Spanking Blizzard

I'm yet to write about all the huge fun I'm having in Northrend, and I'm already compelled to give Blizzard a serve.

The queue on Dath'Remar (and many other realms) is insane. I know it's the launch weekend. I know it's the weekend. But you guys seriously got this wrong.

You've predicted a wonderfully high number of new accounts, lapsed accounts getting renewed for Wrath. You've painted a very pretty picture for your shareholders.

So why do we have a queue of about 1000 to get into Dath'Remar?

It's not like this is your first expansion. You have had this experience before with the Burning Crusade. You must have created a model about the increase in population for this expansion too. Didn't you?

Don't get me wrong. I get it. You can't run the servers to cater perfectly for everyone to log in at once. People have accounts that have toons on multiple realms, where only character can be logged into one realm at a time. If you created a server structure to cater for every scenario, your costs would skyrocket. Our subscription fees are high enough, thanks.

However, if you didn't actually meet your projections for account growth, then at least admit that you screwed us with your hardware "upgrades". If your projections where blown away by the increase in uptake, could you please use some of that fat wad of cash to lower the queues?

Lastly... here's my Saturday scenario.

1. Try to login. Oh no, a 40 minute queue
2. Get *disconnected* from the server
3. ANOTHER 40 minute queue
4. Power outage
5. Jondy gets back in since the latptop didn't require a restart
6. Borg logs into a 950 queue
7. Get *disconnected* from the queue at position 200
8. Borg logs into a 989 queue
- after 20 minutes is down to 689
- after 30 minutes is disconnected again
9. Queue is no 1006 ... there are no words.

Achievements Edition

Although I felt compelled to redo some content to get credit for my achievements, I've really enjoyed them overall. Zenborg has falled to one side before Wrath, since there was sooo much to do with Borg.

Borgthor did end up enjoying Hallow's End, getting the title "The Hallowed". The instant cast broomstick was great too!

With the nerf bat, comes new Achievements. Warrior AOE tanking improvements meant the lack of a pally tank wasn't a barrier. The nerf to boss health, and supendous improvements to DPS meant it was a white wash. We breezed through ZA post patch, taking 3 timed chests with us. It was nice to complete ZA, to round out our raiding achievements before WotLK.

I've really enjoyed the fishing achievements, and fishing in general. It was much quicker to get the fishing dailies done than the cooking... but more on that later. It was just after handing this in, that I got invited in on my spriest to a Zul'jin only ZA run to finish off ZA for him too... great timing.

I had a great time finishing off some pre-BC content with Obento, who had some renewed enthusiasm for his rogue. While I think of it, the Jenkins title was a hoot too.


We did go back and finish of Zul'Gurub, but Jondy and I have been 2 or 3 manning ZG for a chance at the turtle. No luck yet, but another great fishing Achievement.

The scourge invasion was a lot of fun, and as well as another feat of strength, helped with my Argent Dawn rep (already at revered from chasting that supply bag in my 50s).


I hadn't had a reason to travel to Ogrimmar, untill this fishing achievement. I took out about three guards, invisibility pot past four and I was there! I didn't last too long, but it was totally worth it.


One of my favourites! SSC, the shat'ari skyguard cape and a water walking pot to solo this one. I think I'll post the screenshot of Borg vs. Lurker in another post!

Gah! The achievement that had the most rework required (and we'd run out of uses for badges). Thankfully, due to the Champion of Naaru title, a few were already ticked off.


The only zones I had completed before the patch was Hellfire Peninsula and SMV, but I wasn't far off the others. Was great fun revisiting the other zones for a handful of quests.


I had a real affinity for The Argent Dawn while I was leveling Borg, and I'm really happy that the storyline of the expansion keeps them involved. Now onwards and upwards to assist the Argent Crusade!
Yes, Borg's sack is gigantique! With Zen not raiding, and Borg being on "farm only" for months, the cash was rollin' in. 22 slots is gold, and will stack up well even in WotlK.

I love bombing quests! After getting Bombs Away on the first after the patch, this rounded out all the quest achievements for Outland.


Tabards! Make sure you go to the Tabard vendor! I was planning a trip around all the exalted factions to pick mine up, until I wowheaded this achievement (yes, if google can be a verb, then wowhead should be too). They had my quest based tabards that I had "lost", as well as all the other ones. Just make sure that you bring to correct currency for Ogri'la and Sporegar.

Phew, that was a quick run down on some of the achievement I'd grabbed a screenshot for. I might have a look at them all and have a round two before I start in on WotLK ones.

However, I'm more insterested in hearing from YOU! If there are any achievements that have made you think, "wow, Borg is awesome" that I've missed let me know in the comments. If you have an achievement that you you particularly like, or are proud of, let me know!

I am the Warlock

Almost makes me want to roll one (the song, not the video).

Disclamer: A very clever archetypal metal song from Dave Grohl and Jack Black that has some strong language.

If you understand more than half of the myriad of reasons this song rocks, you might just know me in real life (or are a huge Jack Black fan).

Horseman's Helm

I'm absolutely NOT going to do all the Hallowed End achievements... there's a lot of work to be done with those. However, I was excited today to grab [The Horseman's Helm].

It's actually a DPS helm upgrade for Borg, but it also just looks plain cool!

Catharses

It's just a game. Intellectually I know this, but it only makes it worse. The changes brought in for 3.0.2 have destroyed my enjoyment of the game, until I can break out of this spiraling endless coil of despair.

