who da man
So, I just want you all to know, I’m kind of doing a little dance right now. Internally, that it is. It’s probably the Blood Elf dance (shudder) and it’s accompanied by dialogue along the lines of: “who da man” “who’s your daddy” and “yeah baby.”
We did a wing of Naxx on Sunday, the spider one (I hate spiders, I really hate spiders), and it took us like four hours but, hey, we did it.
And guess who topped the healing meters.
And guess who came at the bottom of the over-healing meters.
And guess who’s pretty certain it didn’t mean a damn.
We had three healers and, quite frankly, we needed them because our DPS was low. And one of the other healers had less good gear than me and the other one was a discipline priest so, yeah, topping the healing meters really made me a big man.
The reason I’m really happy, and doing an internal dance, is because we did a little corner of Naxx. And to think people scoffed at the idea that someone as frivolous as me could ever do something as hardcore as raiding – even if it was only Naxx For Beginners. Also Maexxna dropped the Timeworn Silken Band and it was actually an upgrade, since I have shite rings, so it resideth upon my finger even now.
I have gear … that was actually from a raid. A real raid.
How awesome is that? I’ll tell you. It’s bloody awesome. That’s how awesome it is.
I’m not, by nature, a loot-luster. “Does it look any good” and “Is it purple” (i.e. is it literally coloured purple, not is it a sweet epix lol) tend to dominate my thinking in the gearing field far more than they should. But if it can’t look good and it can’t be purple, I’ll settle for something with a story behind it. If you’ve had to do something semi-difficult, or at least semi-meaningful, to achieve it, then it feels like loot worth having. I mourn the loss of my titansteel guardian because M’Pocket Tank made it for me from titansteel I smelted myself. I miss my moonshroud robe because Mr Pewpew told me it was the crafted epic for gentlemen of quality, and I had to have it specially imported from the Alliance Auction House. It was pretty tense getting it through customs at Booty Bay, let me tell you. The Embrace of Madness came out of the PUG that nearly drove me to a nervous breakdown, so it’s quite hard to really get affectionate about it after that, however apt the name. And I should really upgrade The Talisman of Troll Divinity but I can’t bring myself to do it. Not only did the Trolls of Zul’Drak rise up and kill their gods, but they sell in them pocket-sized versions in their gift shops. I didn’t particularly do anything meaningful to attain it but how can you not love a healing trinket that sneaks around touching up your party members… But I think my Timeworn Silken Band has now replaced pretty much everything I own as the darling of my fickle eye. Not because it’s super special or anything but because I went into Naxx with 9 other people, we killed everything dead and I snatched it from one of Maexxna’s still-twitching legs. I earned it. Well me and three other casters earned it but Lady RNG, capricious and beautiful harlot that she is, thought I deserved it. Excuse me a moment, I must supplicate myself and send humble thanks to the Goddess, lest she smite me for impudence.
I think this is part of the problem with the badge system. Of course it makes perfect sense that you shouldn’t be dependent on a large number of other people and Lady RNG to get gear, but even though you do “work” for your upgrades by running a bunch of heroics it feels somewhat uninspiring. You rock up to the vendors, with your badges clutched in your sweaty paw, and they’re all “yeah, I’ve got this tier whatever helm, dropped off the back of a cart, mint condition, lovely workmanship, nobody will be able to tell the difference.” It’s like that bit in the Three Musketeers when Porthos shows up with a sash of gold that is only gold on the bits that aren’t concealed by his cloak. Or, if you prefer, it’s the gear equivalent of a fake Fendi handbag (see, I have learned something from all that Sex and the City, not that I have a clue what a real Fendi handbag is, or why Sarah Jessica Parker would want one, let alone a fake one).
Annnnyway … back to Naxx….
Our raid comp was basically poor. We had 2 pallys, 3 DKs, 3 priests, and 2 warlocks, so the poison was troublesome to say the least. Big healz all round, then? I’m totally going to level my shaman, they’re just so unspeakably useful. Healing was, by and large, excellent, even if I say so myself – I was on main tank and raid, and I think the three of us came together as a healing team pretty nicely. The main tank (M’Pocket Tank, all grown up!) and the off-tank were great too, and worked pretty well together. Our DPS though, bar one of the warlocks, was shaky at best. But I suppose we’re just the sort of bunch of clueless casuals for whom Blizzard are apparently dumbing the game down. One cannot walk into Mordor Naxxramus. We were probably an affront to raiding but, dammit, it was such an insane amount of fun. And, even though it probably shouldn’t have been, not unchallenging either.
