Stop! Don’t Drop That Profession!

One of the most common questions that I’ve been asked by guildmates and other players is what profession that I think they should choose. I’ve been given lists of races, classes, current professions, levels, and pretty much anything else to help narrow down the possibilities. While this can have a lot of different answers (and not really a “correct” answer, either), another popular question that I get is when to give up a profession.

The easiest answer that I have is simply this : No matter what level your toon is, don’t drop a profession that none of your other toons have learned.

Many players may argue that some professions are easy to relevel. I hear frequently of players dropping and picking back up farming professions (I’d say these professions take around five hours of effort to level). This isn’t always bad. If you already have the farming profession on another toon, I would definitely recommend dropping it in favor of a crafting profession. You will get a higher margin of profit for your time.

The simple fact is that more professions means a greater span of options for your World of Warcraft experience. Just like any good stock portfolio, diversification leaves your characters with a healthy wallet (think of your profession diversification as a nice little 401k for your future business adventures).

Dropping a crafting profession is almost always a frustrating experience. Because of the cooldowns it takes to level the profession, it is worth the effort to have several toons with crafting professions on a single account. Leatherworking, Enchanting, and Engineering are the exceptions to this rule and could, if you really needed to, be dropped and picked up later.

Any successful auctioneer knows that diversification is one of the most powerful tools that a player can posses. Without diversity, an auctioneer can easily be left without a choice when the economy takes a sudden dive and opportunity strikes.

Instead of dropping and picking back up professions, an auctioneer would better serve themselves by getting those rusty storage alts up to a respectable level.

Basically, if you have to ask whether you should drop a profession or not–don’t do it. 

Professions take a lot of time to level, and you’re probably going to be regretting it soon afterwards.

Take a little thinking time, make a plan, and remember that leveling a new toon can open up a whole new realm of possibilities without taking away your financial security!

Read More

Making Gold with Vanity Item Vending

One of the better ways to make some extra gold with Alchemy is by selling vanity items–particularly if you’re going to show off a little to draw in customers. These items can do anything from turning your into stone to making you grow to outrageous sizes, and they are pretty fun to use and abuse in towns.

There’s quite a few vanity items out there, but I’m going to be focusing on what I consider to be the three most profitable. These items are all both easy to craft and sell very quickly.

DEEPSTONE OIL

This item requires Cataclym and can be acquired through training. Once a player uses this oil, they are completely frozen in place regardless of what they were doing before.

This oil is pretty easy to make, too, as players will have a possibility of crafting 1-2 every time. In order to begin, you will need an Albino Cavefish. Unfortuantly, these can be a hassle to obtain manually as you can only grab them from Deepholm fish pools.

Unless a player is really struggling for gold, I would recommend buying them off your local Auction House for the sake of simplicity.

On my server, Deepstone Oil is going for around 18-20g while one Albino Cavefish is going for around 8-9g. Not a bad trade-off!

This oil is an awesome seller, and it works well in crowded towns during the peak hours. Curious players will come up and beg for this oil without me ever having to list it in the Auction House!

ELIXER OF GIANT GROWTH

This is definitely my favorite. Just as the name suggests, this elixer will make you grow significantly beyond your normal size for a period of time. It’s a GREAT way to attract attention, and new players are absolutely fascinated by it.

Although it used to be fairly expensive, you can find this recipe in the Auction House right now for under 10g on most servers. With the release of Cataclysm, the droprate was significantly buffed.

For one of these elixers, you will need the following mats:

• 1 Earthroot
• 1 Crystal Vial
• 1 Deviate Fish

Because this is such an attention grabber, it is very easy to sell. I can use it while I’m chilling out at the Auction House, or even while I’m running back and forth between the bank, and I will have a small crowd of buyers following me as I go. This is best paired with a rare mount for even more attention.