Bear with me.... I'm venting. It's really not that bad. Being dramatic is going to bring catharses for sure.

I was having a ball in Burning Crusades. I've been guild master of a social guild, The Ancients who have, for their size, been kicking ass and taking names. We got Kara on farm, with a 3h22m clear. Our 2nd Kara group had just got Prince down a couple of weeks in a row. We got our first two chests in ZA too. We don't have enough toons for 25 mans, but we still managed to do Gruuls and Mags with a partner guild.

I wanted to see some higher level content. So I leveled up Zenborg, my shadow priest. With craftables, he was good to clear Kara from day one at 70. Some Kara, Mags, Heroics later, he was full epic. I took him to a raiding guild, and got 4/6 SSC, 1/4 TK, 2/5 MH and 4/6 ZA. That was a hoot until the raid schedule started to fall apart due to senior raiders heading to another guild, and the patch starting to draw nearer. I think I managed 7-8 weeks in the guild, built up my DKP, but there was not a drop to be had (particularly since at that stage we would manage only 1 or 2 bosses each night). I did have a hoot seeing the content, but it was pretty clear that wheels were falling off.

I managed to get Champion of the Naaru on both toons - even organising a full pug of Mags to get it done on Borgthor (it was very satisfying to hear the surprise on vent when people that had never grabbed a successful pug got him down).

I learnt a lot, and had a lot of fun.

Bringing up a DPS gave me a real perspective on what I was putting up with as a tank. There were bosses that we couldn't do because eventually even Jondy would OOM after 18 infernals on Prince, or the High Botanist would heal to full each tranquility phase. When I started melting faces... it all started making sense. Getting Kael down in Heroic Magister's Terrace before he even popped his shield was the least I could do.

Joining another guild with an alt was a great experience. The Ancients was the only guild I had ever been in, so it was great to see how another guild (particularly one with a greater focus on raiding) is run. The relief I felt when it wasn't me putting the raid together. When I just had to turn up and do my job. I got to explore and learn from all the things they did well (and there were a lot), and not so well. It really crystalised for me what I like about guild life, and gave me ideas about direction for WotLK.

Then the patch hit. 3.0.2 started out AWESOME! New talents, new abilities. I got a haircut!

Then the novelty wore off.

The first heroic was fun. Wow, look at how cool shockwave looks. Ooooh thunderclap affects all targets in range. Aaaahhh revenge is hitting HUGE, and it's even refreshing my shield slam cooldown.

The second heroic was unsettling. Hmmmm I don't need CC anymore, but here have a sheep target so you can turn it into a penguin. Ain't that cute. Oh dear, no one is even remotely close on threat, and I can't go a minute without seeing that misdirect icon above my head.

Then we owned Kara in 40 minutes less without breaking a sweat. Single target threat was trivial. Multi target threat was a joke... and the hunters cackled maniacally as their AOE tore shreds through elites and non-elites alike. Curator pulled with the last trash mobs? No problem, and you'll still break him out of his first evocate. It felt like a hollow victory.

Now, as I sit here, I can feel the pathology of my personality pulling me back to WoW (but the servers down, again). Achievements. I feel compelled to complete all the heroics I've already done... but the achievement is now worth nothing. I enjoyed tanking Heroic Shattered Halls because everyone wanted a Pally tank. Over geared or not, there was some sense of achievement, which is now gone. It feels like a long list of chores to be done.

Snap out of it Borg! Actually I'm feeling a lot better at the end of this post.

I finally understand all the QQ when things get hit with the nerf bat. The stories about walking 5 miles through snow to school, only to be met with corporal punishment the likes of which would be child abuse by today's standard are universal.

Blizzard have given everyone with an adictive personality a big wake up call. If the nerfing and mind boggling list of potential achievements hits hard, maybe your gaming habit is already very close to unbalanced.

So for the rest of BC, I'm going to get back to having a blast. I'm going to see ZA crumble, and charge (literally) through a stack of heroics. When WotLK hits, I'll be ready to enjoy it at my own pace, and surround myself with friends, both old and new in the World ... of Warcraft.

Turtle

One of our best friends in WoW, Obento (who's main is now his mage - Konbawa) had a mission! Polymorph: Turtle. It was a ball forcing a coin onto a guild mate so he could purchase the reasonably priced tome in the auction house.

It was well worth it! Konbawa insisted on paying us back in record time, and crowd control has never been the same.

Champion of the Naaru

Today, Jondy and I earned the title Champion of the Naaru, by successfully completing what used to be the attunements for 25 man raids, SSC and TK.

The quest chains involved several heroics - Shattered Halls, The Steamvault, The Arcatraz and Shadow Labyrinth - the harder heroics in the game. I was particularly excited to tank through the timed event in Shattered Halls without losing a hostage, since everyone wants a pally tank for that instance.

The quests also require you to complete all of the T4 content, particularly killing Nightbane, Gruul and Magtheridon. We downed Magtheridon the hard way, in a full PUG group that Jondy and I put together. With some diligent screening, we were able to put together a 25 man group that was patient enough to let it all come together. Since several other toons were after Magtheridon as the last step toward the title, it was a great feeling to lead the raid to victory!

Zenborg goes raiding

Disclaimer: I'm writing this in October, enjoying reflecting on life before patch 3.0.2.

