Noobish Questions (updated frequently)

[MongoJerry]

7) Is there a good rule of thumb for how much gold you should be making at different given levels? I know a lot of people were surprised when they hit 40 and saw the price of mounts, so skill costs clearly aren't a good indicator of how much is neccessary for equipment and repairs.

I know one of the biggest things I wasted time with for D2 was farming and trading on a small scale before just leveling up and just getting a better order of magnitude of income.

The amount of money you make rises very quickly as you level up. I wouldn't worry about being especially frugal until you start nearing level 40. At that point, some people actually decide not to get their upgraded spells and skills until they get their mounts. Personally, I think this is silly, however. I usually go right ahead and keep clearing on leveling and usually end up with my 80g for my mount just a few levels later. (Mount + skill training costs 100g normally, but if you are honored with your faction, you get a 10% discount on all items and services and if you get to rank 3 PvP, which is very easy to get, you get another 10% discount).

If you want to, you can play the auction house a little and sell some items there. There are some low level items that high level players do like to buy either for themselves or for their twink alts. It's a good way to make a little cash on the side. But even if you don't do that, scraping the cash together to get your level 40 mount is fairly easy. On the other hand, getting your epic mount at level 60 can be a pain.

7a) In the same vein, is there a ballpark sliding scale of how much leveling slows as you go up? With lvl 1-5 taking 1 hour, lvl 5-10 take roughly 3 hours, etc. etc.?

Leveling speed slows down after level 30 but how fast it slows down depends on what you do -- are you power leveling or are you exploring everything the game has to offer? Either way, however, leveling in World of Warcraft is far easier than leveling in other MMORPG's.