Newbie
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A newbie (also: newb, nub, noob and nab) is a player new to World of Warcraft or MMORPGs when the term is mentioned; a player who has done or said something foolish. Note that a n00b, noob, n00bie or noobie is something different.
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Usage
Generally used as a pejorative or insult, usually used in disdain for someone suspected of just jumping into a character they haven't invested any time in (which means they don't know the character), or for someone who makes a series of rookie mistakes.
Sometimes it is used (usually in the first person) to denote a person who is new to an area or to a concept (e.g. Battlegrounds). This is especially true for a first (or highest-level) character. It may also be used in reference to a person who is new to a profession or a class, and in second or third person may not be an insult, or to someone who has low skills compared to their character level.
Each person may take offense at each term in a different way. Likewise, different people use each term differently (some people think "newb" is not meant as an insult as often as "noob").
"Everyone was a newb at first...but not everyone was a noob!"
Some argue that the difference between a newbie and a noob is that a newbie is just inexperienced and will, given time, improve, whereas a noob on the other hand is convinced that they can do no wrong or is not willing to learn. In short a newbie will eventually become a good player given time, while a noob generally remains a noob.
It should be noted that some players will always be noobs no matter how hard they try not to be.
How to be a noob
This is by no means an exhaustive list of behaviors. Most of these offenses are at one point or another committed accidentally by everyone. Similarly, some people who are jerks or intentionally bad players will act in these ways with a full understanding of what they are doing.
What makes this a list of newbie behaviors is that newbies exhibit many of them at once, usually out of ignorance either of the offense or its consequences. By reading and understanding this list and the social mores behind it, one can learn how not to be a noob.
PVE
Tanks
- Frivolous taunts: Taunting a mob that is already on you has no effect and wastes the cooldown of the taunt.
- Healer pulls aggro: When a damage dealer pulls aggro, that makes him a noob. When a healer pulls aggro, that makes his tank a noob. Healing generates significant AOE aggro. A good tank can keep aggro on multiple targets at once, staying ahead of the healer, and pulling aggro off the healer quickly should one mob peel off. Healing only generates aggro based on healing done (overhealing doesn't count). So there are three reasons that a healer might pull aggro:
- The tank isn't mitigating enough damage and the healer pulls aggro keeping him up (tank's fault).
- The tank isn't keeping aggro on all his mobs (tank's fault).
- Someone else pulled aggro and either died or reduced his aggro after the fact, leaving the healer next on the hate list (that other player's fault, or the healer's in some cases).
- Charging into a pulled encounter: Sometimes a charge allows the tank to establish early aggro and is very useful for the group. Other times, crowd control or nearby mobs makes this a suicide venture. Constant, irrational uses of charge lead to wipes and are classic signs of a noob.
- Acting like a damage dealer: A tank's job is not dealing damage to a mob, it is mitigating damage from the mob. Not wearing a shield drastically reduces damage mitigation. Berserker stance reduces both aggro generation and damage mitigation. Unless you're stance-dancing into and then out of it, you are not acting like a tank, you're acting like a noob.
- Pulling early: Often newbie warriors will be eager to pull before their rage runs out. Doing so when the casters are out of mana will result in a wipe. Damage dealers also sometimes suffer from this foible when they are pulling.
- One mob at a time: By level 60, pulls of several mobs at a time are common, even after crowd control. An off-tank can reduce the load somewhat, but a tank that can't hold aggro on multiple mobs at once is a noob.
Healers
- Down-casting a shield: Power Word: Shield applies the Weakened Soul effect. If it is to be cast at all, it should be cast at full effectiveness.
- Overuse of shields: Shields are very useful. However, overusing them is bad because it is mana-inefficient. Newbie healers heavily use shields in solo play, so priests who spam them are often new to instance healing.
- DPSing: Healers who DPS in instances come in two varieties: experienced players who have time and mana to spare, and noobs who merely think that they do. The latter group are far more common.
- Fast OOM: Sometimes this is a matter of gear or level. However, healers who go oom early in a fight are usually noobs who aren't watching their mana efficiency.