I wasn’t leading it or anything but I think by the end of it I was kind of Main Nanny, if that can be a recognised role. The problem with 10 man teams is that all the dither associated with 5-maning is exponentially increased. All it takes is one for person to go to the bog and suddenly somebody has ordered a pizza, somebody is taking a smoke break, somebody has gone randomly afk, someone said ‘brb’ about 20 minutes ago and the rest of you are banging your head against the walls. So you catch yourself saying things like “Well you should have gone before the trash pull, shouldn’t you?” and “For God’s sake, just hold it while we kill the boss.” It’s a very silly business. I know you’ve got to go when you’ve got to go but I have never seen a group of people with so little bladder control. And I’m betting they all saw the Lord of the Rings at the cinema.
Annnnyway … back to Naxx….
The first boss, I think, was the most difficult for us, partially at least because we were still getting the hang of things and partially because you have to rely on the DPS not to behave like absolute muppets. We decided to treat it as a tank and spank, not entirely trusting the DPS to be able to move in the right way while M’Pocket Tank was kiting the boss down the side of the room. (Also have you seen that diagram on WoW wiki? Like what the hell? Somebody was assuredly taking the piss with that. Big time. Nothing makes you feel like you’re playing with the big boys like a tactics diagram you can’t interpret). So we went for the “tank in the doorway / DPS in the middle of the room” strategy. This led to the raid being generally too spread out since the adds were being tanked somewhere near the back quartile and the boss was right at the front. Healers ran back and forth headless chicken stylee but all but our most reliable DK seemed to forget that they were meant to killing the many small things as well as the one big thing. So the OT got overwhelmed by adds, the adds ate me, then M’Pocket Tank died, and then the rest of the raid died.
Ignominious.
Although it’s weirdly gratifying how quickly the main tank dies in a raid if the tank healer bites it. In heroics these days, because she is over-geared and, of course, an invincible paladin, M’Pocket Tank usually does absolutely fine if I keel over midway through a boss fight. Guess I’ll just die at the back in my sissy robe then…
Annnnyway … back to Naxx….
In order to try and reduce the run-around for the healers and the raid, we decided to tank Anub at the back of the room this time. Except, hilariously, despite having answered ready to the readycheck, the OT was temporarily lobotomised or something and failed to enter the fucking room.
In some ways this was quite good as he was inclined to be cocky, on account of knowing Naxx way better than the rest of us. Having managed to wipe the whole raid, he was much nicer from this point on.
Needless to say, we did wipe, although not as ignominiously as last time. I did promote Most Reliable DPS to temporary off-tank (bless him, he tried so hard) rather than call a wipe straight away just to give people more practice in where and how they should have been moving. We got Anub to about halfway before losing control of the situation – as was inevitable. And, best of all, the OT was very very sorry.
The raid was naturally a bit demoralised at this point so I called up my inner Henry V in order to rally the troops. I mean, we’d failed much less badly than the first time, even though we didn’t have an OT.
I was pretty sure we’d take it next time and, yay verily, the deed was done. We lost 2DPS (the 2 who, were, of course pulling the highest DPS – but then there’s no point topping the meters if you STAND WHERE YOU SHOULDN’T BE STANDING) in the first locust swarm, which was annoying as all hell, but we whittled, and we whittled, and we whittled and finally the big beetle fell. Woot.
There was a horribly hairy moment at about 7%. I think the reason it is advised that you tank him in the doorway not at the back of the room is because one of the adds ran into M’Pocket Tank’s consecrate radius. Obviously she couldn’t stop consecrating, so the OT tried to taunt off her, except he accidentally taunted Anub. It was probably what Mr Pew Pew would call a “new pants for the healing team at table 5 situation” because it seemed perilously likely that we’d lose either the MT or the OT and, from there, probably the rest of the group.
