October 30, 2009

The last couple days I've played my PvE toons mostly, with a BG here and there on my warlock. Nothing earth shattering has happened, but I've still had some fun.

Moonkin Rep/Equipment Grind
It's funny how easily I can forget things. My priest was my first 80 ages ago. I vaguely remember doing the Hodir dailies religiously until I got the good shoulder enchant. I remember doing heroics upon heroics to get exalted with all the necessary factions. I remember running Naxx, OS and VoA over and over to get better gear. It was all so fresh, fun and exciting back then.

My second 80 was my mage. She's a scribe (inscription profession), so she can make her own shoulder enchants. Which means I've never done Hodir dailies on her. I think those giants still hate her. Other than Kirin Tor, I haven't focused on any faction's rep. Yeah, I've worn the tabards in heroics, but with no goal of getting their gear. I went right into Naxx with her and geared her up quickly. No need for that extra stuff.

My third 80 was my warlock. No focus at all on rep or gear. He has been and always will be my little work horse bank toon -- with some BG fun peppered in when I'm in the mood.

I'm now on my fourth 80 -- my Moonkin. I could have chosen to keep her as my flask making machine. But, some of my fellow guildmates just hit 80 on alts also. So, there's this renewed interest all around me in doing the whole rep/equipment grind on them. Being caught up in the wave of excitement, I opened the Hodir dailies last night. And so begins the grind. Ugh!

OK...so a few things have changed since I went through this on my priest.

1. ToC is now available for quick easy epics. Gone is the need to run Naxx and OS. It takes much of the pain out of the grind. But, it's kinda sad. I like Naxx and was looking forward to seeing how my moonkin did in there. PuGs will be hard to find. Perhaps we'll go in as a guild at some point, if we can get enough people interested. But, I'm skeptical about that.
   
2. Relics of Ulduar are no longer soulbound. So, my other toons can send them to my druid for easy Hodir rep turn ins.
3. The heroic daily now offers rep for Sons of Hodir as a reward.
4. People have incentive to run daily heroics because of the Emblems of Triumph.
5. People have little incentive to run non-daily heroics because of ToC. Yeah, I know this seems to contradict #4, but it actually makes sense. For most people on my server, the only heroic they run each day is the daily. That means it's very difficult to find people to run the other heroic dungeons.
6. Many people have maxed out professions, so it's easier and cheaper now to buy (the mats for) crafted epics.
7. It's difficult to find guides for pre-Naxx gear. (more about this below).

So, I guess I need to do this smartly. Instead of randomly wearing a tabard and grinding away, I should make some concrete goals. I did that with my priest. I had a list of all the Holy Priest pre-Naxx gear and where to get it. I methodically got most of it. I haven't done that since then with her. Since I only run Ulduar and ToC with her now, I just take what drops come. I honestly have no idea what drops are out there for me.

But on my druid, I don't have that luxury. I need to plan a little better. The problem is, I'm hard pressed to find a site that lists the pre-Naxx gear for moonkins. What I find now are all ToC 10 and Ulduar based lists. I'm sure if I look harder I'll find one. But, I do hate that what was once so easy is no a pain in the rear. Yeah, go ahead, say "cry me a river". I can take it. :-)