Starting a Starter Account

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Starting a Starter Account​

The intention of this guide is to be a sort of 'base' guide for what to expect from F2P twinking. The hope is that this will be informative for both veteran players/twinkers, as well as people new to wow in general (although most of it will be about F2P specifically, there will still be a few more general notes). It will be as concise as possible, so it will be easy to glance over. If you have any suggestions, think I may have left something out, or disagree with me on something entirely, please leave it in the comments section. I will try to address it cordially.​

Coherent English brought to you in part by
Bôp and Peterwe​

Enjoy,
Sevenslacks7

Ding, 20!​

Gear​

Professions​

Realms​

PvP​

<Topics>​

Achievements​

Other​

EXTREME!​

Overview​

TL;DR​

 

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________________________________________________________________
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Ding, 20! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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So you have already made your account and have leveled a character to 20, and want to get the most out of your starter account, what do you do / where do you start? (If you have not made your account yet, you may want to check out the portion of this guide regarding “Realms”, so you will know which realm you may want to put your character on, based on what you are looking for.)

First step which you may or may not know would be to go to your mount trainer and buy a mount / purchase riding training. (Costs a few gold, but if you have done 1-3 Random Dungeons in the dungeon finder you should easily have enough gold.)
After you have purchased your mount and riding training, gearing is your next big pursuit. This is most straightforwardly approached by queuing for dungeons, specifically Blackfathom Deeps and Stormwind stockade (That is assuming you have already gone through Shadowfang keep and Wailing caverns.)


*If you have not made an account yet, I would suggest you briefly browse through the guide, specifically the part containing information about F2P populated realms, Other (which will contain macros you need), and the overview.*

 

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|Gear| ​

Damnit Chardev!​

Class Specific Gear List & Heirlooms​

Druid​	Hunter​	Mage​	Paladin​	Priest​	Rogue​	Shaman​	Warlock​	Warrior​
Horde | Alliance​	Horde | Alliance​	Horde | Alliance​	Horde | Alliance​	Horde | Alliance​	Horde | Alliance​	Horde | Alliance​	Horde | Alliance​	Horde | Alliance​
Balance | Balance Heirlooms | Heirlooms Feral | Feral Heirlooms | Heirlooms Guardian | Guardian Heirlooms | Heirlooms Restoration | Restoration Heirlooms | Heirlooms​	Beast Mastery | Beast Mastery Heirlooms | Heirlooms Marksmanship | Marksmanship Heirlooms | Heirlooms Survival | Survival Heirlooms | Heirlooms​	Arcane | Arcane Heirlooms | Heirlooms Fire | Fire Heirlooms | Heirlooms Frost | Frost Heirlooms | Heirlooms​	Holy | Holy Heirlooms | Heirlooms Protection | Protection Heirlooms | Heirlooms Retribution | Retribution Heirlooms | Heirlooms​	Discipline | Discipline Heirlooms | Heirlooms Holy | Holy Heirlooms | Heirlooms Shadow | Shadow Heirlooms | Heirlooms​	Assassination | Assassination Heirlooms | Heirlooms Combat | Combat Heirlooms | Heirlooms Subtlety | Subtlety Heirlooms | Heirlooms​	Elemental | Elemental Heirlooms | Heirlooms Enhancement | Enhancement Heirlooms | Heirlooms Restoration | Restoration Heirlooms | Heirlooms​	Affliction | Affliction Heirlooms | Heirlooms Demonology | Demonology Heirlooms | Heirlooms Destruction | Destruction Heirlooms | Heirlooms​	Arms | Arms Heirlooms | Heirlooms Fury | Fury Protection | Protection Heirlooms | Heirlooms​

I think I am just going to wait till the next xpac to create all the character lists for this section, it is just ALOT of work... and I don't have to have to go through it all... AGAIN. When I do, I will be using the somewhat new 'Wow Profiler', and ill have the account and password I created them all on on here.
Thank you for your patience. ​

Dungeon & World Gear​

(Only pre Heirloom BiS items will be listed below)​

Difficult​	Horde​	Both​	Alliance​
Nothing to report for Difficult​	Nothing to report for Horde​	Dungeon Quests​	Dungeon Quests​
		Blackfathom Deeps​ Nightmare of the Deeps / Blackfathom Villainy Shield against the Evil Presence Great for Warriors and Paladins. Blackfathom Leggings Amazing for Shamans and Druids. Thaelrid's Greaves Good for Paladins.	Ragefire Chasm​ The Dark Shaman Stone Guard Grieves Going to be BiS for Warrior and Paladins unless you can get Foreman's Leggings (listed later).
		Wailing Caverns​ Cleansing the Caverns Cleansed Pauldrons Holy Paladins. Cobrahn's Boots Rogues / Shamans crit stacking. Pythas' Vest For Warriors and Paladins without heirloom chests.	Stormwind Stockades​ The Gnoll King Rifle Commander's Eyepatch Pretty much the best head piece in the game for F2P, rivaled only by Lucky Fishing hat. Hogger's Shiny Good for stam / defense stacking, especially on Warriors and Paladins. Riot Stick Good for casters (Cloth only, due to the head piece conflicting as a choice for leather+ users), also debatably a good weapon for Feral /Guardian Druid and Arms warrior, due to its white hit damage (65-99).
		Shadowfang Keep​ Fury of the Pack / Sweet, Merciless Revenge Shadowfang Spaulders Very good for Rogues and Shamans who are starting out and don't have the BoA upgrade. Deathstalker Pauldrons Great for warriors and paladins before they get their respective BoA upgrades. Godfrey's Britches The other two Items I would not take under any circumstance.	Blackfathom Deeps​ Knowledge in the Deeps Gloaming Band The standard choice for a companion ring to Seal of Argas for casters (Note: Both rings are fairly easy to obtain). Twilight Falls Aluwyn's Legguards A large part of what makes Alliance agility classes so strong. Should be used on all dps agility classes, unless you desire more crit. (In which case Smelting Pants should be used)

