Finding that guild, a guide for proper placement in the World of Warcraft.

Been there done that, my experiences with finding a guild that you fit.

Now, the World of Warcraft isn't like the real world. There are tons of guilds out there and many of them recruit all the time. Many of them ask for only what they need. Some never recruit yet always have the members they need. Guild are a hodge podge of people and NEVER ever is a guild drama free. Due to the anonymity of the Internet, roots don't take shape in a guild really fast. It takes time to get comfortable so patience and some good investigation will help.

Here are some tips I've come up with to help ease the pain of finding a guild.

-Know what you want! This means if you want to tank, shoot for that spot in a raid. Ask the questions of the guild you are looking at that you need to know before you make a move, any move. A few questions I needed to know; Is this a core spot? How much will I OS? What does the raid roster look like?

-Talk to the person you need to! This might be hard and take a day or two but speak with the (ranged or tank or whatever) person who you will be reporting too. They tend to have the best info and are more than likely to give you the feel of the position you are looking for.

- ASK for a vent interview! - this really in my mind has been the biggest thing I've found success with. You find out so much more about the officer/officers, the cohesion of the guilds mood and if you are going to like being around the people you are talking with. If they don't have time for a vent interview, my guess is they won't have much time when a problem arises or that they are looking to fill a spot and not find a person.

-Be ready to apply - Guilds love this. Let them know you have been to their site and would like to ask them a few questions before you start the application process. Why? They took time to put this application and web site out there. They also want to see if you can follow rules and can put a sentence together.

-Hit up the WoW forums first and hang in chat for a bit - Check out the recruitment forum post, have they trolled? are they being trolled in their thread? How about trade, is the realm troll in this guild? Are they know as a trade chat type guild? Is this something you want from a guild? This lends itself to the perception of the guild. Do people really not like them?  Sure some people troll to troll but if its a recurring theme, it might be the guild. If these aren't a bad thing for you....roll with the guild.

- How long have the been looking for your spot? Well....why? Have the blown thru 7 tanks and are they still looking? Are they bringing on 3 plus you and picking the best? Is that something you want to do?

Finally a few tips-
- All guilds ask the same question on their application. Shorten this process by putting the following down on a notepad, or other method to copy and paste.

• Your raiding experience 
• How long you have been playing
• What your spec is and why
• What former guilds you been in and why you left

This is not the only questions they ask but 95% of the applications I've put in have had these question on the app.

Now for the rest of the application, does it give the precption they are professional about raiding or jackasses? Do they want to know you or your toon?What is your computer/Internet like? are you a clicker or binder?
Be honest in your answers and be prepared to defend you views. If they don't like what you've said, is that the place you want to be?

I'll give you an example of a conversation of why I chose not to continue my time app'n for a guild. I talked to the tanking officer. He didn't like my reforging choices no my trinkets. He made it clear they were not with the changes that Cata offered to pally tanks. He asked why I was reforging away from hit and exp? Why my trinket wasn't a stam trinket and why my hit was so low.

The conversation never got better. I tried to explain my choices but he seemed to be either having a bad day or we just didn't click. Here was the straw that told me he would accept my choices ever or he was just to controlling and I'd never really be able to do what I wanted with in their raid environment. Why was that important. Tanks tend to be Class A personalities but he wanted to rule the roost and it was apparent.

Case in point: Sandguard Bracers are a  decent bracer. They have a tad of threat and a tad of avoidance. Pally's want to refore to mastery, and in general use the threat stat to get that. Well if you look at how they are itemized, reforging dodge, nets you more mastery than EXP. When I explained this to him he told me I was thinking wrong and probably would need to run some heroics before I cracked the raid line up. He said I didn't have enough knowledge to be in his guild. His guild was 6/12! I was 3/12 at that point. I hadn't raided since December and this was the 1st week in Feb. He had in his mind what I should reforge and didn't want to listen to anything but what he figured was correct. I didn't really want to waste any more or my time or his.

