They said it couldn’t be done, but they were wrong.  PTD now has TWO max level toons.  If you recall, when Wrath hit I was busy leveling a Warrior who was in his early 60s.  At release, I played my druid as a Boomkin up to level 71, and I hated it.

HATED it.

Too scripted, too much of the same thing over and over.  Moonfire, Entangling Roots, Insect Swarm, Wrath, Starfire.  Rinse and repeat.  Ad infinitum.  Bleh.

But, that’s neither here nor there.  The boomkin spec soured me on the Druid for a bit, and I went back to my low 60s warrior, and leveled him all the way to 77.  Then I heard in guild that we were kind of hurting for healers, so back to the Druid I went, spec’d to Feral IMMEDIATELY and powered my way to 80, enjoying the whole ride.  I went back to Resto immediately, busted out my leaves, and started the heroic grind.  That’s when I remembered something I had all but forgotten –

Soloing as a Tree SUCKS

It may very well be the least fun you can have in WoW, and I mean that in all seriousness.  I’ve already established that I did not like the Boomkin spec.  Well, soloing as a Resto Druid is kind of like that, only without the big damage numbers and extra tricks.  It takes horrendously long to kill anything, and it is incredibly boring.  I can only hit my "2" key (Wrath) 1.5 million times before I tire of it. 

I can hear the counterpoints already.

"Yeah, but it sure is better than it USED to be, at least you have decent spellpower!"

Well, just because it’s BETTER doesn’t mean it’s good.  It still consists of crap repetition with crap damage.  Just because the damage is slightly less crappy doesn’t change much. 

"Well, I can take any mob one on one.  I literally cannot die."

To an extent, sure.  The good thing about soloing as a resto druid that’s nice is my ability to keep myself alive.  Basically forever.  Still, I’d trade survivability for some decent DPS in a heartbeat.

"Why do you need to solo anyway?  You can group at will!"

Sure I can, but that’s mostly based on instance runs.  I still need to be able to quest for cash, and I especially want to finish off the Northrend questing achievements.  I’ve cleared Borean, the Fjord, Dragonblight and Grizzly Hills thus far.  It’s hard to find a group for general questing, as it’s faster for nearly any class to quest alone.

Now, I don’t know how a lot of other solo centric class/spec combinations solo, but I know many of them got some new tricks.  Prot Warriors now have decent damage output AND can take many, many mobs on at a time.  Holy priests can gather a few mobs, shield, and Holy Nova them all to hell.  Resto Shammys still get Chain Lightning to throw around willy nilly.  Holy Pallys…well…I have a feeling they are in the same boat as Resto Druids.

So, enough about the Tree, let’s talk Warriors.

Tankin’ Ain’t Easy

I hit 80 with the Warrior 2 days ago while questing in Storm Peaks (much like his Druid cousin.)  Leveling him was both as easy and as enjoyable as leveling the Druid, perhaps even more so.  The quest design in Wrath is excellent, and it was just as enjoyable the second time around as it was the first. 

Anyhow, with the Warrior things are a little different.  My Druid had good BC end-game gear, and started out with a little advantage.  Heck, I still haven’t replaced a couple of my BC epics, (my belt and bracers) but I’m sure I soon will.  The Warrior, on the other hand, was a fresh 70 for the Wrath content.  So while a lot of you are just picking the most expensive quest reward to sell, I’ve had to equip most of that stuff you’ve thrown out. 

I also leveled him as a Blacksmith, which I believe turned out to be a good choice.  I’ve crafted a lot of good gear for myself as I leveled, and by 80 I had the whole Tempered Saronite tanking set, along with the Daunting Legplates and Daunting Handguards.  Heck, my whole tanking set, including my shield and weapon, came via crafting.

So I had a good but not great tanking set.  It put me around 19k unbuffed HPs, 20k armor, and 513 defense, and I respec’d right away to 15/5/51.  This is the in vogue "deep wounds" tanking build.  Supposedly it has all you need from the Prot tree for mitigation and such along with good DPS output. 

