Guest Post: Leveling your first toon

Posted by admin on 03 24th, 2009

Categories: Featured Articles | no responses

Author: Level 80 Hunter Make sure you have enough money when leveling up your first Hunter. When you start your first toon on a new server, you want to get to Level 80 as soon as you can. Obviously, you have way more gold-making options at 80, plus that is when you can do the end-game raids. But leveling can be slowed down if you don’t have enough money for training and mounts. Also, having money along the way for pots, elixirs, scrolls and enchants can quicken the leveling process even more. If you have another toon on the same server that can fund this then you are ahead of the game; but if this is your first, what should you do? Most money-making strategies involve taking time out from questing and grinding your way up the levels. If you want to get to 80 fast, this is not what you want to do. Instead, focus on the things you can do at the same time, rather than things you can do instead. As a Hunter, you have some advantages that other classes do not have, so you may as well use them. Your choice of professions will be the main thing that affects how much money you make along the way. Obviously, gathering professions are what you should look at first, but which ones? My first choice is ALWAYS skinning, since you will be killing beasts for quests anyway. Plus, you can skin the mobs that other players have killed and looted too…this is all free stuff that you had to do absolutely nothing else for. Okay, true, you had to spend the time skinning…plus there’s the inventory slot for your skinning knife…neither of which matters very much. As for the second gathering profession, which one should you choose? I think it depends on three things: 1) which is most abundant in your starting zone; 2) what sells for more on the Auction House; 3) what you like the most. I don’t like to pick other professions for my first toon, as they tend to cost money in the beginning. That’s not an expense you should saddle yourself with early in the game. Better to pick up the other professions with your next toons when you can feed them with your main toon. So, anyone can pick up skinning, mining or herbalism, so what does this have to do with Hunters? First, there is tracking. If you are not tracking something specific for quests, you can track beasts to get some easy skins for easy cash. Note that tracking also applies when farming elementals; if you can spot a mob faster than someone else can, then you have an advantage over them. Second, you have a pet that can do most of the work for you. When I am farming for meat and skins, I skin and loot after I send in the pet and put a sting on the next mob. That way the next mob is already half dead by the time I get back to it. Just remember to put a sting on the mob first, because if your pet does all the damage, you won’t be able to loot it. Incidentally, this method saves on bullets too! (Putting your pet on “Aggressive” can also help you find and tag mobs…but be careful of aggroing too much!) Setting down fire traps at spawn points is another way to tag mobs before anyone else has a chance to claim them. Just bear in mind that the trap can aggro more mobs than you intended. But if you have a good Tenacity pet it should pick up aggro quickly. Finally, pets can also help to “defend” or even steal nodes that might otherwise go to the next player. If you land near a mining node that is camped by a hostile mob, you won’t be able to mine it after you get attacked. Having a pet that will occupy these mobs means you have a much better chance of getting the node. There is nothing more frustrating than landing on a Titanium node, only to get aggroed and have someone else swoop in and grab the node while you fight down the mobs for them. I am not going to pretend that any of this is a huge revelation. I am sure that this has all been said before. I merely mention them because they can help you get the most out of what you are already doing. You don’t necessarily need to change what you are doing; doing it differently may be enough to double your gold-per-hour rate. Efficiency is the key — and tracking and using your pet to work for you will help you manage the most precious resource there is: time. For more tips on playing a Hunter, visit my blog at: http://www.thewarcrafthunter.com Want to submit a guest post? Read this !

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