There is quite a bit of shiny new gear in Magisters’ Terrace, and initially I wanted to do a more “all class inclusive” list, but there are just too many things to look at! So we’ll take a quick gander at some of the drops that might appeal to the healing-inclined Druids out there. I’ll split it up between the regular mode drops and the heroic mode drops.

Normal Mode

[item]34793[/item] is actually a quite nice healing belt drop. Sure, it’s cloth, but armor doesn’t matter all that much to a resto druid anyhow. Let’s face it, in most cases, if we get aggro we go down as easily as any cloth wearer in the wrong situation. Now, it isn’t nearly as nice as our [item]Windhawk Belt[/item], but not everyone out there has taken up Leatherworking. Like most drops from MagT in normal mode, this is a real nice piece for a healer who’s still trying to gear up for Kara.

[item]34707[/item]. These dropped for me the very first time I hit up the instance, on patch day. I do still have them banked, and have kicked around the idea of using them in place of my [item]28663[/item]. Again, I’m looking at an epic item in comparison to a blue, but overall the blue boots compare pretty well. Sure, you’re losing the intellect entirely and losing some stamina and spirit, but you’re also gaining two gem slots to play with. I could offset some of the stat losses with gems. Or, I could just go all out for +heal, and carry them around for those nasty fights where I need all the +heal I can get. Overall, these are VERY nice boots for blue!

[item]34796[/item] is the last normal mode drop I’ll look at. Again, I’m finding that it doesn’t compare all that unfavorably to an epic from Kara, [item]28600[/item]. You’re losing 19 stamina, 17 intellect, 5 spirit, 9 MP5 and 4 heal, but you gain 3 slots for flexibility. With a little bit of cheap gemming, [item]Teardrop Living Ruby[/item], [item]Luminous Noble Topaz[/item] and [item]Solid Star of Elune[/item], we’re not losing ALL that much off the epic, probably getting it sooner, and actually gain 23 +heal. For me, Druids are ALL ABOUT +heal. I rarely have mana problems! It’s not going to replace my [item]Windhawk Hauberk[/item], but if you’re not yet into Kara, this is a GREAT chest to try to pick up.

Heroic Mode

Now, I know you didn’t come here to talk about blues. Let’s look at that shiny purple gear from the tough version!

First, [item]34471[/item]. This is one of the first drops I heard tell of, and one of the most interesting. As a tree druid, one of my greatest challenges is overcoming spike damage. If the tank or multiple party members suffer a few huge blows in a row, I might be in trouble. The Tree Druid is designed to ease those hits, not erase them immediately like some of our healing brethren. With this item, I could finally have an additional instant heal to throw out in times of duress. Tantalizing! The added MP5 is a bonus, and it’s just too bad they didn’t stick some +heal on it just for kicks. Still, this is an awesome trinket for just about any healer, and I hope to get one soon.

[item]34608[/item] is an excellent healing staff, and when gemmed easily surpasses [item]28604[/item] that drops in Karazhan. The new staff gives 3 additional stamina and 3 sockets, but loses 2 intellect and 14 spirit. That can EASILY be made up with even green gems if you so choose. I personally have no interest in this staff, as I’m nearly fully Kara geared and sporting the [item]Shard of the Virtuous[/item] and [item]28728[/item]. If I were still trudging around with a blue like [item]31304[/item], I’d take a hard look at this staff. If for no other reason, I love the flexibility of slots. You could make this the ultimate +spirit Innervate staff with 3 [item]Sparkling Empyrean Sapphire[/item]s and a +spirit enchant. Uber mana regen.

[item]34602[/item]. This is the first pair of bracers I’ve seen in awhile that make me consider switching out my [item]29523[/item]. I lose a bit in stamina, but gain some intellect and spirit. And, as I’ve said before, I’m all about +heal and these are an upgrade, though mild, in that department. I would probably hold off on them until I could replace the other pieces of my Windhawk set, as once I break it up the set bonus of +8 MP5 is history. Still, these are very nice bracers and won’t cost you a single badge. You just have to get through heroic MagT to get them!

