Why am I stressing about catching gear up, when Cataclysm releases in a few months?

I started wondering this yesterday afternoon after enchanting my dagger (Blood Weeper) with Berserking. I then started looking at ICC loot tables to see what my priorities would be on the next alt raid, so I don’t blow my bidding on the first shiny to pop up. (mental note, must learn more about suicide kings). I then started going “omg I’ll NEVER catch up!”, which led to the aforementioned tweet.

Later that evening my Hunny and I were discussing the sudden change to my oldest daughter’s relationship status on facebook. She had mentioned he’d break up with her, because he was moving, and didn’t do long distance. This led to my husband asking…

Why did she even bother when WE are moving in a few months?

And that is when I answered his question, and my earlier one.

Why? Because life doesn’t just stop dead when it’s going to change.  You don’t put your life on hold just  because you may be moving to a new state in just a few short months. If you did that, especially with us, you’d never HAVE a life to begin with. It’s why we did so many trip last week. We want to leave Washington with as much completed as possible.

And that brings me back to my rogue’s gear. I want to finish WoTLK with as complete a toon as possible. Just as SSB Jezi replied on twitter.

I am doing the same thing.. I think its to ‘finish’ the character before the expac comes out…

Indeed!

I Answered My Own Question. brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

Screenshots!

KT is Number 99…

My little Monk friend is pet number 100!!

KT will freeze critters and laugh manically, and the monk makes Kung Fu noises on click, bows back if you bow to him, and man he has some moves!

Get you some!

Pandaren Monk and Lil K.T. Pets Go! brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

Flame Leviathon: 1 Shot!

Razorscale: 1 Shot!

XT Deconstructor: WHO THE HELL GAVE IT THAT VOICE??? 1 Shot. (And SOMEONE made me his Minion after I died)

Ignis: I can’t remember if this was a 2 or 3 shot, but he was the only one to give us any real trouble.

Kologarn: well hell, we didn’t expect to finish the first section of Ulduar, so why not go get this guy. We 2 shotted him. This is where the corpse abuse comes in.

First, we used a Gnome to pierce his nose.

Unfortunately that made his nose run, and another Gnome fell out.

And there were Achievements! (luckily MY eath on XT was to a light bomb)

Much fun was had by all!

We are the Sidhe Devils, Mighty Mighty Sidhe Devils. Yes, our tank IS wearing Bunny Ears…what of it???

Casual Guild Strolls Into Ulduar: 5 Bosses Die, Corpses Abused. brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

As I’ve been playing my hunter, I keep forgetting to readd my misdirect macro. So, when I realized I needed to MD in an instance, I panicked. Then I realized…I had clique active. I also was using grid for my party frames. So what did I do? I opened up clique from my spellbook, I found my misdirect spell, and I assigned it to shift+left click. Now I can use that button combo on my focus (or just on the grid bars even) and cast MD without having to change from my hostile target, and I don’t need a focus at all if I don’t want to set one.

(Click to enlarge)

But wait! That’s not all. I can do the same with Master’s Call! And hey! Why not with my Rogue’s Tricks of the Trade? And while I’m at it, I bet I can use it on my Pally for Righteous Defense! How many more uses are there? I bet every class can find at least ONE. And Grid isn’t the only healthbar mod Clique works with of course. It works with all of them as far as I know. I just prefer the tiny Grid boxes. Your mileage may vary.

Thought I’d add some of the things I’ve seen in response as I go.

Death Knight: Raise Ally (Thank you Stop)

Draenei: Gift of the Naaru (Thanks Nibuca. Also, Nib is the reason I use Grid on all my toons)

From Aurik via twitter: "I found it handy for misdirects – much better than setting up a macro and then for Battle Shout / HoW and my DK self heal stuff"

Clique+Grid: Not JUST for Healers Anymore! brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

I have recently brought my hunter out of retirement. She’s been 80 since December, and pretty much retired. For the last week or so I’ve been working on bringing her up to par with the rest of my characters. She came along quickly. This includes adjusting her spec a bit. However, I am, and always will be, a Beast Master hunter. I don’t care what the "in" spec is, or what the "perfect" pet is. I am a Beast Master hunter and my preferred pet is my Spirit Beast.

So there we are, in Stormwind, minding our own business. Dropping things off at the AH. When out of nowhere comes a whisper. So lvl 80 hunter.

"Lols BM spec is lame! and so is Lolque. You need to spec MM or Marks noob"

I’m paraphrasing a bit. But you get the idea. Now, I don’t mind GOOD advice, such as maybe I should put this point over here in this tree to get better damage. Or maybe I should use X weapon instead of Y weapon to get more of Z effect. That kind of advice comes with good intention. And respects the fact that I chose this spec because I enjoy it.  I even search OUT good advice. In fact my Spirit Beast spec is a result of Pike, as is most of my BM spec (53/11/7 with some variation). And you know what? Good advice has helped! The only thing Mr Randomwhisper of Kael’thas US helped me do was Snicker.

