I tried a demo of WoW two years ago and was bored stiff after about two hours of grindy starter quests. Uninstalled, figured I'd never be back. After watching Rorie play, thought I'd jump in again to give it a better chance. I'm a dwarf in a RPPVP server (forgot the name) playing the Starter edition, and I feel like I am in an instanced bubble away from everybody else in the world. Am I doing something wrong?

I haven't played WoW in about 5 years, and I haven't played a lvl 1 since 2007 so I could be wrong, but at this point I imagine there just isn't a lot of players (especially on niche servers such as RPPVP) that are new to the game and don't already have several characters at the cap. If other players are what is most important to you you could try playing as a panda on a more neutral PVE server, considering it's new content with a lower barrier to entry there are bound to be other starting characters around.

Alternatively try and request aid in one of the chat regions. My experiences on RP servers indicate that there are friendlier players more willing to help someone just starting out, they just need to know you're there. Be sure to observe proper etiquette though.

Good luck,

I subscribe to the Jeff way of playing online games which is to never interact with anyone

Been a while since I played the game, but around level 10 or so you should start getting quests tuned for group-play (often achieved by just asking in general chat if others want to do it) and then about 15-20 your LFD tool should be available for instancing. I remember doing alts where all I did was just queue LFD and doing dungeons for most of the lower levels.

It is all up to you though. If you want to play with others then seek it out by using the tools available to you to do group content, be it quests, dungeons, pvp or whatever.

Whenever you see fit. Go to a popular hang out spot. Not sure what those are these days.

In this stage of the game's life, I'd suggest just playing in either a PVE or PVP server -- you'd have better luck there, I think.

Never found a lot of fun RP action in WoW anyway, even back in the day.

@superkenon: Been thinking this might be a good idea. I figured if I'm going to do this terrible, regrettable thing that I might as well do it in the most disgusting way. If the action's all in a straight PVP server, I'll see if I can get in on that action and fine other folks. Danke.

Most zones are cross-realm now, meaning you *should* be seeing people just about anywhere. I recently made some new characters in the last few weeks, and due to that feature the game looked as populated as I'd seen it in years. (Even if it technically isn't, but hey people are people, wherever they're popping up from.) I'm on an RP server, for what it's worth.

As far as group quests go, sure, you can group up with people anytime and do quests, but they made just about every previously group-only quest solo now. You may run into one or two group quests maybe 70+, but even then it's really seemingly made for just soloing to the cap as fast as possible. If you want groups, get to 15 and queue in the dungeon finder. Personally, I've played WoW almost entirely solo on and off since 2004, so I was pretty much cool with it when they made a lot of shit soloable that wasn't previously.

Long story short, I dunno man, unless you're playing a Goblin, Worgen, or Pandaren (three races with starting zones that are very instanced), you really should be seeing people.

try to find a beginners guild or so. Don't they shout all the time for new members? Maybe your first guild will be a bit small but you can change them anytime if you have found friends or a much better one.

It's been a long time since I played WOW but I remember that if you are just around long enough someone will invite you into a guide. Or you could look around and see what the most popular guide is and ask for an invite. Dropping a few comments into chat occasionally will alert people to your existence and that may lead to more interaction. Honestly, I played a lot of Star Wars The Old Republic recently and I avoided interacting with others because I just don't have the time for long play sessions. I was in a moderate sized guild in my WOW days and that was still very demanding at the higher levels.

If you're looking for other people, I've found there are always people hanging around the banks and auction houses in the major cities. Loiter around there and someone will notice. Oh, and I do also recall that not too many people pay attention to you until you're over level 20. You need to show that you've actually sunk some time into the game before anyone can take you seriously.

@jeffrud: I'm not sure what limitations are placed on the Starter Edition - you may be locked off from being able to join guilds and whisper people.

If you pick a new server, be sure to sort by population and pick a high-pop server. (Ideally, make a list of the full servers and try to create an account on them during the off hours; not sure if this is still possible.) The servers listed as being for new players are generally ghost towns. If you join Quel'Dorai, I can get you into a nice, small, friendly guild, but the server as a whole is pretty empty.

Goddammit. All this WoW talk all of a sudden is starting to make me want to play again. I've been clean for a year and a half. I can't go back. This is your fault, Rorie. All your fault.

@rorie: I will tool around with this advice when I get home. I get the impression from this thread that you can make this game whatever you want it to be, but so far the solo experience feels like a sort of clunky, old ARPG with a hint of input lag. Guild shenanigans, short of the masochistic day-long session crap, sounds like what sets apart this whole genre of game from everything else, and I have yet to experience even a hint of that.

Also, while I am not privy to all of the things the Starter accounts don't get, I can say for certain that all of the pet stuff is right out. No dog fights for me.

@mariachimacabre: I started playing again a few weeks ago. I really dig the atmosphere of the questing zones and stuff- but I've reached the point where I've squeezed all I can out of heroics and it's time to start raiding... now I'm thinking about quitting again. Objectively it's better than it's ever been, but it'll never be as good to me as it was around 2007.

Moon Guard (US) Go to the Goldshire Inn and enjoy your RP.

How is the new skill point system? I know they changed it dramatically with Pandaria.

You mean the talents? It's fine. Most of the choices come down to preference and/or situation.

@mariachimacabre: It's far simpler, but it's not a bad change. They basically took all of those "mandatory" passive talents, built them into the class, and make you choose between more powerful abilities that you'll wind up using pretty often. The main drawback is that there'll often be levelups when you don't actually gain anything besides some stats.

I forget which server I was on, but yeah, Goldshire was pretty much the only place you'd ever find anything happening. Admittedly I found a fair amount of interesting in-character conversations. Though all-too-often it devolved into weird furry shit too.

My crotchety grumblings aside, what I was looking for out of WoW RP was actually questing around in a party, beating up monsters, solving crimes, and havin' adventures!!, combined that in-character experience. But it never really happened that way. Seemed like everyone turned off their 'RP Switch' whenever it was time to actually level up, waiting only until they were back at that damn inn to turn it on again.

No wonder he doesn't enjoy many MMOs.

I was always substantially behind the level cap for the whole time I played WoW, so I was perpetually running around a world devoid of people. I was technically in a guild, but not being at a level at which I could make myself useful, I had almost no contact with the other folks in the guild. When I hit level 64 just as Wrath of the Lich King came out, I just gave up. I had a subscription for around three years or so, but I just could never put in enough time to level up enough to get a chance to raid or do PVP. I don't think I even had a chance to play an instance past level 40, because there just weren't enough other people around at my level.