[item]34625[/item] is one of the most intriguing pieces in the instance for any healer. From what I’ve read on Wowhead, there aren’t very many rings with sockets. Throw a [item]Teardrop Crimson Spinel[/item] in these bad boys and you’re looking at +70 heal. It gets even better if your an enchanter and can bump that by another 20 +heal for a whopping 90 +heal out of a ring slot. Wow. I could finally retire my pumpkin ring from the Halloween event.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it. Those are the highlights, and I hope I’ve given you some goals to shoot for as far as drops in the new instance. If you’re a freshly minted 70 druid or healer type, you could do a lot worse than the stuff that drops in regular mode. If you’re fully Kara geared like myself, you still might find some nice upgrades in Heroic. Overall, I believe Blizzard did a great job itemizing this particular instance.  They just get better and better at itemization, and it makes me anxious to see what they will do in Wrath.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention [item]35516[/item] and the [item]Phoenix Hatchling[/item]. Anybody would want those!

You may not know this off the bat, due to my normal Druidic (is that a word? -Ed) slant, but I also play a 70 Beast Mastery hunter. He was actually my first 70, but due to a lack of healers in guild I picked up the Druid, and he’s been my main ever since.

Anyhow, since my post about Druid Casual Gear in 2.4, I’ve kicked around the idea of doing something similar for the hunter class. Without further adieu, let’s get cracking.

Updgrades on the Cheap – For Those with No Patience

[item]34887[/item] – 60 Badges

Wow, what a good place to start on the cheap! If you’re not the type that can generate 50+ badges per week (and I am most certainly one of you!) this could be an excellent place to start if you want to upgrade NOW. There are many classes that could benefit from this ring, and the Hunter is certainly one of them. It has GREAT stats for a ring, and manages to take care of 2 of the big 3 for hunters. The AP is great as is the armor penetration. You’d be hard pressed to find a better ring, and at 60 badges it’s a steal. It even rivals the rep ring from Hyjal, [item]29301[/item].

[item]34916[/item] – 75 Badges

Ok, if you can manage to hold yourself off of buying anything for 3 more heroic runs, you can get your mitts on these….mitts. Isn’t it nice that there is now loot comparable to T6 gear for us casual types? These most certainly are comparable to [item]31001[/item]. If you pick these up over T6 here is the difference:

• -1 Agility (Nullified if you gem for the socket bonus)
• -1 Stamina
• -2 Intellect
• +3 Crit Rating
• +16 AP
• -140 Armor Ignore

Now, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about Armor Ignore, but it seems like hardly a loss considering you don’t have to raid T6 content or roll against anyone for the token! These are a great pair of gloves and a nice investment for you impatient types.

For the More Patient

[item]34914[/item] – 100 Badges

Ok, now we’re into 100+ badge territory. (100 badges = 1 Kara clear/week+ 2 heroics a week X 4 weeks….not so bad!) Anyhow, about those legs. Are they worth the 100 badge investment? Let’s try to compare them to [item]33527[/item], the “old” badge gear pants for hunters.

• +10 Agility
• -9 Stamina
• +15 Hit
• +14 AP
• -175 Armor Ignore

Again, we find ourselves looking at a loss of armor ignore. If you look at the many gains, however, these are certainly a nice upgrade. You’re going to lose some hitpoints, but gain overall AP, crit and some +hit. This can be VERY helpful if you’re getting into content beyond Kara. They are also comparable to [item]30900[/item], a drop from Mount Hyjal, which most casual hunters won’t get a crack at! They come for only 25 more badges than the old pants. (Too bad you can’t trade in your old ones like a car, eh? )I think these are a solid investment of 100 badges.

[item]34912[/item] – 100 Badges

In the case of this chestpiece, there really is no “old” badge gear mail chest for hunters. We could look at it in comparison to [item]29515[/item], though that only applies for the leatherworkers out there. Maybe compare it to [item]28599[/item]? IMO, this is a slam dunk upgrade over the chest from Kara. You’re losing some MP5 and some Int, but you also get a gem slot, and a boost of 69 attack power. I would call this one of the first upgrades you should look at, though I might hesitate if you already have your T4 chest, [item]29082[/item]. I’d also make sure that the haste on this chest won’t interfere with an effective 1:1 shot rotation.

