No, I haven’t seen Dark Knight yet, though I’m itching to.  Ledger just looks great as the Joker, much more frightening than the Jack Nicholson version from 1989.

Anyhow…

I don’t know about your server, but over on Whisperwind we seem to be having a bit of a tank crisis.  Take a gander at the LFG channel, and chances are you’ll see multiple groups just looking for one last piece to start a run – a tank.

Let’s face it, good tanks are hard to come by.  It’s a tough enough job running with people you know, it much be semi-nightmaric to try to tank a PUG run.  I don’t even want to get into what a Warrior’s repair bill looks like after a heroic PUG.  Ugh.

Also, in my guild one of our main tanks took a vacation for about 2 weeks and we were short a very important piece.  (Zhen, you’ve got some nerve!)  One of our other main tanks has been suffering from on again off again burnout, which doesn’t help.  Because of all that it’s been difficult to get even guild runs off the ground.

Well, I’ve been considering the unthinkable.  Respecing.  If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you’ll know that I leveled feral all the way, and spent a good 3-4 months when I hit 70 as a feral druid.  Well, I was a little afraid of trying to lead runs at the time, so I was always vying for DPS spots in instances.  That proved to be quite difficult, and my guild was also running a little low on healers.  So it was that Pummra was reborn as a resto druid.

I took to healing like a fish to water (more on that later) and haven’t looked back.  I enjoy my role as a healer, and I’ve come a long way in terms of gear and skill.  In my good healer gear, I’m sitting at about 1900 +heal – not a huge number, but more than adequate for T5 and everything below that.  Since I’ve raided SSC, Kara and Heroics so much, I’ve also slowly been amassing tanking and DPS gear.

I didn’t know how far I had come in that respect until the other night.  I knew I was close to a really good tanking set, but I didn’t know how close.  When I put everything on, I was at 10.2k health, 18k+ armor and 418 defense.  And that’s resto spec’d.  I had kicked around the idea of trying to tank again before, but I just got a couple more recent upgrades to push me over that magical 415 defense number.  I have some fantastic pieces, like the Wildfury Greatstaff from SSC.

So should I take the plunge? I very well might, and even offered to OT Kara Friday night if necessary. I don’t like the idea of paying for respecs all the time, as I still plan to raid as a healer, but I’ll live with it. I’m no longer intimidated by leading or marking on runs, so expect to see Pummra’s Big Bear Butt soon!

In case you haven’t noticed, there are a LOT of World of Warcraft blogs out there. Literally everything is covered, from class-specific blogs, to blogs about leading a guild, to blogs devoted to PvP. It’s all there. In the short time I have been blogging, I’ve seen blogs come and go. I’ve seen people start out a house of fire, only to fizzle after a few weeks or months. I’ve seen other people who start out tentative and stay that way. They often feel unsure what to write about, or a lot of times they just plain run out of ideas.

This post is for you.

To be a successful blogger, no matter what you choose to focus on, you must find your Blogging Voice. No, that doesn’t mean you have to write in character like a silly orc I know, but rather it means you need some kind of direction, some kind of vision for your blog.

I suppose a good place to start is to talk about how I found MY blogging voice.

How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Post ANYTHING

When I first started my blog, it wasn’t much more than a name. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about, but I wanted to find a reasonably catchy name that said something about me. My main is a druid, and I am what you would term a casual player, so Part Time Druid was born.

Honestly, I had no idea what I wanted to write about. I just knew I wanted to give blogging a try. My first post was the obligatory intro post, really nothing fancy. From there, I tried out a couple of Blog Azeroth shared topics (more on that later) and a couple of casual centric ideas I had, like a view of classes from a Casual perspective, and a look at Casual Raiding. Interspersed throughout were journalistic type posts that were about what I was doing in game.

I had some kind of direction going, but it was scattered and I didn’t have a lot of readers. This was good in a way, because it allowed me the space to play around with some ideas. Two posts really put me on the map. The first was my attempt at a gear post, Casual Druid Shopping List: 2.4 Badge Gear. I quickly found out that gear posts always get a lot of play.