Trolls, Tigers and Bears....The Return of Zul' Aman

Thank you BLIZZARD! This is A M A Z I N G!
Announced on MMO Champion for patch 4.1 Zul' Aman and Zul' Grub are coming back as 5 man heroic instaces. They will drop high ilvl epic trinkets but the good news is the mounts are coming back as rare drops.
Anyone else excited?

Yep guys, the first major content patch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is almost completed it's development stage and we are getting ready to push some early updates onto the Test Realms. So you may ask: What will be there in 4.1 Test Realms (I believe you will do so right?)? So, here it comes!

Remnants of the Gurubashi Tribe
Originally released in Patch 1.7, the classic 20-man raid Zul'Gurub will open its gate once again, bringing new stories, new encounters and fully refined items! Zul'Gurub is now a level-85 Heroic 5-man dungeon, to help the Cataclysm dungeons provide a higher tier of contents. Players may find level 353 epic items in this Heroic dungeon. You have to meet a mininum average item level of 346 to enter it.

The Return of Zul'Aman
The fan-favorite level 70 10-man raid Zul'Aman is also reborn as a level-85 Heroic 5-man dungeon. Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub will both appear in the Heroic Dungeon list in the LFD tool, providing level 353 epic loot. You also have to meet a mininum average item level of 346 to enter.Since Zul'Aman is back, you might be curious on whether the rare mounts will be back? Yes, we're proud to annouce that new rare-drop Raptor, Tiger and Warbear mount will be available, while the old mounts still have their unique beauty in hand. We will share a lot more on obtaining the new mounts.(Source)

Now I'm not really upset of the resusing that is going on in Cata so far, and I think this is GREAT idea with this. Yes I know the mounts won't be as rare anymore but really, its a pixel. I know I was short of getting the Bear about 3 times while it was doable. Maybe the RNG gods will smile on me with this one.

There will be other mounts put in game, but I'm really going to like the fact that these 2 will be relevant again. Like Blizzard said....STAY TUNED!

LFG vote kick changes

Coming Tuesday there will be some changes to the LFG vote kick system.

Is this long overdue? I'm not certain this is going to be a perma fix but it will knock off some of the crap that single people who join a group will have to deal with. It will also stop t'he /2 LFG someone to que as tank, you don't have to stay" thing going on.

I really wish the Internet wasn't so anonymous and people didn't act like such ass hats while group with people they don't know. I think this might be a step in a better direction but this won't stop all silliness that goes on.

The basics of it:
Don't accept and go AFK outside the instance.
Don't que w/a tank or healer and let them leave, you are going too.
If you are with a group you need an additional person to have that kick go thru.

Something it goes on to say is patience is needed while grouping with people, which is totally true. I won't turn this in to a "this happened to me" post but last night I joined a pug and the warlock had almost as many HP's as I did. I looked he was in total PVP gear with the insignia trinket. I asked him if he had another trinket he could use.

His response: "FUCK YOU!"
"Just pull and don't worry about my gear". He was of course with 2 other guildies and they all started on me.
I asked him "was that necessary?"
I then got booted.

I didn't want to be in that run anyway.

Thoughts on the LFG vote kick changes?

Originally Posted by Bashiok (Source)
We’re making a number of hotfixes to address use of the Dungeon Finder and vote kick tools. The following hotfixes will require realm restarts to implement, which are likely to be next Tuesday’s weekly maintenance.

•Players who are outside a dungeon for more than a few minutes are now immediately able to be kicked.

•If queuing as a group with a tank or healer, and the tank or healer drops group (or is kicked) soon after joining, those that queued with them will also be removed from the dungeon.

•If three or more players group queue with each other it will require an additional vote for them to kick anyone they did not group queue with.

•If a group queue of 4 kicks the one person that they did not group queue with they will each receive a more severe penalty to their ability to initiate future kicks.