I wouldn’t know though, I just yank this kind of stuff of forums, I really do.

Thus far I have tanked UK, the Nexus, Azjol-Nerub, Drak’Tharon keep and HOL all on regular.  As of last night, I’ve also tanked UK in heroic mode.

Tanking is hard.  I don’t know if you know.  Sure, healing and DPS have their challenges, but in my estimation, tanking is the hardest job there is.  As a tank you have many expectation:

• Lead the run
• Mark targets
• Manage CC
• Pull
• Explain Boss fights
• Manage loot rules

And that’s before actually getting into the actual killing.  I won’t kid around, it’s tough to manage.  It’s hard to get the attention of 4 mobs and keep it.  It’s hard to hold aggro on four different mobs while bloodthirsty, frothing at the mouth, big number hunting DPS are chomping at the bit to let it all out to try and get the top spot in the damage meters.   

In the interest of comparison, here are the other people’s jobs:

DPS

• Kill stuff in the right order
• CC, maybe
• Accept everyone’s criticism for your poor DPS and/or poor aggro management

Healer

• Keep everyone alive
• Cure poison/decurse/etc.
• Accept everyone’s criticism of your lackluster healing abilities, and accept blame for any and all wipes

Now, you all know a healer is still my main.  You should also know that my main WAS a Hunter back before BC hit.  I’m not demeaning the role or difficulty of playing a healer or playing a DPS class.

I’m just telling you, that from my perspective, tanking is harder than both of those jobs.

And you know what?  I’m enjoying the hell out of it.  I liked that we succeeded in heroic UK the other night (and I’m happy that I got a decent tanking sword as well as a tanking ring).  I also enjoyed being front and center and heavily responsible for the group’s success.

I’ll be tanking more heroics, you can bet your Abyss Crystal on it.  To close, here is the Listos version of the post you have just read:  PTD has an 80 Resto Druid and an 80 Prot Warrior, soling as a tree sucks, and tanking is hard.  PTD out.

They said it couldn’t be done, but I did it.  I got my druid to level 80 on New Year’s Eve.  Pretty appropriate, eh?  I dinged while doing the Sons of Hodir questline in Storm Peaks, specifically when turning in the quest that opened up Nifflehelm as a new town with dailies and such. 

I see rep grinding in my future.

Anyhow, at that point it was time for me to log, but the next night I went ahead with the respec to Resto.  I pulled out all my old healing gear, along with one or two quest rewards I had picked up, and a couple of crafted pieces.  It put me around 1250 healing or so in Tree form.  It’s funny how at one time that was a REALLY good number, and now it was iffy for most heroics.

Anyhow, I wanted to hit the ground running, and put out a call in guild chat for a heroic run, preferably an "easy" one, like UK or Nexus.  A couple of people wanted to do Heroic VH, and I said what the heck.  I feel fairly confident in my skill, and figured it to make up for any real gear deficiencies. 

So there I was, my first heroic Wrath instance, Violet Hold.  The first boss we got?  The stinking Voidwalker.

Ouch babe, very ouch.

He is one tough cookie.  As the fight wears on, it just gets tougher and tougher.  Though I have the use of Wild Growth for group healing, it can’t keep up with the kind of damage that guy puts out once he has a few of his adds spawned.  We managed to kill him on the first try, but I died, the only rezzer.  We reset and tried again, and the same thing happened.  On the third try, I basically ignored everyone else about 3/4s of the way through the fight to concentrate on keeping myself alive. 

That worked.  Only the tank and myself survived, but we had time to rez up and continue. 

The second boss was the Consortium dude you have to kite around the room.  Our tank had experience with that, so we plowed through him on the first try.  The last boss was also fairly easy, and we got it done.

All in all, I’m glad I had a tough job for my first heroic, it knocked the old rust off the leaves a bit.

This was also my first time really playing with some of the Druid’s new tools.  Wild Growth is helpful, but not overpowered or anything like that.  I found I was using a similar healing rotation from before 3.02.  The only real difference is I was keeping Regrowth up more often due to the nifty glyph.  I also found that my mana regen isn’t what it used to be, but I can keep up fairly easily with an occasional Innervate.

