Get a Job You Bum!

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Today I will be talking a little about professions. In the coming weeks I will go through each one in more detail, but today is just going to be an overview of all of them. Professions are a big part of WoW and they should be a big part of your character as well. Having professions can make you a lot of gold, make you armor, and give you item enhancements that will give you an edge over other players. They may cost a little bit of gold to level the skill, but it is definitely worth it long term.

First of all, you need to know that there are primary and secondary professions. The secondary professions are cooking, fishing, first-aid, and riding. You can learn every one of these trades. Primary professions, on the other hand, you can only learn two of so choose wisely. The primary professions are basically split up into two categories: gathering and productions. The gathering trades are herbalism, mining, and skinning. Gathering professions usually make the most money, but your character doesn't actually benefit from it. The production trades are alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting,engineering , leatherworking, tailoring, jewelcrafting, and inscription. A little description about each profession:

Alchemy - Make potions, elixers, flasks, and oils using herbs and vials. Can also transmute essences and metals into other essences and metals.

Blacksmithing - Forge weapons, plate and mail armor from metal bars

Enchanting - Enchant weapons and gear to increase various attributes. Uses dusts, essences, and shards extracted from armor.

Engineering - Create bomb, rifles, goggles, and other mechanical devices.

Herbalism - Harvest herbs from nodes around the world and some mobs.

Inscription - Create glyphs and scrolls from milling herbs.

Jewelcrafting - Make rings, necklaces, trinkets and cut gems that are used in special sockets.

Leatherworking - Make leather armor and armor kits from hides. Can also create mail armor after level 40.

Mining - Mine ore, minerals, gems, and stone from deposits around the world. Smelting is then used to turn the ore into bars of metal.

Tailoring - Sews cloth armor and makes bags. Can also make special thread to enhance items.

As you can see, there are quite a few choices to make. Try a few out. If you don't like it, you can always just drop it and start a new profession.

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Midsummer Fire Festival Upon Us!

The Midsummer Fire Festival started a few days ago and will run through July 4th. Holidays and world events are an exciting time in Azeroth. They give everyone a break from their dailies, questing, and other day-to-day activities to engage in fun content that only comes around once a year. There are many achievements and rewards that you can get as well. Some people choose to participate in these world events and others choose not to. Personally, I try to get everything I can out of all the holidays. The Midsummer Fire Festival is no different.

If you want to get all the achievements, you will have to be at least level 65. Even if you aren't high enough to complete all the achievements, I still encourage you to go around and do as much as you can. You will make a lot of money and also gain experience.

Basically, the Midsummer Fire Festival is a time to celebrate the hottest season of the year. To do this, you will be traveling around the world, lighting huge fires. You are going to want to start in any capital city, and find the Festival Loremaster and the Master Fire Eater. They will give you some quests to start out with.

The Master Fire Eater's quests will be done right in front of him. Torch tossing involves throwing torches at marked braziers in a limited amount of time. With torch catching, you throw a torch high in the air, try to follow it's shadow, and throw it up again. These quests may take a little bit of practice, but when you complete them, you will gain some [Burning Blossoms]. These will be your currency throughout the festival.

The quest that the Festival Loremaster gives you will require you to travel to Ashenvale, the Zoram Strand specifically. You then proceed to kill mobs at the Twilight Camp until you get the Twilight Correspondence. Call upon the Earthen Ring Guide using the Totemic Beacon and he will tell you what to do next.

The main part of the Fire Festival is traveling around to all the fires. There are 42 Horde bonfires and 44 Alliance fires. You can light your own faction's fires and put out your opposing faction's fires. This is quite a bit of running around, but you only have to do what you want to do. Once you have some [Burning Blossoms], go check out some of the rewards. There is food, a pet, clothes, and many other things. Go light some fires!

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So You Want to Play WoW? Pt. 3

In my last post, I went over picking your class. Today I am going to talk about picking a race and creating your name. Your race is not extremely important. As long as it has the class that you want to play, there aren't many differences between races. Although there are many racial traits that I will discuss at a later date, I recommend choosing a race based on how you feel. Hopefully this character is going to be with you all the way to level 80 so you want to pick something that looks and feels right to you. When you reach endgame content, you will see every single class/race combination. There are pros and cons to every one of these combinations. Pick what you want and enjoy it.

