Step 1 – Pick a New Players server (Shandris)
This gives me a chance to get in at the ground level with a bunch of other folks who self-identify as being new to the game. While I’m obviously not new, players should be more forgiving of my learning curve since the assumption will be that I’m two bad players and not one bad dual-boxer.
Step 2 – Pick a Race and Class
My second account is a basic WoW install with no expansions, which means I have no Draenei and no Blood Elves. Since I’m Alliance heavy on Fizzcrank, I figured I’d go with Horde on the new server. The only race I haven’t played around with before is Trolls, so they’re as good as anything else. Since I’m mixing things up a bit, I picked Hunters instead of Mages (which I already have) or Shamans (which most multibox teams seem to be made of). I’ve played a hunter for a bit as an alt, so I’ve got some ideas of what kind of macros I’ll be needed.
Step 3 – Turn off all the Addons
You don’t really need to do much to get started as a Level 1. I’ve kept on QuestHelper (to keep my sanity!) and Bartender, so I can start setting up the bars to my own happy place. Everything else is basically cosmetic and I’ll handle them as I need to.
Step 4 – Profit!
Well, okay, not really, just click on Enter World and watch the fun intro.
Step 5 – Basic Macros
These aren’t the more complex macros we’ll need later. These are just simple things to let me start running and killing things. You’ll notice this means I have to swap between screens to talk to quest givers and whatnot. This is nice to have later (and I’ll expand the macros as we go).
Follow – [Keybinding 0, Nightsinger only]
/follow Daysinger
Share Target – [Keybinding `, Nightsinger only]
/assist Daysinger
And while I’m at it, I tossed both of the melee attacks. If something isn’t dead by the time it gets to me, I need to work on managing my range-from-target, not my ability to melee! (This held true throughout the starting area, but I may need to modify this a bit now that I’m out in the ‘real world.’)
Step 6 – Do the basic intro Quests
This are a LOT easier with two hunters working together (as they should be), but the problem is that I end up killing half the number of things I would have if I had run them solo. Which means I get half the drops– and half the income. I reach level four and can’t train all the skills because I’m broke.
So there’s a bit of grinding in order to buy the things I need, which is annoying. but fast (thankfully!)
Step 7 – Serpent Sting [Keybinding 1, both]
Once I got this, I moved autoattack down a row so it wasn’t keybound but would still give me a range indicator. My action bar looks lonesomehttp://www.Martha.net/wordpress.
Step 8 – Arcane Shot [Keybinding 2, both]
My current rotation is Target, Sting, Shot and then autoshot things to death. Depending on how many levels above me they are they sometimes get close enough to beat on Daysinger once or twice before I finish them off. Thankfully Nightsinger stands far enough behind Day that she’s still in shot range 90% of the time (and not melee).
Step 7 – Hunter’s Mark [Keybinding `, Daysinger only]
Hunter’s Mark does not stack, so I put it on Daysinger’s action bar on the same keybinding that Nightsinger has for Share Target. Thus I mark it, share it, and can start attacking with the next keypress.
This also alerts folks that I’m about to start beating on things which makes them slightly less likely to make off with my target while I’m getting the range just perfect. (The one problem with servers advertising for new players is that not all new players are particularly nice people. *sigh*)
And that about wraps it up for today. I’ve made it to Level 7 and am still pet-less… arg.
