My priest is now sitting about halfway through level 62.  I spent some time leveling his fishing, which is now up to 308.  I am now making a nice profit from fishing in the Outlands, and I’m glad I took the time.  I can now also make my own stinking golden fish sticks and won’t be raiding the GB or hitting the AH every week.  Yay!

Anywho, I’ve started to think about my priest’s future.  Luckily, I made him "later" in my WoW life, so have made some excellent decisions.  He is at 316 enchanting and 364 tailoring, and I’m sure I’ll have no problems finishing off tailoring before I hit 70.  Enchanting I won’t worry so much about, I’ll just level it while I can.  I’m quite happy that I chose tradeskills that worked well with the class.  Of course it helps that this pair works together well and really is a slam dunk for the class.  

The question is, what do I do with him when I hit 70?  Stay Shadow, and contribute as a support/DPS class in raids, or go the Holy route, and see healing from another perspective?

Obviously, I already have a healer, he is very experienced and has pretty decent gear.  I enjoy Druidic healing, and I’m not sure if I’d have the same love for Priestly healing, as it seems to be a whole different ball game.  I’d have to worry about things like down-ranking, when to use flash heal vs. greater heal, when to use Prayer of Healing and when to use Circle of Healing.  It appears as if Priestly healing is a little more complex.  With the druid, healing is largely a matter of watching timers and managing the GCD.  I’m quite adept at weaving in all my little tricks without sacrificing my Lifebloom stack on the tank(s).

Would I have as much fun as a healy Priest?  I’m not sure.

Also, I kind of made the Priest with Shadow in mind.  We don’t have many Shadow Priests that regularly make raids, and I’m sure, once geared, mine would be a welcome addition.  I also relish the idea of seeing raids from a different perspective, mainly concentrating on melting mobs faces, rather than being so focused on my Raid UI.  One thing that holds me BACK a little is that I know Shadow Priests don’t dish out the highest DPS numbers, but I also know it’s also helpful to have a mana battery around. 

Of course if I want to fight for a top spot on the DPS meters, I could start bringing my Hunter to raids.  (I do plan to do just that, I just have to find the right 25 man.  A Saturday night SSC or TK would be great, but it would be more difficult for me to make the times that those raids go.)

I do have the advantage of tailoring playing nicely with either spec.  I can make the PMC set if I go holy, and the FSW set if I stay shadow.  For right now I am PMC spec’d, as I can make that at any moonwell.  Spellfire was out due to the mob you have to fight, and Shadowcloth requires you to go to SMV, and I am still only 62.  I figure I’ll just stockpile PMC as I level, maybe selling it here and there, and make a decision when I get to 70. 

So, what should I do?

Before we get started, a riddle.  What do you get when you combine the Cubs’ curse, toilet humor, and a Thundercats reference?

The answer?  My interview on Twisted Nether!  Go listen now!

Anyhow, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Part Time Druid is largely a Wrath-free zone.  I’m not in the beta, and there are other, better sites to get your dose of news and analysis about the beta.  Now, if someone were kind enough to drop a beta key in my lap, that might change.

But I digress.  One of the things that has everyone in a tizzy is the introduction of the first new class since the inception of WoW, the Death Knight.  No, I’m not going to get into the role of the DK, or how OP they are going to be, or what tradeskills will work best with the new class.  No.  I only really want to talk about one thing.

Death Knights start at level 55.  At first, it was suggested that you would need a level 55 ON the server you intend to make the DK, and you could only have one per server.  Now I hear that you just need a 55 anywhere, and you can make a DK at 55.  (I wonder, though, does this include PvP?  Being a carebear, could I roll a 55 DK on Warsong if I so chose?)

Anyhow, I am very excited by Blizzard’s decision, and I think it was the right one.  If they had decided that new DKs would start at level 1 like everyone else, that would have favored the more “hard core” amongst us in a big way.  I still remember how after just a few days of BC I saw level 50-60 Draenei Shammys running around.  At first I was jealous, then I started to wonder how they relieved themselves.  Anyway…  The point is it would take a LONG TIME, without the 55 boost, to get a DK to the end game.  Especially since the level cap will be raised to 80.

