It's Sunday Night Lag! I mean Live!

Aedos does her very best impression of Haris Pilton to bring you:

Lag from Northrend, it's Sunday Night!

Of course! A good night's raiding hampered by severe lag. Aedos still had fun though, especially dressing up like a socialite. Now to find her a tiny dog...

Anyway, picking up from the guild's earlier saves we started off in the Construct quarter, trash was no problem but boy those boss fights were fun! Insane amount of lag + Druid who hasn't healed for a while equals, baaaad healing. Throw in the fact that I was using Clique for the first time and it was actually hilarious in a soul destroying sort of way.

We gave up on Thaddius as the polarity changes proved too much when dealing with delays of 5 seconds. I'm pleased to say though that I actually managed to get the hang of it this time. I had a notebook in front of me with " + RIGHT - LEFT " emblazoned across a whole page and I must say it did the trick. The only slight problem I have with this fight is choosing whether or not to DPS. We were told by the raid leader to have a couple of healers doing DPS, so I did during the first try, funny thing though, if left to our own devices would we healers sacrifice our big numbers on the healing meters to help DPS? I did to start with, but when I found that others were continuing to heal, I thought "sod this" and did a bit of both.

So we went off to OS to try with 2 drakes, we almost had it but after a few wipes we decided just to finish off with 1 drake. After a very scary Auto run moment where my keyboard and mouse decided to go crazy and allow me to make a fool of myself running around like a headless boomkin toward the boss I felt like I was doing much better, must be the adrenaline pumping after a near pull experience. I blame whoever used this:

I couldn't resist his musk.

Again I was secretly pleased with myself, only 2 deaths due to flame walls or void zones, one of each if I remember correctly (better check the WWS and WoWmeters later before I get too cocky ^^)

The good news, I now feel like I'm back into the swing of things. I was doubting my return to WoW, I've been having fun without it, but now that I'm back I have to admit I've missed it (I've not missed the continual silence whenever I attempt conversation or even say "Hi" in guild chat, but that's a different story...) Raiding again has been fun, if a little stressful due to me being under prepared, but I'm really hoping to start levelling alts and doing heroics with my Rogue.

I also managed to get my paws on enough Emblems of Valor for a new cloak and also from Naxx some Boots of Septic Wounds...eeeewwww!

Guess What...

I did it (finally!) Last Sunday I managed the Big Ding. And what have I been doing since then? Grinding leather, aaaargh!

Well Aedos and Brennus are in for some upheaval, (I added Brennus to my author list, in case he felt like doing a guest post on Druid tanking at some point, hehe) Well we are possibly moving to another flat this month, and over the Christmas period we will be travelling to Scotland and Romania respectively to visit our families. Confusing, more aaargh!

So basically there isn't going to be much WoW playing, I may spend some time doing a couple of heroics (got my very first 12k heal in heroic UK the other night, go me!) and also levelling Loukya the Rogue to 80, for herbs and such. Can't wait to get her in some new gear since she's been in TK/SSC gear forever! Mmm...viking looking stuff...

Aedos is in a Horny Helm of doom right now, working my way up to these lovelies: Earthgiving Legguards and Earthgiving Boots. As far as gear has gone I've only replaced a few items, I've finally levelled Leatherworking, definitely worth it for this: Fur Lining - Spell Power.

Now I'm off for some R&R, and some delicious foodz, no Orca Stew for me today! Some Real Life time sounds good right about now!

How Aedos Got Her Bird Back

Strictly speaking this should have been easy. However I neglected to take into account that Whoopi Goldberg is a much better motivational speaker than Radio One. Hence why after 4 hours I had only progressed half a level and couldn't get a Ting Ting's song out of my head. That's not my name. That's not my name. That's not my name. That's not my name. And now it's in yours too "Get out of that one fatty"

Back to the task in hand. I've been telling myself "It's not a race, It's not a race" However the cruel green eyed monster in me has been eyeing up the new shinies of our level 80 instance goers and has been nagging at me to get myself in gear and start playing more!

So yes, it should have been easy, do some quests, do some instances, you know the drill. But there has been the lure of Death Knights, the gathering of leather, the copy of "Little Big Planet" sitting on our games shelf.

