FAQ

First, reread the sections of the guide to make sure you didn't miss anything upon first read - many people miss information. While most things I mentioned have hyperlinks with more information, some things may not be entirely obvious. I suggest using a search engine to look up the thing you're looking for, and going from there. Wowhead.com and Warcraft.wiki.gg are good resources for specific in-game items, abilities, npcs, etc. Otherwise, there's always Google.com, Bing.com. Duckduckgo.com, Yandex...

The best way to answer this question is by looking at what the stats say on that item, and then comparing this to similar items. This generally answers most questions about whether something is good. You can also refer to the suggested stat priorities I mentioned.

Some items may be better than another item depending on the situation, but otherwise perform almost exactly the same. You can use addons to measure your DPS output when it comes to determining these small differences, or you can see how different items affect your stats. It's also important to know what stats do what for each class and spec, especially with mastery, to see how they affect your ability to survive and do damage. Finally, an item that may be good for you now might be less ideal when your gear changes, especially when it comes to gear obtained through RNG. It comes down to a mix between your preferences in play-style, analyzing what your twink might be lacking in that point in time, and seeing what you can get. The items in this guide are my suggestions, not words of law. 

You are allowed to disagree - the information on this guide, while mostly crowd-sourced, is also tinged with my own perceptions and bias. It's always good to offer counteracting opinions, especially when the topic is more nuanced. That said, you should also be wary about how your own perceptions and bias influence your decision making, and possibly prevent yourself from seeing the big picture. Unless you're disagreeing with like, factual information...can't help you there unless you present compelling data.

The availability of a socket proc goes as such:

• DUNGEON ITEMS - Helmets, Necks, Wrists, Waists, Rings

• RARES AND BOES - Legion and BFA rare drops/BOEs can proc sockets on any slot. Rares from Tanaan Jungle or Apexis Rares can do the same. 

• QUESTS REWARDS - Cannot proc sockets

• TIMEWARPED DROPS - At this moment in time, none appear to drop with terts or sockets.

There's a 99% chance you missed something in the guide, but please check the following:

1. What enchantments do you have? Do they follow the suggestions mentioned on the Enchantments page, or on the Classes page if relevant?

2. Are you using the Shadowlands healing gem? If so, do you have them dispersed correctly, as mentioned here?

3. Are you using the suggested gear? Are there stats you can improve on that would help you survive (e.g. Versatility)?

4. Are you doing pulls that are way too big for what you can handle, even if you know that the mechanics of the instance you're in may not be suitable for large pulls? 

5. Are you hitting spells that could improve your survival (stuns, heals, defensives, etc.)?

6. Are you using your damaging spells correctly (Whirlwind and SCK can both be used while in movement, using spells in the correct order, etc.)?

7. If you're playing a 10, it might be more advantageous to start playing an 11. You'll get more health and additional access to specific consumables.

8. Finally - maybe this is controversial - clicking your spells will generally put you at a disadvantage compared to using keybinds. This is especially so for classes that require quick reaction time to stay up. 

The remaining 1% chance is that there is wonky scaling, especially if the thing you're dying to is doing thousands of HP in damage.

As mentioned, I listed popular options, and noted some good (and bad) alternatives at the bottom of the page. If you want to go for more niche options, you are welcome to explore yourself.

Sometimes, things are so outrageously buggy that the chance of them getting fixed is way too high to even bother bringing up. Things like the Tanaan gear and the Ooze trinket have been around for multiple years now, so that's why they're listed. Unless there's a sign that something won't be fixed, there's no point mentioning it. If it manages to last more than a couple months, I'll add them in. 

Sometimes, you'll get a random proc of a tertiary stat. Here's a list:

• SPEED RATING - This is the most "useful" proc, but of course it's usefulness is diminished by the existence of the Shadowlands speed gem. However, more speed rating natively on gear means less need for the gems themselves (unless you are using them for the self healing).

• LEECH RATING - This had a lot more use before the Leech nerf. You need an extraordinarily large amount of leech for it to even make an impact.

• AVOIDANCE RATING - The damage reduction from this is minimal and only applies to ground damage. It was also nerfed when leech was nerfed.

• INDESTRUCTIBLE - You will now save silver on gear repairs. Congratulations.

Most pieces can proc with tertiary stats, but pieces obtained from Dragonflight dungeons and rares while level 10-69, along with Timewarped pieces, are currently unable to proc tertiary stats. You can get tert stat procs on drops from Dragonflight rares if they are looted on toons level 1-9, but this is only optimal for building a level 10 twink.

