Welcome!
Free-to-Play (F2P) WoW has been around for a while now, and over time a lot of people have compiled some tremendously useful information about F2P twinking. Feel free to have a look at this post (and the next), in which I've tried to index this information in an easily readable way.
I hope you have fun and will find what you are looking for here!
Good luck!
06-25-2012: Want me to add or edit something? Send me a PM. I don't have much time to read TI currently and will otherwise likely miss your suggestion.
INDEX
1. Getting started with F2P
1.1 Introduction to F2P
1.2 How F2P Communities Work: The F2P Addon
1.3 F2P Communities
1.4 Videos
2. How to use the Twinkinfo Site Search
3. Class Guides
4. Very useful Guides and Threads
4.1 Creating and gearing a new toon
4.2 Maintaining a character
4.3 Twink Vanity
4.4 The Darkmoon Faire
5. Best-in-Slot Armory References
1. Getting started with F2P
There are some great introductions and threads that are a good place to start if you're new to F2P, unsure what it entails, and want to learn more about what is and isn't possible with free WoW.
1.1 Introduction to F2P
Start out by reading the first posts of these two threads:
⇛
Free to Play: 20 Twinking and You by Opinion
⇛
Free to Play FAQ and Information by iaccidentallytwink
1.2 How F2P Communities Work : The F2P Addon
If you want to be able to communicate with other F2P twinks on your server (and so much more), read the following post to learn about the features of the awesome F2PAddon:
⇛
Yasueh's Macros and Addons for F2P by Yasueh
1.3 F2P Communities
It's possible for any player to join any community they like. Increased latency / lag is of course possible. Aerie Peak US has the largest F2P communities on both factions and there are players from both the US and EU. With a New York datacenter most people do not experience any connection issues.
If you want to play on servers not in your region, you have two options. You could install a separate client for the region you want to access, or change your realmlist. If you want to know more about what this means or are interested in changing your realmlist, read the following:
⇛
European F2P Players @ US - Quick help. by lindenkron
Both US and EU Realms have thriving F2P communities. If you are interested in the activities possible, have a look at:
1.4 Videos
United States of America
Server:
Datacenter:
Faction:
Recruiting:
Activities:
Information: | Aerie Peak (PvE)
New York
Horde and Alliance
⇛ How to join the Aerie Peak F2P Community! START by Ciroe
Both Factions: Premades, Arenas | Horde: F2P 19 Wargames
⇛ http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/aerie-peak-arena-tournament-tcg-prizes-34943/ by youakim
⇛ http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/aerie-peak-f2p-arena-skype-player-group-32854/ by C O T U S
⇛ http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/19-wargame-project-34661/ by Kochist
Most active server for both factions. All activities all day all week, except for 19 wargames, which are just getting started. F2P 19 arenas every day, WSG wargames on weekends. NY Datacenter with good ping for EU players. |
Server:
Datacenter:
Faction:
Recruiting:
Activities:
Information: | Vashj (PvP)
Phoenix
Alliance and Horde
⇛ http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/vashj-strong-33320/ by Galvarino
Premades, Arenas
Daily premades, arenas almost every day during peak hours. Big alliance community, with some people having Horde alts, making for a small Horde community. |
Server:
Datacenter:
Faction:
Recruiting:
Activities: | Moon Guard (RP)
Phoenix
Alliance
⇛ http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/f2p-community-moon-guard-31600/ by Win
Premades, Arenas |
Server:
Datacenter:
Faction:
Activities: | Drenden (PvE)
Phoenix
Alliance
Premades, Arenas |
Server:
Datacenter:
Faction:
Activities: | Norgannon (PvE)
New York
Alliance
Premades, Arenas |
European Union
If you want me to add a community here, PM me with information about size, activites, etc. Making a recruitment thread is also helpful.
1.4 Videos
Still unsure about F2P activities or joining a community? Get a great first impression by watching some of the awesome videos listed in the ⇛
http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/f2p-movies-thread-23193/ by
Hiidden! To get a taste I especially recommend:
⇛
http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/horde-ap-had-some-fun-premades-weekend-f2p-video-29813/ by
Purse
2. How to use the Twinkinfo Site Search
In the upper right corner of this site you will find a search box that you can use to search the entire forum for your keyword(s):
You can narrow it down to the F2P section by clicking on
Search Forum while you're on the main F2P Twinking forum page:
You can use the
Advanced Search to narrow it down further, but usually this won't be necessary. Let's say you want to farm materials for profession levelling during Darkmoon Faire, and are looking for a guide. Type
Darkmoon Faire Farming, hit enter or click
Search, and in a very short time you will have a small number of matching threads!
In this example both the
http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/darkmoon-faire-mat-farming-list-32460/ and Rhaellia's awesome
http://www.twinkinfo.com/f43/darkmoon-faire-guide-28780/ are worth checking out. <3
Find more on the Darkmoon Faire under:
4.5 The Darkmoon Faire
3. Class Guides (Write more guides, people!)
Most (but not all) of our Guides are hosted in the
F2P Twink Guides section; I'll link the class guides here for easier access:
19 Twink Guides are also a good reference for classes, gear and PvP advice.
Continued in the next post!