I find myself with an urge to try WoW again...

[WarLocke]

I remember the game being pretty fun back when I played (granted, this was a month or two after release, so a looong time ago) and have a strange compulsion to try it again.

Do people still play at the lower levels? Or has it 'matured' like EverQuest and the only people playing are the max-level players with tons of time invested? I ask mainly because I tend to play group-centric classes in MMOs.

I'm sure there's other stuff I should be asking, but I have no idea what they would be. I guess I'll go and google up info as if I was a total newbie to the game (which by now I'm sure I am, anyway).

[Kevin]

I remember the game being pretty fun back when I played (granted, this was a month or two after release, so a looong time ago) and have a strange compulsion to try it again.

Do people still play at the lower levels? Or has it 'matured' like EverQuest and the only people playing are the max-level players with tons of time invested? I ask mainly because I tend to play group-centric classes in MMOs.

I'm sure there's other stuff I should be asking, but I have no idea what they would be. I guess I'll go and google up info as if I was a total newbie to the game (which by now I'm sure I am, anyway).

You can still find lower level toons out there. Mostly alts, some new to the game, but the vast majority of toons are level capped or very rarely played alts scattered between L 20-50. In general if the toon gets above 50 they'll get pushed to cap relatively quickly in my experience, but there are enough that once you get to 55+ that you can start finding PuG groups for the early Outlands instances. Often groups that will looks something like 70, 65, 61, 60, 55-60 for a L60 instance like Ramparts or Blood Furnace. Getting a full group of toons that are actually level appropriate, unless you end up in a guild group that levels mostly together is pretty rare at this stage.

Leveling is significantly easier for all classes and specs though. Gear is better and simpler to get, experience from quests has been increased, experience needed to level is lower. Many mobs have been nerfed, many skills have been buffed. At least when you compare it to release or really anything prior to 1.3, things have been pretty noticably skewed to make it easier and faster for the players. With how much easier it is to get gold if you have a friend on the server it will be easy for them to lend you sums that used to be big money. 200-300 gold is pretty much chump change for most anyone with a 70 now as you can make that back in a day or 2. So getting twinked out with a few hundred gold, 16 slot bags and maybe even a few twinkable greens and blues isn't unexpected, if you know some folks on that server at least. AH prices for gear are still generally higher than at release but not as much as folks might think because demand for a lot of the lower level stuff is pretty low too so things don't sell and get relisted at lower prices.

If you run say 10 instance runs before L60 or so, you might be able to reasonable expect to get 1 of those runs to be populated by toons that aren't wildly over or under level for that instance. It's not too horrible to get instance runs for loots though as you can generally find a kind 70 who will blow it up for you, if you keep looking off and on while doing other stuff. But it could take a few hours. And again it's very server dependant too. Some servers have more lower level action than others.

[Ruvanal]

I remember the game being pretty fun back when I played (granted, this was a month or two after release, so a looong time ago) and have a strange compulsion to try it again.

Do people still play at the lower levels? Or has it 'matured' like EverQuest and the only people playing are the max-level players with tons of time invested? I ask mainly because I tend to play group-centric classes in MMOs.

I'm sure there's other stuff I should be asking, but I have no idea what they would be. I guess I'll go and google up info as if I was a total newbie to the game (which by now I'm sure I am, anyway).

Your toons on Stormrage should still be in the guild. There are a handful of characters playing some lower levels alts there right now. But beware that there are certain nights that are being used for raids and so those nights will likely be sparse of those not doing the raid.

[WarLocke]

Your toons on Stormrage should still be in the guild.

I didn't think my account would still be around after so long, so I ended up starting another one (with Burning Crusade). I didn't have any high-level characters anyway (I think my highest was a dwarf priest at 29) so I guess I'll just start over.

[Treesh]

I didn't think my account would still be around after so long, so I ended up starting another one (with Burning Crusade). I didn't have any high-level characters anyway (I think my highest was a dwarf priest at 29) so I guess I'll just start over.

The characters and account never get deleted by Blizzard, unlike D2 realm characters.

[WarLocke]

The characters and account never get deleted by Blizzard, unlike D2 realm characters.

I went ahead and started a Draenei Warrior, and I'm finding that playing a big, blue space russian with chin-tentacles is pretty darned fun.

Now I need to start looking into UI mods. The default UI is so clunky... Unfortunately trying to get a handle on what mods do what this long after release is a very daunting endeavor. I've only downloaded 2 addons so far: DoubleWide (because the default quest log is so damn tiny) and QuestHelper (which was praised over on SA and I can see why, since it basically takes any quests in your log, puts map icons on your mini and zone maps where the quest location or mobs are, and shows you the quickest route to do them all in).

There's a video on YouTube that explains it a bit better than I did.

Then I started browsing sites, looking at action bar mods and such... And I realized I am in way, way over my head. :wacko:

[--Pete]

Hi,

Unfortunately trying to get a handle on what mods do what this long after release is a very daunting endeavor.

I asked about mods in this post when I started playing about half a year ago. Lots of good input and most of it is still valid. But, yeah, there's about a bazillion mods, and no good way to filter the trash from the gems. Or even to know which have been updated and which haven't.

Good luck. ;)

--Pete

[LochnarITB]

And I realized I am in way, way over my head. :wacko:

The best way to sort the mods is not to look at a list of what is out there, at least at first. The best way is to say "I wish I could..." and then ask for input as to whether it has been done and, most likely, which of the many possible choices are best. Once you have things functioning in a manner that is suitable to your play style, then you start looking around for things that make you think "oh, yeah, that would be better". Also, instead of looking for single things to change, there are compilations out there where people have put together the mods they use into a single download. The problem with using one is that everything changes all at once, if you apply the whole set at once. If you go that route, it's not a bad idea to just add one piece at a time so you can get it all set before having to deal with another one.

Good luck. Very few people play without mods and setups are much akin to fingerprints, no two people's are the same.