First off, I'm playing EVE right now and have enjoyed it, but am finding it more and more repetitive when I log in and am looking for a change of pace. I'm not looking to slam EVE though, because its a great game, just getting a little stale for me.

Secondly, I'd like to say that I've tried the game before the trial before and enjoyed it, but have a few questions;

1. Is it too late for me to jump in?

2. Would it be possible for me to play the game casually, and still make progress?

3. Playing casually, maybe a couple of hours a night, how long would it take me to hit level 70?

I can't think of anymore questions right now, but if I do, I'll be sure to add them to the list. Thanks.

Originally posted by gingus418

First off, I'm playing EVE right now and have enjoyed it, but am finding it more and more repetitive when I log in and am looking for a change of pace. I'm not looking to slam EVE though, because its a great game, just getting a little stale for me.

 

Secondly, I'd like to say that I've tried the game before the trial before and enjoyed it, but have a few questions;

 

1. Is it too late for me to jump in?

2. Would it be possible for me to play the game casually, and still make progress?

3. Playing casually, maybe a couple of hours a night, how long would it take me to hit level 70?

I can't think of anymore questions right now, but if I do, I'll be sure to add them to the list. Thanks.

1. No

2. Yes

3.  Expect about 150 to 200 hours of playtime to get from 1 to 70 on your first character depending on your personal playstyle.  So if you play lets say 2 hours on average a day, that would be about 75 to 100 days or about 2 and half months to 3 and half months.  Now before anyone slams me, yes I know people have done it in a week, but that's certainly not casual play and that's only after knowing the game and the quests inside and out.  I just recently had a guy brand new to the game start a character and it took him about 200 hours playtime to reach level 70.   This was after release 2.3 so it's still accurate today.  The only thing that will change from when he did it will be the mount at level 30.

Lots of players still starting new characters in WoW.

WoW is really great for casual play, all the way to 70, no problem.

In addition, even if you are playing casual, you will still be valuable to groups doing regular instances.  Best classes for getting instance PuGs are Priest or Warrior.  All solo just fine. :)

The end game is now all about PvP, PvP gear, PvP grinding, etc.
So, if PvP is not your thing, and you wish to do post 70 play, you will need to spec for end-game instances specifically.

Myself, just started a different character Race / Class / Starting Area.  Even faction.
Lots of replay value.

One hint for you.  To make bucket loads of Gold (you will need it because prices on AH are insane) :

*  Be a Skinner / Miner
*  Sell all your materials gathered on AH
*  Sell all the Green / Blue drops you don't need on AH
*  Keep your prices at 70% of others so yours sell first !
*  Don't bother even starting to craft till you are 40 or higher
*  Do cook.  Do fish.  Don't bother with 1st aid unless you are a Warrior or Rogue.

Good Hunting.

Go to high population server(not required) either your PvP or PvE servers, due to the large number of people in WoW there always seems to be quite a few people leveling twinks or alts and you shouldn't have much problem finding groups up until the 30s.

As far as worrying about level 70, there are new guilds popping up on every server every day just starting Karazhan(the first lvl70 raid zone).

You'll be fine.

Originally posted by Shoal

Lots of players still starting new characters in WoW.

WoW is really great for casual play, all the way to 70, no problem.

In addition, even if you are playing casual, you will still be valuable to groups doing regular instances.  Best classes for getting instance PuGs are Priest or Warrior.  All solo just fine. :)

The end game is now all about PvP, PvP gear, PvP grinding, etc.
So, if PvP is not your thing, and you wish to do post 70 play, you will need to spec for end-game instances specifically.

Myself, just started a different character Race / Class / Starting Area.  Even faction.
Lots of replay value.

One hint for you.  To make bucket loads of Gold (you will need it because prices on AH are insane) :

*  Be a Skinner / Miner
*  Sell all your materials gathered on AH
*  Sell all the Green / Blue drops you don't need on AH
*  Keep your prices at 70% of others so yours sell first !
*  Don't bother even starting to craft till you are 40 or higher
*  Do cook.  Do fish.  Don't bother with 1st aid unless you are a Warrior or Rogue.

Good Hunting.

Agree with him on everything except 1st aid and I STRONGLY disagree with him here.  There's absolutely no reason for ANYONE to NOT have their 1st aid to 375.  NONE.  It is NOT the sole job of healers to heal you.  Everyone should bring plenty of bandages to raids and be prepared to bandage themselves whenever they are asked to.  My shadow priest uses bandages all the time.  Even my paladin will occasionally use bandages on himself to avoid using mana.  So much cloth drops in the game it's very easy to get to 375 first aid.  I don't know anyone that doesn't have 375 in first aid. 

