Not So Cursed

7 kills later:

Hooray for warforged!

Also, eat this, Raid Leaders who kicked me from 2 different elitist Heroic Arch PuGs on pre-execute wipes because my DPS was low:

Won't have an excuse to kick me now!

(For the record, I did 53k before we wiped at the start of Killshot range using my old bow and got kicked before I joined the Mannoroth PuG. Blessing in disguise?)

If At First You Don't Succeed

...make sure you have enough gold for repair bills.

After running 6 PuGs this week with varying numbers of idiots, incompetents and elitists to get this kill on the board, I was so relieved to finally get a winning combo that I didn't even care that I (once again) didn't get loot.

Honestly, it's quite disheartening when someone /ignores you because you dared to whisper them after being kicked that it wasn't your fault that someone else's chains killed you and you couldn't kill shadows whist dead (this was after a single wipe and I already had points against me because a) I was BM and not MM; and b) I didn't have AotC).

Luckily not all the groups were that toxic, otherwise I'd have given up earlier. There were also good-natured but ultimately bound to fail groups:

...and it even got to the point where I was "that guy" and left a raid after one wipe because I just knew they wouldn't be able to get a kill (I was right; they were still in the LFG tool hours later).

Yes, this week was a complete nightmare of PuGs, but on the upside I did manage to scrape through with the all-important achievement to link for next week.

Now that I can breathe a little easier on that front, I plan to start practicing MM a little. I don't know whether I'll be able to get better DPS out of it given my tendency to move randomly whilst raiding (thus ruining Sniper Training and cancelling out any advantage MM is supposed to have from the 4set this tier), but I'm willing to at least give it a go - even I have to admit that the last phase of Archimonde is incredibly pet-unfriendly!

The LFG Note

With no experience in the Upper Citadel and an ilvl in the low 700s due to some lacklustre loot luck, I'd had to be quite diligent and a little creative about my LFG note for trying to get past Heroic Gorefiend.

Unfortunately, even "744 Ring" - an indication that you've killed Normal Archimonde 3 times - didn't seem to be quite enough for picky PuG leaders.

I was more than a little relieved when loot started dropping again this week, jumping me 6 ilvls (in my bags, at least!) to sit comfortably at 710 plus 4pc, and subsequently putting 2 more heroic kills on the board.

Yes, I'm probably getting carried a little - I had a mage in my PuG do almost double my DPS in the Heroic Xhul kill (and ranked 1st for mages on that fight to boot - had to have been a fairly progressed Mythic raider) - but I've never been bottom in any kills yet, so I can't be *too* much of a hindrance.

Luckily, now that I can put "8/13H" in my note, I'm a lot more confident about getting to 11/13H, considering the extra kills are an unconscious step up from the "easy" first 6.

Hopefully I'll find a Socrethar PuG this week for a chance at the crossbow as well - it would be nice to be on the higher end of the DPS rather than the lower one. Besides, any more kills I can add to the ol' LFG note just means I'll find it easier to get a PuG next week. Go go experience!

Hell Hath Frozen Over

Unfortunately I didn't have time to queue and take advantage of it... the novelty!

Decorating

I have to admit, this new statue that you get for killing Archimonde on normal mode or higher is pretty decent. A lot better than the Master Draenor Crafter and Master of Apexis statues, at any rate.

Unfortunately, although the ol' Garrison looks a little better, my gear doesn't - the past couple of weeks have been pretty average for loot. Even though I managed to scrape a full clear on normal and 6 bosses on heroic, I've only had a couple of minor upgrades for offset pieces... which means my iLvl (and therefore DPS) will still be on the low side.

On the upside, I did manage to score this little guy in my guild raid, which kind of makes up for it:

Now if I could just score the gun off Heroic Hellfire Assault, I'd be OK, I think. It would be nice to get some tier or trinkets, of course, but I'd be a lot more comfortable going for the better Heroic PuGs with a decent ranged weapon.

Argh-imonde

Week 3 in Hellfire Citadel brought me 2 heroic kills to add to my 12/13 normal kills and although the DPS requirement is clearly tougher, it wasn't too bad.

Archimonde, on the other hand, was a different story.

Stand too close at the wrong time, you wipe. Stand too far at the wrong time, you wipe. Stand in fire at the wrong time, you wipe. Don't stand in portal at the wrong time, you wipe. Don't interrupt, you wipe.

