Level 62

Still leveling, and with some big changes.
I recently had to take some time out of the game as warcraft was taking far too much of my Dad time with my new baby girl. My partner too (who plays warcraft), also has limited time now, due to her working patterns.
It was something close to 1 month out of the game. And on my return i began playing my druid striaght away.
Since then, i have removed all of my characters from our guild, except the druid. And given the current climate of classes in the guild and healers. Toreth (Yes, name change) will main spec resto! But will offspec tank for nights when raid sign ups are thin on tanks, or no shows.
The leveling guide is working out really well. The old style of leveling on your own is good for exploring the game, but if you want just to get to 80 because you have done it x2 already like me...you just want to get there. Then start the slog for raiding gear minimums

Alts - Filling the holes.

It took a long while to figure out (years even) that the Paladin Tank was the class for me to play for all time. Yes, i could try the druid tank, but running a guild, and raid leading etc limits that ability and flexibility in the long term...By getting there inbetween patches.

If i had a druid, i would need something opposing the specs of my paladin which is Tank - DPS.

My druid would be Resto - Boomkin? im just thinking out aloud with gear having Spell power on it anyway. And i wouldnt need two sets of gear to quest or what have you..Ahhh but wait, pvp...Mmmmusing the idea..

And i bought a leveling guild. I've played wow for 4 years now, im entitled!! Leave me be, i earned it. It's mainly for my paladin to get to 80 quickly, as i spent 7 months on my DK to find out i didnt like it as a tank.

So when i get my paladin on its feet, this lil ole druids going places, finally now that i have made up my mind.

Gambling with Abilities.

Uhhu, bookmark http://www.thebigbearbutt.com/. Everyone's going solo! I may have mentioned sometime ago, in a galaxy far far away, that my main character was a Paladin Tank. Much like being addicted or, in the habit or comfort zone for 3 years i am very reluctant to focus on my druid full time.
Of course, i tried out a Death Knight since the launch of WOTLK, and to my liking, i did enjoy the dps side of the class. However the versitility side, sucked the fun right out of the class. I guess i enjoy having more than one option than hack and slash sometimes. And having no ability to self heal was a pain, even if not a just a little, and aside from the complex high maintenance skill rotations and deseases, it was a chore to tank with. DW DPS...ace fun though, but thats where the line gets drawn..
But if i had of leveled my druid,..... what would have been the differences between a Paladin Tank, and a Druid Bear tank? aside from Plate and Sheild's i know my paladin better than i know that back of my own hand in its capabilities.

Heres a few Q's for the Bear's out there..
1. Itemising, did you find it difficult to get gear for 10 man entry?
2. Was it craftable starter gear or Heroic Dungeon Gear for Pre-Naxx?
3. And how well do you managed group tanking on comparison to other tanking classes?
4. And how do you feel the Teir System works for you with regards to raid drops from bosses within a raid?

80 Spec - WOTLK

http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/07/04/modern-bear-tanking-1-specs-and-rotations/

Been looking around some websites, and decided to hook up with this fella.

Level 48

ood grief, in all my days of leveling i have never leveled x2 in 3 hours. On top of the rested bonus, and also having the dps shoulders from the heroisim badges. And a little guidance from Carbonite and QuestUp Alliance.

At this rate, i could be level 60 by the weekend, but thats getting excitable, or is it?

I have been musing about Boomkin or Tree, im done with tanking. Been there & done that, but no doubt the urge will be there, no doubt. Already im into the swipe-swipe-swipe mode sometimes on group pulls of questing mobs. But cat is where its at. Well...hell, maybe even both with this new duel speccing, i'll have my cake, and eat it thanks Blizz.

I have to say i thought it was a great idea for the Alts gear Locked to Account shoulders idea. How many times have you thought, of if rolled a ?? instead, or what would this class be like to play....but couldnt be arsed leveling it.."Groann STV...Pfff"

I think i will need to read up on Boomkins, and see what the *work* is envolved in it, for example spell rotations, and gear. And i hope its not like a DK.

