While leveling your first character, don't bother:

A: Reading in-depth guides. They're written by super hardcore players who have mathematically calculated the "best" and fastest ways to level. They also tend to be very results-oriented - they're about reaching max levels as quickly as possible, rather than enjoying the ride. That is fine if you're leveling a new charcter and are more interested in the end-game, but for your first you're just robbing yourself of fun.

B: Trying to get the perfect spec. Explore it a bit, make your own decisions. Nothing you do will be so bad that it makes the game unplayable or needlessly hard, and you'll enjoy yourself more if you don't worry about how every little decision you make will effect the bottom line of DPS or whatever.

C: Ridiculous add-ons. A lot of them are useful, some of them are nice and make the game more fun. Most of them exist to make the leveling process faster and more efficient - which does NOT equal more fun. I suggest avoiding almost all add-ons for now. Eventually, if you find that something about the interface is bothering you or not working for you, THEN go find an add-on to fix it. Until then, avoid them, ESPECIALLY quest-helper or anything that exists to automate things.


Until you reach higher levels, you're leveling up too fast for the tiny little nuances like perfect specs and whatnot to realy impact the experience, and spending too much effort trying to conform to the hardcore max-level standards, or the standards of people trying to speed-level their fifth character, will just stress you out and waste your time. Enjoy the game for a little while. You'll have plenty of time to catch up on min-maxed perfection once you reach max levels.