Show Notes

[twoolley61]

STUFF I MISSED IN SHOW #1
First, the Rogue lock pick ability is much more useful and necessary than I originally led you to believe. As you progress through the game you will start getting locked chests as loot. Also, as your start to run instances, which we’ll talk about in episode 8, you’ll come across doors, chests etc that will need to be unlocked by a Rogue.

Also, a word about realms and character transfers. If you choose a realm and decide that you want to move your character to another realm you can do this by going to the World of Warcraft site and accessing Blizzard’s “Paid Character Transfer” service through the Account Management link. The transfer costs $25 per character. There are some limitations so be sure the check out the FAQ for more details. One limitation I wanted to
touch on is that you cannot transfer a character from a PVE server to a PVP server. You also cannot transfer a character of the opposing faction from a PVP realm to another PVP realm. This means that if you have an Alliance character on a PVP realm and want to transfer your horde character to the same PVP realm…you can’t

LET'S TALK STATS
Things to Keep In Mind When Choosing A Class

1. I usually decide my class first, for some reason this just seems like a more logical way to approach the whole character creation process.
   
2. Once I’ve chosen the class I have to consider which race would be best suited for that class. So, first I look at the individual racial traits that we talked about in our first episode.
   
3. We’ll also want to consider the stats that our race starts out with and the bonus stats each class receives.
   

Stats Definition
"Stats are the basic building blocks for a character's combat ability. The five primary attributes are strength, agility, stamina, intellect and spirit. These five attributes along with armor appear on the character sheet under "Base Stats". These are often referred to as simply stats.

A number of secondary attributes affect specific areas of combat more directly, and are often influenced in some way by a primary attribute. Secondary attributes include critical strike rate, damage absorption, attack power, spell damage and many others.
All characters inherently have some amount of each attribute that increases with level depending mainly on class. For example, a mage will have more base intellect than a rogue, who will have more base agility. Increasing these attributes is mainly done with equipment, as well as temporary effects such as buffs, elixirs, scrolls, auras and many other means.

Nearly all combat mechanics rely in some way on one or more character attributes. Increasing the appropriate attribute will increase damage done, reduce damage taken, increase healing done, affect a character's mana or health, or other benefits. Understanding how these attributes work is important for effective combat.” - Wowwiki

STATS

Strength

• Increases attack power with melee weapons
  
• Melee weapons can include swords, axes, daggers, maces, staves, polearms etc. Basically, anything you use to hit the mob by swinging it at the mob.
  
• Slightly increases the amount of damage blocked with a shield for shield-using classes (warrior, paladin and shaman)
  
• Strength does not affect the chance to land a critical strike.
  
• Strength does not improve the chance to block, but does slightly increase the amount of damage blocked when a block occurs. This amount is determined by strength and by the block value of the shield.
  

Agility

• Increases attack power with ranged weapons (not including wands) or melee weapons for certain classes:
  
• Warriors, hunters and rogues gain 1 ranged attack power for each point of agility.
  
• Hunters, rogues and druids in Cat Form gain 1 melee attack power per point of agility.
  
• Increases armor by 2 per point.
  
• Increases chance to score a critical hit with a weapon.
  
• Increases chance to dodge attacks. This is dependent on both class and level.
  

Stamina

• Stamina provides 10 health for each point for all Classes/Mobs/NPCs (except from the first 20 points of Stamina that provide 1 health for each point instead).
  
• It also increases health points of a player's pet for classes with pets.

Intellect

• Increases the rate at which weapon skills are learned.
  
• Increases mana points. Each point of intellect gives 15 mana points (except from the first 20 points of Intellect that provide 1 mana for each point instead).
  
• Mana is needed to cast spells and to use those abilities that require mana.
  
• Increases chance to score a spell critical strike. This increase varies by class.
  
• Increases the amount of MP5 generated by Spirit.
  
• MP5 (also known as MP/5) is a shortened term for the item bonus "Restores X mana per 5 sec." Although the number given is based on 5 second intervals, the effect will trigger every 2 seconds. For example, an item that grants 10 mana per 5 sec will restore 4 mana on every "tick". Mana regeneration depends on Spirit and MP5 bonuses, in most cases Spirit only affects regen outside of the 5 second rule while MP5 bonuses apply at all times.
  

Spirit

• Increases health and mana regeneration. Spirit affects all characters' mana and hit point regeneration rates in and out of combat.
  
• Health regeneration from spirit is not active while in combat, except for trolls who gain 10% of their normal health regen in combat from the racial ability "regeneration."
  
• Mana regeneration is active in combat except for the five seconds immediately after casting a spell (the five second rule). Some class talents and spells allow some mana regeneration during this period.
  
• With the exception of primary healers, most notably holy priests and restoration druids, most players tend to consider Spirit to be the most useless Attribute, since it is only good for restoring Health and Mana. The Mana restoration is good for most classes, but melee classes (Warriors, Rogues, Feral Druids, etc.) don't regenerate Health during combat (except Trolls); the small increase in Health regeneration is nowhere near as great as restoration through food or bandages.
  

Base Stats By Race


Class Bonus Stats


TIP OF THE WEEK
This week we spent a lot of time talking about racial and bonus stats to consider when creating your character. But we didn’t really talk a lot about which class to choose. That is because playing a class, in my opinion, is a very personal choice and should be made based on what you feel will give you the most enjoyment in the game.

Don’t be afraid to try all the classes. Play them for a few levels to get a better feel for what you prefer. You can always delete a character you don’t like.