I logged in the next day with a slight hope that I would get invited back to the PUG. And lo and behold, I was - I got a whisper from the Revolution guys asking if I was coming back with them for the Plague wing. I accepted the invite and found myself with the same raid members.
The Plague wing was a little harder than the Spider wing, to be honest. I absolutely hated the safety dance, as raiding from Asia means I'm always going to be a little bit lagged when running from one side of the room to another. The other fights were more forgettable, but I do recall a steeper learning curve than the Spider wing's.
After clearing the Plague wing, we started clearing the Military Wing, but were abruptly stopped when the Revolution members asked if we would be interested in coming along for an Archavon-25 raid. We all accepted, and pretty soon I found myself in Lake Wintergrasp, getting ready to down the infamous "loot pinata".
We didn't make it. Twice.
At one point in the second attempt I figured it out - we didn't have enough DPS. They needed two people to volunteer to swap out for DPS so that they could get him down. As my friend the holy paladin volunteered first (and as I was a fourth tank, utterly unnecessary in the Archavon fight), I also volunteered to be replaced. The Revolution guys asked me if I would be available for a follow-up raid and I said I'd try - it was past noon and I was hungry, after all.
And that ended my first weekend of raiding in Northrend. I hope Revolution was successful in downing Archavon.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
WoW Update - 8 Dec 2008: First Raids
Well, it would be nicer if they'd been GoV raids, but that wasn't possible this past weekend. I was logged in by 8:30 am local time, which was perhaps not the best thing for me to have done as I had gotten home at well past 3 the night before (and was massively drunk to boot). Raiding hung over is just as bad as raiding drunk. But I'd had a rough week at work and I really, really wanted to step into Naxxramas.
Except no one else seemed to want to.
At 9 am I ticked on "LFG Naxxramas" and typed "Noob tank - 24,000 HP, def capped" into the comments box. Within ten minutes I had a whisper from a rogue asking if I'd be interested in coming to Naxx-10. I said yes and got a raid invite.
The raid was already full by the time I got to Naxxramas. The raid lineup consisted of mostly raider alts and new 80s from Revolution, a raiding guild I'd seen around but didn't know much about. Apparently they'd run Naxxramas-25 the night before and wanted to get some experience in Naxx-10. Tanking along with me was a protection Warrior. Healing us were a holy Priest, a holy Paladin, and a resto Druid. And our DPS for the night were two Rogues, a Mage, a Warlock and a shadow Priest. I bonded a little bit with the holy Paladin (it doesn't hurt to make friends with your healer) and was surprised to find that she was, in fact, a she.
As I had more hit points than the Warrior, it was decided that I would be the main tank. I wasn't so excited about that - I was, after all, a self-confessed noob who didn't know the fights - and in the end we wound up relying more on the Warrior as main tank (although I got to tank some of the fights). We cleared the Spider wing with some difficulty, then moved on to the Obsidian Sanctum. Sartharion went down like a house of cards.
Even though I didn't get any loot this run, it was all worth it - the experience of raiding Naxxramas taught me a lot about what to expect for GoV. I won't lie: Naxxramas-10 is hard. I don't think everyone will be ready. But I'm excited about raiding again. Has it really been less than a month since Wrath of the Lich King dropped?
Except no one else seemed to want to.
At 9 am I ticked on "LFG Naxxramas" and typed "Noob tank - 24,000 HP, def capped" into the comments box. Within ten minutes I had a whisper from a rogue asking if I'd be interested in coming to Naxx-10. I said yes and got a raid invite.
The raid was already full by the time I got to Naxxramas. The raid lineup consisted of mostly raider alts and new 80s from Revolution, a raiding guild I'd seen around but didn't know much about. Apparently they'd run Naxxramas-25 the night before and wanted to get some experience in Naxx-10. Tanking along with me was a protection Warrior. Healing us were a holy Priest, a holy Paladin, and a resto Druid. And our DPS for the night were two Rogues, a Mage, a Warlock and a shadow Priest. I bonded a little bit with the holy Paladin (it doesn't hurt to make friends with your healer) and was surprised to find that she was, in fact, a she.
