#1 Consider the Druid class if you enjoy varied gameplay roles

Druid may well be the most rounded, flexible class in the game, offering a diversity of abilities and play styles. For instance, you have direct damage spells, allowing play as an offensive caster. As you'd expect, you can't match the sheer destructive power of a "pure" magic user. The number of injurious alternatives at your disposal is smaller, you receive new ones and upgrades more sporadically as you level up, and you're unable to use wands, which can be very powerful. However, you're also a pretty decent healer, arguably second only to Priests, and you have an excellent all-around buff.

Once you learn to transform into a bear, you can be a fairly good melee fighter, not a natural tank, but able to fill that role in a pinch. Later, you can also gain the ability to change into a cat. In this guise, you can move around undetected and strike suddenly out of nowhere, like a Rogue. As a solo character, the Druid is pretty viable mixing casting with self-healing. In parties, you can fill various roles depending on your companions' respective aptitudes. You may be most effective as both the second caster and second healer in your group.

Only Night Elf and Lauren characters may become Druids. The former naturally has more mana and agility, while the latter is stronger, with more hit points and slightly faster recuperation of health and mana.

#2 Check the auction houses regularly

There are three auction houses in the world, one for the Horde only in Orgrimmar, another for the Alliance in Ironforge, and a neutral one in Gadgetzan. You can only put items up for sale, check what's available and bid by visiting each one. Although this means they're not very convenient unless you happen to be nearby, it can be worth your while to go out of your way. You'll be able to obtain weapons and armor suited to your character far more easily than waiting for drops, and often for less than you'd pay for something inferior from an NPC vendor. All sorts of other items are available as well.

On the other hand, if you have items to sell, especially if they're unusual and in high demand, you may be able to get double or triple what a merchant NPC would pay. There is a risk since a non-refundable fee applies when you put something up for sale, whether successfully or not.

#3 Use the Trade chat channel

When you acquire an unusual or high-quality item for which you have no use, don't automatically sell it to an NPC. It might turn out to be worth quite a bit more if you can find a player who wants it. One of last week's tips was to use the auction house. Another possibility is to advertise on the Trade chat channel. Since each area has its own, it works better to do so in the ones a lot of players pass through in general, such as the major cities, and especially in those frequented by characters around the item's minimum level requirement, assuming there is one.

As a hypothetical example, suppose you happen to find a Sword of Super Striking that may only be equipped by characters of level 20 or higher. On the Horde side, try advertising it somewhere like The Barrens, where the southern half has a lot of creatures and enemies around levels 19 to 22. The chances of success would be far better than somewhere like Mulgore since most adventurers there will not be nearly advanced enough to use it. That said, don't expect to sell everything you offer, or even the majority. However, when something does sell, expect to make at least double or triple what an NPC would pay, and sometimes a lot more than that.

#4 Consider the Priest class if you want to do a lot of grouping

While it's certainly a matter of opinion, Priest may be the class most often sought after by parties. The reason is that it's arguably the best healer in the game. Groups, particularly when they're getting set to tackle a challenging quest or location, will invariably want at least one member whose primary function is to help keep the others alive. While a Paladin, Shaman or Druid can take on this role, none of them is quite as focused on the curative arts.

Night Elf, Dwarf, Human, Troll and Undead characters may become Priests. The Night Elf has the most mana, albeit by a fairly small margin, but recovers it and health somewhat less rapidly. The Dwarf and Undead have slightly more hit points, while the latter and the Troll recover a bit faster.

#5 Play a Horde character if you like to solo

This tip has nothing to do with the races on either side being better suited to adventuring alone. Rather, it's a simple matter of population balance. Although I haven't seen any actual data from Blizzard, it would appear from personal observation and informal reports that the Alliance is somewhat more popular. Assuming this is correct, you're less likely to encounter crowds or even situations where you have to share prey if you play as a Lauren, Orc, Troll or Undead.