This heavily depends on whether you are free to play or not, since getting specific items as free to play may require skilling specific professions, but here is what I suggest:

Permanent - Engineering is currently the best option for twinking due to the accessibility of travel it provides and the tinkers you can apply to your armor. This profession will make your life much easier, and if you want to go the extra mile, you can get Jeeves. If you are a Strength or Agility user then maybe Inscription for the shoulder enchants. If you are a spellcaster, you can opt to forgo Inscription since there is a spell power shoulder enchantment that doesn't require a profession to use. There are Tailoring leg enchants for intellect, but they require you keep the profession, so I don't suggest them.

Temporary - I suggest Leatherworking when you get your best in slot legs to apply the Pandaria leg enchants. You can drop it afterwards. Intellect users will either want to use the Leatherworking stamina leg enchant or use Tailoring leg enchants.

For Free to Play - I would advise reading the F2P Baseline Guide for the uphill battle you'll face.

Others - There are little benefits associated with Blacksmithing. If you're willing to risk a change in meta and don't mind regrinding professions when needed, you can pick up Alchemy. This will extend any potions or flasks you want to use, and give you access to the Alchemist's Flask, which gives +4 primary stat. This is mostly suggested for Intellect users, as there are Attack Power flasks that fill the role for other primary stat users.

The actual differences between races is extremely small, so play what you want!

....if you're asking that question though, you're either into minmaxing or struggle with independent decision making, so here's my suggestions:

First, if you are looking at pure base stat totals, Pokspell made a spreadsheet some time ago here. For racials...

• ALLIANCE

  • Mechagnome is one of my favorite picks, as they have a built-in cheat death. This, in conjunction with Parjesh's Medallion, ameliorates the squishiness of specs like Mistweaver Monk. They also have a stacking primary stat buff while in combat, which boosts your damage.

  • Gnomes have access to a racial 1% haste increase.

  • Night Elves is a popular pick for Druids, as you get access to Shadowmeld and numerous stat mods. It's also the required pick for Demon Hunters.

• HORDE

  • Goblin offers a summon-able bank (which includes warbank) and vendor discounts. It also has a 1% haste increase.

  • Vulpera has Bag of Tricks, which scales high at low levels modified by your versatility. It can also Make Camp, which used to be far more useful before 10s got skyriding, but is still great as a teleport especially in no-flying zones. You also get 8 extra bag slots.

  • Zandalari Trolls have their Loa based racial, which allows for a lot of customization

• NEUTRAL

  • Pandaren doesn't have many racials that work well for twinking. There was one (Epicurean) that worked well in tandem with a bug that is now fixed, but otherwise, there's not much to bat for here.

  • Earthen is in a similar boat, but the 10% armor buff is decent for survival, and Quiet Contemplation is currently straight up broken due to lack of scaling. Outside of that, neither the damage ability or the food buff provide enough value to justify it.

  • Dracthyr are the most interesting option of the neutral races due to their racial glide and knockback, along with their ability to fly without a mount. They do get a small mastery buff, but their other racials are far more impactful on 10s.

Reach out to me on discord by going through one of the discords mentioned above. If you directly message me a question that could be answered through either reading the guide or using algebra, I will most likely not respond. Don't ask me how to do specific exploits, there's a good chance that I don't know, and there's probably a reason why you wouldn't already know. Also, I prefer front-loaded questions. 

I'll start this off by saying that I don't personally find armories to be a helpful resource for figuring out how to gear a specific spec or build, and I notice people often trail off in the wrong direction when they rely on armories as a reference point. The gear displayed on a twink's armory might seem to be using might be outdated or experimental, or it might not be what's actually optimal. This is especially the case if someone is working off their own outdated knowledge of what's good" However, I know people like looking at "finished products", and I've certainly been asked to provide armory links.

So, here's some lists of 10s armories:
Pokspell's List (for DF, outdated)

DPook's List (for TWW)

Maybe! I can't make promises, but the thing I see people get banned for the most (or at least, what gets them flagged or reported for "hacking") is running multiple clients at once or interacting with the normie playerbase in Random Dungeons. I suggest not doing that if you're worried about getting banned. If anything else in this guide is something that Blizzard cares about people doing, they'd properly fix it or change how something operates. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Play at your own risk, only blame yourself if you get smacked.