Wednesday (10 Nov) - Cheers and Setbacks

Wednesday (10 Nov) - Cheers and Setbacks

Wednesday night was the second night of the MM G1 ICC ten man raid. The night before they finished their evening of assault on the Lich King with a best effort of 30%, well past the 40% needed to get into the third and final phase. But they didn't kill him.

On Wednesday night the G1 killed the Lich King. The MM guild had their first ten Kingslayers.

Wednesday night was also the first night of the MM G2 ICC ten man raid. The week before we had gotten the Lich King down to 44% on our best attempt. We were stoked to take that further.

But after ten attempts we were discouraged and near broken. Not only had we not killed the Lich King, we did not get close to the 44% we had achieved the week before. There were many mistakes, too many mistakes. Some were understandable, some we just shook our heads at. I've begun to see why this fight has stymied so many, and why those who get that title are so proud of it.

It was between our tenth attempt and our eleventh attempt that we learned that the G1 team had brought the Lich King down. We were happy for them. I for one was jealous of them. There was an initial letdown that we would not be the first to earn the title for our guild. We really thought we would be. That was gone.

Then we got mad. And we went back to work. Attempts #11 and #12 were very good attempts. We pushed deep into the second phase and did it without losing any raiders during the first phase, something we had failed to do all night. The last attempt, the 13th, came up short as well when I think we just ran out of steam.

Our ever optimistic raid leader, Bd, who, as the night deteriorated, tried not to show his increasing frustration, made only one comment as we retired for the evening.

"We had only two good attempts all night. Tomorrow I'm going to pretend tonight never happened. We have to be a whole lot better than this."

Time is running out for Icecrown Citadel. Time is running out for all those without a Kingslayer title. It's just a title. It's such a small thing. But you know, the things I remember best in this game (other than the friendships of course), are the end game boss encounters. Killing Ragnaros in Molten Core. Prince Malchazaar in Karazhan. Destroying that most loyal of Lich King champions, Kel'Thuzad, in Naxxramas. These were epic confrontations. Epic victories. My greatest regrets were failing on end game bosses, and there are more of them than there are victories - the Black Temple, Hyjal Summit, the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. Worst of all, Blackwing Lair, where months were spent getting to the final encounter with Nefarian, but never bringing him down.

Four more weeks. Perhaps seven nights total. Will Icecrown Citadel be one of those great memories of victory? Or my greatest regret?