20130216, samedi

1. I bought Guild Wars 2 as a possible replacement for WoW on 20130102.  So far it has been a brutal disappointment.  It's not as fun or as well put together as GW 1.  Worst of all, every time I play it I have flashbacks to the weeks (maybe 3, total) spent trying to enjoy Everquest II.  The horrid way the characters move, the stupid cut scenes for interactions with quest givers, the poverty of the art, and the weakness of the music and foley are all reminders of EQII.  Overall, GW 2 has the rushed look of something thrown together in six months to satisfy an investor, rather than the overall excellence one might expect from six years (2006 to 2012, late) of dev time.

2. My former lead character Chronospanda has Mistweaver armour at average iLevel 481, so I can continue LFRs in patch 5.2.  I have no good expectations here; the nerfs announced for Mistweavers look substantial.  I changed the race of Chronospanda from panda (ecch) to human, and changed the name to Chronosmwone.  That helps a little, but not enough.

3. I've been leveling Chronosmonk (56 to 86 lately) by switching to Mistweaver (still good for leveling) from Windwalker.  As I approach level 90, I've been collecting the Agility laden armour I will need for the conversion back to Windwalker/dps.

4. My holy priest, Kronospriest, has reached average iLevel 472.   Holy priests at level 90 have a small rotation set of heals that give reasonable to good performance in LFRs with next to no requirements of experience before level 90.

5. When I look at my spell bars for my level 36 priest, the intersection is minimal.  The powerful spells the level 90 character uses repeatedly are absent for the 36 priest, and spells in the small toolset the 36 priest has are all too weak to be of much use to the level 90 priest.

6. I leveled Kronospriest first as Discipline, which went slowly.  Then I converted to Shadow, and leveling sped up.  Switching to Holy after reaching level 90 seemed almost effortless

• read noxxic.com for recommendations on Holy Priest
• read a bit more in icy veins
• implemented some of the recommendations
• kept the recommendations in mind when getting new armour
• realigned my spell bars so I can cast easily the 6 or 8 spells a Holy Priest actually uses.

So, after an hour or so of research, I was ready for LFRs.  (Did not say I was the best, but I am seldom if ever the worst.  Yay, noxxic.)  The depth of experience one might get from leveling 1 to 90 was not needed, and may have proved detrimental.

7. I've had similar experiences with Affliction warlock and Fire mage.  Throwing out just about everything from levels 1 to 85 and going with a short rotation meant for level 90 seems pretty rewarding.  I've more or less abandoned my DK since my past experience seems relevant, but just is not successful.  Sigh.