•If someone initiates a vote kick for someone they group queued with they will not incur a penalty to their ability to initiate future kicks.
With these changes we hope to reduce some undesirable behavior and annoyances, and encourage greater patience when using the Dungeon Finder. In addition, keep in mind that both initiating and agreeing to vote kick have always carried the same weight to your ability to kick in the future. It's always best to save your votes for when it really counts to ensure your ability to kick is available when it does.

We’ll of course be watching how these changes work to improve these systems, and always appreciate your feedback.
As these and other hotfixes are implemented, they'll be added to the hotfix blog - http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2259389#blog

85 part duex

Status?

I guess I'm back playing the game. I worked hard and found a guild (YAY ME) that fits what I can and want to do in game. I'm going to be as soft as I can here when I say this but the talent is a tad on the lower side. The RL is good, the healers are decent, the other tank is really good and then there is me. I don't know where I fit in this situation. They are fun people and try hard. They are not incompetent. I can be patient and enjoy playing the game for a while.


D I N G!

Really early this morning after a case of insomnia I hit level 85 on my Hunter, Zumhug. It didn't take to long, aside from the last few grueling hours of level 84.

I'm not a patient person, in game or real life. I'm not a spaz by any means so I hit 85, did CoC in Twilight Highlands to get my weapon and headed to Org to get gear. I choose to buy my way into heroic level gear. It wasn't to expensive. I had honor points so I grabbed a ring and was still 3 small points away from 329ilvl gear. I broke down and made a major purchase ((( Dragonkiller Tunic ))) I only spent 5k on it. Sounds like alot but really it was a fair price. I will probably have it til 5.0. This put me at ilvl 333. I could que for a random heroic.

Why the haste in trying to get into a heroic? Back to the impatient part but on top of that I know all the fights and I was pulling 6k to 8k DPS at level 84 in my randoms. The second to the last normal I did I was still in 232 shoulders and 245 bracers. I wanted to prove to myself I could put out better DPS in my 1st heroic less than an hour after hitting 85, than tons of the other DPS I've been unfortunate enough to tank for.

How did it go?
I pulled Deadmines as my 1st. So um, ya...WOW lots of rep and I'd be CC'n right?

Nope, we just pulled and pulled and pulled. It was like Wrath all over again. I was doing ok on the trash. Staying about 7k DPS. Then came the 1st boss. I don't like tanking that boss, the room is small and he drops aggro and I still here "Tank, should I wait longer before I DPS?" or "Are you having aggro issues?" The boss drops aggro time to time every now and then during the fight. Anyway, tank pulls and DPS opens up. I got the achievement for "ready to raid" and we downed him.

Oh, how did I do. I checked the meters. We had a Warrior, Shammy, Me for the DPS and the Warrior and Shammy hit 12k I came in last but...I did hit about 9.2K DPS. Not bad for hodge podge gear. I was pretty happy, I got a 1h weapon cause I like to dual wield so when I get another I'll go away from the 2h I have. At the end of the run, my number were 7.8k DPS overall and 8.5K to 9K dps on bosses. This wasn't bad. I could do better but I'm not a hunter expert. I don't really like to DPS.

If anyone needs hunters info I suggest this: Hunters Union. They do a really good job add a little humor and help the noob hunter like me a ton.

Next blog: Prot PVP 1v1

Random thoughts

4.0.6 is here -

I am a prot pally and I have a kick! Makes me WOOT WOOT, ok it's an interrupt but if you see the Belf animation you kick the target. I am now bad ass!

Blizz has taken us a step closer to a plate wearing rogue, holy power ramp up and kicks...

Thanks to all this wonderfulness of the gear in Cata, we as tanks have little hit. We have our kicks ( I know its not a kick but it sounds fun to say) dodge, parried or miss all together. So I as a Belf have torrent or shield to fall back on. I hope that I don't run into the "you have interrupt" situation and miss due to well, a miss. Along these lines is the fact that CS no longer generates HP if it misses or other combat fault. This has been beaten to death but is a "working as intended" by the Blizz's think tank that makes us all think that Blizz doesn't think, what do you think?

