If you haven’t figured it out by now I usually omit the ‘Hyou’ portion of my character names. I think it helps me keep track of them easier. Sometimes I think I should have just omitted the ‘Hyou’ part from them all, but keeping it makes them unique to me.

…Zan has official been retired. He will forever be level 70 and chillaxing in Silvermoon. He has banked his old raiding gear and is currently wearing a stylish tuxedo. I turned off his ability to gain XP. This way my way of saying, “So long and thanks for all of the fish.” I don’t ever intend to delete, I am using him to make bags for my alts. So he will always be a part of my account.

Good bye my old friend, you will be missed.

…Kami is currently still doing BGs and building a Pre-Naxx tanking gear set. I also, have respec’d his #1 set to Protection. I loved tanking in TBC but with my work schedule it became a burden at times. Initially I didn’t want to raid due to the time constraint but that has changed now. I am doing 1 or 2 AVs a day. If the BG daily is AV then I will only do one. This provides time to work on my alts and try to progress in the damn Argent Tournament.

No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to get past one quest. My goal is to get enough Champion Seals to get a few Heirloom items for …Shi.

…Shi is my newest character, he is an Orc Warlock. He has been fun yet challenging to learn to play. I am not a big fan of pet classes but I find myself enjoying this character. I am not sure where he will be at level 80 but for right now I am going mainly Affliction with some points in Demonology (14). My goal is to get to Soul Link/Siphon Life. I remember going up against these guys in the BG and Arenas in TBC.

I have read a lot of the leveling specs and figured this one would be more interesting than the others.

So what does the future hold for …Kami and …Shi? Honestly, I have no idea. I have been chatting with some old guild members that have gone their own way. I would like to find an entry level guild once my tanking gear is complete. Otherwise, I am just leveling my alts and working on some reputations.

Well Hiyama and I made DKs on the Alliance side to be able to play WoW with a friend. Plus we wanted to see something different. Man was that a mistake, all the neurons that are retaining Horde secrets were going to waste. So we talked about it and decided to pony up the dough to move them to the Horde.

We also made some Night Elf druids to play something different. Hiyama wants to play a tank and I am making a healer. So I spent time last night figuring out the most efficient way to move our DKs and Druids over to the Horde without spending big bucks.

Since our Druids are only level 12 it would be easier to reroll them. Low primary and secondary profession skills. We did pay for some better armor for them but it’s not soulbound. So we are mailing the goodies/gp over to our DKs and doing a Faction Change on them. This is the most effective for us since our DKs have higher profession skills and have bought flying mounts for outlands.

So I am going to have Hiyama start his reDruid tonight while his DK is being moved. It took me less than two hours for my reDruid to reach level 7.5. I know Hiyama will be just as efficient at it.

**UPDATE**

Come to find out Hiyama already has a level 12 Druid on the Horde side with the same talents and professions.

So is it worth $30 to move some bits of data as opposed to created more bits of data that are the same as the first.

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.