Tanking adventures

Whats new-

I'm kind of in the spot where nothing really exciting can happen unless I get to raid. I finally got my GS up to 5k by getting the trinket Glyph of Indomitablity which isn't a great heroic trinket but decent for raids. Currently with the brewfest going on, I have dual stam trinkets if I want which gives me options.

Joined a guild-

Wait what? Yes I was already in a guild but I joined a guild which I can raid with. The recruitment post was really cool, they were recent server transfers and all "light of dawn". They post said they were planning on raiding two times a week and wanted competent but laid back back raiders who knew their class still wanted advancement for Cata.

I applied, did the interview and got the invite. They told me I was going to be an off-tank as long as my gear could move along which it should because most tanks in raiding guilds are 264/251 geared easy with only tiny pieces to replace. They had a few small questions for me about prot and spec....etc.
They seem very cool for the most part 'leet but past the hard core raids in Wrath at least.

Then the guy who invited me asked on vent, you going to be on for a few? I said sure, just doing another heroic to get my trinket. He then said, "good, let me get my shammy and I can run one with you". I was joking and said, watch we get Occulus and you will have no clue on how I tank in there. Guess what?

We got occ.

I jokingly said, lets do another so you can see how I tank in a place that give you a better idea. We qued again and got HoS which sucks because of the gauntlet which is less of a tank check and more of a "IR DPS let me hit the mobs when they show up" at this point in the game.

All I can say about this guy and his Shammy was, WOW. He did ridiculous dps, I mean out of this world. In heroics w/o BL he did 9k dps on bosses and almost 10k on trash. I did ok at holding threat but for the most part he killed the mob before he could get aggro. I salved him on ever boss fight. He was testing me no doubt. I'm competent enough tank to know threat a shammy draws w/o holding back isn't my fault. I couldn't help feeling I slightly failed his test.

In HoS the hunter grabbed a Golum before I could get him back a 3 pack ran past me, so I wasn't perfect on that pull, which no I didn't need to be but felt bad I let a few get past me.

I looked at his gear after the run as we were chatting and he was 277 in most slots. If he did have 264 it was best in slot or side grade. I said to him, "I'm kinda proud of myself for hold aggro after looking at your gear" his response makes me rethink me being in the "laid back" guild. He told me "you did ok, need to work on a few thing and a bit more threat".

Tanking Adventures

Updates:

Well my goal of getting into ICC at around 30 hours of play time has past. Due to a few pieces of gear, I could not get GS anywhere near the level where RL would talk to me. My server is HUGE and I'm learning with HUGE servers, there are a ton of players who have alts who will log to get spots for their alts. The other thing I have come across is, when people are putting together 10 man ICC's they want HM's, so I get "sorry if it were normal, it wouldn't be an issue". Sooner or later thou, I'll get into ICC.

I just want to mention, as I geared this toon DPS and my groups have been a ton more tolerant and I haven't run into the "baddie w/the blue gear" nearly as much as I did with other toons I've put thru the LFG system. Could it be people are getting the social aspect of 10 minute friends?

Currently stats:
GS: 4976 (I hate that stat but its a feel of where I'm at)
Instances entered: 205
Deaths: 63
Def: 540 (690)
Damage taken: 74,689,136

Me the raid leader?

I was sitting in trade after doing my JC daily looking for a ICC 10 and WG just finished, LFM of VOA was being spammed. After a few minutes a LFM Tank for VOA 10. I sent the tell and got the invite! I was shocked no, GS? Ach? ETC... the only thing the RL said was, "you know its a full clear right?" "NP" I respond, I need the badges anyway.

We zone in, buff up and start the trash. We do Emalon 1st, my co-tank is a warrior. He is part of the "GOGOGO" crew, he says nothing to me, now...silly me...I'm a pally tank so I go in 1st, like he told me and grab the adds, and he follows me. He then taunts the adds and we wipe. Yes, *hangs head in shame* we in the era of free gear wiped on a T8 boss in 10 man. He sends me a tell, "you have more HP's, take the boss." I say "Ok, sure, NP but I'm a pally and never seen a warrior grab the adds, I've always just done it". He says, "ya just do it my way and try to keep up".

OK

I say in raid "sorry for the mix up, we are fixed up now the adds won't be an issue". He tells me "GOGOGOG" again. I send him a tell, if you want adds you have to go first and I'll taunt boss off you. Well, that was the only time he worried about aggro, cause the newb crew that we were, killed all the adds on the first Overcharge, the DPS AOE'd all the mobs dead, adds were now everywhere and the warrior, was not taunting. I just grabbed them all and tanked the whole thing. I've done it before but when I overgeared the place w/healers I trust. My health alert was beeping every hit. Boss dies, I live and loot is given.