Now for some naming tips. World of Warcraft has a name generator for you to use. Click on this as many times as you like until you find something you like. This can be a great way to find a name, and it also avoids issues with offensive names. I actually use the name generator and love my characters' names. There are many name generators online that you can choose to use.

I believe that the best names are the simple ones. People don't want to have to remember long and complicated names. They want to be able to type it so don't use any strange characters that aren't on a basic keyboard. Also, don't just type gibberish; you should be able to read your name out loud. Adlkajf is not what you should be using. People will think that you are A.Childish or B. a gold farmer. You don't want that, do you? Try not to offend people either. That's always good, right? Don't try to make political or social statements with your name. People don't want to see that; they are just trying to escape the real world for a little bit. Don't ruin that for them. In the end, your name doesn't have to be the most unique or creative. Choose a name that is simple and one that your like. Now go create a character and start leveling!

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So You Want to Play WoW? Pt. 2

Yesterday I went over picking a realm and all of the different types of realms. Today I will continue with creating your first character. Creating your character is extremely important. They will be with you for a long time so take some time to think about what you want. The first thing you should do is pick your class. After all, you wouldn't want to pick a race and later find out that they don't have the class you were hoping to play. When picking your class, think about the role that you think you might want to play. There are three main types of characters.

DPS - DPS'ers do all the damage. The majority of classes are DPS and most of your group will be made up of them.

Tank - Tanks take all the damage. They wear the best armor and also wield a shield. Tanks don't do much damage to their target; their focus is only to keep the target attacking them.

Healer - Healers do exactly what their name implies. They heal the tank and anyone else in the group that needs it. Healers normally don't DPS at all.

Now that you know the different roles, you can decide on your class. Any class can DPS, so if you want to DPS, you just have to decide if you want to be ranged or melee. The ranged classes are Priest, Warlock, Mage, Hunter, Shaman, and some Druids. The melee classes are Warrior, Death Knight, Rogue, Paladin, some Druids, and some Shamans.

Classes that generally tank are Warriors, Paladins, Druids, and Death Knights.

Classes that generally heal are Priests, Paladins, Druids, and Shamans.

Now for a brief overview of each class:

Druid - Druids are shapeshifters and are a hybrid class. They are extremely versatile and are able to take on any role in the group. Druids are able to wear leather and cloth armor. If you enjoy change, a druid might be for you.

Hunter - Hunters do most of their damage with their ranged weapons like bows, crossbows, and guns, and also with their pets. Hunters are very good very leveling because of the use of pets, and because of their survivability. Hunters may be for you if you think you might like controlling a pet and staying back from all the action.

Mage - Mages are master of magic. They use fire, frost, and arcane spells. Mages also have many AoE or area of effect spells. They are also able to open portals for traveling to other cities. Mages wear cloth, however, so they aren't able to survive long in melee combat.

Paladin - Paladins are an extremely strong hybrid class. They wear the best armor and are able to heal themselves. Paladins have very important buffs and auras that are crucial to the group. They use both physical and holy damage on their opponents. A paladin can be very powerful when played right.

Priest - Although priests are great healers, they can also deal out damage while in their shadowform. This is probably the best way to level, but when you get to 80, you will probably be expected to heal. Priests wear cloth armor but can be a nuisance to kill.

Rogue - Rogues are masters of stealth. It is also a class that fights very dirty, with lots of stuns, backstabbing, and poisons. They are very popular for PvP, especially at lower levels. Many times a rogue can take down an enemy player without getting attacked at all.

Shaman - Shamans are an offensive hybrid class that uses totems. Shamans can take many paths to succeed, healing or dealing damage. They are able to wear mail armor at level 40 but generally have mana-inefficient spells.

Warlock - Warlocks are masters of shadow, flame, and demonic power. They have many utility options and can deal out massive damage, depending on their talent build. They can kill their opponents slowly, with a lot of nukes, or with their demons. Warlocks are a very busy DPS class but when played well, can top the DPS charts.