Difficult​	Horde​	Both​	Alliance​
Nothing to report for Difficult​	Nothing to report for Horde​	Boss Drops​	Boss Drops​
		Ragefire Chasm​ Cuffs of Black Elements BiS unless you go for the more difficult bracers from SFK (listed later). The Deadmines​ Smelting Pants BiS for ALL agility users (this is in my opinion). Lavishly Jeweled Ring For casters that are under the hit cap. (Roughly 4-5%). Impaling Harpoon Feral Druids. Gold-Plated Buckler A decent choice for twinks that did not choose Shield against the Evil Presence. Wailing Caverns​ Armor of the Fang Serpent Gloves Bis for casters. Glowing Lizardscale Cloak BiS for MAX agility users. Shadowfang Keep​ Butcher's Cleaver Bis for Enhance Shamans, and possibly Combat Rogues. Black Wolf Bracers Highest crit on bracers for f2p. Silverlaine's Family Seal Not bis, but a good place holder for Warriors and Paladins before DPR. Blackfathom Deeps Algea Fists Warriors and Paladins. Ghamoo-Ra's Bind Bands of Serra'kis Naga Battle Gloves Reef Axe Arms warriors, Retribution Paladins. Stormwind Stockades​ Noble's Roge Great for all casters. Wicked Dagger's Amazing for Rogues, debatably BiS over any heirloom weapons. Corpse Rompers Great for casters. Standard Issue Prisoner Shoes Bis for all agility users. Cold Iron Pick Arms Warrior, Retribution Paladins. Silk-Threaded Trousers Girdle of Nobility BiS for critical strike stacking casters.	Wailing Caverns​ Savage Trodders BiS for alliance due to the lack of Boots of the Hero

Difficult​	Horde​	Both​	Alliance​
From World Quests​	From World Quests​	From World Quests​	From World Quests​
Rings	Rings	Rings	Rings
N/A	Dread Head Redemption Garrosh's Pardon Long, but worthwhile, quest chain. The final ring is not only good for all casters, but can also be used as a stamina stacking item for tanks.	Diabolical Plans Signet of Argas Seal of Argas Band of Argas One of the first quests you should do as a freshly leveled F2P twink which you will get from killing NPC's in Ashenvale (the mobs will be listed in the wowhead link). After that you will complete the second quest in the chain and receive a ring that is BiS for almost everyone.	The Embalmer's Revenge Ello's Band Great, even somewhat OP, ring if you are playing an Agility class (Druid, Rogue, Shaman).
N/A	A Blight Upon the Land Stillwater's Signet A option for people that like to stack critical strike.	N/A	N/A
Head Piece	Head Piece	Head Piece	Head Piece
Rare Fish - Keefer's Angelfish Lucky Fishing Hat The Coup de Grace of most any low level twink. Slightly easier to obtain as a F2P than as a 19, due to the use of mounts.	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bag of Shiny Things Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat This bag can be received by doing any one of the Fishing Daily's in your capital city. The item it gives is a good place holder for when you are waiting to get LFH.	N/A	N/A	N/A
Leggings & Chests	Leggings & Chests	Leggings & Chests	Leggings & Chests
N/A	Fade to Black Kalecgos' Gift Azure Scale Vest Another long Horde quest chain, and still worthwhile. These leggings are only rivaled by Foreman's Leggings (listed later), which have a couple more armor. Azurescale is a really great item, only rivaled by Armor of the Fang (already listed), it should be picked up by any horde agility user.	N/A	N/A
Wrists & Boots	Wrists & Boots	Wrists & Boots	Wrists & Boots
N/A	Mutiny, Mon! Uninsured Bracers Conspirator's Slippers	N/A	The Embalmer's Revenge Sparkmetal Bracers
N/A	Cities in Dust Bracers of the Most Trusted Slippers of Unturned Loyalties	N/A	N/A
Shields	Shields	Shields	Shields
N/A	The Conquest of Azshara Shield of Talrendis Point Counterattack! Shield of the Barrens	N/A	N/A
Difficult​
World Drops​
Magician's Mantle Best way to obtain will be through chest farming, the guide to which will be posted at the end of this section. (Which goes for most the gear about to be listed in this column). Feet of the Lynx Thorbias Gauntlets Redbeard Crest Drakewing Bands Mindthrust Bracers A Shadowfang Keep specific zone drop. Ring of Precision Blackfathom Deeps specific zone drop.

The 'Gold Standard' for some slots is going to be heirloom. However, when you are first starting and cannot afford heirlooms, the gear listed above are all great pieces to start with.