The next big post, though, was much more important. I wrote a post that I got from Blog Azeroth called Resto Druid: 5 Things You Should Know. This was the first time that I received any real feedback about any of my posts. Phae at Resto4Life (one of the key blogs that got me blogging) wrote a reaction to that post on her site.

Now, the important thing about this is not so much the “pub” I got from Phaelia’s post (though it did help my blog grow tremendously), but rather this was the first time I had any idea of what I wanted to talk about. That post of mine was largely a throwaway post, put together in an hour or so one afternoon. I didn’t research all that much, I didn’t rack my brain or re-edit till my eyes bled, I just kind of wrote it and put it up. There were quite a few posts earlier that I had put a LOT more work into that nobody ever read. Yet this off the cuff, throwaway of a post suddenly had hits through the roof, along with oodles of comments.

What’s the point? You never know what people are going to WANT to read, so quit worrying about it. What you consider your grandest, most thought-provoking, most “cutting edge” post may not elicit more than a handful of reads. The post you whip together in 15 minutes about nothing at all may get a dozen comments.

You never know. Don’t bother trying to know.

After I got all those hits, Phae’s reaction, and the increase in subs, I realized something. I had been being awfully “safe” with my posts. I had bigger ideas, but I often dismissed them because I doubted my “WoW cred” and whether I had any right to post them. Sure, I had some good posts before then, but this throwaway was the first post I had written with any heart, and I realized that.

From then on, I made myself one promise. I would write what I wanted to write, and to hell with what anyone else thought. I realized that my opinions, be they right or wrong, were just as good as anyone else’s.

And so, I had found my Blogging Voice. Now I would write about those BIGGER ideas I had always wanted to write about. Guild Drama. WoW Apathy. Macros. Music. My alts. Anything was game. Even gear posts.

Yes, It Has All Been Done Before – But Don’t Let That Stop You

People say it’s all been done before, and it has. But it hasn’t been done by YOU. There were many great gear posts out there for Resto Druids (4haelz and A Tale of Two Druids are two), but never any that were how I envisioned them. I wanted a “cheat sheet” that got down to brass tacks, and told you the flat out easiest and quickest upgrades for each slot. I soon found out that I wasn’t the only one looking for such a list, as to this day that is by far my most visited post. It’s the perfect example of something that had been done before, but not in every WAY it could have been done.

Make Use of the Blogging Community

I have found that bloggers are very helpful sorts for the most part. Many of us are more than willing to look at your blog and give advice and suggestions, and there are some truly great resources out there.

Blog Azeroth is a wonderful message board where you can find out about nearly anything blog related. Whether you’re just getting started or a grizzled blogging veteran, you’ll find troves of useful tips and info. I used to visit the site every day, until the Draconian IT Overlords blocked it for me at work. Oh bother.

If you have any questions, or just want to chat about blogging, though, BA is the place to go.

That’s only the beginning, though. Have a favorite blogger? Ask them for advice. Have a strong reaction to another blogger’s post? Don’t use it up in their comments, write your own post and link back to it. Heck, there is even Twisted Nether, a Podcast or Blogcast focused specifically on the world of blogging. They even started a Wiki!

I’m really only scratching the surface here, too. The point is, don’t be an island. There are plenty of people and resources that can help you kickstart your blog.

Conclusion

As usual, it seems my post turned into a bit of a ramble. That’s just how it works for me, though, so I don’t mind. The point, though, is that you can find your Blogging Voice, if you’re willing to look for it.

1. Write what you want.
   
2. Don’t be discouraged if it’s “been done before,” do it anyway.
   
3. Use the resources at your disposal.

If you do those things, I’m sure you’ll soon have the blog you always wanted. I always thought that people who start blogs WANT to say something. What I mean is that they want to have some kind of impact, some kind of audience. Some bloggers will tell you that “they just blog for themselves,” but I never buy that. If they did, wouldn’t they just keep a private blog somewhere, and not a URL anyone could get to? But I digress. Everyone who writes a blog has something to say, they’re just not always sure what exactly that is. Hopefully this post will help you figure that out.

