The problem with having another blogger inadvertently switch to your server who is far superior to you in terms of theorycrafting know how and pure priestly skill, is that now you really can't even pretend to ignore their advice.

Cue ICC10 raid last night. As we begin clearing the trash, I get a whisper from the master of Discipline himself, Paolo.

"We need to have a chat about your gems."

Oh no... I'm caught. Apparently all the Death Knights I birthed have been whispering into Paolo's ear and telling him about my badness.

"But Paolo, I just can't do it... I can't give up my socket bonuses. I can't handle those pretty little numbers being... GREY."

"You know what you really ought to do? Socket for Agility."

Oh COME ON. That's just low Paolo. Low. /weep

Sigh. He's been wearing me down slowly but surely. For months I have stubbornly held on to my pretty little orange and purple gems. Over the past couple of weeks, he's been tapping my fingers with a hammer, gently but steadily ensuring that I lose grasp on these gems.

But the real kicker tonight was Saurfang. That's right, we have yet to down him (to be fair, we have been resetting our ID, and we only raid one night a week for a couple of hours). And as I watched in horror as Saurfang's blood power slowly increased, knowing that it was my fault, that my bubbles just CAN'T TAKE THE PRESSURE, I lost the battle.

I am tearfully weaning myself off of my multi-colored gems. Every grey colored socket bonus is like a punch to the throat. But I can do this. I will prevail. I will be strong.

Tonight I replaced all my gems that added any intellect or spirit with a runed cardinal ruby. I recently picked up the Sliver of Pure Ice, so I don't feel too worried about the loss in mana regen... yet. I will keep my +Mp5 on my chest for now until I feel a little more confident about my mana regen, and then switch to the +10 Stats enchant. Scouts' honor, Paolo. True story.

It's painful to switch from Holy to Disc. It really is. You'd think it would be easy, but it's not. It's painful to let go of all the things you thought you knew about playing a priest. My type A personality is twitching all over the place about the socket bonus loss. And now as I look over the gems I did manage to replace, I'm slapping myself in the forehead. I prioritized replacing +Intellect and +Spirit gems over maintaining my socket bonuses anyway. Guh. I could have at least kept my +spellpower socket bonuses, but instead, I held on to the Haste and Crit gems. I just can't get rid of them yet. Haste and Crit are so yummy.

So in conclusion: To everyone who looks at my gear thinking that I should be some model of proper gemming and enchanting... just stop. Really. I cannot live up to the expectations. Miss Medicina is here to give advice to NEW priests of any spec. If you want expert advice, go talk to Paolo.

Because one day, Paolo will suddenly appear on your server. And when Paolo tells you to fix something, you'd better listen. Paolo KNOWS THINGS.