After much debate, character rerolling and
tapdancing on the backs of hundreds of different
types of mobs, I have decided upon the ULTIMATE
soloable/PVE template!
I realize everyone has a varying opinion when it
comes to these sorts of templates, however there
were a few criteria I had in mind when creating this
template.
1. Make excessive amounts of money.
2. Rarely, if ever, have to purchase ANYTHING from
the Auction House other than weapons and armor.
3. A character which could provide his/herself
excellent buffs without having to be a mage. This
provides the benefit of superb armor, excellent
damage and you don't have to relegate yourself to
the mystical professions.
So, that all being said here's what I've come up
with. I've put this to test up to level 30 with a
Dwarven Hunter and it is BY FAR the best template
I've come across yet.
Class:
Hunter (but can be ANY melee character)
Two Main Professions:
Alchemy
Herbalism
Sub-Professions:
Cooking
First Aid
Fishing
I've shown this to a few people, and oddly enough
almost ALL of these professions (other than fishing)
have proven to be highly unpopular. When I first
created my character, I must admit I didn't realize
the huge benefits of both cooking and first aid, and
selected them both without realizing I couldn't drop
them at a later time (they put me to 3
subprofessions)!
Now, let me break down each profession and how they
allow you to become my idea of the "Ultimate
Soloable Character".
Alchemy:
This profession, allows you to mix up some excellent
potions which push all your attributes much higher
than the norm, for periods between 30 minutes to 1
hour.
Buying instead of crafting your own potions is a
never-ending money pit, and quite unnecessary.
Herbalism:
This is undoubtedly the most tedious, yet most
rewarding, profession to level in the game. The
grind can be quite tedious, IF you level this
profession at very early levels. I recommend waiting
to level 20 or so to even begin taking up the
profession.
I first took alchemy around level 21 and simply ran
around the areas where low level toons (level 5-15)
roam. By running around the entire map in a circular
fashion, I was able to level up my herbalism skill
to 75 in just about an hour. After leveling up to
journeyman Herbalist, I headed back out and hit 100
in another 30 minutes. Not bad at all. I highly
recommend leveling herbalism in this fashion, as you
don't have to worry about mobs in the area, as most
of them will drop within 1-2 hits.
Also, obviously to be completely self sufficient in
alchemy, you have to be an herbalist as well.
Alchemy without herbalism is useless.
Cooking:
The first subprofession I have chosen is also a
highly unpopular profession within WoW. However, for
those of you who aren't already cooks what if I were
to tell you all those pieces of boar/bear meat
you've been selling to NPCs could have given you
some EXCELLENT buffs? Buffs you typically pay for?
Here's an example, since level 20 I've been creating
"Curiously Tasty Omelettes". These omelettes require
only a raptor egg and 1 bag of hot spices. The
raptor eggs are available in abundance from just
hunting in areas such as the Wetlands, and a bag of
hot spices runs you 10 copper at your local cooking
establishment.
Whenever you consume a food for more than 10 seconds
that has been created by a chef, you get a buff
called "well fed". This can result in any number of
buffs to your character depending on the food eaten,
but for instance the curiously tasty omelets grants
me +6 spirit and +6 Stamina for 15 minutes.
Considering you make these omelets in batches of 5
at a time, it's an excellent value. And as you
progress through the game and begin picking up
higher level drops from mobs the food and buffs only
get better.
So DO NOT SELL those pieces of boar meat/bear
meat/eggs etc you pick up just during your regular
hunting grind. Use these instead to up your cooking
skill and create foods which will grant you some
great buffs.
First Aid:
All those pieces of wool/linen/silk you've been
picking up AREN'T just for tailors and
leatherworkers. Instead of selling these to the
vendor, take up the First Aid profession instead.
Here's the aspect of first aid I absolutely
love......you can heal YOURSELF quickly and
efficiently purely from drops. There is no need to
head back to the local auction house and begin
bidding on healing potions. You can just create your
own healing items out of common humanoid drops.
For instance, with a single wool cloth you can
create a bandage which heals you for 167 damage.
With 2 pieces of wool cloth you can create a bandage
which heals you for 301 damage. It only gets better
with silk, 1 piece of silk will give you a bandage
which heals you for 400 damage!
Fishing:
Many of the foods you'll make as a chef require
fish. Instead of shouting in town for specific food
components, just go out and fish for them yourself.
Not much to explain here, fishing is pretty self
explantatory. But again, the idea of this template
was to be TOTALLY self sufficent outside of armor
and weapon purchases. Fishing/cooking allow this to
happen. You really shoudn't have one without the
other, as some of the fish-based dishes you'll make
grant amazing buffs.