My poor, poor F5 key.  I know mine is getting a workout, and I’m sure I’m not alone.  I’ll be hoping against hope that I can get an invite to the beta, but at the same time I realize the prospects aren’t all that great.  (And no, having a resonably successful WoW blog gets your nowhere in that department.)  They’ve said its purely random, and with 10 million plus playing, maybe I should give the F5 key a rest.

The good thing is that SHOULD I get in, there is no NDA, so I can blog about it at will.  And believe me, I will.

In other blog related news, PartTimeDruid hit some big milestones this week.  I’ve topped 200 subscribers, which I was hoping to reach by the end of the month.  Yay for being ahead of schedule!  We’ll see if I can maintain that level. Also, I reached the 25,000 overall hits mark for the blog.  Woohoo!

It’s funny, when I started this thing I had perhaps a dozen subs in the first month or so, and roughly 40-50 hits a day.  Now I have over 200 subscribers and regularly average 300 or more hits per day.  This is all thanks to you guys, the readers.  I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my blog.

I figure it’s a good time to highlight what the most popular posts have been.  Here is what people have loved to read:

1. Fresh 70 Resto Druid Gear Cheat Sheet (4,140 reads) This has been a popular post from the beginning. I tried to put something together that was simple and direct. Most gear posts are more “gear lists,” I tried to give very specific direction in what you should get for each slot to gear up quickly.
2. Casual Druid Shopping List: 2.4 Badge Gear (2,138 reads) People love the 2.4 badge gear, and this was my attempt to simplify things for the druiding types. Again, I tried to give REAL opinions, not just a list.
3. Magisters’ Terrace: Resto Druid Gear (1,257 reads) Let’s face it, people love gear posts. They will continue as gear is added in Wrath and beyond.
4. Resto Druid: 5 Things You Should Know (1,256 reads) This was my first post that put me on the map. I roused the interest of some big time bloggers (Phaelia, for one) that in turn roused more interest in my blog. I will probably do a rehash of this post at some point, as it was a little on the harsh side.
5. Top 5: Fighting WoW Apathy (1,079 reads) This was the next post that really pushed me a long. It got the notice of WoW Insider, and a post about my post really helped me out. Some people love WI, some people hate WI, for me I’m glad it’s there.

It’s heavy on gear posts, for sure, but I can see why. I’m a big fan of them myself, or I wouldn’t write them! They take a little more work than your average post, and you’re bound to miss stuff with them, but I still enjoy writing them. Anyhow, that’s all for now. Thanks to everyone who has read and continues to read my blog. I appreciate it!

I had quite the interesting regular Magisters’ Terrace run the other night.  When I logged on around 10 pm, I had already finished my Sunwell dailies with my Hunter.  I had also gotten his Demon Stalker Gauntlets enchanted with +15 agility.  Yay!  I’m still looking for someone to enchant his Legacy with +35 agility, but haven’t had any luck as of yet. Oh well, no rush.

About this time,a guildy whispered me to see if I’d be interested in healing a regular MagT run.  I had nothing else specific on my plate, so I volunteered to help out.  I switched over to the druid, and made my way to MagT.

The group was made up of a Warrior tank, 2 kitty druids, a mage and myself, a tree.  We were obviously light on CC for MagT, but it was regular mode and I felt confident enough to heal through most anything in there.  Druids are probably the best healing class for that particular instance, due to the Kael fight at the end.  That fight is just tailor made for a healer that can sling instant cast HOTs and stay mobile.

It started out easy enough, and we got through the first two bosses with no deaths.  We also handled the PVP-esque third boss fairly easily, though it got dicey at a couple of points.  This is one of the few fights I ever have the need to use Cyclone, and it’s actually quite fun.  So chaotic!

We wiped twice on the six mob pull after the third boss, but I’m used to wiping there.  I figured we would wipe at least once due to our lack of CC.  We did get through it eventually, though.

On to Kael we went.  Our DPS had been on the low side all night.  I was the most well-geared in the group, and one of the kitty druids and the tank were alright in terms of gear as well.  The mage and other kitty were a little behind the curve, though, and I thought Kael would give us some issues.  Having two of our DPSers be melee types was bound to make it a difficult fight.  To add to the problems, the mage in the group had actually never seen the fight before.  Not only was it his first time, but he was going to have to try to handle the Phoenix mostly on his own.

