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.