Other tank says, I have to AFK, take 5. In VoA we are taking breaks.

We go to Korolan, I send the other tank a tell "I'll grab him, pull him in the corner, just stand on me and move out of flame" guess what he didn't do? Yes I had to tell him "move" or "flame" or he stood there like a BOT. Both healers died to...guess? Fire! And I looked at my DPS meter, I was 4th in dps. You did read that right, I was 4th in DPS on non undead/demon mobs and basically single target. OH MY.

We go to Archavon, I get aggro and snatched and thrown and guess what, the other tank doesn't taunt. 2 DPS die and  send him a tell, as I'm going thru the air "TAUNT". Rez's incoming.

On to Toravon and raid lights up with "gogogogo".

NO! I say. Mark 1 mob, the RL marks me. I pull and hope the other tank grabs one of the adds, I'm not geared enough to take both for long, or so I thought. Cause the other tank, didn't grab an add, he basically dps'd.

Before pull I say "kill frost orbs" and send the tank a tell, "at 4 stacks, taunt off me. I don't care what is going on, you have to taunt at 4 or we will wipe". At 4 stacks, I have aggro, taunt tattle isn't showing his taunt. I send him a tell "TAUNT", still nothing, I'm at 7 stacks now. One more tell and nothing, I have to bubble. OH MY! He gets to 4, I taunt, he taunts back. I taunt again and have the boss for now. At 4 I have to tell him, taunt again. DPS is dying and boss is about 50%. OMG we are going to wipe on this face roll! Well I guess it isn't all bad. We didn't wipe, he figured the taunt rotation out and I got my 10 VoA achievement. WOOT, I'm hard core now.

Its amazing to me that on a server as big as Lightbringer is, with all the raiding people and as easy as VoA is that we had that much trouble doing it. If I hadn't done that place 4000 times, it would have been a mess. I finished 5th overall in DPS as the tank. I had to tell everyone what to do and on top of it a DK kept DG the trash mid fight.

Otherdin info:
In this section I will talk about my other tanks and what is going on.

Only a few issues:
Chasey-Ran a HoR on my main, landed mid fight mid pull during the waves. I figued out what happened and got the job done. Hunter wasn't in the instance and we 4 manned the last wave. Killed boss and scratched my head, the healer was DPS'n. Yep, 850 DPS and my health was ok but low all fight.

We did the LK escaped, the healer kept taking shots at the group and was very snide. Hunter wouldn't get w/group and got smashed by Arthus himself. LOL in group and said, you can't kick me in combat.

We ended up finishing and got to kick the hunter before loot was given out. Right after the badges hit the bags I got up for a second, came back to the healer telling me my gear was all gemmed and enchanted wrong. They said they knew I was a bad tank and could see that in my choices.

Mind you I had my heroic DPS set in with str and 10 stats gem 50 ap enchant weapon on. I was looking to kill stuff, cause even in this set of gear, I'm at 560 def and 49k health. I was very close behind the top DPS in the run. Before the healer zoned out, they told me to L2play a pally as AGI/Stam is not something a pally uses and stra and 10 stats gems don't go in tanking gear. I scratched my head.

Taiten-
I don't play on this server or this toon much. LFG is usually a nightmare. Mal'Ganis players are really hard to take in groups. I ran a random just because and I got a zZq toon from Mal'Ganis and a Goon Squad toon from another server. It was amazing, no "baddie" statements and huge DPS. It was fun and almost restored my faith that it isn't the server and more the person. Which I know but run after run you get the same junk.

Sorry for being so lenghty but I haven't had much to talk about lately.

Tanking adventures 77-79

D-I-N-G! I hit 80!
Yes I'm sorry I'm going to combine the last few levels.
To be honest nothing really exciting has gone on and the gear drops have been small.
Stats.

Instance entered: 130
Health: 30,304 w/sanc upon hit 80
Deaths: 51
Def: 542
Damage taken: 36,085,557

I have to be honest, these last few were horribly boring, long and hard to take. I was burnt on tanking with people who didn't care. I seen far to many plate wearing tanking gear because "it was an upgrade". To many times I seen off spec loot drama and greed in a low level 5 man. I burnt myself out. Nothing that is going to make me stop playing or to stop this tanking adventure blog.

My patience wore thin on little mistakes that I guess people that are learning how to play a class or toon will make. But if you run HoS 6 times in a row you know the mobs pattern others don't. I did learn alot about tanking and I think I got a bit quicker with some of my key'd abilities.

