Call me crazy but...

Call me crazy but I kind of miss my druid. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a blast with the DK - especially tanking whelps/blazes in Sarth2D/Sarth3D - but whenever I see a tree or a horde boomkin or a horde bear/cat, I get this twinge and I'm like "DRUID I MISS YOU".

I guess he's still my main in many ways. I missed Elder with him, though, because he's only 71 and I've been busy. Maybe if I have time this week, I'll level him up a bit and swap from LWing to Inscription.

In other news, my DK is missing 1 piece of gear from 10man Naxx: Death's Bite. I also OTed all of Naxx for the first time this week, which was pretty neat. I wish I could heal too. :P But then on my shaman, I wish I could tank. All my hybrids seem so limited in comparison to my dear druid.

This post brought to you by my healbot BF taking forever to get to UK so I can run him through to his bouquet. Continue reading 'Call me crazy but...'

The Reroll

In many ways, the reroll is like the ultimate respec. You trade in your abilities, your gear, your role... and you go for something completely different. It's more permanent, more costly and more daunting, but in the end can be completely rewarding.

I haven't been posting at all this weekend due to leveling my new main: my death knight. I've yet to tank anything, but I've managed to develop a knack for Death and Decay spam which lets me challenge some of my T6 guildmates in ideal situations. It's a very fun class, I advise than everyone at least do the DK starting experience to really complete the WotLK experience.

I'm not sure if I'll be maintaining this blog at all into WotLK. I don't have much spare time to try to think up novel things worth writing. So until I come up with a concrete plan, happy questing and leveling and raiding. Continue reading 'The Reroll'

Achievement Addiction?

I have played so much more since the Achievement system was released. I am now First Sergeant Ambassador Mesuari Jenkins the Diplomat, Hand of A'dal.

I am also Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms and Outland. Less than 70 quests from Loremaster of Kalimdor. I have explored all available regions. I am about 13K from Guardian of Cenarius. I am about 20K from Argent Dawn Exalted.

I still only have 36 mounts, because my system is having issues with the Dragonmaw Orcs and I'm a slacker. I'm up to... 20 pets?

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of the "collect a ton of ___ to get an extra ___" Achievements. Well, except for the mounts. But that's mainly because I'm a tauren and it's a real challenge. That and two of our warlocks have the Albino Drake and I can't let them win.

I do like having the titles though. :D

Why did this have to come out during midterms though? :P Hopefully I'll make the right choices. (On a more serious note, yes my education comes first. However, it doesn't give me shiny boxes to congratulate me when I finish something. :P) Continue reading 'Achievement Addiction?'

Mounts for Tauren in 3.0.2

Basic Kodos: 2
Epic Kodos: 3
Basic Wolves: 3
Epic Wolves: 3
PvP Mounts: 3
Rep Talbuks: 8
PvP Talbuks: 2
Netherdrakes: 6
Nether rays: 5
Hippogryph: 1
Basic Windrider: 3
Epic Windrider: 4
Frostwolf: 1

Total: 44

+AQ bugs, all types, which each count as different mounts
+Rare drops, such as Brewfest Rams/Kodos, the White Hawkstrider, Deathcharger's Reins, Zulian Tiger/Raptor, Ashes of A'lar...
+Engineering Helicopters

So, basically, if you're a tauren, you need to rely on rare drops, switch professions or run AQ40.

I have 36 mounts right now. I'm working on my Netherwing and Skyguard rep right now - since I'd only worked on it on my priest - which should net me another 11 mounts (47). Then I need a Cenarion Hippogryph (48), PVP Kodo (49) and PVP Riding Talbuk (50).

To be honest, the hardest one will be the little talbuk. Curse you, PVE server! Continue reading 'Mounts for Tauren in 3.0.2'

3.0.2 + WotLK Thoughts

So this patch is kinda crazy. Luckily my server has been pretty stable, so I've run around and picked up various achievements.

Most major news is that my guild will be downsizing to 10mans from 25mans due to the GL being swamped by real life. We'll see if they still have room for me (though the BF is definitely staying).

I specced my toons into their "leveling" specs. So the druid is feral, the shaman elemental, the paladin retribution (which is REALLY fun now), the hunter is ZOMGDEVILSAUR and the priest is in limbo.

Not really having much time to update of late, been too busy playing.

Back to Hallow's End! Continue reading '3.0.2 + WotLK Thoughts'

Oh Hai

Apparently I forgot that I had a blog. I am terrible at this.

I don't think I talked about this before I disappeared for a couple weeks, but my laptop became the devil for a little while. It would destroy all wireless networks it connected to by making them flicker on/off constantly. This made raiding with it impossible for at least a month, during which I had to use my brother's desktop.

So I finally caved and did a full reinstall on the thing. It took a full raid to do it, but then I had my laptop back so I could raid in my room again, which was sweet.