I have been levelling up as full resto, it gets me into instances quicker, the damage isn't too bad, no 7k crits but I can cope with that. I was moonkin for a while but somehow that feathery soul felt like an imposter, a pretender to my healing throne. I didn't look upon it as myself, but merely a tool to get the job done slightly quicker. So it's back to caster form for Aedos. She's much happier this way and so am I.

So this is level 78...and what have I done? Well the first thing was I got my bird back! I had forgotten the simple joy of zooming around, picking up a quest item, then changing back to flight form and flying away from impending doom.

Some of the more interesting things. I met Bambina, with Flora and Thudder, his poor mother was killed and he has sworn to avenge her, I wonder how that will turn out...

I have been a Scourge, a big Blue Lady and an Iron Dwarf.

I have Toured the Fjord, been Bored in Borean and pretty much done every single quest in every area I've been to so far.

I helped Mr. Floppy make his way safely home.

I have been strangely addicted to this weapon...I wonder why....

I have fought a huge pair of legs on a Giants back.

And I have dressed up in some new blue items, and as such I am now looking slightly like a dominatrix.

And now I am half way to 79! Now where did I leave my social life?.....

Of Pets and Levelling

Finally the day of Wrath has come!

After a fairly inauspicious start for us we have finally managed to log and begin our sojourn up to level 80.

It all began when Brennus bought us our copies...one normal, and one Collectors Edition. The day before release I decided to venture out of the house and found when I came home a note saying a parcel had been left for us at the post office. I made Brenn go and collect it with me during his lunch break and made him late, I trudged home in the rain with a huge box! Inside amongst all the packets of air was our lovely CE. The outside box really was very excessive for the box inside.

It had long been argued who would get Frosty and I'm pleased to say, I have the nicest boyfriend in the world, he let me have him! (I bribed him the day before with Little Big Planet for his PS3 ^^) Unfortunately the normal copy wasn't delivered on time and he had to wait an extra day to play. But finally we have both got online, coped with his bad lag and trawled up to 71 last night. Now I'm off to play some more, have a lot of catching up to do with most of my guildies. Decided to start off in Howling Fjord as I heard that there was a lot more Alliance Lore there, I'm enjoying the Tuskarr quests at the moment, and I'm determined to get that penguin pet eventually!

I'm currently levelling as full resto, eek, but as far as damage is concerned I haven't been doing too badly at all. I'm starting to invest more points into balance now, I already had points in Genesis and am now working towards a Nature's Splendor build. It's also handy having a feral to help! Here we are, the happy family in Howling Fjord. I feel it looks like a very cheesey greetings card.

Greetings from Northrend! From Brennus, Aedos and Frosty

Busy Little Druid

Well it's been a couple of weeks again since my last post. I'm sure it's been a very busy time for all of us! Not helped by the fact my memory needing replaced on the PC and having a very uncomfortable time playing! It's been a time of getting reacquainted with new talents, new spell rotations in raids and soloing, a time for new titles (jealous of Brennus!) and new haircuts.



So far I haven't done any of the new Argent Dawn quests, I haven't downed the new boss in Kara, I haven't been off getting every achievement I can think of (Going Down? with Loukya was a complete accident!) I haven't even been raiding that much. I was trying to decide whether to level my shadow priest who is at 41 at the moment and very fun, or to do something which I had been needing to do for months. The Latter won, and I now proudly present:

Whoohoo! Just in time for the expansion when I wont be able to use it again for ages ^^
It was our last official guild raid last night and as well as getting a chance to spend the last of my DKP on a set of Tier 6 bracers I also didn't need to log 20 minutes early in order to fly very slowly to our destination! To me this is the best achievement I've gotten so far. After starting off in 2005 with my rogue, not doing any end game raiding up until last year, switching raiding mains from a rogue in epics to a Druid raiding end game content in blues and greens, it's been an interesting time!

Never in my WoW playing career did I think I would get to see Archimonde, Illidan and two Sunwell bosses down. So a great big thanks go to Soldiers of Azeroth, especially our Guild and Raid Leader Kay ^^ May the guild have many more fun times to come! Also I never thought I would have two mains who could zoom around at 280% speed!

