How well I remember the day I that created my warrior. I had seen a gnome walking around with an adorable name, a cute hat, and all that plate armor much too big for her, and I was suddenly inspired with a character idea that I just had to make real. As a roleplayer, I was fiercely excited to play this undauntedly brave gnome who would proclaim in an adorably child-like voice: "I am NOT cute! I'm the most fearsomest warrior you'll ever see!"

The character was wonderful fun to roleplay for a long time, and brought plenty of laughs with my friends, but after finally reaching level 40 and getting my cute mechanostrider mount, I realized I was getting killed way too often, killing monsters way too slowly, and just not having that much success at the actual "war" part of being a warrior. I had heard of a number of warriors complaining in the forums and it seemed that the class was just way too weak. So I gave up and blamed Blizzard for my bad experience -- but oh, how I was wrong...

Recently, a group of friends with characters in the same level range encouraged me to take my warrior through Razorfen Downs with them, and they helped me complete a quest and get a shiny new sword. Along the way, I really did my best at killing things, but I still wasn't all that great. One of the new friends in this group took a look at my armory page and said he could give me some suggestions based on his long time experience and love of the Warrior class.

So, soon I got this beautiful talent spec from him in my inbox, which included suggestions for how to advance in the future, as well as freedom to make a number of different choices later on. I asked him questions about it, and tried it out, and sure enough I'm having way more fun that I ever had before as a warrior. I realized that even though I had played this game for more than two years, I still have a lot to learn -- and if I can find the right teacher, then he or she can help me totally change my experience around and have a great time!

Do you have an alt you always wished you could play but for whatever reason could never succeed with? Find an encouraging friend, or friend of a friend, who really loves that class and ask him or her to take a look at your armory page. Have this person send you a talent spec or suggestions for new gear, and have another try. You may find yourself truly more fearsomer than ever before!

[Check out these gnomes on a wild ride and other great art at Jasonchanart.com!]

Edit: Some of you noticed that the talent spec my friend gave me was empty. I did put the link in there correctly but I there seems to be some kind of glitch -- the standard WoW talent calculator kept getting set back to the default. I had to switch to Wowhead's calculator to get it to work. Have another look if you'd like.