For nearly every twink, when possible, Shoulder, Chest, Weapon, and trinkets should be swapped out to heirloom when one can afford them.

You gain heirloom gear by saving up honor and purchasing them from the vendor in your capitol city. Some heirlooms cost Justice Points, and as a result, you must convert your honor into justice points, an action you can again perform in your capitol city (the conversion rate atm is 500 honor to 250 Justice Points). It takes a long time to get heirlooms on a f2p, so don't be concerned when it takes a long time.

 

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Professions​

When it comes to professions... all in all if you haven't done any yet... you need to do nearly all of them to be BiS (This stems from the F2P twink's lack of being able to use the auction house, so all BiS gear has to be either collected or made by the toon).

So let's go down the list, starting with the more important ones, and working our way down to the professions you should stay at.

---

First professions:
Enchanting / Mining

These don't necessarily need to be the professions that you start with, but they seem to be the most productive first professions. In order to get all your other gear to start, you are going to need to do a decent bit of dungeons. During that time you can be greed rolling on greens, disenchanting them, and using them to level up Enchanting. Enchanting is going to supply you with all of your BiS enchants. Mining is a good second profession because it can let you build up some of the mats that you will need for Blacksmithing and maybe Engineering (if you decide to go for Flying Tiger goggles).

The BiS enchants include:

Weapon:
Enchant 2H Weapon - Lesser Intellect
Enchant 2H Weapon - Minor Impact
Enchant Weapon - Minor Striking

Bracers:
Enchant Bracer - Minor Strength
Enchant Bracer - Minor Agility
Enchant Bracer - Minor Stamina

Cloak:
Enchant Cloak - Minor Protection

Chest:
Enchant Chest - Lesser Health

Blood Elf only:
Enchant Shield - Minor Stamina
Enchant Cloak - Minor Agility (Ty Snow )

Other:
Minor Wizard Oil (Something you want to stockpile in your bank so you can use it later when you don't have the profession).

---

Second professions:
Jewelcrafting / Skinning


Jewelcrafting is going to supply you with both of your BiS neck pieces (if you are not a agility user). Be sure you are done with Jewelcrafting, or have enough minerals to finish the neck pieces you are going for before you swap out Mining for Skinning. Skinning is going to be your booster into your next set of professions.

The BiS Neck Pieces:

Thick Bronze Necklace

Brilliant Necklace

---

Third professions:
Leatherworking / Herbalism


Before you swap out of Skinning into Herbalism, be sure that you either are finished with Leatherworking or have enough leather to get 3 Medium Armor Kits.

Bis enchant from Leatherworking:

Medium Armor Kit

You will need three of those: one for your Gloves, Leggings, and Boots. It may not seem worth it, but remember you are TWINKING your character, which means you are getting as BiS as possible.

---

Final Professions:
Herbalism / Alchemy


*Pheaw*, no more professions to level after this! These are the best professions because they don't give permanent effects, but they give very good temporary effects and buffs.

Alchemy Potions:

Swiftness Potion

Minor Fortitude Potion

Elixir of Giant Growth

Elixir of Wisdom

Elixir of Minor Agility


Herbalism Use:

Lifeblood

(Small bit of healing, plus a decent haste bonus).

---

Secondary Professions:
Fishing / Cooking / First Aid


All of the secondary professions should be trained and maxed by your twink.

Fishing:

Lucky fishing Hat

Dread Pirate Ring

Weather Beaten Fishing Hat

Hook of the master Angler

Sea Turtle
To be discussed later.

(There are many, many more items you can receive from Fishing, however they are not as crucial as the items listed above).


Cooking:

Goblin Deviled Clams
The mats (materials) for this item are very easy to procure from Blackfathom Deeps

Savory Deviate Delights
A rare drop from dungeons and the barrens. It transforms your character into either a pirate or a ninja. Can be tricked into making you the opposite sex if you use Faded Wizard Hat (Discussed here)

Cooking Fire
Good for a small buff to any healers that are around you if you are sitting in the FR (Flag Room).

Chef's Hat
Obtained through doing 100 cooking dailies in any capital city. This is a vanity item, as well as a help to any cook.


First Aid:

Mageweave Bandage / Heavy Silk Bandage
The best bandages you can use at F2P. Heavy Silk bandages have slightly less healing than Mageweave, however Silk Cloth is easier to procure as a F2P than Mageweave Cloth.

Anti-Venom / Strong Anti-Venom
Both are great / have the same effect vs rogues. The Strong Anti-Venom's mats are easier to acquire however, but in order to get the recipe, you have to get the recipe drop. The best drop rate on which is in the high level dungeon Gnomereagan, which F2Ps CAN enter.


Archaeology:
(Completely spaced on this one, most likely because it is so new, ty Lennyw for reminding me.)

The newest profession available to F2P's, it includes ALOT of vanity items. (going to be a WiP for a while considering just how many there are).

Night Elf:
Druid and Priest Statue Set
Highborne Soul Mirror
Kaldorei Wind Chimes
(Night elf is also the easiest way to get archaelogy cap.
You can travel back and forth between dig sites in
Ashenvale without having to leave the zone.)