As I had more hit points than the Warrior, it was decided that I would be the main tank. I wasn't so excited about that - I was, after all, a self-confessed noob who didn't know the fights - and in the end we wound up relying more on the Warrior as main tank (although I got to tank some of the fights). We cleared the Spider wing with some difficulty, then moved on to the Obsidian Sanctum. Sartharion went down like a house of cards.
Even though I didn't get any loot this run, it was all worth it - the experience of raiding Naxxramas taught me a lot about what to expect for GoV. I won't lie: Naxxramas-10 is hard. I don't think everyone will be ready. But I'm excited about raiding again. Has it really been less than a month since Wrath of the Lich King dropped?
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Raiding Minimums for Naxxramas-10
As expected, I wound up looking for a PUG for Naxx-10 this morning instead of running with GoV. More on how that turned out later, but on reflection I'd like to put down what I think the minimum values for Naxxramas raiders should be.
Tanks
20,000 HP minimum, and of course more is better.
Defense capped (540).
Avoidance as high as possible without sacrficing Defense or STA.
Healers
14,500 Mana minimum. Again, more is better.
1350 spellpower minimum. But if your healers only have this much spellpower, take 3 healers and beef up your tanks and dps.
DPS
1,200 DPS minimum. We wiped repeatedly in the Plague Wing due to one DPSer bringing only 900 DPS to the table. 1,200 DPS will ensure that bosses go down before healers' mana pools empty completely. And of course, more is always better.
Tanks
20,000 HP minimum, and of course more is better.
Defense capped (540).
Avoidance as high as possible without sacrficing Defense or STA.
Healers
14,500 Mana minimum. Again, more is better.
1350 spellpower minimum. But if your healers only have this much spellpower, take 3 healers and beef up your tanks and dps.
DPS
1,200 DPS minimum. We wiped repeatedly in the Plague Wing due to one DPSer bringing only 900 DPS to the table. 1,200 DPS will ensure that bosses go down before healers' mana pools empty completely. And of course, more is always better.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Out of Synch
As I have been effectively shouted down on the GoV forums for looking for a Naxx-10 group this weekend, I assume that I'm free to do as I please. Which means that by no means should I feel guilty about getting majorly wasted on Friday night and sleeping in on Saturday morning instead of logging to get a run going.
Other things I will not feel guilty about should I choose to undertake them:
1) A quick (or prolonged, one never knows) respec to Holy to work on my healing spec. Why, when I'm doing ok as a Prot specced pally? Because this is the way it's going to be in the future, with dual specs in place: Prot for 10-mans and Holy for 25-mans.
My healing gear is almost entirely blue, with two notable exceptions: a green trinket that gives me +41 INT, and my purple chest from level 70. It's probably good enough for a heroic run, but I won't know for sure until I respec and try it out.
2) A Naxx PUG. I'm not too proud to find my own raid. LF9M Naxx-10, awesome group so far, PST.
3) An extended let's-level-Froufrou session. Poor Frou's still at level 71, at par with Malago. Even Silverwisp has overtaken her. Maybe it's time I gave my favorite gnome some love.
4) More work on Avi-tank. This is not likely to happen. I'm already defense capped (uncrittable). I've also got 24k HP unbuffed, so no need to work on more hit points. I am NOT block capped yet (still at a lowly 75.5%) so that's what I should be working on next - but working on block caps needs a gear strategy, which necessitates raiding, so that's clearly out of the question.
5) A beach trip, effectively blowing off WoW for the weekend. I might just do this, except for the gray skies outside. I'd have to go pretty far to find a beach with sunny skies in this weather. Is Batangas far enough?
Bah.