Onward...
So what now with this toon?
I'm on a huge sever with little tolerance for lower gear score and I need to make sure my play is on point. I'll share with you a few of my goals:
Gear as quick as I can to accomplish my goal of seeing the Alliance side of the RP Lore of Sauerfang.
I'm going to keep a log of my runs (the best I can) and journal the variety of people I run across and loot I get.
I have set a goal of doing this in about 30 playing hours. Yes I said 30 hours of play time at level 80.
I'm not going to do this with my guild or set it up prior, I just want to PUG on a major server to see how it goes.

Will this become my main?
I'm going to say, with as busy as life as gotten recently, and the lack of time to raid, it is for now going to be the toon I concentrate on. Chasey is my main and always will be. But for the time being, there not much more to accomplish with her.

Tanking Adventure 75

Stats for 75:
Dungeons entered: 108
Damage taken: 24,593,537
Health: 17,760
Def: 495
Deaths: 46

I did seven 5 mans and they were all smooth as butter aside from one. I have been running AN and OK over and over. They are very boring at this point. AN is fast and thats the best part. I think I have 1 DK in every group and who knows maybe I'll keep track of that for the next few levels.

I got a huge help from the new guild I joined and they came and helped me do Amphitheater of Anguish. I asked in zone for a bit and then asked in guild and got the help. That allowed me to level very fast.

As for gear, I got a few upgrades, the pants from VH, I made the Monarch Crab and of course the cloak in VH dropped. I should have waited but of course I would have waited, never got it, had Tormented Skies made and then it would have dropped. This replaced my trinket from the hell fire quest chain and added a ton of health. I used my dragon's eyes, which may seem like a waste but really they are free, I don't have any or many blue patterns so its cheap, getting me points cutting them and stacking stats.

I will say I'm usually doing the most DPS in my runs. Yes I'm enchanted and know the toon but its kinda funny that a prot pally is leading damage and dps even at 75.

This leads me to my horrid run. I entered OK and had a level 80 healer, a DK, a Hunter and a fire mage. The run was going smooth, the mage was a bit erradic and running ahead. I noticed before the 1st boss I didn't have Mark of the Wild. I asked the healer, a druid for it and he asked what MotW was? The mage called him a newb and stupid A$$ then said he was on ignore so let him know if he said anything. I noticed they were from the same guild and server. I lol'd it off. A few minutes later the mage said tell the healer is bad. I said and I quote "I feel the tension, but lets just move on". We got to the second boss in Ok, the mage says "hey tank, ya Fa& B!t%H but w/o the symbols. Did you know I F&cked your mother". Well I was like hey look, you guys can boot me or w/e but you aren't going to talk to me like that. The healer said "lets just go, stop newb'n it up tank" I opened my mouth and said well maybe the mage can pull his face off the keyboard at level 75 and do more than 700 DPS and we'd go faster. I'm not going to say all the nice talk I heard but I ended up leaving that run. I allowed it to go far and should have just left at the initial comments.

My guess is these guys were friends or family and just looking to start something. But really, this is the strangest experience I've had running a 5 man. Made me scratch my head.

Thanks for reading, I'll have more soon.

Tanking Adventures 74

Stats for level 74
Instances entered: 101
Damage taken: 22151358
Deaths: 45
Health: 15,949
Def: 491

It didn't go by fast...

This was a LONG level. I tanked a ton of instance or so it felt. For the most part, I'm going to say kind of a boring one. Nothing special at all.

I did solo Ragemane's for the mace. I died once doing it, huge lag spike before I could pop a cool down. I had him to 15% too. Turning that quest in is how I leveled. So I guess I have started the Argent rep quests now. That was a goal of mine due to the helm enchant.

At this level I've run into a few different kind of players. The really good who can do some great DPS at 72-75ish. The really bad who are always on the boss but don't put up numbers and the lazy ones who only want the badge/XP/gear. My highlight at this level was something I'm kind of proud of, I had a level 80 warlock in DTK (I have no clue why either, it wasn't for gear) who was in 232 ave gear and I only lost aggro to him one time. That time was due to a stun I got early in the fight. That made me happy.

On the gear front, I put on the sarnonite belt at the start of the level. When I hit 75, I had the saronite boots and helm (its for the next level) I got the mace from the quest and I spent about 48g plus 15g tip for the Cloak of Tormented Skies, I needed to upgrade this bad! I was wearing a level 62 green "of the Champion" cloak. Totally worth the investment. As for a few other things I did I put a weapon chain on the mace and an agility enchant on my cloak, It was 4g so not bad. My next upgrade will be the Monarch Crab JC trinket.