Oh What a Night...

Late September down in Mount Hyjal....

Soldiers of Azeroth defeated Archimonde for the first time, and I'm very glad to say I was a part of it :D

I was intending on posting about my recent adventures with my Rogue, but I just had to do this instead, Roguing can come later.

The night started off...badly for me. It seemed to be "Be Mean to the Tree" night, being bullied by a hunter and rogue determined to set my branches on fire *sniffle*

Thankfully some people still were nice to me

After a few wipes at around 30% and myself being silly

To Brennus: "This tear thing when you fall is really easy!"

*splat-dead druid * Oops....

We managed to get him down in 8 minutes, and my word he dies dramatically! I was excited about seeing the loot, but most excited about getting my last 3 badges for new shoulders! Grats again to all my guildies who got nice shiny new helms, especially the two 'Locks!

So since we had an hour and a half left we went for a little jaunt to Sunwell, I picked up my new shoulders on the way and as we cleared through some trash (with no wipes I might add) I got my little paws on some new gloves! *sniff* Goodbye to my only piece of Tier 6 ^^ All gemmed and enchanted they give a lovely 174 +healing, so I'm a very happy Druid all in all.

And since she has been feeling neglected, Loukya asked her Imp In A Ball if she would ever raid again...His response?

Yay!

Getting Back Into The Swing of Things

Well here I am, back again, after an impromptu break for the past week and a half. Real Life's gotta come first over a game but I've missed it. With Wotlk just around the corner I've been re-assessing my goals and the best I can come up with is, learn as much as I can about the changes in my class the expansion will take me, and continue to have fun with the guild in raiding till then. I also seem to have a lot of blog reading to catch up on and I'm trying to make a start on that now! I started back raiding on Friday night with a Mount Hyjal trip and got to /cuddle up against my other half and his creepy new Kodo mount.

I also got a new chest which from the back makes me look slightly nekkid!

I still can't help but be ever so pleased when I continue to get new gear, even with the expansion so soon and I won't get to strut around in it much *sniff* And today, with my hard earned Badges ~I am eventually going to get those gnarly shoulders to replace my Kara ones (at last) With Aedos as my new main and levelling her first I should start off the expansion raiding on a much more even footing with the rest of the raiders, I can't wait till the day where I don't think think "My gear is so bad!" when dieing for the 10th time ^^ For now, blogs call and I must go catch up on the ones I have missed!

Home is where the Hearthstone is

Settling into the new home is not fun if you're not buying pretty things to decorate the place! Though we've been trying to save money, there were a few things we just couldn't resist. And now I present a picture of Brennus and I, nice and happy in our new home...

Hee Hee! Brennus couldn't resist the action figure and both of us wanted a little mini tree ^^ Also we have another addition to our little collection...


Home Sweet Home! ^^

I'm back!

Well after a long break during moving and not having net, I'm finally back! For a while I enjoyed my break from WoW, but after seeing my guildies progress in Black Temple and of course, their new shiny loot, I was desperate to get back! So here I am, a new home, a new town, no friends as of yet, so I have plenty time to get back into playing!

Tonight there is an adhoc GEM raid for Serpentshrine or The Eye with some guildies, so I've signed myself up to get me used to raiding again on something slightly easier than BT ^^ As I've gotten back onto our Guild forums too I had the chance to do a survey about the new expansion one of our officers has prepared for us. I've decided to post my answers here too, just for posterity's sake, and in case anyone is interested! I give full credit to our Warlock Officer for the questions, but the boring answers are all my own!

After this I need to go out and do some more exploring, but when I come back I'm going to be checking all the blogs I've missed so much when I've been without net, definitely excited about being back again, and discovering what everyone has been up to!

(I've left out some Guild Specific Questions)

SoA Pre Wrath Survey:

General Info.

Character Name(s): Aedos/Loukya.

Will you be getting the Wrath of the Lich King expansion upon or shortly after release?Definitely, will try and get it as soon as possible

What will be you be doing before before Wrath is released?

Raiding with Aedos, trying to make some money with Loukya and possibly levelling my priest some more and generally having fun with you guys!