Other things I will not feel guilty about should I choose to undertake them:
1) A quick (or prolonged, one never knows) respec to Holy to work on my healing spec. Why, when I'm doing ok as a Prot specced pally? Because this is the way it's going to be in the future, with dual specs in place: Prot for 10-mans and Holy for 25-mans.
My healing gear is almost entirely blue, with two notable exceptions: a green trinket that gives me +41 INT, and my purple chest from level 70. It's probably good enough for a heroic run, but I won't know for sure until I respec and try it out.
2) A Naxx PUG. I'm not too proud to find my own raid. LF9M Naxx-10, awesome group so far, PST.
3) An extended let's-level-Froufrou session. Poor Frou's still at level 71, at par with Malago. Even Silverwisp has overtaken her. Maybe it's time I gave my favorite gnome some love.
4) More work on Avi-tank. This is not likely to happen. I'm already defense capped (uncrittable). I've also got 24k HP unbuffed, so no need to work on more hit points. I am NOT block capped yet (still at a lowly 75.5%) so that's what I should be working on next - but working on block caps needs a gear strategy, which necessitates raiding, so that's clearly out of the question.
5) A beach trip, effectively blowing off WoW for the weekend. I might just do this, except for the gray skies outside. I'd have to go pretty far to find a beach with sunny skies in this weather. Is Batangas far enough?
Bah.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
WoW Update - 2 Dec 2008: I'm Sick, Damn It
I played way too much World of Warcraft this past weekend, and now I'm calling in sick. Besides the usual ailments (eyestrain and hand fatigue) I'm running a low fever and my throat is sore. The fever and sore throat are probably due to a bug that's going around, but I've no doubt that my system was compromised due to too much time spent playing and not enough time resting.
But what a glorious weekend it was. I hit almost every goal I set for myself. Here's a breakdown of what happened -
1) Jewelcrafting to 420. Initially my objective was to reach level 400 so I could make myself a Figurine - Monarch Crab. But thanks to a few lucky drops in instance runs, I found myself with no less than 3 meta gem recipes in my possession that required 420 to learn. So I hunkered down and farmed ore to prospect. It took a day and a half, but it was worth my time.
2) Instances! Aranash wanted to run instances, so in one day we ran five. In rapid succession, we ran Drak'tharon Keep, Gundrak, Halls of Stone, Halls of Lightning, and the Oculus, pausing briefly to finish the Ampitheater of Anguish questline. Unfortunately, at this point he wasn't quite level 80 yet, so we didn't get to run any of these on heroic.
After he logged out we put another group together to run the daily heroic - Caverns of Time: The Culling of Old Stratholme. I grouped with Gwennell, Azmuth (a Death Knight), Grantilis and Nesian. We thought we'd have more trouble with the instance, but instead we just powered our way through. This was a pretty incredible group and I'm glad to have been a part of it. Between Azmuth, Grant and myself we were able to AoE down the undead swarms fairly quickly, and when the mobs started going after Nesian Gwen would shift to bear form and tank them while I tied up the elite undead waves.
The next day we had some trouble putting together a heroic group as there were only 4 80s on. So Rothgarth pulled me into a PUG heroic Anjol-Nerub run. It didn't go as smoothly as the CoT run, but we had awesome DPS and heals, so we finished the instance pretty handily.
And on the last day of this 3-day holiday we were able to get together a group for heroic Drak'tharon Keep. It was a really tough instance on heroic. We'd planned to run a second instance, but finishing the first took so much time that people had to log out once it was over.
3) Defense to >540. Instancing gave me reputation with the Wyrmrest Accord, and of course I got some pretty sweet drops from all the instances we'd been running. Over the weekend I managed to get a Breastplate of the Solemn Council, Bracers of Reverence, Gal'darah's Signet, a Solid Platinum Band, and a Seal of the Pantheon. As a result, I'm now defense capped and pretty solidly above 20,000 health - I'm at 23,000 now, as a matter of fact.
