I bought this game recently, not knowing anything really about it, other than it had good reviews.. watching your how-to-play video here, and I am already in love.. that's a keeper! :D
Thanks for sharing. As always, your How To Play was extremely informative and very well done. You were on fire. (Well, you know, you did talk about dragons! He He) I have this game on the way and looking forward to playing it.
Do I need to resolve every step of the gather phase to get the next one? For example, I gather first, choose not to place a dragon or fire up a dragon, and then use a shop ability.
You do not have to resolve every action in the Gather phase. Any action that has the word "May" is an optional action you can take. That also applies with enchant. The only mandatory thing is step 1.