Carbonite from a noob's perspective

MentalNotez · 03-24-09, 12:47 PM

Hi...

I am a noob who is very, very addicted to WOW...thanks to my kids! I was questing yesterday with my Druid and could NOT find the item I needed to finish my quest, 'The Ancient Ways' or somesuch when another player took pity on me and suggested I get this Carbonite add-on. Despite searching, searching and searching, I could NOT find this add-on for free.

So, what does a totally new to WOW, older than the average player, do to learn tips, tricks and such??

I want my Druid and Gnome to kick bottom too...just like the big 'boys'...(I am a girl tho), do!

Any mentors out in the land of WOW with a ton of patience??

Mental

Zyonin · 03-24-09, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by MentalNotez

Hi...

I am a noob who is very, very addicted to WOW...thanks to my kids! I was questing yesterday with my Druid and could NOT find the item I needed to finish my quest, 'The Ancient Ways' or somesuch when another player took pity on me and suggested I get this Carbonite add-on. Despite searching, searching and searching, I could NOT find this add-on for free.

So, what does a totally new to WOW, older than the average player, do to learn tips, tricks and such??

I want my Druid and Gnome to kick bottom too...just like the big 'boys'...(I am a girl tho), do!

Any mentors out in the land of WOW with a ton of patience??

Mental

Carbonite Quest (the free version of Carbonite) has been pulled by its developers. There is a new "free" version of Carbonite that periodically displays adverts (currently for the paid version of Carbonite). The "ad version" of Carbonite is supposed be the same function as the paid version of Carbonite but with the (depending on your viewpoint) annoying ads. However this version seems to have touched off a bit (I use this term loosely) of a firestorm due to a new AddOns policy that Blizzard released last Friday. The current speculation (and I repeat speculation, there is nothing confirmed) is this new policy was in response to the new ad version of Carbonite.

If you are looking for a free leveling guide, I recommend TourGuide. This one works very nicely.

You can also look up quests, quest items, weapons, armor and almost any other in-game WoW item on WoWHead. Simply enter in the name of your quest into the WoWHead search field, hit Enter, and you will get a run down of the quest, the location of the quest item (complete with X,Y coordinates) plus comments from users that can point out potential gotchas such as elite mobs or the high possibility of hostile players in the area (for PvP servers). http://www.wowhead.com In addition, if you use Firefox, IE7 or Opera, you can add WoWHead to your search box.

Allakhazam is another goood resource as well. http://wow.allakhazam.com/ Again lots of comments and info.

nytekat · 03-24-09, 01:25 PM

if you need help leveling I suggest a couple mods.
TourGuide- as mentioned before it's a great guide for cruise controlled levels. Step by step instructions on what you need to pick up, where to go and stuff like that. In addition to the regular tourguide guides I suggest getting Jame's guides from wow-pro.
TomTom- this is a way point arrow for TourGuide.. very helpful to have.

If you just want the guide stop here but if your like me read on....

Quest Helper- awesome mod but a little memory heavy. personally I think it's worth it and will stand by it till someone beats me over the head with a better alternative.
Lightheaded- this thing gives more info on quests. I like it.
Mapster- not for quests but its a lovely map addon that replaces your default map.. plays well with all the other addons mentioned here.

(edited to include the links - Cair, WoWI Admin)

littlebuddha79 · 03-24-09, 02:04 PM

Due to the new policies put out by Blizz, and the uncertain future of addons like Carbonite and QuestHelper (which both add icons or graphics to the games world-map), I'd personally suggest just going simple with your addons. A simple map addon, that does nothing except add coordinates (kind of like lat/long on a map) to the world map for your location and the location that your cursor is currently hovering over. A simple mod like this used in conjunction with LightHeaded (which takes it's info from comments posted on WowHead.com, like Lycofos suggested using to look up item or mob info), will give you an in-game database for your quests with helpful comments and usually locations on places you need to go (given in coordinates) for quest objectives.

A couple simple map addons to consider:

Mapster
TomTom
pMap

These addons are very simple and don't have a lot of features, enabling them to be very user friendly for those who are new to the WoW, and addon community. These map addons along with LightHeaded do not need to be upgraded very often, and are (in my opinion) a headache free solution to any problems you have questing in the future.

Rhaethe · 03-24-09, 02:15 PM

You can also look up quests, quest items, weapons, armor and almost any other in-game WoW item on WoWHead. Simply enter in the name of your quest into the WoWHead search field, hit Enter, and you will get a run down of the quest, the location of the quest item (complete with X,Y coordinates) plus comments from users that can point out potential gotchas such as elite mobs or the high possibility of hostile players in the area (for PvP servers). http://www.wowhead.com In addition, if you use Firefox, IE7 or Opera, you can add WoWHead to your search box.

Personally, I've found WowHead (and the above methods of finding things) far more useful than any of the quest helping addons I've ever tried out. Between Wowhead and the coordinates on my minimap, I'm good

Sepioth · 03-24-09, 02:27 PM

The ad supported version of Carbonite is no longer available on their site either.

If you do a Google search for Carbonite Quest you can still get the latest version.