So I didn't get my reputation up with the Hodors (Hodor hodor hodor), but I more than made up for it.
But what a glorious weekend it was. I hit almost every goal I set for myself. Here's a breakdown of what happened -
1) Jewelcrafting to 420. Initially my objective was to reach level 400 so I could make myself a Figurine - Monarch Crab. But thanks to a few lucky drops in instance runs, I found myself with no less than 3 meta gem recipes in my possession that required 420 to learn. So I hunkered down and farmed ore to prospect. It took a day and a half, but it was worth my time.
2) Instances! Aranash wanted to run instances, so in one day we ran five. In rapid succession, we ran Drak'tharon Keep, Gundrak, Halls of Stone, Halls of Lightning, and the Oculus, pausing briefly to finish the Ampitheater of Anguish questline. Unfortunately, at this point he wasn't quite level 80 yet, so we didn't get to run any of these on heroic.
After he logged out we put another group together to run the daily heroic - Caverns of Time: The Culling of Old Stratholme. I grouped with Gwennell, Azmuth (a Death Knight), Grantilis and Nesian. We thought we'd have more trouble with the instance, but instead we just powered our way through. This was a pretty incredible group and I'm glad to have been a part of it. Between Azmuth, Grant and myself we were able to AoE down the undead swarms fairly quickly, and when the mobs started going after Nesian Gwen would shift to bear form and tank them while I tied up the elite undead waves.
The next day we had some trouble putting together a heroic group as there were only 4 80s on. So Rothgarth pulled me into a PUG heroic Anjol-Nerub run. It didn't go as smoothly as the CoT run, but we had awesome DPS and heals, so we finished the instance pretty handily.
And on the last day of this 3-day holiday we were able to get together a group for heroic Drak'tharon Keep. It was a really tough instance on heroic. We'd planned to run a second instance, but finishing the first took so much time that people had to log out once it was over.
3) Defense to >540. Instancing gave me reputation with the Wyrmrest Accord, and of course I got some pretty sweet drops from all the instances we'd been running. Over the weekend I managed to get a Breastplate of the Solemn Council, Bracers of Reverence, Gal'darah's Signet, a Solid Platinum Band, and a Seal of the Pantheon. As a result, I'm now defense capped and pretty solidly above 20,000 health - I'm at 23,000 now, as a matter of fact.
So I didn't get my reputation up with the Hodors (Hodor hodor hodor), but I more than made up for it.
Friday, November 28, 2008
WoW Update - 28 Nov 2008: Gearing Up For Naxx
I dinged 80 two nights ago and rushed to Stormwind to respec. Sandbox hasn't been working particularly well for me, so the only way I could identify gear holes was to actually spec protection and wear the gear.
I had a lot of help from Rothgarth, who loaned me some titansteel, Grantilis, who crafted the epic tanking set for me, and Gwennell, who made me a tanking ring. The result put me at more than 20,000 hit points, which was my target, but less than 540 defense (689 defense rating), which is now a problem for me to address.
So here are my goals for Avi, which she needs to hit by next Saturday morning:
1) Run Gundrak for the blue tanking quest ring. If possible, run Gundrak enough to get the blue tanking ring drop.
2) Level JC to 400 to get the 2 STA trinket items. At the moment my trinkets are pitiful. One is a level 70 epic without stamina (just parry). One is a level 74 blue that increases crit rating and is therefore useless.
And the secondary goals:
1) Level Wyrmrest Accord to Revered to get a Breastplate of the Solemn Council.
2) Level Sons of Hodor... er, Hodir to Honored for a Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle.
I hope we can get some instances in this weekend. I've been without a good healer for a while and it's starting to grate.
I had a lot of help from Rothgarth, who loaned me some titansteel, Grantilis, who crafted the epic tanking set for me, and Gwennell, who made me a tanking ring. The result put me at more than 20,000 hit points, which was my target, but less than 540 defense (689 defense rating), which is now a problem for me to address.