Since I last wrote, we have killed Illidan. Yup, beat the game (in my opinion anyway). I killed him with double Spellstrike too, which was obnoxiously amusing. Don't expect to live very long if you're battle rezzed on Illidan and you only have 6K HP, that's all I'm saying.

I also replaced my Spellstrike Pants with the T6 and wow, does it ever make a difference! I think I gained something like 15 MP5 while casting just from the Intellect and Spirit on these things. I suddenly am no longer riding my pot cooldown as hard as I was. It's nuts, makes me wish I had a new hat.

Guild is heading into Sunwell this week. :) Will update with how far we get.

On the alt front...

Every single one did Brewfest with my guild. I ended up healing our T6 tankadin on the paladin, priest and shaman. Tanked on the druid with our T6 tankadin or T6 priest healing me. We also did some healer-less runs with my hunter and mage. Every single one but the mage got a trinket - only the priest got it for offspec (but her mainspec trinkets are better, so woot nonetheless).

And my precious shaman is now up to 1650 +healing. :) I've been PVPing like a madwoman with her. I got 17K honor yesterday and managed to get my mace. Goal is to get my shield this weekend and then study for my midterm. Yep, priorities are totally in the right order.

Looking forward to adding a DK to my army. :D Continue reading 'Oh Hai'

Play What You Love

It may seem rather obvious to a lot of people, but it took quite some time for this to sink in for me. I've been playing a boomkin all summer and I've had a love/hate relationship with it. I've been disheartened by being on the bottom of the meters. I've been frustrated with having to respec in order to feel useful in PVP (resto) or in smaller groups of PVE (feral). I've been aggravated with the limitations of my class especially due to mana regeneration issues.

Then I realized that I wasn't really trying to play a boomkin. I wasn't focusing on the neat little things that make me happy to play this class. I wasn't putting in the extra effort that my beloved hybrid needs in order to show off.

I mean, when I was feral, I ground for badges every day. I'd PUG heroics, I'd grind through Karazhan, I'd do ZA every reset. I made balancing resilience and defense into a game and enjoyed it when I could just jam my gear full of stamina (since I was high enough on avoidance for my content). I developed my own ideas and then verified them with theorycraft, often learning from my mistakes along the way. As a result, I ended up doing a lot of things that my friends told me I simply should not be able to do. I mean, a feral druid coming in top three on Leotheras? That's just silly!

I also would grind for consumables. Grind for upgrades. Grind rep. I was determined to make my character something to be proud of. And I really really enjoyed myself then.

It was then that I realized that my problems with the boomkin were all fixable... with just a change of attitude on my part. It seems really obvious now, but it took me by surprise.

I've been disheartened by being on the bottom of the meters.
And yet I wasn't using consumables. I'd throw on some Mana Oil and maybe Flask on major progression fights. Granted, Dauntless has a habit of tearing down non-end bosses in the first night of attempts, so I could get away with this terrible habit on the others. I wouldn't even eat buff food, because I knew the boss would die with or without my help.

I've been frustrated with having to respec in order to feel useful in PVP (resto) or in smaller groups of PVE (feral).
And yet I didn't even bother to look at the impact of the boomkin in both these situations. I don't need to respec to heal in BGs, as the boomkin is still rather capable of this, not to mention it can defend itself much better. And while my lack of CC and aggro control makes PVE a little difficult, I can manage it (only 7 deaths in Kara this week).

I've been aggravated with the limitations of my class especially due to mana regeneration issues.
This is tied into the consumables issue, cause a regeneration flask does make life a lot easier. I've also learned how to use my pots and innervate more efficiently to keep myself going longer. Though this is also impacted by the lack of stats on my Spellstrike set, which yes I am still wearing because Archimonde refuses to drop Vanquisher hats and we've only downed Council three times.

I began to question my attitude and resolved to try to improve it. On Sunday, I made sure to keep the whisper conversations I was having light and amusing. Then I popped a flask for the last two hours of our raid. I usually sit around #13 on our damage meters. That night? I flew up to #6. This included Council, which is possibly the Worst Fight Ever for mana consumption.

Tonight we did Illidan attempts for three hours. I ended up in #3. Sure, this fight is biased towards ranged, but the fact that my poor Spellstrike wearing feathery self can come in so high in damage made me so happy. And as the fight went on I went through the little things that make me enjoy the boomkin class: the interesting rotation, the intricacies of when to pot/innervate and when not, the fact that I'm a support class that still provide some oomf, and my really cool dance.

Basically, by the end of the night I was feeling a lot better about my main. And it felt really really good to have a smile on my face while raiding again. :) Continue reading 'Play What You Love'

Trends and More Rambling

There have been a few constants in my raiding during BC:

1. I will pull aggro due to "class mechanics".
2. I will die from said aggro.
3. I will end up being the decurse/dispel bitch - even volunteering for it out of habit.
4. I will play a utility spec.

