Because I don’t count the human paladin I abandoned at level 8 as my first character, the honor belongs to Mama Druid. I’ve been through a lot with her and the druid class. I have left her to collect dust while leveling other classes I thought would be better due to their non-hybridness. Yet I have always returned to her. Mama Druid has tried all specs, including the n00b idunnowhatimdoing tri-spec.

Year one: 2005

In December 2004, Mama Druid began her life as Liuna on the PvP server Daggerspine. The Husband and I had been playing Shadowbane, an all out PvP game where you build cities, attack other guilds’ cities, where guilds truly mattered, and honor meant something. We mistakenly assumed PvP would be similar in WoW and chose a PvP server in our timezone. I quickly learned that honor meant nothing in WoW’s PvP. The single most defining moment was when a female tauren shaman of equal level took advantage of my res sickness, which the opposing faction could see at that time, and killed me in Stonetalon. I was devastated and, from that point on, I pretty much stealthed around to avoid Horde. I completely avoided the more populated contested areas, like Stranglethorn, and tried to level in places where there weren’t very many people.

Playing on a PvP server affected my playstyle and I wasn’t happy with it.

I leveled resto and meleed with a 2h mace in human form a lot because I had Omen of Clarity. I can’t remember if this was the case, but I don’t think it procced in cat or bear forms back then. Being resto on a PvP server was a must for me. I never attacked Horde (duh, I was resto) and went out of my way to avoid them. But when they attacked me, I was able to get away and survive. This was more important to me than being able to kill mobs faster.

But it still interfered with my enjoyment of the game.

At level 58, in August 2005, I put Liuna on the shelf and focused on my Horde characters on the RP server Shadow Council.

Year two: 2006

After patch 1.8, the infamous druid talent tree fix and I think when Moonkin form was introduced, I returned to Liuna and tried Moonkin for awhile. It didn’t last too long. I felt my healing was gimped.

I joined a raiding guild and at 58 respecced feral/resto to kill stuff faster while still being able to heal and provide some survivability in the PvP world. In March, Liuna dinged 60. What a feeling that was! Sadly, she wasn’t my first 60. My Horde huntress on Shadow Council beat her to it.

I did a little AQ and ZG with the guild, but never set foot in MC with them. By that time, their alts were running MC while their mains were in BWL.

BC was announced and The Husband and I didn’t want to level to 70 on a PvP server. In August, we transfered Liuna and his Gnome rogue to Shadow Council, where our Horde characters lived. Liuna was taken, so I reversed it and named her Anuil. Soon after the transfer, we joined a new guild just starting to raid MC. I raided with them as feral/resto until the guild fell apart. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but I did get to see Ragnaros go down. That was a very cool feeling, but not worth the 4-6 hour sessions it took to get us there.

With the guild break up and as a new transfer, Anuil really didn’t have anywhere to go. Once again, I put Mama Druid on the shelf and played other characters.

Year three: 2007

BC was released, I respecced Anuil to be full feral and started exploring Outlands. What fun that was, and how powerful being full feral was! I was having a lot of fun. My playing time was divided between Anuil and two new characters, one of each new race… a Draenei shaman and Blood Elf paladin.

In April, I respecced to balance, which helped with healing in instances. But I just couldn’t get comfortable with the moonkin playstyle while soloing. I didn’t spend much time as a moonkin.

At some point a ptr was released, I can’t remember for which patch, and I created a premade druid. She had flight form. Flying was pretty damn awesome.

I leveled Anuil to 68 for flight form. I spent a lot of time flying around and exploring. It was great fun. The Husband was much more interested in twinks and BGs than leveling any of his characters to 70. I figured if I want to play with him I had better make a twink. We created another Gnome rogue and Night Elf druid combo on the PvE server Velen. He’d be the killer, I’d be his healer. Well, we didn’t have any high level characters on this server that could help twink us properly. Guess what? Another server transfer!

In August, Anuil and The Husband’s Gnome rogue transferred from Shadow Council to Velen. I took this opportunity to give Mama Druid a name that meant something and she became Selenyx. I spent my time doing old world content and quests as I was leveling my enchanting and got stuck in the Illusion Dust phase. I leveled all my secondary professions, including fishing. I farmed for twink gear and mats. I played other characters.

By the end of the year, she was level 69.

Year four: 2008

Mama Druid started this year off with a bang and dinged 70 at the end of January. I want her to be ready for WotLK whenever it comes out. I’m very familiar soloing in kitty form and need to become familiar tanking in groups with bear form. Hopefully, that is what this year will be about… becoming a good bear tank.