Lazy.

Haven't redone my avatar yet. I did actually redo it when I got my freaking Netherdrake FOR REALZ but, you know, Dusk was still level 70. Seeing that the cap is 80 now, what would be the point? :B

So. Ulduar: freaking awesome.

We the Darkguards have cleared through Auriaya so far. We've been working on trying to take Freya down, but she is a very tricky boss and we are having a hard time with the footwork (as well as when to dps what, etc). But, I am confident we'll get her down tonight. We are probably going to try the other keepers as well (Hodir and Thorim, probably not Mimiron though).

It's been *so nice* to have a dungeon be a significant challenge. I am having a blast seeing this gorgeous place. Also loving the in-game maps. It's a fantastic idea that should have been implemented years ago. XD

I raided as feral last night, and got to off-tank for the first time in forever. I happened to win a pair of gloves that are basically best-in-slot for feral. I felt a *little* bad for rolling against the rogues, but then again, I always have, even when feral was my primary. Oh well. I was proud of my dps on Auriaya--around 3k for the fight! I'm not even specced cat, I'm specced bear. So that was a nice surprise. I would say those new gloves helped that a lot.

Ulduar gear thus far:
- Unwavering Stare
- Belt of the Sleeper
- Boots of Hasty Revival
- Phaelia's Vestments of the Sprouting Seed (used my first T8 level suicide for these!)
- Gloves of the Stonereaper

With Maldiriel in 10-man:
- Might of the Leviathan

I am tickled that the upgrades I have been getting to my resto set are all *actually* leather. It's nice that Blizzard is getting a little better about their itemization in that regard. I always feel terrible when I end up needing a cloth piece that some poor priest or mage or warlock also needs.

The last thing I want to share, because now my excitement about going to this year's BlizzCon knows no bounds...

SO. CUTE. AUGH. /death

Whoops.

Yeah... so. Hello! I kind of spaced I had a blog. Awesome.

The (on time) release of WotLK has come and gone. Dusk hit level 80 pretty quickly (I think I was the third in our guild). I had been leveling my hunter after her, but she stalled at 77. Quite to my surprise, I blasted my paladin to 80 and have been doing 10 mans with him. So. Much. Fun.

I found myself rather disenchanted with the changes being made to feral tanking (and with 25 mans we seem to have an abundance of tanks), so, with that in mind, I changed Dusk's primary spec to restoration.

Yeah, yeah, I know. She's dual spec-ed though, so her second spec is still tank when/if it's needed. Disenchanted, but not abandoned! It's great for soloing.

That being said, I am having a blast healing. I don't know how good I am at it--I have a hard time parsing my crap from WWS logs, since last time I checked it has problems properly attributing Lifebloom stacks/blooms to the right healer--but I guess I'm not horrible. I'm still re-learning the instincts for healing. Grid is freaking invaluable, as the way I have my raid bars set up is pretty terrible for healing (but great for everything else). I need to remember to use Swiftmend more, especially since I have the glyph for it. I also need to recreate my "oh shit" macro for Nature's Swiftness + Healing Touch + Swiftmend.

I absolutely adore the changes to Tree for WotLK. I had been saying for a long time that they need to buff tree form, give it some kind of armor buff (because it is a FREAKING TREE) or something. Well, ask and ye shall recieve. I also love being able to cast Thorns in tree form, and Abolish Poison, and Remove Curse. And obviously, Healing Touch. Oh man. And Wild Growth is a pretty fun spell, even with the six second cooldown (which, honestly, is not a big deal). Those changes make healing fun for me, again. So, yes, having a jolly good time.

When 3.1 hit, I purchased dual spec for the paladin as well. I figured I could spec him for retribution as primary (because I am all about whacking the shit out of things with a giant weapon) and secondary, healing.

Oh, my god. I am terrible at paladin healing. It literally frightens me.

To be honest, I think part of my problem may have been some of the gear Mal has, but I believe the majority of my problem is that it's such a turn-around from druid healing. There is an incredible lack of mobility--I never really realized how difficult it is to try to move and heal until I tried it--and I have no HoTs to toss up while I'm running to change positions. I now have much greater respect for those paladins that choose to be holy.

Alright, I think that's enough ranty pants from me. More later, including an update of my avatar (I hope).