I’ve been struggling.  Struggling with who I was going to level once Wrath hit.  Well, as I’m sure you’re aware, Wrath hit. 

Before we get into that, though, my sparse thoughts on the launch.  The launch, in my opinion, has been wildly successful.  A little too successful, in fact, as I am plagued by ginormous queues in the evening.  Friday night the queue stood at over 1100 when I tried to log on.  It took hours to get a spot.  Still, to me this is a sign of the games success rather than any kind of failing on Blizzard’s part.  Hopefully the free realm transfers they opened up alleviate the waiting a bit.

Now, about the topic.  My main for a long time has been my Resto Druid, hence the blog title.  Any kind of end-game raiding I have done in the lasts 2 years has been with that Druid.  I really enjoyed my time healing, and it also afforded me nearly guaranteed spots in any raid in which I was interested.  I’ve spent oodles of badges, pored over loot tables, and done everything else to keep my Druid in tip-top shape. 

Well, as raiding fizzled, so did my playtime with the Druid.  I didn’t feel any pressing need to run heroics with him, or spend time doing dailies.  So he was at least semi-retired in the weeks leading up to Wrath.  In that time, I toyed around with a few of my other characters.  My 70 Hunter, a 65 Shadow Priest, and finally leveled my Warrior into the mid 60s as well.  In that time, I found that the character I MOST enjoyed playing was the Warrior.

I love the look of plate armor.  I love the look of giant 2-handed weapons.  I love dishing out pain and being able to take a few hits.  With the changes to the Arms tree, I’ve loved the Warrior even more.

Still, I’ve been torn.  If I level my present "main," I will certainly find myself in the same position I was in before.  I’ll get spots in raids, I’ll be able to focus heavily on one character, and I already know my way around healing.  With that in mind, I started out in Wrath leveling the Druid.  I quested my behind off in Borean Tundra, as a Boomkin spec, and got him to level 71.  And you know what I realized?

I wasn’t having all the much fun playing him.

Sure, I was blasting the hell out of mobs, as the Boomkin spec with my T5ish spell power gear proved to be more than effective.  I liked seeing the big crits, and I liked mowing down everything in my path.  But – and I’m not entirely sure why – I was bored.  Maybe it’s the Boomkin play style.  I basically do the same thing with every mob I come across.  Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Entangling Roots (sometimes, not always), Wrath, Starfire.  By that time, said mob was either dead or very close to it, and I deliver an additional Moonfire or Wrath to finish the job.

I do this EVERY SINGLE TIME. 

Now, I could see how this spec would be enjoyable in a raiding situation.  I could see myself playing the numbers game, and doing everything I could to push maximum DPS.  For the purposes of leveling, though, I find it boring.

The Warrior, on the other hand, is pure joy for me right now.  Combat with an Arms Warrior, even when leveling, is more varied.  You have to spend your time monitoring your skills, and watching for when Overpower or Execute light up.  Also, while my Boomkin can take a few mobs if necessary, my Warrior can REGULARLY obliterate several mobs at once.  You want to see fun?  Look at what happens on my screen when I collect 4 or so mobs and pop Retaliation and Bladestorm.

So that reminded me of something.  I often wonder, why do we play WoW?  What is it that’s so great?  Well, when you peel away everything, at its core it’s all about the FUN. 

And, well, I’m having fun with the Warrior, in spades.  So it is that I will continue to focus on the Warrior, at least for now, and put the Druid and everyone else on the back burner.  I’m not abandoning them, but for now they are in a holding pattern.  Now, this could be just the first blush of love with the Warrior, maybe I’m in love with the "different" and not with the actual class itself.  I guess I’ll have to keep playing him to find out!

Is this blog still the "Part Time Druid?"  Absolutely.  For me, this blog has moved beyond my original concept.  I can still talk about MOST of the things I was talking about already, regardless of what I do in the game.  Don’t expect any Druid Gear posts in the near future, but you never know!  Anyhow, back to Wrath!

Yes, it is almost here.  Many of you will have Wrath in your hands in a matter of mere hours.  Personally I will not be attending any midnight release party, as I have this thing called "work" the next day anyhow.    Given the state of the servers right now, though, I wouldn’t bank on getting a lot of playtime in anyway!  I am as excited as anyone, and I’m glad that it’s finally nearly here. 