The Big Ticket Items

[item]34892[/item] – 150 Badges

That’s a lot of badges. It’s also a lot of Crossbow! Do I really have to talk about this one? If you’re a BM hunter for sure, this is probably the best ranged weapon you can get short of the new legendary bow in Sunwell. It’s got +hit, +crit and AP, along with a nice, big DPS number. What else could a hunter want? The speed rating, coupled with some haste, will help you reach that 1.7 or so weapon speed for an optimal shot rotation. Score!

[item]34891[/item] – 150 Badges

Where 150 badges is well spent on the crossbow, I’m not so sure about this axe. Sure, it’s a nice weapon, but after already blowing 150 badges (and don’t fool yourself, if you’re going to blow 150 badges, use them for the crossbow), I would be hard pressed to blow 150 more on a melee weapon. Still, it’s a strong axe, and the haste rating might help us get that new crossbow down to the speed we want. 150 badges, though? Just grab [item]28587[/item] or something and live with it.

Conclusion

So, we’ve established that these are all VERY nice upgrades. Which should you buy first? Well, a lot of that depends on what you have now. If you have a decent pair of legs, maybe start with the chest, or vise versa. But, all things being equal, with a gun to my head I’d say go for the Crossbow first. It’s a huge upgrade over just about anything, and I’m usually a “weapon first” upgrader. There’s a good chance, however, that I’d crack part of the way through and pick up the gauntlets or the ring. If I could control myself, though, I’d start with the Crossbow, then grab either the ring or the legs. Any way you go with this stuff, though, you can’t go wrong!

Tune in later this week and I’ll take a look at the drops from Magisters’ Terrace. (Not the Sunwell, though – this is a CASUAL blog! )

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve heard about these big, bad 25 man raids in BC for some time. I’ve hoped to get there some day, and it’s difficult with the playtime I have available. Well, my druid is nearly as well equipped as he can be, short of a drop or two in Kara and the new badge loot in 2.4. It was finally time for me to start participating in SSC raids and beyond.

Saturday night was actually my second trip to the instance. 2 weeks ago I went along and got to experience Lurker for the first time. That nasty old spout must have gotten me 4 times, but we did take him down. Now fast forward to last night.

This time I was there from the beginning. We started by clearing our way to Hydross. As far as trash goes, there are large groups of hard hitting mobs, but they really don’t see all that difficult. As long as people are staying on CC an the healers are doing their jobs, it’s fairly straightforward. Also, as a healer, it’s nothing more than whack a mole, yet again. I swear my grid layout is going to burned onto my retinas at some point. I’ll find myself walking around in real life wondering who the tanks are.

Anyhow, we get to Hydross and the explanation ensues. Hydross is an interesting fight, what with the two different aspects and the tank dragging. Still, for a healer it’s more of the same. The only question is whether I’m responsible for a tank, the raid or whatnot.

I’m going to step back from SSC in particular here to talk about healing. You’ve heard me mention before how playing a healer is kind of like whack a mole, and this is especially true for a druid healer. I have no useful CC, and I have no real utility to add to a raid. I’m there for one thing only: healing. Does it get boring? Sure, in a manner of speaking. There are times you kind of get on autopilot and lose sight of the fight in general.

However, there are also many whiteknuckle moments where you wonder if you’re going to land that big heal in time. Those times when you wonder if you should burn Nature’s Swiftness. Those times when you have to stay on healing while locating a downed raid member to battle rez. Healing IS fun, and it can be very exciting. The only issue is that, when you get down to it, it’s the same thing over and over again. I suppose you could argue it’s the same for every class, though, just in different ways.

So anyways, back to that unstable guy. We wipe the first two tries. In one instance, a couple of healers went down to the adds that spawn occasionally. In the second wipe, one of the DPSers got overzealous, and the tank couldn’t get Hydross back quick enough.