I made the tough decision to take Zenborg out of The Ancients, leaving the one and only guild I'd ever been in. It was clear that Zenborg after executing the dream, wasn't going to find a spot in The Ancients raiding schedule, since I can't play two toons at once (if only I could tank for myself!). So I made the move to a raiding guild that was in SSC, TK and MH.

My first night was Fathom-Lord Karathress in SSC. A little nervous and not knowing what to expect, I was delighted when my damage was competitive on the trash. Even better, when I got comments in raid and whisper that people appreciated having a shadow priest in their party! Between pulls, I got to take in the specticle of the cavern. The scale is impressive, and a nice contrast to the claustrophobic Gruuls Lair. FLK ate it after a few attempts, and we were off to TK to get owned by Alar.

My first week I got to see SSC, TK and MH - where Rage Winterchill and Anetheron both went down. Unfortunately, even though the guild was at 5/6 SSC, 3/4 TK, 2/5 MH things were already on a down hill slide.

RAIDS

The last few days has seen a LOT of raiding.

Thursday - Gruuls ------------------

We've been working with a couple of guilds to get some 25 man content up and running. The Ancients is a smallish social guild, with a bunch of toons who enjoy raiding, so to get into 25 mans, we've been making some new friends.

This week, we got a great Mage tank from the word GO. It made a HUGE difference. We still needed to fine tune the strategy or a wipe or two, getting more exposure to what happens AFTER the pull was good for everyone! High King ate it.

We fired through Gruul, and Jondy was rewarded with: [Cowl of Nature's Breath]. A first for some of the 10 Ancients that attended the raid.

Obento is pictured above [thanks for the screenshot].

Friday - Kara --------------------

Since we are a small social guild, we have more toons than can fit in our raiding schedule, particluarly toons that aren't geared to clear Kara. Since our first Kara group has ZA scheduled for this week, Jondayla and I decided to take some toons in for some Kara 101.

Elf had just leveled his pally healer to 70 and had worked hard on his pre-Kara gear. After Jossamine, Konbawa and Zenborg DPS'd him through his first Heroic (SP) days ealier, it was an ideal time to take him into Kara. Moonspirit, Moppet and Rage were able to help out, so after signing up a couple of toons who don't usually get a spot in Kara runs, and Fel's hunter alt - we were set to go.

We planned on a tidy run up to Curator, and call if for the week - which is exactly what we did. Each of the toons that had less exposure to Kara got a new epic piece of kit, including Fel's hunter with [Legacy] and [Garona's Signet Ring] - the later still eluding Elf, Oday, Lis, Barrath ... the list goes on. Adirix got [Bracers of Justice] from his first run.

Friday / Saturday - Magtheridon --------------------


In the wee hours, 5 ancients - Zenborg, Jondayla, Obento, Odayla, Mearaz - joined in on a Mags pug... and we cleaned up.

Zenborg: [Souleater's Handwraps]
Jondayla: [Magtheridon's Head] -> [Naaru Lightwarden's Band]
Obento: [Cloak of the Pit Stalker]
Odayla: [Pit Lord's Satchel]
Mearaz: A huge beating, and tanking Mags into the ground

Big thanks to Ferek, invited us to the PUG, and who has been a pleasure to play with over the last few weeks.

Saturday - Zul'Aman --------------------

We ventured into Zul'Aman again on Saturday night, to get our closest yet to the first chest at Nalorak. After a failed attempt at the naked gauntlet - we went on a scenic tour to get owned by Halazzi - turns out I shouldn't try and take the ~50k cleave by myself amongst the other melee damage.

However we managed to make our way back to Akil'zon and mete out some swift punishment for The Ancients first 2/6 ZA run.

Sunday/Monday - Kara ----------------------

Kara, again? Really? Well it turns out with two toons, it can work out this way. Zenborg and Jossamine [Jondayla's lock] went in with our 2nd Kara group for some Kara goodness. We managed to hit 1 and 2 on the damage both nights, with Joss hitting #1 on night two with some Curator and Illhoof goodness. She is pictured in her SEEDing outfit.

The Ancients Pwn Kara

To give Beanie a great send off, we decided to give Kara a good pwning.

The line up:

MT: Borgthor (enough said)
OT: Beanie (Pally tank to the stars)
Heals: Moonspirit (Resident Priest), Jondayla (Tree)
Melee: Zandrewz (Rawr), Mortdemuzzie (Fury Warrior)
Ranged: Felock (Lock), Elfangor (Hunter (BM)), Odayla (Hunter (MM)), Moppet (Spriest)

With Beanie threatening the group with irritated gerbals...

1923 First Pull
1936 Attumen Down (2m36s)
1957 Moroes Down (2m15s) Don't forget your badge, Elf
2014 Maiden Down (1m24s)
2031 Opera - R&J Down (3m55s)
2053 Nightbane Down (7m58s)
2112 Curator Down (4m5s (our record is ...))
2146 Illhoof Down (3m26s)
2156 Shade Down (4m1s)
2220 Netherspite Down (7m39s)
2230 Chess Down (is that the right word - "done" maybe)
2247 Raid Dead - Prince still kicking
2259 Prince Down (5m19s)

All up 3h36m.

Tanking Kara with a Pally tank was a new thing for me when Beanie decided to respec - and it turned out to be a joy. AOE pulls were even more of a holiday than usual (over eager dps ripping to their death no longer bothers me (apart from the time it takes to rez and buff the blighters)). The reduced CC and increased AOE threat allowed me to focus my tanking a little more. I could tank one - and every so often disable another so the healers wouldn't have to work too hard to keep Beanie up.

