DPS?

A thought keeps popping in my mind while playing Namaqua, why am I  not primarily Elemental?  The only time I'm going Resto is to run a random heroic, of which  I've only done one since dinging 90.  The rest of my time I'm in Elemental.  That includes scenarios, leveling and the couple of guild runs.  I would estimate 95% of my post-90 time so far has been doing DPS.

So, let's look at the pros and cons.  One big pro is the amount of time I spend soloing.  The stronger I can make my Elemental spec, the faster I can quest and more DPS I can supply to groups.  I can also then focus on one gear set instead of having to do a little of both.  On the other hand, I really like healing,  especially on the Shaman.  The other thing to note, I swithched to Feral on Bobbylou and have pretty much stopped playing him.  Yes, I leveled him as far as 86, but after I decided Druid healing wasn't for me, the toon lost a lot of it's appeal.

So, while I doubt I'll give up healing yet, it is something to think about.  After all, it's holding me back.  I guess I could go back and level a hunter, warrior or warlock. (Each has crossed my mind.)  I just can't imagine starting over with leveling right now, especially as all DPS.

Namaqua Dings 90!

The story should have some big build up with a flourishing ending.  Rarely does WoW work that way.  I killed a turtle on my way back to turning in a quest and dinged 90 Thursday night.  Only one person in the guild was even online to give me a "grats".  After months of grinding, I'll admit, it was a bit of a let down.

On the other hand, the end game is awesome.  I've run 3 scenarios and loved each.  Short little DPS story bits with a little bit of loot at the end.  Very cool.  I even ran a heroic PUG during a moment of weakness.  The tank died during a long pull and I popped my earth elemental and we eventually got him down.  (Next time I have to make sure the tank doesn't go down.)  Even the dailies aren't as bad as everyone makes them out to be.  I'm also finishing out the Dread Wastes to get some last questing gear. Okay, I'm not high on that zone.  Blue with bugs?  Really?

In other news, I ran a dungeon with Vigoda last night as well and dinged twice to 25 and 26.  Waiting to run him until he has massive rested xp is definitely the way to go.

It looks like the guild is also going through some drama.  One of the guys I really enjoyed chatting with either quit or was gkicked.  I saw the last of his alts go yesterday.  Being not very active, I don't think I'm the one to ask what happened, but you can tell there's some tension over it.  Here's hoping it was a mutual thing, but as quickly as it happened, I tend to doubt it.

An Interesting Evening

So, last night after the weekend off, I get back into WoW.  I log in around 9:30 which is a little later than usual with the goal of running a dungeon and doing some leveling for 90 minutes.  I jump into the queue as a healer and it's 15 minutes.  I'm not really wanting to run around Elemental, see the dungeon pop and quick try to rush convert to Resto.  So, I decide after a few days off, I'll just leave the queue and level some as Elemental.  It's just faster than dungeons.

So, around 10:45, in guild chat there's a call to run normals.  Hey, there's my chance and I chime in to go.  I end up with 4 raiders in the guild with one working on a tank alt.  In short, I'm the n00b.  I'm okay with that as we are all guildies, but then we find out that three of us are in as healers.  Being the new guy, I'm trying to fight my way through Mumble and get in.  So, I agree to either role and end up with DPS.  This is fine, but I'm still speced Resto and now my mic is giving off eerie breathing sounds in Mumble.  Crap.

Now it's time to either deal with this or bail.  I don't want to bail as I've been trying to get more involved in the guild, but I couldn't have asked for a bigger disaster.  So, I rage quit on Mumble as the first pull goes.  That's when I realize, I haven't ever been in a dungeon as DPS on my shaman.  I've quested, but that's it.  Then, as I try to get going, I noticed my bars were off.  UGH I'm still in Resto!  If I had Mumble, I could yell this out, but no, I'm trying to type, use off-spec bars and DPS for the first time.  I can only imagine them laughing at me.

We get the first boss down (like I say, this group knew what they were doing) and I respec to Elemental and things calm down.  I'm not doing anything in DPS, but at least I know what buttons I'm pushing.  That's when the group types into chat, "Nam, you mad at us?"  How can I be mad?  I'm the problem child without Mumble, doing very little DPS and they are carrying me.  I type "No" in chat and let them know I'm the "new kid without a mic".

After multiple runs, lots of easy xp (I dinged 89 on the last run) we call it a night and I troubleshoot Mumble.  The first time doesn't work.  I can hear them talking about me troubleshooting.  Nothing bad, just mentioning "Push to talk".  I finally get in and talk with them for a minute or two.  They apologize again.  One of the others even whispers me to make sure I'm okay with what happened.  I assure everyone I'm fine.  Shoot, I have no idea even what happened and I refuse to get upset about something I don't even know about.  Perhaps someone in their past did.  Or I got called a n00b.