There is one spell, though, that is essentially useless in my early estimation.  Nourish.  I threw it in a few rotations to see what it could do.  it’s basically a fast, low return heal.  I get better numbers from Regrowth, and it has the added benefit of a lot of crits, the glyphed bonus, and the HOT portion.  Right now I don’t see a real use for Nourish.  If I need an emergency, fast heal, I’m using Swiftmend or NS+HT.  Nourish just doesn’t do enough healing to be effective, IMO.

Still, healing with a druid is just as fun, and I can see myself enjoying many more heroic runs and doing well on the healing meters in raid situations as well.

Since then I’ve also healed Heroic Nexus, which was a fairly smooth run minus a wipe on one of the four pulls in the flower area.  I also got a nice neckpiece off of Anomalus.  I also did a run of Heroic Azjol Nerub last night.  I had heard that this one was VERY tough, but I joined up with a very powerful PUG that was desperate for a healer.  The four DPSers (the tank included) averaged 2200, 2100, 1900 and 1700 DPS.  We blew a  frigging hole in that place.  From what those guys told me, having a shammy along made it easy.  The poison cleansing totem is the bee’s knees on the first two bosses.

So there you have it.  I have my first 11 badges, I’ve now crafted my first two epic LW pieces, the Earthgiving Boots and Earthgiving Legguards, and I’m sitting at around 1450 healing, and rising fast.  I should be in the 1600 range fairly quickly, as I have my eye on a bunch of easy upgrades.  Overall, I’m having a great time in game, and I’m happy to be back where I belong, max level and preparing to raid.  Thanks for reading!

Or is this just one of those rumors making the rounds?  Has Blizzard really nerfed the hardcore raiding philosophy into the ground, or is there significantly more challenging content coming down the pipe?

Before I try to answer that, here is a quick update on my in game progress.  I have officially started leveling my Druid again for use as a healer at 80.  Though I toyed with a Warrior for a bit, and got him to 77, in my heart I always knew I’d find a reason to buckle down and level the Druid.  As it turns out, my guild is hurting a bit for level 80 healers, and I’m glad to help out.  I hastily respecced my Druid out of Moonkin (you may now consider me "anti-Moonkin") into a feral leveling build, and I’ve been having a blast.  I’m taking the same "completionist" path as I was with the Warrior.  He has cleared (meaning finished all the necessary quests for the achievement) Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord and Dragonblight, in that order.  He is roughly halfway through Grizzly Hills as we speak.  Berserk is nearly as much fun as Bladestorm, though not QUITE.  My grand scheme is to get both the Druid and Warrior to 80, and once dual specs arrive the Druid will be Feral/Resto and the Warrior Prot/Fury.  I’ll cover a lot of bases there!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I’ve heard on a couple of different podcasts and read on a couple of different blogs that some people consider raiding in Wrath to be too easy.  I’ve heard claims of many guilds clearing Naxx 10 within a couple of tries, and then moving on to Naxx 25 and having similar levels of success.  That most vocal of the WoW population, the hardcore raiders, are crying foul.

In particular, Syncaine over at Hardcore Casual said something that I had to comment on in his post on Wrath raiding.  (In defense of Syncaine, he is plainly "anti-WoW" right now, and is more interested in Warhammer Online.  Props to him for not being afraid to give an opinion.)

I’m guessing very little of that happens now, with how much more ‘accessible’ raiding is in WotLK. When you down a boss the first night, with fresh 80s, I can’t help but wonder if that’s even considered a raid.

Yes, we all know about 25th of whatever, the uber guild that cleared Naxx before I was even out of Borean Tundra.  I’m also sure there are other strong guilds that have done almost as well, and I’m also sure there has been early success in Naxx thus far overall. 