In case it's not obvious already, I am feeling extremely nostalgic and anxious about the expansion. I'm being ridiculously cranky and just blargh. I can't get excited about the "changes" to my existing classes - mainly cause they're just adding stuff, not changing anything - and my digging around for more DK news just got me discouraged.

Ideally I'd play an Unholy DK. With my little anti-magic bubble and my ghouls and my gargoyles. It sounds like a ton of fun, but I'm not sure how viable it would be for raiding. Sure it would be fine for the first few Tiers, but when it would reach the upper echelons - like SPLAT right now - I'm worried that my choice of utility spec would gimp the raid. (Granted, 9% extra magic damage is nothing to sneeze at.)

Most of this is anxiety about "oh my god, what if my guild won't want me anymore?" Figures that it would take me until now to find a raiding guild of people that I really rather like and don't want to be excluded from. I play more for people and raiding now than I used to, often spending my spare time watching TV or reading instead of leveling my alts. It would be extremely devastating to me to find a class/spec that I enjoy again, only to be told "no sorry we're full on that". Sure I have other classes/specs I could offer them, though only resto shaman really appeals to me right now. My lack of flexibility is very unsettling.

In the present day, though, things are going pretty well.

My druid is just shy of 1200 +damage unbuffed now and sits at about 900 DPS on a boss fight I survive the whole way through. (Spellstrike + AoE = nommed.) Just need 2-3 key pieces and I'll be at a satisfactory T6 gear level (2 of which are drops, 1 of which is either a drop or 100 badges). Then it'll be a regemming extravaganza to pick up more haste, as well as a quick badge splurge for the offhand. Who knows, maybe that'll happen before we get Illidan down.

The other characters have been side-lined due to my focus on fine-tuning my druid.

My shaman has been farming Primal Shadows for her final level, supposedly with the goal of getting her good enhancement gear... but she's going resto. So not really sure why I'm farming Primal Shadows. Either way, she's about 40% of a level away from 70. (At which point it's instant epic flyer + dailies for her, with a smattering of PvP.)

I've also decided not to level my rogue or warrior past their respective level brackets before the expansion comes out. Since I'm a single server kind of person, I'd like to save some lowbie fun for when I'm sick and tired of Northrend after leveling all 7-8 of the higher levels.

Just need to convince myself that WotLK isn't the end of the world. :) Continue reading 'Trends and More Rambling'

Pre-Expansion Thoughts

With the expansion looming ominously ahead, I find myself more and more drawn to the concept of the Death Knight. For all that my raiding main is a caster, I have to admit that what I enjoy the most is being a hybrid tank/melee dps.

I'm a bit worried about how the DK will fit into the raiding scene. In a guild that's already pretty stuffed with DPS, I'm uncertain as to how they would react to losing their boomkin for another melee DPS. Part of me is tempted to switch my focus to my shaman come the expansion, as they seem to have maintained their focus on chain heal... but I'm uncertain.

Last expansion, I was too new a player to feel anxious about it. However, this one is probably going to bring some changes. The thought of putting my druid on the shelf in any semi-permanent way is threatening to me, but in the end I'm just not that happy playing a balance druid.

Only time shall tell. :) Continue reading 'Pre-Expansion Thoughts'

Argh Raiding

Raiding with my druid is a very time-consuming process. We've downed Kael once now and are trying to repeat the feat before moving on to Archimonde. We also went back and two-shotted Vashj for some people to get their vials, so my druid is now a Hand of A'dal. I love the 25man raids, we're doing very well with them and I feel like I'm supporting the raid quite well as a balance druid, though I'm struggling with the limitations of my class on a personal basis.

We've also been pushing ZA a lot, though with less success. We got 3 timers down last week and this week only got 1 on both resets. Still no Hood of Hexing, still no Hex Shrunken Head... but it's still 13 badges per clear, and I need a ton.

In short, I've been raiding about 6 days a week, 3 "mandatory" and 3 10-man nights. It feels more like 7 days a week, cause I run an extra Karazhan on my paladin on a day when I raid with my druid. It's been busy.

My paladin picked up the Inscribed Legplates of the Aldor this week after yet another Karazhan run. Next up is a chestpiece, then a tanking ring to replace her final green. I also tanked Heroic Mech fairly painlessly and was quite proud of my little altadin.

My shaman has stored up at least 40K honor so far. I plan on picking up as much of the Merciless healing gear as I can before she hits 70. I really like healing BGs with her, it's very fun to watch the chain heals do their whole lightning bolt thing and to feel like you're doing something important for the group as a whole.

And that's basically all I've had time for this past week, hehe. Continue reading 'Argh Raiding'