The little bit of time that I played WOW this past week was on my Paladin. I juggled my spec a couple of times trying to do AOE grinding but it wasn't very successful for two reasons. The first problem was my gear, which was rather easily rectified by searching the Auction House. I picked up a much better shield, gloves, shield and 1H for less than 15g.
The second problem wasn't as easily solved, which was finding good places to actually grind. I don't mind grinding but if I'm going to do it, the mobs need to either be part of a slay/collection quest, drop decent amount of coin or tailoring comps. The places people were suggesting on the forums were none of the afore mentioned and I found it rather dull. I don't think it's a play-style that will suit me and I have too far to go, to just "do it" 'cuz. Coming to that conclusion left me needing to respec - again. Oh the gold I've spent on WOW respec'g toons.
For leveling I've decided to go with a tri-spec. I like to solo a lot and the protection skills I'd been using let me take on two mobs my level or higher and kill them relatively quickly. If a third joins early enough to get caught by a few Consecrations, then it's all good. If the third joins very late in the fight - meaning it's full health while I'm down and low on mana, I can struggle through it by burning cooldowns or consumables. To me, this is a very decent pace for a Paladin.
When I'm in the mood to be very aggressive I don't even need to stop in between fights. If I'm lower on health then I'll judge Healing Light for a while then switch over to a DPS judgment. If I'm low on mana I'll start with Blessing of Wisdom on me and Seal of Wisdom on the mob. After these scenarios top me off, I switch over to Retribution Aura, Blessing of Might and Seal of the Command. I continue to use Consecration and things go smoothly. I like this style and I like this pace. I can race from duo to duo or trio to trio, occasionally stopping to bandage.
To level like this you definitely want a Retribution build. However, I also want to be able to off-tank the lowbie 5-mans if needed, so I took some base Protection talents. And of course at some point, someone is going to want me to heal, so I threw in a few points there too. There aren't many other classes where I'd really consider going into three trees because you give up so much. However, this seems to be working out fine for my Paladin.
When it comes to 60 I will probably change to either Off-Tank/Healer or Tank/DPS. I'm leaning toward the latter as I have a healing toon already sitting at 70. That would give me the luxury of going for MT on my Paladin and if a group gets hung up for a healer, I can always change toons. On the way to 60 I can envision times when I'll wish I could AOE grind a little bit or take on tougher mobs, so I've come up with a plan. *Smile*
In two weeks my xfer cooldown will be up. When it is I'm going to move my priest back to my other account. When I need a little help with a grind, I will two-box with my Priest on follow. Doing that will keep my Paladin buffed with Fortitude and Imp Divine Spirit. And she can cast Renew when needed and PW:Shield that is Reflective. *Muwahaha* I think that will leave me covered very well if I really do decide to make the run to 60 or 70 on my Paladin.
I'll use my sword-n-board if I off-tank or heal. When I'm soloing I use my sweet lil epic 2H that procs SOC very nicely. Feel free to check me out in the Armory if you'd like to see my gear. Last time I logged out I was in my off-tank gear. Feedback and suggestions are more than welcomed. Here's the leveling spec I'm building toward.
You'll notice that I changed to a PVE server. *GASP* I joined a guild * GASP-GASP* And as luck would have it, the guild imploded a few days ago. *Aww* *Grrr*
I enjoy reading your blog although I have to say that lately it seems as though you are slogging through WoW not enjoying any of it. If you're paying money to play something that feels more like work than anything else, why not quit? You still have EQ2 and there's lots of new MMOs hitting the market soon. Are you a WoW addict? :)
I know that I was addicted to WoW for awhile, then I realized that I absolutely hated it and playing it was making me miserable. I am not saying that you're the same, but from your recent posts it seems as though you're begrudgingly playing. And 2-boxing? It sounds like a bit of an addiction to me. :)
Posted by: S. Labyrinth | March 31, 2007 at 12:44 AM
LOL. No, I'm not addicted. I just haven't found anything else yet. I liked EQ2 well enough but not enough to call it "home". There's some aspect level of excitement missing from EQ2 for me.
Gaming is what I do in my free time. It's what I enjoy. I can't call it an addiction because I play less and less. I'm still on WOW because I've already played it so long and have high level characters and professions, that it still provides more fun than starting all over in another game that's only "eh". I'm just biding my time and waiting for something new to come along. Vanguard wasn't it. Not sure if LOTRO will be it either.
As for the two-boxing, it's not unheard of for hardcore players to do that to progress a newer toon. I've done it in the past in other games. :-) It would probably be simplier to just find people to play with, but honestly, that's harder these days that it seems.
Posted by: Saylah | March 31, 2007 at 11:21 AM