Fel pipped Elf in the DPS, followed by Oday. Zand and Mortdemuzzie turned in grunty DPS warrior performances, with Zand a little ahead on the night. Jondayla and Moonspirit two healed with ease - a fantastic healing team that allows me to wear my sharper, pointier armor. Moppet, our resident mana battery, got to laugh at Prince Malchezar - who coughed up his mindblade after sucumbing to a soulfrosted blade of focus.

Thanks to Beanie for working so hard on his pally, both DPSing and Tanking with great skill; and for providing the inspiration for a very focused run.

Zenborg's First Week: Conclusion

Don't let the picture fool you. This is a tale of heartbreak.

On Wednesday morning, with Kara freshly reset, Zenborg pugged into a "full clear" Kara group. Ever weary of trade spam, but optimistic that toons going into Kara this early in the week would want to do it right.

As things got underway, I was relieved to be juggling shackling duties and topping the damage before Attumen was pulled. I was further relieved when I was pwned by the mage in the group for the boss fight - our overall dps was looking ... reasonable.

Moroes went down (I can no longer understand why a shackle would EVER get loose (healers excepted)). Maiden followed shortly after. Topping the damage on Romulo and Julianne (Opera) did wonders for my confidence.

Nightbane was a new challenge. It was a joy to actually see the great beast, after being stuck between the dragon's claws or almost devoured whole as a Tank. Nightbane was particularly challenging because it took us 11m20s to get him down - to date my longest fight on Zenborg. Potioning early (and often), symbol of hope and my freakishly awesome shadowfiend meant I could put in a solid dps effort loosing out only to the mage and lock in the group.

Curator and Illhoof were both very entertaining fights. On Illhoof the mage and lock did half the damage between them, making the fight a breeze.

I've noticed that hunters tend to come into their own on Shade, which is a good thing for me as I died relatively early to Elementals, but still got my first piece of Kara loot: [Pendant of the Violet Eye] - which has earned a spot for those fights where mana regen is an issue.

Wow! This is going great! Just wait...

... Netherspite.

What is it about this guy that is so terrifying? THE fight in Karazhan where you are rewarded far more for teamwork and co-ordination than any other. The fight spriests and locks LIVE for. The BLUE beam! Give it too me! I want it ALL... mwa ha ha ha...

Not to be. With the OT disconnected - we made our way back down to Chess. The conjurer on Chess was great fun, but I really wanted to get back to NS.

Prince. Another challenge for a new spriest. Getting in and out of range for Mind Flay was a challenge met well enough to come in second in damage, being completely spanked by the mage.

20 badges! The Demonic Presence Destroyed! [Violet Signet] [Violet Badge] Woo Hoo!

... WAIT ... THE ... D R E A M ...

The tank wants [Mantle of Abrahmis] (boy, do I know that feeling). He's been a good tank, let's get it for him! Why are you hearthing? Stop... wait...

LF9M - Kara - Netherspite Only - help an spriest live the dream.

Executing the Dream

Here's the plan:

1) Ding 70
2) Kara geared within minutes
3) Kara attuned in the first day
4) Kara clear the first full Kara week

Here's stages 1 - 3:

Ding 70

I convinced Jondy to have an all nighter, in order to get the first three stages accomplished. We headed into The Steamvault just after midnight on 27th July for our second frag, and dinged on about the 3rd mob [yes, a lot of execution comes down to pre-planning].

I managed to get myself killed on the next pull, while trying on all my new spanking gear ....

1) Ding 70 - 0011 27/07

Kara Geared within Minutes

Due to my aforementioned death ... it took me almost a minute to whack my gear on.

Thanks to the [Spellstrike Infusion], [Shadow's Embrace], the [Belt of Blasting], [The Bringer of Death] and some diligent questing, I hit well above the Kara minimum stats with:

Health: 6.3k
Mana: 7.6k
Shadow Damage: 800
Crit: 14.53% [29.53% with MB and SW:D]
Spell Hit: CAPPED


2) Kara Geared - 0012 27/07

Kara Attuned in the first day

Attunement was also planned well in advance. We had done Durnehold Keep serveral times from level 66 - 68 to free us up for Black Morass later [Keepers of Time reputaion leads to +12 spell damage to rings]. As soon as we hit 68 we tore through the pre-quests, and had our first frag in the Shadow Labyrinth not long after.

Experience from questing caught up with us, so we planned to ding in The Steamvault on the way to our 2nd Frag. The Steamvault wound up at a little after 1am.

2nd Frag - 0032

By 0136 we were down in SMV shopping for our flying mounts. We wanted to do this right, so with 900g in hand, we bought our transport to conquer Tempest Keep instances.

Unfortunately, we didn't have room on our XP bars to quest for the Key to Arcatraz, so we took some time to run through that, and by 0348 we were flying up to The Mechanar. So by 0530 it was time for bed...

But wait? Didn't you mention an all nighter? Yes, but a slight planning glitch was that we had cleared the final bosses of Kara the previous evening on Borg and Jondy - so weren't able to sustain more than 24 hours straight world of warcraft - we had to sleep sometime. PUGs tend to get a little hard to put together in the wee hours of the morning.

