Weekend Part 2 of 3 - Yes, Wild, There IS a Firelands!

Weekend Part 2 of 3 - Yes, Wild, There IS a Firelands!

Wild had blindly answered a random trade channel request for a healer to run Firelands. The raider making the offer likely checked Wild's gear in the Armory, and then offered Wild an invite. It was a guild run, Wild would quickly learn, and I spent a couple minutes getting access to their vent. The raid Summoned Wild from the Summoning stone outside the instance portal. Wild barely slowed down coming out of the Stone, flying from the base of Sulfuron Spire and right into the instance portal. Wild wanted IN THERE right now.

Once inside, Wild had a few minutes to look around while waiting for a last hunter to arrive. Inside the portal is - another world. The Firelands battle is not fought inside the Spire, not really. It's actually part of the Elemental Plane. It's a zone all it's own with outdoor and indoor areas. There really is a Molten Core feel to it - waiting on a modest platform, watching angry monstrosities roam blackened earth under a bloody, fire racked sky. All that was missing from Molten Core image was the giant, steeply canted and swinging chain that had to be danced down to get to the portal - every week it seemed someone would miss-step and fall far to their death into the lava pools. Wild knows.

The guild that was running the raid had seven members plus a guild friend filling eight spots. Wild and the hunter were the only PUGs. The raid leader and main tank talked quietly in vent, sorting out roles but not making any healing assignments. I believe they intended Wild to be the raid healer, since the other two healers were guildies they probably had more trust in. However, that would change.

We took on a gargantuan mob like those that guard the entrance to Molten Core, and Wild's first exposure to Firelands trash mobs went well. The mob died, and we didn't.

We would soon face packs of mobs, however. Wild tried the raid healing thing, but tanks in trouble kept drawing Wild's attention. I settled on the main tank, and thrust Wild into the main tank healing role. Someone else took up raid healing without a word.

What made Wild nervous was that there are no real paths across this devastated terrain. Mobs roam all over the place, pathing in circuits that I am not familiar with yet. The chance at aggroing unintended mobs was ever present. Stay sharp, know where you are and what's around you. I got the impression that this guild's experience in here was just good enough for them to be confident, but still new enough that it took time to lay out the next target(s) and position the raid to take them on. As we progressed, Wild gained more confidence that he matched up well with the other healers in the raid. In fact, Wild would finish a close second to the lead healer when we finally called it a night. Our last attempt was going to against a grouping of mobs the guild had yet to figure out how to beat. They talked for several minutes, and considered resetting and going again, but ultimately decided to call it a night. Wild was loving every minute of it and would have stayed for a second round if they had offered it.

There were no gear drops on the run, which is probably a more realistic outcome than all the claims of as many as five dropping on a single run. Wild did get halfway to Friendly rep on that one run, and with a couple more runs might well be getting a new cape.

At this point Wild was going to break out the slide show projector and regale his audience with his photography skills. However, this is already getting long and it's already Part 2. So, Wild will have to wait for Part 3 to show off his pics.

Finally, Wild has some good news on the gear front to wrap up this post.

Wild got into another PUG run by a guild (Lancermane Family) on Saturday night, clearing the trash twice before calling it a night. Wild thought he'd hit the jackpot when a leather healer piece dropped (Wild was the only druid in the raid at the time). Wild snapped it up, and then had to laugh when I saw that it was i325, not the i378 Wild was expecting. Later, another i325 item dropped. So, after three sweeps of Firelands trash, Wild has not seen a single i378 BoE drop. However, the runs did raise Wild's reputation with Avenger's of Hyjal from neutral to Friendly, and at Friendly Wild was able to purchase a very nice cape [Flowing Flamewrath Cape]. Wild now has his first i378 piece of gear - and then he doubled that number thanks to Lost. Wild's alliance AH toon, Lost, saw [Smolderskull Bindings], i378 leather healing bracers, for under 19k gold on the AH. Wild has seen these bracers just once before, and passed on the 28k price tag. Lost did not hesitate. She bought the bracers, completely wiping out her entire stake.

Now those bracers had to make their way from Lost, across the neutral Auction House, and into Wild's hands. Wild fretted and worried, demanding to be kept apprised each step of the way. Wild made wild promises to Lost that Happy would flood Lost's bags with mats she could sell to recoup the cost. One can imagine what Happy though about that, even as he grimly gave up two stacks of Large Brilliant Shards that he had planned to make his own tidy profit on. The first payment of many Lost will be receiving from Happy.

Lost carefully wrapped up the bracers and placed them in the guild bank. Rakta, the family's alliance contact for the neutral AH, drew the bracers out of the bank. On the horde side, Melasahnd took up her position near the neutral AH auctioneer, her own bags stuffed with additional goodies from Happy and headed for Lost.

Melasahnd and Rakta did a couple of test exchanges to make sure no one was around to pounce on the transactions. The two Auctioneers at Booty Bay were alone, excepting Rakta and Melasahnd. Rakta posted the bracers for the nominal price of one silver piece. If the bracers were going to be swiped, this is when it would happen. Melasahnd swiftly called up the bracers on the AH and made the buy. Wild dithered and worried until word finally came back - Melashand has the bracers, and it's on it's way to Wild.

Wild rushed to the mailbox outside the bank in Org. He opened his mail, tossing mats every which way that JB had been trying to get Wild to craft into bags, and finally found his prize. It took only seconds to reforge, enchant and snap them into place on his wrists. Wild now has two i378 pieces and his gear level is i359.