Admittedly, I still have no real idea of who I will level in the expansion.  The problem is that I have more options than I did previously.  I have my 70 Druid (who I will spec to go BOOM) and 70 Hunter, and I also have a 65 Priest and Warrior to choose from.  In some ways, I lean towards leveling my latest, the Warrior.

So, about that Warrior.  He has been pleasantly rocking Outlands’ socks off.  I managed to hold back and wait until level 60 before I hit the Outlands with him, and I don’t regret it. 

I am taking full advantage of the new exp curve from 60-70 and, of course, using Jame’s Leveling Guide as well.  The change to the leveling curve is HUGE too, in case you were wondering.  A 30% reduction when you’re talking about those gaudy 400k+ numbers is big, real big. 

Here is a real world example of how it’s working.  I started my Warrior in the outlands about 10k exp into level 60.  By the time I did every quest in Hellfire short of the instance quests, I was well into level 63.  He is now in Zangarmarsh, and I dinged 65 there with roughly HALF the quests done.  At this rate, I could ding 70 in Nagrand or Terokkar, never setting foot in Blade’s Edge, Netherstorm, or Shadow Moon Valley.  I must say, I approve of this change. 

Now, about that Warrior, and the whole post title and everything.  This Arms spec Warrior may be the most fun I’ve ever had with a spec.  Sure, the Hunter could really wipe multiple mobs, and the Druid’s versatility allowed him to take on anything, including elites he shouldn’t have been able to solo, but nothing had the in-your-face power that the Warrior is showing me.  Of course much of this has to do with the new talents available in the Arms tree.  Let’s take a look at the three talents that are making things dead quick.

Until I hit 65, this was by far my favorite talent.  One of the allures about playing a Warrior, for me, is big, bad, devastating weapons.  After playing a Resto Druid for quite awhile, where my weapon hangs unused at my side, I wanted something that got a little blood on it.  With the Warrior’s up close and personal style, I get just that. 

I’ve always LOVED Overpower with the warrior, it just plain didn’t proc often enough for my liking.    This talent changes all of that, and with the Improved Overpower from earlier in the tree, Overpower has over a 50% chance to Crit!!  Add in one giant axe, and my eyes light up every time Overpower does.

Another, similar talent, with similarly devastating results.  If you like big hits, you’ll love execute.  The problem is the mob had to be below 15% for it to proc, and by that point much of your huge hits could be wasted.  On a side note, I’ve never raided as a Warrior (obviously) but I understand Execute can be a big part of a DPS Warrior’s power in raids.

Not only do I get to use Execute ALL THE TIME, but it also allows me to hang onto 10 rage after using it.  It seems small at first blush, but rage is everything to a warrior.  If Overpower happens to light up after I hit execute, I still have the rage to get that off as well.  What often happens is a little synergy develops between these two talents.  Quite often my Overpower crits which then lights up Execute.  There are times I’ve bounced back and forth between those two attacks, and it is quite the sight to see, trust me.  There have been times when I have 3 shot equal level mobs in the Outlands with Rend –> Overpower –> Execute.  Nasty.

You know how I said Taste for Blood USED to be my favorite talent?  That was until I got to 65, and picked up the top tier arms talent, Bladestorm.  In case you don’t quite understand what this does, it basically turns you into the boss from a 5-man.  Seriously.  Think the woman from the married couple in Arcatraz. 

Here are instructions on how to have fun with Bladestorm.  Run around a zone, and grab a whole crap load of mobs.  Don’t be picky, grab as many as you like, of as many different types.  Find yourself a nice, pleasant spot, with oodles of mobs in tow.  Next turn around and cackle and give the mobs a warning in your best boss voice, that you are about to Bladestorm them all into oblivion.  Hit Bladestorm and enjoy the bloodbath.  Repeat as needed. 

This talent is really, really sick.  While I’ve rarely been in fear of multiple mob fights with the Warrior, now I actively seek them out.  I feel like a Prot Pally AOE grinding.  When I hit 70 (or 80) I was planning on speccing to tank.  I don’t know if  I can do that now, because of Bladestorm.

So there you have it.  Those are the reasons that I am LOVING live as a Warrior.  My NaNoWriMo project is going well, but don’t believe my number count up there.  I really have to keep that updated!  I also have a good post idea or two that I’m letting simmer, so expect to see some "bigger" posts some time in the near future.