Rust or low damage?

I don't know what to think of this. I haven't tanked in about a month. Things are different now with 4.0.6 and I lack tanking experience with a DK as a the other tank. But...

I ran BH hold last night, it was 10 man and reset is today. I out geared the DK by alot. He was asking question about the fight, so I figured we might have issues on the boss. Nope, we one shot him...pretty easy too. It was a pug I was shocked.

Here is my head scratching moment thou...The other tank was killing me in threat and did about 1k more damage than me. Granted he had vengeance 1st so his damage was bigger almost the whole fight but I was really pushed to keep aggro off him. No the DPS weren't catching us and he didn't pull off me but I did use both taunts a few times just to match him.

It might be rust thou, I wasn't timing my SotR, I was tentative about pulling off him and didn't use my tools in the correct place. My goal was to stay alive and not pull off him. We did down the boss 1 shot style even thou it was BH.

My questions I've asked myself as I'm writing this -

What did I need to do different? Be more assertive, not worry about dying and worry about making the other tank work harder like I had too. More snap aggro.

What tools did I leave on the table? Use my wings, Exo (when not getting hit) and thrown Inquisition in.

 How do you fix this? Knock off the rust by tanking some heroics and running a few hours of target dummy practice.

Rust is a bad thing. Glad I figured this out with a simple raid overall I was not happy with my preformace.


Back?

Not sure! I miss raiding and the challenge it offers. I did find a guild more on that in a minute. I'm going and willing to give Cata another go, it wasn't the game that had me disappointed it was people I was dealing with. I'm sure it had something to do with me and where I was at personally but we shall see the future holds.

I found two really close matches to what I'm looking for. I spoke with both guilds tanking officers. It was a coin flip. Why I chose one over the other was I just felt more comfortable talking with one over the other. I will probably struggle killing things with the one I picked over the guild I didn't, but that had very little to do with my choice.

I go into this with an open mind and a willingness to wipe and have fun. For me the pressure is out of the game when it comes to progression content. I've kinda put myself in that boat with a bad guild pick and taking a break. We shall see how it goes.

Whats on the horizon?

Guild application process - how to streamline
Online gaming friendships
State of the game
and more...

Gamon hunters!

I had a friend pointed me towards this video, its pretty funny and I can't even imagine the lag it caused the server.

300 naked orc's kill Gamon is what the video is called. Enjoy it.




Status update:

I'm still officially on a break from the game. I miss playing I don't miss the people I have run into on the game. My guess is I'll be back playing soon, my plan? not sure thou, might reroll or might play a toon I have and switch mains. No one needs tanks (k, slight overstatement) but those that do are trying to start a raiding guild or are like H4/12 and while I'm good I don't think I want to jump into this tier of raiding at the heroic level.

Break time

The holidays are over, raiding for the non hard core is really ramping up and I think I must bow out of the game for a while.

This is not a I hate Blizzard, or they screwed the game up or anything like that. My issues are more with the players or at least the ones I've dealt with.

If you haven't seen my post about the dread of the xfer it will explain it more. After that I had one bad experience after another.

• A guild that I joined, brought me in to tank, then said "it will probably only be in a pinch, or heroics to gear the guild".
• Another who claimed they were 12/12 HM ICC, wen in and wiped for 4 hours on Magmaw 10 man while their tank who was wearing greens drained the healer of mana prior to the chain phase. I was outside the instance so they could bring in a 4th healer and soulstone the tank. But "I could come back in for trash"
• After a  45 min talk w/the GM of a 10 man guild, I joined the guild and felt like they were going to be a good fit. I logged on at raid time and watched 6 people G quit. The reason? The GM just logged on and gave the guild to an officer and quit the game for good. The day after I talked to him.
• I posted in the guild recruitment forums, I received multiple offers to go to guilds that had 5 members or East Coast servers who started at 5pm. After asking for replies of those who start their raid after 9pm EST.

