Lesson #1: Safe As Houses... er, Inns

For posterity's sake, I'll be posting Mom's lessons here as well as sending them to her over email. These posts I'll tag "Lessons" to make them easier to find.

The first and second lessons were written after she got lost in Dun Morogh.

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Okay Mom, congrats! You have successfully set your Hearthstone (the big white round rock in your bag) to instantly zap you back to that inn from wherever you are. This is incredibly handy for when you get lost.

I want to explain about hearthstones, inns, and how they work. So bear with me.

Inns:
Inns are, well, inns. They are safe places for your character to log in and out of, so you don't have to worry about logging Jolynne out in the middle of the woods, then getting attacked by a wandering monster when you log back in. Very handy.

Always remember, when reaching a new inn in a new zone, to find the innkeeper and set your hearthstone. You do this by:
1) Right-clicking the innkeeper.
2) Choosing "Make this inn your home."

If you forget to do this while in a new area, and you click your hearthstone, it will take you to the LAST inn you were at. This is usually a bad thing since you might be far away from where you want to be. So always, ALWAYS remember to set your hearthstone at EVERY new inn.

Now that you have set your hearthstone to this one (Thunderbrew Distillery in the town of Kharanos), it will remain set until you change it at a new inn. If you aren't sure what inn you'll be taken to, then hover over your Hearthstone with your mouse and it will tell you.

Inns also give you rest. Rest is a term in the game which means that your character is not only safe, but also storing up energy. When you log back on to Jolynne after you have rested, you will be earning double the experience points when you kill stuff. This means you will level up faster! So because of this, you always want to end your sessions by going back to an inn and logging out there.

These are the steps you take when you want to log out:
1) Find a relatively safe spot.
2) Look in your bag to find your Hearthstone.
3) Right-click your Hearthstone. Always keep it in your bag where it is easily accessible.
4) The Hearthstone will zap you back to the inn you last set it at. Zapping you back is not quite instant. It will take a few seconds, and during that time Jolynne's hands will glow green.
5) If you move, or if something attacks you during the process, then the Hearthstone will instantly turn off and you won't go anywhere. So before you use your Hearthstone, make sure you are not being attacked and that you can stand still while the hearthstone is working.
6) Zap back to the Inn.
7) Hit the ESC key on your keyboard. That will bring up the Options menu.
8) Hit Logout near the bottom to logout. (Exit Game also works.)

When you get more familiar with it, you can even use your Hearthstone as an "OH SHIT!" button. For example, say you wander around and get lost, and find yourself very close to some big, nasty-looking creatures who want to eat your head. Fortunately the creatures haven't noticed you yet, but they might shortly. You have no earthly clue where you are and you don't want to move in case those big bad creatures see you.

Aha, but you have your Hearthstone! Look in your bag, give it a click, wait a few seconds and ZAP! You're back home safely, in one piece.

Once you use your Hearthstone, you can't use it again for 30 minutes. Your Hearthstone will appear grey once it's used, and will slowly become white again over the 30 minutes. This is called a "cooldown". Many things in Warcraft, once used, have to go through a cooldown before they can be used again. So remember this when you want to use your Hearthstone -- you won't be able to use it again for half an hour.

The cooldown will pass whether you're logged in or not. So if you use your Hearthstone and log out, then wait an hour and log back in, the cooldown will have finished and you can use it again.

If you lose your Hearthstone (which by the way is pretty hard to do), you can always get a new one at any innkeeper. Just right-click the Innkeeper at any inn, choose "Make this inn your home", and voila! A brand-new Hearthstone will appear in your bag.

Very, very handy. :)