I rarely log on anymore. :( It's mainly because it's just an unpleasant experience. Going from WoW, which plays smoothly, to SWTOR which is a hit or miss, was getting kinda distressing. I would like to PvE in the game, but I'm just so disinterested that maybe I don't want to. It's a shame because I want to like the game, but I've been finding more shortcomings then wins. If I could get into another class, then I think I would go for it, and while I really enjoyed the play style of the Jedi Sentinel, I really don't find the story interesting. Playing Sith is always an option, but noone in my guild plays Sith so I am usually alone. I did finally finish chapter 1 on my Sith Inquisitor Assassin on a different realm. The sith storylines are just so much more interesting. Force Storm is way more OP then Forcequake (just saying). Assassin leveling has been odd at best. I've been going the tank route, just for pure survivability, and I find it a simple, Thrash, Shock, Thrash, rotation of boredom. Still, my survivability is more important than interest, and I've never been one for the "theif" lifestyle. I've read on forums that like fine wine, Assassin gets better with age, so maybe I can try the cool specs once I get there. BTW, my legacy title is Hellscream :3, befitting of a Sith in my opinion.
WoW: Zee Shaman
I had mentioned before that I was feeling indecisive about doing shaman or priest. Priest basically overwhelmed me with all its functions as a healer. This is what happens when I come from a class with a small toolbox. I tend to lump certain spells in the same category, such as Nourish (druid), Healing Wave (shaman), Heal (priest) and Holy Light (pally) all being mana efficient, yet slow casting speed and low HPS heal. When I switch between classes, laying out that kind of foundation found in Blizzard's healing plan helps with the adjustments. After assessing the heals for a priest, however, I found that had I so many spells, more than I knew what to do with.
On the other hand, Shaman is very similar to druids in just the right amount that it is easy to adjust and get into. My shaman is a goblin, which kinda bothered me at first, but over the course of playing, I found I kinda liked being small.
Gearing for PvP
So all I've been doing on my shaman is pvping. Or was. IDK what happened, but I've subsequently stopped due to some sort of unknown drama beyond my comprehension. Gearing was an interesting experience. Depending on the battleground, and length, I found you would get anywhere between 80- 500 ish honor per. Considering pieces of Season 11 are between 1250 and 2200 honor, the process itself took a bit of time. However, within a week and a half, I had a pretty decent set. Unfortunately, I've started fairly late in the PvP game, so I felt that by the time I was decently geared and getting my first amount of Conquest points towards my first Cataclysmic piece, people around me were in near full Cataclysmic sets, beating me to a bloody pulp. Yes, and I mean really beating me. I am the healer afterall. Still, the actual process of gearing was fairly quick. I was surprised I was able to hold out as long as I did, since BGs never seem to change, and I've always had little patience for them.
Pvping in General
Thanks to some companionship during Pvp, I was able to understand a bit more how some of these BGs should work. I've always, for the sake of my sanity, stuck with the plan of, stick with a group and heal. Of course, this always lead to headaches and was not always ideal. Now, I feel a bit more understanding of what needs to be done in order to win. Except for maybe Warsong Gulch (which I had not done at all, interestingly enough) I have won one of each, and probably would be able to understand why we didn't win if we lost. Forgive me if I sound like a complete noob, but these are observations from someone who has always PvE'd first, and PvP'd never.
-Alterec Valley and Isle of Conquest are my favorite, simply because I prefer bigger groups over smaller ones for Bgs. I find that the less people there are, the easier it is to tell right away if you are going to succeed or fail, and if you are failing, it's going to be a long long fight. Unfortunately, AV and IoC can be a big pain in the ass. I'll never understand the people who think they can direct a group of 40 to victory. People tend to do what they think is right, no matter what someone is yelling at them. If these 40 people aren't, for the most part, sticking together and going forth in the right direction (ie capturing towers and graveyards or destroying the right gate) then the battle is swiftly (albeit slowly) lost. I'm not saying there shouldn't be anyone defending or wreaking havoc back at base, but the end bosses tend to be made for a fairly large group.
-When losing becomes inevitable, then people start complaining, all the way to the last freaking second/resource point. I can and will never understand how freaking out and calling people out about how bad they are will make the loss any easier (the answer is it doesn't). Yet somehow, rain or shine, if the bg is going the wrong way, then there will be someone telling us how bad we are and how we all fail. It bothers me that people doing BGs do this simply because BGs are a team sport and one person cannot carry an entire group. MAYBE MAYBE in one of the Capture the Flag BGs, but I highly doubt it. If you get so upset because a group sport is not going well, so much so that you must make my chat miserable until the very last second, then go do arenas, where the people probably will tolerate you more, and where you have the brunt of the responsibility. Or maybe...that's why you're doing BGs in the first place. People won't do arenas with you.