So my question is, why are only DKs getting such a leg up?  Why couldn’t an established player make ANY character and start them at 55?

One argument that I’ve heard relating to this is that such a change would literally kill the old world content, and be detrimental to new people to the game as they try to level up.  Honestly, though, isn’t that already the case?  When someone who has one or more 70s levels an alt, do they spend their time helping out new players, and teaching them how to survive in Azeroth?  Or do they blow through the lower levels as quickly as they possibly can, either alone, multi-boxed, or with guildmates?

I think we all know the answer to that question.  They try to set leveling records, and get their new toons up to speed as quickly as possible.  So I don’t accept that it would “kill the old content” and hinder new players.

So are there other reasons they wouldn’t do this?  I suppose you could argue that it would be too easy to make strong farming or tradeskill toons.  I can buy that, but I also have an answer.  Limit it.  Limit it just like they are with Death Knights.  I’d be happy if they only allowed me ONE level 55 alt.  Hell, I’d be thrilled with one free level 55, as I always seem to hit a roadblock around 40!

I’ve even dreamt up an interesting way to implement it.  Make it a quest.

“Recovering Lost Allies”

It would be a quest in the Caverns of Time.  The quest involves saving a hero from ages past, maybe someone who died at the Battle of Mount Hyjal.  This someone just happens to be level 55.  Maybe it’s part of a long chain, you have to gather this, kill this boss, blah blah blah.  In the end, though, you pull a hero from the past into the present.  This would activate a special slot on the character creation screen, with a shadowy, unrecognizable character.  You fill in the relevant details, and boom!  Level 55 Paladin or Druid or whatever.

I would figure this would require you to have a level 70 character.  Maybe some Keepers of Time rep, too…Honored or Revered.  I would also limit this as either a ONE TIME quest, or perhaps make it so it was repeatable every 3 months.

Honestly though, think about how hard it is now to get a character from 1-70 if you decide you want to finally get a Pally to end game?  Sure, maybe not all that tough for some of you, but the part-time players out there know it takes a LONG time.  Now imagine trying to get from 1-80.  Ugh, it makes me cringe!  Blizz is already boosting leveling from 60-70 to go along with the boost from 20-60 from 2.3.  Why not just cut some corners, and let me start at 55!

Oh, and Blizzard, if you want to implement this, I’m more than willing to be a guinea pig.  And, as long as I have your attention, where’s my beta key?

First, you will have the opportunity this week to hear my dulcet tones as the guest on the Twisted Nether Blogcast.  Fim has assured me that it will be up in the site by tomorrow, and I have assured Fim that if it’s not there will be consequences.  I may be a Part Time Druid, but I’m a Full Time Butt Kicker.

Also, some of you may notice a small change today.  Well, those of you that actually VISIT the site and not those who just see it in a reader, anyway.  Hint:  the change is in the banner.

So what changed, and why?  When I began this blog, I wrote many of my posts from a Restoration Druid perspective.  Even though I had a 70 Hunter, most of the info I posted dealt with the Druid.    It made sense, too, since Resto4Life was one of the blogs that got me started.

Anyhow, that was at the beginning.  Since then I’ve evolved a bit away from a solid Resto Druid blog to a more general blog with Resto Druid elements.  Also, with Wrath approaching, there is a good chance I’ll switch specs to feral for leveling purposes.  Heck, I’ve even considered starting to do some tanking now. 

All that being said, I want the freedom to write about any spec druid, and want to try to move away a LITTLE bit from my Resto-centricism.  (I think I just made up a word!  Woot!) 

So, Bansidhe was nice enough to throw a couple of alternate banners together for me, and I have it set up where you will randomly get a different banner whenever you visit the site.  Thanks, Ban!

Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to plug a new blog that I thought might be of particular interest to my readers.  The blog is called Casual Raid Leader and it’s written by Starman (NOT the Starman of a particular WoW podcast, this is a different guy) of Whisperwind.  Whisperwind just happens to by my server, and I have raided with Starman on a few occasions.  He just happens to be a member of my guild’s alliance – the Slack Alliance – that I wrote a bit about previously.  Anyhow, I think he’s off to a great start and I know that a lot of the people that read me would be interested in his blog as well. 

That’s all for today, give Casual Raid Leader a try, and be sure to listen to the Twisted Nether Blogcast!

Yours truly, PTD, has now set foot in both T6 instances.  You already know about my foray into the Black Temple.  Well, now I can scratch Mount Hyjal off my list of "Places to see before WoW shuts down."  I don’t mean that in a "I walked in and wiped to trash" kind of way, but more in a "I went there in a group and killed stuff" kind of way.

Well…actually…maybe that’s not entirely true.  I say this because, truth be told, we did wipe on trash Saturday – repeatedly.  But I’ll get back to that.

First, the good stuff.  Once again, I found myself all geeked up Saturday night as I entered a new raid instance.  I’m not one of those people who randomly set foot in BT or MH just to say I did, so it was all new to me.  The way that MH is set up with a central "hub" is quite interesting.  I really have no idea what the different areas are, as I just followed the crowd.  I know one portal went to a horde encampment, one went to a night elf place, and I think there was at least one more.  I’m not real sure.

Anyhow, they ran MH on Wednesday night without me and got through the first three bosses.  So Saturday night we headed for the Horde Encampment to take a shot at Azgalor.  For those of you familiar with that fight, you probably already understand my comment about wiping on trash.

Anyhow, I digress.

You find yourself in a little horde base, with a bunch of Tauren Warrior NPCs, some orcs and, the Coup de Gras, Thrall himself. 

One of the things I always enjoy in WoW is seeing familiar faces.  Like the quest that ends with Jaina Proudmoore making an appearance, for instance.  Or the Undercity, for another.  So I’m always excited when I see someone like Thrall in game.  Woot!

Anyhow, on to the fighting, eh?  For those of you unfamiliar with MH, this is how it works.  In other raids and instances, you go through a map, working your way through trash to a boss. In MH, you stay in one location, and the trash comes to you in waves, followed by a boss once you get through so many of those waves.

So, in this particular fight, there are 8 separate waves of a whole mess of tough mobs to fight, followed by the appearance of a boss, Azgalor.  We got all buffed up, and the raid leader started to explain the encounter and the waves we would have to deal with.  Well, the problem is that there are 8 waves.  Each wave is a little different.  In other places, like SSC, you explain the particular trash mobs you are about to fight.  You rinse, move on, and explain the next pull.  In this situation, we kind of had to go over 8 different pulls.  Exhausting, to say the least.  In fact it really wasn’t possible.  So the RL tried to sum up, and we started it off.  Hell, I just have to know who I heal, really.

That shot is of the first wave incoming.  Big green nasty Abominations and some Necromancers.  Oh boy.  Already these guys look scary.  Not only did they look scary, they hit HAAARRRD.  So hard, in fact, that two tanks went down on the first pull within about 2.5 seconds.  Ouch, we were not prepared for that.  So we wiped it and started again.

On the second try, we did a little better, and lasted a little bit longer before we had to wipe it.

By the third try, we had a decent handle on it.  There was kiting, there was CC, and yeah, there was a lot of healing.  If there’s one thing I learned about the Azgalor trash, it’s that the fights are very FRANTIC.  The waves come from different directions at different times, there are assorted mob types to worry about, and they can be tough to take down.  I found myself kind of all over the place most of the night. 

Here is a combat shot of the gargoyle wave for reference.

I know it doesn’t look all that hectic, but I couldn’t really take a screenshot whilst flying around the battlefield now, could I? 