- Not healing: For their own noob-related reasons, some noobs go afk, stop paying attention, get distracted by non-group chat, etc and stop healing, which leaves first the tank and then the whole group to die. Sometimes a result of DPSing, noob behavior in and of itself.
- Squander heals: Used most commonly with the priest spell Prayer of Healing. Usually AoE healing spells are very expensive mana-wise, ergo they should not be used to heal 1-2 people simply because you do not wish to lose your target. AoE heals give five times more aggro than you'd normally get for healing so do NOT use it unless you must for your party's safety.
- Fearing irrationally: At the slightest sign of aggro, most newbie/noob healers will use Psychic Scream in order to fear the mob away from them, instead of waiting for the tank/off-tank to reestablish aggro. On top of that, fearing will just likely pull more mobs, resulting in a wipe, if not a very difficult situation.
However, in certain situations namely Heroic Instances and Raids, a single hit from a mob could easily kill a priest due to their lack in stamina and armor, which will lead to a wipe anyways. In situations like that, Psychic Scream can save the healer and the group.
Damage Dealers
- Pulling aggro: For a newbie, pulling aggro is a sign that they are dealing out a lot of damage. It makes them feel good, especially when the tanks or healers complain and they get to tell those players to "learn2play". Once a tank loses aggro, his rage generation is greatly reduced, making it very hard to grab the mob back. Experienced players know that any damage dealer can easily pull aggro if he tries; the trick is to do maximum damage WITHOUT pulling aggro.
- Breaking crowd control: This is just like pulling aggro, except it's adding a mob who wasn't hurting anyone to the fight, which means that either the mob has to be re-CCed or the main tank has to stop building aggro on the main assist target to grab the CC'd mob back. AOE is a common source here.
- DOTing a crowd controlled mob: As bad as breaking crowd control is, this is far worse, as the mob must now be tanked. Sometimes these things happen, but more than once in an instance is a strong sign of a noob.
- Not crowd-controlling (or re-applying CC): Crowd control is vital to an encounter. Even when it feels slower to fight mobs one at a time, experience teaches that that is the fastest way to finish. Noobs, however, either don't want to CC or don't care. Some also don't like to stop DPS to re-apply a crowd control effect because it lowers their position on the damage meters-- a classic sign of hapless noobery.
- Running away when you have aggro: Because of the way that melee damage swings are timed, this doesn't reduce your damage taken at all. But it does make it much harder and slower for a tank to re-establish aggro. In effect, running creates chaos for the group without buying you anything at all. Experienced players either use an aggro-reducing ability (feint, cower, fade, vanish, feign death, ice block or bubble) or stand still and wait for the tank to come over, or run to the tank of their own accord. The exception here is kiting a mob on purpose-- this is almost always planned in advance. Healers are also prone to this kind of newbism.
- Frivolous AOE: Not only will this help you get to the bottom of the damage meters, but using AOE on a single target without good reason is a great way to waste mana and break crowd control. A fearsome tool in the noob arsenal.
- Spamming a DOT: Most DOTs don't stack with themselves, but that doesn't stop a newbie from blowing his mana pool applying and re-applying it.
- Pulling adds: Tab-targeting, fear and knock-back mean that even experienced players will pull adds. However, multiple repeat offenses in the same instance gradually suggest that noobidity, rather than clumsiness, are at fault.
- Ignoring the main assist target: This includes frivolous use of AOE, but also simply attacking a mob that has not been designated by the Main Assist. Not only does this make it much more likely to pull aggro, but it also stretches out the fight unnecessarily.
- Switching targets repeatedly (main assist only): While sometimes this is unavoidable, main assists need to make a fairly quick decision about which mob to kill, then stick with that decision until the mob is dead. Repeatedly switching targets doesn't help anyone, and players tend to miss new targets after a while, defeating the whole point of having a main assist in the first place.
Loot
- Ninja looting: A very serious offense. No one piece of gear is worth being blacklisted forever. BOP gear requires that you not only loot the item, but click ok when it prompts you. Many ninjas are villains who know full well what they are doing. Others don't really understand that what they did is wrong, or that they will have trouble ever grouping again afterwards. The latter group are noobs.