If I'm not mistaken the QuestHelper developer said he will complete version 1.0 and then stop developing if the policies don't change. He also montioned possible database updates as well... so I wouldn't call it dead just yet

Evolution85 · 03-24-09, 02:29 PM

Do yourself a favor, just get Lightheaded and TomTom. All you will ever need.

Yhor · 03-24-09, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by Evolution85

Do yourself a favor, just get Lightheaded and TomTom. All you will ever need.

Also, Doublewide. It puts the quest text and the Lightheaded text in a side by side quest panel, making the comprehension and ability to view both so much easier.

For questing, these three rock, without missing out on storyline lore provided by the quests.

PProvost · 03-24-09, 02:46 PM

LightHeaded
http://www.wowinterface.com/download...ghtHeaded.html

TomTom
http://www.wowinterface.com/download...32-TomTom.html

DoubleWide
http://www.wowinterface.com/download...oubleWide.html

**Seerah** · 03-24-09, 02:48 PM

LightHeaded *already* puts its text side by side to the quest log. Doublewide is a mod completely separate from LightHeaded. All it does is make your quest log "double wide", putting the quest name list on the left and the selected quest's text/objectives on the left.

Anyway, I also suggest getting LightHeaded and TomTom. LightHeaded is an in-game database of the quest comments from the WoWHead site, which often tell you where to go to get something. If map coordinates are provided in the LightHeaded window, you can then click on them to have TomTom show you an arrow of where to go.

Zyonin · 03-24-09, 02:56 PM

@littlebuddha79, my name has a "k" in it, not a "c". Big difference as my name is Greek in origin and I tend to spell Greek words (including places) the Greek way.

To the OP, all the mods mentioned in the previous posts are excellent mods. The nice thing about going with smaller mods is that these smaller mods have a better focus on what they are doing. Also by focusing on one function (such as the arrow in TomTom or the WoWHead comments in Lightheaded) is if they break, they don't take the rest of your questing mods with them. Plus these smaller mods are usually easier for the authors to keep updated and they are less likely to break in the first place.

So get yourself a good quest guide like TourGuide (not going to post links as they already have been linked). Then pair with LightHeaded + TomTom. Next a good quest tracker will help. Finally a world map mod like Mapster or AlphaMap (so you can pull up the world map and still be able to do something else such as buff yourself or control your mount).

However still keep WoWHead and Allakhazam in your browser's favorites as WoWHead will have pictures of the NPCs you need to talk to, mobs that need to die and often images of the quest item you need. Toss in maps of the area you need, to look, patrol routes and spawn points of quest mobs/NPCs plus a hundred other tidbits. Plus WoWHead and Allakhazam will be updated faster than any mod will ever be.

Gemini_II · 03-24-09, 02:59 PM

I'll also agree on Lightheaded and TomTom. For the real meat & potatoes, goto Wowhead itself and read up some more stuff there. I also find wowwiki.com to be invaluable. Best practice is to read, learn, and ask polite questions.

KiwiiDawn · 03-24-09, 03:13 PM

why does no one tell some one to get mobmap?

I lovei t it show me where mobs and quest guys are and ton of other in game stuff. Plus its will keep going

littlebuddha79 · 03-24-09, 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by Lykofos

@littlebuddha79, my name has a "k" in it, not a "c". Big difference as my name is Greek in origin and I tend to spell Greek words (including places) the Greek way.

Sorry, typo...much apologies.

septor · 03-24-09, 06:13 PM

For the love of all things holy it's Wowhead not WoWHead!

http://www.wowhead.com/?faq to the bottom!

**Seerah** · 03-24-09, 06:22 PM

(more text)

septor · 03-24-09, 08:00 PM

I guess I should add some constructive feedback on the matter!

LightHeaded + TomTom is all you will ever need. Just keep LightHeaded up-to-date and you're fine.

IF those two are not enough, simply remember the quest name that you're doing and plug it into the Wowhead (

) search box and you'll get more comments and information.

Edit: Putting that eek fellow in between the parentheses makes it look like he's throwing his arms up going, "Holy crap!". Wicked.

Yhor · 03-24-09, 08:20 PM

Edit at the top::: Sorry that I fail at reading comprehension of a 3rd grader :::: Please ignore. /cry

Originally Posted by Seerah

LightHeaded *already* puts its text side by side to the quest log. Doublewide is a mod completely separate from LightHeaded. All it does is make your quest log "double wide", putting the quest name list on the left and the selected quest's text/objectives on the left.

<snip>

You don't have to click the little button, to open and close the panel anymore, with just Lightheaded? Or am I thinking of a completely different mod that was similar? It has been awhile since I've not used Doublewide, I'm sorry if it really is redundant.

**Seerah** · 03-24-09, 08:25 PM

This is what it looks like with both LightHeaded and DoubleWide installed:

Without DoubleWide, it would be the normal quest log on the left, with the lightheaded frame on the right. There is also the little slider button on the right of the lightheaded window to slide it in/out.

Yhor · 03-24-09, 09:33 PM

LMAO, what exactly does the default quest log look like? I thought... nevermind, I'll go look for it somewhere. I really am a noob with the default 'look'. Other than my occasional testing, I used a mod to replace 99% of the default.

//wrists