World of Warcraft Bestiary - Brady Games
I’ve already written a few posts on good gift ideas for WoW players, but I’ve already got emails from people asking exactly what they should buy for their WoW addicted friends.
So I decided I might write a guide on what to buy for certain types of WoW players, and how to find out what they want.
First off, you might need to learn a little more about your friends WoW habit, what aspects of the game they enjoy, what paraphernalia do they already have, and so on… so we’re going to be asking some questions.
My Step by Step WoW Question Guide:
1. Is the recipient of your WoW gift a casual or hardcore WoW player?
To find this out you can do 1 of 2 things. Either, simply observe (or ask) how much they’ve been playing WoW lately. Any more than 3 hours a day I’d classify someone as a pretty hardcore player.
The 2nd thing you can do is ask questions about what guild they belong to, and how often they “raid”. If the answer is more than once or twice a week raiding, then you can be pretty confident they’re a hardcore WoW junkie!
Casual players are generally more concerned with things like getting amusing achievements like “explorer”, getting exotic mounts, and socializing online. This doesn’t mean they aren’t going to want WoW presents, but it might mean they’re after a particular kind of gift.
You might try & work out if someone is a casual fan by asking things like, “I hear there’s an achievement system in the game? Do you complete a lot of those? Or are you more into doing raids?”
If they reply saying something like, “achievements are boring & useless, you have a gamer who is far more interested in the “end game” aspect of WoW, which is raiding or arena play.
Alliance Faction Wallet
2. Does your friend already own WoW paraphernalia?
Do they already have books, t-shirts, toys, etc?
As silly as this might sound buying more of what they already have is DEFINITELY the safest bet. Gamers who have funny WoW related t-shirts will always appreciate more of the same. This goes for books too… if you like science fiction or romance, chances are you’re happy to read more of the same… so go ahead & just buy more of the same.
3. Are you a complete WoW noob, and know nothing about WoW?
If so you might just go for the easy choice, and buy a time card, or a Blizzard authenticator. Both options can be used by ANY WoW gamer, and the combo of gifts will be appreciated by any WoW player.
The authenticator is an invaluable account protection device that provides a practically uncrackable extra layer of security, and is an especially awesome gift to give as WoW players spend months & years building up characters and don’t want to lose what they’ve got to a slimy scammer who hacks their account password.
4. How long has your friend been playing WoW (and do they have any level 80 characters)?
This should be a relatively easy question to answer – if they don’t have any level 80 characters, you might consider a good leveling guide to help them reach 80. Why? Because in WoW all roads lead to level 80, and many people consider WoW to “begin” at level 80.
Top Selling WoW Guide
If your friend isn’t already level 80, chances are all of their efforts and focus is on getting to 80, and helping them get there would be a great present.
Check out my Zygor leveling guide review, and my Ultimate WoW guide review for my two top choices of guides… or if you know nothing about WoW, buy Zygor’s just for information about getting to level 80, or the Ultimate guide if you want to give your WoW loving friend all the information they’ll ever need about playing WoW to their best.
The best part of this kind of present is that most WoW players will actually level several characters to 80 over the years that they play WoW, so its a gift that has great longevity (the guide owners also keep them fully updated and compatible with each version of World of Warcraft).
What Should I Buy, Then?
Those 4 key questions are where I would start, and from there, with my help you should be able to make some good decisions.
Here’s my suggestions on each “type” of WoW player.
Hardcore: people who raid frequently, or are in arena teams, and generally play to be the shining example of a powerful player.
Good Neutral T-Shirt For Any WoW Player
These people will love things like t-shirts which show how much they are dedicated to the game – you can try Jinx.com, and then navigate to the best selling World of Warcraft section.
They’ll also love the Blizzard account authenticator to protect their super valuable gear they’ve built up over their years of play time.
Your hardcore friend or relative might also appreciate hardware which enhances their level of play. Your everyday keyboard is actually very poorly laid out, and for WoW players who rely on lightning fast reflexes special mice and “gameboards” will have them swooning with joy.
Casual: people who might also play a lot of WoW, but love the social side, or the collectable/achievement based aspects of the game.
Your casual WoW player will love getting achievements, collecting mounts, or just getting items which not many other players have. They’re similar to collectors in real life, but obviously all their possessions are contained within the WoW universe.
So what can you buy this player? Trading card games are my number 1 pick. Not just any card games though… you want to get them the Upperdeck TCG, which most importantly gives your WoW playing friend of family member the chance at ultra, super dooper rare items in WoW that very few other players have.
There’s a side benefit to this too in that you can play an enjoyable World of Warcraft related card game using the packs… but to be honest, the best part is the cool in-game items you can redeem from the codes in the game.
Just a warning though – the chances of getting the super rare items is pretty low. You’ll very likely get SOME in game items, but the rare ones are RARE. If they get one of those rare items though you’ll be the most popular gift giver in the history of man-kind!
World of Warcraft Trading Card Game
Casual players, being collectors at heart will also appreciate WoW toys more than most. Murloc plush toys, Night Elf Hunter figurines, or Blizzard’s “Figure prints” (which makes a real life model of your in-game character) will all be super popular with collectors who will be more than happy to extend their collecting to the real world!
Casuals will also like t-shirts, dvd’s, books and the like, but if you appeal to the collector in them, you’ll do fine.
Avoid things like hardware though as its really not “them”. Authenticators will still be a hit (and they’re cheap), since the collector will be super keen to protect their collections.
Casual WoW players really do just want collections, or rare items that can’t be gotten from anywhere else… which is where the card trading game comes in as possibly the best gift idea you can get.
To Summarize!
Most WoW players will honestly love anything WoW related as a gift, but if you try and sneak in a few questions here and there to get to know their World of Warcraft addiction a little better, you’ll find your present will be an extra smash hit.
Best of luck and please feel free to contact me if you have any WoW gift questions.
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