EU+US New Guide Posted on Wowhead - The F2P Handbook

[Weko]

Hey guys! Just wanted to let everyone know - I just posted a guide on Wowhead called "The F2P Handbook". I worked really hard on this and would appreciate if you guys could jump over there, give it a read through and let me know what you think! Please leave me comments with any errors or content requests.

A few of you have been mentioned and credited as I did pull a lot of the information in the guide from this forum. If I might've missed you, please let me know and I'd be happy to add you to the credits!

Here's the link: https://www.wowhead.com/guide=8417/the-f2p-handbook

Thank you guys so much.

-Weko

P.S. Please leave a rating so that others can actually find it easier!

 

[Chops]

Quick notes, in no particular order.

*You talk about the various types of "f2p" players in the beginning like your going to cover linked and vet things as well, but then never mention them again. Might rework that to note that your guide is strictly F2P, and just mention those two in order to differentiate them.

*I wouldnt include a 19 tier list in a f2p guide for several reasons. Bestworld created a good list there but several classes get abilities at 20 that can shake up those rankings. For instance, warriors get overpower and raging blow, ret pallies get blade of justice, enhance gets stormstrike, etc. Some of those classes are more viable with enchants than without, too. Fury warriors with crusader are broken. Fury warriors without it are kinda lol.

It's also worth noting that a lot of pure F2P players will be interested in pve aspects, so noting things like a druids reduced fall damage, hunters ability to hit higher level mobs, spellcasters general inability to hit anything, tank specs not getting dazed while mounted, etc.

I wouldnt shy away from at least running through the pros and cons of each class. This is gonna be a huge question people want answered when they come to your guide. "what should I play? whats viable?". You dont have to give a tier list but at least run down some basics for folks.

* Might actually recommend that F2P players play on less populated realms, given the need to farm so heavily for almost everything. Less people = less competition.

* I'd go ahead and spell out some of the major restrictions. I know you get to them later on but its useful to have a handy list upfront so people know what to expect.

* Consider linking JWLs excellent thread on quest rewards with secondary stats along with dobygs thread.

* might wanna mention that marks of honor can also be used to buy gliders (extremely valuable to f2p) and BG potions (though this is largely a waste of rare and valuable marks)

* minor vers to wrist isnt blood elf only, its a world drop recipe. I would personally advise folks to level and hold on to enchanting until minor vers drops, then stockpile that and all the rest of their chants before swapping to herb/alch for swiftness pots and stat elixirs. Casters will want to stockpile wizard oil too.

* Bag space can be expanded by attaching an authenticator to your account (4 more spaces) and if things get really desperate, the new holiday hearthstone toys mean you can delete your physical hearthstone.

* Id use the "what now" section to really sell up the achievement ranks and HK ranking that Crystalpal has put together. This is kinda the heart of F2P gameplay and its fun to get a little competitive about the rankings.

* hey, i appreciate the shoutout!

Its a good guide, man! I appreciate you putting something together on wowhead. I hope it drives some more people to the F2P lifestyle.

 

[Crystalpall]

tank specs not getting dazed while mounted, etc.

* might wanna mention that marks of honor can also be used to buy gliders (extremely valuable to f2p) and BG potions (though this is largely a waste of rare and valuable marks).

Today I Learned


Apart from that, probably the only thing I disagree with it starting with enchanting - IMO you should start skinning/mining and store all greens you have in your bag or bank. This lets you skin monsters along the way and when you're done with Leatherworking you can switch to enchanting and disenchant everything en masse, possibly together with Tailoring.



Apart from that, a very good and solid guide! I discovered F2P off of a wowhead guide, so hopefully your guide will bring more people in as well

 

[Sin'dor]

Hey guys! Just wanted to let everyone know - I just posted a guide on Wowhead called "The F2P Handbook".

Ahh... now your nefarious motives have "come to light"! You've just been using us to help you farm that elusive "Wowhead Rep"!

(...seriously though, nice work! You might consider posting an "XP-Off Edition" here if you really want maximum feedback.)

I worked really hard on this and would appreciate if you guys could jump over there, give it a read through and let me know what you think!

Much like our resident-guidemaster @necroaqua, my first impulse with guides is always to "add more detail"... so keep that in mind while I ramble if you're intentionally aiming for "brevity". I'm also a big proponent of using "expandable" sections whenever it's practical, so readers can choose when they want that "extra depth".


INTRO notes

The biggest issue that jumped-out at me was that many (most?) of the people that click on your guide will be those whom are simply "curious" about this whole "F2P thing", yet you only devoted about three sentences to the overarching "What-Why-How" of F2P (...and they were all about "What").

Seems like that part should really be fleshed-out more...