So here are my goals for Avi, which she needs to hit by next Saturday morning:
1) Run Gundrak for the blue tanking quest ring. If possible, run Gundrak enough to get the blue tanking ring drop.
2) Level JC to 400 to get the 2 STA trinket items. At the moment my trinkets are pitiful. One is a level 70 epic without stamina (just parry). One is a level 74 blue that increases crit rating and is therefore useless.
And the secondary goals:
1) Level Wyrmrest Accord to Revered to get a Breastplate of the Solemn Council.
2) Level Sons of Hodor... er, Hodir to Honored for a Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle.
I hope we can get some instances in this weekend. I've been without a good healer for a while and it's starting to grate.
Grateful
Allow me to take inspiration from the Wowhead blog and say I'm grateful for World of Warcraft.
(And no, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines, but it's a really fantastic idea. A day to be thankful, how great is that?)
In a time when finances are heavy on my mind, WoW is the most cost-effective entertainment I have. It lets me keep in touch with distant friends, make new friends from places I've never been, and participate in storylines that make me feel like I'm part of something greater than myself.
I'm grateful for friends who are with me both online and off, who share a beer with me while swapping stories about instances and gear. I'm grateful for people who get why I need to have Wowhead and Wowwiki bookmarked and who spend nearly as much time as I do playing around with Sandbox and a Talent Calculator.
I'm grateful for a steady job that allows me to continue playing World of Warcraft, and where I have made friends who also play WoW (and not a few of who now play with me on Bloodhoof). I'm grateful for being able to work at a company that attracts other gamers.
I'm grateful for my beautiful wife and my loving family, without whose support I could not continue to play World of Warcraft. I'll occasionally skip a raid to go out and do something in the real world, but from their point of view it's really quite the opposite - I most often give up the real world to go raiding or instancing or farming. And they love me and support me nonetheless.
I'm grateful for my Guildmates, new and old, for the social experience of WoW. I'm grateful especially to the officers and raid leaders for their time and dedication. I'm grateful to the unseen multitudes who work on the resources that support my WoW experience - community contributors, wiki writers, bloggers, forum posters.
And of course I am grateful for Blizzard. I admire their dedication to making an already great game an even better experience for their players with each patch and expansion. I may not agree with every action they take, but I understand where they're coming from.
Thank you, everyone.
(And no, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines, but it's a really fantastic idea. A day to be thankful, how great is that?)
In a time when finances are heavy on my mind, WoW is the most cost-effective entertainment I have. It lets me keep in touch with distant friends, make new friends from places I've never been, and participate in storylines that make me feel like I'm part of something greater than myself.
I'm grateful for friends who are with me both online and off, who share a beer with me while swapping stories about instances and gear. I'm grateful for people who get why I need to have Wowhead and Wowwiki bookmarked and who spend nearly as much time as I do playing around with Sandbox and a Talent Calculator.
I'm grateful for a steady job that allows me to continue playing World of Warcraft, and where I have made friends who also play WoW (and not a few of who now play with me on Bloodhoof). I'm grateful for being able to work at a company that attracts other gamers.
I'm grateful for my beautiful wife and my loving family, without whose support I could not continue to play World of Warcraft. I'll occasionally skip a raid to go out and do something in the real world, but from their point of view it's really quite the opposite - I most often give up the real world to go raiding or instancing or farming. And they love me and support me nonetheless.
I'm grateful for my Guildmates, new and old, for the social experience of WoW. I'm grateful especially to the officers and raid leaders for their time and dedication. I'm grateful to the unseen multitudes who work on the resources that support my WoW experience - community contributors, wiki writers, bloggers, forum posters.
And of course I am grateful for Blizzard. I admire their dedication to making an already great game an even better experience for their players with each patch and expansion. I may not agree with every action they take, but I understand where they're coming from.
Thank you, everyone.
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