After weeks of looking I found a guild, a good fit. The GM came to my server and hunted me down. He talked to me for over an hour. Hell we talked about non wow things. It seemed like a guild that I wanted to be a part of. While in talks they were 4/12 25 man Cata. Close to where I was. The raid times were what I needed. All in all it was a great fit.

I had to xfer again. I was leery and talked to the GM prior to the Xfer. He said w/the app I put in the whole guild was waiting for me. They were willing to allow me to make "new" mistakes ans all in all they were excited to have me there.

As I arrived on my new server, I did a /who to find a guild member, only 1 85 was on but it was late so that was expected. I whispered him "is an officers on, this is the new xfer" He says....OH F*CK another one. Sure let me get him. As I was for a reply he is trolling trade w/racial slurs and more.

I get a tell, this is **** what can I do for you? I tell him and the guild was really cool. We talked and it looked like things were on the right foot.

I log on the next day, Say hi and *crickets*...Oh, well. I wait about 5 mins, there is roughly 40 people on. I ask, "anyone for a random H"? *crickets* Five minutes later, a warrior pops on and says "lets do a random" and 15 people answer up. Not a shocker that happens.

A bit later another group is starting so I say I'll tank. This is a guild that is 7/12 now. We get Stonecore (I hate that place) and can't get past the 1st boss. The SP is doing 5k (alt) the rogue is in 3/4 epics and is only doing 8k and a pug hunter who was doing a good amount of DPS. They boot him. Yep the vote kicked him cuz they wanted to bring in a guildy.

Everyone was in agreement to reque for another. The SP who was in group was a rager! He was in guild and just didn't shut up. He was annoying. We got Grim Batol and the guild they brought in had to go.We get a pug warrior. We WIPE repeatedly on the 1st boss. Not enough DPS and no CC on the purple add. The SP rages, says he ill be right back on his warrior. He didn't solve the CCon the add but sure brought turbulence to the run. He blast the other warrior for his DPS. Tells me on vent, not by my name of course but as "tank" I'm going to pull off you, don't F*ck it up.

He didn't quite pull off me all the time but alot. He was doing 18K DPS and hit 21K on the boss. The next boss was a mess. Tons of wipes later and about all I could take with this warrior who was cussing out the healer for his lack of heals as he stood in the fire and didn't get kept standing or a B-Rez. He pulled threat n the pull. This Dbag was the worst player I had grouped with. He was in all shiny epix and did 18K DPS but couldn't stay alive or keep under my threat. He literally yelled at me for BoP'n him when he was creeping on threat. I salved him every pull.

Who was this guy? I looked atthe guild screen, he was an officer and the Raid Leader. Really? This is what I had xfered for? Well after a few more wipes, belive me...I'm not a pro tank but threat is very rearly an issue. Not with this guy, but DPS need to watch too and well, he said F*ck omen. A few more wipes and we all give up. The healer couldn't keep me alive, the dps wouldn't wait on threat....oh and the rogue wasn't tricks'n me either.

After the run we were in vent and all I heard how terrible that tank was, and how bad he hates this game and how this guild was recruiting BADDIES!

I don't think I can do this, I don't think I want to deal with people who treat a game like life or death. I deal with life or death at work, or I used too. I guess I could go raid and down a few bosses with these guys but I'm not sure hearing yelling over vent, like I did in that 5 man is something I'm willing to do. Hanging on and grabbing gear just to have it while I 'm miserable logging on is not something I want to do either. I want to build a loyalty to a guild, a guild I'd love to enjoy wiping with guild, but I don't think it will be this one.

I'm done for now, for a while. I'm going to give my beloved Chasey a break. I enjoy WoW, I love to tank. I've hit a string of bad luck and need to get out. To use a card playing metaphor, I'm changing tables after getting a string of bad hands but headed to the bar 1st.

