I have to admit that I was more than a little excited to run across this particular promotion by Wowhead as a celebration of their second anniversary.

You see, the company that makes these X-keys products also happens to be my former employer, P.I. Engineering. For about a year and a half I worked as a web designer for the company prior to entering graduate school, and it was a great place to work. Not only did I get to work with incredible technologies, but it was the first place I ever worked where I felt a little bit of creative freedom.

Although a bit expensive, I’ve found that the X-keys products can be incredibly useful for gamers that use a lot of macros. I know for sure that a number of multi-boxers swear by them, in fact. So it makes me happy to see them partnering up with a large WOW-related website like Wowhead. You should definitely check them out!

Yesterday, I managed to do a fun quest with Thoryna that I had never done before: Arcane Runes. It took me to Azshara for the first time, and after duking it out with a bunch of naga, Thoryna managed to make a deadly and daring run to the helicopter pad and turn in the quest! I was somewhat proud that she soloed this at level 49, although I will admit that Thoryna ran away desperately from all the elite mobs and actually swam her way to the helicopter pad instead!

While she was doing this, Larysa kept herself busy on Bloodmyst Isle. Although certainly not an elite monster, she was quite proud to have killed Deathclaw at level 13. Playing a low-level paladin is fun — I’m not going to lie!

I’m enjoying the opportunity to play a pair of new classes at the moment, although there are certainly moments when I wish I could summon a fire elemental or cast chain lightning into a small group. But warriors and paladins have their bonuses, too! Can you say JUDGMENT? Or how about EXECUTE? I love it…

As I was catching up on all the wonderful blogs out there, I recently read Anna’s post entitled “Be a Shamanistic Genius (while you level)!” Coupled with her post on the basics of playing a shaman, the article is both thoughtful and helpful to any new totem-twisters out there. And she makes me feel guilty that I haven’t written a post about leveling an elemental shaman. I really should work on that!

For now, however, I merely want to offer up an opinion related to Anna’s post. Like others, Anna recommends leveling with an enhancement build. To be honest, and to her credit, that is probably the quickest build for leveling a shaman. Nearly every post I’ve ever read about shamans tells you that enhancement is the way to go. And this is pretty typical even across classes, as most classes are said to have one build that is the best for leveling. You’ve heard it before: fury for warriors, shadow for priests, enhancement for shamans, retribution for paladins, and so forth.

Yet based on my own experience, I would actually like to recommend something different. In my opinion, you should level your characters according to the build that you eventually expect to play. You see, while I know that there are people out there who level characters in a matter of days, I’m not one of them. I dedicate weeks and months to leveling my characters, and over the course of that experience I am developing a number of important playing habits.

I’m sure that many people would argue that things change when you hit 70. And that’s true. But it’s also true that I learned how to play an elemental shaman over the course of many months, at all different levels. Each level brought new abilities, as well as new talents. I worked on an elemental build and developed my habits accordingly. Playing an enhancement shaman is very different from playing an elemental shaman — you don’t suddenly go from a melee mindset to that of a caster.

And this isn’t an attempt to claim that an elemental build is better for leveling than enhancement. Instead, I am claiming that the time spent leveling as an elemental shaman will be more beneficial to you if you ultimately plan on building an elemental shaman. The same holds true for any build, and any class. Soloing as a restoration shaman can be brutal, but if you want to be a healer you should find groups and friends to quest with, and learn the art of healing. Or if you want to play a protection warrior, for example, you shouldn’t wait until level 70 to learn how to tank.

I know this goes against the conventional wisdom of doing everything in World of Warcraft faster and faster, but for me it is an important aspect of developing a character, a playing style, and having fun. As I have begun leveling two more characters recently, I am reminded of how much I enjoy the game prior to level 70 as well. No sense skipping over everything along the way. I’ve quested in new areas, attempted new quests, and am learning a new class. And I really enjoy playing, which is what I think is most important.

In order to keep things new and exciting — and also to get ourselves away from the Isle of Quel’Danas for a little while — Koreth and I have decided to level up a few of our “alts” before the release of Wrath of the Lich King. So I figured that it would be rude of me not to introduce these characters at this time, as I will likely write about them somewhat regularly over the course of the next few weeks.

Let me begin by introducing Thoryna:

Koreth and I decided that we should level a healer and a tank this time around, as our server is always filled with LFG requests for those two roles. So he rolled up Slàinidh, and I rolled Thoryna. He took on the healing and casting role, while I am experimenting for the first time with real melee combat. Being the PvP junkies that we are, he is planning to build a shadow priest while I work on a mortal strike (arms and fury hybrid) warrior. Not a traditional tank/healer combination, but it has been working out well thus far. We are constantly completing red quests together with minimal difficulty, and are really looking forward to getting them to Outland.

Although I will be spending most of my time leveling Thoryna and running daily quests with Seidhkona, let me also introduce you to another character that will be getting some attention in the near future. Meet Larysa:

With as much as I love playing an elemental shaman, I couldn’t resist trying another hybrid character. Especially one who can heal herself and eventually wear plate! So I rolled up a paladin with the intention of pursing a retribution build. As you can see, I’ve barely begun playing Larysa, but so far I love it!

I suppose what this post really amounts to is that I have been stricken with a minor case of “altitis.” However, I think that is only natural after spending several months with your first level 70 character. And it keeps the game fresh. I’ve really enjoyed learning how to play completely different classes, and I’ve made a concerted effort to level my “alts” by doing quests and visiting zones that I never did with Seidhkona.

That has been a lot of fun! I highly recommend it. In fact, I am constantly amazed at how many quests I have never seen before. I even took Thoryna to Azshara the other day. Seidhkona never set foot in that zone, so it is brand new to me.

The bottom line is that I am playing World of Warcraft a lot these days, and I’m having a ton of fun. And isn’t that what games are all about?

I spent a good portion of the day traveling, and as I was out and about in Azeroth I managed to see each and every one of these messages flash across my screen at one point or another, often followed by lower-level pleas for assistance:

Menethil Harbor is under attack!
Auberdine is under attack!
Southshore is under attack!
Azure Watch is under attack!
Stormwind is under attack!
Refuge Pointe is under attack!
Ironforge is under attack!

You know, one might get an idea that the Horde on our server are getting a little bit restless — perhaps even a little feisty — as they wait for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion to come out. Especially that shadow priest in Southshore. He must’ve repeatedly killed the flight master for over an hour.

And although I can admit that I have periodically passed a little time harassing small Horde villages, I’ve never seen anything like what I encountered tonight!