POTION OF ILLUSION

This is another really fun potion that can confound and amaze newer players. I like pairing this one with the Elixer of Giant Growth for added effect and lulz. The magic of this potion will turn your toon temporarily into someone else, regardless of how they appear.

This potion can work with transformations too! Although you can use the illusion potion on players using mount spells such as Sandstorm Drake, you cannot actually fly. It still looks cool, though!

To craft the Potion of Illusion, you will need the following:

• 3 Volatile Life
• 1 Azsharas Veil

This potion is also easy to make as you will have the possibility of crafting two each time. On days with little competition, I can peddle these potions for around 34-36g.

Although these three items are definitely my top sellers on my alchemy alt, there are a lot of great vanity items out there to choose from. The best thing to remember is that these types of items sell a lot better when people can actually see the effects for themselves before buying. It’s like window shopping, only with potions. A lot of auctioneers also tend to forget that their trade chat even exists, which is a big NO-NO. Although you always have the danger of having your trade chat invaded by barrens chat, most people legitimately use this channel to search for deals.

Read More

Let’s Level! 1-525 Engineering Leveling Guide

Engineering is a really unique profession that brings with it a lot of opportunities to make gold. Unfortunately, it also takes a good bit of gold to level it to 525, and there’s not a whole lot of return investment in the early levels.

If you want to become an Engineering master, you will probably have to fork over a little bit of gold to get started on the journey. If you’re having problems making the gold neccecary to fund your professions, I recommend trying out Markco’s 20k Leveling Guide!

This Engineering 1-525 Guide has been updated for Cataclysm (patch 4.03a)!

Due to popular request, I decided to create this Engineering leveling guide based off of my own experience. This is the method that I use to level my engineering on new toons, and the choices are based off of the amount of experience given as well as the cost of creating these items. Engineering is still an expensive profession to level, but the end rewards are well worth it. It’s not as bad, of course, if you are leveling it as your toon levels up instead of all at once!

The bad part about this is that some of the materials that you create may be needed down the road. This is because I usually have enough gold to just level my professions all at once.

To be safe, I recommend keeping all your items from 1~300 until you actually reach level 300.

At this point, they are probably safe to sell, but I would really keep them anyways. From levels 300 to 350, you will be using a lot of the items over again as well. After you hit around 425, you can sell off all of your Northrend stuff from 350+ safely. To the best of my ability, I will try to warn you what items you need to keep.

Before starting this Engineering leveling guide, I would recommend grabbing a Gnomish Army Knife. This can be found via the Auction House and can be used as a substitute for some of the tools (specifically the Gyromatic Micro-Adjuster, Blacksmith Hamer, and Arclight Spanner) that will be created during your Engineering adventures and are generally just a useful item to have as an Engineer.

Engineering 1-75

1-30

You will make 35-40 Rough Blasting Power from 35-40 Rough Stones

Level 30-55

You will make 60 Handfuls of Copper Bolt from 60 Copper Bars

Level 55-75

You will make 20 Copper Tubes from 40 Copper Bars with 20 Weak Flux (Weak Flux can be found at any Engineering Supplies seller)

Engineering 125-200

Make sure that for now you are saving all of the blasting powder you get–You will make it as you level.

75-76

You will make 1 Arclight Spanner from 6 Copper Bar

76-95

You will make 30 Coarse Blasting Powder from 30 Coarse Stones

95-100

You will make 6-7 Course Dynamite from 16-21 Coarse Blasting Powder with 6-7 Linen Cloth

100-125

You will make 25-30 Practice Locks from 26-30 Bronze Bars with 50-60 Handfulls of Copper Bolt with 25-30 Weak Flux

In the case that you suddenly find yourself without Copper Bolts, you can substitute by making Bronze Tubes instead–it’s a bit more expensive, but it’s a lot quicker

Engineering 125-200

In these levels, you will be using a lot of Mithril and Bronze, and you will also have some items that you need to keep for later. Pay attention!

