1. In which I Poach Myself
2. In which I fail at leveling
1. Due to a couple of my 'regulars' - two of the most dedicated and skilled players - being out of town for the weekend, I logged on Sat evening with some trepidation regarding my still-forming HICC10 group (So-called 'Tard Ten' because it normally has so many hunters and DKs). After 30 minutes, there were 4 of us in group. A mage, who often heals on his pally. A still slightly undergeared rogue alt/main of a former raiding DK in my guild, and a new trial ele shammy, and yours truly. No tank (unless you count me), no actual healers. Well, nothing really. :( The Tard Ten was a Tard Four.
I made a few half-hearted scans of LFG for potential pugs, but pugging 6 players makes me want to burn my mouse hand off, so I quickly dipped back out and resumed mammoth farming.
One of the other two 'main' guild ten-mans had a few absences (I'll call it the Officer's Club or O-Club) as well, so I got a few whispers from one of their leaders asking me if we were going to get a full group, to which I replied, 'not likely.' He asked if we'd like to help them get their group going, and I, sadly, agreed. They only needed two players. I hopped into their vent channel, and recommended they take the trial to see how she did, and to take one of the other two guys, but one had just logged, and the O-Club said they wanted to only take mains that were raiders, which left the rogue out.
So, yes, I Poached myself and joined the O-Club. I felt dirty about it, too. I abandoned my group... which of course had mostly abandoned me first for other pursuits, and raided with a main-filled group that runs HICC10 every week.
And it felt good.
In that sinful way that eating a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's feels good. Guilty, but oh so yummy.
Their group got the last of the achievements for Glory of the Icecrown Raider and the skeletal mount last week (but is just starting heroic LK), but a few of them wanted an item or two from heroic bosses, and one of their regulars had missed a week and wanted a few achievements. The group was also game for any achievements I or the trial wanted, so on Saturday we ended up doing 5 heroic fights, and 5 fights on normal for the achievements. Perhaps that shouldn't seem such a big deal for someone who has the good fortune to be 8/12 HICC25 and who kills Lich King on 25-man every week, but given my hellacious struggles with the Tard Ten, it was ... nice. I did end up tanking a number of the fights, which I don't prefer, but it gave Massakur a chance to use his Shadowmourne. On Sunday we worked on heroic Sindragosa, which is still a challenging fight, and then we killed Lich King. I tanked it for the first time, and when soul reaper did our main tank in, managed to survive until the magic 10% win (good job healers on relatively squishy Hine).
I did feel badly about abandoning my group for the weekend, but given that it wasn't much of a group, what can one do? I do plan to still try to put the group together for at least a few more weeks to see if we can get it to work, but at some point I may have to call it a spade and either give myself some more time off on the weekends, or try to join one of the more successful groups. We'll see.
2. I spent a little time with the hunter this weekend. As usual, leveling with a hunter was as easy as spreading whipped cream cheese on a toasted bagel (harder than a knife through hot butter, but easier than spreading those cold butter patties on soft bread). Really, it was fairly fun and mindless play. After killing a couple of those level 60 elite giants in Winterspring (at level 54), I made a trip to Honor Hold in Hellfire Peninsula to train Master Enchanting. Feeling cocky with my trusty wolf at my side, I grabbed a couple level 60-61 Hellboars and killed/kited them to the guards. I thought, well, that was easy. Maybe I'll come back here a little early.
So I leveled some more, and when I hit 56 I decided to make my home in the Outlands.
Off I go, setting my hearth in Honor Hold.
Now, to level.
Quick, let's kill some Hellboars.
They went down fairly easily and painlessly, if a bit slowly due to the level difference. My dps dropped precipitously. But still, no problem.
Now what?
OH, YOU MEAN I CAN'T DO ANY QUESTS HERE? What are all those greyed-out quests I see?
:(
Bleh, slow grinding for two levels before I can quest.
Ah, well, back to WPL/EPL for two levels. Then I guess me and my silly, bruised ego can go back to Outland properly ready to kick mob fanny. And quest. :P