One other thing I thought about on the way to work today:

How often to people group, or play in PuGs? What is the group dynamic? Do people camp, or does everybody just kill mobs on their own, contributing to the group experience? Just curious, because I played FFXI for around 2.5 years and grew to love the teamwork, even when it was a grind.

While leveling a new character you will find it difficult to get groups up to level 70. people just want to get to end game and miss a lot of content. I leveled a druid after 2.3, it took me 7 days of game time to level to 70 and I didn't group for instance until level 70 (this was alt number 4 so I wasn't bothered about the lower instances - been there, done that) - my guild was short on healers so I had to scoot on up to 70.

Also, if you plan on pvping, note it's highly gear dependent so it will be frustrating until you get gear.

So...basically nobody wants to group then?

Originally posted by mbd1968

While leveling a new character you will find it difficult to get groups up to level 70. people just want to get to end game and miss a lot of content. I leveled a druid after 2.3, it took me 7 days of game time to level to 70 and I didn't group for instance until level 70 (this was alt number 4 so I wasn't bothered about the lower instances - been there, done that) - my guild was short on healers so I had to scoot on up to 70.

Also, if you plan on pvping, note it's highly gear dependent so it will be frustrating until you get gear.

So... basically you're saying that nobody wants to group then?

yes they group but its hard to find a group if ure on a low populated server...

So, I've decided to give it a go, and have signed up. I just noticed though that I need to pay an additional $30 to unlock the burning crusade content... that sorta bums me out. Especially because I'm currently downloading the full game, but can't play the new content.

yea well im lucky cause a schoolmate gave me his account (although i have to pay) so i dont need to buy BC... O yea and a word of advice go on a pvp server and it HAS to be full trust me

Originally posted by gingus418

So, I've decided to give it a go, and have signed up. I just noticed though that I need to pay an additional $30 to unlock the burning crusade content... that sorta bums me out. Especially because I'm currently downloading the full game, but can't play the new content.

Don't bother with the Burning Crusade to start off.  There's plenty of preBC content for you to get started with.  Once you hit level 30 or have played at least a couple different races, then you should consider getting Burning Crusade for the additional content.  Some of the content that was added in BC, was also added to the original game.  All you are really missing is Outlands which you really won't need to visit until you are above level 55 and the 2 new added races and starting areas.

I predict by 2009 you will be able to play WoW with your eyes closed.

You will need BC if you want to play  the new races and the jobs they bring to each side. I prefer horde blood elves myself as they come off as arrogent and wicked. Horde also has more pvp based racial specials compared to alliance. S2 gear is on the honor system now this will be your gear endgame unless you do arena and these sets wil be the minimum you will need to even think of arena. www.wowwiki.com/Season_2_Arena_rewards

It isn't too late, matter of fact it is just the right time. You can easily get a character to 70 by the next expansion. Do what I did, get a character to 70 and log them out. Expansions in WoW reset gear levels. So nearly everyone will be on a clean gear slate once it launches. That would be a good time to dust off the 70. If you have a 50+ hr a week job, don't even bother. After the next expansion the raiders are going to surpass the welfare given epics by 3 times as much as they are now. This game is meant for the unemployed to advance. Man I can't wait for warhammer :D.

Originally posted by gingus418

First off, I'm playing EVE right now and have enjoyed it, but am finding it more and more repetitive when I log in and am looking for a change of pace. I'm not looking to slam EVE though, because its a great game, just getting a little stale for me.

 

Secondly, I'd like to say that I've tried the game before the trial before and enjoyed it, but have a few questions;

 

1. Is it too late for me to jump in?

2. Would it be possible for me to play the game casually, and still make progress?

3. Playing casually, maybe a couple of hours a night, how long would it take me to hit level 70?

I can't think of anymore questions right now, but if I do, I'll be sure to add them to the list. Thanks.

1.) No, but you will find it hard to find groups since most people are either 70, being power leveled, or botting.

2.) Sure, the game was made for casual players.

3.) A long time.

I played on Earthen Ring until last week (taking a break) and even on that massively polulated server, grouping pre-70 is extremely difficult to do.

I play on Blackrock, which is a high population PVP server.

I never had trouble finding people to group with, especially for instances. I just leveled a mage to 70 and a pally to 60 in the last couple months.

The best thing to do is to join a guild and try to always have a lvling partner when possible. Gankers will always be a problem, but if there are two of you they usually won't bother you.

and yes, pick mining and skinning!!! I'm helping my boyfriend lvl his first wow character right now (miner and skinner), and he has more gold than my toons combined  -_-