SWTOR fail. Back to WoW.

So, I gave a few months to SWTOR. I came to the following conclusions:
1) the only real way to balance every class is to make every spec (tank, dps, heals) the same. Basically, the mechanics remain the same for each spec, only the graphics change.
2) there has to be a better way to concentrate on storyline without neglecting multiplayer aspects. SWTOR felt like playing a 1 player game (kotor was awesome) but with a few other people running around. I'd expect more from an MMORPG.
3) storyline means nothing if you're forced to pursue the same paths every time you play a class. Also, it can be tedious to have to visit the same world in the same order for every class within a faction. Side quests should add flavor. All the do in SWTOR is add boredom.
4) flashpoints (dungeons) and operations (raids) seem like mini-games if they have no geographical or temporal correlation to the rest of the game. Nearly every one requires you to go to the faction station and try to find a group there. Then, you just hop on a shuttle (portal) directly there. (Don't get me wrong, I long for the days in WoW when you had to actually get to the summoning stone for an instance before you could queue for it. At least you aren't stuck just hanging out in one capital city trying to form a group.)

In any case, I dropped my subscription and went back to WoW. About 2 months before the MoP expansion dropped, I just concentrated on alts, and was really enjoying playing a rogue for the first time since BC. Rogue was my first main toon (hence "Roguewind"), but it got boring after a while. I really had a lot of fun with it at the end of Cata, but expansions change things, so.....

The day MoP dropped, I logged on and immediately rolled a monk. I chose Brewmaster (tank) so I would get insta-queue and pushed my way to 90 in just over a week or so. My previous tanking experience had been with bear, so monk was a much different experience. All mitigation is based on actively juggling cooldowns. Monk tanking is a lot different from bear (face) tanking, which is different from warrior tanking, etc. (Compare this to SWTOR where every tanking class is the same). I had a blast.

I tried mistweaver as my offspec, but the healing just wasn't for me. Honestly, you have to pay a lot attention to heal as a monk. The biggest issue is juggling both mana (and monk heals are mana intensive) and chi (which can be used to heal or to restore mana). And the best chi generation requires you to be in melee range. This, of course, means you have to pay attention not to just resources (chi/mana) and party/raid member health, but also melee fight mechanics, and melee always have it worse than ranged.

So, I thought about it, and decided to go the easy route. I'm switching my OS to windwalker (melee dps), and I'm leveling my drood again. I really liked healing as a druid, so I'm giving it a go again. So far, I like it. I'm still working out how to cut down on over healing when you live on proactive (HoT) heals, but I'm doing good so far. And for the first time ever, I'm trying boomkin. I leveled halfway through 88 as feral, because kitty is sweet for leveling, but I gotta develop boomskeelz for any chance at raid dps.

So far, I stink at boomie. I haven't effectively exceeded 17k dps. The only thing that makes me feel slightly on is that I'm usually 1st or 2nd on dps in LFD groups. That's not saying much because some of these jokers are only pulling 11k. In any case, I've been at it for 3 days, and I haven't cried yet.

One of the nice changes is not needing different gear for each spec. Monk tank/dps are basically the same gear except trinkets. And the same holds true for heals/booms drood since spirit=hit. It makes my life easier.

Well, I'm gonna keep plugging along on these. I'm sure I'll have other gripes in the future though.

Kisses, all.