Moving Beyond Karazhan?

My guild attempts to run two Kara groups a week. I say "attempts" because we actually only have 15-16 reliable raiders. Occasionally we will bring in someone new, but for the most part, we have to use LFG to fill out our raids.

Our core group of raiders is also a mixed bunch. We have several players that no longer need any gear from Kara, but we also have newer players that still need lots of items. I've been trying to shift the newer players into my Sunday night group. Sadly, I still cannot get a consistent 10 players to show up for my raids. I am always missing a tank or a couple healers. We then have to look for pick up players, and I pray that the guild won't look like amateurs when someone pulls Maiden early (which happened twice last week).

I've been wondering if it is all worth it. One of the big problems I've seen is the ease at which people can PUG Kara. Several times now, I've had key players opt to PUG Kara because they may not make the Sunday run. Sometimes the same players end up logging in while the Sunday raid is underway (which is always infuriating). It is easier to put your personal needs ahead of the needs of the guild.

Maybe I should let them PUG it out? Maybe I should throw in the towel and let people do what they want. My guild is very casual, so it is always difficult to organize and bring people together. Maybe I should focus on my personal goals for once, and get the best of the guild together to run Zul'Aman on Sundays?

We have enough players ready to start working on ZA. Maybe if we start making progress, then other players will get their act together to join us in ZA. With ZA we can be more selective about people's gear and basically put a stop to the free rides. If people realize they need Kara gear to do ZA, then maybe there will be more interest in organized runs...

Of course, that would bring us back to Kara, not move us beyond... /sigh

Sorry

I had disabled comments during my blog's inactive period. I was getting way too much spam. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn them back on after I started to post again. Sorry about that.

I have now turned comments back on. :)

Grounder

This is my Level 70 Shaman, Grounder. I kind of leveled this character to 70 on accident. I started this character before the release of The Burning Crusade. I was playing my Alliance Mage at the time, but I missed playing Horde side. I created Grounder as a diversion until the Expansion was released. Once BC was out, the character was left to rest in an inn somewhere on Kalimdor.

Flash forward to Patch 2.3, and I wanted to run the new content in Dustwallow Marsh. Low and behold, my Shaman was level 37. I started playing her again, and really enjoyed the streamlined leveling process. I enjoyed it so much, that I took my alt all the way to Outland.

Along the way I tried all three talent trees. I found enhancement to be a bit boring, but it was efficient for leveling. I switched to Restoration for a few levels in my early 60s, and leveled by running some instances. Once I decided to make the final push to 70, I went elemental because I had more caster gear than enhancement items. I really enjoyed elemental, but at 69, I went back to Resto for good.

Since I hit 70, I have been working to improve my gear. I had a goal of breaking +1000 healing, then I would start running Karazhan. I got keyed and hit my goal on Saturday. Late Sunday evening, I found myself starting my Kara healing career on Nightbane. I died on the first rain of bones, but used an Ankh and stayed in the fight until the end. It was the most excitement I had in Kara in a long time. I got really nervous when I realized the group I joined was comprised of Death Wish alts (Death Wish is the top raiding guild on Cho'gall and one of the top guilds in the country). I had a couple more noob moments, but I was very happy when the MT complimented the healing on the Prince fight. I don't think we let him drop below 75%.

My Shaman's adventures are just beginning, so you will hear more about her in the future.

My Arena Problems In A Single Quotation

"That is your problem. You should be Resto"

/cry

I stubbornly refuse to go Resto for Arena. I like being Feral. I like tanking for my guild. I don't want to drop 100g a week. I think I know how Ret Pallies used to feel....

I'm not a hardcore PVP Player. My 3v3 team just plays ten games a week for points, and we are somewhat satisfied with our 1450ish rating. We had our rating up to 1525, but we have had a couple bad weeks. I just feel useless half the time, and I see how annoyingly powerful Resto Druids are in the Arena. It is just frustrating.

I can't even savor the incoming Resto Druid nerfs. Any nerf to Resto Druids is still a nerf to Druids as a whole. The last thing I want is for my class to be nerfed.

Learning to MT

I joined the guild "Is A Pinch Better" back in November, and immediately started my Karazhan tanking career. The guild only had one Kara group. They started on Wednesday night, and then finished the run on Sunday. I usually was brought in to OT on the Sunday runs because my gear was almost as good as the Prot Warrior MT (and I quickly caught up to him). I couldn't go on Wednesdays because I work second shift, and that eventually became an issue.

I spent my time as OT learning the pulls and boss battles. I am a quick study, and had my first taste of MT duties a month after joining the guild. Our Prot Warrior had to leave after The Curator fight, so I got to pull the trash on the way to Shade of Aran. I did alright at first, but I made a couple bad pulls. Of course, that which wipes us makes us stronger. Even with a few missteps, I was getting more confident with my role as a raid tank.