125-140

You will make 40 Heavy Blasting Powder from 40 Heavy Stones

140-150

You will make 20 Whirring Bronze Gizmo from 20 Wool Clothes with 40 Bronze Bars

150-155

You will make 20 Bronze Framework from 20 Wool Clothes with 20 Medium Leatherswith 40 Bronze Bars

155-175

You will make 20 Explosive Sheep from 40 Wool Clothes with 40 Heavy Blasting Powders with 20 Whirring Bronze Gizoms with 20 Bronze Frameworks

175-195

You will make 60 Solid Blasting Powder from 120 Solid Stones

195-200

You will make 5-8 Mithril Tubes from 16-23 Mithril Bars

Engineering 200-300

This section will be a lot more expensive than the last. For these levels, you will need a lot of Thorium and Mithril, which is going fairly high in the Auction House at the moment. If you have the appropriate mining level, you can farm this ore. However, it can be tedious and I would recommend saving some time by using the AH as these mats are already over-farmed.

You also have an option at this point to specialize in either Goblin or Gnomish engineering. The biggest difference between the two is the locations of the teleporters and also the various abilities of their trinkets. Fortunately, most items crafted by one specialization can still be work by the other. Choose wisely!

200-215

You will make 20 Unstable Triggers from 20 Mageweave Cloths with 20 Solid Blasting Powder with 20 Mithril Bars

215-235

You will make 30-40 Mithril Casing from 90-120 Mithril Bars

235-250

You will make 15-20 Hi-Explosive Bombs from 30-40 Mithril Casings with 30-40 Solid Blasting Powder with 15-20 Unstable Triggers

250-260

You will make 15-30 Dense Blasting Powder with 30-60 Dense Stones

260-286

You will make 26-30 Thorium Widgets from 79-90 Thorium Bars with 26-30 Runecloth

286-300

You will make 14-16 Thorium Tubes from 84-96 Thorium Bars

Engineering 300-350

Most of the materials in this section can be farmed from the Outlands. All of the extra items that you’ve created so far can be pawned off in the Auction House. Most of the mats in this section are pretty cheap!

300-315

You will make 60 Handful of Fel Iron Bolts from 60 Fel Iron Bars

300-315

You will make 20 Fel Iron Casings from 60 Fel Iron Bars

300-315

You will make 20 Fel Iron Casings from 60 Fel Iron Bars

300-315

You will make 12 Elemental Blasting Powder from 24 Motes of Earth with 12 Motes of Fire

315-320

You will make 5 Fel Iron Bombs from 5 Elemental Blasting Powders with 10 Handfuls of Fel Iron Bolts with 5 Fel Iron Casings

320-325

You will make 5 Fel Iron Musket from 30 Handfuls of Fel Iron Bolts with 15 Fel Iron Casings

325-335

You will make 10 Adamantite Grenades from 10 Elemental Blasting Powders with 20 Handfuls of Fel Iron Bolts with 40 Adamantite Bars

335-350

You will make 20-65 White Smoke Flares from 20-65 Netherweave Clothes with 20-65 Elemental Blasting Powders

Engineering 350 – 425

This section of Engineering is available to anyone with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. With these levels, you will be needing both Saronite and Cobalt. Because many players have abandoned Northrend in their daily mining routes, these mats can be pretty expensive!

350-365

You will make 25 Handfuls of Cobalt Bolts from 50 Cobalt Bars

365-375

You will make 15-20 Volatile Blasting Triggers from 15-20 Crystallized Waters with 45-60 Cobalt Bars

375-385

You will make 10-15 Overcharged Capacitors from 10-15 Crystallized Earths with 40-60 Cobalt Bars

385-390

You will make 5-8 Explosive Decoys from 15-24 Volatile Blasting Triggers with 5-8 Frostweave Clothes

390-401

You will make 15 Froststeel Tubes from 15 Crystallized Waters with 120 Cobalt Bars

