Tips for getting wife into WoW?

[Stricks]

Weird thread, I know, but bear with me (or don't TL;DR at the bottom)...

My wife and I had an agreement that when she was expecting she would play WoW with me. My reasoning was that it was a good sober activity that we could enjoy together during downtime before the madness begins. She agreed. Now this weekend is the "big dance", "showtime", or whatever phrase you would like to use. I guess I love WoW and I love doing things with her so in my selfish way I would love to experience it with her.

A bit of background on her: she is really into lore and fantasy and stories but is NOT a gamer. She seemingly has no interest, however I choose to believe she could get into WoW because she has enjoyed watching me play Zelda: BoTW for hours on end and is interested in it, helping me along the way. I recently was able to get her into Stardew Valley and she enjoys it a lot. She doesn't hate games but I think she wants to feel like she is good at it to continue playing.

All of that said, to keep her interested I would like any tips anyone can muster. Maybe you've been here before with a friend or even a SO, or maybe you just have good ideas. I need to make it easy on her and easy to understand. For most of us WoW is now second nature but I could imagine it being overwhelming for a new player that is also not a gamer.

Thank you for your consideration on this matter of grave importance.

TL;DR: I need tips to make my non-gamer wife adopt WoW by making it easier to understand, more fun to play, or other ideas...

[Feralheart]

So I got my partner playing too, and that best bit of advice I can give you is... Don't play it with her, let her play it by herself.

You need to let her go at her own pace and discover the world, lore and and environments as she sees it, without being told the correct way to do things. You can teach her all that stuff later on, but it's important that she has fun starting out small, getting excited over a green pair of +1 stam bracers, her first gryphon ride etc etc.

With that in mind, it may be better to start off in classic as opposed to retail, so that not everything is just focused on the endgame/BFS zones.

[Stricks]

So I got my partner playing too, and that best bit of advice I can give you is... Don't play it with her, let her play it by herself.

You need to let her go at her own pace and discover the world, lore and and environments as she sees it, without being told the correct way to do things. You can teach her all that stuff later on, but it's important that she has fun starting out small, getting excited over a green pair of +1 stam bracers, her first gryphon ride etc etc.

With that in mind, it may be better to start off in classic as opposed to retail, so that not everything is just focused on the endgame/BFS zones.

I could see this working. Maybe we can be in the same room playing, but she can be level 1 and I will be playing my other chars. I will be there if she has questions.

Also I debated at Classic vs Retail... I don't know which we should do. Classic is simpler, but also less forgiving so I am stuck on which to pick. I am currently knee deep in Classic as well...

[Doffen]

Tips on how to get a wife from WoW would be much appreciated.

[arkanon]

I could see this working. Maybe we can be in the same room playing, but she can be level 1 and I will be playing my other chars. I will be there if she has questions.

Also I debated at Classic vs Retail... I don't know which we should do. Classic is simpler, but also less forgiving so I am stuck on which to pick. I am currently knee deep in Classic as well...

Keep her the hell away from classic - it will frustrate and disappoint her. Retail has a much, MUCH smoother learning curve in those earlier levels, and more importantly, better motivation to keep progressing.

Stick with a simple class that she likes the fantasy of - and ensure she plays the simplest spec with the least buttons to begin with - do NOT attempt to min/max at all, if she wants to level as a resto druid popping off moonfires, let her do it. If she becomes frustrated, thats when you can step in and say "why not try boomkin?" The moment you start saying "nonono, you need to level as X spec because its SO much faster, and your talents are all wrong, you need to change to XYZ" - it will be over.

[Ragnarohk]

I think other games are more engaging respecting lore and RPG elements.

But if you want WoW, then I think retail is better than classic in this situation.

Since she is not that into videogames, I doubt she will invest too much time into WoW. As I learned in another thread, you apend A LOT of time in classic just running around from A to B.

Retail is much more linear, it guides you through narratives (the new Redridge-Rambo thing, The caravan quests in plaguelands, the day Deathwing came chain, etc).

She might like that more as opposed to the random disconnected lore and activities that classic has.

And I agree with the play alone thing. It's fun to discover stuff (even if you're doing it incortectly) instead of having somebody on top saying what exactly to do and how to optimize your character.

I think people believe retail focuses too much on endgame content. However, as a new player, it's more friendly of a game than classic. The players that say otherwise are usually people with 8+ alts that can't stand re-doing everything over and over.

