Roguing

Compared to the original game I've found nearly no time for alts this time around. I have much less time to play than I did 15 years ago but a big factor as well I think it the focus on gearing, raiding and other costly activities (for example I didn't bother about getting a fast mount first time around).

My alt though, such as he is, is a level 17 dwarf rogue which I'm really enjoying playing. Sometimes (when not in the right mindset) I find him dying a lot, but when played properly he's some of the best single player fun I've had with the game. Yesterday I completed the quest Bingles' Missing Supplies which involves recovering said supplies from an island heavily populated with troggs. As a soloing rogue this involves lots of stealth, waiting for certain troggs to path away from their groups and judicious use of Sap, Evasion and occasionally health potions and Sprint!

It certainly isn't what you want if you're after efficient levelling but it was a thoroughly absorbing time.

Planning for the Burning Crusade

The big news of the weekend was the Blizzard survey with the not unsurprising hint that they're thinking of releasing a "classic" version of The Burning Crusade. This set off my alt-itis and initial decision to start a Classic alt (a warrior) to stay at level 60 while my druid would progress to Burning Crusade.

Having thought about this some more I think what I need is... another druid.

I find it interesting to read back and see what I was thinking (or perhaps "what was I thinking?"), so I thought it would be useful to detail out my current reasoning.

First, and most importantly, while expansions offer new content and possibilities (druid flight form and Alliance shaman spring to mind) they also diminish or even destroy older achievements. It may be true "that we'll always have the memories" but some expansion changes were (to my mind) for the worse. One example that still irritates me is the removal of keys for older dungeons - they keys were destroyed in return for a payment which, from memory, was less than the 15 gold that the Scholomance key sets you back. In contrast I still have the non-key keys, such as the Upper Blackrock Spire Seal, in the banks of my shaman and various other characters.

Secondly, and key to my reverse-planning, is that I'm very happy with my decision to have a druid as my Classic character. I've spent a lot on respec costs, and occasionally resented the hybrid tax, but generally I've done very well out of being a versatile and less-played class. I've found it easier than average to find raid and dungeon groups, and had relatively little competition for some drops (caster drops being the exception, but I've had an easier time than, for example, mages). I've also come to really enjoy some of the class perks, especially stealth but also the immunity to disarm and the ability to break out of snares.

So currently the plan is to create a new druid - either fully levelling an alt or, if there's the option to create a level 58 character, taking advantage of that - and having that druid progress into the Burning Crusade. There will be drawbacks and timesinks but it seems to me will offer the best of both worlds.

Heart of the Wild-ed

Having started as a dedicated healer with a rushed Moonglow build I'd been itching for a while to try the Heart of the Wild / Nature's Swiftness spec which promised decent healing output with much more versatility (and, importantly, the ability to tank).

It is probably my favourite spec so far as it nearly allows a druid to do everything - but only nearly. I spent most of my time tanking, especially in Blackrock Spire getting a gem for the UBRS key (but only one so far) and remembering how difficult Dire Maul North is. Apart from that my main focus was PvP, as I'm still working on Warsong Gulch reputation, and with a 50:50 mix of bear and casting gear enjoyed myself there much more than I have recently. It probably also helped that, presumably due to the release of Arathi Basin, premades are much less prevalent than they were before.

The big drawback of the spec though was that my raid healing was very sub-par. Part of this is undoubtedly tactical but also due to missing some of the deeper restoration talents meaning that, even making use of the larger mana pool by using higher rank heals, I simply wasn't keeping up. I'm going to try for a bit with a PvP-focused Swiftmend spec and then reassess once I've really got the healing tactics for Blackwing Lair nailed down. I might try HotW again, but more likely will do the occasional feral respec, funds permitting.

Fast mount and some interesting tanking

I've been focused for a while on getting my fast mount - mainly through herbing and keeping respecs in check - and last night finally got my Swift Stormsaber. Only to find I could have got it somewhat earlier if I'd realised that PvP rank 3 gives a 100g discount!

When I played originally I didn't bother with a fast mount except as a step towards my flying mount in Burning Crusade but I'm really pleased I've made the effort this time. The difference is night and day, and I feel I get whiplash when starting from a standing start being so used to the slower speed of my old Striped Nightsaber.

My main activity for the evening though was tanking living Stratholme - using my Moonglow restoration spec... A mostly guild group had been looking for a tank for a while and eventually persuaded me to take the opportunity, and not bothering to respec since it's BWL raid night in a couple of days. Despite my advice that this wasn't a good idea they seemed confident, and in fact we managed a fairly smooth, if slightly slow and messy, run. This was largely down to a good, well geared group and them compensating for a non-optimal tank, but it worked far better than I'd expected.

I'm not keen to repeat the experience - missing Feral Charge, feral Faerie Fire and Furor in particular, and being constantly rage starved - but it did illustrate the gap between what players prefer for an easier run versus what's possible.

It also illustrated a key problem with Classic's dungeon versus raid design, and hence the lack of tanks, that such a good group could have been in the position of having a wasted evening as a result.

Full tier 1

After slightly prematurely celebrating over a month ago I finally got the last two pieces of the Cenarion set - the head and the bracers - in Molten Core last night. It was definitely a druid night, both there and with Onyxia lots of set pieces dropped, generally to be sharded as both me, the other resto druid and even the feral had them already. Much chat from the rest of the raid about how soon they would be able to bring their druid alt along.

I'm not sure I quite believe them - although I'm sure lots of alts will make their way into raids as they move more towards farm status, I think the demands of progression and their original motivations for choosing whatever class is their main will keep druids in the minority generally.

Blackwing Lair cleared

It's been a very satisfying week of raiding. Thursday was the start of our third week in Blackwing Lair and we managed to down the Broodlord to Chromaggus on our first attempt at each. This was particularly satisfying for Flamegor after all the trouble he gave us last week, and Chromaggus given it was our first proper attempt. We finished the evening with a "let's take a look" wipe on Nefarian.

Last night we downed Nefarian on our first, very clean, attempt. I got completely stomped by the constructs at the start of phase 3 but fortunately we bring a lot of druids these days so I was able to get a Rebirth and participate with the climax of the fight.

We then split the raid into two groups which each downed Onyxia.

All in all a very satisfying couple of raid nights.

End of an experiment?

Last night, ahead of my second and the guild's fourth venture into Blackwing Lair, I was asked to respec to restoration, probably for the medium term. Our feral druid also respecced so I'm not seeing this as a lack of faith in moonkins but more that the new raid needs a higher proportion of healers than was the case in Molten Core. I'd much rather be raiding and healing than have the spot go to someone else, so I'm now a rather rushed Moonglow spec which I must tweak when I can face the cost of changing it!

I haven't been at the last two raids due to family commitments so have missed the guild's first kill of Broodlord Lashlayer, a much improved performance on Razorgore and quite a lot of wiping.

Wiping was how we started out on Firemaw as well, but with a clear sense of progression on most of the attempts so, while it was a relief to finally get him down, it never felt like it would be a wipe night. We then downed Ebonroc on our first attempt and Flamegor on our second before finishing with a "let's take a look" wipe on Chromaggus.

All in all a satisfactory night of progression raiding in a casual-ish guild.