Decision Day

Tonight is the last night of Wrath. In just a few hours, we'll be leveling again in Cataclysm. But in a real sense, it feels like it was over two week ago. Dalaran is as empty as Shattrah as everyone has returned to the reshaped Azeroth.
I didn't finish all of my pre-Cataclysm goals. I didn't log in Sunday, and I won't be logging tonight. The Baltimore-Pittsburgh game was an absolute classic and tonight's New England / New York collision promises to be the same. For the first time, I won't be doing a midnight release for a Warcraft Expansion. Cataclysm will not start in earnest for me until I get home from my small group on Tuesday night. There are still a couple of pets I wanted to tame and some general organizing of my bag, bank and bank alt. I had moved my bank alt to Silvermoon during the Elemental Invasion because I got tired of logging into him and him not being to do anything because the bank and the AH NPCs had evacuated. The Elementals left Silvermoon alone, so I moved him there. I'm still not a huge fan of the city, but it works for now.
What today is more than anything else is 'D' Day (Decision Day). All of us who have been straddling the fence over our mains are going to level one toon first. So which toon won the race to be the new main?
After much thought, I've decided to level up Jyger the Orc Hunter. This decision still scares me to death because I believe Hunters will be tweaked quite a bit in Cataclysm. I'm hoping the new 'knobs' the Developers have given themselves like Mastery, and signature shots for all 3 specs will help them make the swings from overpowered to underpowered less dramatic than they have been in the past, or were even in Beta.
I love the pets and the new stable, but my favorite part of being a Hunter is the new pet buff system, where my pet can replace virtually any raid buff or debuff our raid might be missing. I won't know which pet I will need most often until I see the makeup of our raid group. I'll need to keep them all though as I anticipate our group will see some changes in Cataclysm. With many of our old-timers returning, I fear our guild will find itself in that no man's land where were we are really too big to be a 10 man guild, but not big enough to grow to a 25 man raid. (17 to 19 raiders)
Our Guild Leader has been asking someone to step up and start/lead/recruit for a second group. We can't expect Boston to do it all for two groups. I know everyone is probably worried about finding themselves on some sort of 'B' team. Looking in the mirror, I don't feel comfortable volunteering to lead the second group for a couple of reasons.
First of all, my wife and I are about to have our second child. I simply won't have the time to commit to leading a group with a new baby in the house.  But besides that, I don't think my raid leadership style would be right for the guild. Boston is a gifted raid leader. He knows how to get the job done and everyone still have fun. I sort of struggle with that last part. I can be a little bit of a jerk when I raid lead, so I try not to do it. Everyone, myself included, has more fun that way.
I see myself spending time with several toons in Cataclysm. As main spec DPS, I know I'll sit out my share of raids. I still haven't figured out how to answer the question when my Raid Leader asks if I can sit one night. It seems that typing out, "I would much rather raid with the team, but I understand that given our numbers some people have to sit from time to time.", would be a bit much when all the Raid Leader really needs to see is "Sure," I have to assume he knows that even if I accept getting benched, I still want to raid.
I've got two low level alts I'll be working on. My Raid Leader has me on RealID, so he can find me regardless of the toon I'm on.
Ramseys the Goblin Shaman - Ramseys will finally allow me to level up a Shaman, and play through the excellent Goblin starting area. I will likely level him as Elemental / Resto with the idea that he can get by with one set of gear. While i would like for him to get to the level cap, I have no plan on making him a raiding toon, but we'll see when and if I make it. My previous Shamans generally petered about the mid 30s.
Tokare the Gnome Mage - Tokare is my baby Gnome Mage and he lives on the Norgannon server. This toon was created to see the changes on the Alliance side. I leveled up originally as an Alliance, and I'd like to see how Catalcysm and Honors actions have changed the world. I'm particulary excited about seeing Westfall, which I've heard is excellent. Once I get him to 20 and out of Westfall, I'm not sure what I'll do with him. I rolled up a Troll Priest as well, but I just can’t seem to get into him. He should be a caster like the Mage, but something is different.
As for my second 85, what I'm thinking today (subject to change without notice) is that I'll level Honorshammer second. I really want to learn this new Tankadin style and I'll be leaning heavily on Rhidach and Anafelle to point the way. Leveling Honors will also provide my guild with two reputations (Ashetongue Deathsworn, and Scale of Sands) that it otherwise lacks for the Guild Achievements.
Finally I intend to roll a new Goblin to be my new Bank Alt. I’ll have to think of some clever name, that’s not already taken.

Comments

JK the Slacker said…
I applaud your decision to keep going on Honorshammer. I was really, really nervous about the idea of the changes to Holy, myself. Thankfully, after much knob-turning has been done, I think Holy and Prot are both in good places, and can actually make for a better experience overall.
Ardent Defender said…
Yeah man glad you keeping Paladin, for obvious reasons :)

Allot of old timers like you said will probably be coming back in waves. Though I haven't really decided my D-Day decision. I feel i'll be there as well soon. I still have yet to install WoW on my new Laptop since WoW no longer works on my G5 which i played on for last 5 years.

However glad to hear you decided to pick up playing a shaman. I can only imagine you will like playing a shaman if you give it a decent try. Well at least based on how I knew shaman's played before. I'ts been over 9 months since been on WoW hiatus and haven't read anything about classes or anything so not sure what to expect.

But at least have fun with the new expansion. Like changes and its ok if you will not have as much raid time as before due to expecting the new little one. Just play, raid and blog about it when you can. Always remember to have fun at least.
Feist said…
Make sure you check out not just Westfall, but also Redridge. Redridge is bar none the absolute hilight of alliance levelling now.

Don't believe me? I have just one word for you:

RAMBO.

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