Guess what, Naxx doesn’t count.  It’s a bad example.  Naxx has been around a LONG, LONG time.  It’s been retooled a bit, but there are strats out there that have been out there before even BC.  A lot of those Uber guilds also spent the beta time practicing that raid over and over, just so they could say how cool they were when they cleared it.

Beyond that, though, my guild hasn’t cleared Naxx yet.  Not even the 10 man version.  Yes, we’ve cleared our share of bosses in there, but other bosses are right now kicking our teeth in and showing us that we are not ready.  It’s not like every guild out there is already "done" with Wrath, right?  Hell, I personally NEVER cleared anything beyond Magtheridon in BC.  I saw Lady V, and I saw a lot of the Black Temple and Mount Hyjal, but I never was a part of a "clear" of any of that T5 or T6 content.

I also want to point out the fact that there are more raids coming, and that Blizzard recently gave the hardcore a raid to their liking in Sunwell Plateau.  Do the hardcore really think they will be abandoned forever?  Maybe there isn’t a BT or a Sunwell in Wrath as of right now, but I’m sure that Blizzard has some more difficult content to come.  We already know that Ulduar is on the way, and I’m sure it will be much more difficult just because it’s completely new content.  Not old, rehashed content.  A NEW raid that nobody has ever seen.

In the end, though, I can’t say I’ll care all that much if the ultimate "bleeding edge" players decide that WoW isn’t the game for them.  I’m a little tired of the 1-5% of players, the hardcore, dictating too much about how WoW should shape up for the masses.  I don’t know about you, but I’m having a fricking blast with this expansion, and I can’t wait to see what else Blizzard has in store for us. 

No, Burning Crusade was not an abject failure.  It certainly kept a lot of people enjoying the game for a long time, yours truly included.  In hindsight, though, I can see why I’m positively giddy with what I’m seeing in Wrath, and how it is light years beyond what BC ever hoped to be.  BC had some great instances, and added a lot to World of Warcraft overall, but it came up short in so many ways.  In terms of zone design and quest design, Wrath absolutely blows BC out of the water.

Before we get started, let me put on my fanboi suit. I know it’s around here somewhere…lessee…

Ahh, yes, here it is:

I couldn’t in good faith do a new blog post without including the 7 Levels of Awesomeness Murloc Suit. Whoever came up with that quest should get a raise. Or maybe a yacht. 

Zone Design

I’m talking about this first not because it’s the most important, but rather because it’s the first thing I really noticed.  Do you remember the first time you took the boat to the Howling Fjord?  I sure as heckfire do.  Boat rides normally meant go make a sandwich time, but the entry into the Fjord was absolutely jaw-dropping for me.  It’s the first zone I hit in the beta, and it’s the first taste I really got of the expansion.  I remember vividly thinking as the boat went along "That’s awesome."  "Wow, that’s awesome, too."  "How cool is that."  And it continued.  Just look at the waterfalls, the sky, the keep in the distance.  Beautiful.

So, do you remember when you first entered the Dark Portal in BC?  Sure, there was a cool battle going on right at the entrance, but what about the zone in general?  Rust colored, busted up mountain terrain.  Not all that exciting.  As I thought about this post, I tried to think about something memorable to say about the first zone in BC.  Well, I couldn’t really think of anything.  Hellfire Peninsula was essentially the same theme repeated ad nauseam – floating, red rocks and mountains.  Bleh. 

Now, let’s think about Borean Tundra, for comparison’s sake.  The zone is both beautiful and, more importantly, varied.  It’s almost like it has a half-dozen mini zones within the larger zone.  Coastlines, snowy mountains, lakes, plains, ruins, you name it.  It’s all there.  Hell, you might argue that there is more variety in the Borean Tundra than all of the Outlands combined.  And that’s just ONE ZONE!  I have now seen nearly ALL of Borean, the Fjord, Dragonblight and the Grizzly Hills.  Every one of them is beautiful and interesting.

Looking back, I’m having a hard time remembering an Outland zone I REALLY liked.  SMV, Netherstorm, Blade’s Edge, Terokkar and Hellfire all kind of sucked, to be honest.  I turn my back on them without hesitation.  Sure, each one had one redeeming quality or two, but overall they were just flat out boring.  Nagrand and Zangarmarsh were OK.  That’s the best I can do.

