That's understandable! I used to do the same until someone filled me in
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Yeah SBoZ is a great mainhand to pair with Swiftwind if you have the plat. There are also a good number of ntov 1handers should you get into raiding.
Earthcaller is definitely a niche use sort of thing, I agree. It IS cool to be able to pull out in low-man and "omg everyone who can slow try to slow mob X" situations. A ranger slowed Cekenar for us a couple of weeks back, and it was very helpful.
And yes, unfortunately Earthcaller MQ is very pricey (at least it seems that way to me as someone who is always broke
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]). That said, lots of guilds kill hate minis pretty regularly, and I believe most have tracker bots you can log into to help spot/phone them, so getting the SEOC as a drop is a doable, if frustrating, thing with many guilds.