Lastly, enjoy Wrath, and if any of you have recommendations on who I should level, I’m open to them.  I’m not so worried about the NAME of the blog influencing my decision.  I’ve always thought my blog was more about the "Part Time" and less about the "Druid."  Thanks for reading!

I’ll be honest.  I generally don’t cover "news" or events in game.  There are plenty of blogs that do that, and they do it far better than I ever would.  Suffice it to say that I have been having a blast with the Halloween events, including the ultra-cool zombie/undead invasion.  Sure, I ended up zombified in a couple of bad situations, and it did make things a little tricky here and there, but I’m not here to cry about anything.  I think Blizzard once again showed just why their game is so much better than the others.

How is that you say? 

The zombie event is all people would talk about.  That right there is a success, in my mind.  No matter what percentage of those people were complaining. 

Anyhow, so what has old PTD been up to? 

Well, I’ve been back on an alt kick, as I am wont to do from time to time.  Specifically I have finally gotten serious about leveling my warrior.  Shortly after the arrival of the Burning Crusade, I rolled a Draenei warrior.  I just thought a Draenei would look particularly cool in full plate armor with giant, nasty weapons.  Anyhow, he’s been languishing at level 42 for a long, long time. 

The thing about warriors, for me, was that though they were VERY tough to kill, they also took a lot longer to kill anything.  In my limited playtime, I’m more likely to level classes that just blow mobs out of the water, hence my Druid (who leveled kitty) and Hunter.  Both those classes just flat out mowed mobs down.

The Warrior, once he reached his 40s, played like he was fighting through molasses.  Steady, to be sure, but awfully slow.  I think the big, slow 2-handers I was using contributed to this, this feeling, but dual wielding never seemed much better.

So he was forgotten for a long time.  Joining my host of low to mid-40s characters, like my Rogue, Shaman and Priest.  I didn’t know if I’d ever go back to him, and he sat around gathering dust.

Then, the patch hit, and a few things conspired to make me decide to pick an alt to focus on for awhile.  The fact is that when 3.0 hit I was a little less interested in spending time on either of my 70s.  Here is why:

• 25 Man Nerfs – I really have no desire to continue doing 25 mans now that they are on easy mode.  I don’t begrudge those of you who are enjoying your time in them, seeing things you never thought you’d see.  I certainly can respect that.  But for me they are a shadow of their former selves, and are no longer a priority for me.
• The coming race to 80 – I am no longer all that focused on gear for my two 70s.  Both have MORE than adequate equipment to last them quite some time in Wrath leveling, and because I’m not interested in "progressing" in raids, I have no real need to upgrade.
• Talent tree changes – There are a lot of interesting new tricks to try for every class.  I toyed a bit with the new resto talents for my Tree, but again, I don’t plan to do much with him right now.  Ditto for the hunter, who is still in search of the elusive Nuramoc.

Once I realized these things, I took an inventory of my non 70 alts.  I have a 65 Shadow Priest, but I lost interest  in him a bit with what I heard of the changes in Wrath.  Their overall DPS was bumped, but some of their uniqueness was gone.  My next highest alt is my Enhancement Shammy, who sits at 49.  I LOVED him in his 30s, but started to grow tired of him as I got higher.  I couldn’t invest in the uber weapons to keep him killing fast with no downtime, and found that I spent a LOT of time on my behind.  So he was out. 

It was down to my 43 combat swords Rogue, my very first WoW character, and a 42 arms Warrior.  I loved how fast the Rogue could take things down, but there was one thing that always bugged me:  all those dang misses when dual wielding.  Yes, I know they still kill darn fast, and the misses will slowly go away when I get +hit gear in the outlands, but I just couldn’t handle seeing "Miss Miss Miss" in my scrolling combat text. 

Besides, I’ve ALWAYS wanted a high level warrior, and here is why:

• Plate Envy – Man, I see some of those numbers and drool.  After spending most of my time with a leather/cloth healer, that plate armor with its huge numbers looks awesome.  I also like the way a fully decked out warrior looks.
• Big, Nasty Weapon Envy – You can see the massive Axe in the screenshot above.  That’s what I’m talking about.  I like the idea of having a weapon I actually USE instead of just carry around for show (think druid, hunter).
• Tank Envy – I’ve always wanted to REALLY try my hand at tanking.  I’ve done it a bit with my Druid, but frankly I’m not into the whole respec thing.  I know it’s cake for you guys that run dailies every day, but for me that’s just too much cash to sling around.  I prefer to pick a spec and stick with it.  And when I think tank, I think Warrior.

