I was thinking as I posted the other day about finally being good enough to heal ICC - is there really a point - am I ever going to get the opportunity? I do hope so - but I'm not sure how/when that will happen. Chev from Older Gamer also posted something along those lines in his recent post - The Emblem Plateau - talking about when can you stop focusing on your character, and in his case it was marking it by not needing any more Emblems of Triumph. What has Chev ended up doing instead - levelling a new character (a warrior)!
So with those thoughts floating through my mind... and the attraction of cross faction mailing of heirlooms I did something that I said I (probably) wouldn't do back in my first post here. I joined the dark side. Yes I rolled a Horde character with some serious intent on levelling it. What's more I deleted a character to do so. Yes Thromrax my level 22 priest was sacrificed on behalf of a level 1 Troll Shaman, named Stormin. Don't feel bad for Thromrax... he was already mentally replaced with a smaller gnomier version in my mind come Cataclysm... but I did twinge a little as I typed "DELETE".
However I didn't just do it on a whim. I have been thinking about playing Horde for a while. The grass is always greener on the other side (particularly if you are a cow)... but I've always been pragmatic about it and realised that you are giving up a lot to play without high level character support. The first teaser towards doing it however came when I read the news about cross-faction mailing of heirloom items. 20% XP increase to ease the burden!! So I did some investigating on another realm and couldn't get it to work and I couldn't find any confirmation that it actually made it into patch 3.3. Ironically I had come across Old Gamer when I was initially looking into because Google picked one of his posts in which he makes a reference to it (but hadn't gone back to read through the blog until he introduced himself over at Blog Azeroth as another Aussie blogger - if you are a WoW blogger I highly recommend you do).
After reading another reference to cross-faction mailing I tried again and this time it worked! Now the tip for all of you trying out the cross-faction mailing - you have to log your newly created character in once before the mailing will work! I was testing by sending my BoA 5th anniversary gift of an Onyxia whelpling to my newly created gnome before I had even logged in and assumed that if it did work, it would only work with heirloom items and I wasn't willing to delete one of my characters just to see if it worked.
From my thinking, the time is ripe for playing on the other side of the faction fence for the following reasons:
Cross-faction heirlooms - this removes some of the burden of starting afresh and makes the task not seem quite as daunting.
Recruit-a-friend - I've been watching how quickly Leesah over at Revive and Rejuvenate has levelled to 80 and if you happen to have a friend looking to play (or want to try your hand at dual-boxing) it is a great way to quickly level up.
Faction Change service - the opportunity is there to change your characters across to the other faction. If I found my place with the Horde I would consider changing over (although I might be tempted to wait for Tauren Paladins first...) additionally it is way to carry across money as well as heirlooms and high-level support to the other faction. I' m tempted to do it for my druid - but forking out real money to do it for a level 25... I'm not sure - given the investment of time it would take me to level to 25 again it might be worth it - especially if he came with pockets full of money to get dual-specs and flight form.
Levelling is easier - there have been lots of changes from reducing the XP requirements (for Outlands), to better rewards from dungeons (not to mention the blue items from doing the random dungeon), and most recently the mana/health regen changes up to level 15. Having now made it to level 7 I can say this change is amazing - Lightning Bolt costs 4 mana to cast when you have 87 mana - and you pretty much regen that as soon as you have cast - they don't give you drinks when you start out because you don't need them! It'll be interesting to see if I get a rude shock when I hit level 15/16.
Cataclysm is coming - this is perhaps the clincher for me - I want to see what it looks like on the other side of the fence - I want to see how the Wrathgate and Battle for Undercity quests like from the Horde side. I want to know what it's like to be sent around the known world at the behest of Thrall. With Deathwing's destruction going to destroy 'the old world' I realised if I didn't get back and give the horde one last try then I'll miss out on all that was there before.
So Stormin... I don't know what it is about Horde characters - but I have a habit of giving them stupid/corny names (with perhaps the exception of my blood elves) - yes I have a Tauren Deathknight called Moovada... and if you ever briefly came across a trial account Tauren warrior Hmooa back in 2006 - that was me (in a few different instances) too. Stormin. Well I like to think Shamans take on some of the elements of the elements they work with... but I'm probably just clutching at straws.
I love creating new characters - and have created my fair share that have never made it beyond the life of one play session. It was something I picked up in my old MUD days back on Xyllomer where I'd roleplay. I love creating the character and thinking about the possibilities of what they will become. Keluin is a noble, strong and holy Paladin - willing to stand up and take the hits or call on the power of the Light and heal you with uber heals! Gameldar is a gnarly, quick and lithe warrior bravely standing in the face of danger with a sense of humour and buoyant with the prospect of fun and adventure. Coaz is an earthy hunter with a penchant for guns (who felt betrayed by my hand for equipping him with a welfare epic crossbow back in tBC). And Stormin? Well I picture him being a laid-back troll in touched with da earth, darting around with a stoop, calling on the shamanistic powers to hurl lightning while bellowing manically as the bloodlust takes hold.Will he make it any where? I don't know - he mentally has competition with a Tauren Druid which is my preferred next class to level (have I mentioned I love tanking...) but I've never made it far with a shaman and I'm exciting by how they look (and have been since I got ganked by one two levels below me in about 3 seconds when levelling Gameldar through Terokkar Forest). Also my Night Elf druid is a bit further along the levelling process than my Draenei Shaman (and I'd prefer to have a dwarf shaman come Cataclysm).
The other question is whether I'll have the time to do so - this last weekend saw my log in for about an hour total (partially thanks to surprise maintenance during my prime time on Saturday night... ok I'll stop before I start ranting) which I spent trying to complete my Love is in the Air achievements. I'm almost there... just need to grind out my Lovely Charms (as predicted), finish two of the Pity the Fool places as I got disconnected as I tried to pity the Arathi Basin fool... and somehow succeed in shooting off 10 rockets in 20 seconds - which I've done 5 times now and failed! There is still a lot to do with Keluin - so Stormin will be competing for my limited time.
So... for the Horde! ??? We'll see - but perhaps now is as good a time as any!
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