• Your "Whats" are mostly covered, but you might want to explain the concept of the Starter Edition™ trial account, as well as what happens when a paid sub runs-out... and as @Chops mentioned, spell-out a few of the biggest "limitations" right away.
• "Why" should anyone go through the trouble of making a F2P account? (You don't have to give them a "hard sell", but at least list some reasons that might "resonate" with the reader enough that they keep reading: Is it the best way to introduce curious friends to WoW? A convenient method to PvP without endlessly worrying about new gear? A bonus PvE "Challenge Mode" for subbed players? A "dose of WoW" for those without enough free-time to "get their money's worth" from a paid subscription? Etc.) Why would someone choose Pure over Linked, or Linked over VET?
• "How" easy is it to make a VET/LinkedF2P/PureF2P, and how would a person actually go about it?

LEVELING notes

As you add more leveling advice, you might consider kinda' loosely-organizing this section into three categories: Enjoying the process, Tips/Strategy, and Speed-leveling.


GEARING notes

While it's important that you quoted Blizzard™ about Epic Upgrades... it's probably equally-important that you break-down just how the "real" upgrade rules deviate from the patch-notes (perhaps just mention that "it's actually a bit more complicated than that", and highlight the "differences" in later sections).

(Also... I'm obligated to mention that you should work-in a link to Chops's F2P Epics video, or he'll kick me off of his "payroll".)

In regards to Gnomeregan, it'd be more accurate to say that it has "very little" useable gear... but occasionally it provides things like equippable iLvl-28 rares, Standard Scopes for non-Gnome-Engineers, and of course lots of Transmog appearances.


GOLD notes

You should probably make it clear that "investing" in stock/thread actually involves a huge "loss".


PORTAL notes

You only mention the "Silvermoon Portal", but the Stormwind/Orgrimmar portal rooms have the Exodar/Silvermoon portal and the Caverns of Time portal. There's also "chaining" portals (e.g., you can port from Dalaran --> Orgrimmar --> Silvermoon --> Undercity in under a minute), as well as all of the various Ship/Zeppelin destinations.

"F2P Transportation" might actually be worth its own section of the guide.

* hey, i appreciate the shoutout!

EDIT: It might also be prudent to re-read tedj's F2P Starter Guide and the subsequent discussion, just to see if there are any other topics there worthy of inclusion (like the F2P Addon, for example)...

 

[Brihan]

* Might actually recommend that F2P players play on less populated realms, given the need to farm so heavily for almost everything. Less people = less competition.

It's funny because I think the total opposite ^^

On my side, I always recommend to new F2P players to come to high populated realms because, even if the "farm" phase might be harder due to other people, I prefer being able to meet people (and especially fellow F2P) in the open world, find high level players to help me / to kill the rares i need for those sweet achievements, and more generally to play closer to a MMORPG than to a singleplayer game (even if the F2P experience is for most of it a solo adventure ...) by having more people populating the world in which I evolve ^^.

 

[Selaya]

people post guides on wowhead (still)

huh

 

[Sin'dor]

On my side, I always recommend to new F2P players to come to high populated realms because, even if the "farm" phase might be harder due to other people, I prefer being able to meet people (and especially fellow F2P) in the open world, [...]

Yeah, I gotta' side with @Brihan on this one... Blizzard™ has already done so much to segregate F2Ps from the rest of the populace, that I'd be very wary of combining that with the constant "isolation" of a low-pop realm.

Any high-pop inconveniences caused by occasional "competition" would be greatly overshadowed by the frequent reminders that you're adventuring amid a dynamic (virtual) "society", instead of simply pounding pixels in the cold digital void.

 

[Chops]

It's funny because I think the total opposite ^^

On my side, I always recommend to new F2P players to come to high populated realms because, even if the "farm" phase might be harder due to other people, I prefer being able to meet people (and especially fellow F2P) in the open world, find high level players to help me / to kill the rares i need for those sweet achievements, and more generally to play closer to a MMORPG than to a singleplayer game (even if the F2P experience is for most of it a solo adventure ...) by having more people populating the world in which I evolve ^^.

This is obviously very good too. I just tend towards the "leave me alone and let me farm" camp. Different approaches for different people.
[doublepost=1562938492,1562938295][/doublepost]

people post guides on wowhead (still)

huh

It's an extremely popular site that serves as most people's only wow reference. It makes sense.

I've learned some surprising things on wowhead guides. Like the aforementioned "tank specs don't get dazed or dismounted" thing. Had no idea.

 

[Faerondil]

Rated and commented on.

