Having got 3/4 of my items at epic level, I was horrified to see my DPS has actually gone down. I must admit that I haven't changed spec since the enforced changes in 3.1 and had to reset my spec in a hurry on 3.1.1 when I logged on and went straight into my resto spec for a guild run. Then completely forgot to set up my balance spec until I portalled into WinterGrasp.

So my current build was based on what I could remember I had set before.

The final straw was following a cloak upgrade, to find that my DPS was 1.4K compared to 1.6K for a druid still in 200s and blues! Looking at his spec, my hit (not yet capped at 243 compared to a recommended 262) was four times as much, so that was not the issue. Likewise, I exceeded him in spellpower and haste. The main difference was crit, where his at 25% was almost double my 12.5%... Now I have quartz timers, to ensure I follow rotation and keep my DoTs up whilst maximising Eclipse procs:

• FF
• IS > MF > Wrath until Eclipse procs, refreshing IS and MF every 2
• SF until cooldown
• repeat with IS > MF > Wrath

Being so close to hit cap, and having a decent amount of haste for the gear available, this did seem to be one of the problems. In terms of gear, I am still saving my badges for the T7 Valorous, but mulling over whether to use the gloves I won in VoA 25 for my balance or resto sets, as I already have Gloves of the Dancing Bear as a momento of finally learning the Safety Dance.

Basically, it means that I only have a 1 in 8 chance of eclipse proc'ing to give me a 3 in 5 chance of increasing the chance of critting with starfire to 1 in 2. The main reason I didn't stack crit, apart from the unavailability of gear, and having focussed on SP and hit instead, is that this is what our tank (a paladin) stated he preferred. As the tank happens to be our GM, I listened, rather than following my instincts.

Apart from changing gems to stack more crit (if that is possible, given so little of the 213 gear is socketted) my only option seems to be to drop two points off eclipse (as it is not much use to me) and spend them elsewhere that will give me a consistent DPS increase. I am going to try this build instead, and see how I get on. Not too happy about losing 2 points in Intensity, as mana seems to be an issue on long fights, but I'll have to see how it goes.

Elitist Jerks also highlighted another issue. My glyphs are still the ones that were easily (and cheaply) available soon after Inscription went live. I don't have Starfire or Moonfire and these need to replace wrath and roots ASAP. I will keep innervate, as our guild healers on Naxx 10 tend to need it more than me.

As far as add-ons go, I have put decursive back in, as 3 resto druids in a PuG Noth fight caused a wipe by forgetting to decurse anyone... I'm liking the clean look of quartz, though I must take some time out to work out how to move its default position (in the middle of my chat box atm) and font size (I strain to read a 10 point font on a 19 inch screen, the perils of the middle-aged LOL).

Initially I steered clear of add-ons, worried that I might download some virus infected zip file or an add-on that might completely corrupt my installation. However, having spent too long getting to too many instances, I started by downloading Carbonite to help me get from A to B. I have steadily added to the list over the year, and now have about 15 installed. Not all are "live" at a given time, and, being on a high-population, under-powered and laggy server (Eonar) I hate that I have to log out before I go "naked" into WinterGrasp and "minimal" into 25 mans (quartz timers & mirror, ORA2, DBM, FuBar, LibFuBarPlugin and, until it failed on me in Naxx, Decursive).

So adding something like X-perl that changes the GUI is a big step as I don't know what impact it will have on performance. The main benefits I can see already are that: it improves instantly my ability to see the MT and other's targets instantly; I can see which de-buffs and DoTs or HoTs I have on my target as these are shown larger than other people's.

Only had one problem with it so far, an irritation rather than fatal. The new quests in the Tournament give you a mount. When my mount died, I did not get my toolbars back, so was unable to cast flight form and had to walk back to the mount line. Not fatal for me, but might have been were it a PvP server!

Healbot. Having read the comments about it being complicated, I was reluctant to install this. The last thing you want as a healer it to be spending time working out wtf you need to do. However, so far no issues with it. I did try Decursive and grid, but when decursive failed to include a box for the MT (who happens to be my Guild Master too) in Naxx on Wednesday, I almost got saddled with the repair bill for two 10-man wipes on Maexxna ...

