Could use some WoW New Account Advice

So, my son (who lives with his mom most of the time) LOVES this game (for better and worse, I say), and they have an account at their home (paying, I think, $15/month?).

I have procrastinated (for a couple of years) on getting it at my place (for several reasons) but am now ready (I think?) to take the plunge.

I had "attempted" an online "Trial" account last summer, when he had come to stay with me for several days, but the (*!@#%^BLEEPING*!@#%^!!!) program is SOOOOO HUMONGOUS (4 GIGS, I think!?!) it took my slow-butted web-connection (slowest DSL available) LITERALLY several DAYS (more like; "DAZE"!!!) to download the thing, which meant that his visit was just about over by the time we got it up & running (and I'm STILL not sure we actually got everything up & running as it should have been?) ~

QUESTIONS:

1. I have now picked-up (at a game store, for $1.99) a "14-Day Trial Edition", in the box ... this should be a LOT faster than getting the trial online was, correct?

2. Would this not be the FASTER method to getting an actual account established and setup? I mean, I'm thinking: pop this trial disk in, get it going, and then I can sort of morph into the sales pitch in 12-14 days from now, which I am sure is coming (the sales pitch) from this disk?

3. Is there a (are there any) BETTER, FASTER, LESS-EXPENSIVE ALTERNATIVES, to get-going, with a WoW account, you know, like buying it at Amazon or eBay or some such, please?

Thanks in advance,
g...

 

Buying a WoW account, or any items for it (including gold!) is a violation of the Terms & Conditions of the game and if I remember right it's a bannable offense. Most MMOs look very harshly on players who take the fast track rather than actually playing the game.

As for installing from a disk being faster, yes, it will be. However, you will still need to patch it which will take a long time, especially on dial-up. When you do start to patch it, check to see if the patcher is set to use torrents or not, and if it is, set your seeding as low as you can get away with. That way you won't have to split your bandwidth between download and upload, and that will hopefully make it a touch faster.

As for the gameplay, I'll let some one who actually plays WoW help you out there.

 

Well, thank you indeed (and oh, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Killa' Kwanzaa, etcetera-etcetera to you [ALL] by the way!).

You had me going there for a moment - I must admit...

Now, I'm not exactly on dial-up, but far from "High-Speed" as well (I'd say probably about in the middle).

I have no clue what "set your seeding as low as you can get away with" means, and I Hope like heck that someone will fill me in...unfortunately I am way behind on getting this game setup...it really put a dent in my sons last semi-lengthy visit...I am really hoping and praying that it won't be the same this time (??).

I've been super tied-up with other things, and was sure with the disk I would be fine...but didn't consider patches/updates !?!).

the disk is loading as I type...but what will I do to expedite this process after the disk is done please? And how will I figure-out this "seeding" thing you speak of, please?

Thank you again and in advance,
glenn

 

This is absolutely InSaNe!!!

I am having the same BS problems with this that I was having last summer when I "TRIED" to get it going!!! It's too vast! How on EARTH am I supposed to know where to go to start getting these damned patches? I just want to play the stupid game, but I have NO CLUE where to go or what to do to make that happen!?!?!?!?!

I sent them a support request, but who on earth has a clue on how long on THAT will take...for them to get back to me???

Can someone PLEASE tell me where to go in this game to get started? Please???

 

To get patches for wow, just run the game, it should start up with a launcher, maybe right away, maybe after you logon with username/password, and then say hey updates, and start downloading. You dont have to go to some weird site, or anything fancy like that, in fact if you do that, more likely to get your account stolen or hacked. Just run the launcher, and get your updates through that. As far as changing the seeding options of the torrent client wow uses, its not avaible to a user to change. Nothing you can do but let it download, tho it seems to do some sort of testing to not overload the internet connection. As far as speeding it up, only thing you can do is find a faster connection to borrow. There are http only download mirrors that pop up, but i never had much luck with download speeds on those. Good luck.

 

Oh and for the record, i do play wow a fair amount, so feel free to post questions and ill try to do my best to answer, usually in games i try to read the thread if it mentions wow in the head line.

 

Hey excellent info - thank you VERY much for your help...now, on to initial "issues" that I am having......

1. Firewall: I let this thing run all night (for hours!), and apparently, it did not take the "patches" (updates?) because of my Firewall (Comodo - Free version), which of course is not listed in their info (WoW info).

