Finally... a real new shield!

There are some things I have always been unlucky with. First and foremost, this is my inability to collect tier pieces, and secondly, it is shields. The first is easily explained, I guess. As a Holy Paladin, I am usually one of two persons at most in the raid who can wear spellpower plate items that drop. And these usually drop before tier tokens for paladins drop, so naturally I do not get to roll anymore (in my current guild we don't use DKP, but a "one item per evening" rule), or don't have DKP left, and besides - I am probably wearing non-set items already that are fully gemmed and enchanted, do I really want to replace that just for a set bonus?
Shields are somehow the same. Either I cannot bid since I just got somethig else, or (this is shields-specific) they only drop on those days I am not present. Yesterday though I finally got the Heroic Bulwark of Smoldering Steel, quite an upgrade from the Pulsing Spellshield. And I only got that from some PUG run in Ulduar where people wanted to go for Firefighter, and replaced my Shield of Assimilation with it I had been using since I started raiding in Wrath of the Lich King! The funny thing is, when it dropped, someone on Vent immediately said something like "ah crap, the shield again. Ah, maybe Lis will want it" since it was already being shared in my guild, because it always dropped - only when I was not present for the Marrowgar kill though. But now I FINALLY have it. And yes, I used the next break to get materials to get it enchanted and gemmed, not even crying inside about the cost, since this will probably be my shield until Cataclysm raiding begins... good times.
Oh yeah, I also finally got those Heroic Professor Putricide and Heroic Lady Deathwhisper kills... and still no Lich King kill, neither on 10 or 25, so still no Kingslayer... still stuff to look for, it seems...

Trialshrimp no more!

After my old social, casual, raiding guild was killed in May I applied to another, more hardcore guild that I was friends with for some time now, together with some other officers and members individually, though). Some of us got accepted, including me, and yesterday I was finally made regular member after surviving the trial period! Sure, I am a non-raider officially, so I get passed if raiders want a raid spot or loot, but I was told about this before I accepted the guild invite and actually welcomed it, since I have just not as much play time at the moment due to various circumstances (work schedules, girlfriend, fitness training, ...) so that is fine with me. And yes, I am quite happy now that I finally got accepted :)

Raiding as Retribution

Last night my guild went to Icecrown Citadel again, and I actually had the time to tag along as well. For whatever reason, we had eight people confirmed who are often healing (even if some of those eight also often tank or dps). Which left us in a funny position. It seems we did Marrowgar with seven healers and three bear tanks, and only after this we really realized how many of us were healing... when the healing signups were posted and I was not mentioned and therefore only fit into "Remaining: ffa". I said "uhm, sure. Pally as raid healer?", but we had already started the Deathwhipser fight. We swapped healing around a little in mid-fight, and one-shotted her. After that, though, I only healed on Gunship, and then switched to dps. I had often gone Retribution on Deathbringer Saurfang, since that is a dps race and does not require much healing if the group has the dps, but I never really did dps on trash or Rotface as well. And I must say, I had a lot of fun. I did a little under 6k dps, which is not perfect, but then, this is my offspecc, and my gear is in everywhere between item level 213 and 232, with one piece at 245. Not bad at all, me thinks, and I really hope I get to do this more often. Maybe NOT winning Trauma and the Marrowgar healing shield yesterday was a sign - but then, I never have luck with those slots. I still use Shield of Assimilation from Naxx-25 and Seethe...

Level 20!

Yep, my highest in-game character is now level 20 since last night. Of course, that cannot be WoW though, since I am happily exploring Icecrown Citadel on Lisandra right now (Rotface down).

No, last night I played a little Lord of the Rings Online again, on my hunter. I really enjoy that while the game has a similar interface and level of polish as WoW, it feels completely different, at least for me, since it is much more of a world simulator than a game. The areas just feel wider, more lived in. As an example: last night I was venturing north from Bree, around the Old Greenway Fort, and the horse farm northeast of that location just is soo different from everything in WoW... it is a couple of houses, lots of horses in fenced-in pastures, as opposed to the typical single-house, single-animal farms in WoW that are just symbols for a farm, if you wish.

Since I do not know anyone on my server (EU Laurelin, I think it is called), I just play it as a solo adventure, but it is much fun... might play it more often... But I would really love a way to get some money. I really have trouble to pay for repairs and skillups most of the time...

Great day for raiding

Due to work, I hadn't really gotten to raid much in the last weeks. I was present for my guild's first kills of all four bosses in the first wing of Icecrown Citadel 25, but then, for weeks, I was only able to come on Sundays, which was raid progression day. Start raid at 20:30, clear some trash, wipe at Rotface until raid end time.
Yesterday was another of those days... except it wasn't. When I got home in the late afternoon, I logged in, planning to do an interview or two with applicants to the guild, and do a daily Heroic, but I was whispered pretty much instantly if I wanted to replace another Paladin healer in Ulduar, they were doing hardmodes. Of course I said yes! I already had some done back when we did Ulduar regularly, but still several missing. Last night then I got [Knock, Knock, Knock on Wood], [Crazy Cat Lady] and [Nerf Engineering]! We did some more which I already had (Thorim, Kologarn) and the others did Flame Leviathan and Razorscale before I joined, but now I basically "only" need Firefighter, Smell of Saronite and the hard mode Yogg kill for the drake. And Starcaller is actually not that far away now either, especially since I managed to turn in two of the fragments last night. Freya was actually not even really hard. Sure, we had some people die, but we nailed her in the first try, and I remember how much we struggled with that back then...
And then, later... we finally downed Rotface as well! Was a great day for raiding, all in all, considering we actually trained on that boss like it was TBC again (wiping for weeks)...