I have now done a few PuGs on Archi with raids of varying ability and have to admit that the fight is well designed as a final boss... by which I mean there is very little room for error.

I also experienced something that I can't remember experiencing for a very long time, if at all - I got kicked from a PuG for being the lowest DPS.

Not running a DPS mod, it took me by surprise until I looked at the logs and discovered I was the lowest ilvl as well - apparently 694 isn't fantastic for doing the last boss of HFC, which I suppose is understandable considering you could have had higher with heroic BRF and crafted gear.

This week I'm starting the PuG grind a little higher at 697, including a new gun, so hopefully I'll look a little better in the gear stakes. Not quite as high as the group I got kicked from - most of them were >700 - but at least not "fresh off the BRF boat"!

Fel Over Zakuun

Week 2 of raiding Hellfire Citadel and the PuGs have been good.

After last week's effort, I've managed to fill in those gaps and now sit at 12/13 Normal, with the guild at 5/13.

I'm actually very impressed with this raid. Almost all of the fights are complex and therefore interesting to me, which makes it enjoyable (although on the other hand, potentially frustrating if your raid members are struggling).

For those who have gotten that far, no, I don't know what happened with Fel Lord Zakuun either... and it's not like Blizzard are likely to re-tune him, since making a boss harder after some guilds have downed him wouldn't feel great.

I'm looking forward to trying to get a PuG for Archimonde again this week - I had some attempts and have seen to 40%, but would like to see what the Twisting Nether looks like.

Plus, it's infinitely easier to get PuGs if you already have a kill, so the earlier I can get it, the better. Having a full clear on Normal might also stand me in good stead to start trying for Heroic PuGs, as well.

Hell and High Water

Well, week 1 of raiding in Hellfire Citadel and my armory page looks completely wacky:

As a guild, Ashes (plus assorted friends, including some of my old Proudmoore guildies from Southern Wardens) managed to down the first four bosses on normal and had some good attempts on the fifth.

Not too bad, considering we had to work out mechanics (and the fact that we only raid for ~3hrs twice a week); I don't anticipate them being any trouble for us whatsoever when we head back in there this week.

Being me, I was of course keen to see the rest of the place, so managed to get two different PuGs to down Gorefiend and Mannoroth, with some attempts on Xhul'horac (now there's a chaotic fight!) and Archimonde (yeah... NFI what's going on there).

Overall, I'm extremely happy with this new raid - the mechanics and visuals are interesting and definitely a step up in difficulty from Blackrock Foundry.

I'm really looking forward to seeing some more of it. It's been awhile since I've felt a real challenge in raiding due to being limited to clearing heroic BRF instead of moving onto mythic. Even better, the heroic mode for this dungeon seems a lot more.... heroic. As it should be, considering it's a tier up - I don't expect to get bored any time soon!

Behind the Curve

I've been out of the PuGging game for awhile (no, I don't count LFR... and yes, changed guilds again. Don't ask :P), so I was rather confused with the request for "AotC" on most of the heroic Blackhand groups.

Being a hunter, I'm used to AotC meaning Aspect of the Cheetah, but of course it's not - it's Ahead of the Curve, as in you've killed the boss on heroic before. Unfortunately before tonight, I didn't have it... so trying to find a PuG to take me - and also be good - has been annoying.

The smaller groups (for some reason the "magic number" seems to be 2 tanks, 4 heals and 9 DPS - possibly something to do with the balance of loot and organising the number of people) had huge problems with handling phase 2. If a couple of people died to mechanics, especially in phase 1, you weren't likely to recover.

It was a whole different story when I found a 25m PuG this evening - people were getting hit with bombs and marks left, right and centre. I had to /boggle at the easy two shot (although the group had been going on a little while before I joined, I think).

I also discovered that you can't loot two tokens from Blackhand - as in, one coined and one from the boss. Not that I minded, since I had my 4pc bonus already, but I wouldn't have said no to a 5th piece to swap in/out with non-tier.

Either way, I'm glad I have the achievement now - hopefully will be less trouble to PuG Blackhand in future weeks, which at least means I should be able to get the 5th tier piece soon!