Dwarf:
Chalice of the Mountain Kings
Clockwork Gnome


Fossil:
Ancient Amber
Fossilized Hatchling

I'm going to end the Archaeology portion at that. Those are the things you should try and get if you are just starting Archaeology, if you don't know how to do Archaeology, or want to go deeper into it, there is already a guide specifically about Archaeology for f2p's.​

Pino's f2p Archaeology Guide​

---

Non essential professions:
Inscription / Blacksmithing / Tailoring / Engineering


The items from these different professions vary greatly, and they are for the most part not needed if you are F2P twinking. I think they can for the most part speak for themselves:

Inscription:

Rogues Deck
Vanity item.

Mystic Tome
Not very good in comparison to the off hand frill from SFK, or the heirloom offhand frill.


Blacksmithing:

Course Sharpening Stone / Course Weightstone
Near no reason to go into Blacksmithing unless you want some of the items for transmogrification.


Tailoring:

Gray Woolen Shirt
Green Linen Shirt
Red Linen Shirt
Blue Linen Shirt
All cosmetic items. It's important to note that these are not the only shirts available for F2P's, so don't feel the need to roll Tailoring just because you want a shirt.


Engineering:

Flying Tiger Goggles
Previously discussed in the gear section.

Crude Scope
Good for Hunters... but not BiS, there is a scope hunters can get from looting Dungeon chests.

Rough Copper Bomb
There are other bombs and thrown explosives from Engineering... but all of them are hardly worth mentioning, including this one, they are all more of a consolation bonus for using Flying Tiger Goggles.

 

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Realms​

When it comes to realms, there are a few things you will want to take into account. If you are resurrecting an old toon, with grandfathered gear, don't worry about what realm you are on, odds are there will be a few people from that realm that play F2P (how I met my pal Bop). If however you are / want to make a new F2P toon, I think there are 3 big categories to consider, which is how I will be dividing the main F2P realms... those are: BG's / WPvP , Arenas , Other/Community.

'Murica​

BG's / WPvP​

Aerie Peak (AP)​

The Largest F2P US server (roughly at least 20 people on at any given time) [*] [*] Battleground premades occur every day. [*] Arenas do occur, but have been historically vacant in the recent past. [*] Plenty of P2P's to group on, as well great people who enjoy playing with / helping others. All in all it is a great realm, has been noted as being cliquey, but in my experience this is untrue. Worth putting a toon on if you have the spare time. If you want to learn more about them, you can check out their realm recruitment page HERE.

[/td]

Blackwing Lair (BWL)​

A close nit group of good pvpers, who are all very friendly. [*] [*] Decently populated (In my experience roughly 4-7 people on at most times, max being 8-15). [*] 1-2 P2P's on at most times. [*] It is a PvP server, so WPvP is a small part of the community. You could say the focal point / leader of this community is Snowjobs (aka Bendandcough), who is all-in-all a great guy and a fun person to do bg's with (there are plenty of other great people to mention, but the list would be too long). (They apparently also have cookies, but they are like... Oatmeal Raisin... where as the ones at Mok'Nathal are Chocolate Chip and ALOT more scrum-didily-umptious.) If you want to learn more about them, you can check out their realm recruitment page HERE. OR, you can shoot a Pm over to Bendandcough...

Arenas​

Korgath​

RIP ​

Near strictly for arenas. [*] [*] Don't expect many people to be on at any given point in time. People being on is based around games occuring. [*] The skype group "Korgath Arena Chat" is a huge part of this community, it lets you know when and where games are happening. (Find out more about the group HERE [*] A great place to arena if you are experienced in arenas at max level, or even if you are just starting out and interested. If you want to learn more about them, you can check out their realm recruitment page HERE and HERE.

Other/Community​

Vashj​

3-6 players on at any given point in time. (Peak hours 7-14) [*] 5-10 man premades, as well as cross realm arenas have been occuring recently. [*] Anti cliquey. Information brought to you by the amazing Cheesetoast. One of Vashj's redeeming qualities is it's anti cliquey, welcoming attitude. While most players play Alliance side, some have Horde toons and switch over occasionally. While you're waiting for queue pops there's always duels in Gold Shire. Some-what unlike the bigger realms like Aerie Peak, this realm feels more like hanging out with close friends If you want to learn more about them, you can check out their realm recruitment page HERE.

Eldre Thalas​

Between 4-7 people online everyday. Premades happen often (Whenever 4 people are on) Our fishing tournament is not so insterested by many people but there are some out there, try your luck! its easy to get AGM on our realm but need to fight for it with 20's from rexxar, hoping some 90 doesn't ruin the fun If you want to learn more about them, you can check out their realm recruitment page HERE.

[/td]

Misha​

3-5 people that play on a regular basis sometime throughout the day Think there is around 20 F2Ps on the server however "peak" time is normally about half of that. Peak time also isn't a specific time. Can be 3 in the morning or 7 at night, although weekends do see alittle more activity. Mainly a bg realm with premades happening whenever people feel like it and to just do our own thing when we aren't. A very helpful/nice group of people that also seem to be perfectly fine with quiet "me" time. All in all just a small laid back realm that has picked up some aged and experienced f2ps just chilling as we beat up on those horde premades. Anyone is welcomed until you give us a reason not to welcome you. If you want to learn more about Misha, you can PM Lil.