But no! From the brink, we pulled it back. Back we pulled it! No idea how we managed it. It’s hard to make healing sound exciting but bloody hell my heart was in my throat. There was a second … an endless, eternal second … in which the OT was on 1% health.
I’m sure anybody who has ever healed will know this second intimately. Your entire healing life flashes before your eyes. It is absolutely analogous to that scene in a movie in which somebody is just about to be shot, or fall off a cliff or whatever, and somebody else is reaching out towards them in a distorted slow-motion going “noooooooooooooooo!” That is what you’re doing in your head during the second.
What with the boss being, now, at 7% we were at the end of our healing tethers. We had no resources. I’d already blown Queen Susan’s Guardian Spirit, and know I the other holy priest doesn’t factor it into her rotation like I do so, yeah, it was PW:S or bust.
Another endless, endless, interminable second, the whole of the raid suspended there, as if in amber. A faint buzzing at the back of my head.
And then the heals hit. Bam. Bam. Bam. And he was back up to full in the time it takes you to say “ohthankfuckinggod.”
And it was pretty much plain sailing from there. We did the Grand Widow exactly like we were supposed to but we somehow accidentally got the achievement. Whu? Err, thanks. I thought she was hitting pretty fucking hard. Maexxna’s webs were mildly problematic and caused us a couple of wipes, especially since the DPS who was supposed to be dealing with them, kind of well, just didn’t. Thus we lost all healers one after the other and the raid wiped. Yelling ensued and the OT and a warlock took over de-webbing duties and, from there, it was fine.
So, yeah, that was Naxx: spider wing. And how much of a riot is this raiding lark? Give me more.
Posts like this remind me why I raid, really. This is the spirit!
Thank you – I don’t think it’s going to become a major part of my WoWing but uber-casually, yeah, it’s awesome
I’ve had healing moments like that but you tell it much better than I ever could
Grats on losing your Naxx cherry!
Hehe, thank you. The thing about healing is that you really only notice those kind of moments if you’re either a healer or healing. Afterwards, everyone was else was like “that was pretty smooth” and the healers were desperately whispering each other with “holy crap!” and “you saved my arse back there!” and “can’t believe we did it!”
Is big hairy congo rats!
Thank you. Hairy is just how I like them.
“I’m sure anybody who has ever healed will know this second intimately.”
I think this is why healers always sound bewildered afterwards on vent…
“I swear my heal landed… I can’t believe you died”
Grats on your ring and your first wing in Naxx. I don’t know why raids always start off in Spider wing, Anub’arak actually has a fairly complicated fight strategy compared to about anyone else.
As for getting the achievement for Grand Widow Feralina… those are the best ones, the one’s you don’t even work on and get anyway!
Uhhh Anub’rekan or whatever his name is.
They all look alike.
Spider wing is above and beyond the easiest wing in Naxx, LOL, that’s why everyone starts there.
Would you really bring fresh raiders into plague wing on their fight?
The first fight in spider wing is quite easy once you get the strat down. Same with 4 Horsemen.
Yeah I would do plague wing first with brand new raiders I think.
We’re probably going to attempt Plague next… with blissful hindsight I probably wouldn’t have started with the spideys.
Yeah, I guess it’s just conventionally presumed the easiest – but, yeah, whu? Not having much cleansing going on and not having entirely unmuppety DPS it was probably a bit of a dumb starting point. But, hey, we did it and possibly things will be a touch easier next time round. Familiarity will help as well.
Also, yes, I’m not an achievement-seeker but I do like it when you’re not paying attention and the little gold box pops up with a happy bing. Those are definitely the best sorts of acheivements.
Grats! Grand Widow achievement is solid.
Yeah, DPS is always weak at the start of raiding. They’ve never really been challenged before, and they don’t get the same immediate feedback as tanks and healers do, so it’s a lot harder for them to improve without resorting to outside resources.
Thank you.
“Adrenaline-pumping-panic-OMFG-stop-fucking-dying” moments like that are EXACTLY why I love healing, and find DPS to be, well, less of a buzz.
If you can heal through Faerlina’s frenzy, you’re doing it right. I’ve lost tanks to that, more than once!
Ok, so, you totally just made me wanna go back into Naxx. You bastard. And the new Onyxia is out today, my guild are gonna be all pumped for that, definately not up for indulging their crazy GM with a nostalgic Naxx run.
