8:30AM
My first char long ago was created on friend's account for me to test the game. It was forsaken and I found myslef doing the Deaths in the Family quests with some random lowbie like me. Doing the q was pure pain and I had no idea that I had to loot the corpses for quest items. I ran back to the questgiver and saw gray question mark, felt like complete idiot. And the friend of mine was laughing at me secretly all the time ::D
yujie.max Dec 2nd 2011 8:31AM
For some reason, dying many horrible deaths on my Warlock in Hellfire Peninsula.
Till today, I have no idea how those deaths occurred, considering it's fairly easy to level through HFP now, but the damage has been done.
Hellfire Peninsula remains my least favourite zone. Evar.
Luotian Dec 2nd 2011 8:32AM
My biggest problem was that I could not for the life of me get up the big tree in the nelf baby area without /following my sister. I don't know what it was but something about that stupid circle just kept beating me.
The best, though, is from that same sister, who started the game well before I did. She and her twin brother (who had started before her) were playing around and she looted a mushroom cap. She then proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes trying to figure out how to equip the mushroom cap until she asked her twin. Who then spent the next 20 minutes laughing at her before explaining it was a mushroom cap like you eat, not like Toad.
Narayana Dec 2nd 2011 8:36AM
I've got two. One more general, and one very specific.
First, the specific. In the old days, my older brother John was the first of us to pick the game up. He was probably level 10 before another brother, Tom, and I picked up the game. When John reached level 22ish, Tom was level 16 and I was probably 12. We decided it would be fun to run a dungeon. The three of us (a Warlock, a Shaman and a Mage) hopped into Wailing Caverns to give it a go. Aside from the fact that we didn't have 5 guys or a tank, there was also the issue of my aggro radius. I couldn't walk down the hall without pulling an entire room of mobs. After a few wipes, we moved on and pretty much avoided all dungeons until we were all 60.
More generally, I recall leveling my mage as fire. I was in Ferelas and complained at how squishy I was. I couldn't get through a pull without being taken down to 10% health, or worse, dying. You see, as a fire mage, I eschewed literally every spell that wasn't fire. As such, extremely helpful spells like Frost Nova simply sat in my spellbook untouched. It wasn't until I complained that John reminded me about these spells. I went from 1-40ish without ever frost novaing anything! Dummy.
Keep in mind, back in '04 I was 23, so it's not like I was a dumb kid or anything- I was just a noob.
Xantenise Dec 2nd 2011 8:39AM
1. Being a night elven warrior, in Moon Glade. "HA, I bet I can take that orc on!" Two angry wyverns later...
2. I never used anything but autoshoot until a guildie kindly pointed out to me, "You should use your abilities, you know."