I'll let you know how I get on.

Let me start by saying I'm NOT a battleground virgin, unlike some people who are attempting this achievement, (part of the meta achievement to earn a Drake mount). In order to gear up for Kara, I spent many hours earning honour (English spelling, please note) for a full Wyrmhide set.

However, I do find the requirement a pain in the posterior! Two of them were easy enough for a druid, and anyone with access to speed and invisibility potions could probably do the same:

• Alterac Valley - Having tried asking first if I could cap a tower, heading straight to IBT and running up it (both failed) I rode as fast as possible to Frost Wolf village, straight up the East Tower and used cat form and dash to beat 3 others to the flag, remembering to get my orphan out too
• Arathi Baisin - Ran straight to Gold Mines, found horde there already so hit prowl, hit in the haywain, waited for them to get bored and out of sight, capped the flag

However Eye of the Storm (EoTS) and Warsong Gulch (WSG) are driving me slowly nuts.

1. I have spent over 12 hours of play time in battlegrounds so far, when I would far rather be spending time on LoreMaster.
2. I now have a FIFTH set of gear - Balance (mainspec), Resto (secondary), feral agility (off-spec for exploring low level areas) and feral tank (sometimes used for boosts) and now PvP resilience. However I don't have additional bank space to cope with it and permanently run with four bags full (food, potions & utility; herbs; gear; quest items), and a full bank (herbs; potions & transmute mats; PvP; Agility; Strength; trinkets & event items; food)
3. I am annoying proper PvPers by camping the flag in EoTs. I DO spend time helping to secure MT (Mage Tower) and/or DR (Draenai Ruins) first but after the first cap, I then camp as its the ONLY way I can see of getting this achievement. As a druid, I have the advantage that I am actually quite suited to running the flag (as I have travel form) BUT it does require a decent Ally side, not one that is racing around like blue-bottomed flies attempting to secure 3 or 4 towers whilst leaving the first two with less than 2 people in them to protect them or even attempting to capture the flag! So far I have done 5 or 6, and not ONCE have I seen the raid lead attempt to communicate a strategy to the players, some of whom will be BG virgins whilst this event is on.
4. WSG. Never have I come closer to throwing a PC out of a window. All the issues with this one are listed (at length on the forums). The only way to get this one seems to be
   
   1. Run a premade (get two parties of 4 people together and all join the same BG such as Warsong Gulch 3), preferably on both sides, and take turns dropping and capping the flag with orphan out
   2. Hope you find a friendly horde player trying to do the same thing and politely take turns, hoping not to be zerged by the PvPers
   3. Follow the flag, clicking on it like blue blazes in the hope that at some point you will be the one who happens to be lucky enough to get it clicked just before the poor sod dies

I do not support the idea that this requirement should be removed from the meta, but I DO think it needs a slight redesign to make it achievable in a reasonable amount of playtime (say 8 hours) for non-PvPers, particularly casters and healers. Likewise I do not think it would be good to retrospectively remove the requirement. However, perhaps, allowing 3 out 4 to be completed, may be a sufficient compromise?

*sits back and waits for the flack*

________________________________

Update: 5 hours later, I finally have the achievement, as well as a new bright shiny necklace: Deadly Gladiator's Pendant of Ascendancy (http://eu.wowarmory.com/item-info.xml?i=42030) from all those honour points (sorry Blizz, but in English there IS a "u" in honour!). Taking a different tack to normal, I always took BG 3 (or 6 when 3 was not available), rather than first available.

Arathi I came to a battle part way through, having been fishing in WG for the daily. Quickly swapping pole for blade (as there was a fight underway as I appeared!) I was lucky enough to chase the flag carrier out and help someone get their achievement. Next time the flag came under attack, a hunter and I chased a second out and somehow we both got the achievement (or he didn't but I did). Apparently the battle had been underway for over half an hour so I guess the horde were flagging... ;-)

For EoTs I happened to be in an IMBA battleground where allies (more than a few with orphans out) and we had 5 flags capped whilst I was there, travel form comes in very handy, giving me mine.

I am soooo glad its over, BUT, as someone whispered me last night, it would be a shame to let all that gear go to waste ...