Yeah, this post reminds me of falling in love with raiding in the early days. You’re so lucky, you’re getting to learn it and enjoy it a-fresh, I am somewhat jealous!
Healing can certainly be buzzy – I’ve never really connected with DPS in the same way. Big numbers stacking up don’t really do anything for me, except for the occasional hot streak that is
And Faerlina’s frenzy was pretty tough to deal with – I didn’t really have much notion of how the fight as a whole was going, I was just doing my healzing thing, so basically I was piling up heals, thinking “yikes, I’m not sure how long I can keep this up.”
Nostalgic Naxx *after* Ony? Hehe. Glad to have inspired you to revisit the place
I’m not sure I’m in love with raiding yet but there’s definitely a spark there
“you have to rely on the DPS not to behave like absolute muppets”
Right there, you have discovered a key lesson in raiding…and in fact one of the hardest for DPS especially to realize after making the leap from heroics. With heroic boss fights (Barring some bizarre mechanic that stretches the fight out, like Herald, Anub’arak or Prophet) lasting about a minute, juxtaposed with raid bosses which can last several and often have mechanics you can’t just outright ignore and often require intervention by your DPS (Maexxna webs, Anub adds, etc) which heroics never needed, DPS will learn they have a much more crucial role in raid encounters.
A few bits of information for you, as you are still new to Naxx, and might save you a bit of a learning curve, or at least a few poor hairs from being ripped out in frustration.
First, as you saw with Anub, bosses like to lock the doors to their rooms after you’ve engaged them (If my memory serves, I believe every boss in Naxx does this with the exception of Patchwerk and Razuvious).
Second, the AFK thing will drive you crazy. The best way we found to handle it, was to set fixed times to do the AFK things; give them about 10 minutes to get up, stretch, refill their drinks, use the WC, whatever. When we had Naxx cleared, we would do a short one after each wing or two was down. If people know an AFK break is coming up and you will give them time for it, they tend to…well…hold it a bit better.
Third, you should probably head into the Plague Wing next. Noth is not terribly difficult, and the whole challenge of Heigan is the dance (Which is a good raid practice. Heigan can literally be killed by one healer and one tank, as he has no enrage timer and hits for less than most five man bosses. Making everyone in the raid watch a healer and a tank run back and forth for 30-45 minutes made our DPS wake the hell up, because they didn’t want to just sit there and watch). Loatheb is also not too challenging (Note the hallway after Heigan is a rapidly respawning gauntlet so make sure your whole raid is moving together through it) and will net some Tier.
Fourth, people will mock and deride you for your progress. Ignore them. Remind your raiders that get discouraged that it doesn’t matter if you are clearing the hardest heroic modes or the earliest raiding instance, you aren’t competing with another guild; you are competing against the game. While not quite as stirring as good St. Crispin’s Day speeches, sometimes we need to be reminded that we can still learn, and be humbled by “easy” content.
If I was more interested in DPS I’d certainly be desperate to raid. At least you get to do something moderately complex instead of rolling your face across the keys in whatever configuration seems preferable.
Thanks for the advice. And, hehe, yes, we learned pretty quickly about readychecking *inside* the room instead of *outside* it =P
I think you’re right that scheduling afks is an incredibly sensible idea. The thing is, becuase it’s not “my” raid, despite the nannying, I don’t want to be too aggressive with imposing rules. Also we are uber-uber casuals so people might object if I got all totalitarian on their arses. on the other hand, I might gently suggest it to the guild leader in the hope we can instigate it carefully. I mean, it’s not like I wanted to be clearing Naxx like an effortless, efficient Naxx Clearing Machine but I think the accumulated afks amounted to at least an hour’s worth of standing around, probably more.
I am really looking forward to the plague wing – which I think we’re doing next Sun, assuming we can get a decent OT and get enough folks together. I’m looking forward to attempting the dance actually, having heard so much about it (I’ve been a good like MH and watched all the videos, so I think I know where I’m meant to be moving).
