There we go again

Last night I started raiding in WotLK, this time as retribution! I had signed for a 10 men Naxxramas, but was only on standby, and therefore was in the middle of a Heroic Utgarde Keep when the raid leader whispered me I was in, someone who was on the main queue was a no-show. Uhm. Being me, I simply whispered back that I was now where I was, and that I was sorry. It helps to be the only raid-worthy paladin in the guild at the moment and be on good terms with the raid leadership, because what I got back was "Oh, don't worry, we can start with 9". Twenty minutes and [Staggering Legplates] later I was inside Naxx. Was quite fun, although it feels very different from Karazhan. I don't mean that one is a castle and the other a Necropolis, but just the flow and size of it. Well, I bet I will get used to it. Walked away with [Shoulderplates of Bloodshed] (won a Need roll) and [Helm of the Corrupted Mind] (dropped afterwards, no other paladin in raid). Lucky me!

It's the RAM, baby!

Ever since Wrath of the Lich King came out, my game experience has suffered from (sometimes very) very low framerates, alt-tabbing to Firefox taking up to 5 minutes, and the known phenomenon that flying in or out of Dalaran just hangs the game a lot. As in, unplayable at lot. Well, I just put in 4 GB of RAM into the machine instead of 2 GB, and lo and behold - all of this is gone. I fly up to Dalaran, land, mount my charger, and ride off, without an hickups. And then I alt-tab to Firefox, check a quest on Wowhead, and am back in the game seconds later. I really hadn't thought it was only the RAM, but it seems it was. And yes, this is on Vista 64, before you ask. That OS can indeed use 4 GB.

We are prepared now!

Aye, downed the Big Bad now. And ventured into his hiding place again and cleared everything except for the Council and the Betrayer in one go. Loot? I have the [Lightbringer Chestpiece] and the [Lightbringer Pauldrons] now! Happy girl (well, boy, but the girl is a girl... err). Now, for some Sunwell Plateau next week after clearing the Black Temple again...

And gah, this sucks. Armory isn't updating, and I have a new cloak, two pieces of Tier 6, I am "Hand of A'dal" instead of "Champion of the Naaru", a new belt... and none of it shows so far.

We were not prepared!

Last night my guild went into Black Temple, and for the first time ever in the guilds history we ventured to the very top. We had first kills of Reliquary of Souls, Mother Shahraz and the Illidary Council, after having guild firsts of Teron Gorefiend and Gurtogg Bloodboil the week before. 3.0.2 is really making this easy for us, although after seeing how easily we downed Naj'entus, Supremus and Shade of Akama before the patch I think that maybe we should have simpy gone there earlier, and we might have gotten further a lot earlier as well...

I also got my [Shroud of the Final Stand] yesterday, sadly before we downed any of the bosses, so I couldn't Need on a T6 token ;) But then, the cloak is a clear upgrade to my old Prince cloak as well, or I would not have needed anyway. Ever since I saw it on the paladin of my (now) ex I wanted it for me as well.

We also did three or four attempts at Illidan himself, but we only barely entered phase three. Seems we need to practice not dying to the fire from the elementals a little more. We had them enrage due to them getting to far from their warglaives, it seems. Ah well, tuesday is part two.

Piece of Cake

Hm, we just went to MH with 24 people and just cleared bosses 1-4 without a hitch (well, except for the server going down for ~30 minutes after boss 1). Sure, we maybe had 5 or 6 deaths overall, but that's it. Bosses and trash were laughable, I mostly stood around, not casting heals at all since by the time the druids and priests HoTs would tick again there would be no need anymore... To be honest, it felt like a Karazhan badge run. Even the trash groups that made us wipe before if a heal landed just a millisecond too late on the tank before just made me yawn, and I did not even spec Holy all the way through... Ah well. Still did not get the T6 gloves (yes still wearing the Karazhan drop), but now sporting the [Girdle of Hope] at least.

Oh, we didn't try Archimonde at all since we never attempted him before, and we were already at the end of the planned raid time due to the server shutdown.

More trollish loot for the girl

I recently had some nice luck: I did three ZA runs with my guild, and on the first run I got the [Mask of Introspection], and on the second run the [Chestguard of Hidden Purpose] and the [Enamelled Disc of Mojo]. On the third run (which my ex-girlfriend tanked for us, thanks!) I also got the [Girdle of Stromgarde's Hope]. All in all I am now really nicely equipped, together with the badges mace [Gavel of Naaru Blessings]. On one of the runs I also got the Fury plate boots and the priest healing necklace, the last which finally replaced my old blue necklace from that quest chain in Blade's Edge Mountains.

