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.