I think we can cope with a little derision. Since we’re never going to be hardcore, and I am completely frivolous, as long as we have fun and have some measurable sense of progress, I reckon we’ll be okay. The hardcore raiders I know on ED mock me all the time but, hey, I have the super-supportive blogsphere
And, really, I need no excuse to get all Crispin’s Day – I’ve even done it during gruelling heroics
Never – EVER – call a wipe in a casual raid. I’m serious. Especially if you all are learning a boss.
People scoff at me for saying this, but honestly, casual raid leading is a much different beast than raid leading a hardcore group.
Even if you know it is doomed to failure (no OT?), a crap-ton (thats metric) of stuff can be learned by your raid: Where to stand, what to do if said person falls, pulling healing out of your asses, etc.
The most noteable thing I have ever done is to tank Noth the Plaguebringer (he is the evil, EVIL boss who makes you dance) from 50% as ret. He dosen’t hit particularly hard, but when you are not def capped, he crits your ass all around that room. Switch auras, change seals (if applicable), get ready with LOH, and taunt my ass off was all I could do to keep him off of the gracious healers (who were pulling plenty of healing from their asses) who were keeping me alive.
It was rough and tumble, but we got him down.
Even through your group is UBER casual, don’t rule anything out. I am sure they were just as thrilled as you were to be in there. And that is going to push them to do things you wouldnt imagine possible – on occasion what you think will be a wipe will be a great story for your blog. They will surprise you, left and right. Don’t call it too early – you will be surprised how many times your raid will shine.
Actually I’m dead pleased you said this because the leader whispered me when we realised the OT was beating his fists against the sealed door and asked if I thought she could call a wipe. And in the split-second of not really thinking about it properly I instinctively felt that the answer was no. So I whispered back something like “nawww, let’s practice our failing.” And so we didn’t. And, you’re absolutely right, I think we learned enough to make it worth the temporary dip in morale (which I think I compensated for with the Henry Ving). Also the value of familiarity cannot be over-stated – I find Naxx much less threatening since I’ve poked my nose through the door.
Hehe, that’s an awesome story. I’ve read some semi-nightmarish stuff about people taking out the dancey-boss with one tank and one healer and it taking 45 minutes and stuff. Heh, good times.
The other thing that’s really come out of this is how well you can do with just a few reliable cornerstones. I mean, the healing team is solid, the tank and off-tank are solid, and we have a couple of pretty reliable DPS. Everyone else is pretty much gravy
Whoops – its heigan, not noth, that makes you dance
WTB new comment system?
Hehe, sorry – Wordpress comments in being slightly unhelpful shocker =P
Anub is absolutely a challenging fight to heal, particularly if your tanks are unfamiliar with it. Dancing in and out of the silence zone, because the pally tank forgot to kite, is spell-locked just like you so he can’t actually cast anything, and his health is plummeting accordingly? Gah. OT still over there beating on the big adds while the swarm runs wild among the casters? Gah. People SAY that spider quarter is a breeze, but there’s definitely a hump to get over on that first fight. A nice big WELCOME TO NAXX from the scourge.
Hah, yes, it’s quite the welcome party.
Possibly we were Doin It Wrong but M’Pocket Tank and I were using our leet-super-awesome tank/healer relationship to deal with the spell-locks. She’d blow all cooldowns before the swarm hit, I would get her massively protected and we’d actually just, err, ride ‘em out – I managed to avoid the zone, as did most people actually, apart from the 2 DPS who stood there like lemons and had Anub rip through them like they were made of wet butter. Not a happy experience for them.
Bizarrely, it was almost the best thing that could have happened – as someone said above, that’s kind of a real wakeup call for the DPS. Nobody wants to watch a fight from the wings.
Congrats on your first Naxx run!!!
I remember when I first went in there, I swear my eyes were the size of plates.
Welcome to raiding!
So Tam, you ready to heal Her ToC 25 yet?
Thank you kindly
It’s certainly been a blast.
I’ll be hardcore before you know it, although considering the fuss I kick up at having to heal the 5-man Trial of the Champion I can’t readily imagine myself ever being willing to take on the raid
And that is why we raid – grats on your first quarter down! Plague quarter is definitely a good choice for next target (though the first trash pulls are going to be heaps of fun if your DPS is still a bit weak – muahaha….)
