Eliina in Pandaria
In the few weeks since Mists launched, I have been focusing on Eliina and neglecting my alts. I got her to 90 within days, but after that I felt pulled in a million directions between professions, gearing up, and holidays piled on holidays (Brewfest, Darkmoon Faire, Hallow's End).
professions / reputation
All six of her professions (JC/Ench/all-4-secondaries) are at 600/610, and while I haven't missed a day of gem research, the best enchants in the game won't be available to me until I become exalted with August Celestials, which I can't even start until I'm at least revered with Golden Lotus. So far, I'm only exalted with Pearlfin Jinyu and Lorewalkers (the latter can be done within an hour). The Tillers revere Eliina's mad farmin' skillz. The Anglers, Order of the Cloud Serpent, Klaxxi, and Golden Lotus think I'm not too shabby at honored. Of all those dailies, I least enjoy Golden Lotus (I wish I had a dailies buddy to make them more tolerable), but I make myself do them every other day for the sake of my enchanting and gearing.
holidays
Oh how I wish Mists had launched in July or August with their dearth of WoW holidays! Instead, release week coincided with Harvest Festival (minor) and Brewfest (major), immediately followed by the Darkmoon Faire, then on to Hallow's End just a few days later. Because I'm relatively new to WoW (my first holiday was last spring's Children's Week, but my first completed holiday was Midsummer in June when Eliina reached 85) and want the meta with its violet drake, I couldn't very well ignore them. I also take all my 40+ toons to the DMF monthly for profession quests (it saves me a fortune over time). As a result, I have spent far more time working on holidays than dungeons so far in Mists, but once that sweet violet drake is mine next spring, it will be worth it!
dungeons / raids
Eliina had a tough time gearing because her stats exceeded her iLvl thanks to her Dragon Soul gear. In fact, until last night's LFR, she was still wielding a 410 (heroic) Hand of Morchak, which had better stats than anything that dropped in the 85/87 dungeons (not a single strength weapon dropped in 90s heroics).
I was hoping to do LFR Mogu'shan Vaults with guildies on Saturday, but that was canceled. I usually put quite a bit of research into raids before I try them (even so, it takes a couple times for it to "stick," but after that I'm golden), so when a guildie mentioned that Cake was looking for more for LFR, I said I'd gladly accept next week but that I haven't had a chance to read up on Mogu'shan Vaults yet. "Learn by dying!" was the funny response. To my surprise, I got a group invite anyway, and I accepted after anxiety and hesitation. Most people were unaware that I knew absolutely nothing about the raid, so I'm afraid I came off as a hopeless wreck. I did pretty well with the first half, and my DPS was quite good for 460, especially during AoE-heavy encounters, but the second half was another story. On Elegon, I wasn't quite far over enough, and ended up spending 80% of the fight at the bottom of a huge pit, looking up at the faint glimmer of the boss. One player taunted those of us who fell: "Enjoy the pit of shame!"
professions / reputation
All six of her professions (JC/Ench/all-4-secondaries) are at 600/610, and while I haven't missed a day of gem research, the best enchants in the game won't be available to me until I become exalted with August Celestials, which I can't even start until I'm at least revered with Golden Lotus. So far, I'm only exalted with Pearlfin Jinyu and Lorewalkers (the latter can be done within an hour). The Tillers revere Eliina's mad farmin' skillz. The Anglers, Order of the Cloud Serpent, Klaxxi, and Golden Lotus think I'm not too shabby at honored. Of all those dailies, I least enjoy Golden Lotus (I wish I had a dailies buddy to make them more tolerable), but I make myself do them every other day for the sake of my enchanting and gearing.
holidays
Oh how I wish Mists had launched in July or August with their dearth of WoW holidays! Instead, release week coincided with Harvest Festival (minor) and Brewfest (major), immediately followed by the Darkmoon Faire, then on to Hallow's End just a few days later. Because I'm relatively new to WoW (my first holiday was last spring's Children's Week, but my first completed holiday was Midsummer in June when Eliina reached 85) and want the meta with its violet drake, I couldn't very well ignore them. I also take all my 40+ toons to the DMF monthly for profession quests (it saves me a fortune over time). As a result, I have spent far more time working on holidays than dungeons so far in Mists, but once that sweet violet drake is mine next spring, it will be worth it!
dungeons / raids
Eliina had a tough time gearing because her stats exceeded her iLvl thanks to her Dragon Soul gear. In fact, until last night's LFR, she was still wielding a 410 (heroic) Hand of Morchak, which had better stats than anything that dropped in the 85/87 dungeons (not a single strength weapon dropped in 90s heroics).
I was hoping to do LFR Mogu'shan Vaults with guildies on Saturday, but that was canceled. I usually put quite a bit of research into raids before I try them (even so, it takes a couple times for it to "stick," but after that I'm golden), so when a guildie mentioned that Cake was looking for more for LFR, I said I'd gladly accept next week but that I haven't had a chance to read up on Mogu'shan Vaults yet. "Learn by dying!" was the funny response. To my surprise, I got a group invite anyway, and I accepted after anxiety and hesitation. Most people were unaware that I knew absolutely nothing about the raid, so I'm afraid I came off as a hopeless wreck. I did pretty well with the first half, and my DPS was quite good for 460, especially during AoE-heavy encounters, but the second half was another story. On Elegon, I wasn't quite far over enough, and ended up spending 80% of the fight at the bottom of a huge pit, looking up at the faint glimmer of the boss. One player taunted those of us who fell: "Enjoy the pit of shame!"