WoW newbie looking for advice

[Bun-Bun]

My Warlock is now level 9. Woot!:)

Which leads me to another few questions. I don't seem to be able do anything to my attributes/stats. They raise on their own every level, so I end up with things I really don't need as a caster (strength mainly) getting raised anyway. Is there actually some way to manually control them?

Nope! You get what you get. At level 10, you get the Voidwalker, which is a gamechanger, if that helps.:)

Do you get anything out of PvP combat? I've been challenged a few times now to a duel, but didn't really want to get into them for thinking them to be a waste of time (for now). Do I get gold, experience, anything if I win?

You get Honor for a kill of the other faction. Duels, it's just for fun.

My character constantly complains about being out of range of spells. Why won't she take two steps to get into range? I seem to remember vaguely from years and years ago in the stress test before launch (last time I tried WoW) that my mage character would close in on his own into spell range. After all, my little Fiend friend does it when I tell him to go shoot a Firebolt, why is my main character then blessed with the intellectual capacity of a gnat?

The click-to-move setting might fix that. I dunno, I just watch when the hotkey isn't red. You get a good feel for it after a few years.:)

Oh sorry, one more question. When in god's name am I getting out of that forest? It seems endless and I'm yearning for a change of scenery.

Thanks again for any advice.

The game is designed to have you move to a new area roughly on the decades. There are a few exceptions, but most of the zones are designed for 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, etc. until you hit the outlands and they slice it a bit more finely. One trick if you find they direct you to a zone you find too tough, go to another races' starting area and quest some there. The game rapidly expands to give you several choices of zone in each decade, in any case.