WoW newbie looking for advice

[Delc]

That's a lot of information to digest ... thank you all very much.

I've made my character so here we go.:)

Oh, one last question. Are there any decent forums for WoW other than this one? I've been repeatedly warned to stay away from the official ones, and a cursory glance showed me why ...

Thanks again everyone.

http://elitistjerks.com/ is pretty much the best. and yea the official forums are a cesspool.

my 2c since I came late to the thread.

Warlock pets each have their utility, but in general are pretty bad. Imp for the stam buff, and he can be phased shifted and used as a mana battery with dark pact. Succubus for crowd control. Fel hunter for anti-caster. Felguard for dps. VW for laughing at (its terrible after you get either your succubus or dark pact). Infernal and doomguard are junk. Infernal would be ok if it wasn't for the 1 hour cooldown, and the constant re-enslaving.

Professions: Double gathering is the only way to go while leveling, especially a first toon. None of the crafting ones offer anything that will offset the money you can make gathering, except at 70. Switching to tailoring at 70 can be very beneficial for a warlock. The gear you can make for yourself is awesome.

Server: Make sure you go with a mid to high population server. Having other people around makes the game much better. Also I would recommend a PvP server.