Warrior - The warrior is a tough melee class that can tank very well. They are on the front lines and right in the action. Warriors are very dependent on their gear; a tank with poor gear will go down very quickly. Playing a warrior takes some skill, but they are very strong.

Now that you know a little about each class, make your decision. Don't worry though; if you don't enjoy playing your choice, you can always re-roll and start over. Go with what you enjoy, not the class that seems the best. Nerfs and buffs come and go, so pick something that you enjoy. If you would like to learn more about the different classes, I encourage you to check out Blizzard's Class Guide.

Tomorrow I will talk a little about choosing your race and also naming your character.

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So You Want To Play WoW?

So you want to play World of Warcraft, eh? Good choice, it is a great game. After hours of downloading patches, it's now finally time to actually play the game. The first thing you will do is pick a realm. There are currently over 200 North American realms alone and they are all different. There are four different types of realms. Read on to find which type is best for you.

Normal (PvE) - In player versus environment servers the main focus is killing monsters and questing. On a normal server, you choose when you want to engage in player versus player combat.

Player versus Player (PvP) - Player versus player servers have the same elements and objectives as PvE servers, but with an added element of faction versus faction combat anywhere in the world. On a PvP realms, you are constantly in danger of being attacked by other players at any time.

Roleplaying (RP) - Roleplaying realms will have you imagining that you are actually in the world you play in. They give you a chance to develop an actual character with a backstory of their own. If you choose a roleplaying server, be sure to read Blizzard's Roleplaying Policy.

Roleplaying Player versus Player (RP-PvP) - Roleplaying player versus player servers combine roleplaying behavior rules with the player versus player experience.

After you choose your realm, a few more important decisions will have to be made. It is now time to create your character. Tomorrow I will discuss choosing a class, a race, and naming your character.

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WoW Abbreviations 101

As you begin your journey through Azeroth, you will encounter many other real people just like you. These fellow gamers have there own language of sorts. Learning all the new terms may seem like a daunting task. Take a look at this list to get you started.

• AB: Arathi Basin
• AFK: away from keyboard
• Agi: agility
• AoE: area of effect
• AP: attack power
• AH: auction house
• AV: Alterac Valley
• BE: blood elf
• BG: battleground
• BoE: bind on equip
• BoP: bind on pickup
• BRB: be right back
• BRT: be right there
• Crit: critical hit
• CC: crowd control
• DMG: damage
• DPS: damage per second
• DnD: do not disturb
• DOT: damage over time
• Exp: experience
• EotS: Eye of the Storm
• FP: flight path
• GG: good game
• GJ: good job
• GM: game master
• GY: graveyard
• GUI: graphical user interface
• HOT: heal over time
• Hearth: hearthstone
• HP: hit points
• IMO: in my opinion
• INC: incoming
• INT: intellect
• IRL: in real life
• JK: just kidding
• L2P: learn to play
• LOL: laugh out loud
• LW: leatherworker
• OOM: out of mana
• LFG: looking for group
• LFM: looking for more
• Mats: materials
• MP5: mana per five seconds
• MT:mistell or main tank
• NM: nevermind
• NPC: non-player character
• OMW: on my way
• Port: portal
• Pot: potion
• Proc: Programmed Random OCurrence
• PST: please send tell
• PTR: public test realm
• PUG: pick-up group
• PvE: player versus environment
• PvP: player versus player
• QFT: quoted for truth
• ROFL: rolling on floor laughing
• ROFLMAO: rolling on floor laughting my [butt] off
• Rez: resurrection
• RP: roleplaying
• SPI: spirit
• STA: stamina
• STR: strength
• WSG: Warsong Gulch
• WTB: want to buy
• WTS: want to sell

Learning these terms and abbreviations will give you a good foundation to build on.

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WoW Rookie is now live!

Welcome to WoW Rookie! This blog will be focused on helping new players learn all about the exciting game of World of Warcraft and how to play it. Being a "newbie" in WoW can be quite overwhelming but don't worry. I am here to help. I will be giving you tips on playing your class, leveling, professions, achievements, making money, and many other things. Soon you will be a pro at playing WoW and you will be able to impress all your friends with your phat loot and all your skills! I will try to update WoW Rookie often so stay tuned!

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