There's a lot to cover over the long weekend, so I'll get right to it.
With Patch 2.4 the Tier 11 gear set costs were changed. Prior to the patch valor points (VP) were required to buy the gear. VPs are generally earned by doing random Heroic dungeon runs using the dungeon finder (DF), which Wild avoids like the plague. Hence Wild does not have any T11 gear, which is stupid, but it is what it is. Now, however, the T11 gear can be bought with justice points (JP), which can be earned at a higher rate and are generally earned by doing normal (non-Heroic) dungeon runs.
Wild isn't all that fond of DF runs, even non-Heroic ones, but I only needed two or three runs to get enough JPs to buy a T11. Wild's first DF run was in the Lost City. The tank was modestly geared but competent and knew his way around. The DPSers ranged from quite good to pretty awful. "Awful" meaning they had no concept of aggro, constantly pulling mobs the tank hadn't grabbed yet and generally making everything harder. Wild is way over-geared for normal dungeons so I could heal through almost anything, but when a DPS aggroed mobs that ended up attacking Wild, that DPSer tended to die as Wild was "too busy" to heal him. We did complete the dungeon, but bypassed at least one boss.
Later on, Wild queued for a DF and got Grim Batol. Again, we had a competent and game tank, but he admitted that he did not know the dungeon. His gear barely made the cut, too. None of us knew our way around. Wild has done Grim Batol once before. I sorta remembered the bosses, but directionally challenged Wild had little clue how to get around inside the place. We dived in anyway, and when we stumbled upon a Boss I'd check the Dungeon Guide and try to recall the strategy for the boss. I even remembered the drake bombing run part. We managed, more or less. The one thorn was a very earnest death knight who tried very hard, but died over and over. Since the tank death knight was pretty squishy as well, Wild had to use his Tree of Life form three times to keep the group from wiping on over pulls or simply lack of practice with the Bosses.
Those two runs did give Wild enough JPs to purchase the i359 T11 gloves, and raised his equipped gear level to i355. I calculate that Wild needs another six runs to get a second T11 (legs), and that will replace the last of his i346 gear. I have to note, though, that the reason the i359 T11 gear can be bought with JPs, is that the T12 gear is now available, purchasable with VPs. The T12s are ilevel 378. It's called Obsidian Arborweave Regalia for the healing set. Sigh, Wild is always a set (or two) behind.
Early Friday morning Happy was doing his Auction House thing and decided to check level 85 gear to see if any BoE drops from the Firelands were making their way to the AH. There were just a few, nearly all of which were +agi or +str gear that Happy knew Wild wasn't interested in. However, [Spire of Scarlet Pain] was also listed for sale. This is a 2-hand staff, i378, and had Wild been on he would have demanded that Happy pay whatever it cost to get it. The staff Wild has right now is the Chelly's staff (i359) and is the best weapon Wild is ever going to get short of the Firelands. So, you are thinking, do rep/BoE runs on Firelands trash mobs and see if Wild can win the Scarlet Pain staff! Well, there is a wrinkle to that plan. The staff has +hit on it, which makes it a DPS caster staff, not a healer staff. Even if it dropped, it would not go to Wild.
Happy equivocated. Happy dithered. The price was 35,000 gold, a not-insignificant price even for Happy. Someone else bought it while Happy was still staring at it. And the buyer then re-posted it at 60,000 gold. And it sold, too. Wild died a little inside at the missed opportunity. Happy fainted at the thought of all that lost profit.
Friday night was our second night in Bastion of Twilight. Yes, Wild did make it in game, to the raid leader's delight. One DPS guildie from Thursday night was not invited back for the second night. He just didn't seem to be able to keep up with the fights, and was always the last raider ready, making the rest of us wait. We got off to a later start on Friday as well, which was one reason Wild was able to get back in time.
We had no trouble with the trash mobs this night and we were quickly at the Twins encounter (Valiona and Theralion).
On our first attempt Wild was a little slow off the mark and let a Devouring Flames eat me alive. Wild got a battle rez but the attempt fizzled out with the Twins at 55%.
Our second attempt went much better. Wild was, of course, doing Blackout debuff duty, and I was getting the hang of that now, even chiding a raider for being late to collapse on the tank. Wild got his timing right with Devouring Flames as well, running to the rump of the dragon just before he starts spewing flame. That attempt eventually unraveled as well during Deep Breath, but it was clear we were starting to get a routine down.
On our third attempt Wild managed to get swept into the Twilight Realm, not just once, but twice! These are very avoidable, and Wild hasn't stumbled into them since his first encounter with the Twins. The first time Wild was able to get to the portal and return to the fight. The second time Wild died. The Twins were at 4% when Wild died, and since the priest healer was already dead, that left only the new pally priest to keep the remainder of the raid alive. She did, and the Twins went down. Finally, we had our second BoT boss encounter kill.
