Okay, for those of you who don't like meta or community diaries or World of Warcraft, or favor another MMoRPG, I fear you've wandered into the wrong diary once again.
Some people have, while being supportive of the Wreck List, asked for more information about getting started in World of Warcraft. I hope to answer as many of those questions as I can below the fold.
Q: So, I get that World of Warcraft is some kind of game. Like that Second Life you were on a while ago. What am I going to need to run it?
A: Hardware requirements are here. A newer, though certainly not bleeding-edge, system is good. Make sure you have plenty of disk space, the install will take 15 GB.
World of Warcraft can be played with a regular keyboard and mouse, most people do so. I have some range-of-motion issues and found that a gamepad was very helpful.
Q: How much is this going to cost me?
A: Up front, quite a bit by my standards. Admittedly, my standards are on the poor-folk end of Daily Kos. There is a free ten-day trial, that will give you an idea about how WoW works.
The full game will cost you $39.99 for a Battle Chest (WoW and the first expansion together) and $29.99 for the latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. You can also buy keys for each of the games at the Blizzard site at $29.99 a shot and download the game.
If you have a fat pipe and aren't near a game store, I'd suggest downloading. Otherwise, you're better off buying it at a game store.
It will also cost you about $15/month for your account.
Q: Ouch. Do I need all of those?
A: For differing values of "need". If you just want to hang with us, you only need the base game - but there will be a lot that we do that you'll be unable to join in on. If you want a blood elf or a draenei, or to level beyond 60, you'll need The Burning Crusade, the second expansion. If you want a death knight or to explore Northrend with us, you'll need all three.
But if you want to stop by and say "howdy" a trial works. I'd suggest a trial anyway if you're completely unfamiliar with WoW, so you can see if you like it before you start shelling out money.
Admittedly, it's in total about what you'd spend taking your family to a nice restaurant, but for me it was a lot of money. Fortunately I had a good deal of money from stripping helping friends in Second Life, so I could afford it with off-budget money.
Q: You made a hundred bucks stripping in Second Life???
A: More than that actually, there was NNSL, the monthly WoW fees, the game pad ...look, can we get back on subject? Besides, a lot of it was modeling, too.
Q: Okay, I've installed the game. Now what?
A: Go make a Battle.net account on the World of Warcraft site and give it your keys. Then fire up the game client and enter your acount name and password.
Never, ever, ever tell anyone your password.
Q: Okay, I'm in. So I have it recommend me a server, right?
A: You have it recommend you a server, wrong. Select a US server and select "Normal". You should see a button marked "Realms List". Find "Garrosh", click on that once it's highlighted, and press OK.
Q: What race/class do I pick?
A: We're all the Horde - the races on the right with the red symbol. Pick a combination that looks interesting to you. If you like soloing, play a hunter. If you like always being in a group, play a priest. Other than that, there really is no wrong answer. You can have up to ten characters per server, so try different combinations.
You can also customize your character, decide on a gender, and name your character. You do not need to use your Daily Kos handle as your name, we'll get to that.
Q: And I'm in the starting area. I'm lonely and it's desolate. Where are you?
A: Here's how to meet up with us:
You can send an in-game tell to Moodyloner or any guild member that identifies themselves under the "Contacts" message. They can send you a guild invite or alert someone who can.
You can then post a message here on Daily Kos, either in a Wreck List diary or an open thread, with your character's name. This will let us know that you're a Kossack and will give you increased access to the guild.
If you're on a trial account, post your character's name as above. We may not be able to get you into the guild, but we will add you to our contacts list and talk to you and try to answer your questions.
Update [2009-4-14 12:30:13 by Moody Loner]: Apparently you can also type "/who wreck list" and get a list of guildies online. Who knew?
That's about it for here - any further questions you can hit up the WoW FAQ or ask us in-game. Hope to see you in Azeroth, for the Horde!