Tanking Adventures 73

Stats for level 73
Instances entered: 95
Damage taken: 20,007,735
Deaths: 42
Health: 14,533
Def: 484

It was a fast level. It felt like it took forever but it was fast. As you can see I tanked alot by the damage I took and the 5 mans entered. I finished up the quests from the Wrathgate area, got to revered with Valiance Expedition. I can buy the shield now but...its a level 78 which really does me no good.

I ran nexus alot, which is getting boring. Most of Wrath is to be honest. This has been fun so I'm ok I guess. I found a group on my realm or a couple people anyway and I ran about 4 in a row where I had no health issues and in fact I don't seem to have many issues with healers making my health bar DING when it gets low. I have only been crit a few times and I try to make my avoidance count.

The last group I ran with before I hit level 74 was bad, really bad. Not bad players but new! They didn't do anything right and made me and the healers job a tad harder. It wasn't something that can't be overcome but playing with people like this make you appreciate the good or let me rephrase that, smarter players.

I got three upgrades as I leveled to 74, all of them crafted and it only cost me 25g for tip. I got the Tempered Saronite Belt , the Tempered Saronite Legplates and the Jade Ring of Slaying I put a perfect cut 14 def gem in the slot. All of them were a big upgrade.

On a side note, if anyone can tell me how to ling a viewable drop down item instead of a redirect that would be awesome. I tried but can't seem to figure it out.

Looking for banner help as well, so if you can help me with either of the two, shoot me an email at Judgingchasey@gmail.com

Thanks

Tanking Adventures 72

It went fast...

Stats for level 72:
Instances entered: 86
Damage taken: 17,815,982
Deaths: 42
Health: 13921
Def: 480

My Instances entered are lower due to me questing and doing the Wrathgate quest line for most of this level. I quested for the gold and I really wanted to see Wrathgate on the Alliance side. I then got to jump into the battle of the Undercity.

I'll give my two cents on this: The Horde side is better. I like the lore but after seeing both of them, Horde felt different and what was wrong with Varian Wrynn. It ended poorly. Why would any leader without backing and having been invited by the opposite factions leader to defend and take retribution against the death of his man at Wrathgate, then decide to take violent action against that leader who had backing (troops) and another faction leader with him? It just made zero sense. On the game front, I'm glad I did it and glad I seen both sides. If you haven't seen the Horde side, and you at all like lore check it out.

I only did two 5 mans. The first was simple, good group and very fast. The DPS was crazy good for 71ish people. I was last in DPS for the 1st time and I did 900 DPS. Not bad.

I was pretty tired, almost finished with Wrathgate and wanted to break it up and jump into a instance before I logged. I got AN! Cool, finally a chance of getting gear for me. The ring off of Anub is pretty nice. It would fix up my def issues I'm having now.

The group was ok, the run did go smooth and you could see that everyone had done AN before be it heroic or regular. Seemed to be a bit of AFK's in this one but nothing to long. Last boss went down, kill was smooth and the tanking ring dropped. And guess what....The Warrior rolled Need on it. Before I rolled, I asked him if he really rolled need on a tanking ring...here was his reply:

Needless to say I was a bit perturbed by this and more so by his answer! He didn't feel like tanking but he is still going to roll on a tanking piece?

I don't get this, I understand it but he didn't even ask, "Hey do you need that?" he felt entitled to this. This is a issue with how some people view life in general. His stance on this was, "I don't wanna do whats needed but I'm entitled."

This is not the first time this has happened to me nor is it a really bad attempt at a ninja. What really gets me and the reason I'm putting as much into this as I am, is this:

Don't rub your eyes, yes this guy rolled a toon on my server and to tell me I was the childish one for asking why he tried to ninja loot. Yes, he took time out of his play time to tell me I was QQ'n for asking why he did this.

I asked him if "You mad bro?" but he had logged off already.

This may seem like I'm bitter or over reacting but remember this is in part to give my thoughts and let others know what I've seen as I level a new toon on a fresh server with only my knowledge of the class and toon.

Good news in all this: I won the ring! What an upgrade for me, a real tanking ring. I think this is what angered him a ton. I'll just finish this by saying, loot is loot. It will drop again. If you are going to roll on something you really want, either play that spec or ask the other if you can roll on it. This game even being played on a computer still takes human contact either via type, chat or other. I would love to see more courtesy in game. Everyone plays their roll, they should have a better chance at getting loot for that roll.