Talk to you all soon. I'll check back every now and then.

Patch 4.0.6 upcoming changes!

Breaking news ~ Prot has an interrupt, read all about it...


Let me say this is only in the PTR during the time I post this. Things could change and probably will as it has already changed a bit since yesterday.

Paladin (from MMO-Champion 1-7-2011)
•Inquisition is no longer dispellable.

•Rebuke can now be trained by all paladins at level 54. Existing characters will need to visit their trainer, even if they had talented Rebuke before.

To me this looks like Prot will now have an OCD Interrupt, REALLY? Do we really get an interrupt? Oh and what now replaces this will be the source of QQ and tears will fill buckets and flood basements of dwellers everywhere.

Holy
•Denounce now has a spell overlay.


Retribution
•The Rebuke talent has been replaced with a new passive talent, Sacred Shield. Paladins who had Rebuke before will automatically have Sacred Shield. Sacred When reduced below 30% health, paladins gain the Sacred Shield effect. The Sacred Shield absorbs X damage and increases healing received by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Undispellable.

Rets now get a 20% heal buff, an absolution of damage and it can happen ever 30 seconds for 15 seconds. Is this only for rets? I can't wait to see the official forums fill with "dear blizz pallys are OP, that is all".

•Zealotry is no longer dispellable.


Bug Fixes
•Word of Glory will no longer reset the swing timer.

More blues news - (MMO Champion 1-5-2011) Since this is a paladin blog I will update you on the racials and  how it affects paladins.

•The draenei racial trait Gift of the Naaru now heals 20% of the target's health over 15 seconds, rather than a scaling value.
•The dwarven racial trait Stoneform now reduces all damage taken by 10%, rather than increasing armor by 10%. It also increases the dwarf's size when used.
•The human racial trait Every Man for Himself has been reverted back to a 2-minute cooldown, down from 3 minutes.

Does Dawrf become the min/maxers choice for pally's now? The goats now have a differnt kind of cooldown but its not game breaking.

Paladin
•The mana costs of Blessing of Might and Blessing of Kings have been increased by approximately 217%, making them roughly equal to the cost of Mark of the Wild.
•Crusader Strike weapon damage percent has been increased to 135%, up from 115%.
•Divine Plea now lasts for 9 seconds, down from 15. It grants 4% mana per tick, instead of 2%, for a total of 12% mana, up from 10%.

Not really sure about the increased mana cost but I think it makes glyphing for these worth it now, thus making our minor glyphs mean sort of something.

Oh Crusader Strike has its damage boosted, which is more a buff for ret's damage who is sort of on the low side according to the leet DPS. It also make threat more of a NON-Concern for tank which I can see in the future our threat getting nerfed, along the lines of Rightous Fury in 3.1 or 3.2 (my memory fails me).

I'm sure that this will change. I'm sort of on the excited side about an interupt, I mean really this to me is outstanding. With just the heroic fights in Cata if you don't have someone in the group you aren't screwed or sitting on Avenger shield hoping Hammer of Justice is ready. I am very fond of this patch full of notes. I guess will see how it changes and what the experts say.

The Cataclysm Dungeon Hero!

Thats me!

I am now a hero! and it feels pretty good.

I had que'd for randoms (with or without) my guild. I had downed all bosses besides Commander Springvale in SFK. LFG is totally random or so they say. I had only once got The Stonecore, the group fell apart on our 2nd wipe on Ozruk. I ate shield spike and it one shot me. I had that silly monstrous fight explained to me and I didn't get out of pound. Bad tank is bad, or so they said. Group fell apart and I started looking that fight up.

I got Vortex Pinnacle and finished it off. It was fun aside from the boss that throws you all around which is at best a dumb mechanic. I had one place left to do. A place I loathed, a place that made me nervous...

I'm a tank, am I supposed to say that? Do you guys have places you dread to go? I had to face my demons.