So after a luxurious 6 1/2 hours sleep, I bounced out of bed, announcing, "you make the coffee, and I'll start putting together a group for Botanica". With Bot soon out of the way, retaining the services of both healer and tank from that run, we obtained the Key to Arcatraz, and behold - our 3rd Frag.

3rd Frag - 1540

All that was left to do, was go back in time and ask Medivh nicely to put the Master's Key back together. We had a little hiccup with our add melter in BM, when they started the event early, but on the second attempt (and with a new add melter) breezed through Black Morass - rewarding Jossamine with [Mantle of Three Terrors].

3) Kara attuned in the first day - 1839

Going through an accelerated attunement process has cemented my view that Blizzard did the wrong thing by removing the attunement process for Kara. Going through this process meant that shortly after level 70, the only normal instances we hadn't done were Shattered Halls [done soon after] and Magister's Terrace [since completed several times]. Is it that much of a burden to see each instance only once? Do you really want someone in Kara that isn't able to complete half the 5 man content?

Jossamine is a particular case in point. With absolutely ZERO craftables; quest rewards and drops from the instances in the attunement chain were all she needed to gear for minimum Kara specs, and perform admirably in Kara on the day of hitting level 70.

Kara Clear in the first full Kara week

It was Sunday night, we were attuned and our 2nd Kara team was about to do battle. However, they were a little short on numbers, and so Joss and I had a chance to get a taste of Kara before the full week even started. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the multiplicity of face melting, but starting Kara on the first day of level 70, both attuned and geared was a little surreal.

Stepping into Kara - 2020

Much to my delight and surprise... I pwned. Although I was nervous, shackling went very well, and didn't take too much of a bite out of my DPS. I managed to top the damage on both Attumen and Curator [narrowly beating out Joss with her huge curse of doom for Curator]. We missed out on the loot, but 7 badges later [I missed out on the 2 from Opera due to a server restart] and Curator down - it was time for another sleep!

The most ambitious part of this plan will be concluded ... next time. Stay tuned.

What's next?

So, you're clearing Karazhan. You've been promoted to guild master. You're getting a great second Kara team developing [thanks to guildies taking on some more responsibility, a couple of ex-guild masters and some new recruits]. Thanks to great badge tanking gear, you outgear all the content you do. However, you don't have the toons to start 25 mans within your guild. What do you do?

Well, we've made a start on ZA.

We've started on Gruuls with the help of another guild.

What else?

You might have guessed it... PLAY HORDE!

You've got to be kidding me! A quick snapshot of us in covert operations for the Scryers!

Meet:

Borg's Draenei Shadow Priest, Zenborg;
Jondy's Human Warlock, Jossamine; and
Obe's Human Mage, Konbawa.

Yes, I have a facemelter alt, and he has a plan. Stay tuned, and see it's execution.

Netherwing Drake

Woo Hoo! I finally earned my [Reins of the Onyx Netherwing Drake]!

Nalorak Down: Welcome to ZA

Tonight was our 2nd guild attempt at ZA. We had the trash almost down pat, with a bazillion hunters in the line up, the sound of freezing traps was a pleasant background staccato in the background.

With Jackson joining me on tanking, we gave Nalorak a good pummeling. He coughed up [Robes of Heavenly Purpose] for Moonspirit, which put a sharp dagger into the set bonus for her Primal Mooncloth set!

The photo is from the naked gauntlet attempt, which actually worked on the 2nd attempt. Woo hoo for locks and soulstone. Thanks to Lemmar for suggesting the first gauntlet "workaround" that I've seen work.

The 2nd boss gave us some more trouble, and something to aim at for next time.

Karazhan: Full Clear

Congratulations The Ancients on our first full clear of Karazhan this week.

Night #1

The week got of to a blistering start on Thursday night. After starting at about 1915, we had Attumen down quick and Moroes before 1945. 

We one shotted Maiden and Beanie was rewarded for his dispelling with [Shard of the Virtous] for his healing set. After weeks and weeks of shardless Kara, it just keeps dropping. Probably should have gotten Kal to roll on it, but who figures the shadow priest is going to respec holy for night #2? 

Opera was R&J, and finally Obe got his [Romulo's Poison Vial] and another Ancient makes it to full epic. I think killing Romulo twice might have helped.

Full speed ahead, we downed Curator in our record time: 4m18s, and T4 joy for me after bowing out to Dos last week: [Warbringer Handguards]. 2100. Our quickest trip through Curator by almost an hour! 

We pressed on to Shade, and got him down on our second attempt. Lag and arcane explosions don't mix. Chess was the most fun ever, mostly due to it being on the first night,  and before 10pm.

After some indecision, and discussions on vent not being translated into raid chat... we decided to go Illhoof, with Mortslock [guess which class] and Kalus off healing [two healing to this point] we figured he'd go down. Illhoof proved the hardest yakka, but went down before 2300, giving up Jondy's belt: [Cord of Nature's Sustenance].

A huge night for us all, and set up our full clear for Saturday with only Prince, Netherspite and Nightbane remaining.

Night #2

Porting up to Shade's room is a great way to start the second Kara night. Running into Netherspite's trash is not so good. Who knew an optional boss had that much trash in the way of mandatory bosses?

The line up changed a little for the second night. Obe was unavailable and Kal had respecced holy... Moppet, our regular spriest stepped into Kal's shadowy shoes with [Scryer's Blade of Focus] in hand, complete with soulfrost. Mmmm... soulfrost.