The third try, though, was pretty cake. We didn’t even come close to the 10 minute soft time limit, either. He dropped the [item]Idol of the Crescent Goddess[/item] and I grabbed it. I didn’t necessarily want it, but nobody else did and I was at the bottom of the SK list anyhow.

We moved onto Lurker, and it took us a few tries again. I believe it took us four to take him down. We still have quite a few people that are new to these fights, myself included, and we had quite a few deaths due to that nasty old spout. (Thankfully, yours truly learned his lesson last time and was in the water in PLENTY of time and didn’t get spouted once!) We did take him down eventually, and that was it for the raid. We had a 3 hour time limit and reached it just after taking down Lurker.

So, there’s the summary. What do I think?

Honestly, I’m a bit underwhelmed. It’s fun learning new boss fights, and I do like the way the two I have seen are set up. Afterwards I took the time to look through the loot tables a bit. For those first two boss fights, there is literally nothing I want. The real problem, then, is that I can really only raid once a week. That means there is a good chance that those will be the same two bosses I see most of the time.

Hmmpph.

Am I better off farming badges in Kara?

Maybe, with the new uber loot on it’s way once the vendor opens up, farming badges in heroics and Kara is a better short term proposition for me than raiding in SSC.

Long-term, however, I do realize that the only way for me to REALLY progress is to stick with the raiding. It’s just that the thought of devoting my one raid night a week to something that doesn’t have a lot of payoff early is a little problematic. There is a pair of bracers that drop, whose name escapes me, but they don’t seem like much of an upgrade at all over my [item]Windhawk Bracers[/item], especially if you factor in the set bonus I’m getting for 8 MP5.

So what should I do with my one raid night? I’ve been organizing Kara myself, and the 23 badges or whatever in 5 hours or so is pretty nice (This is still a “new” Kara group, so I expect if we can stick with it we can trim that time to clear significantly). There are drops there for my Druid still as well, like the T4 helm.

Then again, don’t I want to some day see Hyjal and Black Temple, and actually be able to contribute? With Wrath not all that far away, do I really care? I suppose, at this point, I still enjoy Kara more, as I like the smaller group setting where I feel more “important.” I should also add that I’ve still only done Kara about 6 times now. Decisions, decisions…

By now we all have a good idea of some of the fantastic badge gear that will be available in 2.4. Along with the fantastic stats on these pieces is a frightening price tag. (I won’t argue that they are over priced, this is truly great gear and worth every badge IMO.) For a casual player, though, that’s an awful lot of badges. 150 badges can take a LONG LONG time if you only have a few hours or so a week to play. The good thing is, that just like the 5000g riding skill, with time it is doable for anyone.

With that in mind, though, you better spend those badges wisely if you can’t farm 50+ per week like some more hardcore players. So, what should you spend them on? Well, I won’t pretend to know all the classes, but I thought I’d take a look at a few and suggest what I would personally spend my badges on first. Yes, I understand a lot of decisions will be based on players’ individual gear situations, so take these with a grain of salt.

Resto Druid

First, the class with which I am most familiar. Right now I am pretty well decked out in Kara and badge gear, and there are a few directions I could go. Should I invest in [item]34900[/item]? Well, I’m currently wearing the [item]Windhawk Hauberk[/item] and this chest piece is a bit of an underwhelming upgrade over it. Sure, I could care less about the spell crit on the Windhawk, but the overall bump I would get stat-wise makes it tough for me to make the plunge. The [item]34901[/item], though, are looking real nice compared to my [item]Earthsoul Leggings[/item]. They afford me a bigger stat jump, and will certainly push my +heal after gemming and spellthread as well. One last item that is intriguing is the [item]34896[/item]. Right now I have [item]28522[/item], and this is a big bump in +heal and stamina, at the cost of a little MP5. I also HATE how the shard looks. If pressed, right now I think I’ll shoot for the Gavel over the leggings, at least to start. (If I weren’t a LW, and didn’t have the Windhawk, I think I’d go with the chest first.)

