Less is More

Amusingly enough, the more successful I am in WoW (via my guild), the less time I need to put in.

In tBC, as part of a very casual guild, I felt like I needed to work constantly to maintain my raiding edge, farming heroics for badges, having stockpiles of gold in case raid drop crafting recipes hit the AH.

In WotLK, I'm part of a medium-core raiding guild, and I don't really feel I need to play at all outside raids. My gold stockpile from levelling alts isn't depleted, a little AH and rep action is good enough to get alts into Naxxramas, and once you're in there with a competent raid the gear flows freely. My paladin alt has done maybe three or four heroics, but can MT Naxx-10 and competently OT Naxx-25.

Ulduar will be more difficult, but the ramp in will still be highly accessible raiding, more so as we crush Naxx with our ilevel 226+ geared mains for the benefit of alts. Eventually I'll be obliged to make some more money, but even with flask and repair costs relatively little effort translates into a LOT of raiding these days. I can keep my shaman at the top of her game while staying current with console gaming, and it's very nice indeed :)

Orange x4

Mengtzu replaced the last of her pretty blue armour with ugly but more powerful orange gear, bringing to an end the age of the really ugly blue/orange hybrid look. Now we just need to kick Kel'thuzad and Malygos until they cough up everything I want :)

Shoulders!

Through the reliable mercy of badges, I've finally got Tier 7.5 shoulders for my Enhancement shaman, Mengtzu. The blues I've been wearing for months are gone to the oblivion of the vendor, along with the feeling that my gear, while skillfully chosen, was impoverished.

The enormous shoulderpads of WoW raiders may appear absurd at first glance, but I find them a remarkably compelling signifier of character power and guild achievement. Easy recogniseable from a distance, even in a crowd, they inevitably colour my first judgement more than any other piece of gear. I'll usually notice them before the stupid name or the absurd haircut, and learn a useful piece of information (even if that is "attended four raids and rememberd to pick up their badges" right now ;)

This makes me suspicious of cosmetic gear schemes, where the appearance of one piece of gear is laid on the stats of another. I want to see gear that tells a tale of what the character has done, not the player's sense of style.