#1 - Jan. 12, 2011, 3:39 p.m.
Trying to explain that I didn't want to play Wii (an objection he simply doesn't understand), he asked what I found so enjoyable about WoW. As I've done for years, I offered to let him try it out. For the first time, he took me up on it.
Now, a bit of background. We've been married a year and a half, living together for two years, and started dating three years ago. I've been playing WoW since 2005. I've sent him at least two RAFs since we've known each other, one before we even started dating. He's just never been interested in the game, and that's been fine with me. I mean, dating guys who played WoW in the past meant lots of conversations about raid mechanics and guild drama, plus I usually have more gold than they do, which can be awkward.
As I said, I was surprised he took me up on it. Having made genuine attempts to get him playing legally in the past, I decided to (gasp) let him play on my account. Yes, I know it's bad, horrible, breaks the rules, etc. He wouldn't have even tried it if I'd made him create a trial account and go get the other laptop from upstairs. Time and convenience were of the essence, it'd taken me years to get to this point. Letting him make a character on my account meant a chance for a new subscriber, making him create a trial account meant letting the moment (and potential subscriber) pass.
Immediately running into an inn and exiting to the character select screen, I gave him options: Does he want to be a melee guy who fights close up, a ranged guy who fights from far away, or a guy who heals other people? He chose a melee guy, and I ran through his melee options. He chose one, and I ran through the available races. He chose a race, and customized his character. Of course, he chose...
A blood elf death knight.
(Crap. Not only is that just depressing, I know very little about death knights.)
Now, there are many things we as players take for granted, and they've done a lot to make the game more newb-friendly. Right-clicking to interact, for example. "Use:" text on items. Quest items that sparkle. Noticeable names over questgivers and quest mobs. Map improvements.
My husband is a very intelligent man, he's just... listening-challenged. I know all the wives out there just said "Oh, they all are", but I'm genuinely convinced my husband is extra-listening challenged. (We have to run two GPSes when he drives because he ignores the first one.) He's stubborn and independent, so I figured the best way to go about this was to get him moving, functioning, interacting, and let him figure it out on his own. Yellow quest markers, how to move (yes, he's keyboard-turning and clicking, it's a laptop and refinements can wait til he gets the basics), hostile vs. non-hostile vs. friendly, how to interact, the gold arrow on the minimap, those sorts of things.
I explained that death knights are under the control of the bad guy, and that this set of quests is to allow him to break free of the bad guy. When you zone in, the "bad guy" (the Lich King) is right in front of you. I identified him as the bad guy.
"Can I kill him?" No.
"Why not? He's the bad guy." Because he's friendly to you right now. You can't kill things with green or blue nameplates. See his nameplate?
"But he's the bad guy. Why can't I kill him if he's the bad guy?" Because he has 28 million health and you have 3000.
"OK."
We went through the first few quests together. I explained how to interact with the quest NPCs. Pointed out that his quest item (the sword in the rack) sparkled, and that he should look for sparkles. Made him re-read the quest, to see that he not only had to pick it up, but he had to forge it. Showed him how to open his bag, because the sword is a "Use:" item, and how to use it. Turned in the quest sword, got his blue sword, showed him how to find it in his bag and how to equip it. Next quest: Defeat a death knight initiate or whatever, the guys chained up in the pit.
"How do I fight him?" I dunno - can you talk to him? Nope. Is there a sparkly thing? Nope. Well, you got a key... and the key has a Use text. OK, right-click the key, then click the wall thing where your hand (mouse pointer) glows blue.
"I can't attack him." You can attack him when your hand turns into a sword. You want to face him, by the way.
"He's going to kill me!" Use your spells - see down here on the bar, with the numbers 1-6? Use those spells, they do more damage. Oh, and you don't have to keep clicking "Melee", the game keeps hitting him automatically.
"That's dumb." I think everybody does that the first time they play.
"I won!" Good job! You have 500 health left! (cringe)
Figuring he's got the movement part down, I go do dishes. He gets confused by the Eye of Acherus, which he's supposed to fly over the town to kill their landmarks. I point out the golden arrow on the minimap, then the red hunter's mark over the landmark. He finishes that quest pretty easily, I go back to doing dishes.
Next quest: Kill 10 mobs at his level, and 10 citizen mobs that are 12 levels below him. He's still 55, as intended. He finds the mobs pretty easily, and dies to them even more easily.
"I died." OK, I'll be there in a second.
[I arrive in time to see him resurrect in the same spot he died, immediately body-pulling three mobs. He dies again.]
"I died again. Those guys keep killing me." Yep. Want to see a trick? You can actually resurrect in the area around where you died, you don't have to be right on top of your body to do it. If you move over here, you'll be too far away for those guys to worry about, and you can pull them with your ranged attack. Which attack is your ranged attack?
"1." No, 1 is melee. 2 [Death Grip] is ranged.
"OK, I resurrected." Do you have any food in your bags? You resurrect at half health. If you eat some food, you'll get up to full health.
"Don't I get some health just by standing here?" Yes, but very slowly. You'll get health a lot more quickly if you eat some food.
"It's fast enough for me, I don't want to eat food." Um... ok... how about using your 2 button to pull a bad guy to you?
"OK." [he fights, still repeatedly clicking Melee] You don't have to keep clicking that one. How about using some of the other buttons?
"OK."
He does reasonably well with supervision, and keeps fighting those guys. I go back to dishes. He dies again. "Why is my resurrect button grayed out?" Because you're dying too often. "Oh."
He thinks that he has to keep killing the even-level dudes until they're all gone. I explain he's killed enough, and he needs to look for the ten guys of the other kind. On the way to that area (there's an area with only even-level guys, and an area with both even-level and low-level guys he needs to kill, which is really the better place to start, but I'm not interfering too much), he dies two more times.
After an hour's worth of play, he was still level 55, with partially-yellow gear and a two-minute rez timer. I'm reasonably certain he isn't using his spells unless I prompt him.
If I can convince him to start a trial account (the invite's been sent), I think we're going to start with level 1's. One spell at a time, starting with non-hostile mobs, in an area I can get to and help with. Maybe a mage, paladin, or hunter. I guess I just didn't realize how much assumed knowledge there is in starting a DK. They assume you know how to use spells, how to pull intelligently, how to interact with NPCs and objects. Hopefully starting him at level 1 will be easier. I am of course going to make a healer to accompany him.