Raiding on Eggshells

With Mythic raiding going to 20m in WoD, we have been in talks with another guild (withholding the name in case it all falls through) about merging our 10m teams.

I've always been amused by merger dynamics - everyone always tries to impress everyone else and tiptoe around each other; people are worried that they won't fit in and vice versa... it's pretty exciting and nerve wracking for everybody.

I would have to say that I'm more excited/wary than nervous, myself. The guild we are thinking of merging with is higher on progression than we are, but I'm fairly confident in my ability to at least be adequate, if not brilliant. Pretty far cry from half a year ago when I was about to join a heroic guild after a) being rusty on skills and b) leaving the guild I had been in for the past 8 years.

Since this is the 3rd new guild I would have encountered this year, I suppose you could say I'm even used to the process... never thought I'd be in a situation where I'm one of those heroic raiders that jump guilds to stay ahead - and I certainly don't feel like one - but from the outside it probably looks that way! :P

At least this time I won't be doing it alone; most, if not all, of Zero Yard Range are looking forward to Mythic raiding in WoD and barring any serious personality clashes I can't imagine why the merge wouldn't work. Interesting times! :)

The Changing Friends List

I hadn't thought much about it until recently, but I've realised that the people on my friends list has changed significantly over the years.

When I was in my first raiding guild, I was often PuGging content with strangers... and because PuGging was so difficult, I always added good PuG raid leaders and reliable PuGgers to my list so that I would know who to ask if I ever wanted a group for old raids or achievements.

As people have left the game and WoW has changed to be more casual-friendly with LFR and Flex modes making an entrance, my friends list has become less a way of keeping track of random good players and more about keeping track of ex-guildies.

Is this a bad thing? Possibly. I can't remember the last time I met anybody new in WoW outside of the guild. Then again, I suppose the last time I PuGged anything outside the guild was around then, too. RIP Trade Chat PuGging :(

I Feel for the Person that Left This LFR

50min in the queue, zoned into an LFR with 3 stacks of Determination and promptly 1-shot Garrosh with next to no experience on him besides a few wipes in 10m for phase 1.

It pays to have patience, people!

On a side note, the bad thing about 1-shotting Garrosh this week is that I still don't really know what the hell is going on in that fight. Avoid stuff, kill adds, DPS MCed people is about what I got out of it... hopefully it's a lot more interesting on normal mode!

LFRaiders

Yet again, my raiding team has a problem with numbers.

Losing one of our main tanks is going to halt our progression - and it was going pretty well, with 9/14 down in 10m - particularly as a few of us will be taking holidays in the coming months.

I don't know if I really have the patience to sit through LFR if we don't manage to find people. It had pleasantly surprised me how fast we went through content at first, but since my gear is significantly higher than LFR this time around (again, a novelty for me), I've realised that there's no need for me to do it unless I'm trying to get tier set bonuses. Even flex raids are barely an upgrade.

Luckily Zero Yard Range is the type of guild that doesn't mind the occasional PuG from Trade Chat (it's where they picked *me* up, after all), but it's pretty difficult to find a consistent, geared and reliable DPS, let alone a tank.

Crossing my fingers we find someone by Sunday!

Unprecedented

This is the first ever tier where I - and my raiding group - been heroic geared for new content.

I'm not sure whether it's because of that that my raid is breezing through the first few bosses or Blizz is just making content easier in general, but it's a completely novel experience for me to be so far into a raid dungeon this early.

In 10m, we got up to the 7th boss (Kor'kron Dark Shaman) in the first week of raiding... and even then, it doesn't look like too difficult a fight. We just ran out of time!

I think it's a lot better being ahead of the curve... you don't run into fights where you're lacking on DPS/heals - a source of frustration for everyone because there are usually people who "carry" the raid, whether it be gear or skill. It's never fun waiting for people to catch up.

In our case, even if there are some better geared (or better skilled!) than others, it's not enough of a gap to significantly slow progression. Woot for the new and improved raiding experience! :)

(On the other hand, I've suddenly discovered I have much less patience for LFR... was considering not bothering with it, but I feel obliged for the chance at loot :P)

Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive

Yes, I'm still here, unlike Frostheim. It's been awhile since my last update, but last week I hadn't done much in WoW due to being fairly busy IRL and this week I've been busy catching up with all the things I'd missed!