And that’s how I’ve found myself doing nothing but leveling my warrior.  He’s up to 58 now, and I hope I can get him to at least 68 before Wrath hits.  I think I should be able to do it, thanks in large part to Jame’s Leveling Guide (if you’re leveling an alt, there is NO BETTER WAY than Jame’s guide).  The exp curve change from 3.0should help as well.  The idea is to get him high enough to join the "Who Will PTD Level First" competition for Wrath.  I figure I’ll throw up another post soon with my leveling spec, which is presently 43/5/0, and what I like about it.  For now, I think I’ve droned on long enough.   Thanks for reading, and don’t be surprised to hear a lot about Warriors in the near future!

I’ll be honest, I’m still wrestling with how to handle the new firewalled-at-work nature of the blog.  It was fiendishly convenient to write posts on my lunch break, but that is no more, unless I can figure out some work around that doesn’t involve spending a few hundred bucks on an iPhone.

So, what in the heck have I been up to?  Well, honestly I’m pretty sure I’ve been up to the same crap everyone else has been up to.

Enjoying the living hell out of the patch.  The fanboy in me loves Blizzard, and would marry it if it weren’t for Mrs. PTD.  They’ve just plain got their crap together.  Sure, there have been a good helping of server issues to go ’round, but that’s to be expected with such a big patch.  Luckily, I reside on one of the more stable realms, and have not had any real problems logging in whenever I want.

Well, except for those damn QUEUES, anyway.   (Is that the hardest word to spell in the English language, or is it just me?)

The funny thing is I haven’t been spending a lot of time with either of my 70s.  I did run SSC in guild the other night, and we wiped the floor with the first four bosses.  I can confirm that the nerf is in place.  That HP nerf along with our buffed talent trees made SSC MUCH more relaxing than it used to be.

Other than that, I have spent a small amount of time on my druid in search of a rare, Purple Chimera.  You may have heard of him, his name is Nuramoc.  I still haven’t even seen him, much less tamed him.  I’ve probably logged a good 6 hours in Netherstorm so far in fruitless searching.  I log on to the hunter, check all the known spawn points, log off.  Rinse and repeat.

You see, I’m a sucker for a PRETTY pet, especially if it happens to be rare.  I have no interest in a Corehound, but that pretty purple Chimera has my attention.  Heck, I’ve spent a LOT of time on my hunter camping spawns for rare pets.  It started with Humar the Pridelord.  I HAD to have that pretty black cat.  I also spent a LOT of time looking for and taming both Spiteflayer and Deathmaw.  I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

Literally all my hunter has done is search for that pet.  Luckily, he’s a miner and engineer to boot, so I’ve collected 11 Primal Mana and about 50 each of Fel Iron and Adamantite.  Not bad!

Anyhow, OTHER than that, I’ve been working on my baby warrior.  I’ve ALWAYS wanted to have a 70 warrior.  I like the idea of a big, bad tank with the biggest, baddest weapons and that plate armor with ungodly AC.  I just never could get him past the low 40s hump.

I started on him again in earnest just before the patch.  He was level 42 then, and he’s now sitting just shy of 55.  I got him a nice blue 2 hander, and it’s been cake ever since.  It’s nice to play a character that can actually TAKE a few hits for once.  I particularly enjoy seeing how many mobs I can group up and take down solo.  The changes to Thunderclap help that quite a bit, as do the changes to retaliation. 

Retaliation was always my second favorite warrior skill.  I love mowing down groups of mobs with it.  My favorite warrior skill?  Overpower.  And now there is that nice new talent that makes Overpower sometimes proc when rend does damage.  It makes for pure huge crit sweetness!

He also got himself an entire levels worth of exp just through trick or treating.    Not bad!  I am also now forgoing stats for looks as I level with his shiny Hallowed Helm he got from a treat bad the other day.  Thus far I have seen every treat bucket in both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.  I’m presently wondering whether I should get a port to Shatt and see how many I could get in the Outlands!  I have no REAL goal to get the title, but I sure wouldn’t turn it down.

Anyhow, that’s what I’ve been up to.  To sum it up, I’ve been up to having a hell of a lot of fun in game.  How about you?