Level 54 & Elven Feet

Last night I finally got Spiral to level 54. I should be giving a big WOOT but I really don't feel it. I feel more annoyed than anything. I think it's because you don't really get any rewards for leveling at this point. No gift bag, no new skills. You just get another 60 bazillion XP to do before you hit 55.
Even getting new level 54 gear is not that exciting. I worked so hard on my level 53 gear and spent so much money on it that I don't really want to trade it in for 54 gear that's not statted and plussed. (Are those words?)

So today I left Spiral in her house sipping tea and reading trashy romance novels while I played on one of my alts, a little Warden/Warrior elf named Hazelnut. It was a real switcheroo to play a melee character. As a mage I'm so used to keeping everything at "spell's length". I toss a lightning bolt at the mob, root them, then blast them with fire spells until they croak. When I do it well, they never even lay a hand (or claw or paw or tentacle) on me.
But as a W/W everyone is all up in my face! It's rather uncomfortable to have Silvermane Hounds slobbering on my nice shiny chainmail. It takes a bit of getting used to. I kept checking my action bar for some sort of distance spell. Nope. Run in and kick ass. That's all she wrote.
And on top of that, tiny Hazelnut weilds this giant two-handed sword called the Witch Chopper that I swear has an attack speed of 62. Ok, it's actually 3 but it just seems to take for-EV-er to swing that mo-fo around! It's like a badly choreographed kung fu movie where seven bad guys surround the hero and they all wait their turn to hit each other.

Elves are fascinating to watch as well. The programmers did a good job of making them an entirely new race, not just ears on a human. They run different (kinda fruity), they sit different, and best of all they dance different.  If you haven't seen an elf dance yet, go ask one.  Nicely. Don't just walk up and say, "Dance for me, elf!" They don't like that. At least offer them some donuts or something first. Or offer to water their Oak Walker when they're out of town.

Elves have weird feet too. When you take their boots off, they're wearing high-heeled leaf shoes. Very strange. But much better than the giant pink slabs that are attached to Spiral's feet. She keeps her boots on all the time. No one's perfect. Not even a level 54.

I used to look at the those high level players and think that they had it going on. I thought they knew everything and had everything and could kill everything. But now that I'm level 54, I realize it's all bunk. I don't know squat. Ok, that's an exaggeration, I do know much more than I did when I was a level 1 but I don't feel like I'm a pro at the game yet. There are still things said on the world chat that make no sense to me. And who pays 6 million gold for ANYTHING? Is it made of gilded Naga weiners? Sheesh.
I am determined not to be one of those elitist snobs. I want to help people and answer questions and be a nice high-level. You know, the one time I tried to join a raid for the Ant Queen, they kicked me out cuz my HP was too low. I thought that was kinda rude. If I'm willing to take the risk of getting one-shotted, I should be allowed to!  Maybe they were being nice and protecting me from oh, say, 580000 XP debt but still, it ticked me off.

Anyhoo, it's Friday night and I'm going to spend most of my weekend in the real world where no one can right click me and inspect my equipment. Later, Taboreans!