Playing Made Easy, or "Finding Other People You Can Stand"

I had a guy ask me the other day, "How did you get the money for your mount? I've been grinding for days and still don't have half enough."

I recommended the auctioning post, told him to take up mining, then said he should try to keep leveling because that was the most important thing.

He replied that his mount was the most important thing and thanked me for my advice.

What I guess I didn't get across was that leveling is important to your money, too. The higher level you are, the better drops you get, and better drops sell for more. It's also the easiest way to train any skill, such as mining. He had a head-start, being 40, but I've learned that it's very easy to go back to a level 12 area to grab all the copper you can when you're level 20 and nothing aggros on you. Faster, too.

But another great way to make money, I think, is to do instancing as you go along. Drops in instances tend to sell well.

But, you say, I'd have to take a pug! I hate pugs!

So do I. This is where a decent guild becomes invaluable. It's best when you play with a few people you already know, but if you're playing alone, it can be hard to find a proper guild.

The most important mark of any good guild is respect. Generally, I would lean toward the guilds of people who are nice to me, but you should really do your research before leaping into any guild. Ask a few pertinent questions.

• What is your guild about?
• How would you describe your guild?
• How many members do you have?
• What classes do you have too many/few of?
  
• How active are your members? (Are half taking a break?)
  
• Do you have a guild website?
  
• How do your members treat each other?
• How do you help lower levels in your guild?
• Do you have a set of guild rules?
  
• What are your level 70 goals?

Obviously, the easiest solution would be to roll horde on Zuluhed and join my guild. As guilds go, we're pretty awesome. Not because we're l33t pwners (several are; not me, obviously), but because we get along. We like each other. Of course, we plan to do some serious level 70 raiding, but it's mostly about having fun as a group. The main problems thus far have been kind of small:

1. I won't play without my husband.
2. My brother's wife won't play without my brother.
3. I won't play without my brother and his wife.
4. None of us are tanks. (This means we can't instance with anyone non-tank. Poor rogue.)

That will be fixed once we can do 10-mans.

1. Everyone is trying to hit 70 to play with the 5 (now 9?) level 70s.
2. Everyone is leveling at different speeds.
3. We like grouping together anyway.
4. It's hard to gain experience when grouped with someone higher level than you.

This will be moot once we're 70.

Etc. So.... I'm sleepy. The point of all this is "You can do it! Try hard and find nice people to ally yourself with. Don't worry too much about money except when you need it for training talents. Walking won't kill you, but staying at a low level on a PVP server will."

Oh, and maim all the gnomes you can. That too. (Our guild has a thing against enemy gnomes, rogues, and hunters.)