Feral Kitty Druid

This is a little tougher. Feral druids fill multiple roles, so a lot of it depends on which role you concentrate on. I think it’s almost a slam dunk for Kitty druids with [item]34898[/item]. Wow, what a DPS staff. It’s superior to [item]28658[/item] and makes a perfect complement to [item]29171[/item] for those times when you have to tank. There are also a number of nice armor upgrades to look at. [item]34927[/item] and [item]34928[/item] are both very nice upgrades for most casual cats, unless of course you’re sporting T6, in which case you probably AREN’T a casual cat! I would personally probably start with the leggings, as they have 2 gem slots and a nice slot bonus. I couldn’t fault you for either choice. So what would I go with first? I would probably start with the staff, as I nearly always take care of weapon upgrades first.

Feral Bear Druid

For Bear druids, it’s tougher. [item]34911[/item]? [item]34906[/item]? I don’t know, I’m not the most experienced in this area, but neither seems like a huge upgrade to T5 or even T4 stuff, if you factor in set bonuses and gem slots. What kind of effect will haste have on a bear tank? I’m not real sure. Then there’s [item]34910[/item]. The problem with these, and with many feral druid pieces, is a lack of hit rating. +Hit is very important to a bear tank.

There’s got to be something here. Ahhh, there it is. [item]34888[/item]. NOW a lot of Bears are drooling! Real nice combo of dodge, armor and stamina. Even better than [item]29279[/item], and makes an awesome 1-2 punch if you put the two together. I’d probably go with the ring first, as it seems most obvious to me. I’m a little unsure about the armor pieces.

Boomkins

Ok, I’ve never played the spec, I know very little. I’ll see if I can at least give you some stuff to look at. From what I can tell, there are two definite upgrades in the mix. [item]34889[/item] and [item]34904[/item]. Both will help out a boomkin looking for some extra spell hit for bosses and such. The ring in particular seems like a very nice upgrade all around from presently available rings. The gloves might be more of a sidegrade with [item]33586[/item]. If you’re not yet hit capped, though, these gloves might be a nice upgrade. After all, what difference does crit rate make if you can’t hit? [item]34905[/item] looks to be a nice pair of pants for the Boomkin in you. Good slot bonus, nice stats, all around a good looking pair of pants. There is also a new chest piece that seems to be built with the Boomkin in mind, but it seems they dropped the ball. [item]34903[/item] isn’t much of an upgrade over the presently available [item]33566[/item]. There’s also a good chance you already have the latter.

Well, there you go druids. Hopefully that gives you a starting point for evaluating how you want to blow your cache of badges once the new stuff is available. I feel bad for Blizzard in their attempts to itemize for druids. We must be tough to please, since we can do so many different things!

At one time, he was my main. I’m talking about Feroz (whose name I now hate…I think that’s half the reason he’s not my main anymore!) by level 70 BM spec Hunter. He was the first character I rolled on my home realm of Whisperwind. Pre BC, he was my first and only level 60, and even ran MC a handful of times.

Back when BC was released, I was a little tired of the hunter. There were also about a million hunters in the guild. That’s when I rolled Pummra, my at-the-time feral druid, and I leveled him to 66 before I got insanely bored with Nagrand. I think what ultimately pushed me away from him at that time was those stupid Nesingwary mastery quests. Ugh.

Anyhow, I then jumped to my hunter and leveled him to 70. I ran a few instances to start working on my gear. I had a bad incident involving my [item]Beast Lord Helm[/item] and the hurt feelings of a fellow guildy. At that point I swore off my hunter for awhile, and jumped back to the druid to finish him off.

When I hit 70, I ran a few instances and worked on my tanking gear. I found myself having a hard time finding guild groups for the instances I needed to run, as I was well behind the gear curve, and nobody wanted to run regular SL anymore. One thing everyone DID want was more healers. I respecced resto, had more group invites than I could count, and the rest is history. Now Pummra is nearly in full purple/Kara gear (other than the [item]Hallowed Crown[/item] and a pair of Prayerbooks) and I’ve been spending my short gaming sessions on various alts.

