MMORPG.com World of Warcraft Correspondent Ricky Turner writes this article about the importance of gear in Activision / Blizzard's record shattering MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

In Activision-Blizzard’s MMO World of Warcraft, gear is the single most important component of your character. Contrary to what some players say, WoW is a gear based game. Of course, skill does come into play, but even the worst player can beat one of the best if he out-gears him. This is quite an unfortunate pitfall in the game’s grand design, but is made up for once someone gets decent gear. From this point on, the article has been written for people who do not know much about the game, it’s an informative guide aimed at helping people. If you know everything, stop wasting your time reading now, thank you.

From the moment you step into Azeroth, gear becomes an important part of your gaming experience. Whether it be the grey starter items, or the +1 stamina leather belt that dropped in a cave filled with the Burning Blade cult. As you level, you will interchange gear so often that it’s a pain to try and keep gear that is exactly your level. The best strategy for this is to just run instances every few levels and get your updates from the many instances spread throughou the game. If you buy items off the auction house, you are most likely wasting your money unless the item is really cheap. The reason I state this is because you will “out-level” the gear pieces by the time you make the money spent back. Another popular money-sink are the blue bind on equip items that are placed on the Auction House for twinks. Most of the blue BoE items are so over priced that it isn’t economically efficient for a leveling character to purchase them. Yes, they are flashy and wonderful at the time you buy them, but when you’re 75 gold short of buying your mount, it wasn’t worth the money spent. Blizzard fixed these small issues in the Burning Crusade expansion by having quests give out the best items for your level. Once you begin to do BC’s quest lines, you’ll never have to purchase another piece of armor or new weapons at all. Gear while leveling is important, but you can often quest and level with equipment under your level without having any problems.

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