An analysis of my character prior/post my "self
created" buffs:
So let's do a little analysis of my completely
unbuffed level 30 hunter prior to taking ANY of my
self created potions, or eating my tasty omelets.
Stats Prior to Potions/Food:
Strength: 67
Agility: 86
Stamina: 101
Intellect: 53
Spirit: 71
Armor: 938
Health: 1130
Potions I'll be Consuming:
Now, these are potions I take as a hunter at level
30, again I created these ALL myself just through
the herbalism/al
chemy profession. Buying all of these at the auction
house on a regular basis would cost you a FORTUNE.
This way, you can do it for free.........and while
you are collecting the herbs yourself you're gaining
XP for both your professions and overall leveling. A
win/win situation!
Elixir of Ogre's Strength (sells for 40-75s on AH)
- Adds 8 Strength for 1 hour
Elixir of Greater Defense (Sells for 60s-1G on AH)
- Adds 250 Armor for 1 hour
Elixir of Agility (Sells for 50s-1G on AH)
- Adds 15 Agility for 1 hour
Elixir of Fortitude (Sells for 40s on AH)
- Increases Health by 120 for 1 hour
Food I'll be Eating:
Curiously Tasty Omelet (Stack of 20 Sells for 75s on
AH)
- Grants +6 Stamina
- Grants +6 Spirit
Stats Post Potion/Food Consumption:
Strength: 75
- An increase of approximately 12%
Agility: 101
- An increase of approximately 17%
Stamina: 107
- An increase of approximately 5%
Intellect: 53
- No increase
Spirit: 77
- An increase of approximately 8%
Armor: 1218
- An increase of approximately 30%
Health: 1412
- An increase of approximately 25%
So across the board we have SIGNIFICANT gains in
stats across the board. These stats result in MUCH
more powerful attacks (both ranged and melee)
equivalent to being 3-5 levels above your current
level. And the best part about all of this? It's
absolutely free with this template.
With just a single potion of each above, and 4
Omelets (to equal the one hour buffs of the other
potions) you'd pay anywhere between 2 gold to 2.3
gold on the auction house. This is quite simply
impossible to accomplish without unloading a TON of
cash on these items alone, but you will obviously
suffer greatly in the armor/weapon department.
With this template you will be a BEAST, and can
regularly solo mobs 2-3 levels higher than you,
however don't go any higher than this as the "miss"
rate is far too high beyond this threshold (although
with these buffs if it wasn't you could destroy mobs
5 levels higher).
Monetary Benefits:
The main money maker here is herbalism. Most high
level players have a large amount of gold on them
simply from drops. Existing high level Alchemists
have become quite dependent on their high level
potions, however aren't big fans of the grind of
collecting herbs to make them.
Also, many times you simply have people out there
who are re-rolling (or have purchased online
currency) who are grinding alchemy purely by
purchasing items at the AH. Take a look next time on
your server and check out the prices of the
following herbs:
Wild Steelbloom
Stranglekelp
Goldthorn
All three of these herbs are EXTREMELY vital to many
of the potions I listed above, so there's no
surprise to learn that just 2-3 of each of these
herbs can get you in excess of one gold a piece.
Also, keep in mind in herbalism each time you
harvest a single node of herbs you ALWAYS get 2-3
pieces of the herb at a time. So it's simple,
harvest just ONE node of Wild Steelbloom and you're
pretty much guaranteed 1 gold. And when you take
into consideration you only need to have a level of
115 to harvest Wild Steelbloom, there aren't any
MAJOR roadblocks to entering this highly untapped
market.
I've made 20 gold on the AH in just the past 2 days
of light playing, strictly selling steelbloom. With
this money I've been able to purchase some excellent
rare weapons and armor. In combination with my
self-made mega buffs these weapons and armor make me
even more powerful when soloing mobs. When grouping
is a MUST (for certain elite quests) I've had folks
3-4 levels higher than me who comment how strong I
am, mostly because the mobs they attempt to tank
always seem to aggro me! How embarrasing for them!
To feel gimped when partied with a guy 3 or 4 levels
lower than them.
Final Thoughts:
Again, I realize templates are all about individual
playing styles, but after much tinkering and playing
in the world of WoW I have found this template to be
unparalleled in terms of near total
self-sufficiency, while still allowing the character
to make large sums of money in the open market.
Have fun, and please feel free to post your own
templates or additions.
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