Hobbies And Interests
Attribute Allocation
Players have great control over their character's growth during the game through the allocation of both attribute points and skill points. These points are limited, however, so go into the game with a plan as to how you are going to spend them. Determine how you are going to play and what attributes would best serve that play style. There are only four: strength, intelligence, dexterity and stamina. Your attribute choices will depend greatly on what character you choose. One good strategy is to determine what attribute is your character's "main" attribute and then spend all or most of your points in that. For barbarians, strength is the obvious choice as they are geared toward damage output. Wizards should be invariably all intelligence, as this will boost your available mana and mana regeneration, which is the wizard's primary source of combat ability. Rangers should stick to dexterity, as it affects their damage with a bow, their primary weapons. Clerics and shadow knights can be a bit trickier, as they use a combination of melee fighting and spells. They are the two classes that may benefit from splitting your points between two attributes -- intelligence and strength.
Skill Planning
Like attribute points, skill points are limited, and you should go into the game with a plan as to how you are going to spend them. It will not be possible during the course of the game for you to max out any character's entire skill tree, so make sure that every point you spend counts. Pick two spells or skills that you will use often and concentrate all of your points on them. You are only allowed two quick-use skill or spell buttons, so you really will not be using much more than these two. This means any skill points spent in other skills will be a total waste. Which two you pick is entirely up to personal preference, but try to pick two skills that complement each other. Generally picking one skill that hampers the enemy and another that dishes out large amounts of damage is a good bet.
Item Usage
There are many items in "Champions of Norrath" that provide different benefits when used or worn. Your character's gear should be as specifically tailored to him as are his skills and attributes. For example, your barbarian melee warrior will not benefit as much from a cloak that boosts his intelligence as he would from a helmet that boosts health regeneration. Likewise, a wizard has little use for a shield that increases melee damage if he never intends to be within 20 feet of an enemy. Find loot and shops that sell gear that will enhance your character's primary strengths. One item boost that is good for everyone to have, however, is elemental resistance. Most attacks in the game come in the form of some element, so boosting your character's natural resistance to one of these elements is always a good choice.