 

[Selaya]

well fuckbook and twatter are extremely popular sites too, yet most if not all of their content is like, extremely shallow (nor would i ever expect to see anything else on there, so there's that)

the same can be said about wowhead

 

[Chops]

well fuckbook and twatter are extremely popular sites too, yet most if not all of their content is like, extremely shallow (nor would i ever expect to see anything else on there, so there's that)

the same can be said about wowhead

Social media apps and reference websites are analogous. Cool. I learn something new everyday

Nice of the head admin of this forum to come shit on a community members enthusiastic efforts to help spread not only twinking but this websites reach.

You're usually pretty spot on, Selaya but this is a really bad look.

 

[Selaya]

hey im not saying that its a bad idea (quite far from it), i'd just never have expected more than the most shallow of content from/on wowhead, that's all, and i might not be alone on that

so trying to make a more indepth guide may as well prove to be a waste of time

i mean, theres a reason sites like xpoff yet exist, precisely because centralised hublike sites like wowhead tend to not offer indepth stuff that we are

 

[Chops]

hey im not saying that its a bad idea (quite far from it), i'd just never have expected more than the most shallow of content from/on wowhead, that's all, and i might not be alone on that

so trying to make a more indepth guide may as well prove to be a waste of time

i mean, theres a reason sites like xpoff yet exist, precisely because centralised hublike sites like wowhead tend to not offer indepth stuff that we are

one way to change that is to post better guides. Those high quality guides then stand out and if those high quality guides stand out and contain links to xpoff, all the better

Or you could be like "lol wowhead sucks, what a waste of time"

Either or, I suppose

 

[Selaya]

well obviously, but you should also consider your target audience because tbf most average wow player isnt exactly looking for (super) indepth guides, from what i've learnt ...

 

[Chops]

well obviously, but you should also consider your target audience because tbf most average wow player isnt exactly looking for (super) indepth guides, from what i've learnt ...

Your average wow player isn't interested in f2p twinking either. But those people who are typically tend to appreciate more in depth guides on reputable sites who chief administrator doesn't cynically demean the efforts of her websites shrinking user base.

But hey, what do I know. You're probably right.

 

[Winterly]

I would so F2P Twink if

I wasn't so far behind already

Classic wasn't like 45 days or something away.

but it looks cool

 

[Crystalpall]

I would so F2P Twink if

I wasn't so far behind already

Classic wasn't like 45 days or something away.

but it looks cool

Back in the day I was sitting in the room with my friend browsing wowhead guide for level 1 twinks (me & friend both had lvl 1s created off the guide and I had no idea about twinkinfo at the time) and some item or something picked my attention and I remember pointing at it and saying "man, that would be insane" to which he responded by pointing out the F2P guide in "recommended guides" or some sort of a bar on the side and said "no, that would be insane" and I clicked on the F2P guide.

 

[Embu]

@Weko

This is an awesome guide.

Maybe it could be interesting you quote WoW20. We are working hard to provide lvl20 events in WoW since the end of 2017.

Did you know that we have a lvl20 movie in preparation?

In addition the last event we organized has been quite popular on European websites. Blizzard even took part in by supporting us with a giveaway.

Incursion in Zul'Gurub has really highlighted the lvl20 universe on popular WoW websites.

 

[Weko]

Thank you everyone who commented with some constructive feedback and suggestions! It's very much appreciated and I will be updating the guide throughout the coming days with more information and additional formatting.

I don't necessarily think it needs to be addressed, but the reason I posted the guide on Wowhead and not here is for two reasons:
1) Wowhead is much more popular of a site and has a much better chance of being seen my new players and is better for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
2) Wowhead has more formatting options.

That's all!

 

[Sin'dor]

Thank you everyone who commented with some constructive feedback and suggestions! It's very much appreciated and I will be updating the guide throughout the coming days with more information and additional formatting.

I just noticed that your guide was filed under "PvP"... was that the intended "focus" of your guide? I admit that I didn't see a "F2P" or "General WoW" category on Wowhead™, but there were ones like "New Players" and "Miscellaneous".

I don't necessarily think it needs to be addressed, but the reason I posted the guide on Wowhead and not here is for two reasons:
1) Wowhead is much more popular of a site and has a much better chance of being seen my new players and is better for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Yeah, I doubt that anyone is genuinely surprised that you'd submit a copy to Wowhead™... more that you didn't post a copy here.

Heck... I bet if this forum threw its combined expertise behind a few really stellar Wowhead™ guides (...perhaps under a username like "XP-Off Collective" or something), it might even help elevate the "status" of this site.

2) Wowhead has more formatting options.

While I have no doubt that is technically true... you've now got me rather curious about the kinds of elaborate "Wowhead-only" features you plan on adding!

Best of luck with your guide!