Prince was a one shot, which is inevitable at this point assuming we get flawless infernal placement. Barrath's rolling woes seem to have ended, picking up [Demon Stalker Greathelm]. Jondy was delighted by Kal's gracious gift of [Jade Ring of the Everliving], which cemented full epic!

Netherspite was lots of fun. Seeing this boss for the first time, and working a fantastic strategy to conclusion was very rewarding despite the awful drops. Our last unseen boss downed, and onto full clear we went.

Nightbane was heading for a one shot, until Jondy and I did our simultaneous disconnect of death... Even vent went down, and I logged back into both to deafening silence. The team quickly regrouped and put the bag of bones to bed. Barrath finally replaced the [Felstalker Breastplate] with [Scaled Breastplate of Carnage], and while gemming is nice to tune your itemisation, the epic piece crushes the BOE crafted rare [even if it was made by your wife [we can't all have ebon netherscale armor]]. Seriously. Wear it with pride.

Big thanks to Jondayla, Moonspirit, Dos, Kalus, Obento, Mortslock, Barrath, Elfangor, Beanieone and Moppet for a great effort and our first full clear.

Obe and Borg's Gruuls Adventure

Obe and I got invited into Gruuls for the first time. We got Vent happening and were ready to roll. Although start time was 2pm, the group took about 1/2 an hour to put together and get the 5 groups of 5 [25 man] sorted.

Then there was buffing .... oh the buffing. 

So many ready checks. So many times "only hit ready ... if you are ready" was explained. Then a buff wasn't quite right. "I need Salv" was called. It would start again.

Gruuls is fun because you kill three whole mobs, and you're at the first boss fight. Vent meant that the fights could be explained in detail quickly, and reexplained... and so on. We had to swap out mage tanks, but that was OK... because we got the High King down! Obe and I both got to roll on T4 shoulders but it wasn't to be.

We even got a couple of shots in on Gruul himself, but after a long run the group quickly disintegrated. On paper the investment wasn't quite worth it for 2 badges and a huge repair bill... but we now know all there is to know about Gruuls!

Illhoof

Saturday night saw Prince fall again, and Mortdemuzzie have a clean up on loot Maiden's mits and two T4 pieces in two nights. Nice to see some tanking pieces drop while Mort is tanking.

Illhoof was a hectic and intense fight, and we progressed through it very well since some toons had not even seen him yet. Rebel was a welcome addition, and melted many many imps with their Seed of Corruption. I took to shield slamming the demon chains in an effort to get them down faster, and having a pally healer was great since a bubble can get them straight out.

Barr was well rewarded, after making a wager with me that he wouldn't win anything in Kara for the next couple of weeks. I'm sure he's never been so glad to be so wrong: [Girdle of the Prowler].

With a lock in the mix, he'll be a regular boss for us and hopefully the first boss on night two if we are speedy enough to put Shade to rest to conclude night one.

Prince Malchezar Down!

I repeat, Prince Malchezar down.

After getting through Curator on Thursday night, we started again at Shade. Our quickest clear to shade yet, and a scrambling fight - but we got him down first shot. We didn't even bug him, which is a first for us. Obe tells that 3 or 4 people died to arcane explosion towards the end of the fight, but full points to Lashana who seemed to stay out of trouble and had a full health bar when he finally crumbled.

We got throught to Prince with plenty of time to wreak some havoc. We'd all seen the fight before, so tonight was looking good. First attempt saw some interesting infernal placements, and we wiped. The second attempt. Well this is the second time it's happened to us. Not wanting to name names... but we had a toon stuck out side entrace to Prince.

Third attempt was gold. Good infernal placement, no one dying to enfeeble. A Tank that's buffed to 20k health. I had to move him during the 3rd phase due to infernals but the DPS and healers we well positioned and we got him down.

Check out the family photo - we're all very excited. Some so much, they've moved on down to nightbane already.

To top the night off, I got some awesome loot from Prince, and have finally decked myself out in FULL EPIC gear.

[Gorehowl] was a bit of a bonus, since there was no one else to take it. I really have to respec to arms for just a little bit to test it out properly.

[Helm of the Fallen Defender] lead to [Warbringer Greathelm]!!! With an [Eternal Earthstorm Diamond] in there, shield slaming has never been so much fun. It made [Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600] a MUST BUY.

Finally, to top it all off, my last trinket slot requiring an epic was filled with [Violet Badge] from the Prince quest. Sure it's not as good as [Commander's Badge] but the arcane resistance does come in handy, and you can never have too many trinkets [I've got 5 in my bags and 3 in the bank]. Anyway, I have a feeling I'll have [Commendation of Kael'thas] soon.

A huge thanks to all my guildies who have made this milestone possible. On the day we had Mort, Moon, Elf, Obe, Jondy, Lash, Barrath, Moppet and guest pally healer Val.

It's dangerous to expand on the thank yous, since I know I'll miss some people out... but here goes.

Firstly my wfie Jondy. Uber heals, tireless support and for not switching off every time I talk about the NUMBERS.

To Lash and Barr! It's all your fault I play this game. That I'm in this guild. You've both made playing this game FUN.

Fel and Lis, who kept The Ancients up and running and had the necessary experience to get us started in Kara.

Elf and Obe, for topping the DPS every week. You guys have made it look so easy for new dpsers coming in. You've both made it possible to bring in new toons, 2 heal and still get through the content.

