To see oursel’s as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, And foolish notion”

-Robert Burns

Yes, I’m poetry-ing at you! The above quote kind of sums up how I felt when I recently popped back over to my old druid for some quiet time and because I was missing the high-level druiding. I was shocked. Now, I know when I started wow that I was an utter newbie and did some things that it would embarrass me to even think of now but I hadn’t realised how much I’d changed even in the last half-year. I’m looking now at my druid through the eyes of a different ‘person’ and what a shock.

Mharai is ok-geared given that I stopped playing her just after starting Kara level stuff - with a full clefthoof set, stylish purple hat and some bits and pieces from various dungeons. I enjoyed tanking on her and had people invite me back frequently to groups who said I was a good tank but, looking on it, I wonder how much better I could have been.

Gear
Not bad, but I had all green gems. This was mostly because I didn’t have a jewelcrafter of my own and found the small upgrades ludicrously expensive. Sporeggar, being new and low population has higher prices than normal, too. I could easily have gained a tonne of HP just regemming the whole lot and would have if I hadn’t given most of my gold away to some friends from rl who were all saving up for epic mounts on the server.

The other huge change from when I last played was that season one gear has become available for honor. That, there, is a nice upgrade for druids - I grabbed a helm, since I had the honor + tokens needed, and might play a few more games to get honor for the shoulders.

Enchants / Patches
Talking of shoulders, I didn’t have them enchanted, or my chest, or anything really! Argh. I had a pile of arcane runes in the bank so I swiftly bought an enchant for my shoulders and made armor patches for the rest of my gear with what I had lying about. I couldn’t afford a head enchant, sadly, but I’d have preferred the Shattered Sun one anyway and I have no rep with them.

I only got what enchants guildies or my other half could throw my way and only if I had enough greens to melt into mats. Weapons were a different matter as I’d somehow had it impressed upon me that these, at least, were worth the enchant.

Enchants were for ’special’ gear, I had this idea that it wasn’t worth enchanting my current gear as I’d be upgrading it. A bit of a fail in logic regarding wow, that.

Consumables
I wouldn’t dream of going to a raid now without the proper consumables but I remember, on my druid, only taking food buff with me and wondering why in the world I’d take anything else. I couldn’t afford all those fancy potions and, hell, I was a bear! Potions were for classes who didn’t have forms which couldn’t use ‘em!

Philosophy
I was a noob - it’s a wonder my raid leader never poked me about it. My current GL makes pointed comments about people not using proper consumables and turning up undergeared and expecting to be carried is some sort of minor sin in her eyes. I totally agree with her, of course.

I don’t get how I could be so irresponsible and can only claim ignorance. I tried my hardest, didn’t lose mobs once I knew the thresholds of myself and my dps and employed my one redeeming factor - if I’m told to do something it happens to the best of my ability. “I’ve never done Netherspite before guys!” “Ok, just follow me (another druid and a brilliant guy whom I will never forget concerning druiding) and we’ll do countdowns jumping in and out like this *demonstration*” “Oh, ok, sorted”. First time ever doing Netherspite, tanking a beam and we downed him easily. A big accomplishment for Team ‘B’ in a guild who had just started Gruul (and was second highest in progress horde side).

I really wish I had a big pile of gold and some spare time to throw into gearing her to her full potential but it doesn’t seem worth it for a character I barely play. I had always wanted the t4 helm and shoulders for a druid, though, I love how they look - so getting s1 helm was a happy addition to my retired-druid.

I have mixed memories of this time - I know I wasn’t a terrible tank, I loved playing my druid but I was often ‘forced’ to raid when I didn’t want to. I made some wonderful friends and met some truly awful fuckwits. I was a casual, I’ve become a casual raider. I was Horde! now I’m Alliance. I now have an understanding of stats and their worth and why I should use blue gems instead of green ones (quality wise) in certain gear.

The other thing that’s changed is that I spent a lot more time doing ‘random’ stuff on Mharai. Rep grinding for funky mounts, fishing for rare pets, taking part in festivals etc. (also for mounts and pets… *ahem*) and dancing in groups in all druid forms with the other druids in my guild. My priorities have changed - not in a bad way as I can now fulfill goals I never dreamed of actually managing, but it’s left less time for the simple stuff. There’s a post coming up on how I’ve rectified that a little, though.

I also now need to go find some old screens of Aurik and regale you all with tales of my newbie days in wow Those are always fun to read, right? I know I always love seeing people’s ‘my first wow moments’ posts as I laugh and cringe along with them, remembering my own mistakes and idiotic assumptions. We all live and learn, we all grow, we all change.

Looking back is always fun, even if you have to cringe at some things you did…