401-405

You will make 4-5 Diamond-cut Refractor Scopes from 8-10 Handfuls of Cobalt Boltswith 4-5 Frosteel tubes

405-415

You will make 10-13 Box of Bombs with 10-13 Volatile Blasting Triggers with 50-65 Saronite Bars

415-420

You will make 5 Mana Injector Kits Kits from 10 Crystalized Waters with 60 Saronite Bars

420-425

You will make 5 Noise Machines from 40 Handfuls of Cobalt Bolts with 10 Overcharged Capacitors with 10 Frosteel Tubes

Engineering 425-525

Finally, the Cataclysm leveling stage! You can get rid of anything that you would like leading up to this point. From this point onwards, there will be a lot of Elementium and Obsidium used–which sadly isn’t very cheap right now. Because of their high prices, there’s a lot of competition farming these ores as well. I would recommend buying them off the Auction House if you can!

425-442

You will make 20 Handfuls of Obsidium Bolts from 40 Obisidium Bars

442-445

You will make 1 Electrostatic Condenser from 4 Volatile Earths with 6 Handfulls of Obisidium Bolts with 4 Obisidium Bars

445-460

You will make 15-17 Electrified Ether from 30-34 Volatile Airs

460-470

You will make 2 R19 Threatfinders from 12 Handfuls of Obsidium Bolts with 4 Alicitewith 12 Obsidium Bars

470-475

You will make 1 High-Powered Bolt Gun from 4 Electrified Ether with 8 Handfuls of Obsidium with 10 Obisidium Bars

475-495

You will make 4 Elementium Toolboxes from 48 Volatile Earths with 60 Elementium Bars

495-510

You will make 3 Finely-Tuned Throat Needlers from 12 Obisidium Bars with 6 Electrified Ethers with 15 Hardened Elementium Bars

510-521

You will make 17 Heat Treated Spinning Lures from 17 Handfuls of Obisium Bolts with68 Elementium Bars with 17 Volatile Fires

521-525

You will make 1 Gnomish X-Ray Scope from 2 Hardened Elementium Bars with 2 Dream Emeralds

And that’s it!

Once you hit 525, it’s time to start putting your skills to good use in the Auction House!

If you made it this far, I commend you as the formatting for this guide could be a little more solid (I’m up to suggestions on this ;]).

Engineering is a very fun and rewarding profession, and I use it regularly to make gold in the Auction House as one of my top selling professions. If you’d like to learn a little more about how to use Engineering to make gold and utilize its skills for raids and PvP, I’d recommend checking out this guide. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments section and I’ll see if I can help you!

Read More

A Look at Pandaren Customizations

Despite all of the griping criticism that Blizzard has faced over the upcoming Pandaren race, I think that they may have just made one of the most attractive playable characters yet. Although I wasn’t very excited about the expansion at first, I have to admit that it’s growing on me quickly.

For those of you not playing the beta, Blizzard has just updated the customization options of the female Pandaren to include five earing styles and eight different highlight customizations. Depending on the hair style, the highlights will have different positions. Unfortunately, there isn’t an actual button right now for the highlight streaks and it’s entirely random whenever you generate a character. Both the hair and earing options are live, though, so I imagine it was just an oversight and will get its own options panel soon enough. For now, restarting the character customization process will give you a different color to work with.

I imagine that the female Pandaren will appeal more to actual female players than other races that are often g.i.r.ls (guys in real life). No matter what option you pick, there is definitely a focus on being cute rather than sexy or edgy. Since Blizzard has been gradually moving the game towards a more casual player base, maybe they are trying to attract younger girls into the game?

The real problem with Pandaren customization right now is that the female faces all look the same. There’s a joke to be found here considering this is the “China” of Azeroth, but I’m not gonna be the one to make it.