I joined a new guild, the one I was in was a ghost town. No on had been online for over a week. The new guild has a crazy name and seems to be more populated with players of all levels. I hope it stays this way.

Tanking Adventures 71

Oh what a great level...

Stats for level 71:
Instances entered: 84
Damage taken: 15,587,502
Deaths: 40
Stam: 13500 unbuffed
Def: 477 (its dropped a bunch but I am not cap for my level)

Sorry for the few days without a post, some real life time was needed.

For the most part the level went by pretty fast. I did make one error in judgement or I guess you could say I broke a rule. I was leveling JC and got to the point were I could cut JC meta gems. I was excited and very tired. I Talked to the JC, got the quest and it lit up yellow, I clicked him again...got my 1st token and turned it in for a dragons eye. So I logged to my banker and bought a broken necklace and powder to get the recipe for solid dragon eye and put the new stam gem in my belt.

This goes against my rules due to spending the gold. It wasn't a priority and wasn't a make or break upgrade. Yes its very cool to have that gem but I could have waited, I guess this comes down to being excited and playing way to much.  Taking the weekend off helped and due to more real life things, I will probably have to cut back a bit but...I will have time to hit 80 and some decent gear.

I have really tried to quest a bit, I want to do the Alliance side Wrathgate quest line and I tried to solo Kreug Oathbreaker the 5 player elite quest. He killed me a few times. The stuns he did really ate my healt huge. I will give the solo part of those Wanted: quests in Dragonblight for now.

I have noticed a few things as I level. UK tends to be harder for level 68-71's than it is in heroic. All the bosses seem to be more of a challenge. That's kinda shocking because, well most TBC instances are tougher than UK.

I do have a great story to tell about level 72 instace I just did but that will be told in the next day or two. I only want to ask one question, why do none tanks roll on tanking gear and then say, I have a dual spec?

Tanking Adventures Level 70

Well, 11minutes ago on the play time clock I got the big DING on the 70 clock. I ported to IF and trained, headed to the mail box and grabbed my new set of gear.

The Cobalt Clad Holy Warrior-

As I began to apply piece after piece of gear I noticed something, my defense was climbing and so were my other stats. My avoidance is pretty stellar. My HP's are decent and I'm uncrittable with the Cobalt Shoulders on. I'm really close to that level with my BOA shoulders on. The stats on my BOA shoulders are so much better I don't know if being at 488 (2 points under crittable) is worth not having that extra 10% Xp I gain wearing them. I guess my healer and my DPS in the run will dictate that.

My stats unbuffed with out the Cobalt shoulders are:
13979 Armor
488 Def
17.86% dodge
14.86% parry
10.44% block (480 BV)
12,212 HP

I can't believe how good this set is really. I entered Wrath with my other pally in T4/T5 and Isle badge gear. Yes my stats were good and I had them all socketed w/the best there was, but I don't think my numbers were much better. Not by a ton anyway.

The Goals-

To put pen to paper, so to speak and just keep myself with in limits here is my plan from 70-80 and beyond.
- I want as much gold as possible when I hit 80, as this won't really be a raiding toon til Cata but I want a solid start once Cata starts.
-I am at a bit of a disadvantage, I don't know anyone on this server, its a new world to me and TBH reading trade while doing banking, this isn't a very inviting server to new players.
-I want to make it into a raiding guild that fits my schedule/style/skill level.
-I don't see Cata being released really soon, I have time to do what I want at my pace, including getting to 80 with this toon and setting up a DK to help me farm other mats in cata (ugh that means messing around with another dk)
-I don't know if its possible but I want to see the Sauerfang ICC 10/25 lore before the fight. I should be able to get in there. Depending on how much I grind badges.

The Plans-

-No gems that I can't cut. I'm JC and a miner. I need to plan ahead on newer gear to be at the JC skill to cut what I need.
-No Armor that isn't craftable. That is cryptic tired talk for, farm what you need. Don't buy it, unless you have to.
-Keep the enchants to the bare minimum. If I need it to stay around uncrittable, buy it but....it doesn't need to be the best. Armor kits will and can do.
-Save all the GOLD you can.

Where at-

-I plan on leveling in 5 mans as much as I can. I have noticed that real gold comes from questing so I need to do that as much as possible.
-As soon as I can I need to get to the Argent rep area. I need the head enchant and the legs are still pretty good.
-ToC normal at level 78 is also going to be on my to do list. Blackheart is a must as are the dailies to bring up my gold and rep, I really want to ride a ram.
-At level 75, I will be in sholzar basin to farm and do the quests there.
-I want to do the allinace side wrathgate quest line as well.