Sure our MM (Or was it Surv?? I always forget) hunter ws higher. But I clearly hold my own in my chosen spec.  So here’s some unsolicited advice from me.

Don’t just assume the "off" spec is the result of being a lolnoob. It may just be what someone enjoys, is good at, and it may not be so lame after all. All it really does, is make you look like the noob.

Unsolicited "Advice" brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

Maybe it sounds silly to not want to cast spells, but that’s exactly where I’m at right now. I don’t love those toons any less, I haven’t abandoned them or anything like that. I just…Don’t wanna.

It may be that I want to get to be as good with a hunter as I am with a Shadow Priest. Or maybe just want to see how well I can do as a Mutilate rogue (recently trying this spec as opposed to my much loved combat spec…thank you dual specs). Both of these require some focus. And playtime. REAL play time, in REAL situations not just blasting through standard mobs and beating up target dumbasses. I Mean dummies.

Or maybe, just maybe I want to do something I have never gotten to do before. The chance to bring only one thing to the tables. Mass Quantities of Sustained DPS. To not have a second spec that’s useful for anything else. To prove to myself I CAN be good dps, I CAN play a pure class, and I don’t HAVE to be a healer or heal offspec to be valued. To build up my skill and DPS to the point where I AM a value to whatever group I’m in. Not that my guild makes me feel this way. Not at all. I put it on myself. A character flaw, yes, even I have them.

I don’t get tons of playtime these days, with being a pseudo-single mom, trips to the post office, packing care packages, dealing with absolutely everything at home. I pretty much have to pick what I want most and focus on that. Maybe I’m selfish, but what time I do have, I really want to play the class I’m enjoying most.  The rest…I just don’t wanna.

The Don’t Wannas brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

Whoops! The next time however, I got close enough to the door before shadowmelding. That’s when an AoE popped me out of stealth. I watched Ony return filled with “omg I’m gonna die!!”. Then she marched right past me and went back to sleep.

It Ony Hurt for a Little While brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

And, dusting the tanking gear off on my pally and running ToC with some awesome guildmates. We had this Death Knoob tho…who decided to put on his Dark Iron Dwarf costume and just surf through the whole thing…

It was my first time tanking ToC so we did it on normal. It could have gone a BIT more smoothly on my end, but we survived even after I ran out of the instance MID Joust. Yeah, you read that right. We finished jousting the trash, and Bre says “ok bosses are up”. Suddenly in MY head, we were at the part where you run out after they’re dismounted. Gimme a break, it’s Brewfest, and I was drinking all day…

The Best Parts of My Weekend brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

While we were there, I did what hunters have been screaming for. I tamed a druid! Isn’t it cute???

New Tanking Non Combat Pet brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?

She’s a killer queen:
Shadow words, psychic screams
Dynamite with a pewpew beam!
Guaranteed to flay your mind
Anytime

(Swiped From Anna)

So, I retrieved my priest from the deleted bin. Special thanks to the Blizzard GM’s that went above and beyond and restored her. Why above and beyond? Because seriously, they have no responsibility to fix stupid. They could easily have said, ya know what no. You were dumb enough to delete her, too frackin’ bad. But they didn’t. So Kudos to them for that!

Anyhoo. She is now level 73. Face melting her way through Northrend. We all know how much I love * leveling. And I’m learning a class I knew intimately all over again. And…admitting I made a an overraction type goof.

1. "omg they made us crit, and my gear has no crit! this sucks!" Ok, fine. I have 8% crit, and my dots and mind flays crit like I have 50% crit. It’s in the talents!

However, I wasn’t wrong about the change to Vampiric Embrace. I don’t like it. I liked being a mana battery. And I liked that it replenished based on all shadow damage. Why now, must it only work with ONE spell???  We have to get VT up, then pop mind blast to start the replenishment buff. then get through the roation and back to VT/Mind Blast before VT ends. Now, VT is a sweet DoT now but really? ONE spell? Hunters get at least two with Arcane/Explosive (shared cd so only one gets used) and Steady Shot.

I’m also feeling the pain of the OOC regen nerf. Spirit Tap used to be just awesome while leveling. Now…not so much. I have it, but I may spec out of it at 80. Depending on whether my gear has enough spirit to support keeping it for the Improved Spirit Tap.

Other than that, I’m enjoying my priest. It’s a far different experience playing her because I actually WANT to play the class. Not because someone guilted me into rolling one because their guild needed it at the time. Not leveling because "OMG we need priests!!". But because I’m interested in the class and want to play it. And I’m playing the spec I want to play. It’s almost like having a new toon with how much things have changed. But without the starting at level 1 thing.

Back From The Dead brought to you by Lady Jess - Have You Seen My Stapler?