Now I am pondering what to buy from my remaining badges. I tend to the nice new plate pants, but I am not sure yet. Currently I have the T5 legs, and the gap between those two is not that big, I'd even lose spell crit... But i'd gain some nice amount of Stamina, and that would come in handy in our upcoming forays into Black Temple...

Seems I am lazy...

...because there have not been any posts here in a while. But stuffz happened nonetheless - e.g. I went to Mount Hyjal and Black Temple last Sunday for my first time ever. Didn't get any loot, though, suffered even from the Azgalor loot bug, but I had much fun.

My warlock is now level 37 and fun. Very much.I think his class is a little overpowered, but that makes it all the more fun after previously having leveled a Retribution paladin (specced Holy at around 60) and an Arms warrior (specced Protection at 70). I do not think the little lock will ever become my main, I really enjoy raid healing, but I sure as hell want to see the inside of Medivh's tower with him. Shouldn't be too hard, though, several guild mates have offered boosting services already.

In RL I moved, much closer now to work (for the days that I actually work at my employers offices and not at the customers place), much smaller as well, but that is a good thing. The old house at 160 m² was just too much for a single guy (since my girl friend moved out to be closer to her work in oanother city and we started a distance relationship), and the new apartment is very nice, balcony, wooden floor, and overall a very nice state). Only 63 m² though, more than enough for one guy with a computer.

Freedom

After some weeks of unhappiness, I made the big step yesterday, and left the guild my warrior has been in for over two years now. The situation had deteriorated a lot in the last weeks, with a very unfriendly atmosphere in guild chat (at least towards me), and the guild my paladin is in now felt a lot more mature, friendly, and like home. And since the day before yesterday that guild got a new addition in the form of more or less the only other officer from my warriors guild (who was fed up with the situation in our old guild as well), the decision was really made easy.

I would not have thought that the only response to my farewell note on our guilds forum (where I simply stated that I needed some fresh air, and that some things that happened in the guild lately made me unhappy, nothing more, nothing less) would be a post from the guilds leader, who more or less stated that I left just in time, since he was about to demote or /gkick me anyway. Well, thanks for spelling out so clearly why I wanted to leave that guild, just in case I needed some support now - you gave it to me with that post, and really made me see that I did the right thing there.

I will probably stay Protection specced and see what the new guild brings me - I never really enjoyed tanking for the old guild since runs were few and far between, so I would always get a little rusty. But seeing that there already are some tanks in the guild I might also spec Fury again. There are many paths into the future now for me, it seems...

Loot from Below

What happens when you log in innocently at 18:45 on a tuesday night on your more-or-less Karazhan-equipped holy Paladin? Right, you go from zero DKP to deep-in-the-minus after receiving a whisper if you can come to Serpentshrine Cavern that night, some spots left, another Paladin greatly appreciated. What can I say, I really wanted to join T5 raids, that is one (and really not the only or biggest one) of the reasons for joining my guild, so it was a pleasant turn of events for me.

Because we needed to fill two or three more spots, we started way later than planned, and only downed Hydross The Unstable, The Lurker Below and Morogrim Tidewalker (the guild usually does everything except for Lady Vashj in one night), but I already hearthed home with two new items in my bags, the [Glowing Breastplate Of Truth] from Lurker and the [Pauldrons of the Argent Sentinel] from Morogrim, since we only were three Paladins, one tank (of no use for him) and one other healer (had same or better).

Nice start into T5 content for me, I'd say. Hope it all stays fun, and that I can fill the last gear gaps in Karazhan this week.

Tanking can be fun indeed

Yesterday I was asked to heal a quick Mechanar Heroic run, but as we waited for a tank to come online in our guild, I proposed to our group (and guild) leader that I could bring in my protection warrior (the guild has a no-alts-outside-the-guild policy, that warrior of mine is an exception to that rule, and as such in a weird situation). He agreed, brought his wife in as holy priest, I got my warrior, and we went to Cosmowrench. I reminded the group over Teamspeak that I rarely tank 5 men instances at the moment (due to the warriors guild basically not doing anything together at all anymore), and ask them to kindly push me into the direction they want me to.

And what can I say, no one died the whole run, all bosses down. I got told what mobs would be best to down first in any group and which should better be CC'ed, I marked accordingly, the group went down. I obviously had some trouble with the last mobs before Pathaleon the Calculator, as I heard a distinct "get that mob off me please" on Teamspeak from the priest, but even that went fine.