I will log all my up-to-date stories and upgrades to let you all see this. I'm looking forward to this project. It will keep me out of the in-game-boredem I'm feeling on my main.

So every day or two I'll post up my level, stats, stories and maybe I'll jump in on Beta tester talk as well.

Tanking adventure 69

Please read level 68 below this. It was a fast level and had a very memorable instance in it. I broke this up due to the length of these 2 stories.

Well, I hit level 70, 11 minutes ago on the play clock. My adventures are from the very end of level 67 and ending on my last run in UP with about 4% to level to 70.


Stats-
Level: 70 (11 minutes into the level.)
Instance entered: 74
Damage taken: 10,917,578
Deaths: 35

On to level 69...

I finished off 68 with quests and a few randoms. I hoped 69 would be better.

I couldn't get back into Shattered Halls, no healers that level. So I just did randoms. OMG Settek Halls all night long.

I think total I ran it four times. Only two stand out:

DK meatshield

I que as tank, zone in to fighting and a DK is tanking a ton of shit! Mobs are everywhere. No one says hi, the DK just keeps pulling. Five pulls later, he says "sorry, go head and tank, I just got carried away". I said, I qued as tank, if you wanna do it, by all means, go for it.

The lock in the group is pulling off DK alot, I would taunt and grab that mob. I OT'd. The Dk says:
"Lock, stop being bad and control your pet".
The rest of the run is smooth, and well...the DK actually did a good job.

Oh my, I'm a pally.

Lower level group, I had just finished tanking shattered halls, I took some huge shots there so I know what kinda of damage the toon could take. I pulled fast and said what I say to every healer, "please let me know when you want mana" as I have found out, healers are funny about mana, some like to stay topped off, some run about 50% and don't care.

This group, we had a pally healer that was, um....rusty. I stayed alive but that was barely and the others didn't. The group was slow, I requested they kill the totems fast and well, they didn't, they chose route 2, kill the person that is MC'd....lol This caused some irritation in the group. We had a DK that was really new to the game, I told him 3x's please take off frost, he told me he like the extra HP's. The mage, who had died a few times to the DK on the mind controls, told him he sucked and to learn his class before he wasted others time. He took off frost then.

All in all, it was a bad group, and right after my dealings with Mr. 'Lockstar, I was a tad shaken as a tank, and wondering why the hell I play this game some times. Not because I don't think I can't tank, but was tonight just a night where I should be questing and allowing the players who think they know, but don't understand all log on and say...you are bad....I'm a DK still in starting zone gear at level 67 cause its blue and greens suck.

When we got to the boss, I asked like I always do, "does everyone know this boss"? We got 2 no's! Brilliant. I give the, "when he starts to cast 'arcane' run behind the pillar and out of LOS". I get a why? from the DK. "Just do it please or you will die".

Pull the boss, get good aggro, switch to seal of wis so I have mana and he ports to the pillar area, and begins to cast! Healer and DK die! Me the mage and a hunter alive. He is well over half, I have no mana and its going to be a wipe! Again, what do I do....

Seal of light, judge light and hope for the best, cast again, Mage and Hunter are now dead!
Me vs. Talon King Ikiss, I'm a level 69...I'm going to die, but

NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT!

I have my forbearance cooldown and potion still, He begins to cast arcane again, I run around a pole and bandage. 480 per tick x's 4....NICE. Back to the boss, I'm kiting, to allow the dots on him to tick his health away and I won't take damage. I'm playing ring around the pillar. Dots all gone and I must face my fate.

He hits me hard! Crits me and I'm out of mana, almost out of health. What do I do? I LoH of course. I have full health and no mana! He either misses me or hits me, no dodges, parry's or block's. The RNG gods are against me. No mana and watching my health tick away. He is going to kill be and all I can do is white swing. I look down and I have a mana pot I can take. Do I do that or take a health pot? Go mana at least I can heal or do something offensively.

Mid fight

Right after fight

So I did it, I basically solo'd a final boss in a level 67 instance. Point I guess I'm trying to make is, I used my tools and got a bit lucky but I refused to give up.

I killed the boss, I did my job and avoided damage that I could and made "the GROUP" a success.

It was out of stubbornness, and not wanting to lose this fight. It felt good, one of the reasons people want to tank. To be the groups wiping post! and the pace setter. No this isn't a huge feat but I can tell you, I will never, ever forget this fight. It will go down as one of my iconic fights in my wow playing time.