The model itself feels like high-quality stuff, but the texturing needs much more variety than we’re seeing. As of now, there’s only two options for eye colors and a skin that gives the illusion of a slightly furrowed brow. Hopefully we will see this updated before the expansion release, but this has always been an area that Blizzard likes to slack on so I’m not holding my breath.

Customization has become such a very standard feature in RPGs, but it seems to be something that Blizzard is ignoring rather than addressing. The Worgen race infamously suffered from the similar treatment. I have to wonder if this is the future for all beast-type races or just a momentary snag in the development process?

Read More

Jewelcrafting in Mists of Pandaria

There's some exciting new things over the horizon for Jewelcrafters. Perfect Gems are shaping up to be more powerful than ever before their stats are now easily on par with rare gems. Although Auctioneers will be eyeing the new gem cuts, I'm even more interested in the future of Jewelcrafting mounts.

Mounts which, curiously enough, bear a striking resemblance to Voltron which is totally acceptable.

Making of the Jewel Onyx Panther

I should start this out by saying that this beast is going to be expensive. It’s created by combining several other mounts (Sapphire Panther, Emerald Panther, Dawnstone Panther, and Ruby Panther) alongside 5x Living Stone for each panther.

While the Onyx panther looks pretty sleek, the color on the other models reminds me a bit of a bag of neon skittles.

Considering what the vending prices are, we could be looking at a 500,000 gold mount. Ouch. Looks like some of us will have some saving up to do.

New Daily Quests

As expected with every update, there are plenty of new dailies to keep you busy. For Jewelcrafting, you will be slaving away to earn Zen Jewelcrafting Tokens. For every 3x Reckless Vermillion Onyx you turn in, you'll receive a token.

This template isn’t anything new (unfortunately), but dailys have never been very innovative. While the NPCs give directions to the Jewel Crafting trainer, the actual location (the Jade Forest) is still under construction.

There's going to be a lot of cool stuff for Jewelcrafters in the expansion, but I feel like we're at a time when Blizzard really needs to refresh some parts of their profession system. With every new update, it's largely the same thing but with new mats and stats.

Those (Overpowered) Gem Cuts

There's a huge assortment of new cuts available that have many players drooling and others scoffing. The problem? Many of the gems are as much as 4x more powerful than in Catacylsm. That’s a big difference in strength!

I don’t think the power boost is really surprising given Blizzard's history, but it is a little worrisome. Where do we go from here? Is there ever a ceiling for these ridiculous stat boosts? It also widens the PvP gap between rich and poor players who can’t afford the same benefits.

The good news is that it makes your profession more valuable than ever. Jewelcrafters have always rocked the Auction House (on well populated servers, at least) and I don’t see it changing in the new release.

With so many new mounts and bonuses, JCs are really being slathered in love right now. If you have a JC alt, it's definitely time to max out your crafting. At the initial release of the expansion, pretty much everything will have ridiculously high prices that people will be willing to pay due to the supply. Your best chance of capitalizing on this short time period (usually less than a week) is to level your JC as much as you can and stock up on as much gold as you can before the Pandarian debut.

Read More

4 Awesome WoW UI Replacements

When it comes to designing UIs, Blizzard offers a pretty mixed bag for players. It offers reliability, but the WoW UI lacks a great deal of flexibility.

It’s no secret that most players use the default interface. It’s familiar, it’s relatively simple, and it never breaks after an update. It may be a bit unattractive, but at least it’s faithful.

This is for those of you not afraid of a little bit of adventure. The following add-ons will completely replace your default UI, changing everything from the bottom to the top.

Real UI

When it comes to looks, RealUI is pretty much a more minimalist version of the standard UI. The arrangement of the interface is very similar to what players are already used to seeing.

The downside to this UI is that there’s basically no options for players to customize it.

If you’ve got the magic touch and know your way around .lua files, you can make some adjustments (the files are pretty easy to understand). However, most players will be stuck with the default.

For players who don’t need finetuned control, RealUI is a great option that looks and feels intuitive.

