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!