#6 Play in groups for quicker advancement

Although World of Warcraft is designed to make solo play viable for any class, a character will advance quite a bit more rapidly if you join forces with other players on a regular basis. You'll be able to take on higher-level enemies, which yield more experience per kill. If you prefer, you can just mow down the same ones you can solo, but with less down time.

A related consideration involves elite adversaries. One on one, you can count on beating a regular opponent that is slightly above your level, but facing an elite of equal level is very often tantamount to suicide. As a result, any elites you can easily vanquish on your own will yield little or no experience. In addition, elite quests often yield very nice items. If you get them while your character is still at a lower level, they'll be more useful for a longer time.

#7 Plan your equipment bonuses

Within a few hours of starting play, you'll be able to start acquiring armor and weapons that provide a wide range of possible benefits. For instance, an "of strength" item will bump up the corresponding characteristic, while one that's "of the monkey" will grant smaller increases to both stamina and agility. There are other types that will raise one or more resistances, augment the damage done by certain kinds of spells, etc. The bonuses are nice enough on a per-item basis, but if you collect and equip several that elevate the same attribute, they can make a huge difference; it's not hard at all to double one or two of a character's base numbers.

Of course, it's better to affect the ones that are most important to your avatar and its play style. In terms of planning what to wear, the spellcasting classes might lean toward "of intelligence" items, which offer higher maximum mana capacity. On the other hand, you may wish to go with "of the eagle", gaining smaller boosts to both mana and hit points. Of course, a mix is possible, and you're definitely not limited to these types. For instance, you could also add in one or more extra damage pieces. The point of this tip is not to tell you what to equip, but rather to suggest that you learn what's available and plan accordingly so as not to end up with a mis-matched and far less than optimal combination.

#8 Give to receive

It's often possible to help other players at little or no cost to yourself, and quite often, you'll profit from doing so as well. For example, my magic user has a buff that may be cast on any other spellcaster of the same faction. The cost of doing so is a few seconds of down time to drink a potion. The potential benefits are well worth it. About half the time, I receive a different buff in return. Occasionally, I get invited to group, which means gaining experience and/or completing quests more rapidly, sometimes seeing places that would be unsafe to go alone, etc.

Not all classes can give buffs, but the general principle still applies. Possibly the best example here involves loot drops when you're grouped. Most parties use the round robin option, in which each kill is assigned to a specific member. If you happen to get an item you can only sell but someone else can use, it can work out better to give it away. This may seem foolish in the short term, but if another character picks up something that would be useful to you, the chances of receiving it are much greater if you've already set an example. Although you can discuss this instead, the reality is that it seldom happens in short-term grouping situations.

#9 Plan your skill purchases

Purchasing every skill that becomes available to your characters as they level up might seem like the automatic thing to do. Up to perhaps level 20 or so, there's a good argument for taking this approach in order to familiarize yourself with the full range of possibilities. However, even before that, you'll probably find yourself using a few very often, another bunch occasionally, and some almost never or not at all. Economically, it makes a lot of sense not to buy new ones and upgrades you're not likely to use.

As an example, if your druid doesn't use the melee-oriented bear transformation, you can ignore all the associated skills. Should that seem somewhat drastic, another potential option is to wait a number of levels before raising them. The numerical cost will be the same, but your earning power will be higher. In the meantime, you'll have the funds available for other purchases; when you spot a perfect item at the auction house or in the trade channel, you won't be prevented from acquiring it because you already spent your gold on skills you seldom or never use.

#10 Plan for your mount early

All races gain access to mounts upon reaching level 40. The primary benefit of having one is that it allows you to move around 60 percent more rapidly than normal running. Faster ones become available at level 60; they provide a doubling of base speed. It should be noted that some characters can acquire skills earlier that provide lesser increases, an example being the hunter class' Aspect of the Cheetah, which adds 30 percent. Each race has a primary type of mount; for instance, humans have horses, and gnomes have mechanostriders that vaguely resemble ostriches. You can select another race's, but only if your reputation with its capital city has reached Exalted status.