Obe for being a great organiser, supporter and taking the helm while I'm away.

Moonspirit for her rock solid main heals, while shackling, while keeping Elf in line! Her disenchanting, and enchanting. Dispelling while healing. Excelling with a multitude of duties whlist being a Zen influence on the raid.

Mort. For tirelessly adopting the mantra: "what's best for the raid". More respecs than I can count. Bringing in the lock for Prince and forgoing a shot at l33t loot. For sharing the path of the Warrior.

Zev.... and Beanie. Who knew a retadin could get geared for Kara so quickly?

Power and Zand! My nephews. With at least spec or class in common with both you guys, it's fun to bring hurt to Kara with family!

Jondayla's Epic Flight Form

Jondy is pictured above in EPIC Flight Form, shortly after a great run through heroic Sethekk Halls and one shotting the Raven God - Anzu.

Thanks to Obe, Zev and Barrath - we had enough DPS to make the instance a breeze - often allowing me to multi-tank two mobs, then dispatch the trapped mob before turning our attention to Obe's sap.

Jondy had the fight against Anzu down pat, keeping up our sixth member, the eagle totem, throughout the fight. The AOE 300 dps it provides to every target in the room is invaluable for the swarms of birds that attack.

Jondy is now enjoying her herbing runs, and being able to swoop past Obento on the way to terocone is going to be a signt to behold.

Blazefury...

... or why this upgrade is worth 1250g.

With Nether Vortex now BOE, and on our sever about 250g [although I've flipped a couple from 230g - 270g recently] there's never been a better time for a Master Swordsmith to reach the pinnacle of their profession - [Blazefury].

Blacksmithing and Swordsmithing have had a lot of people asking, "Why bother?" They are nerfed professions, they say. Well, I'm very happy with my professions, and here is why!

Firstly Armor. No, I'm not an armorsmith. The only thing useful here is some resistance gear, and I'm not even getting any use out of that right now. However, I've had some no brainer upgrades as I was leveling - so I have no complaints here. Plus... I'm a master swordsmith.

Secondly [Fireguard]. I did not have to hang out in Heroic Mechanar for [The Sun Eater]! I was exalted with Sha'tar well before this dropped for me. Since my philosophy is that a weapon should be about threat not mitigation [that's what armor and shields are for], Fireguard wins hands down. Fireguard was my first epic, and allowed me to concentrate on armor upgrades right from 70. Having this quality of weapon right from word go [or as long as it takes to get the mats together] really can't be understated.

Last of all, [Blazefury].

Is the 5x Nether Vortex upgrade from [Blazeguard] worth it? Yes. Yes it is. Here's why.

Although I don't have it linked on the side of the blog like I should, I am a big fan of Tanking Tips. After reading a post on The Threat Formula, I started to think about my different gear sets, and how to maximise threat. Then I thought about how much threat my new sword was giving me.

The upgrade gives:

+1 Hit Rating

+2 Agility

+3 Stamina

+6.2 DPS [or 86.8 Attack Power]

Most people just look at the stats and look at it as a minor upgrade, forgetting that 14 attack power = 1 DPS. About 90% of the extra threat comes from the raw increase in damage the weapon offers.

Still not convinced?

Let's look at it compared to a "real tanking sword" - [King's Defender] which I also have. Some of might say that it's not a fair comparison, since Blaze is a T5 level weapon based on it being crafted with vortex. Well, vortex is BOE so all bets are off, and I do have both - they are fun to dual wield.

In order to wrangle the most threat out of my gear, and still be tank enough - I've developed a system using Tank Points [use to benchmark the defensive aspects of tank gear] and the Effective Threat Formula. When I swap a threat piece for a tank piece, I want to know - how much extra threat can I generate for the loss in protection [effective health and avoidance/mitigation].

So my experiment was to devise the ratio: threat points gained / 100x tank points lost - and calculate it for my possible gear swaps.

I can post the maths here if people really want... but the results are conclusive:

When I swap [Barbed Choker of Discipline] for [Brooch of Deftness] I am getting less than half as much bang per 100 tank points than swapping [King's Defender] for [Blazefury]. To put that in perspective, wearing the [Brooch of Deftness] is about 4 times more effective at trading protection for threat as any other gear swap I can make right now.

Nightbane

I had a feeling...

We'd had a couple of nights in Kara earlier in the week, and I was nearing 100 badges.  I was saving for the new badge gear, and needed to score an epic chest or legs in order to tip the scales one way or the other.

Curator was no help. His [Wrynn Dynasty Greaves] hadn't dropped. We couldn't persuade him earlier in the week by dispatching him record time. I was beginning to suspect he'd be getting the same treatment as Attumen - me getting the alternative [and far superior] badge gear, and shield slamming him at just the right angle so he could peek at the reason he was finding it hard to doge or parry me [badge bracers have expertise rating] - buried beneath Maidens gloves.

Then I got that feeling...

It was the end of the week. Kara was about to reset. A bunch of us had recently downed heroic bosses in order to summon Nightbane. What could be the harm in getting a group together to down him... after all... I had a feeling.

I could feel the pull of [Panzar'Thar Breastplate] and I had a feeling that it would drop. First kill. Today.

So the organisation began. Last minute, trying to gauge interest in a quick raid into Kara for Nightbane only. Obe was in. Moon was in. Elf was going to be on late afternoon. Jondy was excited, but had that look: "don't get ahead of yourself". 