- Looting gear you can't use: At its most extreme, this includes warlocks looting plate, shamans looting swords, and Druids looting Nightstalker gear. Noobs don't realize completely what they can and can't use. Some don't understand what Bind on Pickup means, and intend to sell or give items to an alt. Some simply don't understand itemization, as a warrior who rolls on cloth with int, spirit and spell crit.
- Not looting quest items: Everyone does this, even the most experienced player. Newbies just do it a lot more often.
Between pulls
- Refusing to buff: Buffs typically cost only mana, and should always be up. Even feral druids can shift out, rebuff, and shift back. Buffs that cost cash are still usually well worth it and are expected of the player.
- Extended AFKs: There are often legitimate reasons to go AFK. Repeated or extended AFK's are a classic sign of noobishness. They keep the rest of the party waiting and often are accompanied by incompetent play followed by a DC.
- DCing: Everyone is disconnected from time to time. However, a player who mysteriously and permanently DCs after a dispute, when a piece of loot they want doesn't drop or after some other kind of disappointment is quite possibly a noob. Players who are merely rude simply leave group and port to a city. Newbies DC thinking they have fooled someone.
- Ignoring chat: A very common sign of a noob is a player who very obviously has not read chat (strategies, calls for questions, announcements that people should turn in quests, etc) and then causes the whole group to suffer the consequences, typically a wipe.
- Spamming damage meters: Damage meters are useful tools for determining your effectiveness. Newbies, however, take them as Holy Writ, and spam them at every opportunity. In addition to being annoying and often inaccurate, the spam also hides legitimate chat that will allow the instance to be completed more quickly.
Raiding
Noob raiders suffer from all the foibles of the PVE noob, with some additional outrages all their own.
- Not bringing keys / resist gear / etc: Raiders are expected to be prepared. Plenty of non-noobs don't have these items, but the quintessential noob leaves them in the bank when they are required, week in and week out. Everyone forgets their Onyxia key once in a rare while, but it is still a clear sign of a noob when it happens repeatedly.
- Not repairing or bringing mats before a raid: Despite constant entreaties to repair before raids, noobs defiantly walk into a raid with half-fixed gear and, once there, demand an expensive bot to be burned just for them. Similarly, experienced players know about how much materials they will need for a raid, and bring even more. Noobs don't and run out.
- Not having required mods: Raiders work in guilds, most of which demand specific mods like CT RaidAssist, threat meters, and boss-specific mods. Not having these mods is very rare, but marks the raider as a noob if it happens.
- Not knowing an encounter: Of course this happens to everyone, because at one point or another everyone has been new to an instance. Trying to bluff your way through and wiping the raid it is a sign of a chronic, persistent kind of noob.
PVP
- Botting BGs: This is done by some experienced players to farm rep or honor, but is strongly frowned upon. Noobs often do this, and can't understand why it's a problem. Botting in this sense means remaining largely AFK, while occasionally moving or jumping to avoid being flagged AFK and kicked out of the BG altogether. You share in the honor and reputation rewards without contributing anything, and taking up a slot in the battleground that could have been filled by a participating player. However now people can be reported AFK if it looks like their doing nothing and these people will not get a cut of the honor,rep or medals if he is flagged AFK. Blizzard is also claiming that the honor,medals, honor rewards are now being stripped and warnings/suspensions being handed out to people who are habitual botters. But that does not mean that these people are no longer noobs.
- Ignoring BG objectives: A sign of a noob, the classic example being fighting in the center of the map in Warsong Gulch.
- Ganking lowbies: Riding around as a 60, often with friends, and killing players who you cannot gain honor from, is usually taken as a sign that you cannot handle players of your own level. Occasionally, even that these odds the lower-level (but more experienced) player will win anyway. Camping lowbies is an even stronger sign of being a noob.
