Why give rogues DW at level 1?

Q u o t e:
Rogues are the only class in the game that are required to dual wield for sufficient damage output. Have you tried taking a rogue from 1-10 with a single dagger that misses 50% of the time?

This is pretty much the answer. While other classes can viably dual wield, it's a core part of the rogue class. As one aspect of the many changes we're making in patch 3.3 to improve the learning curve for brand new players, we're making it so that rogues, by default, know how to dual wield.

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Does this also mean that Death Knights will have a dictionary in their starting area?

You awful human being. :p

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ROFL.

Laugh it away, you! I assume it's impossible to look back to a time when you had little knowledge of, or experience with MMORPGs and cannot even fathom the notion that it can be daunting to log into this expansive universe for the very first time, trying to figure out what to do from little tooltips (which are also being vastly improved in patch 3.3).

So let us all now laugh together about how much everyone should know about every aspect of this game, how experienced we all are, and how well we perform in the face of any challenge the game has to offer with such little effort. :)

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I support this, though I prefer when people read through the website's game guide before first trying it, as I and a friend of mine who recently joined did. Just because players don't have to know everything, doesn't mean they have to know nothing.

I completely agree, though we feel that we can do a better job of teaching players how the game is played as they're getting started, from the Character Selection screen all the way to the end game. A good number of patch 3.3 changes are being made to work toward this end.

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you guys should keep all aspects of the website more up to date. You're good at adding new cool things, but a lot of the stuff I was reading before the game came out is outdated and/or hasn't been completely updated.

It's definitely something we're aware of. We do try to keep information up-to-date, but while working on providing new information and developing new content, it can be difficult sometimes to go back and check all of our older entries for accuracy.

I can say though that the race and class information provided on the Character Selection screen has been updated for 3.3, providing players with a better idea of their choices. :)

Q u o t e:
At level 1:
Rogues should DW
Hunters should have a pet
Casters (Mage, Priest, Warlock) should have wands
Druids should have bear form (At least, although who enjoys using Bear to level/quest?)
We all should pity Warriors and Shaman (At least they learn their place early on)

Nerf Paladins!

At level 55 DK's should be canon fodder.
Edit: Levels 55-84 DK's should be canon fodder.

Unless I decide to Roll a DK

As far as wands go, we definitely do not want to give them to casters at level 1. Wands play a very different role for casters than melee weapons do for melee classes. They're generally used as mana conservation DPS. We are removing the Attack button from level 1 casters' action bars specifically so new players aren't inclined to walk around trying to melee foes without learning the way the spells available to them function. Giving them a wand and placing the Shoot icon on the action bar would lead to the same issue for players new to the game rolling casters. They might be inclined to run around using their wands rather than learning their class spells.

With mana regeneration being greatly improved for the level 1-10 experience in patch 3.3, mana issues should not warrant the use of wands too often when players are getting started. Because of this, we want to make sure new players are focused purely on learning how to use spells to kill enemy targets.

Q u o t e:
When I first started playing this game back in Vanilla I never thought that it was overwhelming trying to learn. You start with one class, play a little while, wipe and learn.

Were you really receiving that many complaints saying that leveling through levels 1-10 was too difficult?

It's more based on the data we've collected. We've looked at what many players just getting started in this game are doing when they first enter the world. A large percentage of players are doing things very wrong (i.e. what I mentioned in my previous post with the Attack button and the idea of giving wands to casters at level 1). As Ghostcrawler mentioned in a thread yesterday:

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Many forum posters dramatically, dramatically underestimate how sophisticated they are in their WoW comprehension compared to the average player.

We've looked at what the average player does when getting started. You'd be surprised how many folks are running around not understanding their role in the game, or even what they're supposed to be doing. The changes we're making aren't necessarily to make the game easier, but to make sure that the objectives of leveling, questing, exploring, learning one's class, and figuring out the user interface are better presented to those who have little experience with games like this. We don't want to discourage new players because we're not doing as good a job as we could with easing them into the World of Warcraft experience through better tooltips, more sensible introductions to each class, etc.