Well it has been a while since I posted anything about my toons and/or WoW. It’s impossible to blog from work without using the Wordpress iPhone app. I am creating all of my posts, emailing them to myself, then a copy+paste into the Wordpress app and voila.

So besides having extra steps in my blogging, I am still working the overnight shift. At least until December when I have a chance to get off of this shift. So most of my WoW time is in the morning before bed (Alterac Valley BGs with Kami) and working on my alts in the evening if nothing else is going on.

I don’t raid anymore so I guess my gear doesn’t matter. More to the point I am honing my skills in the BGs. Honestly, I could care less about raiding right now. I know from TBC how much time a week is spent raiding and what it can do to a relationship. But I do have something to say about gear.

I know I am not the best geared for the BGs or even the best PvPer. I am saddened by the complete lack of people trying in the Vengeance Battlegroup. I am wearing a few Epic pieces from TBC that are still high on the MaxDPS gear list. Except for my Insignia of the Horde, nothing else is PvP oriented.

Every BG, I really mean every BG. I am in the top 50% for damage done. This is a sad fact, I do less then 200k damage normally with spike about 250k depending on how aggressive I want to be. I have only had one other Paladin do more damage than me, Saijin from Jubei’Thos. Saijiin was doing on average over 700k in every BG we were in together.

Was the difference in damage because of skill? You can’t measure that. Skill is an unknown variable in the equation. When it came down to the gear, there was a major difference. Saijiin is wearing Season 5 and Season 6 gear; gemmed, enchanted and threaded. Saijin’s gear is a big improvement over mine. Does that mean I am any less capable of contributing to an AV win? No, it means I now have a set of gear to strive for, aka a goal.

I hate when people say they don’t play the game to get gear. That is total BS. If you don’t play for gear then at level cap you should have the same stuff equipped that you had at level 1. Maybe you aren’t playing for gear, maybe you are playing to better your character. Well learning a good spell rotation can only take you so far. You have to upgrade your gear to reach your full potential.

For example, with the exception of the gear mentioned earlier I am wearing all quest reward pieces. My DPS is now about 500 according to Recount. I know I can get that higher, it takes practice to raise it up even 10 points. So some of my DPS increase will come from upgrading my gear.

So what is the moral of the story: Gear isn’t the cure to make you the best player on your realm, it’s an avenue to take to there. Only if you learn from your mistakes and continue striving for perfection will you achieve greatness.