Mok'Nathal​

We have 4 people that play on a regular basis (this is including myself). [*] [*]We do BG's, PvE challenges, Parkour, and random sheit on the regular. [*]If anyone wanted to make an alt on the server, Bop and/or myself would be more than happy to help them level / get geared. The answer is Yes... I am a biased PoS. But hear me out... As I said, we are a fun loving community that just wants to enjoy the game, whether that be through PvP, PvE, Parkour, or what have you. If you come, we can offer cookies... Kittens... Thirteen goats... Bops virginity... (too far?). I also stream on occasion, some of you may have seen it, so you know what you would be getting in to. If you want to learn more about us, you can check out their realm recruitment page HERE.

[/td]

EU​

* I do not know enough about the other EU servers to list them here, and I don't think I would do the realms any justice by listing them (I have rolled toons on each of the US realms I have listed). If someone who is experienced from EU wants to bullet point some pros and cons from the EU realm that is not listed, I would be more than happy to include it, and will include their name in an honorable mention *

Aggramar​

Largest F2P EU community 20-30 players on regularly Arena's, as well as other PvP happens frequently. Multiple P2P's on at any time. Information provided by Goesid If you want to learn more about Aggramar, check out their realm recruitment page HERE

[/td]

Magtheridon​

Cozy F2P EU community 3-5 players on regularly Small premades (2-5 man) nearly every day Arenas occur, but not often Couple of P2P's around to group on. All information provided generously by CripzBlood Currently, no realm recruitment information is on twinkinfo to link to, but if you have any information regarding this realm, I believe CripzBlood can answer them.

[/td]

 

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PvP​

(This section will be divided up into three parts: BG Terminology, Basic Strategies, Summary)​

Battleground (BG) terminology

Term	Description
FR	Flag Room: This is referring to your own flag room, it will be used when calling out locations of enemy movement and other things.
EFR	Enemy Flag Room: Used to describe your enemies' flag room, normally to call out the location of the EFC (to be discussed).
FC	Flag Carrier: Your allied flag carrier, usually used to call out his/her position for assistance in escorting the flag.
EFC	Enemy Flag Carrier: Describes the Enemy carrying the flag, normally used to call off location so you can cut them off.
GY	Graveyard: Where you spawn from.
Ramp	The side opposite the graveyard.
Mid	The middle of the map.
ToT	Top of Tunnel, usually in reference to a EFC or FC position. (Supplied by Illtankyoash)
Zerker	Berserker Buff: The buff inside the hut directly outside each ramp that gives a 30% increase to damage and a 10% increase to damage taken.
ST	Stables (Arathi Basin)
BS	Blacksmith (Arathi Basin)
GM	Goldmine (Arathi Basin)
LM	Lumber mill (Arathi Basin)
PUG	Pick Up Group: A randomly formed group
Premade	Group of people that know each other, and formed before the battleground started.

BASIC STRATEGIES! (WIP)

What should I be doing at the start of the game?​

This depends entirely on your, and your enemies team composition. If you have seen the 'Other' section of this guide, you will find a GREAT addon called battleground targets.

Who wants to FC?

If you already have a tanky/bulky player, ask them (Before the game starts) if they want to be the FC. If they say yes, let them do their thing and grab the flag, and be sure everyone else knows they should allow them to grab the flag. If they say no, and there seems to be no one else to carry the flag (and if you feel you will make the best FC) go for the flag yourself.

We have a FC and the game just started... now what?

Going mid is a classic yet good option. Controlling the midfield is a very important part of any game. It means you can swap to help escort your flag carrier, and also stop their flag carrier from crossing. If you can control midfield the entire game, it will be a easy 3 cap, but that's not always possible; on occasion it won't matter if you control midfield or not (if it is a pug), but sometimes you will want to have your players 'wipe mid', kill any enemies in the midfield and send them back to their graveyard. (Normally done when your team is trying to push to the enemy flag carrier) THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IN ANY PUG is that if you are consistently in the midfield, there are times when you will need to get OUT of the midfield. 99% of the time if there is a enemy with the flag, you will want to move to intercept or kill them. The only 1% you will not go for them, is because you are about to wipe midfield (right after you would go for FC), or you think your FC needs more defense. Playing defense: Its a option... but not a very good one. In a more competitive setting (RBG's) you would never play defense, because it slants the fight in the middle towards the other teams direction, and if they can successfully grab the flag... you are very behind. The only time it is acceptable for someone to be playing defense, is if they are a Mage/Warlock, and they can't even get accros the midfield because of a Rogue heavy team, in that case just go D.

Mid Game and Conditional Strategies​

I plan on FCing... what should I be doing? Where should I be going?

In this bracket, it is very difficult to judge what should be done by a FC if you are pugging. Most of the time, if you are FCing, you want to just grab the flag and get out of the middle as fast as possible (Without outrunning your healers for the love of god.). This is because you can't really count on a consistently solid team to win fights in the middle. If you are going with a premade, or have a decent enough team where you think you can win the mid fight, you will wan't to help your team fight mid. It doesn't matter if you are a Prot warrior or a Gaurdian Druid, or just think in your FCing set/spec that you can't do much damage, you being there is beneficial to your team with whatever damage/cc you can put out, and it could mean wiping them in mid. Once you grab flag and are back in mid, and they have they have the flag as well, you may not want to strait rush to going on your cap spot. Especially so if they have the flag in their FR. You helping to wipe their team in mid means that yours can push to a fight on their FC without the rest of their team present, which will be a cap 9/10 times.