For one thing, after about 3 months' worth of terrible Runestone droprates, I finally accumulated 12. I've only had time for a couple of goes at the Celestial Blessings quest, but it's looking like an incredibly fun challenge already. Will hopefully have time either next weekend or mid-week (since there's a public holiday here on Wed) to figure out tactics (kill adds? kite adds?).

For another, my guild (Infamy) has shifted their Challenge mode dungeon runs to Wed night instead of Sun arvo, which means I've been able to join in when there's a free spot. I do use my PvP abilities (eg. Silence, Scatter, Trap) regularly anyway, but it's not often when the use of them can mean the difference between living and dying! Unfortunately we only managed Silver in Scarlet Halls that night (and being the only one who has never completed a Challenge mode before, a lot of those resets I'm sure I could have done better), but now that I know what they're like, I'm keen to do more.

Finally, the guild I am currently raiding with (Zero Yard Range, not Infamy :P) is extremely close to getting their first heroic Horridon kill. I actually missed all of Infamy's progression runs on Horri, so I've never felt *entirely* comfortable doing it. Wiping with ZYR has been good - as much as I loved the smooth runs with Infamy, I feel bad if I'm being "carried" through fights and I certainly don't feel like I am this time.

I will endeavour to update the ol' blog sooner rather than later, this time. Wouldn't do to have people start thinking I've gone the way of many other hunter bloggers who have stopped playing! :)

I Love These People

I had to whisper some serious props to the tank in this LFR - he/she solo tanked the fight from start to finish after the second tank left just before the pull, only dying right at the end and surviving long enough for the DPS to finish Lei Shen off.

Makes a very nice change from your average PuG tank!

A Change of Pace

Due to Infamy not raiding anymore, I've been playing casually, filling my stables with rares and getting back into pet battles.

One of my former Southern Wardens guildies, who joined a different guild to me when the Wardens stopped raiding, offered a place on their raid team for the week.

They're rather behind where I was in the progression stakes; their 2nd raid of the week was only the 3rd boss in ToT normal, where Infamy would normally be working on the 6th heroic kill, whichever boss that happened to be.

Since I had a "free" week, however, I accepted... and actually didn't mind the change of pace. It's been quite awhile since I've been the most experienced one in the raid - in Infamy I always felt like I was scrambling to keep up, but with this group I helped them get their first Tortos kill and make some decent progress on Megaera to boot.

Sure, I could see it getting frustrating wiping on fights that I'm used to doing either on heroic or in half the time, but for this week, it was cool. Not as boring-ly easy as LFR (which I still have to do because of my incredibly bad luck on Titan Runestones), but not as stressful as heroic.

I'm not sure how long I'll last as a casual - I tend to like more of a challenge when playing computer games - but until I decide to go searching for yet another guild, chilling out for awhile isn't such a bad idea.

Determined

It usually is the case that doing LFRs get easier as time goes on, since more and more people learn the fight every week.

Case in point: first week of ToT release, this many stacks of Determination:

Hours of wipe time, people leaving and being replaced with yet another lot of people who hadn't seen the fight before... and getting stuck behind the trash because the first raid group had made everyone run past to click on the column instead of clearing. Nightmare.

This week, after having an unusually awful time with Ion Qon in this week's LFR, I hadn't been looking forward to doing Lei Shen with the same group... but I was pleasantly surprised when this happened:

Full buff list... no stacks of Determination. Go the casual PuGs! :)

The Safety Dance Reloaded

Those of you who played in Vanilla may remember a point at which Heigan the Unclean cleaned the floor with 35 people, leaving 5 coordinated people to dance for the next half hour.

Blizzard clearly thinks it's time to bring back that hilarity, as I found out in my LFR this week:

Lucky it was LFR Durumu and not normal, since the 7 of us left alive in the above screenshot had to finish the fight ourselves from ~24% :P

I See the Light

After more than a few false starts, I finally found a PuG group that managed not to A) blow everyone off the platform or B) stand in Defile:

I'm really quite happy about that. It's not the easiest raid to PuG when there are so many abilities that will kill you - and the rest of your raid - no matter how much health you have.

Plus, it was the last Achievement I had in ICC... and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to solo or at least only need a small group to do most of the rest of the WotLK raid Achievements. Woot! :)