Unfortunately, RealUI is not as regularly updated as other UI add-ons which can be a compatibility concern.

TukUI

This replacement, created by Tukz, is easily one of the most popular UIs available–and for a good reason!

It’s definitely one of the prettier options. The installation process is smooth and relatively painless. If you’re new to UI replacements, it’s best to turn off anything that alters unit frames or action bars. Basically, remove as many potential conflicts as possible.

TukUI replaces virtually every interface element in the game, but it doesn’t just stop there. It also reskins several popular add-ons.

What really sets this UI aside from the rest is that there’s plenty of configuration options even for players who don’t understand lua. All you have to do is type “/tc” while in-game to load the configuration window!

ElvUI

Although it was once little more than a sub-build of TukUI, this interface replacement has evolved into a life of its own.

ElvUI features a somewhat clunkier overall look and can be a bit memory intensive on older machines. However, it’s also updated more regularly and has a rapidly growing fanbase.

The biggest degree of separation between the two is the greater customization features that ElvUI features. Because of this, there is a large community of players developing code for it.

If you want complete control over your UI but lack coding experience, you will probably find that ElvUI is the best fit.

Most customizations can be found by simply checking out the forum and grabbing a custom piece of code.

gUIS

Although not as minimalistic as many of the UIs on this list, gUIS remains a popular choice for many.

The community hasn’t grown up around this add-on quite as quickly as ElvUI and TukUI. They have a forum, but you won’t have as much luck with user submitted customizations.

The interface recently had a huge overhaul and released its anticipated version 2.0. Pretty much the entire code base has been re-hauled and many improvements have been made. Definitely worth a look if you’re having a hard time finding the right “fit” for your interface.

Why Not Just Use the WoW UI?

UI replacements offer a lot of features that you just can’t find in the vanilla interface.

They can do anything from helping you improve raid performance by giving you an easy heads-up display of cooldowns to just helping you manage your messages better by giving you whisper alerts. They also look pretty damn cool. Different UIs offer very different features so it’s important to try them all to see what works for you.

What’s your favorite UI replacement?

Read More

WoW Realms : Finding the Right Fit

One of the very first decisions that you will have to make as a new player is choosing a realm. There’s plenty of thoughts on what type of server offers the best gaming experience, but the truth is that only you can decide the right home for your new toon.

Don’t worry, we’re going to teach you how to make the decision as painless as possible.

The Many Types of Realms

There’s several different types of gameplay available, and each type of realm has its advantages and disadvantages.

PvE

This is the vanilla of the WoW world—it’s the safe flavor, the one that everyone reaches for because they know it won’t disappoint.

Player vs. Environment realms are a popular choice because you can never be forced into combat with other players. If players feel adventurous, they can flip their PvP flag so that the opposite faction can attack them, but this on a strictly voluntary basis.

If you prefer a safe daily grind and don’t care too much for player combat, PvE offers a nice comfort zone. If you change your mind later, you can always participate in battlegrounds.

PvP

It was named “World of Warcraft” for a reason! PvP realms are designed for Player vs. Player combat.

Don’t worry, new players can take it easy until they leave their starting zone. Your PvP flag will automatically be set so that other players won’t be able to attack you.

Once you leave your territory and begin to venture into enemy zones, however, your PvP flag will be reset and you become fair game.

This extra layer of spontaneity can break up the frustration and boredome of the daily grind. However, there are some things to keep in mind before you roll PvP :

• PvP is not dueling—fair fights are the exception, not the norm. You may be minding your own business hacking away at a mob when suddenly three players are hacking away at you.
• Red is dead. This is a phrase that you’ll hear a lot in game as someone is teabagging your corpse. You’ll notice pretty quickly that opposing faction members have red names. Expect level 60 players to kill you at level 10 if you turn your flag on. Most players won’t check or care about your level, they just see red and go for the kill.
• Rez camping happens to everyone. There will always be the dick that hangs around your body and waits until you ressurect so that he can kill you again. While this doesn’t happen too often, it’s always frustrating.