I knew the fight, I knew what I had to do.

One shotting a tank-

It seems that The Stonecore is Blizz's big FU to Wrath. Lots of movement, and mechanics in every fight that will one shot you. All bosses in there are capable of killing the tank or anyone else if you don't have total focus. In one shot.

Lets not forget the stupid ass trash that jumps, twirls and cleave everyone! oh, lets not forget the crystals that allow you to take more damage per stack.

The more I looked the more I seen tanks and groups in general having issues with this boss and this place in general. Now don't get me wrong, its not undoable or even luck its lots of awareness and movement. I have never, even most raid bosses are not as brutal on tanks as this 5 man heroic.

Ascared?

I had to face my demons, or stone asshats. I wanted to tell Blizz FU for the FU to us. I want to concur my past failures.In its essence its not a hard fight, I can do it. Cuz, I am not a fail tank...I think.

Well I have had my past issues with others failing in heroics. I mean hard, see my last tanking adventures post to see my 17 death run or my first time in Tol'vir were we wiped over and over on the Croc. I'm good at this game, not AWESOME, not PRO but good. I take pride in my play style and know my class.

We wiped a few times on Coborus due to bad dps or low dps. We one shot the 2nd boss and move do Ozruk.

I was nervous and this was pure pug! I had little room for error, the group was snide and edgy as it was but I wanted to get this done. BAD!

Ozruk-

In case you don't know, he has 3 abilities: Ground slam, Shatter and Paralyze, oh a few other lil dandies but this is not a guide on how to do the fight.

1st pull (oh we didn't one shot him) Got him to 2%, really I did this pretty well. I got caught by Ground slam standing between his legs. I thought I was far enough behind him but I guess not.

The DPS was asking if I knew how to do the fight. I said yes, I got it but I made a mistake and said sorry. The fury warrior, a blood elf pulling 4k dps said, l2side step that and it won't be an issue.

2nd pull, I did the most pro move ever, I pulled the trash and we wiped. The DPS was really giving it to me, I said sorry and told them I made the mistake and it won't happen again.

3rd pull, got him to 20%ish and caught ground slam again between his legs. I really thought I was under him enough but again. WOW this fight is brutal. I was feeling the pressure, and the DPS was killing me. It got really bad and I told them, "look I'm learning the fight I've mad a few mistakes but either kick me or keep it informative".

4th pull, I'm nervous now big time. I'm shaking not out of being scared but pure wanting to get the boss in my past. I really IRL need to accomplish this. It sounds weird but its a hurdle I have to get past in my tanking career and life. I don't remember a fight were so much relies on one tank to do so much. I mean, hold aggro, move around him, not pull extra mobs and keep the boss in range and oh, manage cool downs and make sure the healer is ok to heal after paralyze.

I throw my shield and grab this brute up! I'm going to do it this time. I noticed his timer is off, at least in my head he is a few seconds off. DBM is off too.This is going to require my total concentration of position, and awareness to get my job done. Things are going smooth so far he is about 50% and I'm still middle of the tunnel.

I got this!

25% he enrages, IDC I pop guardian and hope I can make the movement in sync with him and his shabby casting.

DOWN GOES Orzuk! I got him and let these silly DPS know it. Yes, I was overboard! but I did it, I slayed my dragon.

The DPS gave me gratz and then bagged me for being a baddie.

Last boss, I say watch the adds and stone throws. I get one shotted by a stone hitting the ground. HEY, give me a break its my first time. I seen the graphic and knew what I was looking for now.

We pull again and:

Not bad for my 1st time in the place and I don't think I'll ever go back again. Yes most have this done now but I'm pretty proud of this due to the fact it the fight bothered me so much outside the game.

Can anyone think of a fight so brutal on a tank, other than maybe Brutallus or a very progressed raid? In a 5 man?

Tanking Adventures

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you had a safe and fun weekend!

