Some help for a noob

[RTM]

New questions.

What exactly is "greeding" an item and how is it done? I

Greeding is an automated loot system for parties that, in a perfect world, distributes good loot to whoever needs it most. When a green or better item drops (by default- the party leader can adjust loot options), a loot window will pop up with 3 buttons- pass, greed, and need. Pass is pretty obvious- click that if you don't want the item and you won't roll on it. Greed means you don't really need it, but could use it to sell. Need means that you need the item. Need takes priority over greed. After everyone in the party has clicked whichever icon they want, the game rolls "dice" to determine the winner. The item is automatically awarded to the highest roller.

Sometimes you'll come across a chest where your party members will say "Greed for chest" or "roll for chest". When that happens, there's no window that pops up- just type '/roll' in the chat line and you'll generate a number between 1 and 100. Whoever rolls highest gets the chest.... usually. ;)

You'll find varying degrees of adherence to item rolling etiquette as you progress through the levels. It's best to stick with guildmates if possible to ensure fair loot distribution, if you care about that sort of thing.

Also, is it me or is raising the mining skill really slow and tedious? I'm almost lvl 18 and my skinning is in the mid-100s, but mining is like 20. Granted I only started using the mining thingie on my map 2 days ago, but still seems way too slow. Any good places for this? Also, I need a Forge to turn metals into bars? Where are the forges? Major towns?

Mining is probably the slowest of all gathering skills to level up. At low levels (and with certain ore, at higher levels) you gain mining skill from smelting the ore you find. Forges are found in most cities & settlements. Stand next to one, click your Smelting skill, and smelt away!

How do I swap weapons from melee to ranged? Is it simply dragging the ranged icon to the toolbar? What about different melee setups like duals and 2-handers.

In your skill book ('P' key by default), there should be a skill called 'Shoot Bow' or 'Shoot Gun' or something similar. Drag that to your skill bar and you'll automatically switch to whatever ranged weapon you have equipped. I can't remember if warriors come with those skills innately though- you may need to train them (ask a guard in Stormwind or Ironforge for directions to a weapon trainer). If you want to manually equip your weapon, hit the 'Z' key and it'll scroll through your weapon, ranged, and unarmed stances.

To switch weapons on the fly, you'll need a 3rd party addon like WeaponQuickSwap. It's somewhat advanced but it's VERY handy. Enter battle with your 2h sword, then click a button to swap to 1h + shield when you want to use Shield Bash on a caster! Pretty handy.

Lastly are Deadmines tough for my level? Also, I saw something that allowed me to get to a que to get to the Deadmines. What exactly is that?

Deadmines are a level 18-22 instance. Starting mobs are a bit lower, but as a warrior it's best to be at least 19-20 before attempting them in my opinion, unless you have higher level party members along with you. The Meeting Stone you saw puts you in a queue for the Deadmines. I haven't really used them much but it's basically a group-finding mechanism.

There are pairs of Elves walking/standing around in Stormwind that ask me to go somewhere for some weird quest. What is that quest and is it easily abandoned?

You can abandon quests by clicking on the quest in your quest log, then choosing the 'Abandon' option at the bottom. You can pick it up again at a later date if you want. Sounds like you may have gotten one of the Warsong Gulch quests, which are PvP.