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A newbie (aka newb, nub(cake), noob, or n00b), also called a scrub, is a player who is either new to World of Warcraft or experienced in the game yet ignorant of how to play. Note that while all these terms are derived from the word newbie and have the same literal meaning, their connotations are quite different. Newb commonly speaks of a new player, while a noob, n00b, or nub means someone who thinks he knows everything, criticizing others while doing many of the things listed below and calling people who tell them they're doing something wrong a n00b. Though not doing the things listed below will prevent you from acting like a noob, good humor, admitting to being new, and asking about things you don't know will prevent you from acting like a noob.

Some examples are "The Paladin bubbled while carrying the flag, NOOB!" and "Even though I've been through Waling Caverns 3 times, I still feel like a noob there."

Usage

The terms newb or newbie typically refer to someone new to the game, and thus forgivable of any innocent mistakes they might make. Noob or nub (and their Leetspeak variations) carry a harsher meaning, that of a player being stupid or ignorant. Beyond a certain character level, players who make mistakes are usually assumed to be noobs, or else new players who have purchased their accounts instead of leveling up themselves. Either way, other players generally regard them with contempt.

Most players are mature enough to recognize that everyone was once a newb, and offer tips and other assistance to inexperienced players. Some, however, have severe disrespect for anyone who they consider a "noob"

A "noob" described by wowcrendor is someone who is either: A. New to the game B. Bad at the game C. Is being called a noob by a noob because the noob is mad at his noobness and retaliates by calling the non-noob a noob.

How NOT to be a noob

The best way not to be a noob is to accept that you will never know everything there is to know about the game. Always be open to criticism and strive to learn more about game mechanics and the specifics of your class.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of noobish behaviors. Most of these offenses are at one point or another committed accidentally by everyone. Some people may act in these ways with a full understanding of what they are doing, performing a twisted form of humor (somewhat related to trolling).

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 the tank has no effect and wastes the cooldown of the taunt.
• Healer pulls aggro: When a damage dealer pulls aggro, that makes the damage dealer 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's gear isn't good enough, so the healer has to heal too much too early, and thus pulls aggro (tank's fault).
  • The tank isn't keeping proper aggro on all mobs (tank's fault).
  • A ranged damage dealer pulled aggro and then reduced it after the fact (e.g. by [Feign Death] or dying). After moving away from the tank, the mob found that the healer aggro was in the range between 100% and 130% of the tanks aggro, and thus turned on the healer. (ranged damage dealers fault)
  • In any case where the healer pulls aggro, some healing classes can quickly use an aggro reducing ability (e.g. [Fade]). If they don't, their death may actually be their own fault.

• Charging into a pulled encounter: Using [Charge] gives Warrior initial Rage, which greatly helps initial aggro buildup. In some situations though, crowd control or nearby mobs makes charging a suicide venture. Constant, irrational uses of charge leads to wipes and is a classic sign 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. Very high skilled warrior tanks can (and sometimes must) stance-dance, staying in any other stance but Defensive Stance for extended periods of time equals acting like a noob.

• Pulling early: Often newbie warriors are eager to pull before their rage runs out. Doing so when the casters are out of mana easily results 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.

• Ignoring mana bars Your healer can't heal you if they don't have any mana. Allow them time to drink after a fight. On a routine pull with a healer you can tell is competent, it's usually safe to pull if they have over half their mana. On a boss, unless everyone tremendously outgears the instance, they need a full bar.

• Tunnel vision* If adds arrive, it might be the tank's fault (if they chose to tank near a pat or didn't anticipate mobs that fear) or it might be the DPS's fault (if they had a pet on aggressive or position themselves without paying attention). But in either case, the tank needs to be prepared to handle the adds. The tank who blindly tanks his current target without noticing the giant skeleton pulverizing everyone else is an utter noob.

• When a tank attacks an incapacitated opponent or pacified enemy [Seeing the Incapacitation/Pacifation itself and it's effect on mob in question] Example:

"Rogue" casts [Sap] at "Humanoid Enemy". "Humanoid Enemy" is affected by "Rogue"'s [Sap]. "Tank"'s melee swing hits "Humanoid Enemy" for X damage. "Rogue"'s [Sap] dissipatates from "Humanoid Enemy".