Getting the group together was a little up and down. Moppet came on, so one more guildy saved to our run. The first two pugs didn't last long after hearing it was our first attempt. Then we got a string of responses, and a warrior tank that had almost nothing but badge gear. The first thing I checked was the chest. He had [Chestplate of Stoicism] the 100 badge chest from the Isle. I was never more happy to be out geared, and we had ourselves a main tank with Nightbane experience.

Watching Nightbane circle was quite a rush, and then we were into it. Dodging charred earth, bashing skeletons, watching our fellow raiders die, be battle res'd by battle hardened druids, one to fall once more in battle. 16 minutes later Nightbane was down, and I was staring at a master looter pane with [Panzar'Thar Breastplate] in it. w00t.

Before I could even assign loot, our pugs had grabbed their well earned badges, gave a quick 'grats' and were gone. Just another couple of badges and shot at the loot table. I was still gazing at plate and looking toward my now 96 high pile of badges.

Getting Nightbane down secured my next 100 badge spend on: [Sunguards Legplates] and takes me one step closer full epic. It also had me rethink gear sets and enchants. That's for another post, but now that I'm over expertise capped - Attumen's bracers [they did finally drop] get a +hit gem and a run anytime not up against a raid boss. 

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15294 Health 16419 Armor 19.37% Dodge 16.45% Parry 27.15% Block 506 Defense

The New Black...

Now that "The Ancients" 7pm Kara group has tried [and suceeded] with two healers, it seems two healers is the new black.

Curator was downed the quickest I've had the pleasure of experiencing [4m22s] interupting is second evocate only to attempt to pound me to death. That of course didn't work, since with plenty of mana left, Jondy and Moon were in "overheal" mode, and we danced over Curators corpse. 

Lash got the new record for quickest double epic for the same slot, with [Gloves of Quickening] from Maiden and [Demon Stalker Gauntlets] from Curator. We continue to struggle with T4 drops for warriors, priests and druids - since they make up at least 60-70% of each raid [2 shadow priests, 1 holy priest, 1 resto druid, 1 feral druid and a tank and dps warrior last night].

Despite some confusion, lack of healing [the default scapegoat] wasn't the problem with Shade. Moving in  flamewreath is a wipe [as I proved week before last]. Standing in the blizzard turns a challenging healing job into heals extreme edition(tm), and anyone new to the fight should to be allowed one arcane explosion to become acquainted with the full spectrum of the Shade experience. If we get to the elementals with everyone up and healthy - they are just a distraction - 5 fears and 2 tanks really ought to be enough - Warlocks welcome but not required.

Lashana's First Kara Run

Lashana [Barrath's wife] came into Kara for the first time tonight. Mort repecced to prot to tank, and we even had to pug to replace our favourite rogue. After a slow and shaky start through to Attumen, we finally picked up the pace and found ourselves facing Oz in Opera.

It was Lash's night, since she picked up Legacy [pictured above]! We had 3 hunters on the run, including Barrath. Lash won the roll with an impressive 92, and the veteran hunters were gracious in defeat.

We are going to have to pick up the DPS for Curator on Saturday.

There's been plenty happening with Borg and Jondy, and since I've finished some *overdue* paperwork, I'll get back to blogging.

-----------------------------------
14554 Health 15315 Armor 19.23% Dodge 15.96% Parry 23.82% Block 499 Defense

Jondy's Badge Gear [for Resto Druid]

Introducing my wife's main, Jondayla. A fully resto tree of life druid, whose lifeblooms have sustained me through many an instance.

I wanted to get a proper, concise, relevant badge gear list for Jondy and since wowhead linking works so well on the blog, the best way to compare them all is to present them here.

Slot	Item	Current	Badges	Upgrade?
Back	Bishop's Cloak	White Remedy Cape	25
	Kharmaa's Shroud of Hope	White Remedy Cape	60
Chest	Blessed Elunite Coverings	Moonglade Robe	75
	Shroud of Nature's Harmony	Moonglade Robe	100
Feet	Moon-walkers	Boots of the Pious	60
Hands	Oakleaf-Spun Handguards	Gloves of Preservation	75
Head	Mask of Primal Power	Hood of Primal Life	75
Legs	Pants of Splendid Recovery	Pants of Living Growth	75
	Grovewalker's Leggings	Pants of Living Growth	100
Shoulders	Gnarled Ironwood Pauldrons	Lunar-Claw Pauldrons	60
Waist	Starfire Waistband	The Sleeper's Cord	60
Wrist	Gargon's Bracers of Peaceful Slumber	Bracers of the White Stag	35
Ring	Band of Halos	Violet Signet	25
	Anveena's Touch	Spiritualist's Mark of the Sha'tar	60
Off Hand	Voodoo Shaker	-	35
	Tears of Heaven	-	25
Main Hand	Gavel of Naaru Blessings	Seer's Cane	150
Neck	Necklace of Eternal Hope	Sethekk Oracle's Focus	25
Idol	Idol of Budding Life	Harold's Rejuvenating Broach	20
Trinket	Essence of the Martyr	Alchemist's Stone	41
	Battlemaster's Perseverance	Scarab of the Infinite Cycle	75

... Now to decide on an order to purchase these... badge's of justice don't just grow on trees. Although Jondy just got one today in a package from the new 2.4 dailies!