What to spend gold on first while leveling in WoW Forever

Cover the outing you're about to make

Check what you're missing for the trip. A repair or a supply purchase may deserve the money before equipment you simply like the look of. If friends are expecting you to fill a particular role in a group, check the training you want for that role too.

You may already have enough to go. In that case, an improvement is something to weigh against riding or another purchase, rather than a bill you must settle before leaving.

Read the spell before buying the rank

At the trainer, read what the ability or new rank does. Compare it with what you already know and where you expect to use it. A spell you rarely cast while questing may still be something you want for a dungeon with friends.

If you're considering waiting, make sure you understand what you'd be giving up until the next visit. A low price doesn't make a spell necessary, and a high price doesn't make it safe to skip. You can set aside an allowance for training you intend to buy without making a separate budget entry for every unlearned spell.

Budget the price quoted for your character. Blizzard's October 15 development notes reported a fix for Bartering incorrectly discounting training and repairs, so don't assume a vendor-item discount also reduces the trainer bill. Don't take a second discount off a quote that already includes the applicable adjustments. Source: Blizzard's development notes, Legacy System.

When a bag is worth buying first

If full bags keep sending you back to town before you're ready, more usable space may be worth buying before adding to the riding fund. First sell or store the things you don't need to carry. That may free enough room to postpone the purchase.

Check your stock before rebuying supplies already in storage too. Spend on the thing that would actually fix the problem. A bag can be worthwhile because it means fewer interruptions while questing; you don't need to prove it will earn back its price.

Use the bag and storage guide to compare how much usable room each option would add.

Price the craft as well as the recipe

Before learning another recipe, work out what you intend to make and what the ingredients will cost. Spending all your spare money on the recipe leaves you with nothing to craft until you can fund the materials.

Materials you've gathered can go into the craft, but you could also sell them or use them for something else. Include that choice when deciding whether the recipe is worth buying ahead of a bag or riding. You can fund the recipe you want without committing to every unlock after it. The profession-cost guide compares crafting for yourself with crafting for sale.

One wallet, two shopping lists

Made-up prices for this example: you have 2g 50s and want to leave 50s for ordinary play. That gives you 2g to spend or save. The training you want costs 80s, a bag that would solve your space problem costs 60s, and an optional recipe costs 1g 20s.

Buy the training and bag, and you spend 1g 40s. You can put the remaining 60s toward riding. The wallet then holds 1g 10s: the 50s you kept for play, plus 60s saved for riding.

Buy the training and recipe instead, and you spend the full 2g, leaving only the 50s for play. That option works only if you can supply the ingredients without using any of that 50s. If you still need to buy ingredients, their cost has to fit the budget too.

The recipe costs you the bag and the 60s riding contribution in the other shopping list. If making that recipe is what you want to do tonight, you may prefer it. If the bag would make every quest trip easier, you may prefer the first list. Neither list spends the 50s kept for ordinary play.

Leave something for the next visit

You don't have to finish buying everything on this visit. Come back to a spell before an outing where you expect to use it, or to a recipe when you're ready to make it. Waiting keeps the money available today, although a purchase you make later will still cost you gold.

An appearance or an experiment can deserve some gold too. The spendable-gold calculation shows how much is left after money you've already put aside. Once the outing costs are covered, you can spend some because you want to, knowing how much less will go toward riding or the next useful upgrade.