Grim Batol

I love this place. I really do! Great rep cool fights will challenge players skill a bit. The fights are not face rolls. Not entirely complex but you can't round them up and burn them down. But it was a PUG.

My fault for doing this, it was New Years morning about 6 AM server time, 9AM for me. I looked and no one was on in guild beside a "friend and family" level 25 shammy.

I every so brilliantly PUGGED! I know what you are thinking, why? Well I wanted to knock my Valor points out for the day. In all honesty as I zoned in the group make up was not bad.

Me
Priest heals
MM Hunter
Rogue
'Lock

Gear wasn't bad and a few even said "hi" as we zoned in. I gave kill order and CC order. Things went smooth and stuff was dying fast. The 'Lock DC'd 3x's and a vote kick went out. She was removed. Incomes a DK. He was a gem. He arrived w/"sup, never been here b4".

He proceded to pull 3k DPS on trash and our 1st boss attempt. Somehow we wiped on trash and had the healer rez him.

We got to General Umbriss, his DPS went up to 4k. We wiped at about 40%, the healer had to rez him. The rouge tells him stop being a lazy ass and rez. He says "I've never been here before, I don't want to get lost"

We wiped 3 more times on Umbriss, for some reason the healer wanted to stand on top of me. I was charged 3 times. My fault for not moving but it was an insta kill for the healer. Usually I can live thru his charge. The helm dropped, the hunter took it and left group. I was sad, she was a smart hunter. She was replaced by a lock.

Me to 'Lock- are you glyphed for fear? What is that? o.O

On the next boss Forgemaster Throngus we wiped A L O T! Four times in a row were 2% ish wipes. The lock and 3k DK left and were replaced by a Shammy, who was wearing PVP gear "cuz its just fill in til i get good stuff".

The shammy and DK died on his fire phase. They both left and were replace by 2 toons that zoned in and DC'd. They never came back. In comes a 'lock and a DK.

Me
Priest heals
Rouge
DK
'Lock

Lock SS DK, we all go "WHAT?" oops sorry wrong target. Pull boss, DK dies in fire. Uses SS and dies in fire...........LOL

We finally get him dead, the wand drops, healer needs takes it and drops group.

Druid heals comes in, we pull to Drahga Shadowburner wipe a few times because people are unable to get behind him during the drakes flame phase. This was for a brief second, my fault "cuz tank doesn't have aggro on boss" "use taunt so drake doesn't turn towards group"

OMG

We figured that out, lost the lock, got a mage and killed the boss. All was good, a decent group with great DPS and nice make up for Erudax and slowing his adds.

I tell group how we should set it up -  Mage help w/both adds. Rogue take left, DK take right. Slow adds and kill them before we get to the eggs to hatch.

Rogue "I can't use crippling poison, it will hurt my DPS"
Mage "I don't have a frost spec, I can't slow"
DK "I'll chains them both, others burn them down."

It didn't work like 4 times. Some way, shape or form these three guys couldn't get the adds before the birds got hatched. They were all at 7k dps or better and couldn't do it.

Healer drops, DK drops, Rogue drops. 3 hours into this place....I'm at my wits end but soooo want to finish this. I'm so close to my valor points, I don't know if I can stomach redoing a heroic today to get them.

The mage stayed with me, zoned in are a shammy healer, MM hunter, Frost DK , me and the mage.

Mage give run down of boss, and says, what I have said about 15 times....Kill adds fast and we win.

We wiped. But I noticed something the hunter and DK were doing 12k dps. Oh, could it be, could we have a chance to do this?

DK says I'm so sorry I messed that up. We got him next time and....

We did!  I was so excited for killing this simple ass boss I could have hugged all those toons IRL for real.

In case you lost count: TL, DR:

17 wipes
3 1/2 hours (9am til 12:10pm)
17 players (plus 2 more that zoned in and dc'd and never came back)
96g in repairs
70 valor points
one very patient tank who used every CD he had multiple times (including LoH 5x's)