That’s a tough job.

So we got going, and wiped the first time due to DCs.  We got set up again and started our second attempt, and this is where it got interesting.

We handled the first Phoenix ok, but it took a little longer than I’m used to.  When Kael got to about 52%, he spawned a second phoenix.  Before we could stop the DPS, we dropped him to 50%.

Uh oh.

In the times I’ve seen similar things happen, it has not ended well.  The gravity shift portion of the fight can be tough enough as it is, what with the constant DOTs and the balls of death floating around.  Now we also had a stray phoenix blasting away at everyone.  The mage died at some point due to the phoenix, and we got through the first anti-grav phase, but that pesky phoenix was still wreaking havoc.  The kitty druids and warrior really couldn’t do much, as the AOE blast would likely take them out anyhow.  The tank wanted to wipe and start again, but I just wouldn’t let him die and we kept on keeping on.

In the next anti-grav phase, I took it on myself to show what Uber Resto Druid DPS? is all about.  Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Wrath, Wrath, Wrath.  I blasted away at the pesky flaming beast, trying my darndest to get him down whilst avoiding the balls of death and throwing HOTs on the party when I could.

Well, I took him down, but he took me with him.  I ALWAYS forget to heal myself…doh!

Anyhow, the kitty druids then managed to take out the egg, as the anti-grav phase had just ended.  Whew!  No more phoenix.  After the next anti-grav phase, we had Kael down to about 27% and one of the other druids BR’d me.

We would not be denied.

All told, it probably took about 6 or 7 anti-grav phases before we finally took him down.  It was at least a good 10 minutes we spent on the fight, maybe more.  But in the end, we took his sorry butt down.

It wasn’t pretty, but we got the job done.  In a lot of ways, fights like that in which we persevere against challenging odds are far more satisfying than quick, surgical instance strikes.  Sure, I’d still usually take the 45 minute MagT run over the 90 minute version, but I usually find myself more satisfied after the latter.

As far as loot, well, I didn’t need anything anymore from there.  I’ve gotten my Vial, my Phoenix pet, and a few scattered off-spec items.  I was just there for the fun.  And on this night, it was a hell of a ride.

In yesterday’s post, I talked about how my raiding alliance has essentially given up T5 content in favor of moving into T6.  I won’t make any bones about it, I’d prefer not to jump right into T6.  I feel like our raiding alliance, as it was constituted, could have pushed to finish the T5 stuff before moving on.  It seems that nowadays, though, a LOT of raiders are doing the same thing.

I’m a completionist at heart.  It probably has something to do with my history involving video games.  I vaguely remember having the Odyssey2 when I was little, and when I was about 10 years old, the Nintendo Entertainment System was released.  I still remember going to Ace Hardware with my best friend at the time, and watching as him and his parent plunked down the cash for the NES cadillac version with ROB the Robotic Operating Buddy and all.

From the moment we started up Super Mario Brothers, I was hooked.  I will never forget my first REAL gaming experiences with the NES and Mario.

One of the key things that Mario taught me is to always search every nook and cranny for secrets.  In the early games, there really were only a few, but you can see that in the evolution of the adventure game, the devs cater to completionists like myself.  There is often a collecting bonanza to be had, and countless hidden gems and treasures to acquire if you really want to “finish” a modern adventure game 100%.

As such, I always like to not just finish levels, but scour them for every last hidden gem before moving on.  I’m not a fan of backtracking, I prefer to either get it all or leave it entirely.

This has affected the way that I look at progression in World of Warcraft.  SSC is the “level” I have been playing in raiding for the last few months.  I’ve put in a lot of time and effort to learn the bosses, and contribute to the raid’s success in any way I can.  We’ve still only tried Lady V ONE STINKING TIME and we’re moving on. It’s like we’ve been working our way through world 1-1 through 1-2 to 1-3 in Mario, and then never getting through the Castle at the end.  Maybe I’m being a little OCD, but it’s driving me nuts.

Do you fight your way through any Zelda game only to give up and start on a new game when you get to Ganon?  NO!

Do you give up on Metroid when you get to Mother Brain?  NO!

Do you give up on GTA when you….uhhh….get a girl?  NO!