Thank you kindly, although I’m disappointed I haven’t had a single comment replying appropriately “you da man”
Oh yeah, we poked our noses into the plague quarter to see what was in store for us next week – and because it was a casual toe over the threshold thing, I hadnt’ time to mark up properly so….the tank face pulled, I couldn’t get people to co-ordinate their attacks and the gargoyles wiped us.
Oh the shame!
The usualy next recommended wing is plague. The first boss is incredibly easy. Then you get Heigan. If you havent done the fight, you are going to die most likely. Mastering the dance is easy, but some people just dont get it. From there, Loatheb will be a healing and DPS check. If you cant take him down fast enought you will wipe. The healers need good situational awareness in this fight and quick reflexes (and to DPS when they cant heal).
Grats and good luck with more Naxx.
Yeah, we’re going to sneak into the plague wing on Sunday – we did a bit of it last week, just to see what things were like in there but our DPS wouldn’t co-ordinate and get their act together (or for that matter follow the goddamn kill order) so we actually wiped on the horrible gargoyle things. Not exactly encouraging but people were tired, and concentration had flagged a bit so I think if we go in there fresh and eager on Sunday it’ll go better.
I’ve been researching the dance but theory and practice are very different and I’ll probably die humiliatingly in the first five seconds
I’m looking forward to trying it though, it looks like a lot of fun.
I laughed all the way through — I’m so thankful I read this before Friday. Our rerolled scrubs are thinking of starting a Naxx-10 to get back in the swing of stress free raids….
Grats on your ring!!!!!
You were, errr, laughing with us not at us, right
Good luck on your Naxx-10 revival – I look forward to reading about it 
I imagine it’ll go a lot more smoothly than ours.
Raiding is so fun when you first get into it. It got boring for me pretty fast though, when you’ve pretty much got the fights down pat and are just going through the motions week after week in hopes of getting a particular piece of loot you’ve seen once ever that went to someone else.
The more gear you (and the other people you raid with) get, the less you encounter those OMGDON’TDIE moments, and then in the next raid, Blizz knows you’re uber-geared and starts throwing fights at you that can take the main tank from full to dead in two seconds flat if you’re not healing at the exact right time, and there’s literally nothing creative you can do to pull it back together. That’s about the time when I get fed up with the whole thing and quit.
That sounds really depressing … ToC-hc really annoys me because I suspect it works kind of along those lines. It’s not an interest or even a complex challenge, it’s a gruelling act of brute force againt the healer. It’s bad enough to see that sort of thing in heroics – I quail from seeing it in instances, especially considering how much instances exaggerate and intensify everything.
But, like you, when I get bored or frustrated I’ll stop.
At the moment though, it’s an awfully big adventure
As long as you’re having fun – you’re doing it right.
Oh – if you have no other cleansers – guess what – your retadin/protadins better put that button back on their bars (mine is in the same spot, same keybind – all 3 specs) and cleanse between rotations. It’s pretty much unacceptable when that doesn’t happen.
I had my own taste of nub-a-lub raiding as DPS. I was on my lowly mage, who is in quest blues and heirlooms for the most part still (other than ToC drops – NATCH!), but I got into a 25 man Naxx PUG based on who my main is. They figured at least I knew the fights.
Total blast, total noobing it up. Whoops – I only have 18k HP and no armor – DON’T DO THAT. Fun though, very fun.
Keep on chruning and turning. Besides, if it wasn’t for folks like yourself who don’t raid all the time, who would I PUG with? Of the 3 “progression” horde guilds on my server – less than 20% of the members are on if it’s not a raid night. I’m not knocking non-raiders – some of the best players (and definately the nicest) are more laid back.
Like I said at the start – if you’re having a good time and laughing – you’re totally doing it right.
***Off to the bog. <3 the UKers.
The problem was our pallys were our MT and our OT and although they were doing their best it was one more burden to lay across their already straining shoulders.
I haven’t dared PUG a raid, that sounds like a recipe for absolute carnage. I might try it when I’m more familiar but, for the moment, I’ll hide behind my guild, where at least people are more forgiving of stupidity and ignorance. The last thing I want to do is fuck up a Naxx-25 run or something.
But, yeah, it’s definitely a whole lot of fun – I am enjoying it but I’m not crazily invested in it. I don’t want/need the loot, but I do want to support my guildies and generally walow in a sense of shared success – even if that means carrying on like the bunch of noobs we are and constantly going to the toilet
Tam’s mother – “Whats the prognosis doc?”