My add-on says I'm level 68 in those pictures, but I know I was 69...I left outlands right afterwards and headed to Borean Tundra. I wanted to try my hand at Utgarde Keep.

The damage was severe

I pulled slow, just putting a DK thru UK a few times I know that the stuns were harsh on a tank. I'm crittable at this point. My group is all below 70. I have a druid healer and I can say, this is the 1st time I've ever seen a druid run OOM as a healer. He kept me alive but he used every trick in the book. But we did it, no wipes. Lots of scary moments and we had a great boomchicken who knew when to knock back.

Second time thru was not such a great thing. We never completed it. The healer took a bunch of AFK's and couldn't keep anyone alive on the last boss. He admitted, it was his brothers toon.

The group fell apart after the 3rd wipe, I had to grind a few quests to hit 70 and then I logged, I needed a break...

In the coming days, I will lay out the plan for my goals for getting to 80, and my plans once I hit 80. I also hope to start a guild bank guild named Judging Chasey on Lightbringer. We will see how this goes, stay tuned.

Tanking Adventures 66

Well, I've changed it up a bit. Due to not playing the DK and concentrating on the lil pally. I know sooner or later I'll grab the DK again and level it but the goal is the Alliance pally.

I slowed down the leveling due to JC and spent the last few days recouping some gold. I did do the first few Nagrand Nessingway quests and I'm working on the reps that I want. I really like the Honor Hold tabard and the tanking trinket.

So on to tanking...

I have spent a ton of time in Mana Tombs, I didn't get UB and SP to much. As we speak I'm level 67 and have que'd for 65 dungeons. Not bad and its fun. I have not run into many bad players at the upper level 60's so maybe they are figuring out how to play the toons. I've noticed less DK's in my groups.

I'm kinda sad, the Outlands seem to be flying by, I really love the instances, the way they are set up and the pulls. No there still isn't any CC but you have to pull LOS at times, watch pats and keep an eye on the casters. Mana is an issue but threat is never, ever an issue. Mobs stun, fear and silence you. I understand now a bit more how the Heroics were actually Heroic. Wrath Heroics are joke like compared to even normals in BC.

I have maid the choice to stay in Outlands til 70. I know its not the best XP but OMG I don't wanna be stuck in UP for 4 levels. I want to hit a few of the higher level Outland places too.

Tanking Adventures 8-19

I regret to say I have not touched the DK as of late. Real life has been hectic and I am having a ton of fun on the lil pally.

Lil Pally-
This is my first Alliance toon and its on a huge population server.

I don't really have a feel for the battle group yet but there seems to be a TON of DK's running the Outland instances. I know these toons at this point are still pretty fresh and they are learning to play them but....WOW I think DK's feel its thier job to DG a mob to them. Not a caster standing back on a aggro'd healer but any mob they want. I went from confusion to OMG to "you pull it, you tank it" to I'm just laughing. I don't even worry about that mob any more. Unless I see the healer get aggro, I concentrate on the mobs I have pulled and move on.

I have run 50 instance now, just hit level 63 and I'm still in Hellfire. Its one of my favorite zones in game and I really need the exhaulted trinket from the rep vendor. The quests aren't really different from horde, they do have different names thou

I don't have any really bad player stories or abusive stories either. Just the DK's who DG everything to them. I did have one healer who was level 65 who had  trouble keeping me alive so I'm guessing he wasn't paying attention. Oh...he really didn't sit to drink either. He was always low on mana! I'd ask, "do you need mana?" he'd reply..."GO GO GO" All in all, I think that people are really trying to learn how to DPS at the low level 60ish level and they don't care to much on the speed of the instance.

Chasey-
I did get some time in on my Main pally, I raided ICC and I can say, I'm really not liking it any longer. Its not the lack of gear I need or achievements I need but the repetition and total burn out I feeling being in there.

We tried a few hard modes we have either not done or seldom completed. Lady Death Whisper was frustrating and no one was doing what was needed at all. No interrupts, no MD's or Tricks. Aggro swap was horrid and we lost a DPS or two every attempt due to aggro issues. We did do Sauerfang and well, its really easy now. Raiding was cancelled last night due to the long log in times on alot of servers. I could not log on at all, nor could most of our members.

I'm very bored on this toon at this point in the game. Yes I could do loremaster or....whatever but thats not me. I'm not into achievements, I like a challange and well, leveling the Alliance pally is pretty fun.

Tanking Adventures 8-15

Did alot of leveling so don't have a whole lot to say about instances.

