The other night I had my first tanking experience on my groovy tauran warrior, BigKahuna. I am level 12. I figured that this was enough to go and tank Ragefire Chasm. We got together a group in the Single Abstract Noun, (SAN) guild. We had two warlocks, both level 12, another warrior, again level 12, myself, and a druid who was level 15. In we went. It was very strange going in as the tank. For all my WoW life I have been DPS, (although on one occasion I did heal a Stockades run). So to find myself going first with all the party dots behind me was unique. And quite scary. Oh, and all my gear was white, not even one green. I used thuderclap a lot, and shield bash, and erm, well that was it really because I hadn’t done my warrior quest at level 10 to get defensive stance, taunt and something else. I hadn’t done it because the quest just told me to go out to the Barrens and have a chat to someone or other. I figured that this was one of those change zone quests which point you in the next direction, but I was having fun in Mulgore so I hadn’t gone. I looked it up on wowhead after and sure enough, that is the warrior quest which gets you all the taunting goodness. Fail me.
So back to the run. I am happy to say that we didn’t wipe, not even one death. Although that may have had something to do with the fact that we didn’t make it to the first boss. One of the warlocks had to go and join his main raid group and then I realised that it was well beyond dinner time and my wife and dog were giving me ‘the look’, so I had to go as well. We had cleared quite a bit though and it had been a lot of fun.
So now I have to go and get my warrior quest done. But this got me thinking – if I hadn’t looked that up on wowhead, if I hadn’t known beforehand that I was missing a stance and some abilities, hell if I hadn’t even known what a stance was and what it did, then I wouldn’t have done that quest and core tanking abilities would have been lost to me. And if I was a new player there would be a very good chance in fact that this would be the case. I would just progress along, having fun, trying to kill stuff, and the first time I went into a 5 man with a group I would be ridiculed for being super-number-1-noob-of-the-world. And after a bit of this I suppose that I would just begin replying, ‘retard’, and before I knew it I would be a super-noob for reals!
Yet perhaps ignorance is bliss. At the end of the day all the noobs running around with 0/0/71 talent trees and no enchants or gems or the wrong gear or what have you, they’re all doing it their way. They’re having fun. They don’t get mad at other players for not having this or not having that. They’re just playing a game. Sure, I’m different from them. Anything I do I want to find out everything that I can and do it to the best of my ability, that gives me pleasure. But their way gives them pleasure as well. After all, it is just a game. And I am the one being annoyed by them, not the other way around. Perhaps noobs really do have more fun.
March 13, 2010 at 10:48 am
I think stepping out of your ‘comfort zone’ does make the game a lot more refreshing – how can it not? Okay, the quests are basically the same as are the zones but the abilities are new and certainly if you’re switching roles a lot of it can be new.
(I shouldn’t even be commenting on this, mind you, as whatever class I play I default to healing! And props for tanking too, that’s something I will never ever have the courage to try out!)
I’m glad you’re having fun!
March 13, 2010 at 11:30 am
A very honest account of your first tanking efforts and I’ve also often wondered what we would do without the likes of wow head. It reminded me of this verse, I may have slightly misquoted it but the essence is there.
“See the little moron, doesn’t give a dam, I wish I were a moron, my god perhaps I am” Ogden Nash
March 13, 2010 at 1:06 pm
I remember it as, ‘how happy is the moron he doesn’t give a damn, i wish i were a moron, my god perhaps i am.’
March 13, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I remember the first time I stumbled across the warrior quests back in vanilla wow. At that time you just did all the quest cause everything was new and exciting. When I got the damn stance I had no idea what it was for and thought it had been a waste of time getting it. I guess in an RP game if you have a quest intended for warriors then it is important, I guess that what blizz want us to think.
Ignorance is bliss means that if you dont know what to worry about, then you wont worry about it. I wont say the noobs have more fun but all people have their own form of fun. Remember when you met rogues that sneaked all the way to the mobs while you was playing you mage? Yeah same thing there.
Just one last thing. Do you know the difference between noobs and newbies?
March 13, 2010 at 1:06 pm
A newb is a new player. A noob is clueless.
March 13, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Noobs have more fun as long as they are carried. 5 noobs can’t clear any content, all they do is running up and back to their corpses. I don’t think it’s much fun.
March 15, 2010 at 8:36 am
I agree, but more often than not they are carried as it is rare to have 5 noobs in a goup. I assume. Unless I am a noob! No mother …
March 14, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Kudos to your first tanking foray!
Simply put, it’s your subscription fee, so do what you want that brings you fun.
But when it comes to group play (5man and Raids), i don’t want to be the weak link in the chain by playing ‘uneffective’. That’s when a ‘newb’ should start reading guides and learn to maximise his performance, because he/she would waste the time of the other group members, and that’s just inconsiderate.
What you expect of others, first do it yourself!
March 14, 2010 at 6:25 pm
[...] Do Noobs have more Fun? « The Noisy Rogue [...]
October 15, 2010 at 4:14 am
I rememeber logging on for the first time no knowing what to expect. i had never played warcraft, i was a starcraft player. so i made a human warrior just to get my feet wet. and for months i bumbled around as a noob. then i stuck with a mage. that was my first real main. but couldnt stick with it. then a hunter got him to 60 after TBC came out. never got him to seventy. WLK came out and i started a pallidin. i wanted to get in there. and within a month i have a max lvl tankadin.
my point.
As a perivios professional noob, i cant say i liked it as well and understanding what im doing. i was just lost in this mysterios world without a clue. but now, im striving to become one of the best tanks in my guild. and to hot key of get ride of anything i dont need to be bestest. i hope this helped.
Do noobs have more fun?
Sure, but not as satisfying.