Feroz, my buddy, sat around collecting dust. I played him for a few hours recently to farm [item]Primal Air[/item], but other than that he’s been dormant for a good 9 months or so.

Last night I had a couple hours and jumped on my baby shadow priest. He’s up to 36 now and I’m itching to hit 40. Don’t you just love level 40? Anyway, there was a guild group trying to put together a Heroic Bot run, and they were short a DPS spot. I figured they’d surely have a quick taker. Well, a good 15 minutes go by, and I notice they are now asking in our alliance channel. Still nothing.

There are a couple important things to note, for emphasis:

1. I haven’t played him in earnest for 9 months or more.
2. His gear stinks, bad. Other than one or two blues, he’s seriously bad off for gear. We’re talking mostly greens, [item]The Gunblade[/item], and Valanos’, though his bow skill isn’t even maxed.
3. I don’t even know if I got him to honored with Sha’atar.
4. I never ran a heroic with him. Ever.

Just for kicks, I log over to him to see where he stands. It’s just as bad as I thought, but he DOES have the Warpforged Key. He’s also been running around with both the gun and the bow, with ammo for both, though not great ammo by any stretch. So, I ask in guild chat: “Just how desperate are you guys for a DPS?” Not 2 seconds later, I get an invite followed by a summons.

Ok.

That desperate.

I’m already a little leery. I’ve messed with my UI a lot since then, so I have no idea how my bars are set up, etc. I take a few minutes to make sure the important stuff is there, and I get ready for my first real work with him in awhile.

Looking at the group, I’m not so worried anymore. If I was going to run a heroic with a character I hadn’t played in 9 months, this is the group I’d want to roll with. I don’t need to get into particulars, but other than me it was like a dream team. Well geared Warrior, Pally, Priest and Mage.

Then me. With Valanos. Without a scope. Blackflight arrows. 329 bow skill.

Of course I was iffy at first. I never used macros, so I couldn’t lean on any fancy shot rotations. My pet management was way off. He died probably 10 times for the whole run. Poor little dude. I also didn’t realize till halfway through that I had growl on…it didn’t seem to be a problem for our tank– but it may explain all those deaths.

Since the overall group was so strong, the Priest and Pally were both kind of running hybrid. Half DPS, half healing. They both out DPSed me, I’m sure, though I don’t run meters. Overall, it went ok. We only wiped once, on the trash leading up to Warp Splinter. I always seem to wipe there. I got a nice blue ring off of the boss before Warpsplinter, my first five badges, and the purple epic AP/Stam gem. The best thing, though, was I got the Nether I needed for my Engineering shades. Not bad! I also managed to get my bow skill up to 349.

I had a lot of fun, it was good to get back in the damage game a bit, and now I think I’ll start running five mans with him to get geared. Here I had been searching for a good complement class to my 70 Druid, and my 70 Hunter was just sitting out there. Sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees, ya know?

As I continue to improve Pummra’s gear, I find my opportunities for him shrink further and further. Friday night I got one of the last few drops I need from Kara in the [item]Earthsoul Leggings[/item]. I got them gemmed up and threw on some [item]Golden Spellthread[/item], and that pushed me over 1700 heal.

Once I got that cleared away, it was time to re-evaluate my gear and set up some new milestones. I looked at Heroic drops, badge gear, and Kara drops. Not much there for me, anymore. There are some marginal upgrades in badge gear, but nothing I wanted to grind out badges to pick up. Kara has a few drops I’d like to see still, but nothing that I NEED.

That led me to look at sidegrade items, in case I ever wanted to respec to feral (which I do miss) or try a balance spec some day.

So what’s the problem? 2 months ago I had a nice, big list of gear I wanted/needed for Pummra. I needed to level my LW for Windhawk, I needed to get in Kara for a variety of drops there, many heroic drops and much of the badge gear were nice, big upgrades for me. Now, more and more, I’m seeing that if I really want to progress, it’s time for 25 man raids.