So, what do I want to say with this? I am not entirely sure, but it seems to me that any tank that has decent gear and understanding of his class and role can tank more or less anything except the really really hard stuff if the rest of the group is supportive, helps to fill knowledge gaps, and no blame is randomly assigned to some poor soul if something goes wrong. So far I hardly had these kind of runs at all, and Karazhan is much easier to tak in my opinion (at least as main tank, as off tank you get some bad groups if you do not have too much CC with you), so it was a really pleasant surprise, and now I also understand a friend better who has been in my paladins guild for ages now as a bear tank, and he never really seemed to grasp why I didn't like tanking regular instances. Well, it seems the other four people in the group can make all the difference.

The fun of tanking

It seems it is the time of the week again - tanks left and right are complaining about their role again. Fine, just let me chime in.
I would not label me as one of the best tanks around, but I know what to do in an instance, and most of the time I even do it. But rather than list all the annoyances in tanking for me, I simply refer you to the great post that Ingaverson did on WoW Insider today:

1) Arena/PvP - With so much emphasis and gear rewards being made by Blizz a lot of warriors are fury/arms. To be honest raid spot for dps warriors are few and far between (particuarly in 10mans) but with the rewards now available from arena gear many warriors just prefer to dps.

2) Tanking isnt easy, we don't just tap sunder armor. Each instance requires knowledge of what to do and how to tank each mob. Stance dancing on Nightbane to avoid fears for example or running out of Murmur's Sonic Booms. Developing this experience takes practise and a lot of ppl cant be bothered.

3) Paying attention. For a good tank in a 5 man or raid you are not only watching the mobs but your raid/party. Who is overaggro'ing? Who isn't cc'ing their mob properly? Who has had a resist to trap? Who needs you to run over and taunt a mob off them before they get deaded. Most people have enough fun dps'ing, this isnt their kind of thing.

4) Respec costs. Three classes can tank effectively, and all have various specs to choose from... a dps war or holy pala or even boomkin could tank a non heroic instance with decent tank gear alone, but boss tanking in raids and the most challanging 5 man heroics is just a no-go unless you are spec'ed correctly, with the fees as they stand for respec costs it puts a lot of people off the very idea.

5) As has already been posted most good tanks don't pug. We spend enough gold wiping on new raid bosses with our guild. There are always guildies who could use our help more. And for t4 / t5 geared tanks and beyond the fact is there is very little of any use to us left in a 5 man instance so you wont find us in LFG very often.

6) I'll be the first to admit being a dedicated prot warrior isnt the best for solo'ing, farming or grinding, it will be slow but there is little downtime.

Yes, that pretty much sums it up in my opinion as well. Tanking is fun with the right people (read: friends and guildies). With PUGs, it usually is not. Also, why does it automaitcally mean I mark or explain bosses just because the bosses get to hit me? Escapes me.

My first Zul'Aman with my little girl

Yesterday was supposed to ba a Zul'Aman run (at 13:00 on a Sunday!) for my guild, but apparently only four people had signed up, so it was cancelled. An hour later I got a whisper if I wanted to come, the raid leader had asked around and obviously found enough people now by joining forces with the other big guild from our raid alliance for SSC/TK. Unfortunately I had to decline, since my girlfriends Windows XP had just decided that networking capabilities were an overrated feature, which did not bode well for her raiding duties that evening. Well, happens. Some more time later or so I got another whisper, if I was done fixing that computer now, since the raid had just lost a healer to the "Oops, got to go" factor, and they were at Malacrass now. Now I was really stunned: he knew it would be my first venture into ZA at all as a healer, and I had just joined the guild two weeks ago (but had run a two healer Karazhan run with the raid leader as the other healer). Well, I accepted, and got onto TeamSpeak. People had been informed I was a ZA n00b, but nothing indicated that they cared (I mean that in a good way), and I offered the "if we wipe blame me since I bet you did well until I joined ^^" line.
And wipe we did. Five times, if I remember correctly, almost always with Malacrass at around 5% health left. Well, time was running short, since there was a SSC raid scheduled for later for most of those present, so we said, ah, one more try, then let's call it a day. And then we simply downed him, rezzed the fallen, and one-shotted Zul'jin as well. Got the Shaman healing mail chestpiece, which I am not sure yet if it is an up- or a sidegrade to the Karazhan plate chest, and I got to complete all the beginners quests in ZA ("X Marks Your Doom" etc) in the empty instance afterwards. Yeehah! Successful sunday.

More Wrath coming this way

...at least if the Post-by-Email is working now. That is what this
blog post is for, nothing more, nothing less. Ignore it please!

Starting out

Just got the new blog here, and now I am just playing around with settings, themes, and the like. Do not expect too much here in the next days, at least not too much with real content.