My baby Daughter continues to allow her folks to game in the evening, sleeping from 7pm until 2-3am. So that doesnt hurt the evenings as much, and even at 3 in the morning, a quick 30 minute bottle and she is fast asleep again. 10 weeks old..phew..how fast they grow

Level 46

eleted my druid during the WOTLK craze, I needed to clear out my alts and prepare myself for playing a Death Knight. Who doesn’t have one?...seriously?
After a polite ticket to a GM last night I had my druid restored. Naked, my main character was logged on and transferred some money across..
While I was at it, I bought the Locked to Account shoulders from the Hero chap in Dalaran (Aweful graphics lag).
Our little familly also increase by the size of a 7 lb baby in March, where myself and Leni took some time out from the game for about 2-3 months while we all settled in again. Being a GM, the guild managed to putter along quite happily until we returned, and the thanks goes to the officers who supported the guild during that period. And the guild members for standing with us and working together. However, since our baby girl now sleeps from 7pm until a wakeup call around 3am, WoW is now again playable in the evening, much to the rejoice of the officers and guild. And at 2 months old, our baby girl has given us much joy, and sleepless nights.
With Artemíss (note x2 s's) since I renamed my hunter Artemis put a bit of spanner in the works. My Main character is called Nuadah, so I will have to rethink, me thinks.

What a different game WOTLK is ay? On my Death Knight I have been to just about all the raids, except Malygos, which I will see on Thursday. I raid lead on Thursdays, so all the other days will be focused on my druid. …as our guild has many DK's (Tanks or DPS) and after last week I felt there were heaps of Melee DS in our guild. More later. So far I have Carbonite and QuestUp Alliance working together to get me on the leveling up fast route..

Level 43

od i hate Badlands, oddly I thought I would be in Hinterlands but I had some quests to hand in and ended up picking up new ones in Badlands. Ahwell.
The bad news, I ran out of rested bonus, and I am parked next to a skeleton waiting for buzzards to respawn. I might just abandon the quests for this area, if I don’t get much fruit from it, but never the less I dinged 43.
There is a raid on for tonight, and im hoping they will be able to do it without me. Hoping! Not wishing! So I can carry on levelling Artemis instead of tanking with Nadiastorm. At some point very soon, patch/expansion I will move her out of the guild.
I was asked, again, to tank for something last night, but they respected my wishes to not be asked to. Which was good, because it was unprompted. I think the hardest part of switching your main character and being the GM/Raid Leader & Main tank is peoples habit of asking someone they know they could depend on to come and help them out. Only the role is reversed when im 30 or so level below them.
he great thing was I did get a lot of whispers asking if I needed a boost anywhere, which was nice, but I like to quest alone mostly, as I do quests in bursts and hand them all in on mass, sometimes one at a time.
I don’t think I will be able to play until Sunday evening now, party on Friday night, Dinner on Saturday night, and on Sunday ….i cant remember that far ahead, but if I can get online I hope to god I have some rested bonus….oh and did I say I got Mace trained? Yay!
I have been reading a lot of Unbearably HoT and Resto4Life for most of the upcoming info on WOTLK, a lot of the changes and tweaks to the druid class look like they are all very fluid still, and nothing is set in stone. Its good I guess because I haven't grabbed any habits of spell rotations or abilities, and by the time I do get there, I can adapt more to the finalised tweaks blizzard has made across the class.
It's interesting to read about the nerf for druid tanks, to keep them in check with the other 3 classes for tanking. Apparently in the beta they are OP at the moment excelling at tanking due to the high armour mitigation they have, so they are dropping it by 30%. Again, I don’t know how much of a dent that makes on Druids or the ability to tank, but the concern was mana sponge, a term I was familiar with druids pre TBC. (Talk of it, not actual experience of it) DPS catform wise, it looks very promising too, looks as though the balance of feral ability being on par if not equal to rogues and fury warriors, but I didn’t read too much into that, so im giving that subject a wide birth :)