Twins Kill
The raid leader had prepped for the third encounter, called Ascendant Council, but no one thought to check out the trash mobs that precede it. So we just winged it. The first mobs are single mobs we could pull one at a time. They dropped a smattering of bombs around a random raider. Once we saw what they were doing, the bombs were easy to avoid, and not fatal even you got caught in the explosion. The second grouping of mobs were a lot more entertaining. There were mobs from all the elemental plains - air, fire, earth, and water, and they all had their particular abilities - none of which we knew, of course. The air ones I thought were oh so cute because they glided along using lightning bolts for legs. I didn't get a good count of them, but there must have been at least eight, all milling about in a large chamber. The two tanks targeted and pulled, successfully drawing just two. It's a flashy fight with all kinds of ordnance going off, with debuffs Wild would clear and AoE's strafing across the raid. None of it fatal to the raid. Except after it was over, when the healers sheath our weapons. The two tanks were still taking damage. A LOT of damage. The healers did a quick draw and went back to work. Wild burned his mana down to 60% keeping just one tank alive, while the other two healers were dealing the same with the other tank. Seems like these mobs leave an un-clearable debuff on the tanks when they die. We could figure out no way to short circuit it other than just letting it run it's course.
We also tried having our two hunters miss-direct to the tanks, but that went awry, drawing four of the things into our midst. We had two raiders die, but still took them down. By now we had seen all their tricks, and cleared out the remainder.
For the first time, we set our sights on the Ascendant Council. When I read up on the fight and the abilities, my mathematical side couldn't help but do a little figuring. There are three phases to this fight, involving five bosses, each of which have four unique abilities we have to deal with. Just a sec, counting. MmmHmm, that adds up to twenty different abilities we have to learn how to overcome. My head hurts.
We took things in chunks, of course. A raid can't learn an entire encounter at once. The first phase involves two bosses, Feludious (shortened to Fel) and Ignacious (shortened to Ig). So, phase one is against Fel and Ig. Get to know them. We might be seeing them a lot. We went over the strategy and made two attempts. We didn't get very far, but it was a start.
Overall, a decent night for us. As for the healing challenge between Wild and Gn, the pally healer ... well, she really stepped up her game. Results:
#1: Gn, 8020 hps, 32.9% of the healing
#2: Wild, 7233 hps, 33.1%
#3: Pl, 5652 hps, 19.0%
Gn topped Wild in hps, but Wild finished first in total healing. I call that a tie. And Wild is very happy to have Gn on the healing team. I hope she becomes a regular.
The Molten Front - also known as the Firelands Invasion
Molten Front and the Firelands have an interesting and lengthy (very lengthy) reputation grind. For the raid itself, killing mobs and bosses increases reputation with the Avenger's of Hyjal (just reaching Friendly with the faction rewards an i378 cloak). Outside of the raid, there is a many layered and extensive series of quest chains from which players can earn Marks of the World Tree. As you do quests, you start to unlock Dailies. Those dailies also reward Marks. Collect enough Marks and you unlock vendors. The interesting thing at this point is that once you can access the the vendors, the gear they sell can be purchased with gold. No more marks are needed. The gear is awesome, too! There is also a mount reward (a hippogryph) once all dailies are completed.
Don't expect to get to the vendors in a week. The absolute minimum amount of time it takes to get enough Marks to buy the gear is - 31 days. For Wild, it would be amazing if he got them done in twice that time. [Note - the starter quests were recently redesigned to reward additional Marks - too bad for those who completed the quests before it changed, which included Wild]
Wild has started the chain, beginning with Warchief's Command: Mount Hyjal, which can be picked up at the Commander's Board in Orgrimmar. Wild's initial focus was on the chain called Elemental Bonds. The chain was a lot of fun, but it's a good idea to do it while there are others doing it as well. Some of the battles are incredible, and trying to solo them can be a challenge. Wild switched between resto and moonkin specs depending on the quest and how many other players were around. In these battles you had to earn points for killing the attackers. The easier ones only gave 5 points, while the big nasty ones earned 15-25 pts. Wild was able to solo most of the big nasty ones, sometimes simply out lasting them in resto, or, as in the later quests, burning them down as moonkin (usually with help from other players). This chain can be completed in a few hours. Wild finished it on Saturday, with [Mantle of Desire] as his reward - an i365 cloak, which is now the highest level piece of raiding gear Wild owns.
Wild has also been working down the main path of the quest chain, which initially takes place in Mount Hyjal. Wild has completed the introductory/Stage 1 quests (6 quests) which opened up some Dailies, which Wild completed. The quests can vary, so for those who like variety, there is one Daily that always drops, with an additonal pair of quests picked randomly from a set of five. For grinding, frankly, Wild prefers no variety in order to speed up the necessary grinding, but oh well. Wild has finished Stage 2 as well, which took Wild near the Sanctuary of Malorne. New Dailies unlocked, adding to the prior ones. Wild got his first completion of the new Dailies as well. Again, the quests vary from day to day.
With all of the Dailies in Mount Hyjal now unlocked, Wild was able to to take a Portal into the Molten Front zone for the first time. More quests and more Dailies are unlocked.
