We’re firmly in the “meh” period of WoW at the moment, a mix of summer hitting availability for raiding, we’ve been staring at the same bosses in ICC since December and the Cataclysm beta is well under way and general… what’s next?
After yet another called progression raid thanks to lack of numbers, I decided to nuke the Cow druid and re-roll as a warrior gnome. The last attempt at a warrior failed dismally, I simply couldn’t get my head around the class mechanics, the lack of in-built healing, having my arse handed to me on a more than regular basis, it just made levelling her a pain, zero fun. I even tried boosting her to 60 via granted levels on RAF, nothing worked and a six months or so ago she was consigned to the data archive in the sky after handing over bank alt duties to the rogue (like I trust him with my pile of gold).
Anyway, a new gnomelette was rolled and she’s nuking through the levels, tanking instances, getting pretty blue gear and generally being more fun to play by far than my previous attempt. After the first few days of levelling alone she’s been joined by SWMBO’s priest alt and they’re now rolling through Duskwood like a spiked wrecking ball. The only death since partying up was when my tanklette took on Stitches at level 28, to help out some other players who were about to be mashed into the ground (thanks for running away guys, much appreciated, I’ll let him munch on your bones next time).
So, why is it so much better this time? Well the nerfs and BoE heirloom gear can’t be discounted, she’s got a definite boost to her output, this helps in getting mobs down which means less munching on the floor. However the other part of it is down to me simply being a better player than I was before, I’m a better tank than when Wrath dropped, I’m a better tank than I was before I started raiding seriously. Moving mobs, pulling them round to avoid aggroing the extra pack, or indeed moving them to deliberately taunt in the next pack. I’ve a better idea on how I like my keybindings setup, on all the tanking alts I have the taunts in the same place, same for the major rotation attacks, the defensive cooldowns etc. So while the details of what they do are different the broad effect of me mashing alt-Q remains the same for example.
Assuming all goes as I expect tonight I think she’ll hit 30. Northrend watch out, there’s a new tank on the block and she wants shinies!