Additionally, I am behind a router here (wirelessly) on this PC, so, I "may" have that to deal with too, I'm not sure (?), but what I AM sure of is that I would "like" to be able to finally get this thing up & running ... after many days last summer of trying, and never being able to get it going for my son...now he's coming (tomorrow) to stay with me for a week again, and I am pertrified (and angry) that it may take the entire week just to get this thing set up (??) - who knows......?

Thanks again ... I am really going to need some rather intensive help here in the short term, if you are available, please.

Thank you again very much, and in advance,
glenn............

 

Hi, grc.

Are you playing vanilla or do you have any of the expansions?

Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm(just came out) are the three expansions.

Also check the version of your game. If you are at the log in screen look at the bottom left corner. The latest version is 4.0.3

Edit: you might have to set up your fire wall to allow WoW's updater to download faster. The downloader should tell you if it is being effected by your firewall.

 

Hello Cochese and Thank you!

I am attaching the current screen which "seems to be" (?!?) updating ("patching"??).

I don't see the version number anywhere yet, but I am sure that the 14-Day "Free Trial" is as vanilla as it gets.

I would like to pay, and upgrade to Cataclysm as soon as I see that the Trial works...no sense in paying if this thing is not going to work on my PC for some reason...(?).

What I have done with the Firewall, for now, is to switch-back to the default Vista FW. I'm not happy about that, but it seemed the only SIMPLE way to go-about things here expeditiously, considering I need this game up and running within 24 hours.

I'm still not certain about my Router, but it seems to be updating/patching well-enough at the moment, other than the fact that I have a very slow DSL connection (download "speed" is between 70 & 85 KB/Sec - with 8.7 GB left to go yet ~~~ YIKES ! ! !)

ANY advice, suggestions, comments, etc., that you may have are MOST WELCOME!!

 

You have ver 4.0. It's at the top of the launcher.

But yes you are downloading and I can tell you thet you dont need the full 8.7 gigs to play. If you look at the bottom once you get past the 5.2 gigs in the red you should be able to play. Once the big play button becomes clickable it will take you to he log in screen so you can play.

I don't want to give you bad or incorrect information, but I believe if you bought a copy of the expansion and installed it from the cd it would minimize your download. They haven't had any major patches since Cataclysm came out. I dont think you could find a store open today(maybe walmart) to go get it and maybe by tomorrw you will be done downloading.

 

Excellent info - thank you Cochese!

I will be out tomorrow, and will pass a Walmart (and a Game-Stop too, I think), so, I'm going to look-around on the web here, and see if I can find a coupon or something to lower my costs...I am on an EXTREMELY-tight budget (impossibly tight, actually), especially here, now - at Christmas time.

All this online game stuff seems confusing to me. My son has a WoW account/subscription at his moms house, but now he's coming to stay with me for a week, and I'm just wondering if her will be able to log into my account to play his character(s), or if he will log into his own account from my computer, or what exactly...?

I suppose between what he already knows, and with Good folks like you to kick in knowledge and advice, we will get it figured-out !

Thanks again,
glenn
PS ~ I see the 4.0 now in the upper left-hand corner (thank you!), but shouldn't I have 4.0.3 to be safer, and more secure (and on the "cutting-edge" of the game), please?

 

He should be able to log in to his account from any PC that has the game installed.

 

He could play his account from your computer if you have the same versions and expansions. If he has a level 80 character he wont be able to play it, but I think he should be able to make a new character on his account with your computer. The level you can achieve depends on the expansions you have or are playing.

vanilla: 1-58
Burning Crusade: 58-70
Wrath of the Lich King: 70-80
Cataclysm: 80-85

If you're on a budget then I would just wait for the download as it costs no money only time and if it isn't ready by tomorrow it shouldn't take too long after that.

Also, once you have completely finished the 8.7 gigs you will br up to date with ver 4.0.3

There is one more thing that might help your download speed. At the top of the launcher go to options>downloader preferences and make sure Enable peer-to-peer Transfer is checked if it isn't already.

 

Excellent info once again - thank you both!

I "think" (?) my son is between levels 70-80 - I will speak with him in a bit and will be sure to ask him.

Perhaps the final thing you all might be able to help me with here (at least for now), is the expense (approximate) that I should be "investing" here.