The enemy team is all 24's, hunters, or both...

There is no reason not to at least try against a 24 heavy team at the start of the game (I wouldn't bother self buffing yourself however). But you will know the games where there is just no chance at doing anything. For those games, just try practicing some parkour jumps. If you can't even get out of your graveyard to do jumps, you have two options. DON'T REZ, get out of range of your spirit healer, or just continue to cancel the rez on your screen. Corpse rez. If you die in your graveyard, you can run around (in ghost) to your ramp, and back to the top of your GY, where you can rez and go out of range of anyone farming you.

Late Game and Stacks​

On GY Farming-

Please repeat after me-There is Absolutely No reason To Gy Farm Ever. There is no better way for me to put that. Not only is it no fun for the enemy team, but it is actually harmful to your own team. There is a thing called 'Containment' which is acceptable. The difference between GY farming and Containment, is you are capping while you are doing Containment, as apposed to gy farming where in most cases you have your FC sitting on their GY. Even in containment though, you should at least give them space to get out of their GY and do something. The classic argument (Presented most by 24's) is that they are GY farming because they wan't honor. Not only is this greedy and selfish, but it is not the best way to get honor. Upon each cap you get honor, and upon completing the game, you get honor. You actually get more honor per hour if you are quick capping and finishing the game then you do by gy farming. Whenver I hear a 24 justify why they are GY farming because they "Want honor", it makes me think of Frito from Idiocracy ("Oh, I like honor"). Idiocracy "I like money" - YouTube

Stacks

The use of brutality stacks is a important part of WSG. If the enemy flag carrier does not have any stacks up on them yet, then if you confront them, you don't want to focus them unless they are alone. You want to either focus their healer or CC their healer. At a certain point though, it doesn't matter if they have a couple healers with them, you should be focusing the EFC if they are at 4-6+ stacks. If you are a DPS, and the EFC is at 4-6+ stacks, there is absolutely no reason to be in mid or trying to focus down healers, you should just start strait dpsing on the EFC, because it will become unhealable. Sometimes you will want to 'clear' stacks. This happens when there has been a EFC and FC for a while, and your FC has dropped, you have picked up the flag, and shortly after the EFC has dropped. You can 'clear' the stacks by dropping the flag and waiting for it to despawn, then going back and grabbing the flag again. Wanting to, or not to clear, depends on your FC and team. If you think you have a better flag carrier, and better healers, you should most likely keep the stacks. If they have a better flag carrier/healers, you want to clear them.

At first I didn't even think of putting in a part like this... but after yet another 2 man carry game with Bop, I felt it absolutely necessary.


Summary

The battlegrounds in this bracket can become a bit bland over time...

Time after time of queuing into versus 5 Hunter 5 Rogue teams can get boring. Another big problem with this bracket are 24's. In most cases 24's will premade with each other, making an already slanted fight even more one sided. F2P premades have beaten P2P 24 premades before simply due to outplaying, but at a certain point no amount of skill will win a battleground, because some 24's will simply one shot and graveyard farm. (There has been a recent increase in the number of 24's in the bracket, this is due in large part to the decay of the 19 bracket).

It is generally frowned upon to graveyard farm, because not only is it not fun for the team you are facing, it isn't good for your team either. In terms of honor per hour, you get more honor by simply quick three capping and requeing. If you are being GY farmed, your best option is to stop resurrecting, this can be done by corpse running away from your spirit healer to any place on the map.

Regardless of the obvious problems with the bracket, there is still plenty of fun to be had, whether its through pugging, or premading with a couple of friends.

 

[sevenslacks7]

* Achievements *
(In this section we will talk about some achievements that are doable with a life (xD), and good ones to start if you are new to F2P).​

In terms of the total possible achievements that a F2P can get, there are ALOT.

The best place to view EVERY achievement possible for F2P is HERE
(atm, Фетис holds the most achievements out of any F2P, with a whopping 5615)

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* Ambassador of the Horde/Alliance

An all around great achievement to start working on as a new F2P for a couple of reasons.

• Gives you a title to share between characters.
• Once you are exalted with each faction, you can purchase its bags (most bagspace for a f2p), as well as their mounts (which will be shared between accounts).
• Starts you off with a few achievement points.

You receive reputation for each faction two ways.
Putting on that faction's tabard and doing dungeons.
Doing quests that are given by members of that faction. (Most come from each faction's starting zone).

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* Master of Warsong Gulch

* Master of Arathi Basin

May take a while, but they are some good achievements to have on your horizon considering all the inadvertent benefits you get from doing them.

• Gain Honor, which can be spent to get heirlooms, as well as some cool tabards.
• A lot of achievement points once completed.
• Battlegrounds are a good way of meeting other people in the F2P bracket.

Some of the achievements for each mastery can be difficult, and I myself am still missing a couple of the Arathi basin achievements.

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* Gurubashi Arena Master

* Gurubashi Arena Grand Master

This achievement and the item procured from it can both be described as being lengthy and arduous to obtain.