-This guy.
Gearing in PvE
I also geared the little shaman in PvE, since some items are easier to get this way. 378 gear baby. Woohooo! I think my gearscore on my shaman exceeds my druid. I find that the gearscore decided on by Blizzard in terms of what is acceptable for certain heroics is a bit low. I was allowed to go do Heroic Hour of Twilight dungeons far earlier then I would feel comfortable with. Heck, I was allowed to do Heroic Cataclysm dungeons far earlier then I would've wanted. The reality is that players aren't all magically attuned to each other's gearscore, and most don't even bother to check. I tried healing a Heroic Vortex Pinnacle with a well geared shaman and decent dps, and it went okay. We wiped on the last boss because everyone decided to let themselves get Static Clinged, and I did not have the mana pool to be dispelling everyone and their mother. Still, we made it out pretty unscathed.
The second time I did a Heroic, was also Vortex Pinnacle, and I dared tread through it alone. I was slightly more geared then, but not much and my mana pool and spirit regen were still smaller then I would've preferred. Still, I felt that I was in a better position then I had been, and I should be able to handle it. I was wrong. We made it through the first two bosses okay- I was still kinda shaky since there was a lot of unnecessary damage going down. The hunter never seemed to understand what CCing was and the tank was below the acceptable iLevel to go without CC. We wiped at the end, when noone would CC the casting Tolvirs and they were healing everything. We wiped again when the hunter didn't CC again and the fight was going on for more than 5 mins. Said hunter left before the end of the battle, and when I died, I was blamed and subsequently kicked. That ended my healing bid in Heroics. I decided to just wait the long q (which surprisingly never exceeded 10 mins) and just did dps. I also jumped right into Heroic Hour of Twilights, since I was allowed (<.<) and was able to get better amounts of JP and better gear drops. After I obtained my two set bonus in T12, which cemented my mana confidence, I felt comfortable enough to heal again, and found some great groups lurking in LFD and had no problems.
Shaman: The End?
In the end, I found that I really enjoyed PvE healing on my shaman. I was getting to a point that I was looking forward to trying out the LFR finder on him. (haha who knew). I also was getting confident enough to venture into PvP on my own (albeit not by choice), and was excited that I was closing in on my first Cataclysmic piece. Still, being blindsided by...I don't even know what happened still... I felt pretty discouraged and unwanted by the new group of people I had been playing with. I haven't really logged onto my shaman since. Maybe I'm being as cowardly as I saw the person who did this to me, but I hate when game drama enters my life. If I want to continue playing Horde, I would like to stick with my shaman, but the aforementioned problem caused me to withdraw from him fast. I will probably revisit the shaman closer to MoP.
Return of the Druid for Realzies
First off, BEHOLD
BEHOLD
My Dark Phoenix Mount! It's amazing to think that last semester, I helped our guild get one of these and I am NOW just getting it, but I am finally getting it. It's a really great mount. It's dark and glowy and reminds me of some sort of dark rave. I love that it matches my skin tone.
So now I am 4 mounts away from my 100 mount achievement. I'm hoping for a White Tailstrider, but still no luck. I can't believe I've run Mag T over 50 times. If all else fails, I can buy the honor mounts and the emblem mammoth from Dalaran. It's just a matter of whether I feel up to running BGs or Heroics.
I'm not to keen on running BGs without any honor gear. I have a couple pieces but they are from Season 10. It would be another long trek after the shaman gearing, so I'm not sure I feel up to the challenge.
My current idea is to try and use the JP I earn as honor (although the conversion rates aren't necessarily ideal) as I reach for the VP cap each week. I think I will like to one day do the LFR on my druid, just to say I've seen the end boss of this expansion. I haven't done a 25 man in a really long time, so I'm a bit interested to see how druids stack up in this raid composition, since 25s are supposed to be our weak point at the moment. Still, the earlier said drama kinda messed up my WoW playing, but since I'm stuck here, maybe I'll eventually return.
I did get Burgy Blackheart's Handsome Hat or whatever. I camped there and logged on a few times and found him pretty quickly. Now I can be a gnome with just a switch of the hat. woo hoo.
SWTOR Again
Despite my comments earlier, and my hesitance to start an alt, outside of my Trooper, I did reroll and level my Jedi Knight. I really do love Sentinel, and running around with not one but TWO lightsabers is badass. I'll probably stick with her and my trooper as far as alts. Once I got my Legacy, I lost a bit of interest in doing Sith simply because my guild on Sith are all on hiatus thanks to school. Who knew I was so social.
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