Healers

• Not healing: Similar to tanks, healers have a very specific task which they must coutinuously perform at all times. The typical wipe caused by a noob healer happens as follows: During the first few seconds of a pull, nothing at all seems to happen. The noob healer starts to dps or just stops paying attention. At that point, the tank takes a damage spike. When the noob healer notices the tanks health at 30%, he starts to cast the biggest slow heal. 0.5 seconds before the end of the cast time the tank dies, 5 seconds later the group.

• 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 is 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.

• Squander heals: Usually AoE healing spells are very expensive mana-wise, ergo they should not be used to heal 1-2 people simply because the healer doesn't want to switch target.

• Fearing irrationally: At the slightest sign of aggro, noob priests love to use [Psychic Scream] instead of waiting for the tank/off-tank to reestablish aggro. Besides making the mob untankable for the duration of the fear, feared mobs love to run into nearby groups of other mobs, pulling them and resulting in a wipe.

However, in certain situations (namely Heroic Instances and Raids), a single hit from a mob can easily kill a healer due to their lack in stamina and armor, which leads to a wipe anyways. In these situations, Psychic Scream can save the healer and the group.

Damage Dealers

• Pulling aggro: For damage dealers, pulling aggro is the cardinal mistake they can commit, and repeatedly pulling aggro is noobish behavior. Every damage dealer can pull aggro from any similarly geared tank, pulling aggro as a damage dealer is nothing to be proud of. Noobs though are usually obsessed with their damage meters, and use their high-damage attacks too early in a fight (or on the wrong targets) in an attempt to maximize their apparent performance. This makes them feel good, especially when the tanks or healers complain. A noob damage dealer may also call the tank a noob despite gaining aggro through their own fault. Sometimes, a well-intentioned newb even tries to peel adds off a tank, thinking they are helping the healer by reducing the tank's incoming damage. But the healer's job is easiest when all mobs are on the tank, and rage-based tanks need to take hits so they can generate rage and thus create more threat, and Paladin tanks must take hits to gain threat through Retribution Aura, or dodge/parry/block hits in order to gain mana through Blessing of Sanctuary. When damage dealers peel, the tank must focus their attacks on the peeled mob, reducing their threat generation on the others. This, combined with the need for excessive healing on the damage dealer, may causes the healer to take aggro, leading to a wipe. Also, many damage dealers have the option of using threat reduction abilities, talents, or enchants, but refuse to use them as it would lower their damage output. If they are not mindful of their threat, and draw aggro as a result, they often use the phrase "Tank better" or something similar as an excuse.

• 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: A refinement of the "breaking CC" noob move, this additionally makes the mob immune to CC for some time. 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 many pulls. 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 getting aggro: Because of the way that melee damage swings are timed, this doesn't reduce 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 gaining 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 *toward* 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 does this help to put the noob 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 before the DOT has expired.

• Pulling adds: Tab-targeting, fear and knock-back mean that even experienced players sometimes pull adds. However, multiple repeat offenses in the same instance gradually suggest that noobidity, rather than clumsiness, are at fault.

• Spreading DPS: This includes frivolous use of AOE, but also simply attacking a mob that has is not marked as the current target. Not only does this make it much more likely to pull aggro (because the tank is focused on another target), but it also stretches out the fight unnecessarily.

• Hybrids refusing to heal when needed: If the main healer dies or is otherwise incapacitated, any damage dealers with healing abilities (Balance druid in caster form, Retribution Paladin, Enhancement or Elemental Shaman) may be expected to pick up healing duties. In certain encounters, Hybrids may be expected to watch their own health and keep themselves alive (in order to keep main healers' attention on tanks). Noob Hybrid DPS refuse to stop DPSing to cast a heal on themselves, because it lowers their position on the damage meters. These hybrids often make other noob mistakes such as standing in enemy AoE and expecting a healer to heal them through it.

Loot

• Ninja looting: Loot ninjas are among the most hated players, newbies should try to avoid this accusation by all means. Most loot ninjas are real villains who know very well about what they're doing and do it without remorse, but newbies may not, and may not realize they might have problems grouping again in the future. Therefore, newbies are well advised to carefully compare the drop with their current gear (see "Replacing epic with epics"), and also try to understand why a certain item may be better suited to another class than their own.

