New info (to me)

After recieving some new info yesterday from Mama Druid, I have learned that one death knight can be created per server provided you have a character over level 55 on your account, regardless if it is on the same server or not. This changes everything as my previous plan was based on getting a horde character to 55 in order to create my new death knight, but now that is no longer a requirement so I think I can rethink my goals. As I am nearing level 68 with my druid I am getting closer to completing my main goal of getting him to 70 before the expansion. Assuming he gets there with time to spare, I will need to shift my focus to another task, and with so little time before WotLK is released I don't think going after end game gear is the smart thing to do as it will be obselete soon. I have two other characters at level 60 or above who I haven't played in a while, but I am anticipating a change to leveling from 60-70 coming soon and would rather wait for that before I start leveling them again. That still leaves me with a few options, but I think I have a good idea what I want to do.

Right now my remaining two alliance characters are in their 50's, my hunter and shaman, and being so close to the level 60 mark I think I want to try to get them there, or as close as I can, before the expansion hits and I shift my focus to playing a death knight for a while. The good thing about this plan is it doesn't really put any pressure on me. I might be able to get one of them to 60, but probably not both, and I know that, so there is nothing to be disappointed about and I can stick to just having fun. Another plus is I have a lot of fun playing both these classes. The hunter is like easy mode, just send the pet in and take out the bad guys from a distance, and I love seeing my shaman's windfury proc and throw up a bunch of big numbers, all while the mob's health is plummeting. I expect I will make it to level 70 on my druid in the next couple weeks, and I will be looking forward to not only progressing my other characters further into the game, but with the level they're at they are in the perfect position to supply my priest with all the runecloth she needs to get her over the 300 tailoring mark and start using her massive supply of netherweave that she's been recieving from my druid all this time. Thing are starting to look up for my team.

Keeping with the trend of expansion info, and I'm sure most of you know this already anyway, but I want to talk a little about hunter changes that I'm really excited about. First is the many new pets we will be able to tame. I think it's awesome that they are expanding our choices as far as what pets we can have. I just saw a screenshot from the beta on BRK's blog of a hunter with a devilsaur pet. How awesome is that? I'm gonna have to start thinking about what pet I want, or if I will stick with my cat. I also can't wait to see how the pet talents turn out. They are really making an effort to have every pet be useful. For so long there were only a few types of pets that had the right stats and skills that made them better than others, but now I'm hoping each pet will have it's own advantages and disadvantages that don't necessarily make one better than the other, just able to get the job done in a different way.

One hunter change I'm not sure about is the auto-leveling any pet you tame to be 5 levels below your character's. Yes, I realize that all those hunters out there that are gonna be looking to get devilsaurs and other cool pets that are well below their level won't like the idea of having to level them up, but hunters like their pets to be unique, and having a pet that is different from everyone else because you took the time to get a low level pet that nobody else has and level it up just shows the effort you've put in and makes it that much better when other players ask where you got it. It won't be as impressive to have a level 70 turtle or gorilla when you only have to level it up 5 levels to catch up to you. The thing that keeps me from saying it's a bad idea altogether is that there will be so many different pets out there, and apparently beastmasters will have even more choices with their talent to be able to tame "exotic" pets, whatever those are. I think we will be seeing a great variety of pets, much different than just everyone having a different looking cat like we have now, but players having different types in general. We may even get pets whose different talents complement each other in raid groups and find hunters in guilds speccing their pets differently to recieve maximum benefits for the raid. I can't wait to see what happens. Petopia will be going haywire on release day with all the new pets we can get.