Leveling.

What will you be doing in Wrath?

Will probably change Aedos to a dreamstate so I can do some solo levelling but also continue to heal any 5-mans, hopefully Brennus can be my killbot and help me.

What class do you think will be your main at L80?

Druid

How long do you think it will take for you to reach L80?

Possibly a month

Raiding (If interested)

What role will you want to fill in raids, dps, tank or heal?

Healing, I really love healing now!

Would you prefer to see the main raid progression focusing on 25 man or 10 man raids?

Either

Other

Bring on more fun times Soldiers!

Fits Like a Glove!

My new Tier 6 gloves that is ^^ During our raid on Friday in Mount Hyjal I was lucky enough to have sufficient DKP to spend half of it on my shiny new Thunderheart Gloves!

This is me being very very happy even though I'm now very very poor and will hope for no new Resto Druid gear to drop tonight in BT.

I spent a few hundred gold to put "The Right" purple gem in them this time

When I gemmed my Tier 5 legs I was so excited by them I quickly threw in a Royal Shadowsong Amethyst instead of a Purified Shadowsong Amethyst. More Spirit ftw. But I managed to find one cheap on the AH so here are my lovely new gloves:

Although I'm not too impressed by the set bonus.

Now if I take off my Robes of Summer Flame I actually look like a Real Druid! (Apart from the roguelike shoulders and chest ^^)


I'm getting there slowly ^^ Can't wait to see what difference there is in my healing tonight!

A date with Archimonde

Yes after Aedos' 2 hours of PVP, she got dressed in her Sunday best, put on her prettiest trinkets and brushed her lovely purple hair in anticipation of Tea and Cookies courtesy of Mr. Archimonde. Well not quite...but it makes a nice image I think.

Anyway, so tonight was another night of wipes in the name of learning the fight. I think I have it pretty much well documented in my head, it is merely putting it into practice that makes it so hard!

The main aim: Survive

Survive through the Air Bursts, Doomfire, Fears and Curses that he throws at you. It's not a DPS race, nor anything overly complicated, just...difficult.


There really is no use being in Tree form for this fight with all the movement needed and decursing going on so it was caster form all night, and kitty for the falls!

Stay with group (in tonight's case I was with the hunters) run away from Doomfire, check!

Hit Tears of the Goddess at exactly the right time as I fall from Airburst to survive, check again.
I actually find this part of the fight quite fun, and as much as I hate to admit it, I actually get the stomach churning feeling that i'm actually falling myself when I'm falling. Another thing worth noting is that Kitty form is also very helpful if you happen to use the Tears too early and are in danger of dieing.






Heal tank and group, decurse group, check.


The fears are what I need that *lovely* PVP trinket for, which after two hours tonight I am only 2k honour away from, apart from a possible Magtheridon GEM run tomorrow night the PVP trinket is what I'm logging on for next!

Basically, we all know what we're doing now, it's just the matter of us practicing till it's perfect as the old saying goes. Tonight our best attempt was 67%, we managed to get it slightly down from our last attempt which is always a good thing.

One important thing I did learn:

If you are about to wipe...die in the Doomfire! It really reduces the cost of repair bills :P The one good thing about this fight!

My repair bill, post Fire Death.

And glancing back through my old screenshots I found some of Brennus (the other bear druid half) when he managed to get into Hyjal in the present day.





Archimonde's skeleton above Brenn's kitty's butt, proof that he can and WILL be killed eventually ^^

To haste or not to haste?

That is indeed the question. Now that I'm getting into the position where I am comfortable with Aedos + healing and my own technical abilities to heal, I've started asking myself whether I should start focusing on gathering haste gear. Soldiers of Azeroth are now progressing nicely through Black Temple, and have killed every boss in Hyjal except Archimonde. With the amount of tanks we usually have in the trash in these instances, I'm sure an extra lifebloom stack would help immensely.

With the amount I'm raiding at the moment I'm gathering up a fair bit of DKP, and not spending it as all who know me would testify, my luck with drops is horrendous! I'm now trying to decide whether to actively seek out spell haste items in various places. I'm fairly comfortable with my mana pool even though my mp5 at the moment isn't as high as other resto druids, it's very rare I actually have to Innervate or take pots, so to lose some mp5 on items wouldn't be that much of a big deal to me.

