78 is the new 80, for this non-raider.

If you’re a Raider, you are never done.

Yes, you may have dinged 80, but are those still quest greens you’re wearing?

Oh yes, nice, you’re decked out in blues.  Lots of dungeons and such.  But you’re not ready for Naxx, are you?

You’re in the blues and purples out of the Heroics.  Well, that’s a nice start for raiding.  Welcome to Raiding 101. Benchwarmers will wait in their home inns until called.

So you’re finally in some iLevel 200 purple epics.  Not bad.  Not to start with.  Maybe you’re ready for Heroic Naxxramas.  Can you keep up in the DPS race with folks who’ve majored in pwnage?  If you aren’t all pushing 3,000 DPS some fights aren’t even possible to win.   You’re not a slacker, are you?

If you were 80 and had heroic Naxxramas on farm, and you were doing the dragons, Sartheron, whoever, with more dragons up (I have no idea, not interested in that aspect of the game at the moment), welcome to the next step.  Ulduar.  Then Heroic Ulduar.  Then we’ll see Arthas.  And Heroic Arthas.  And then, at long last, the gates will swing wide with a new expansion.  You’ll replace most everything you have by level 88, and so it begins again.

Me?  I’m not raiding and PUGs are peopled with useless goons.  I tried a few PUGs and damn, if every one wasn’t pretty much a failure.  Your level 80 DK tank isn’t going to overcome you, level 77, bringing your level 76 guildie to Utgarde Pinnacle.  (Pay no mind to the Shaman scooping his RL eyeballs out with a spoon for some relief from the pain.)

Having a Blacksmith, and, as of today, a Leatherworker in Dalaran, means I have access to full ilevel 187 gear sets.  Savage Saronite sets for my Warrior, the wife and I’s Death Knights, ready in the bank for when the day comes they ding 78.  Today, with Arcarius entering Dalaran for the first time, I learned all the Eviscerator patterns and crafted five pieces until I ran out of leather.  Greenclaw is the beneficiary of that. 78 is the level all the not-half-bad ilevel 187 crafted gear becomes available.  And there isn’t anything outside of an instance, in a PvE world, that can’t be done in it.

So at 80 I get the icing.  Greenclaw, dinging 80 while out farming leather and Eternal Airs, is now wielding an epic Titansteel Destroyer until he can get his paws on a Silvery Sylvan Stave from the Argent Tournament.  Msaker is wielding one too, taking Arms as his new secondary spec.  Itarilde will have her set ready when she’s level 78, (once I get cracking on farming up all that leather!!) and she’s already got a Titansteel Guardian in the bank waiting for her to ding 80.  Droonda, already 80, has her Titansteel Bonecrusher.  Honorus will get a Destroyer, and Effilda a Spellblade.  The DK’s are OP and will wield butter knives runeforged with leetsauce.

At 78, for the non-raider, non-pugger, you’ve got a gear set.  At 80 you pretty much have got a weapon.

All we need now is the next Expansion.

And in the meantime, the Argent Tournament and the next activities to find.

Which reminds me, time to go look for the Dalaran fishing dailies.

And in all that resiliance gear, maybe I should investigate what this “Wintergrasp, invite plz” is all about.

P.S. Druid Flight Form can finally sit.  It’s nice to finally be still for a change while in flight form.  The better to admire the swift flight form’s great plumage with.