The Irregular Update Strikes Again

And so here I am, struggling to ignore my laziness and blog about happenings in WoW. You know, it seems these updates are coming monthly. I might have to follow Zev's tactic and go for a weekly update. Ah well, I'll get to the post.

It should go without saying that there's been a fair bit going on that I haven't blogged about, so I'll catch up on it here.

Makolan's geared up a little more (now def-capped, 24k health, 25k armour, 38% avoidance) and has helped me see some more content. I've run maybe half of the heroics, and had some fill-in spots OTing Naxx-10 (the 4 wings), VoA 10 and 25, and Sarth 10 and 25. Tanking is another subject on which I'm not quite sure of my opinions. In theory, I should like it - I'm an altoholic, and love trying different classes and roles. I've done some heroics, gotten some lucky drops, some raid spots (thanks Borg!) and some advice. I won't say I performed well, but I've performed decently (I hope). But, unlike healing and dpsing, tanking just doesn't really click for me. Sure, it's fun - and I enjoy seeing fights from a different perspective - but, opposite to Adi and Elf, I don't seem to have found my niche. It probably also doesn't help that more than half of the Naxx bosses involve spawning adds, which has quickly become a pet peeve of mine when tanking. I could still get the swing of tanking; I know that it takes longer to learn than heals or dps. It's just that, for now, I haven't quite fit into the tanking scene yet. TL;DR version - I enjoy tanking, but don't perform as well in the role as I do with healing and dps'ing. Mikeymowse, the guild's resident abusable dwarf, is currently OTing Naxx, getting him even more geared for starting up Naxx G2 again, and giving me some time to kick back, and work on some alts.

Which brings me to the next part of the post.

After a long, low-dps quest-spree, Adi's made his way to 80.(:D)I bought a Titansteel Guardian from Trade, which, along with some quest/AH blues, got me nice and heroic-geared (thanks for the enchants, Moon!). I yesterday tried my luck in UK and Nexus heroics with guildies to start off, and am already finding it easier than tanking them. I added another two to the list today, with H VH and H GD (neither of which I had been able to do on Makolan so far). On the subject of the latter, I was able to complete the Elders of the Dungeons achievements - and, with it, got the Elder title!...which is probably the only achievement I'm ever going to bother with. Still, simultaneous achievement-ding is pretty fun. Below: Elder Adirix and Elder Tofuman.


I'm hoping to gear up Adi a little more, and spend some time reuniting myself with Elf. So far, Adi's sitting a little under 15k mana, and has 1560 SP/100 Mp5/ 21% crit. Elf is still 72, although at least I logged onto him the other day. I tried out Survival, which went quite well - 1400 test dummy dps (compared to the 900-ish of BM). Hopefully, I can - in addition to gearing Adi - convince myself to get on Elf, and level him to 80. If only for nostalgia's sake.

On a topic that less pleasant, though, I'll have to slow down my WoWing some more. School starts back tomorrow (/cry) and I have exams this year, so I'm hoping I'll still be able to fit in some decent WoW time in between sessions of 'study'. :P

Also, some shoutouts to the guild - grats to Liself, who received the mount from Strath while going for the elder. :D On the topic of lucky mounts, Moon's also managed to get the Green Proto-drake from her first Mysterious Egg.

The Ancients are now also going along at a quite good rate through WoTLK raiding, too - there's only Sapph/KT and Malygos to go until we've downed the 10-man raiding front.

And, to finish off, some screenshots of my - admittedly mismatched-looking - toons:

Elf:
Adi:
Mako:

...Pink? -.-

...Yes, pink. But for now - ignore the title. I'll get to that later.

Last night, The Ancients - along with some members from other guilds and PUG's - arrived at Gruul's Lair a bit past 7:00. It was my first time healing - I'd been lucky enough to have Adirix accepted into the raid group, and was eager to see how a 25 man would look from a healer's perspective.

As we walked through the portal, the usual near-endless buffing commenced. Then, we thought all the fuss was over - but, what would Gruul's be without people forgetting to stand right behind the Lair Brute?
Needless to say, this happened just about every pull.

After raid leaders and assistants trying - and failing - to convince people to stand behind the Lair Brute, we got to High King. Konbawa changed into his badly colour-coordinated stamina greens, and, after re-explaining the tactics, we were off.
We managed to down High King on our first attempt, and I found the healing to be quite a welcomed change from spamming Steady Shot.

We then - with more Lair Brute problems, of course - progressed onto Gruul. And can you guess what the final randomised pull before Gruul was?
Yep. Three Lair Brutes.

Running in knowing the tactics for Gruul - and yet bewildered on what to do as a healer - was a quite interesting experience. Unlike for High King, though, healing instead of DPS wasn't quite so fun. Here's what was going through my head, and across the screen, as the Gruul fight went on:
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
Ooh, I've found someone in range to heal! Yay!
*Start casting*
*Gruul silences*
Damn.
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
Oh good, another person to heal, and Gruul can't silence yet...:D
*Start casting*
*Gruul uses Ground Slam*
Aww, you gotta be kidding.

Well, you get the idea. But, as with HKM, we managed to down Gruul, first shot. Grats to all who got loot from Gruul and High King - also, I managed to snag myself a pair of Justicar Leggings.

At that time, it was around 9:00, and only two people had to go, so we decided we'd press on for a try at Magtheridon. This was going to be the more difficult one - we'd only had one attempt, last week - which I couldn't go to anyway. But, it was worth the try for this week.

After finding a replacement healer and dps, we were set, and got quickly to HFC for summons. We rushed through the trash, and, before we knew it, the massive Pit Lord was standing in front of us. From there, some people got confused as the cubes and cave-in were explained in depth - but, the fight is simpler in practice than in theory, as long as the cube-clickers time well. Our first attempt got Mag to a near 11%, and after getting back in the instance and making a few changes, we were set for the second attempt. This didn't go quite so well as the first - with Magtheridon staying at 20-ish percent health, but, by now, we knew what to do. Our third attempt, with just a few minor tweaks to the strategy, managed to down the big slug with near perfection - only one death! ^.^

After we rezzed, the loot was again distributed - and, taking a look, I was amazed at the amount. A Thundering Greathelm, three T4 tokens, Magtheridon's Head - which turns into an epic ring and 3k rep - as well as a 20 slot bag, a sack of gems to distribute to the lucky ones, 3 BoJ...and the Aegis of the Vindicator. Loot was spread widely, and again, congratulations to everyone who got some - especially Barrath, who really cleaned up loot in both Gruul's and Mag's. Also, I envy all those who got their Champion of the Naaru titles.

The thing is, though - I'd say not many people would envy me. You see, I was 'lucky' enough to get the shield. Great!, I thought. I collected my BoJ, the shield, and left the raid, and Mort was nice enough to enchant the shield for me. I thanked him, then equipped my shield - and it should suffice to say that this is where the title of the post comes in. I mean, honestly! Does anyone have a slightest idea of a reason that an evil Pit Lord's shield would be flourescent pink! Why!? /QQ.

Pink shield aside, though - it was a great raiding night, and thanks to all that tanked, healed and dps'ed up a storm. Until next time!

Elf.