Doctor – “I’m sorry he’s gone.”
Tam’s mother – “Gone?!?”
Doctor – “Yup he’s a raider now”
Tam’s mother – “You mean…”
Doctor – “Yep, the usual. Talking about raids all the time. Looking down on non-raiders. Loot obsession. The lot.”
Tam’s mother – “What can we do?”
Doctor – “Cold turkey’s the only option. I’m sorry.”
Gobble gobble.
Hahaha. Considering the degree of scoffing I’ve received from pretty much all the serious raiders I know for having done anything as puny and pointless as Naxx, I think I’m safe
this has absolutely become one of my favorite blogs, keep it up!
Thank you kindly
This has to be the saddest post you’ve made. To me. Its a great post. I wish I was still as jazzed up about raids too, i miss that time. when i would log in 2 hours before raid and wait at the entrance. (yes i did that, and so did about 24 others, back in the Molten core days, I was in a crappy guild and first come, first serve to raids). But i miss that buzz going in.
Awww, that must be the saddest comment
I’m so sorry you’ve lost the buzz – hopefully it will return to you. Maybe? Perhaps you should adopt-a-noob or something
There is a weird paradox with WoW – or maybe it’s a kind of bell curve. While you’re learning something, it’s increasingly fun, and then you get good at it and then … suddenly it’s boring. Gah.
Hooray! Another raider…
That first raid is always a bit of a revelation, but personally I think you’ll love Naxx all the way through. Especially healing the Four Horsemen – that’s one of my favorite Naxx bosses. Naxx is where I really started raiding, and I have a fond place for it way down in the cockles of my heart, so much so that I’m almost always up for another Naxx run, no matter that I’m so overgeared at this point that I’m basically polishing my nails in there half the time on Taz. It’s still always a blast.
Enjoy the discovery and have fun casual raiding!
Hardly a raider. A raidette perhaps.
I think the thing about WoW is that it’s such a vast experience, you want the opportunity to try everything. And being able to get 9 other people together to have a bash at something you *should* be able to do is a stupid amount of fun.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the other wings have to offer.
I think Blizzard has finally gotten it close to right. Is Naxx cutting edge? Not even close – but you can round up 9/24 people, and as long as they aren’t complete idiots, you can go in and have fun.
Did another PUG 25 – DPS was still shite, but we did the military wing (me on my noob mage) with minimal difficulties. Sure, it was really long – but we laughed and had a good time doing it.
Keep casual raiding. Sounds like you’ve got the right attitude – and that’s what counts. You can heal my PUG any time.
I bet you say that to all the priests
Glad to hear you’re having fun with your PUGed raids – you’re giving me confidence to give it a go myself. I might see how Sunday goes and then throw myself intot h shark infested waters and see how it goes
My thinking to gear seems to be
“ohhh, it glows!”
“Oh wow it makes me look like a ninja” (the cloth hoods that cover your face)
“Ooooo it has pretty markings on it”
My thinking is very similar:
“Oooooh, it glows!”
“Oh wow, it *doesn’t* make me look like a gimp” (cf the typical Northrend caster hood)
I can clearly remember in level 60 Naxxramas I was the only mage who never wasted points bidding on Tier 3 Frostfire because it looked so ridiculous. To hell with your set bonuses, sirrah! It makes me look like a gimp!
I can totally get where you’re coming from. :p
Welcome to raiding, that sound you heard as you hearthed out of the instance was your life disappearing.
Hey, gratz on becoming a noob raider! I started a couple of months ago with a deeply casual bunch of folks on my RP server, y’know, giving Naxx a go on 10-man. Now we’re deep in the bowels of Ulduar (well Freya’s bowers really) and worrying about DPS rotations and strategies for not getting /teabagged by Varian Wrynn’s hand-picked bastards in TotC. Life at 80 really is more fun!
Oh, and you da man!
As a certified hard-core raider I shouldn’t even be reading your blog, much less a post about wiping on Anub’Arak. And yet, I find myself smiling and remembering the good old days back when I was not certified.
I truly enjoy your blogging, thank you.
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