- Don't get complacent. If a pull looks like it is on the dangerous end of your ability to control it, don't make that pull. Sure, you may think 'I've been soloing this instance for 2 hours, I wouldn't want to have to start over from the zone-in!'...then Dog, just type /played - that 2 hours is a sunk cost and not a valid reason for you to try to go into overachiever mode risking your 7+ days played.
- Get used to asking yourself what would happen if for some reason you were to immediately be DC'd. Are you underwater when you DC? Dead. Are you Autorunning when you DC? Dead. Are you pulling a pack you can't handle without a pet cleaning up for you when you DC? Dead! Are you running at 3 frames per second in Hellfire Peninsula because you are downloading several gigs of files to a folder named 'Transformers pR0n' while running iTunes off a router attached to a cable jack in the kitchen when your drunk roommate wanders in at 4 am and wants to play some Counterstrike but trips over the RJ45 cable that you were too lazy to not leave just laying across the goddam hallway and it rips out of the back or your rig? Dead, dead, dead. Also: Perv. Also: Lazy.
- Don't be afraid to spend some golds. Max consumables, at all times. Food buff, a relevant scroll, and 2 elixirs (or 1 flask). Picking alchemist can help with the cost here, but let's be honest, with epic ground mounts costing like 20 Gold now, you'll have the pocket change to stay buffed at all times. Also, if you see a friendly buff class around your level, toss them a few silver to fort (or whatever) you up. You can also pick up a lot of class-appropriate BOE armor and scrolls of Enchant Face - Marginally Sexier on the AH for not a lot of gold as well.
- Talent for right now, not for killing Anub'Arak. If you are trying an endeavor like this, you probably have 1 or more max-level toons. Do not select talents/glyphs as if you are going to be raiding at max level or gunning for Gladiator - select talents and glyphs that will help you get to max level unmolested.
- Pull Smart. Pull S-Mart. You will have 20,000+ fights against mobs before you hit max level. Surprisingly, this will be the easiest thing to control. Don't make stupid pulls, and always have an escape route available. That seems basic, but making 1 good pull is easy. Making 20,000 consecutive good pulls is REALLY hard. Regardless, here is the salient point: With judicious use of potions and gold, you can spend your way out of death by mob. What you have to plan for and insure against are deaths by incompetence, deaths by ignorance, and deaths by randomness.
Here are some of the more common incompetent/ignorant/random death vectors along with a few tips to make them more controllable:
- Death by Drowning. Don't do ANY underwater quests without a 30-minute underwater breathing buff or potion. It's just that easy.
- Death by AFK to grab a drink. Just log out in a safe place. It'll take you 20 seconds to log out and another 15 to log back in, but the cost of a pathing elite sneaking up and packing your lunch while you are AFK is FAR greater. I'm looking at you here, Fel Reaver.
- Death by holy crap, that was a level Skull! Do your research on Wowhead before going into an unfamiliar zone, instance, or fighting an unfamiliar boss. One mind control can wreck you. So can aggroing a 54 spider from WPL while you're standing at The Bulwark in Tirisfal Glades at level 12. So can running into a 60 Elite dragon in the middle of Swamp of Sorrows. Call it the Fel Reaver Rule. Know what the insta-gib mobs are in a zone and plan for them (for example, toss a /tar son of arugal macro onto an easily spammable key when you are in Silverpine Forest just so you know if one is close)
- Death by Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee...splat. Be a Scryer, not an Aldor, as the fall off of the Scryer elevator is 100% less fatal. Avoid Thunder Bluff. Be careful on the Undercity elevators. Make sure you don't have auto-dismount enabled, and don't fly over opposing faction cities. Better yet, avoid getting a flying mount at all. If I make it to hardcore 77 and have to delete because I got keyboard catted and it hit my attack button somewhere over Storm Peaks, my computer and my (imaginary, used only as a rhetorical device) cat are going out the window.
- Death by WTB VC RUN 10G PLOX. Don't trust others. Even if you have an 80 Pally from /trade running you through Wailing Caverns, if he skips 2 mobs that aggro on you, you're gonna die and he won't notice. Game over. There is exactly one person you can rely on for a hardcore 80, and that person is you.
- Death by Terrible decisions before you hit Lvl 1. Can your character take a few punches to the face? Do you have at least 2 'Oh Crap!' buttons for when you overpull? Can you handle unexpected adds? Do you have an out if you find yourself falling from a great height? If not, consider a different class or profession.
- Death by inadvertently flagging PvP. Be aware of mobs and quests that flag you. PvP is the enemy of the hardcore 80. It doesn't cause durability damage, but it does increment your death meter up by an unacceptable amount (1).
- Death by BANZAI!!! This is the biggie. There is no way in hell I'm going to grind green mobs to 80, and that shouldn't be necessary for you either. If you choose to do level-appropriate content like I am, here is your golden rule: If a pull/quest looks hinky, DON'T DO IT.
*I'm kind of time-lording a few of these tips back through the series of tubes to this point on my blog. A lot of the stuff mentioned here will be encountered in your not too distant blog reading future, yet simultaneously in my current hardcore toon's not too distant past. Trippy, right?
