Jroderton said:
So I'm pretty new to this game. I've just been questing and doing a few dungeons here and there. I've made it up to level 35 and the one thing I can't seem to get is exactly where should I be. I mean I'm in Hinterlands (I guess that's how you spell it.) I came from Booty Bay to get to there. My main question is, how do you know exactly where in the world you should be? Do I base it on my level? I guess the enemies I fight during quests should be around the same level as me? And after that, how do I know where to go next? I've pretty much just ran around into random areas so far until I find quests. Is there really a right or wrong way to do it?
Quests should be yellow, on average, to you for an appropriate level zone. Some may be orange, which you can put off a level or two, and some may be green, which just means you outleveled them a tad, but you can still do them.
If you go into a zone that's too high a level for you many of the mobs will be orange/red to you (3+ levels higher than your level.) You usually want to stay away from these, though before Cataclysm, at least some zones had some more dangerous areas that you wouldn't be ready for until you had quested in another part of the zone - I'm not sure exactly how prevalent this is now as questing has been streamlined a lot.
M.D. said:
What is a build? Is it some sort of guide to help you pick what talents to develop or am I wrong? Where can I find these? And what do people use addons for? Are there any I should use right now that can help me?
A build would probably just be referring to the way you distribute your talent points. (e.g. you may skip one talent to put more points in another to be more effective at X, but lose some effectiveness at Y.)
For now, just go with what talents you think are useful/neat. You really only need to worry about a specific talent build at max level as end-game builds will often differ fairly significantly from leveling builds. Leveling it's not as important and the talent overhaul with patch 4.0 right before the Cataclysm launch made it pretty brain-dead easy to pick at least decent talents, even if they aren't completely optimal.
You can check the Official WoW forums for your class and probably find a guide or two detailing what might be a good build for leveling, though the end-game build you would find on the likes of the Elitist-Jerks forum or similar would also be fine - there just may be certain talents that make leveling easier that aren't nearly as useful for end-game dungeon/raid/pvp play. The only thing you would want to watch out for are talents that are more PvP oriented as you're leveling.
I think you were a Frost Mage at the moment? One example of a more PvP oriented talent would be Shattered Barrier a bit further down in the Frost tree. Situationally useful for solo questing, but definitely better in PvP when you yourself would be targeted. Not so useful in dungeons or raids when the tank (should) be taking most of the damage.
Addons
This is a topic that I could go on about all day since I think addons are one of the most fun and greatest additions to the game that you can have, but I'll try and keep it short. Addons are modifications to the WoW UI, most of which make information more easily parseable and otherwise add convenience/cosmetic improvements. I could spend hours tweaking a UI to be just right and have a much smoother gameplay experience. Some addons are absolutely essential for endgame play, but for just leveling, you don't need anything in particular.
I'll list a few common ones that people use and their function, and you can decide if addons are something you would like to pursue at the moment, but if you really intend on playing the game over a long period of time they will be something to make life in WoW much easier. I can help you with the install/setup process later if you want, or someone else can step in, but for now here is a short list:
-Deadly Boss Mods: Gives raid warnings and other cues when fighting raid/dungeon bosses. Essential for the max level raider/dungeoneer.
-Omen Threat Meter: Displays precise threat levels (if/how close a mob is to attacking you) in a bar chart format and can warn you when you have gained/lost threat.
-Recount: DPS meter that normally displays in a bar chart format similar to Omen that shows how much damage/healing you or members in your party are doing - highly configurable.
-Gatherer: Displays mining/herb/whatever nodes on your map for easier gathering. Can be paired with a database mod that will show you the location of all nodes.
-ArkInventory: Better bag management. Displays all your inventory in one convenient window that can be organized into categories for easy management. Also features a search function so you don't have to worry about poking around for items in your bags.
There are alternatives for nearly all of the addons I listed, but the ones I put above are among the most popular because they're reliable and updated quickly.
That's also just a sampling of some common addons. Others make the interfacing with the auction house easier/more powerful, allow you to adjust unit/player frame location and look, and give you better action bar management/more room, among a multitude of other things.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/MostDownloaded.aspx?SectionID=3816
The above is a link to the most downloaded addons on Curse (a reliable site that also has a special application for installing/updating addons hassle free). The ones I mentioned are on that list, but there will be plenty of other addons to explore as well. I do recommend installing only one or two at a time though if you're not familiar with the process and are not sure what changes/problems could arise with each individual addon.
Again, if you have any questions, just ask in this thread as I'm usually watching it, or someone else may be available to help - I'm not subscribed right now so if a specific issue occurs, I may not be able to troubleshoot it easily myself.