The two other main questions I ask myself are this: Would the raid team benefit from my lowered global cooldown, my ability to stack more lifeblooms and also to pop a swiftmend if the situation arose? Now I think the answer to this is a resounding yes.



The next question is do I have the time and resources to actively seek out +haste pieces, to acquire enough of them to get my haste rating to at least 180 to be of any use, then enchant etc? Well I am a leatherworker, not a very good one, I've never seemed to be able to grind enough to get past the 350 mark. I chose Leatherworking for Aedos when she was levelling as Feral, and though I knew there wasn't much in the way of healing gear I could make when I did respecc, I kept leatherworking as my profession anyway. So the guild bank currently has three of these recipes: Shoulderpads of Renewed Life sitting gathering dust, and if I was at 375 LW, for a mere 10 dkp these would be a steal! The big problems, no I'm not 375, and no there are no spare Hearts of Darkness in the guild bank to use. So a big sad face here =( However in the raids I'm doing there are a few items that may drop, so I can wait for these or spend some more badges



One nice haste badge item:

Cloak of Swift Reprieve for 60 Heroic Badges

An item I already have that provides haste is my Kharma's Ring of Fate from normal MgT. However this really wouldn't add up to much for now, so it would take some time for me to be fully haste geared up! Now next week will be Aedos' first Zul'Aman run as it had been taken off our raiding roster when I began raiding with her, and now our resident Paladin tank Woody has started some GEM runs up. I know of a few haste items that drop there, cant remember the names but I might edit them in if i do! I just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope my luck with drops improves.

So I think I've decided that I will try to gather as much +haste items as I can, also trying to level Leatherworking at a steady state so that maybe some day I can get that pattern, hopefully this will all be before Wotlk and before we all start replacing our epics with Northrend greens!

The Party Never Stops!

It's been a while since my last update, I really haven't had as much time as I would have liked over the past week. I posted last Sunday about some goals, some large, some small, that I want to achieve over the next few months and although they haven't been completed I'm getting ever so slightly closer!

First off, with the new Midsummer festival, Brennus has been out collecting blossoms to swap for items. The first being this funky...dancey thing...(Can't find a link for it) which turns you into a hawt dancing draenei! He's managed to get a fair bit of gold by hitting the braziers in various towns, including the horde capitals! Loukya decided to try this, but after getting ganked in Orgrimmar she went in a huff and gave up.

In a "Where's Waldo?" style here she is in Orgrimmar!

I did have some fun throwing my flames around and juggling torches for the new daily quests on Loukya and Nyx my nooby 23 shaman.

Second, after spending 150 badges on her Gavel of Naaru blessings, Aedos finally managed to save up 41 more for her first epic healing trinket, the Essence of the Martyr, getting her + healing up to 1753 unbuffed. Now I know most people will be like "Huh? Healing BT and MH with only that crappy +healing?" But since we have effectively stopped doing Serpentshrine and Tempest Keep, our Guild Leader had decided she didn't need me in incredibly amazing gear, just enough to get my Lifebloom ticking decently and to be useful, and to pick up as much new gear as I can to improve that way. So after one raid with my new trink I managed to break my effective heal record to over 2 million! Which I'm very happy about!

Next, after some very long Alterac Valley's and one very annoying and extremely boring Arathi Basin I have managed to get my honour to this:

Half of what I need for my PVP trinket, but I'm getting closer! Hopefully I should have it by the end of next week at the latest.

And lastly, a real life note! I have cleared my room of all unnecessary clothes, books and general clutter and once I start packing the rest of my needed things away in boxes I shall be ready to move away in exactly 6 weeks. I can't wait! I'm sure I wont mind putting my other goals on hold while I get ready to make a massive new step in my life, moving out of my family home and starting a new with my boyfriend. As long as we don't fight over internet connections I'm sure we'll be just fine.

Ahh...