• Arenas Grand Master
• Two Achievements

Expect to take a month or more in attempting to get this without any outside help. In order to receive the trinket, you will have to loot the chest (that spawns every three hours) 12 times, and hand in 12 Arena Master trinkets to Short John Mithril. The best advice I can think to give is to choose a spawn time or two, and stick to that spawn time for as long as it takes.

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[sevenslacks7]

Other​

Macros:

/say {cross} FOCUS %t {cross}

This macro can be used to tell players around you to attack the target you are attacking. It should be used to try and focus down healers.

/say Please Heal Me!
/healme

Great for classes that don't have self heals, and have to really on others healing them.

#showtooltip Enrage
/say Please pass me the flag, I have more health than you; Por favor, pase el bandera, tengo más salud que usted

For people that FC regularly, I threw in the tooltip because it makes me angry sometimes xD.


(^ These are just the macros that I personally use, and that are good starter macros; some other more popular ones include ones that announce where the EFC is / is going and where the FC is / is going... I personally just type messages like such in when it is appropriate.)

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Class Specific Guides:

I understand this can all be very general information, and that you might want to dive deeper into the particular class you will be playing. For that I am going to toss it up to some other twinkers from the site who have already created great guides about specific classes.

Guides​

Druid

Hunter

Mage

Paladin

Priest

Rogue

Shaman

Warlock

Warrior

Arena​

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Addons:
(Some basic ones, to get you on your way )

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F2PAddon

Thee most important addon to get as a F2P twink.

You download this addon (from curse or twink info), and if it does not do it automatically, add a channel called "F2ptwink" to your list of channels.
Upon doing so you may talk to any other F2P or P2P in the channel that has the addon, it does this by adding anyone in the channel to your friends list.

The addon also has commands that form various functions:

• P2P? : Type this in to the F2ptwink channel, and any P2P online will respond automatically if they are free to be grouped on.
• Inv : Whisper this to any P2P in the channel that is available to be grouped on, and they will automatically invite you.
• Lead : Whisper to the P2P inviting you, and upon their exit of the group, you will be given lead.
• Close: Closes the group, forcing the p2p inviter to leave.
• /f2pq : Type this in, and it will display a small frame listing anyone who is currently queuing for battlegrounds on your server using the addon.

More description of the addon written by Yassueh HERE, be sure to throw him a like, because this is an amazing and game changing addon for F2P's

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BattlegroundTargets

Creates a small frame that displays what the enemy team's composition is.

This is a great way of knowing if there are 24's on the enemy team or if there is anyone that you know on the enemy team. Also, it is excellent for allowing you to know their class composition.

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Recount

Creates a small movable frame that can be placed anywhere on your screen.

Great for if you want to figure how much damage / dps, damage taken, healing done, etc etc. you or someone else is doing in a battleground, instance, or group.

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[sevenslacks7]

Extreme!​

(This section is for if you get a little bit down the road, and are looking for something to do... just remember once you get into one... you can only blame yourself.)​

Sea Turtle​

It takes roughly 6 thousand casts in any given Northrend pool
to obtain this cute little guy. He does not only look cool,
but he can swim very fast in water, and adds one more mount to your mount directory.​

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25 Tabards​

It is extremely difficult... because as a f2p... you can only get 25 tabards,
so every one possible must be looted and equipped.
If you do indeed have the gumshin to finish this, you get
quite an awesome tabard as a reward. (Tabard of the Achiever​

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Battle Tabard of the Defilers​

Extremely difficult not only due to the amount of battlegrounds it takes
to get to exalted with the Defilers / Arathor (2.7k honor at that point should be easy),
but because the average q time is roughly 10-20 minutes, and bgs at this level as
I have previously stated can get stale over time.​

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Stendel's Wedding Band​

Max crit for rings, the item is obtained through
fishing in a pool in the middle of westfall, and comes out of Stendel's Bane,
which each have a separate and low chance of giving the ring.​

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Guardian of Cenarius​

More brutal for whoever is carrying you through the achievement, as it takes a ...
well lets say SIGNIFICANT amount of time to get enough keys to get exalted
(Fun fact was first done by Roskmeg, the level one twink)​

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Old Crafty / Old Ironjaw​

BiS for off hand frill stamina, can be fished from in
Orgrimmar or Ironforge depending on the fish, and gives
an achievement for each upon catching them.​

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*DISCLAIMER*
It is currently unknown as to whether or not Deckhand's Shirt still has a chance to drop from the mobs
listed on wowhead (wowhead has a tendency to keep items listed as dropping that no longer have a chance to).
It is also suspected that there isn't a single F2P Twink to get the tabard since the release of Cata.
(Informed by Adal, thank you)​

Deckhand's Shirt​

Requires A LOT of kills on two specific mobs in the barrens because of its
extremely low drop chance. (This being if the shirt still even has a chance to drop, see above yellow text) (Note: you also get reputation from killing the required mobs)​

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[sevenslacks7]

Overview​

Lets try and answer the big question; why F2P twink?​ I would say with ease that the majority of people who play F2P, don't do it because they are 'too poor to pay for the game'. In fact most people who have F2P toons link them to their existing P2P accounts. For others, playing F2P is a way to still play wow / see what's new, try a new twinking bracket, or sit out of paying for a patch or two due to what they see is sub-par content. For me; it's about having fun, trying to get the most out of one character, and most of all, me being a cheap bastard. I have never been a fan of paying monthly for this game, I see it as being INCREDIBLY excessive seeing as how you have to also buy the game... but there is good content in the game that you don't need a subscription to access. Does this bracket evolve?​ Yes, absolutely. From patch to patch you will see new restrictions lifted from F2P, and random bugs / glitches that allow people to get achievements they otherwise could not. How is the F2P community as a whole?​ It's filled with a wide range of players in my experience. You have generally incompetent / newer players, former max level / high rated arena players, as well as people that just like twinking. There are some good niche's that you can get into, and from there you can queue into some interesting and competitive battlegrounds, as well as do some fun WPvP events.