Quest Design

My first thoughts on quests in Northrend? "Holy crapload of quests, Batman!"  It starts off slow, but before long there is a flood of quests.  There are many, many quest hubs, and most have their own individual flavors.  I remember that at first I was intimidated by the 1.5 million EXP I’d need to level, but then before I knew it I was halfway home.  The reason I hardly realized my quick progress was because the quests were just so damn interesting.

Sure, there are plenty of vanilla "kill 10 of this, gather 12 of that" quests, but there are just as many different and interesting quests to keep things rolling.  Vehicle quests, long, interesting chains, plenty of lore that’s worth reading.

Looking back at BC, I can only think of a handful of memorable quest lines.  The Sons of Oronok chain in SMV, the Gorefiend line in SMV, the Ogri’la attunement series.  These quests were all interesting because they had visceral payoffs in terms of story and rewards. 

In Northrend, I can think of at least that many memorable quest lines in Borean Tundra alone. 

The Mechazod quest line:

The Dragon quest line outside the Nexus:

Last Rites:

All of these quest lines I just mentioned have one thing in common:  big time payoffs.  The quests in Northrend make you feel like you’re actually DOING something, not just looking for big EXP.  And how cool is it that you see Arthas so early and often?  The funny thing is, I haven’t even mentioned the Wrathgate series.  If you know what I mean by that, you know what I mean.  Wow Wrathgate, just wow. 

Even crazier is the fact that the three great quest lines I mention above are all in the introductory zone, Borean Tundra.  The memorable BC quests I noted are from much later in that game’s progression.

Final Thoughts

It’s really pretty simple, when you think about it.  Blizzard gets a little better at what they do all the time.  It’s really just like anything, you might do ok when you start out, but the more experience you get, the better the results usually are.  Think about McDonald’s, they didn’t have the Big Mac right at the start, they just really had regular old hamburgers and cheeseburgers.  It took some practice for them to churn out the genius that is the Big Mac.  I believe the same can be said for WoW.  Classic WoW was a good start, BC expanded on the game and experimented with some things, and now Wrath has taken the knowledge gained from BC and run with it.  Instances are faster.  Off specs can tank or heal normal 5 mans.  Rep grinds are streamlined.  Quests and lore are actually engaging.  So thus far, bravo Blizzard.  I’ve only seen 4 zones thus far (though every inch of said zones) but I have a lot of optimism for the future.  I guess my only question is whether Blizz will be able to keep this streak going!

The deed is all but done.  My Warrior is now officially higher up than my Druid.  Well, he’s not TECHNICALLY higher, as they are both 71.  The Warrior, however, is just a few bubbles from 72, while the Druid sits right at 71. 

So while I’ve been making this transition away from the character I have focused on for nearly two years, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering WHY I was making the switch.  I think I’m finally understanding the true reason for my switch.

I don’t like playing the game in a pre-scripted manner.  What I mean by that is I don’t like using a defined spell/ability rotation on mob after mob ad infinitum.  I’m an "in your face" kind of player.  I like to jump right in and get my hands dirty, and REACT to what is happening to me.  As a Boomkin, I was doing the same thing every time.  Here is how combat went with my Boomkin:

Moonfire –> Insect Swarm –> Wrath –> Starfire –> Moonfire and/or Wrath (depending on the mob’s remaining health)

I had fun at first, I really did.  It was such a huge improvement over my old Resto soloing style that I didn’t notice how boring it really was.  I enjoyed some of the big crits going off, and I enjoyed how fast things were going down.  But then, I noticed if I was tired I could literally nod off in the middle of combat.  I’m not even exaggerating.  I would FALL ASLEEP playing the Boomkin spec.

At the time I realized I was bored, I was right on the precipice of 71.  I finished off the level, and decided it was time for a change, at least temporarily.  The early areas were also VERY camped, so I liked the idea of heading back to my warrior who was in his early 60s in Outland.

