An Ode to Treants

I’ve been using Jugz, my 73 warrior to powerlevel Owltoid from levels 40-52.  It’s definitely interesting playing three accounts at once (Jugz, Owltoid, and my friend’s druid Moonvine).  Using my laptop screen to control the two druids and my TV monitor to control Jugz it’s an exercise of kill everything in sight with Jugz, move druids in, repeat.  I’m considering keeping the second account active so I can farm honor with Jugz and Owltoid at the same time.  Why go through the pain twice when it can be done once?

I remember dreading BRD while leveling alts to 60 during the pre-Burning Crusade days.  The instance was long, many quests were required for MC attunement, and the only really cool gear was the Hand of Justice.  Wow, I didn’t know how good I had it.

Welcome to the WotLK days of WoW.  Every instance so far is extremely easy.  We’ve had our level 73 druid tanking level 75-76 bosses in an instance without knowing the strategy or what we were up against and we’ve only wiped a few times (the Void Reaver boss is the only one that has given us a bit of true difficulty).  I’m actually extremely frustrated with the game because it seems EVERYTHING is about AoE.  My fury warrior Jugz holds up fine in the DPS using whirlwinds and cleaves, but it’s really freaking boring.  Pally tanks are so overpowered that they can pull multiple groups of mobs and survive with ease.  I have yet to see crowd control be required, or helpful, in any instance.  The strategy is gone and it’s now Diablo with tradeskills.

It’s a huge disappointment.

Granted, since I’ve been trying to level my moonkin I haven’t been working on getting Jugz to 80.  Maybe at 80 the instances are much more difficult and CC is needed.  I doubt it.  I remember one of the most fun things about my horde 70 druid was doing a heroic where I was the only form of crowd control (before roots was usable indoors).  People would say that a moonkin wasn’t enough and that they needed a mage or lock, but we would always be successful.  Using the diminishing returns of cyclone to control a mob until another mob is down and then selectively switching was extremely fun.  Not as fun as treants, but a close second!

Now what do I have to look forward to as a level 80 moonkin?  More AoE?  Bleh, no thanks.  If that’s the case then I’ll go do some PvP until I get bored and then likely quit the game.

Back to the title of this post… BRD.  I used to complain and I feel guilty about what I said years ago.  Over the past few days I’ve been in BRD for hours powerleveling the druids and then place is just amazing.  First, it’s absolutely massive and yet each part feels different.  You go from the start with an area full of patrolling dogs and jail cells into a part with officers training their troops.  There is a spectator arena where you fight random mobs before a boss.  There is a golem lord, a general who calls for reinforcements, a fire elemental boss, a whole bar scene with patrons ready to tear your head off, and much more that I just can’t remember.  The place is absolutely incredible.  In the old days you needed crowd control, people responsible for runners so they don’t pull another group,  and actual skill/teamwork.

I truly envy those who went into BRD for the first time without knowing anything about the place or any strategy.  That had to be one of the most fun times in the history of WoW.

I wish I could say the same for WotLK.  I have gone in to 4 instances with friends without knowing a thing about the place or its bosses… we barely wipe and can out DPS/heal anything that is thrown at us.  Strategy is gone, and if it doesn’t come back then I’m gone too.