"Smug mode. Well, I can't hang around here saving your necks all day. I think I'll go make a start on that ironing"




After seeing the WoW Web Stats from last night I have to say I'm suitably impressed with myself! A few times I have looked at the WWS and been upset with myself as I've been quite low. But I always overlooked the fact that as of yet, I don't have any healing trinkets, I also have a few pieces of low level gear and not as much + heal as everyone else. I also just looked at the first page of WWS and thought "Great, I suck!"

But after listening to my boyfriend, and reading an interesting post at 4 Haelz all about healing meters I decided to take all the advice Bellwether gives into account when I look at the meters.

I looked through all the attempts individually, and as it turns out, I did do really well! take for example the kill of Akama where I was second! Also out of the, ahem, 10 attempts we had on Teron I was in the top three during 6 out of 10 tries.


Now I'm definitely not trying to be big headed, I'm not desperate to top the healing meters or be like "Ha! I are better than you!" I'm just so pleased that I'm managing to perform well in amongst better geared healers, I have honed my healing techniques and now they really seem to make a difference during raids! In the end, all I really want is to be helpful in the guild progressing and make myself an effective and useful healer. It seems I'm on the right track for now ^^

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

A Druid in Tree form being chopped through the middle and in the throws of death? Well yes that just about sums up last nights raid!

Last night Soldiers of Azeroth descended upon the Black Temple, our objective was to defeat Shade of Akama, Teron Gorefiend and possibly more. But some bad luck was thrown our way and although we got Akama down (with only plate loot I might add *sigh*) We continued to spend the rest of the night wiping on Gorefiend.

I have to admit, last night my mind was elsewhere, during the very long trash clear from Akama up to Gorefiend I did in fact use one hand for healing the raid, the other for tapping my DS as I gathered fruit in Animal Crossing *blush* Even with my giant buttons and timers on UI I let a few of my Lifebloom stacks fall off, but that's what happens when you don't pay attention! The trash clear was no problem, lots of nice gems dropping , and eventually we got to Gorefiend.

As any BT raider will know the biggest problem of this fight is the Shadow of Death Debuff which any member of the raid can get. The fight is a simple DPS race with the awful Shadow of Death, which when you die, turns you into a ghost, responsible for killing "Constructs" who, when they get into the raid can cause scary damage. There's also an Incinerate which if it isn't dispelled quickly enough can easily one-shot someone who isn't at full health. When I first tried Teron Gorefiend on the very first time we killed him we had wiped a few times, but by the time of our last try a lot of people had got the hang of killing their ghosts before they got into the raid and we managed to get him down in a last minute special. I also died at the very last moment!

However I never got the debuff and so had never had a proper go of killing the Constructs. I've tried the flash game and was awful at it, I've watched video's on how to defeat them but there's nothing like practice to get you truly prepared. The flash game scares me since I'm so bad at it I figure there's no way I could kill the constructs in the real raid. Brennus assures me the real version is much easier, but I'm not convinced.


Again last night, I never got an attempt at them. This was both a good and a bad thing. A good thing because I didn't have to face being embarrassed and saying "Honest, i killed my constructs!"

I had already planned that if I DID get the Debuff and got my constructs into the raid my response was going to be this :

"Ok, I'm the only person all night who is admitting - Yes those were my constructs in the raid, I didn't manage to kill them all, I knew I would be rubbish"

But sadly I never got a chance ^^

I'm a bit of a shy person, even in guild where I've known most of these guys since I started playing. I admit I'm scared of being the one to wipe a raid!

Eventually, after many wipes, we called it a night since we had respawns and no one up by gorefiend to res or summon the rest of us.

I've already mentioned why I'm glad I didn't get the Shadow debuff, but the bad thing is that I still haven't had a chance for real to manage to kill these guys. There's only so many times I can whisper Brennus saying "Argh! What do I do when I get them again?" before he gets annoyed at me. I'm going to try the flash game some more until I manage to get them all down.

Flash Game is here for any person that wants to try it ^^ This is going to be in between me preparing to move in 6 weeks time, and also Loukya and Aedos both doing dailies. I'm really determined again to get my Swift Flight Form. I finshed last night with some dailies on Loukya but after sitting for 5 hours I couldn't do too much. I'm praying for another Epic World Drop to sell that helped Loukya get hers!