And she would get to explore much more lore (7 expansions worth of it) depending on how far she gets. For me, some of the best lore is in WotLK and MoP is beloved by many.

[Teflon]

Weird thread, I know, but bear with me (or don't TL;DR at the bottom)...

My wife and I had an agreement that when she was expecting she would play WoW with me. My reasoning was that it was a good sober activity that we could enjoy together during downtime before the madness begins. She agreed. Now this weekend is the "big dance", "showtime", or whatever phrase you would like to use. I guess I love WoW and I love doing things with her so in my selfish way I would love to experience it with her.

A bit of background on her: she is really into lore and fantasy and stories but is NOT a gamer. She seemingly has no interest, however I choose to believe she could get into WoW because she has enjoyed watching me play Zelda: BoTW for hours on end and is interested in it, helping me along the way. I recently was able to get her into Stardew Valley and she enjoys it a lot. She doesn't hate games but I think she wants to feel like she is good at it to continue playing.

All of that said, to keep her interested I would like any tips anyone can muster. Maybe you've been here before with a friend or even a SO, or maybe you just have good ideas. I need to make it easy on her and easy to understand. For most of us WoW is now second nature but I could imagine it being overwhelming for a new player that is also not a gamer.

Thank you for your consideration on this matter of grave importance.

TL;DR: I need tips to make my non-gamer wife adopt WoW by making it easier to understand, more fun to play, or other ideas...

Don't talk too much. Don't tell something is awesome, let her discover it on her own. Let her learn on her own, help her when she asks for help but don't push it too hard, don't try to get her to the "good parts" of the game faster - what you might think are the "good parts" might not be the same as hers.

[deenman]

a little off topic here,but dang,the wife must be one huge catch if you married her and she doesnt share your passion for games,I have broken off relationships twice with women that berated me for playing games,mostly because where I live it is somewhat seen as a ''childish'' activity

on topic,if you say she doesnt like games at all,then personaly I wouldnt try pushing it if she is very against it,try to find a different common interest

[arkanon]

a little off topic here,but dang,the wife must be one huge catch if you married her and she doesnt share your passion for games,I have broken off relationships twice with women that berated me for playing games,mostly because where I live it is somewhat seen as a ''childish'' activity

on topic,if you say she doesnt like games at all,then personaly I wouldnt try pushing it if she is very against it,try to find a different common interest

Not engaging in a partners hobby is a world away from berating their enjoyment of it. My wife no longer games, we have children, but she happily watches games like Uncharted 4 and similar games with a strong narrative, and is happy for me to spend some of my spare time gaming, so long as it doesnt interfere with my family responsibilities, which is the same with her and her hobbies.

[october breeze]

Pro tip: don't.

Get out of this nerd world. Go out with her, do exercise, go to beach with her, go cycling, jogging, go to a dance club, enjoy your life with her.

Stop the WoW man. It is not worth it anymore.

[deenman]

Go back in time to when the game was actually worth getting in to and introduce her then. These days it's not nearly as appealing to new players.

i feel like the game today is far more apealing to new players,depending on what you like ofc,and its ease of acces,wile endgame is harder than almost ever before,you can still get good gear by playing casualy,complete almost everything solo,collect a bunch of stuff(good housing would be a huge boon for these kinds of players),but the issues isnt just in wow's own shortcomings,but in the mmo genre itself,its on the decline,we no longer see the yearly dozen or so ''wow killers'' pop up anymore,people are playing other stuff,mostly drop in drop out stuff like call of duty,battleroyals,online survival games etc

[Galluccio]

Let your wife play a healing character.

[Ragnarohk]

So long as it doesnt interfere with my family responsibilities, which is the same with her and her hobbies.

That's the most important part. When you consider WoW (or games in general) as a Hobby and dedicate part of your free time to it, everything should be fine.

It gets problematic when you try and play any time you have the chance. And spend all your free time binge playing and forget that anything else exists outside Azeroth.

I think most gamers have issues with this. Videogames become a lifestyle instead of a hobby

[Galluccio]

Pro tip: don't.

Get out of this nerd world. Go out with her, do exercise, go to beach with her, go cycling, jogging, go to a dance club, enjoy your life with her.

Stop the WoW man. It is not worth it anymore.

What?!?!?! Wow man? (Actually, I stopped played to take care of the baby. There's just no time even to do a random battleground)

Dance club? Ok whatever.

The beach is too far away.

I had back surgery so I can't run.