DK-
1st things 1st...where did all the good dpsers go. I know that people are still in the leveling process but WOW, seems lots of low dps and absolute bad players. Nothing outrageous but just don't get it. Wrong targeting, face pulls and awfully low DPS. I've have had some good groups too, Nexx and AN have been my instances. No new drops or gear but the XP is all I'm looking for. I'm really not doing well leveling a few different toons. The DK has taken a bit of a back seat.

This goes to my 1st point, I've wiped in AN a few times due to the keepers on the timer are coming before the set I pulled or are fighting die. It has caused a few wipes but people have been really patient and well, we get thru it. I do now know, I don't really like NE instances much.

Lil pally-
Well I'm flying on the levels, I just hit 60 and as of now I'm at 44 instaces entered. I went to the outlands at 59 due to some flying round the world quest turn ins and since it my first alliance toon, I'm kinda trying to see how the alliance quests are. I did the Uther line in EPL.

I did alot of Diremaul and BRD...which I'm not a huge fan of. I had some really good groups there. They actually made it a good. But...I was ready for the Outlands.

I did a few quest in outlands, and jumped in to que. I got ramps and a group that ws on the last boss. I got the YAY! a pally tank. I got to the group the people who did the corpse walk caught up to me. A DK ran up to the 2 mobs right before the flying boss and pulled. He was basically 2 shot, and started yelling to the druid, REZ ME NOW! REZ ME. The druid rez'd him, he taunted the boss and died again. The other DK in the group, DG's a mob to him. I often wonder why DK's have a bad name and well....this is why. As the original guy who pulled, died, rez'd and died again. Started yelling...REZ ME REZ ME QUICK. I had to leave group, with this statement "Just so you know guys DG is a taunt, if you want to tank, please que as a tank in the future" and I left.

I didn't feel like questing so I jumped back in que. I got ramps again, of course. This time it was like butter...so smooth. The healer was saying I'm very easy to heal and started DPS'n. The server went down and I was removed from group. When I got back on I was ported to town.

So que #3! Ramps...(I suspect I'll be there for a bit) again. This time was even better. The healer was keeping me topped off and the dps was really good. At level 59 a Mage did almost as much as some of the 72's my dk is running with. The Mage did close to 600 DPS. Things died, I was taking no damage and we kicked its butt. We all requed and did it again. This time in about 20 mins. Yes that isn't fast per wrath standards but we are level 60's and doing full clears. I have a funny feeling everyone is happy to be away from vanilla and into outlands and the change of scene.

I did after the runs, go spec full prot and got my favorite thing ever! Hammer of the Righteous! I will miss PoJ for now thou. I was running a spec that had 13 points in ret for ever to speed up riding and running while questing and seal of command.  I will see how this works thou as I lose parry and I lose my speed bonus.

Alt Pally-
Well yes I do have 3 pally's now. I do like the class so this one is on a low pop server and I stil have friends there so I keep her there.

I ran a random just because...and I got ToC. It wasn't a very bad group, friendly enough and this toon is a tad on the lower gear side, just barely able to do ICC heroics. Its a different challenge for sure. I'm used to pulling at a different pace on my main and this toon can't take that damage.

The ToC was going ok, kinda buggy like....well ToC is at times. We did the pull after Jousting and it bugged. The second time I noticed that the dps seemed low. I looked and they were all around 3k which is ok for ToC. But Stuff wasn't dying. After the 1st boss died loot took forever but I got Mark of the Relentless  from ToC. After the third boss the Shammy the group, had the away tag above his head I asked the group if they knew what was going on?

At that time, he comes back and says and I quote " I haven't done Sh!t and there isn't anything you guys can do about it, you guys lose!" and I'm walking away with my badges and loot too. He got a few comments thrown at him but WOW. That is kind of despicable. This is the reason that LFG gets a bad name, well this and other things. I guess its our fault for not seeing him do nothing sooner.

A case study of tanking, rolling alts.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to give my experience of leveling alts tanks.
Why?

Well, the DK is an easy explanation, I needed a miner for my main. I needed to get a miner to 80 fast so I rolled the DK and I'm not a huge fan of questing so I can tank to level. Not bad IMO. I'm actually liking my DK a bit, such awesome CD's.

And the other pally...well that one takes some explaining. I will chronicle that further later.

Do you remember...

I'm doing this for a few reasons, 1st to combat how overly bored I am with the game and the 2nd to take me down memory lane a bit. I want to level these to by grinding instances vs. quests. I want to see if I can tell a difference between gear and player attitude. I also want to relive the beauty of not being so over geared that an instance takes no thought.

Stay tuned...