That time of the year again

Off to spend the rest of the holidays with my girlfriend and her family, but I just thought right before I leave I could leave some words here...
Last night I finished the first wing of Icecrown Citadel 10, seeing Lady Deathwhisper for the first time... after wiping on her for two hours the night before in 25, we took her down on our second try now, and only due to some mistakes during the first try. The two fights barely resemble each other, it seems. On 10, it is rather easy, moderate healing, 3 adds or so around, and the mana shield goes down fast. On 25, not so much. 6 adds all the time, usually, 3 tanks couldn't cope with them, dps was so intent on nuking adds that mana shield was hardly going down. We managed to get it down to 15% or so in our best try, but that is still a long way to go. I don't know, I'd prefer it for balance sake, if 10 and 25 were more or less equal in terms of difficulty, but then you couldn't have the bigger version have better loot, and most people wouldn't bother to sign for that anymore, I guess. But that difference was more between a normal and a hard mode, not 10 vs 25...

Oh, and I am also a Twilight Vanquisher now, finally found a PUG for zerging it. Yay! Been waiting ages for that, almost logging in every day and immediately setting my status to "LFG Sarth +3" in LFG tool...

Off now. So - happy holidays!

Tankt!

Finally... I tanked Utgarde Pinnacle with Lisandra last night, since it was both the Daily Heroic and the Daily Dungeon, and we couldn't find a tank. Since my tanking gear is very adequate now, I said "why not" and respecced.

So yes, I tanked my first WotLK Heroic last night, and then even on a paladin (I tanked Heroics and the early raids in TBC with Vorgas, my warrior). We had one death from the Whirlwind on Skadi the Ruthless, but apart from that, it was a smooth ride. I might actually try and tank some more now, and also offer tanking a Naxxramas maybe. Was quite fun!

On a related note, we downed Onyxia (10) on the day the patch hit the servers, and I managed to grab the new Judgement Helm for Retribution Very nice item!

Stuffses

Since I mentioned it below somewhere, I now am Lisandra, Champion of the Frozen Wastes - we finally killed Malygos (several times now actually). The first killed was definitely the most fun one. 13 or 14 wipes, and then on the next try he died from the dots seconds after the last of us died ;) So we all had to run back in to loot...
The next week we needed some tries as well to get back into the mood, but on the actual kill we didn't have any death at all... strange :)
We also managed to clear Naxx25 in one raid, so in roughly 3 hours. I don't know if we started some minutes early, but we ended at the planned end time, so there. Easily clearable.
And regarding T7.5 loot - I know have the shoulders for both the Holy and the Retribution set, so long as no one else rolls for the gear, I can grab some stuff, even with my DKP ;)
On a semi-related note, my raid attendance has been a little low the last days since I have a new girlfriend now, so this weird RL stuff is getting in the way. Might have to get used to that now again after such a long time :)

Loot pinata

Last night we pretty much ran through Naxxramas-25. We didn't clear it, Thaddius and the last two bosses are still alive, but everything else was pretty much oneshotted. We even got The Safety Dance, and that in our guild, which is usually very movement impaired (and also very tongue-in-cheek about it as well). I started off with some positive DKP, and then snatched Chains of Adoration, Mantle of the Lost Conqueror, Epaulets of the Grieving Servant (yes, before the token, obviously), Forethought Talisman, and Shield of Assimilation... I now must be soo deep in the minus, I will never get another item... and yes, our loot master was giggling at the end, since it was a little ridiculous, one single person going home with five items in one DKP run. Ah well, my gear level is only improving.

I have banked the T7.5 shoulders for the moment though, since the Epaulets are very good as well already, and come dual specc I might need a good set of shoulders for that as well. Since first tokens always cost full DKP in our guild anyway it doesn't matter, I just have to decide on the set bonus. And for Holy this is my first piece, so it is not a pressing matter (on Retribution I already have the T7 breastplate from Normal Naxxramas). It is just that the Retribution set is itemized very badly (Haste?), so I might just get four pieces of the Holy set (after getting the chestplate from Obsidian Sanctum I will not roll on the T7.5 breastplate and try to get the other pieces).

Back as Holy

My guild started running Naxxramas Heroic some weeks ago, and as I had anticipated, I was asked (required?) to come as Healadin again. I had offered, and I don't mind healing at all, so I am good, actually. On the first two runs I grabbed quite a lot of gear, both healing plate and [Life And Death] that I went pretty deep into DKP minus and therefore haven't managed to snatch some T7 tokens at all now, but I would say me gear is rather good at the moment.

Just last night I grabbed the [Chestplate of the Great Aspects] (yes, I know, not really Naxxramas, but we started the raid day by quickly clearing The Obsidian Sanctum in 15 minutes) and also the [Cloak of Averted Crisis]. The cloak is not ideally itemised, since I would rather have a solid mixture of Crit and Haste than Mp5, but then there are not really any cloaks like that, I think, and it was a very solid upgrade over my old [Cloak of the Darkcaster].

Still very much in the negative DKPs now, but faring very well. All in all, raiding is fun again - we are only lacking a Malygos kill now in our guild and Sartharion + X.

Additionally, I finally managed to explore the last areas of Kalimdor this weekend, mainly "elephant kingdom" (i.e. Azuremyst Isle and Bloodmyst Isle), so I am now Lisandra the Explorer and not Lisandra, Hand of A'dal anymore. "Champion of the Frozen Wastes" will have to wait for that Malygos kill I mentioned earlier - that is the only thing I am missing.

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!

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.

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...

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.