- Bubble hearthing in BGs: Sometimes this is done for humor value, but more than one paladin has bubble hearthed right out of a BG to avoid "durability loss" from dying-- only to be surprised that they have left the BG entirely. This can also be used in Alterac Valley using the Home trinket. Paladins that bubble up and teleport to Dun Baldr just to avoid getting ganked are pretty much as much noobs as druids going to travel form whenever anything that's not a warrior attacks them.
- Aggro management: Taunt, feint, cower, challenging shout, all are very useful powers that have no effect whatsoever in PVP. That doesn't keep the noob from using them at every opportunity (note that Feign Death is notably missing from this list. That is because, in some rare cases, other players can be actually fooled that the hunter has died and moved on to another target. While this can happen to anyone, someone whom falls for it repeatedly is likely a noob).
- Assuming command: Suggestions and possible tactics are one thing, but telling everyone to do one set thing and then exploding into a rage when things are done otherwise is general noob behavior. Even more so if the plan merely sounds good, but clearly will lead to failure.
- Controlling level brackets: Some people just can't take it when someone enters a bg and is below the highest level in the bracket, and will do whatever is in their power to get them out. They don't view anyone who isn't highest in the level bracket useful in the least, and can't understand why anyone would join a bg at any level but the one they consider, nay, know is acceptable.
Around Town
Chat
- Spamming in the /general channel: This is both ineffective and annoying. You're also likely to end up on /ignore lists. Long after the player has forgotten why he ignored you, you will still be paying the price.
- /yells: There are times when a yell is entertaining and appropriate. However, 99% of yells in major cities are neither.
- 1337 speak: Though many very competent players use 1337 speak, especially on non-RP servers, this style of chat is often associated with noobishness.
- Straying off-topic in /LookingForGroup: Noobs often consider the global Looking For Group channel to be the perfect place to bring their Barrens Chat when they leave the Barrens (or Westfall, for Alliance). Blizzard has implemented a new LFG feature and this has helped cut back on the LFG chat spam. However, since then the trade channel has effectively replaced it, causing many people who try to sell their goods have to put up with this, not people who simply had LFG on all the time just to hear it.
- Participating in "Barrens chat" tropes: This includes (but by no means is limited to) Chuck Norris, Leeroy Jenkins, the "Fifty DKP Minus Guy", and whatever inane and irrelevant chatter. More often than not, it is bored higher level players.
- ALL CAPS: Capslock is a classic piece of noobery. Occasional capslock can be taken as shouting. Caps lock all the time, and for no apparent reason, is a mark of a noob.
- "WTS [BOP Item] lawls": Sadly, this is not a sign of a noob, just a show-off.
Begging
- Begging for gold: Randomly begging for gold, like spamming channels, usually leads to being /ignored. Gold can be farmed very quickly and easily through solo PVE, even as you gain reputation or experience.
- Opening trades / inviting to parties / popping guild petitions without chatting first: Classic noob behavior, sometimes associated with gold farming as well. Mature players who want water / healthstones / summons / portals / buffs will ask for them politely.
- Run me through X instance: This kind of begging, sometimes accompanied by a pitifully meager bribe, is usually the mark of a noob. Experienced players usually ask friends to help them if they are doing this, rather than total strangers. Most of the time they'll threaten to report you if you don't. Just ignore these types of threats, they're usually empty and even then the GM will simply laugh at them as not running someone through an instance is not against their policies.
Miscellaneous
- Immature behavior: There are many mature young players. Many young players, however, are not mature, and the stereotypical noob at least acts as though he was a child.
- Dancing naked: Usually done with Elves, dancing naked in public places, often atop a popular mailbox, is usually a mark of noob behavior. As this is usually done with alts it doesn't always affect the player's reputation.
- Forum trolling: Noobs often can't limit their noob behavior to the server, and bring it out into the forums as well.
- Duel spamming: The area just outside of Ironforge and Orgrimmar is a common location for duels for players of all skill levels. Some noobs, however, repeatedly spam duel requests on characters of wildly higher or lower levels. In addition to being rude, it is often a sign that the player either does not understand level-based advantages or prefers dueling players who have no chance against them.
