WOW Tip #1 - Get as many quests as possible, simultaneously. Do not do quests one at a time. When entering a new map region, go to the main town first, then speak to all the NPC's, get all the quest, and then proceed to explore. Remember that some quests can be a waste of time, requiring you spend an hour running to and from different people. Don't be afraid to abandon quests in favor of other ones. Don’t waste time on crappy quests.
WOW Tip #2 - Use groups to your advantage. Grouping will immensely speed up your power game, but do it only when necessary. About 25% of the quests are group quests, and you will waste time trying to solo them; unless you wait until you are a few levels higher and the quest becomes green (good tip for solo'ers). The rest of the quests, you can solo. There are some conditions here, however: Beware of inefficient groups - A group that doodles around or keeps dying trying to complete a quest will slow you down. You are better off soloing in this case. If you are a Shaman, or a Paladin or have a quick way to heal yourself and mele both, then you may be better off soloing more often than not. Warriors and types that mele well but can't heal, and priests and mages who have little armor function are better in groups. Groups can work well; but they must be efficient groups.
Tip 3 - The Num Lock key is your auto run.
This should be obvious, but you'd be surprised how many players forget to use their auto run. Auto run is your best friend, though. During long runs you can be checking your quest log, futzing with your inventory, or chatting with friends. Use it!
Tip 4 - Control your Pets.
This, of course, only applies to pet classes (Warlocks and Hunters), but if we had a gold piece for every Warlock and Hunter who left his pet on "Aggressive" we'd - well, we'd have a lot of gold pieces. Your pets are tools. They're used for very specific purposes. Putting them on Aggressive lets them attack indiscriminately and can draw a lot more monster attention than your group is ready to deal with. All too often a pet on the loose means death for the group and a long, boring corpse run.
WOW Tip #5 - Doing quests 3 or more levels higher than you, or an elite quest solo may only take excess time, unless you are in a group, don’t attempt them. If you spend 5 hours trying to do a level 15 quest and you are at level 13, you may get it done. But in those same 5 hours, you could have made level 15 simply by killing stuff 2-3 levels beneath you. And then doing the quest in 1 hour. So in 6 hours, you get the quest done, and are at level 15, as opposed to finishing the quest in 5 hours and still being at level 13. It’s so tempting to go for that mob boss who's three levels above you and finish your quest solo. You could literally waste 10 hours, or even days trying. BUT, if you get in a group, then you can do it in a cinch. OR you can 'level grind' yourself. This is the heart of powering through this game to the upper levels.
WOW Tip #6 - Avoid this big mistake; players are too quick to use DPS (damage per second) on their weapons as the primary factor. This is just not true. Abilities such as % to crit and damage bonuses are calculated based upon the damage of the weapon or its speed. DPS is just an average and is never used in computing an ability.
Tip 7 - Gnomes have the best (worst) dancing emotes.
Trust us on this one. Simply typing /dance into the game while playing as a gnome will show you what we mean. Gnome dancing is the most offensive thing in Azeroth - rumor has it that the Horde offers 10 gold pieces to anyone who can actually manage to kill a Gnome in PvP during a dance. Therefore it makes Gnomes perfect for role-players who want to annoy other players and have a good laugh.
WOW Tip #8 - In Macro's and speech, remember that %t will cite your current target. Shift + Clicking on something will add it to your speech or your macro. Both %t and shift+click come in very handy.
WOW Tip #9 - At about level 12-15 or so, you can travel to another race's starting region and still be low enough in levels to get the quests in that area. They will be a cinch to solve and you will still get some exp for the kills.
Tip 10 - The Undead are just psychotically cool!
While everyone has their own opinion, ours is that no World of Warcraft race gets as many "coolness points" as the Undead. First, the character models are just a riot with hairstyles that literally defy physics and a facial customization options straight out of the Velvet Dungeon. The designers also clearly had a ball putting the Undead lands together because every area and storyline within the Undead zones is filled with clever asides and subtle (and not so subtle) humor about the Forsaken's unusual situation. Role-players will also enjoy playing the Undead since they're as close as any World of Warcraft race comes to being "evil". True - they are an oppressed minority, but they're also planning universal genocide, so you make your own call.