A Little Bit About Aedos

Some general info about my druid, why I play her and why I love her. While this blog is really just for myself as I don't expect any people to be reading it, I still feel like giving my intro posts!

As I've already mentioned in my last post, while levelling my rogue I met lots of great people, the most important of which was Brennus my cuddly feral druid boyfriend.

I had already created a Druid out of interest but hadn't got her past level 10, after I met Brennus though I was inspired to level her. We first met in Dun Modr where I was struggling with Loukya to kill some Elite Dwarves. Politely asking for assistance on /guild I was answered by Brennus who was in the area and came to help. Now this isn't much about my druid yet but it's relevant honest!




So yeah, I was enthralled by watching him dash around in cat form grabbing lots of dwarves then changing into bear as he killed the whole mob one by one. "Wow!" I thought to myself, "I want to be a kitty and a bear!" So the levelling with Aedos began after that, very slowly! I specced Feral and began fitting in some play time around Loukya. After Loukya got to 60 Aedos became less and less played. I did the occasional quest with her when Lou wasn't raiding and the like but my poor little druid became pretty much ignored again. When Lou dinged 60 Aedos was still level 20!

Again, when TBC came out and I levelled Lou to 70 Aedos was still by the wayside. While Brennus and I went to various dungeons and raids I began to get a bit bored of Loukya. Her gear was getting much better, my DPS was fine but still I started getting weary of only logging on to do dungeons, I began to miss Azeroth and levelling. Aedos began her trek up to 70, and it was quite a power level. I was still feral at this point, and every moment I could play I played with her, with the occasional boost through an instance with Brennus *blush*



But again, I was getting bored. Sneak up on enemies, start attacking, build up combo points, use a finishing move, it was just like levelling a rogue but slower! I had also noticed the lack of healers in our guild for instances and raids, so I formulated a plan. To level to 70 as a boomkin, I needed to do something different feral so I didn't become bored, and then at 70 I would respec Restoration and provide an alt if healers were needed!

This was at about level 50 or so and after the respec to boomkin the levelling came much quicker, not only that but I also began to love playing her, such a nice change from just melee. I loved my treant minions, I loved the damage I did, but I also loved that I could shapeshift into kitty and dash away if I got into trouble. In short, I loved being a druid!



Once I hit 70 I immediately respecced Resto and began healing instances, I had gathered healing gear from quests and such, also I had my Moonkin +damage and healing gear, and although I didn't have any healing experience people trusted me enough to let me heal! After starting Kara runs I noticed something else, I enjoyed healing more than I did DPS. People started complimenting my healing, I read up loads of posts on Phaelia's Resto4Life Blog and learning from there I actually started to become quite good, dare I say it. It's quite something going through WoW on two characters, in various guises then discovering something you truly love and have a talent for. I guess some people would say that tree healing doesn't require much in the way of healing talent but I think it does. Knowing in a multiple tank situation who is most deserving of your lifeblooms, anticipating who is about to get the most incoming damage and topping them up appropriately. These are things that I'm now really beginning to master after only a few months of healing through raids.

Our Guild has a policy of one raiding character per account, so Loukya has been demoted and now Aedos is my main raider, but I have to say I don't regret it one bit! There's no greater satisfaction to me than getting a boss down and still having the whole raid alive with my help! I'm "slightly" undergeared for the content we are raiding now and I know this well. It was decided by our Guild Leader that I should be geared up by running through the same raids as the core of our guild is doing now. We've passed Kara, Gruul, Maggy, even to an extent SSC and TK (We cleared the whole of SSC in one night on Sunday, happy days!) and I'm now getting my gear through going to MH and BT, even though my luck with drops is abysmal and nothing terribly useful has dropped for me yet! I'm still doing the occasional Kara for badges and some fun, raiding around 3 nights a week.

I'm by no means a hardcore player and would only class myself as "casual but dedicated" And now with my little spot on the web I'm going to detail my experiences as a newbie Resto druid, Raiding content she really isn't ready for, the new things I'm going to get up to with my Rogue as she embarks on some PVP, and generally the fun I have in game!