Ugh.

Double Ugh.

Trust me, I WANT to run SSC. I want to hit The Eye and work towards Hyjal and beyond. The problem is, I’m lucky if I can set aside four hours for raiding once a week. My guild recently moved Kara to “full farm” status, so anyone and everyone can set up runs. I’ve started running Kara once a week in a way that fits into MY schedule.

This just isn’t possible with SSC or The Eye. Not only do you need 25 bodies, you need 25 very specific bodies. With Kara, I’ve been able to take all comers for sign ups. Get two tanks, three healers and fill the rest with DPS. Pretty simple.

With SSC, my guild has just begun working on it, and have only had one run so far. As was the problem with Kara before, I CAN NOT make runs at the times my guild has them. This past Saturday I had a VERY rare opportunity to raid on a Saturday, signed up for SSC, and it was cancelled due to a lack of signups. Bummer.

I guess that’s just the way things are. That pretty much sums up what it means to be a true “casual” player. I may never see Hyjal, the Black Temple, or any other real “end-game” raids. I just have to learn to live with that.

So now I’m torn.  I suppose I could drop skinning and work on another tradeskill.  (Alchemy maybe?  Engineering?)  I would also love my epic flying skill, but 5k gold is awful intimidating.  Of course I have a variety of alts, too, including a shadow priest I’ve begun to play again.  So who else finds themselves in a similar predicament? How do you adjust? Find other people to raid with? Go back to leveling alts?

And I mean that in a good way. By now you know I play a Resto Druid on Whisperwind, and I don’t often have a lot of time for any kind of raiding. I have a 1 year old at home and another on the way, and I generally don’t log on until the baby and the wife hit the sack, and even then for not very long. My guild sets up raids during “prime time” hours, and I can almost NEVER make it.

Recently, I found out that one of the guilds in our alliance runs a late night Kara on the weekends. Wahoo! Finally, a run I can at least occasionally participate in. Well, this weekend I scored. And I mean REALLY scored. The random number generator was just plain my friend.

At the beginning of the night, I was sitting at around 1145 healing, the only stat I really care about. (Of course I pay SOME attention to MP5 and Stam, but really it’s all about +heal.) I am a leatherworker, so I had the [item]Windhawk Hauberk[/item], [item]Windhawk Belt[/item] and the [item]Windhawk Bracers[/item]. Aside from that, I had a collection of decent blues like [item]The Essence Focuser[/item] and such, along with my lone Kara drop from a previous run, [item]28728[/item].

Obviously, there are about a thousand drops in Kara I could use. Also lucky for me, of the three healers I was by FAR the most undergeared. The other two were there for fun and badges. I got nothing from Attumen or Moroes, but they don’t have much I’d want anyhow. When we got to the maiden, I said that I was hoping for the [item]Shard of the Virtuous[/item]. Maiden falls, and sure enough, there it is. If that was all I got for the night, it would have been a great night for me. That alone bumped me somewhere around 200 +heal after the enchant.

Next came Opera. Once we saw it was the Big Bad Wolf, I again called out what I was looking for: [item]28582[/item]. Sure enough, there it was. Before that I was still wearing an old green cloak. (In retrospect, it’s too bad I didn’t call out that I would have wanted [item]Earthsoul Leggings[/item] as well!)

At this point, it’s already hugely successful for me. Well, it only kept going from there. We took down Nightbane, Curator and Aran. I got [item]Nightstaff of the Everliving[/item], [item]Pauldrons of the Solace-Giver[/item], [item]Handguards of Malorne[/item] and finally [item]Boots of the Incorrupt[/item]. Wow. Just wow. By the time we got to Netherspite, other peeps in the group were asking me to call stuff out that they wanted. I called out [item]Chestguard of the Conniver[/item] for our rogue, and sure enough, it dropped.

My only regret? I had to log after Aran. I feared for my life as it was now 4 am (we got started at midnight) and it was only a matter of time before the wife came out and skinned me alive.

