Learning the Shadow Priest
stargrace 
As much as I love my warlock (and I do) she was not my ‘first’ character – that would be Faydai, my priest. I’ve had the character for quite some time, leveled up the ‘regular’ way and feel more connected to this character then any of my others. Yesterday on a suggestion from a friend I decided to do some research into the shadow spec and see how viable it would be for me to have two completely different specs (ie: discipline for healing, and shadow for face melting). Since I’ve never played the priest for anything but healing this was actually quite challenging for me.
The other down side was that my gear is certainly more on the healing side then on the dps side. This would be the first character I have where two completely different sets of gear would be a must have, especially since the two specs require very different gems. After a lot of research I figured out a casting order, as well as which stats I wanted to work towards for my gear. I learned about which gems I should aim for, as well as enchants. I spent the day queued as dps instead of healing (which was far less stressful then healing might I add) and saved up enough emblems to add the a pair of shoulders and gloves to the shadow collection. I also won a neck piece and a few trinket upgrades (because I was still sporting greens). I switched some gems around to my regular set pieces, and when all was said and done I wasn’t doing too badly as far as damage. I’m still below where I’d like to be, but I can hold my own more often than not – especially on group encounters. Single target I have to really work at but I know it will come with time (and more gear).
After much consideration, I also left the guild I was in. They were simply not a good fit for me what so ever and I spent most of my day feeling uncomfortable around one or two of the members. I have NO idea how one goes about finding a guild in WoW and I’m reluctant to take on this endeavor simply because of the sort of community that one finds in game. Despite my seeming negativity I AM optimistic that I can find a mature guild that I’d be a good match for. Just another adventure I suppose.
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! I hope everyone has an awesome weekend.