Oh well, it was 12:15 and the alarm goes off for work at 5:50.  Perhaps I can get into my now properly configured Mumble and figure out what happened.

A Weekend Off

Sometimes life gets in the way of WoW.  (Rarely does it ever go the other way around.)  Last weekend was an example.  I spent time with my kids, had my parents come to town for grandparents time and I frankly had little motivation to even login.  You know the best thing about taking a weekend off?  More rested XP!

BTW- last week Namaqua dinged 88 and is about 60% into 89.  Here's hoping I can get to 90 soon!

Healing in Pandaria and a New Monk

It's been awhile since I updated, so during one of the rare quiet moments now at work, I thought it was time.  Namaqua is now level 87 and about half way through the tiller zone.  (I can't seem to remember names of zones in Pandaria yet.)  Last night, I ran the last of the four dungeons I can run at 87, Shadow Pan Monastery.  It was an okay run, but you sure needed to know the mechanics of the fights.  I hadn't read up in advance and it's obvious most of our 5-man PUG hadn't either.  I healed through it until the Sha of Hatred.  We wiped and 2 of the 3 DPS dropped.  How will you learn if you just drop?  The tank knew what he was doing, so why not continue.  I learned how the hatred mechanic worked, the orbs worked and how to heal through it.  Too often people just drop when they wipe and I really don't get that.  I'd rather push through until it's obvious we can't do it.

Also, I've been leveling a mistweaver undead monk, Vigoda.  I'm only Level 23, but that has taken very little time.  Between a few guild heirlooms, the guild perk and the daily monk XP buff, it's 2-3 levels per hour.  I know it will slow down, but this is the best way to level a new character class.  Shoot, Vigoda may beat some of my Ally characters to 90 at this rate.

WoW ADD

Last night, I went and got Namaqua to 84.  One level to Pandaria.  This morning I had some extra time because of a dentist appointment before work, so I logged in.  What did I do?  Yep, I had to do some cooking because of Pilgrim's Feast.  Of course, that meant traveling all over Azeroth.  Someday I'll get to 90.  What reward is waiting for me there?  Heroics, LFR and more quests.  Why is it people rush to the end again?

Pandaria In Sight

After dinging 83 Sunday, Namaqua is now closing in on Pandaria, and not a moment too soon.  Rerunning Cata dungeons is just painful.  I'm ready for a change and with the 8% bonus from the anniversary item isn't hurting.

You Can't Ever Trust Anything I Blog...

I just went back and reread what I wrote last week and just cringed.  You see, what have I been doing last weekend in WoW?  Was I leveling Namaqua like I said I was?  Nope.  I was running Bobbylou through the Jade Forest.

I'm amazed at how much better the questing experience is in Mists than it is in Cata.  I actually care about the 8 oranges I'm collecting or the monkeys I'm killing.  (Oook those dookers!)  In any case, I have so much built up rested XP on Bobbylou that I'm at 86 and a quarter or so and still can't see the end of it.

My only problem is the dungeons.  I've pretty much stopped healing on Bobbylou in favor of feral.  So, when I first went to queue up for a dungeon, I got a block because of item level.  No problem, I'll quest for a little and get some gear.  Shoot, there's even a vendor selling me greens to fill in for missing pieces.  I get the item level, and then... 27 minute queue.  Ouch.

So, I have a choice, I can go back to questing and wait for it to pop or just log off.  Considering the progress I had made, I just logged off.  As for what's next?  Shoot, I better not make a prediction because it would just be wrong.

Namaqua Dings 80

I know it's not a big deal in the big picture any more, but Namaqua dinged 80 last night.  This means no more Northrend and off to Hyjal.  (No, I'm not doing that underwater zone ever again!)  In any case, I'm about half way to 81 and got the beginning gear updates.  Hopefully, I'll have time in the next day or two to run a dungeon.

In other news, I logged onto Murree and Bobbylou and ran them through the Darkmoon Faire profession quests this morning.  For some strange reason, I'm interested in playing the Druid more than the Priest.  Being I have two 85 Priests, I would think that might be different, but not right now.  In any case, until Namaqua gets to 90, I can't see me spending more than a few minutes on each.

Let's Try This Again

Well, yesterday, I picked up a new mic.  I hope to jump into Mumble with the guild again tonight and see if it works.  Let's just hope we don't get more helicopter sounds.

In other news, I got Namaqua up to Level 76 this morning.  Right now, I'm leveling extremely quickly on my Elemental build.  I know I like to heal, but with more and more end game content going to DPS centric, I'm wondering how much I'm wasting my time healing.  This is especially true for a player like me who logs in when he can and can't really commit to anything like a raiding schedule.  I do know this: I don't want to tank.