• Looting gear you can't use: This most extreme form of ninja looting is a quick and sure method to ruin one's reputation. 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 plate with int, mp5 and spellpower (meant for Holy Paladins).

• Looting gear you shouldn't use: Every class has statistics that provide a real but very minor benefit, e.g. armor penetration for Retribution paladins (who do largely magical damage that isn't affected by armor). There's almost always another class who gets an enormous benefit from that statistic, e.g. warriors and cat druids. You will do better with a well-itemized green. Let them have it.

• Not looting quest items: Everyone does this, even the most experienced player. Newbies just do it a lot more often.

• "Replacing epics with epics": Now, everyone will replace gear, but this specifically refers to replacing one piece of gear with another piece of the same item level with similar stats. For example, many believe that gear from 10-man Naxxramas is better than Exalted rep gear, Emblem of Heroism gear, Heroic end-boss gear, and craftable epics, when they are in fact the same item level and have similar stats. Another example would be replacing gear from 25-man Kel'thuzad or 25-man Malygos with gear from 10-man Ulduar. If another player needs the upgrade more than you do, such as replacing a rare or uncommon item, then it would be polite (plus better for the group or raid overall) if you let them have it.

• Blindly chasing blues and purples: Properly itemized rare (blue) gear is indeed better than uncommon (green) gear of the same or lower item level, and epics (purple) are likewise better than rares. But only if they actually fit your class. It's astonishingly common to see newbies wearing, for example, epic crafted Frost Resistance gear, because that gear is a) PURPLE and b) cheap as epics go. But with the possible exception of a newly 80 bear tank, it's utterly worthless for every class.

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 require a reagent 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 sometimes useful to determine 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. It is also very common for a noob to continuously ask others to post Damage Meter readings when they are in the top. Obviously people asking "DMGMETERS?" while being on top of damage done are running some sort of meter themselves and just want to brag.

Raiding

Noob raiders suffer from all the foibles of the PVE noob, with some additional outrages all their own.

• Failing to meet required caps for chosen class/role: This is applicable in all PVE, but mandatory in heroics / raiding. A noob tank stacks stamina before he caps his defense rating (the most important trait of a raid tank is to be uncrittable, because some bosses can one-shot even the best geared tank with a crit). Much more often, however, the noob damage dealer shows his ignorance by stacking crit rating and bragging about his crit percentage before he is hit-capped (typically damage dealers need to cap or nearly cap their hit rating before focusing on crit rating). New players should find out what their class/spec's stat balancing priorities are and gear accordingly, rather than just picking stats that seem fun or make big numbers.

• Not bringing keys / resist gear / consumables / 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.

• 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 reagents they 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. Noobs try to bluff their way through and wipe the raid.

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 they're 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.

• Ganking lowbies: Riding around as a 70-80, 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). Another legitimate reason for a hunter to use Feign Death in PVP is to drop off from the enemy player's target making it harder to attack them again. Also, while removing the target from a casting player, their spell casting is interrupted, thus losing the time spent casting it.

• 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 (or think they know), is acceptable.

• Not Helping Objectives: A common example of this is ganking players midfield in Warsong Gulch instead of getting the opponent's flag or defending your own. Actions like this are generally not productive and WILL disadvantage your team. This kind of noobish behavior has cost lots of matches. Refusing to work as part of a team also falls under this.

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. It should be noted that in rarer cases this is not a mark of noobishness but rather laziness on the begger's behalf.

• 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. The addition of the Dungeon Finder tool has made it very easy for low-leveled players to find similar people to group with, making begging even more inexcusable.

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 areas 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.

• Elitist behavior towards healers and tanks: When running an high-level instance, many noob damage dealers expect an overgeared tank and/or healer to carry them through the instance. If a tank or healer has mostly blues or greens on, they may be kicked from a party or mocked for their gear. Noob DPS players often believe that they as a damage dealer, are not gear dependent, and may run an instance in all greens while expecting a healer or tank to have full epics. They often go by the "if the tank dies, it's the healer's fault. if the healer dies it's the tank's fault" motto, even though wipes may have occured because of them. This mostly occurs in heroics, where a noob damage dealer will expect a raid geared tank, although the tank may already have high health and be well over the defense cap (Rares may higher defense rating than epics, but lower stamina and no pure avoidance or mitigation stats).

External links

WowInsider WoW Rookie: How not to be a noob