Now, I KNOW that the Lady Vashj fight is tough.  However, I don’t belive it’s due to gear.  I don’t think we can go gear up in early T6 to the point where we flat outgear the encounter.  Hell, a good deal of people in our raid are already outfitted in a LOT of the 2.4 badge gear.  It’s like we’re partially in T6 gear already!  From what I understand, the T5 endbosses are about SKILL and ORGANIZATION – NOT gear.

So, maybe it’s not really about gear anymore.  Maybe we just don’t want to try to deal with the bevvy of wipes it will take to get the Lady V fight down.  Maybe we don’t want to make the hard raid selection decisions it would take to get through it.  Whatever it is, we’re moving on.

Nowadays when looking at guilds that are recruiting, you’ll often see stuff like this:  5/6 SSC, 3/4 TK, 3/5 MH, 3/9 BT.  Since they removed those attunements, everyone is doing it like that.  A lot of them take a few lumps with Lady V and/or Kael, and then just give them up.  They tackle the first few relatively “easy” bosses in MH and BT rather than put in the work to finish T5.

I just don’t know if this is good or bad.

The Pros of Skipping to T6

• You don’t have to bang your head against the proverbial wall of Lady V and Kael.  There’s no two ways about it, they are tough, tough fights and you cannot, at least at this point, outgear them.  Perhaps you can in some ways when Wrath hits, I’m not sure.  Many people (Matticus for one) say Kael in TK is the toughest fight to learn in the game.
• You get shiny new gear, better than the stuff that drops in T5.  Let’s face it, with the 2.4 badge gear, a lot of stuff in T5 isn’t all that appealing anymore.  You can get better just by running heroics/Kara and hoarding badges.  The T6 level gear, though, is at least on par with the 2.4 badge gear, if not better.
• You get to see new content that perhaps you wouldn’t have seen before.  A lot of people, myself included, never thought they would step foot in BT.  We can do that now, even if we can only get through a handful of bosses.  I know I never thought I’d step in Naxx either, and I never did.  (The upcoming “new” Naxx doesn’t count!)  New content is good content.
• You get to say “we’re also 3/5 in MH, 3/9 in BT”.

The Cons of Skipping to T6

• You didn’t learn the “true” tests of T5.  You never learned some of the toughest fights in the game, that at one time were meant to prepare you for T6.  Remember, this 2.4 badge gear is still new.  You’ll hear old raiders say “Back in my day, we couldn’t skip Lady V or Kael, we had to fight them uphill, both ways, on 13″ CRT monitors, too!”
• Because you didn’t learn the tough T5 fights, you will most likely get stuck in T6 as well.  That’s why you see 3/5 MH, 3/9 BT so often.  If you don’t learn organization fights in T5, you aren’t going to do it in T6.  Though I suppose by the time you are really tired of the early MH and BT bosses Wrath will be here.
• You can’t finish the attunement quests for T6, which do give some nice rewards.  You also don’t get to strut around IF or whatnot knowing you’ve helped kill Lady V and Kael.  The real Kael, that is.
• You’re a quitter.  Ok, not really, but I couldn’t think of another con to stick here.

Well, that about sums it up.  It turns out the cons are pretty simple, you’re going to get hung up in MH and BT just like you did at 5/6 SSC and 3/4 TK.  There are some very tough fights that require everyone to be on their game.  Perhaps you just want to see the content and get the drops you can, and I suppose I can respect that.

As far as the pros, you do get to see content you otherwise might not see.  Now, you aren’t going to take down Illidan any time soon, but you can at least bleed on his doorstep if you want.  There is also some nice gear to be had in the early bosses, and it could potentially help you go back and take down that Nasty Naga.

Well, in the end, I’m going along for the ride myself, so what does it matter?  The completionist in me will have to take a back seat, since I don’t make any decisions.  I am thankful that I can show up, though.  I’m also a mere 100 hps away from the 9k requirement that has been set for BT, so it looks like I probably will be going on Saturday.  I do look forward to it, and hope we can at least perhaps take down the first boss or so.  Look for a rundown of the lowdown some time next week.  Thanks for reading, and be sure to let me know what you think.  Is the “New” raid progression better or worse?