After enchants the next day, I was up to 1440 +heal along with a healthy bump to spirit, health, mana and MP5. It was truly one of the best nights of WoW I can remember, but I’m sure it will all even out over my next 15 runs or so!

One of the biggest challenges facing the casual player is keeping up with the guild. When you only have a couple of hours here or there to devote to WoW, you can quickly find yourself lagging behind the “curve” of guild progression. As a casual player, this is just something you have to learn to live with. There will be days when you log in and see half the guild in Kara or Gruul’s, leaving nary a soul to join you in a regular Shadow Labyrinth run. It can also be difficult because your guildmates probably ran Mechanar on regular a thousand times before you started asking. Don’t despair, with focus and determination, you can close the gap. I recently went through this myself, and here are a few tips I have to share to maximize your time in WoW.

Guild 5 Mans and Focus. As I said before, this can be tough. Chances are a lot of the peeps in your guild will puke if they have to run regular Arc one more time. Keep at it though, and in a good guild you will get your runs.

When you’re looking to get regular5-mans going, you have to be flexible. Don’t get tunnel vision about the one drop you just HAVE to have in SL- be prepared to run nearly any five man instance out there. On this note, make sure you are aware of every instance drop you could use. When you’re gearing up, every green you replace can make a huge improvement and get you that much closer to heroics. There are some great sites out there with focused loot lists (4 Haelz has a GREAT list for resto druids, for instance), do your homework. It will also help if you shoot for the instances that maximize your chances at a drop. If Mech only drops one great item you could really use, while SV has three very good drops, choose SV. It’s hard enough getting a regular 5-man going sometimes – maximize your chances. The good news is that if you can get a run going with over-geared guildies, it will most likely be pretty easy and you will usually have first crack at the drops. In a few short runs you can have the upgrades and rep to try the easier Heroics.

PUG 5 Mans. I hate em. You hate em. We all hate em. PUGs are such a crap shoot. Will you end up with the “tank” who insists on using a 2-hander because he “doesn’t like to use shields?” Will you end up with the hunter who’s never used a frost trap before? Sadly, the fact of the matter is, sometimes the only route to progression for a casual player is a PUG or two. Roll the dice, sometimes you get lucky! Again, keep that flexibility and focus I mentioned earlier, and you’ll progress.

Tradeskills. Don’t ignore em. Yes, I know how frustrating it is to try to level these. Sometimes, though, it can be the best avenue for a casual player to get their gear up to par. Warrior? Take a look at engineering. (Heck, the epic goggles in Eng are great for ANY class!) Druid? Leather working, no matter the spec. For a feral you can go for PrimalStrike, and for a Resto you can shoot for Windhawk. Priest or Mage? Level that tailoring! The point is, there are GREAT upgrades in the armor creating tradeskills, and you generally need very little help to get them up, it’s just a matter of time. I spent many 2 hour sessions farming Primal Air for my Windhawk set, and I don’t regret it one bit. I didn’t have to beg anyone for anything, I just had to meticulously gather my mats on my own, and run a few easy heroics for nethers. One of the most satisfying days I had in WoW was when I finally completed my [item]Windhawk Hauberk[/item].

“Easy” Heroics. So, you managed to swap out most if not all of your greens for blues, and managed a lucky epic drop or two. Now you’re ready for heroics, but where to start? Heroics are a whole new ball game, and it helps to start slow. One of the generally accepted heroics to start with is Slave Pens. It’s not too long, only has one or two tough pulls, and even has quite a few mobs that you can skip. Underbog is another good choice for a first heroic. Heck, maybe you could hit one then the other. Ramparts is another fairly easy heroic, and from there a good progression would be into Crypts or Blood Furnace, both are still on the “easy” side, but the difficulty is definitely ramping up, with a few tough pulls and some interesting boss fights.

Believe me, I know it can seem intimidating when you finally just hit 70, and your guild is already looking at SSC or beyond. Stick with it, stay focused and flexible, and before long you’ll find yourself farming heroic badges for real nice epics, and putting together your list of Kara drops you’d like. It can be done, you just might get to the party later than the rest of your guild!