So we kept on trying, and we kept on wiping.  One of the other issues with MH is that if you don’t get through ALL the waves, you have to start back at the beginning after the wipe.  It’s not like other raids where the trash will stay dead.  Every time you wipe, whether it’s the first wave or the sixth, you have to start back at wave one.  Ouch babe.  Very ouch. 

We managed to get pretty good at the first few waves, through wave five, to be exact.  In wave six you get a whole mess of nasty, shadow bolt throwing caster types in the form of Banshees and Necromancers.  They all come at once, and they can focus fire and kill just about anyone VERY fast.  They beat us around like red-headed stepchildren.  They took us out to the woodshed.  They ate our children, in the parlance of Mike Tyson.  In short, they beat us down.  The next shot shows how wave six ended for us, every time.

Yup, that’s me.  Taking a dirt nap, along with everyone else.  We’re scattered, but there are 25 corpses about.  It was nasty, it wore us down, and we never got past that sixth wave.  So we did that a number of times, I’m not sure how many, and we aren’t getting any better.  If anything, we’re regressing.  We start fairly late, so when we are having a bad night things can spiral pretty quickly.  We ended up calling the raid about a half an hour early since we stopped making progress. 

Oh well, that just means it’s time to research and prepare for the next time we’re there.  No love lost for WoW, that’s how it goes when learning new content. 

I look things up later only to find that wave six just happened to be the wave that ate many a raid’s lunch.  Surprise, surprise.  So though we never saw Azgalor and wiped repeatedly on trash, at least I know a LOT of people wipe on that same trash.  I found an interesting technique involving banishing a previous mob and NPC help, maybe we’ll try it next week.  Regardless, I’m sure next time we will be better prepared, with a winning strategy.  I can’t wait. 

That’s all for now.  Next week is BT week, so maybe I’ll get to see ANOTHER totally new boss.  I just love that!  Oh, and if you have any advice for MH and that Azgalor trash, feel free to drop your wisdom in the comments.  Thanks for reading!

My apologies to Fimlys of Asleep at the WoW, and to his guild.  Many thanks for being so welcoming, and I enjoyed my time with you.

But…

It just wasn’t meant to be.  If you remember, dear readers, I contemplated moving to Fim’s server full-time for a number of reasons.  Draenor is a West Coast server, so it would be more compatible with my play times, for one.  There are also more than a couple bloggers that are playing over there as well, including Lady Jess and Awlbiste. So in early June I moved my highest level alt, a level 52 Shadow Priest over there.

I had some good times over there, sure, and Fim’s guild was more than welcoming.  They are also progressing nicely, running Kara quite a bit and even stepping into ZA and some 25 man content.

It just wasn’t meant to be, though.

I’m a part-time player, hence the blog title, and splitting my part-time play-time in two was just not going well.  I only play about half as much as most people, and then try to split that half into quarters spread across two servers and 3 characters…well…you get the picture.  I found myself mostly ignoring my priest over there, and my priest also happened to be my highest level alt.  Aside from that, the priest is a high level enchanter and tailor, and I don’t have a replacement back on my “home” server.  I’m already tired of vendoring high level greens.

So a decision had to be made.  For this to work, all my characters must be together.  It was time for me either to go whole hog or go back home.  Sure, we their play-times aren’t 100% compatible with mine, but I love my guild.  It’s a great group of people, and in case you haven’t noticed I even got to raid the Black Temple recently.  The decision seemed all too easy.

So it was that I tucked my shadow priestly tail between my legs and went back home.  I completed the transfer back to Whisperwind with my priest this morning.  I do have a couple low level alts still on Draenor, though.  And one of them has a fantastic name for a Gnome Warrior (Halftime) and a fully tricked out, enchanted to the hilt set of white gear.  He’s one bad-ass level 10 warrior.   Maybe I’ll just play him from time to time to still hang out with Fim’s awesome guild and the other bloggers.

Anyhow, sorry I couldn’t stay, but thanks for being so kind.  Just don’t ignore me if I ask for a run through the Deadmines sometime soon!