What to buy? Questions in general about items?

[Hey Cody]

Uh, hi.
I have just a few questions.. I just joined today so I'm not very used to this.

I was browsing some forum about rating your avatar, and I thought I had made mine look really cool and stuff, but then this guy was like, 'uh no your so terrible i can't rate you, go get gold'

So I earned a bunch, spent some on items, and now I have about 10k left (I don't know if that's alot or a little.) But I was wondering, what items are 'cool' or make your avatar look all popular/mainstream?

I feel like such a noob, but I really don't want to spend my money on stuff that won't make me look cooler.

Can someone give advice on what to wear? I don't know what to do, ahah. Also - what's considered alot of gold and little gold? Is 10,000 alot, or a little? Is 20,000 really high or like medium?

Sorry, I'm so stupid ahah.  

[Shujitsun]

Hey Cody

You don't have to change your avatar just so that other people like it. Everyone likes different things. If you want to make an avatar you think is nice, I'd start off with going on tektek and getting to know the items on gaia a bit better. There are pages after pages of items from gaia on there, so you can see for yourself what items you like to get you started.

Link to tektek  

[Kitalpha Hart]

personally, i don't think it's too bad, other than the fact that it's shirtless (i'm an shirts-please girl)
but yeah, mess around on tektek, see what you like
if it gets too expensive, we can help you find cheaper alternatives that still work
just keep in mind that tektek's layering system isn't like Gaia's-it'll show some things as layering when it won't on here, so keep that in mind  

[_winterdawnn]

tektek is your best friend in this situation. There you can mess around with items that u already have and add items outside of your invo. Just take in mind that making an 'decent outfit' would cost around 500k-1mil in gold, in my opinion anyways.
or you can create a 'dream avi' and quest for the items in the outfit... great fun 4laugh  

[koromyst]

Hey Cody

Sadly, it's how most people here in Gaia (generally) rate avatars these days. Anything not looking uber bombastic enough is considered "not cool" to them. The general consensus nowadays is that the more expensive the items you are equipping, the more awesome-looking your avatar will become.

I have to disagree.

The fact that newbies have a limited budget to create astounding avatars... yes and no. As a matter of fact, starter items for newbies these days are really awesome compared to the ones in previous years. (I had to roam around with a white unattractive baggy t-shirt for my initial couple of months in here back then xD). Gold shops are now filled with neat looking stuffs. Then there's CrossStitch where you have items created by Gaians ourselves. Pretty cool creations, I must say xD

As per what the others suggested before me, tektek.org (specifically, the dream avatar feature) is a great place to play around with items and then finally decide upon a look that you might be going for. As such, you will have a chance to refrain yourself from wasting gold buying items that in the end, would somehow become unnecessary for the look you were going for. Here's where the term 'dream avatar' comes into play. A tektek of your visioned avatar --- how you preferably want your avatar to look like. Then comes the quest of pursuing the items, either one by one, or by a bulk =D

My own current avatar is made out of a mixture of cheap and somewhat midrange-priced items. I don't need a demonic pendant or a demonic halo or devil tail in order to make it look good. Back wings? Animated items? Nuh-uh. As such, "creativity" is all that you need to turn a cheap avatar into one that makes peoples' jaws drop; without having to spend a fortune =D

Of course, you won't be able to please everyone. There are some that prefers clean-cut avatars. There are some that prefers balance-ly cluttered avatars. There are some that are just pleased with your color balance. There are some that rates you for your themes. There are some that goes for outrage creativity (as in your avatar looks nothing like 'an avatar' ... get it? xD). You just go ahead and create the one you want.

To get your avatar rated, first start off in guild-based rate threads. When you're comfortable enough, you can venture off to the Avatar Talk main forum. Probably by then, you are confident enough to enter and win the Avatar Arena hands down =D

As for your last question... the amount of gold at hand is pretty subjective. One can have over a million gold but still considers him/herself poor xD