tl;dr: join a guild at any level at any time. use wowhead.com to solve all your wow problems. level from 1
You can join a guild at any level, including level 1. Look for guilds in game using the Guild Finder tool (hit the J key and select Guild Finder). Maybe select the focus of “Social and Leveling” (since you’re new) and find something that looks interesting. Then ask someone in the guild questions before asking for an invite.
To find out who in the guild is online (and in your area) type this in chat
/who guildname
You’ll get a list of names in a separate popup window. Right-click name, select whisper and say,
Hi I’m interested in your guild, do you have time to answer some questions?
Don’t be surprised if they don’t answer. They may not be paying attention to their chat or they may be very involved in something and can’t reply. Wait a couple of minutes and then try the next person. Once you do get answers you should feel like they are genuine and they aren’t trying to sell you something (walk away from anyone like that).
My advice is find people who are like you and who welcome new players (since that’s you). Don’t get taken in by promises to help you all over the place, everyone expects you to be self sufficient. Asking questions is OK and occasionally asking for help in doing stuff as well but just be polite, people are online to enjoy themselves not cater to you. Many, many guilds give away stuff like bags (useful for a new guy) and sometimes gold. Don’t expect it, but if its offered take it.
NOTE: you best resource for everything world of warcraft related is wowhead.com . Every item. Every quest. Search for it. Read player comments. Your questions will be answered and your problems will get solved.
Above all, don’t be afraid to cut ties if you don’t feel like the group is right for you.
Just be classy about it. Its perfectly OK to say, “I didn’t feel comfortable in the guild” or “It doesn’t feel like what I need right now. Thank you and best of luck”.
You’ll never know when you may meet those people again and many times I’ve been in guilds, quit, and 2 guilds later… I’m playing with the same people. It’s going to take you many tries to find the right group for you.
I think I had a boost when I first started the game but chose not to use it. I was very glad I did. I only use boosts on characters I feel like I need for something specific but don’t enjoy playing. The boost gets me to max level (or close enough) where I get what I want and can get back to playing what I really like.
There’s no rush in getting to max level. Wow is not a race. If it was, it would be like an iron man competition where you swim 10 miles, run a marathon and then bike 100 miles. Or maybe its more like a death march since it has no end. In my opinion, leveling is also the place to learn about the game. Take your time. Stop and smell the roses and try everything (fishing, archaeology, battle pets, pvp, whatever). Things that may seem stupid and NOPE, no way I’ll like that can be things you end up loving after trying them (that was pvp for me) .
Yes, you will find that a lot of people are already max level and talking about “cool stuff”, but ultimately a huge chunk of your initial game play will be the leveling experience and unless you’re made of money and can afford character boosts every time, leveling is going to part of every character you make going forward.
If you don’t enjoy the leveling part of the game you need to think, “Is this the right game for me?” Maybe you find the end-game stuff so great it outweighs the leveling part. The Shadowlands xpac that should be released towards the end of the year is supposed to drastically change the leveling experience and make it easier and faster to go from 1 to max, but for now the max is 120.