I can pull 1700 DPS

Yeap, you read that right.  I can pull 1700 DPS on my level 85 Enhancement Shaman.  Not a 17 with three zeros, a 17 with two zeroes.

I walked into a heroic last night, having not used Enhancement in forever being it seems I am always the healer and I was assigned the job of DPS.  So I switched specs and was ready to go.

Did you notice something missing there?  Yeap, I forgot to switch my gear.

I noticed something was wrong right off the start when my hex missed, I don't miss, I never miss.  Oh well, lets just kill things.  WTF is wrong with my DPS?  3, 3, 3, 3, 3, Why is my Lava Lash not going off?  Oh crap, I forgot to switch gear.

It has been so long since I rolled as Enhancement that I forgot how to play, even with the right gear on it.  The last time I ran as Enhancement I was doing roughly 7K-9K in 330 item level gear.  I am at 335 now and was only doing 6K on most fights and 7K on bosses.

Now, I know they did not change Enhancement that much and I know I am capable of much more.  I've topped 11K in my 330 gear before on rare occasion.  Hell, I would never take any character into a heroic unless they can do at least 8K.  I hate people that enter heroics and can not do 8K, why would I be one of those people.

During the course of the run I started to get a bit more of a feel for things again.  Oh year, unleash elements, I forgot about that.  Crap, where the hell is my magma totem and fire nova.  I could swear they used to be 8 and 9.

I was not ready to DPS.  I was the problem I hate other people being sometimes.  I guess it was about time I had some fun in a heroic.  Let someone else do all the heavy lifting and I can be the noob for once.  You know, it was quite liberating not having to be the one that is always depended on to be the hero. 

On my Hunter I am often the last person alive.  I've soloed the last 10% of the second boss of Stonecore, soloed the last boss for 20%.  Soloed the last 40% of the red light green light boss in SFK.  Soloed trash packs that where wipes with 4 mobs still left countless times.  2 maned, with just the tank or just the healer at least a dozen bosses if not more.  In one HoO last week I did 76% of all damage on the last boss, had 64% of total damage over the entire run.  Sounds fun right?  Nope, not at all.  I hate it.  I hate people like me on my Shaman last night.  They (me) have no business being in heroics at all.

So it is back to the starting block with my Shaman.  Honestly I do not expect to queue up as a DPS often.  99% of the time it will take me as a healer, that is just the way it worked.  The only reason I got DPS last night is because there was another healer in the group from my guild so they got assigned healing duty.  That is not an excuse for my performance.

There is no excuse for ever doing as bad as I did in that heroic.  I actively feel bad when I do bad.  Does that make me a good player or does it mean I take things to serious?  I would like to think both.

I got a weapon drop off the last boss replacing a 312 weapon with a 346 one.  That will help.  Now I have a 316 weapon and a 289 trinket that need to be replaced really badly.  Then there are a couple of 325s that are not horrible and the rest is a filling out of 333s and a couple of 346 items.

Just because I roll as a healer now on my Shaman does not give me an excuse for not being the best I can be as Enhancement.  You should step up your game, not for the people around you but for yourself, if you are not pulling your weight.  Maybe if more people in the game had that same sense of responsibility in their own game play then Cataclysm would not be so hard on everyone that has to run with them.

I won't be happy until I can pull at least 4K in Enhancement spec while in Resto gear.  Let the challenge begin.  At least that way if I screw up again I can do more then double what I did now.  I call that progress.