I think the monthly fee is $15, but will I have to pay anything more, if I wish to be, say, at the Wrath of the Lich King level? I understand that to get the latest-greatest, and/or full version of anything we have to pay for it, but if Cataclysm is the latest levels/version, will it cost any more to get Wrath of the Lich King, now, right-away please?

Thanks again, and in advance......

 

I did some checking because I was unsure and curious of how this works exactly. When you finish downloading the patch and are updated to ver 4.0.3 you will have all of the expansions already, but you will need to pay a fee to upgrade your account to be able to play the content of the expansions.

I got this

If you're already patched to version 4.0.3, then you already have the content for BC and LK on your computer. All you need to do now is upgrade the account to BC and LK in your Battle.net account management page and you're good to go. No extra downloads involved.

from here http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/933154266

You can go to the account management page and sign in and find out what expansion your account is at.

So once you finish that download your son should be able to any character on his account. I don't think it is even necessary to go buy anything at all.

 

Wow (meaning, SURPRISED, not World of Warcraft haha) great info again Cochese - thanks!

You've really cleared-up everything that I can think of to ask...though here's one question (two, actually) that's sort of an aside to it all ... more a "computer storage" or "downloads in general" question(s) in reference to my W0W download activities.

Can you possibly take a peek at my attachment, below, and tell me two things:

1. Would I have two downloads of the same thing stored on my computer now, because of this (as they are 4+ GIGS of worth of programming, I would want to make one of them go away t save some space!)

2. Why would one of these have the WoW icon (thumbnail??) attached to the info here, and the other one not have it, please?

Thanks again, and in advance,
glenn.....

 

I'm sorry, I don't know. Are you downloading something from your browser as well as the WoW downloader? I would just let the WoW downloader finish and not download anything else. It should do everything for you.

 

Thanks just the same...I'm not sure either. I think I simply clicked-on the download from two different locations (sites/pages), partly due to my impatience, and partly because I wasn't sure if it was downloading from one place, so again, yes, I got impatient, and sought it elsewhere - too quickly.

 

I would just download from the WoW launcher and cancel any others as they will just slow you down.

 

Yes, I sure think (HOPE???) that I only have one setup (one launcher) actually running!?!

Anyway, I'm not sure how I would know that for sure, other than by what I can visually see, which is one "launcher" (one setup?) running ?

Now here is something that is strange ... this is interesting ---> On the launcher page/screen, over on the bottom-right side, it says (at the moment); "Total download remaining 7.1 GB", and then shows the fluctuating speed of the download/setup in progress.

Now, over on the lower-left (bottom-left) side, it says, under "1 - Setup"; "1.1/4.6 GB" ... as if here it is saying that I have downloaded/setup 1.1 of 4.6 GB of patch/update.

So, which is correct I wonder - the lower-left side of the launcher, or the lower-right side??

 

They are both correct. The setup(in red) is showing the progress of the particular step(there are three). The one underneath is your total progression, or I should say how much you have left to be completely up to date. Once you get past the setup(red) step and move to step 2(yellow) or 3(green) the game should be playable. However, unless you are really itching to play(like me sometimes) it might be best to wait until it is completely finished updating.

 

Yes thanks - I will wait until my son gets here tomorrow afternoon.

Am simply going to let this thing run and run and run - until it's all here. I've switched my power options so the PC won't go to sleep (stand-by)...and will make it more energy-efficient again once this MONSTROSITY is all here!

Thanks again for everything, and g'night.......

 

Am currently downloading and installing this game, myself.
6.5GB.
Even at 750+ KB/s download, it has taken 3 hours and only 82% done.

 

Disturbing turn of events for me here with this "game"(thanks for your reply BTW).

Yesterday morning my son went to play the game as he had done for the previous few days (and the previous few YEARS at his mothers home), and suddenly this monstrosity was asking - CORRECTION - this monstrosity DEMANDED to begin downloading itself AGAIN ...... ALL of itself.

He was returning home yesterday also, so we simply stopped the download, and shut the machine down.

My son has returned to his moms home now, and I am going to open this game up again now to see what happens.

If it demands to be completely reinstalled, well, I sure as hell am not going to be sending these people $15 a month each and every month. Uh-uh. Not me.

 

After all the time downloading and installing, it finished.
When I click on the icon to start the game, nothing happened.
No going to register.
No going to login.
No going for updates.
Wait. Something did happen.
I regained 6.5GB of hard drive space.
If it don't want to play, neither do I.