The next stage requires a choice. Players must choose one of two factions to get help from as the Invasion progresses. Wild chose "Druids of the Talon" because I liked the gear choices better than the alternative, "The Shadow Wardens." Don't worry, players can do both (unlike the faction grinds in BC, where you had to choose one over the other). However, you will earn more Marks questing with your main choice.
Whew! That's as far as Wild got on Saturday.
Forgettable Sunday
Wild logged in on Sunday to get a round of Dailies in. We had some guildies on and they wanted to do a Heroic. Everyone say it together, now: "Oh noes, not a Heroic!"
We had two main spec healers, but the pally healer wanted to DPS, so Wild got to heal. There were only the five of us, so Wild couldn't really refuse. How bad could it be?
The random dungeon finder gave us Grim Batol. Lovely. It was fun for the first thirty minutes. We arrived at the first boss, General Umbris. We tried him several times, but we couldn't seem to get untangled from the adds. The DPS tried kiting/CCing them and when that failed we tried to ignore them, but of course that just meant that more would keep coming. Wild was doing better than 9k healing, but the fight just wouldn't end and Wild always had a mob in his face. We got a little frustrated and decided to skip Umbris, moving on to Throngus. Him we killed after one wipe on the rather nasty trash mobs he has around him. Bolstered by that, we banged our way to Drahga Shadowmaster. We made a very good first attempt, easily getting to the dragon phase and getting the dragon under 20% before wiping. Then things completely fell apart. On every attempt someone screwed up (Wild included) and we just went nowhere. "This shouldn't be that hard," someone said in vent.
We tried a few more times against Drahga and his dragon, but the will had gone out of us and we decided to bypass him, too, going straight to the final boss so that we could get the heck out of there. Tempers were starting to smolder, as well.
The final boss, Erudax, is an AoE fight with some wrinkles. One of the main things to remember is to run into the portal whenever it forms. Wild had a terrible time seeing the dang thing (I'm color blind, and I can't distinguish between some color shades), and while sometimes Wild could heal himself through the resulting damage, Wild died a couple of times as well. About the time Wild started getting the hang of it the other healer (who had asked to DPS at the beginning of the run, you will recall) asked if he and Wild could swap roles. He would heal and Wild would DPS. Whatever gets us done, was the way I saw it.
We made maybe four more attempts with Wild DPSing. I wasn't having any trouble with the portals, at least. I know I suck at targeting, and in this fight adds form regularly which have to be killed quickly to avoid the adds releasing more adds from eggs around the room. Wild did the best he could for his first ever DPS role against Erudax, but sometimes an egg or two got hatched, which increased our troubles. We didn't kill Erudax, finally just giving up in exhaustion.
We spent almost two and half hours in Heroic Grim Batol, killing only one of four bosses and failing to get the Valor Point credits by failing against the final boss. Wild was drained. The two every day DPSers averaged 10k and 9k DPS. The tank was at around 6k. Wild did 8.8k DPS. I should be happy Wild DPSed that well under those circumstances, but I have to say that runs like this don't help Wild over his low opinion of Heroics. Even guild Heroics.
NOW, for the real Kicker (this is embarrassing): Roll forward to Monday morning.
As usual Happy got in game first, taking care of the AH business. After Happy, it was Lost's turn on the Alliance AH, so I had to relog in to Wild's and Lost's account. Wildshard is always the toon that gets displayed on first login. Wildshard, for some reason, looked odd. I was puzzled. I looked again. Finally, I realized what was so strange. I could see Wild's face. So? I blinked a couple of times and then it came to me. Wild is wearing a hat. Wild should be wearing his i353 Zul'Aman mask. Oh no. I couldn't have. I turned Wild around so I could see what was strapped to his back. Oh dear, I did. Along with his hat, Wild was sporting a very cool looking weapon. Only it wasn't really a weapon - it was Wild's fishing pole. Don't panic, that's just the gear Wild happened to logout in, right?
When we gave up on the Grim Batol run on Sunday, Wild hearthed back to Orgrimmar and then immediately logged out. Wild had not been back in game since then. That means ... that means Wild did Grim Batol wearing his fishing hat and wielding his fishing pole for a weapon. And I never noticed. Nor did anyone in the raid. How in the world of Azeroth Wild was able to do 9k+ healing hps and almost that much in DPS I have no idea. Would we have beaten Grim Batol had Wild been properly equipped? Perhaps. Wild has successfully healed the new Zul'Aman, which is a tougher place than GB. Or maybe not, Wild wasn't the only one who struggled. But one has to wonder ...
PS - It's been a couple of days since the GB debacle, and it actually seems pretty funny now. But if Wild ever does another Heroic, Please make it something other than Grim Batol!
PSS - On Monday night Shevils and Speak got a chance to run a couple of Warsong Gulch battles. We lost the first one only because we couldn't get people to organize; when we could pull 4-5 together we slayed them. Oh well. The second run went much better and Shevils got her first game winning flag cap! Despite Shevils being only level 20 and Speak level 21 in the level 20-24 battleground, finished at the top in damage in both battles. Both of us went up a level.
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