So the abandonment of my Druid started slowly, a mere trickle.

I had a LOT of fun with the Warrior.  I had BEEN having fun with him since 3.02 dropped.  The new Arms spec was fierce!  I could take single mobs quickly, or I could take multiple mobs, especially once I got to the 51 point talent, Bladestorm.  You’ve all heard of my love for the Arms spec.  At the time I thought it was the huge weapons, the massive crits, and the shiny, bulky, beautiful plate armor.  All of those things were indeed a factor, but the real reason was the play style.

With the Warrior, every fight is different.  The only "rotation" with him starts at the very beginning.  After that, though, Warrior combat is purely reactive.  Overpower is up, use it.  Execute is up, use it.  Got an add – pop Demo shout, TC and Sweeping Strikes.  It’s not that I have a massive number of skills to keep track of, but I always have to be paying attention in combat to use them.  It’s not the mindless mashing of one or two keys, it’s a dance.

A dance of death.

That’s where I find myself now.  My old main, the Druid, is hanging out in the Valiance Keep Inn.  At this point, I’m not sure if I’ll ever seriously revisit him.  He had some great gear for the end of BC, and he saw a lot.  It just might be time for him to retire to a cabin out in Ashenvale, I don’t know.  One thing I am SURE of though, is that if I ever do decide to pick him back up, the first thing he will do is pay the 15 gold or whatever it is for a respec to Feral.

Boomkin, with all of its big crits and feathers, just is not for me. 

For now, though, I’m happy with where I am.  I took the Warrior out to Northrend just shy of level 70.  I waited until I could get mining to 375 with him, as I didn’t want to miss any cobalt nodes as I leveled.  He also has Blacksmithing up to 365, and is making the early Northrend armor.  One of the great things about him is he is a true level 70 newb.  Nearly every quest reward is an upgrade for him.  I listen to my guildies bemoan the drops and quest rewards that they have to vendor while I equip every one with gleeful anticipation. 

I’ll talk more of this later, though.  I’m keeping track of his gear progress to get an idea of how GREAT early Northrend gear is for a FRESH level 70.  Thanks for reading, now don’t you have some questing to do in Grizzly Hills?

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!

Sorry, I’m feeling a little Sci Fi today.  Anyhow, just a quick update so’s you know I’m alive.  I intend to be a little less frequent with my posts this month for a couple of reasons.

1. I’m doing that whole NaNoWriMo thing.  I’ve always wanted to write a book, and this is the kind of thing that gives me the motivation to actually try and GET IT DONE!  Very briefly, my story has NOTHING to do with WoW.  I’m writing a good old detective story with some fantastic elements.
2. The release of Wrath.  Let’s face it, we’re all going to be too busy playing to do much else.  Hell, I’ve been too busy since 3.02 hit.  I’m not a "news blog," so I don’t intend to do any journaling or news feed type stuff.  There are better blogs for that!

So there you have it.  If you’re like me, you’re having a blast right now anyway, and haven’t been reading as many blogs.  I know I haven’t been reading as many, and I consider blogging a job!  Anyhow, I will still put up a post or two a week, just don’t expect 4 or more anytime soon.    Have fun all!

Just a quick one for you here.  My wife’s family has a mini Pumpkin carving contest every year.  Five or so of us carve pumpkins the week of Halloween and a few neighbors from across the street judge.

There is no prize in this contest, only pure glory.  In that way, I suppose it’s much like an achievement! 

Anyhow, I think we did a pretty good job this year, and thought I’d share the pics.  Halloween is my favorite holiday, after all. 

The fist pic is all of the pumpkins, and the next two are close-ups of the winner.

Not bad eh?  Pictures don’t QUITE do them justice, of course.  That Frankenstein is pretty good looking, though.  From a little ways away he almost looked REAL.  Creepy.  Guess who carved him? 

That’s right, I won it for the second year running.  Woot! 

PTD has earned the achievement [Pumpkin Carving Master]!

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!