Lastly, it looks like my professions are finally caught up with my XP...at least for now.  The problem isn't herbalism, it's mining.  Yes, I could smelt bars, but rarely are those anything but gray or green for the ore I'm mining.  And for some reason I level in the heavy mining areas, but find more herbs than ore.  So, I'm about 60 points ahead in herbs than mining.  Either way, the result of leveling it is a net positive on the AH, so for a first character on the server, it's working well enough.

I Can Fly!

Okay, it didn't take as long as I thought.  A little questing and some luck with the AH and I was able to get the gold to buy cold weather flying.  So, what did I do with my new found skill?  I took Namaqua back to Outland to raise his mining and herb skill.  Why?  That I really can't answer.  I'm blaming it on a bug that kept me home the last couple of days in bed.  It was just easier than real questing or running dungeons.  Oh well, I'm on the mend now, so I should be back to questing and running dungeons in the next day or two.

And yes, Namaqua dinged 70 last Friday.

It's So Cold...

This week, where I live, we just had our first blast of winter with a dusting of snow.  Likewise, Namaqua has moved into Northrend.  Having dinged 68, I hearthed back to Orgimmar and jumped the Zepplin to Warsong Hold.  As it approached, I jumped on my flying mount and.... nothing.  UGH!  I forgot to buy cold weather flying.

No problem, right?  Wrong.  I've never been here before as Namaqua is my first horde toon to get this far.  So, all I have to do is find the flight trainer.  Well, it wasn't too bad.  After all, finding a flight trainer usually means finding the flight point and that means going up stairs or ramps.  No different here in Warsong.  Then, a bigger problem.  I had just saved up enough to buy the heirloom pants and didn't have the 500g to buy the skill.

So, I had a few choices.  The first thought I had was to beg a guildee to loan me the gold.  Nah, I'm new and still pretty quiet in the guild and I really hate when levelers ask for gold.  I have no problem giving them some to buy bags, but not a level 68 after buying an heirloom piece.  My second thought was to go back to Kalimdor and farm herbs and ore.  Good thought, but I didn't want to go back.  So, I finally decided I would start questing and earning gold that way.  So, here I now sit at 69 about 75g shy.  I've never rooted for my auctions to sell so much.

So Much For Resting

So, Wednesday I said I was going to leave Namaqua for a couple of days and play Bobbylou through some Pandaria.  Well, that didn't happen.  Yes, Bobbylou is a bubble or two from Level 86 and questing is fine in Jade Forest.  However, I'm having way too much fun healing with the Resto Shaman.  So, when I had a few minutes last night, guess what I was doing? :-)

I likely won't be logging on again until Saturday evening, if then.  RL just too busy.  I guess I should get some rested XP then.

...and yes, Namaqua dinged 65.

Moving to Thunder Bluff

Most (non-Tuesday) mornings, I like to do the fishing and cooking dailies.  They give me some xp and build both skills in about 10-15 minutes.  It's also a chance to check the mail and AH for any little things to be done.

Well, as I've been leveling Namaqua, I've been doing these only in Orgimmar.  Especially before I got flying, it was just easier to know each of the quests and how to get there.  Well, now I can fly and I'm bored with the same group of dailies.  So, this morning, I took a zeppelin to Thunder Bluff and started doing those cooking and fishing dailies.  I think I'll like the change in scenery for awhile.

Also, last night, I was able to get the head heirloom.  I could still get the chest if I get enough gold in the next few days.  However, time is running out for heirlooms to 80 as Namaqua dinged 64 yesterday.

Speaking of changing scenery, I'm thinking of letting Namaqua sit in Thunder Bluff for a few days to let the rested xp grow.  Meanwhile, I may quest some with Bobbylou in Pandaria.  We'll just have to see what my mood is like tonight.

The Helicopter Mic

Last night, I tried to get into Mumble with my new guild, but failed.  Yeah, I know, how do you fail getting into Mumble?  Well, I haven't been using my headset much the last few months, at least the mic.  So, when I logged in, went through the sound set up, everything checked out.  However, when I joined the group, people started complaining of what sounded like a helicopter in the channel.  Since it only started when I joined it had to be me.  UGH.

Left the channel and tried again.  Didn't help.  So, I went to settings and sure enough, I was sending enough white noise, I'm surprised anyone could hear anything.  So, I turned off the headset mic and went to a push to talk with the built-in mic.  It was much better.  However, I hate push to talk.  Add to that, at the end of the evening, others began hearing my game audio.  I didn't understand it because I was not holding the push to talk.  In short, I logged off Mumble and will need to look for a new headset.

The good news is, Namaqua dinged 62 and 63 and got Mining up to 270.  Lots of ore to sell to hopefully get that last piece of heirloom gear.