Monday (1 Mar) - Ugh, It's Malygos

Monday (1 Mar) - Ugh, It's Malygos

Philly got her first Wintergrasp win Monday night, on her second ever visit. The Wintergrasp pvp zone is largely the domain of level 80 players, although players can be as low as level 77 and still be able to acquire and do the weekly quests there. At level 75, Philly couldn't pick up any quests, but she had learned last week that she had no problem getting into the raid. At level 75 Philly would be completely ineffective as a shadow priest trying to do damage, but as a healer with a very powerful shield, she was actually useful even at that level.

The horde held the fortress, so we were defending. Philly might have DER to thank for that, since he had been heading into WG while Philly was on earlier in the evening. We weren't able to stop the alliance from breaking into the fortress, but once inside we put up a stiff resistance. Twice we pushed the alliance out of the fortress, with Philly running around casting her Shield on everyone in range and spamming heals in between. The allies made a third thrust, and broke into the inner courtyard, but again they could not sustain it, and we held for the win. I was pretty surprised that Philly died only twice, since she was right in the middle of the action the entire time and should have made a very tempting target at her level.

Philly's main interest in WG are the Jewelcrafting recipes that can be bought with Marks/honor there, which she doesn't have to be level 80 to acquire, like the rest of the gear that WG sells. And she might as well start now, since they are letting her in. Philly collected a little honor - just over a 1,000, which is not that much. Most of the honor gains come from the quests. WG was really stingy with the xp, too, even at rested xp and with the 20% heirloom bonus, as she earned barely one percentage point, finishing the evening 53% of the way to level 76.

Philly had a break in the action last night as Wild was getting desperate to complete the weekly frost raid. A new weekly raid is set each Tuesday, and Wild had yet to find time to get it done. When an LFM (looking for more) popped up in trade chat for the weekly raid, Wild hurriedly hustled Philly off the stage so he could ask to join. Most players had already completed the quest throughout the last week, and this might be Wild's last chance to get it done. Missing that raid would cost Wild the equivalent of three days worth of dungeon runs.

Wild did not get a response to his first whisper to the DK that was organizing the raid. Wild sent him a second whisper, asking him to give me a yes or no. This time Wild got a whisper back, "tank, dps, heals?" I sent back "heals" and the invite was immediate. "We have a healer!" was the first thing I saw in raid chat when Wild accepted the invite.

The target of weekly was the dragon Sartherion in the Obsidium Sanctum (OS). There is some trash to clear, and some mini-bosses to bring down, and then the dragon. We wound up having three healers, all druids. OS is pre ToC and ICC patches, so what was once a pretty challenging raid was mostly a walk-thru. Only one raider died, and only because he was stupid. Wild did as much healing as the two other druids combined.

Wild was very happy to get his five frost emblems, because he is going to have a big problem with this week's raid, which is Malygos, which Wild does not like at all. Catching on with a guild raid is likely the only way Wild will do this one. Wild remembers the last time Malygos was the weekly. Had Wild not been asked by his good friend and guildie shaman to come with them on the raid, Wild would not have gotten it done. That guildie friend passed away on 19 Feb. Current and former guildies are still coming to the guild forums to express condolences and to share a little about their friendship with him. He is sorely missed.