At level 40, the warlock felsteed and paladin warhorse are free for those classes. Otherwise, the standard prices for training and the creature itself are 20 and 80 gold respectively, with a 10 percent discount if you have at least an Honorable reputation rating with the city where you purchase them. So, the total expenditure is 90 or 100 gold. Either amount is substantial; for instance, a character in the mid- to high 30s may only pick up around 10 gold per level in the normal course of play. As a result, if you want to have enough money when you reach level 40, you need to begin saving well in advance - I'd suggest level 30 or even before. In addition, if you want another race's mount, you should start doing the quests associated with it as early as possible in order to raise your reputation with its capital city.

#11 Consider learning two primary gathering professions

World of Warcraft has a total of 10 primary professions of which three fall in the gathering category. Herbalism is the ability to pick plants that are mainly useful for creating potions via the alchemy skill. Mining lets you dig up assorted minerals that blacksmiths can transform into weapons and armor. Skinning is the art of taking hides from fallen beasts. With them, leatherworkers can fashion armor for those classes unable to equip either mail or plate, but not limited to cloth.

A character may only learn and use two primary professions at a time; if you change your mind, you can unlearn either or both. It may seem obvious to learn one gathering type plus a complementary production one such as the combinations named above. However, choosing two gathering skills can pay off. You won't be able to do anything except sell what you accumulate, be it directly to other characters, by auction or to NPC merchants. Depending on your play style, this may make actually you more money in the long run since you won't have to spend time or gold raising a production skill.

#12 Change your equipment to suit the situation

In the vast majority of cases, players use the same set of equipment all the time. Naturally, when an item becomes available that's better, they upgrade by replacing the older one. However, few recognize that it can be advantageous to change pieces according to the type of enemy you plan to fight.

The simplest way to illustrate this tip is probably by using spellcasters as an example. If you're heading out to a place where you'll face a lot of say fire-based spells, it may be a quite beneficial to put on some things that raise your resistance to them. Even if it means sacrificing some armor rating and/or other bonuses, you can still be better off because resisting a spell means you take no damage from it.

#13 Consider purchasing additional weapon skills (for newbies / low level)

In World of Warcraft, a character can only use a particular type of weapon if it has the associated skill. Each class has a different pre-determined set that includes both free and learnable ones. For instance, a Mage automatically starts life with staves, wands and unarmed, and can acquire daggers and one-handed swords. As another example, a newly created Paladin has unarmed plus one- and two-handed maces right away, and may gain one-handed axes as well as one- and two-handed swords.

The basic cost to buy additional skills from weapon masters is quite low, 10 silver apiece. It can be a worth getting at least one or two even though you have to use each weapon type to raise your associated rating. You'll be able to use more drops from defeated enemies, and it will be easier to receive gifts from friends and guild mates. Beyond that, it will give you greater flexibility when purchasing weapons at auction or directly from other players. In the Paladin's case, if you can use axes and swords, you're certainly more likely to find good deals than if you remain limited to maces.

#14 Understand the cost and benefits before purchasing armor (for all levels)

It can be very tempting to upgrade your armor when something that's better than what you currently is available at a seemingly affordable cost. However, if you don't understand that it takes a fair number of armor points to make a difference that's likely to matter, you can end up over-spending by buying pieces that provide very little or no real benefit.

For one of my characters, which has about 1,000 hit points, going from 625 armor to 645 represents 0.5 percent difference in damage reduction when facing a foe of the same level. Considering an attack with base damage of 200, this means one point net difference, which is effectively meaningless in determining the outcome of a battle, even after factoring in that it involves multiple attacks. If you understand how this system works, you can make better informed armor purchase decisions and potentially save a fair bit of money in the long run.

-- ChrisWeiss - 22 Feb 2005