Don’t let the idea of being ganked or camped scare you away from the PvP experience.

The same players that are taunting you have probably been ganked a thousand times on the way up. The key to enjoying any server is to make friends, but it’s especially beneficial in the PvP environment. Have someone camping you? No problem if you have a few guildies willing to help you out.

RP

There’s no difference in gameplay mechanics between RP and PvE servers. This server type is, in theory, reserved for players that like to roleplay while gaming.

I say “in theory” because your mileage may vary depending on the individual server.

There are many non-RPers who choose to play on RP servers. This used to be because the community was perceived as being more friendly and mature, but the influx of non-RPers into these servers have blurred these lines considerably.

If you are planning on making a role play character, it’s particularly important to research your server before signing up and see if the RP community is active.

RP-PVP

Out of all the servers, the RP-PvP realms are the rarest and least populated. Despite what you would think, there’s still a fair amount of camping and ganking on these servers.

Making the Choice

Okay, so you know what type of realm you want—now how do you pick the right community? What makes one server better than the other?

The realm list has grown over the years along with the player base. Like the players themselves, some are very old while others are fresh off the shelves.

Old Realms

Old realms typically have a large playerbase of hardcore gamers. Elite raiding guilds are a dime a dozen and towns are overflowing with players trying to procrastinate. Many of the low level toons that you meet will be alt characters.

Here are a few things to consider when choosing aging realms :

• With a higher population comes a greater competition for game resources. If you’ve rolled PvP, this means a lot more ganking and camping at bottleneck quest spawns.
• It can be very frustrating to be a brand new player when everyone has maxed equipment and twinked toons.
• There are lots of highend raid groups. This is great because it gives you plenty of players to enjoy the 60+ levels with, but it also means that raid groups are much more selective. It can be hard to flesh out your first toon and get the equipment you need to be an attractive teammate.

New Realms

These realms are usually easier going for grinding out new toons. There’s going to be a lot of other new players, too, since they are close to the top of the server list. This means that you can experience the game with players with the same level of experience.

Here are some things to consider before rolling in a new realm:

• Less players generally means less money. Players in lower population realms are more stingy with their gold and playing the Auction House for gold can become less reliable.
• You will be able to find low-level dungeons easier than in older realms, but you will struggle more finding groups past 60.
• Less population also means less opportunities to meet with and play with new people. Sometimes it seems like everyone is doing their own thing and have no interest in socializing.

We’re almost there! Once you’ve decided on around what type of population numbers you’d like to see on your server, there’s still one more really important number to analyze.

Alliance vs. Horde Ratio

Do you like being the underdog?

One great way to get a feel for your server is by checking out its Alliance/Horde ratio. Depending on which side you play, you may find yourself sorely outnumbered.

For some players, this can be fun because it adds an extra layer of difficulty. You should be aware, however, that playing on the wrong side of a 93/7 server split can lead to anger issues.

Checking Out the Community

When you’ve narrowed your choices down to a manageable list, it’s time to do some last minute digging. The only real way you can get a feel for a community is by experiencing it, after all.

Your next stop is looking up the forums for your server where you can see what guilds are recruiting and all the latest server drama.

This is your brief glimpse into the daily life of a community—take a few minutes to see what you’re getting involved with. Do you want a mature community? A laid back community? Maybe you just want something like the WWF version of Days of Our Lives. There’s servers for that, too.

Time to Roll

This is a pretty lengthy list, and I’m willing to bet that not many made it all the way to the bottom. That’s OK, though, because in the end, the odds are in your favor that you will enjoy any realm you pick.

The last thing you want is to hit level 50 and suddenly realize that you really wanted to be on a PvP server, though.

Take a little bit of extra time now and you will find that you have much less regrets later on in the game. If all else fails—you can always roll again!

Read More