The guild kept growing and talk of a second Kara group started. I offered to lead and MT a second run on the weekends, but was turned down in favor of one of the Prot Warriors. At this point, I became a free agent within the guild. I wasn't part of Group 1 because they were running on weeknights, but Group 2 was being set up with a different tank. I did join a few raids in progress to help the guild out, but for a few weeks I was left to PUG Kara. Most of those runs are best forgotten.

Finally, the Guild Leader got Group 2 off the ground on weekends, and I became the MT for the run. The first MT became too unreliable, and I was consistently available on the weekend. Our guild had tested ourselves on some 25 man content along with another guild. I proved my worth by OTing Gruul and Void Reaver. Hell, I even picked up my Tier 5 shoulders for my effort. Once the guild partnership ran its course, it was time to get more people through Karazhan.

We have managed to clear all of Karazhan in our second group, and I have tanked every single boss. I've proven the viability of Feral Druids to many doubters in the guild. I'm focused on mastering Karazhan to reduce clear times. I also want to get a consistent lineup from week to week. Once those things start to happen, then we'll take a serious look at Zul'Aman (but I have successfully tanked the Bear boss).

Overall, I'm happy with my role as the MT for my guild's second Karazhan group. While I love to tank, my thoughts have turned to healing. No, I'm not going to respec, but I have an alt to introduce to you later this week.

The Swipe Change

[Druid] Swipe: This ability will no longer strike any secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.

I like this change, but I also dislike it.

I like that it will make tanking a little easier, particularly in Heroics. I will have one less thing to worry about.

On the other hand, I am smart enough to move mobs away from Crowd Controlled targets. This makes the game a little less interesting, which I do not like.

This change probably helps me with Heroics more than anything. I hate tanking Heroics for anything other than a full guild group (and even then, things can get ugly). I just feel like I always end up with one idiot damage dealer, and that person makes tanking more difficult than normal. Once I hit that point, I feel like my time could be better spent elsewhere.

If not having to hesitate when using Swipe lets me focus on keeping aggro off the morons in my PUG, then I will welcome the change.

Updating my Blogroll

I'm slowly updating my blogroll, but I could use some help. If you have a World of Warcraft blog, then please add a comment to this post showing me the way to your site.

If you are on Blogger or Wordpress, then I will probably get to you in good time. If you have your own hosting, then it may take longer. My firewall at work is far too picky for my tastes, but I can't do anything about it.

I've only been out of the loop for a few months, but it feels like much longer than that. I mean the WoW Blogger community has really exploded, and I'm left a bit overwhelmed. I'm loving that most of the new blogs are offering really great advice or commentary on the culture of WoW, and I'm afraid I might leave someone out.

I think it shall be very challenging coming up with my own content to entice readers to return to my oft neglected corner of the internet. It will be fun as well, and I think that is all that matters in the end.

112 Days...

...since I posted to my blog. I think it is time for a comeback.

So where the hell have I been? I think that is as good a place as any to start.

I wrote back in July that my guild was getting ready to head into Karazhan, and they were going to try for a late night group. Well that never happened. The Guild Leader was stringing me along with empty promises for a very long time, but I was finally getting wise to her BS. I was about to quit the guild when they merged with another guild that had been struggling with Kara. I decided to stick around a little longer to see how things would play out.

Nothing really changed. The new guild was worse than the sum of its parts. The officers of the guild we merged with used our guild to fill in its Kara roster, and ignored any plans to set up a second group. I just lost interest at this point. I stopped playing, and I stopped blogging.

I thought I was done.

I didn't log into WoW for over one month. Sometime in October, one of my best friends in RL came back to WoW. He decided to finally play his only level 60 character to 70. He begged me for help constantly after he started, but at first I resisted. I finally caved in and starting logging in to help him. I also discovered that a couple good friends from the glory days of "Scum" and "Continuum" had transferred their Blood Elf characters to Cho'gall. I started helping them when I wasn't help my RL buddy. By the last couple weeks of November, I was starting to look for a new guild, but I was being very careful after the disappointment my previous guilds had caused.

I found a home in "Is a Pinch Better". In fact, I found a home with my RL buddy and two old WoW friends. The guild was a casual guild, but with ambitions to head into Karazhan. Most of the players were either leveling in the 60s or had been 70 for only a few shorts weeks. It was a nice fit for me despite my odd work schedule. I automatically became one of the best geared tanks in the guild, so I was set to learn how to tank in a raid.

But my story will continue soon...