Leveling Requirements

I like to level alone. I don't have to catch someone else up, I can take cookie breaks whenever the hell I want, and I can tab out for hours when I think up a new blog post.

It's freeing to level alone, because you are the master of your schedule.

On the other hand, I leveled 1-70 with my family and don't think I could have learned the game quite as well without them. When someone realized "Hey, talent points are important!" I was like "What are talent points?" and they told me and we all started looking up what to do with our talent trees.

I said recently that help leveling is a Want and not a Need. This is still true. But I want to quantify that today with the statement that learning how to play the game is a Need. And when someone just starts, it's important for a friend or guildmate to go down to their zone, group for an hour or two, and teach them.

You don't need to be the same class. You don't need to be the same spec. You just have to know the basics and answer their questions while they try and figure out what's going on.

Things you might cover:

• Train all skills.
• Which professions to get.
• Money (ie, making and saving for mounts).
• Spell/attack rotation.
• Talent points.
• What they have to look forward to for their class.
• Goals.
• Out-of-game resources (particularly to help with quest questions, or even a leveling guide).
• Achievements.
• Addons.
• Mail system.
• Auction house.
  
• Non-combat pets.
  
• Your favorite things about the game.
  

Just because you're 80 (or getting there), doesn't mean you know all the answers. Let them know that and teach them how to find the answers you don't have.

It's better to start training them at level 5 than level 50. And when they hit 80 and endgame with you, they'll be ready to learn even more.

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Beth Blevins is a former officer in In Vino Veritas.

She's a writer, avid blogger, and cat owner.

Beth's been married since her junior year of college.