Certainly Unexpected

I do suck at alts, unfortunately, that turns out to mean that my hunter is not getting out much anymore.

I'm not sure exactly when the tipping point from main to alt happened, but it's probably best traced back to the day I decided to log into the then-61 druid and run her up to 80 so I'd have some more role options.

I've really never put the druid down for more than a night since.

At first, it was level grinding, endless level grinding. Any huntering meant missed bubbles, so the hunter could wait.

Then it was gearing up. Any huntering meant missed dungeon drops and badges, the the hunter could wait.

And now it's preference. Any huntering meant not tanking or healing, so the hunter can wait.

There's just so many reasons I prefer to be a druid right now. With the dungeon finder and lots of gear still to gather up from badges there's endless opportunities for both the more enjoyable instance content and tangible rewards from every single run. And if I am going to be running instances, I'd just rather tank or heal. In those roles I have a 50% contribution to the success or failure of the run, as a dps I have little or no impact on the run - any three dps will be ok, but a good tank and healer makes the group happen, and if I am in one of those roles, I know I can trust it.

Plus, I just like those roles. Being a hunter, especially a marksman hunter is akin to being a turret, and it's a bit dull doing little more than managing a shot stack and staying out of the fire. The other roles have tension, responsibility, and dynamism. It's just more compelling.

All that doesn't even touch on queue times. A hunter has ten minute queue times on a good day if you're not grouped up with a buddy who's picked a shortage role - meanwhile, with the druid I have to wait about a minute, maybe two to get a job as a tree and if I'm in the mood to bear for my badges, a group is a a guaranteed instant pop. I can run more dungeons with less downtime as druid.

So there it is. I was logging onto Barls every day to do the cooking daily while I was trying to score the cooking hat achievement, but a main that doesn't make, and once a week he flies out to Dragonblight to fish up the druid's dragonfin ration, but that would seem to be his lot in life now - he's the toon that handles my main's food.

I'm actually feeling more than a little guilty about that. I've spent the better part of the last 4 years or so playing that old oft-renamed dwarf. For all of those years I was terrible at alts, nothing was ever able to tear me away from the hunter. I wore my inability to play other characters as a form of infamy. Sure, I was filled with envy when Eric was running around on his druid, wondering what life would be like if I'd never abandoned my first toon, that poor level 30 druid on some server or another wondering what he did wrong to be neglected so much, but it was no more able to pull me away from my hunter than my incessant regret that I wasn't playing a troll has ever been able to get me to either reroll or faction change over to do so.

Turns out that my attachment to my hunter is inversely proportional to the amount of pugging I do. All those years I couldn't give up the gun were spent almost always doing solo stuff, and I still say the hunter is better at that, but right now dungeon finder and badge gear is the flavor of the week, and the druid is the spoon. Or something.

The question is, though, what will happen when Cat gets all of her badge gear and I'm sick and tired of ret paladins tossing consecrate before I have enough rage to swipe a multipull, what will happen when I'm just plain done with pugs and puggers and missing seeing the world outside of instances?

Don't feel too bad for old Barls, his time will come back around.