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'