Enjoy life?? Ok. I'll enjoy life by traveling 12 hours to the beach in California maybe once a year. For the rest of the year it will be a pointless grind.

Before I got married whenever someone mentioned "the grind" I would say there's only one kind of grind i want to do and it ain't in wow.

[Ragnarohk]

Let your wife play a healing character.

Nah. Let her play whatever she wants to.

[Muajin76]

Pro tip: don't.

Get out of this nerd world. Go out with her, do exercise, go to beach with her, go cycling, jogging, go to a dance club, enjoy your life with her.

Stop the WoW man. It is not worth it anymore.

F yea. so much this. I used to want a gamer wife/gf. Now i see that is not the best option. I had a friend that got his wife into wow, she raids more than he doesn. They haven't had sex in weeks because when she isnt working, she's raiding or working on alts. lol

[Mirishka]

Weird thread, I know, but bear with me (or don't TL;DR at the bottom)...

My wife and I had an agreement that when she was expecting she would play WoW with me. My reasoning was that it was a good sober activity that we could enjoy together during downtime before the madness begins. She agreed. Now this weekend is the "big dance", "showtime", or whatever phrase you would like to use. I guess I love WoW and I love doing things with her so in my selfish way I would love to experience it with her.

A bit of background on her: she is really into lore and fantasy and stories but is NOT a gamer. She seemingly has no interest, however I choose to believe she could get into WoW because she has enjoyed watching me play Zelda: BoTW for hours on end and is interested in it, helping me along the way. I recently was able to get her into Stardew Valley and she enjoys it a lot. She doesn't hate games but I think she wants to feel like she is good at it to continue playing.

All of that said, to keep her interested I would like any tips anyone can muster. Maybe you've been here before with a friend or even a SO, or maybe you just have good ideas. I need to make it easy on her and easy to understand. For most of us WoW is now second nature but I could imagine it being overwhelming for a new player that is also not a gamer.

Thank you for your consideration on this matter of grave importance.

TL;DR: I need tips to make my non-gamer wife adopt WoW by making it easier to understand, more fun to play, or other ideas...

I would advise that you make a baby character to play with her - don't cheese her starting experience by steamrolling everything with a 120. That's boring.

Remove small inconveniences: send her some good bags and enough gold that repairs will be a non-issue as she levels.

Focus on the small milestones like mount at 20, fast mount at 40, flying at 60. If you paint the game as 'oh man just wait until ur 120!' it could hurt her interest... nobody wants to hear that 99% of what they're doing is pointless, even if that's true.

Send her some fun battle pets. When I started WoW I got a couple of really cute pets early on and for some reason it just ticked me silly to have a little kitten following me around everywhere while I was fighting Defias, bears etc.

[Ragnarohk]

Also. Another suggestion.

Play a different RPG game, something you can play Co-Op, not necessarily an MMO. That way you will both explore something new and can equally enjoy it.

[Relapses]

F yea. so much this. I used to want a gamer wife/gf. Now i see that is not the best option. I had a friend that got his wife into wow, she raids more than he doesn. They haven't had sex in weeks because when she isnt working, she's raiding or working on alts. lol

I lived with my girlfriend who played WoW with me back in Firelands. I remember having to explain to my raid leader why I disconnected in the middle of Baleroc progression but my girlfriend didn't. She unplugged my computer because I was beating her on the DPS meter.

Not saying that all WoW girls are like this but... yeah. I think a lot of WoW dudes put having an eGirl high on their list of fantasies but it's not always worth it.

[Mirishka]

Also. Another suggestion.

Play a different RPG game, something you can play Co-Op, not necessarily an MMO. That way you will both explore something new and can equally enjoy it.

He's asking how to convince her to try WoW. He is not asking what he should do instead of that.

- - - Updated - - -

I lived with my girlfriend who played WoW with me back in Firelands. I remember having to explain to my raid leader why I disconnected in the middle of Baleroc progression but my girlfriend didn't. She unplugged my computer because I was beating her on the DPS meter.

Not saying that all WoW girls are like this but... yeah. I think a lot of WoW dudes put having an eGirl high on their list of fantasies but it's not always worth it.

Could easily argue that dating a 'gamer dude' usually isn't worth it either. Especially the angry forum-going type... the ones that almost have a stroke over their rogue doing 1% less dps than a mage. If they can't handle that... they're going to be in some seriously deep shit when actual real-life problems that matter are staring down their door.