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You made it to the end!
I hope you enjoyed, and above all I hope it was an informative and worthwhile read (I know it got very lengthy, but I wanted to try and include AS MUCH about F2P twinking as possible).

I'm sure I missed things / made errors, I plan on having this guide be a sort of living document, that will evolve as F2P twinking evolves... so if you see anything that you think is off, feel free to comment about it.


Sincerely
~Sevenslacks7

 

[sevenslacks7]

TL;DR​

The following is a flow chart, which I thought will be nice for people that want a step by step process to go through to level and gear their characters. HERE , is a direct link to the chart.

 

[Gulbon]

Oh my god, this may be the best guide I've read on Twinkinfo.

Bellybutton applauds you.

/clapclapclapfapclapfapfapclapfapfapfapfapfapfapfap

 

[sevenslacks7]

Bellybutton applauds you.

/clapclapclapfapclapfapfapclapfapfapfapfapfapfapfap

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Tyvm

 

[Whatgoesup]

I can't say anything more than approved. Absolutely amazing guide. Would you like this guide stickied on front page or in twink guide section for F2P?

 

[sevenslacks7]

I can't say anything more than approved. Absolutely amazing guide. Would you like this guide stickied on front page or in twink guide section for F2P?

To the.. Front Page... *pinkie*

 

[noobinit]

Dude, I knew you were awesome both from other guides you've written as well as PMs. Its just amazing that an experienced player like you would take the time to put something like this together for the rest of the twink community !!!

STANDING OVATION BOTH FORM AND CONTENT !

 

[sevenslacks7]

Dude, I knew you were awesome both from other guides you've written as well as PMs. Its just amazing that an experienced player like you would take the time to put something like this together for the rest of the twink community !!!

STANDING OVATION BOTH FORM AND CONTENT !

thanks man.

When I was looking through some guides a while ago i thought of the idea of doing it, and was incredibly surprised there was nothing like it considering this community is not only filled with people that are new to F2P twinking, but also littered with people knew to the game entirely. I hope I can keep adding on to this with more information as time goes on.

 

[Goesid]

Looks neat.

Few things:

Add some EU communities too or perhaps add a US prefix.
heirloom list and why to get that specific loom.
Theres alot more extreme stuff than stendels.

 

[sevenslacks7]

Looks neat.

Few things:

Add some EU communities too or perhaps add a US prefix.
heirloom list and why to get that specific loom.
Theres alot more extreme stuff than stendels.

* I do not know enough about EU servers to list them here, and I don't think I would do the realms any justice by listing them (I have rolled toons on each of the US realms I will have listed). If someone who is experienced from EU wants to bullet point some pros and cons from the EU realm, I would be happy to include it, and will include there name in an honorable mention *

I would love to put the EU realms in with descriptions, but I would not be doing any of them justice since I have no personal experience with any of them.
If I can get any one who is experienced with the EU realms to write something about on or more of them, I would absolutely add it as well as add a honorable mention to them.

When it comes ot heirlooms, I will probably make a list for the future, but I thought at the moment it was alright without it considering the ended audience are people that wont be able to afford them at that moment.

And yea there are a BOAT load more extreme stuff I can put on there, but they all take a significant amount of time to accomplish, and I want to give anyone that has gotten into F2P a short list of stuff they could put in their cross hairs, without bogging them down with a bunch of insanely difficult to get items. (I may add a few more achieves / items though)

Ty, i hope that someone from EU can follow up on a realm or two.

 

[CripzBlood]

I would love to put the EU realms in with descriptions, but I would not be doing any of them justice since I have no personal experience with any of them.
If I can get any one who is experienced with the EU realms to write something about on or more of them, I would absolutely add it as well as add a honorable mention to them.

When it comes ot heirlooms, I will probably make a list for the future, but I thought at the moment it was alright without it considering the ended audience are people that wont be able to afford them at that moment.

And yea there are a BOAT load more extreme stuff I can put on there, but they all take a significant amount of time to accomplish, and I want to give anyone that has gotten into F2P a short list of stuff they could put in their cross hairs, without bogging them down with a bunch of insanely difficult to get items. (I may add a few more achieves / items though)

Ty, i hope that someone from EU can follow up on a realm or two.

U can get alot of info from realm recruitment area.


EU Magtheridon Ally(PvE):

A small F2P EU community (roughly atleast 5-3ppl online at any given time(F2PTwinks)
Small(2-5ppl) Battleground premades occur almost everyday.
Arenas occur but only if someone ask for it.
Couple P2Ps to group on, as well great people who enjoy playing with / helping others.