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.