Light’s Defender

On Saturday, New Moon teamed up with The Red Shirts and went to visit Gruul’s Lair. The mix ended up being 11 from New Moon and 14 from The Red Shirts. For many of us, this was our first trip into Gruul’s Lair. It was also the first time that our two guilds worked together to run a raid, so expectations were low on both sides.

I was there as an off-off tank, tank number 3 if you will. The other two tanks were from The Red Shirts, and on a couple of occasions, it was mentioned that they were geared to tank Gruul. Once I got into the Raid on Saturday, I began to get the sense that the Raid Leader was less then comfortable with my gear level. Now, I’m mostly in Kara purples and badge gear, with a few exceptions. I have to admit that their gear was better then mine, but I didn’t think mine was all that bad.

Anyway, I took the feeling in stride. I didn’t want my first impression to The Red Shirts to be one of a complainer that couldn’t work on a team. As we were getting ready for the first pull, I asked the Raid Leader what he wanted me to do. He asked how my gear was. I don’t really know how to answer that question. Grimix from New Moon noted that I’m capable of tanking Prince as a point of reference. The Raid Leader mentioned that as the lowest geared tank in the raid, I can tank Gruul first until I died. He explained that generally the lowest geared tank normally goes first and that is the primary reason why you need three tanks for the fight … tanks will die die during that fight.

Now, I don’t normally take things personally, but I suddenly felt expendable. Don’t get me wrong, the Raid Leader was perfectly nice. I don’t know if I felt self-conscious, but I wanted to make a good impression, and feeling expendable wasn’t a good way to start.

So, for the trash, the other two tanks handled the pulls. I did some minimal DPS since I was not called to tank. We worked our (short) way to High King Maulgar. The Raid Leader assigns the tanks. Tanks 1 and 2 are assigned. I ask where he wants me then. He thinks for a moment and asks me to tank Olm the Summoner, along with an enslaved Fel Hound tank or two. Tanking a warlock is pretty frustrating. I think I was feared more then 90% of the time.

We wiped, but I don’t remember how many times. I just lost count. Maybe it was our fourth or fifth time, maybe it was more; but the stars aligned, everyone did their part right and all I can say is …

High King Maulgar down!!!

We went on to Gruul. The pull before Gruul consisted of three Brutes. I’m asked to tank one of them and I’m told to bring them to “this totem over here”. I turn around to see where the totem is and one of the other tanks pulls. By the time I realized what was going on, the fight was on. I try to pick up my mob, I do and I die, just like that. Great first impression, huh? I didn’t bother to make excuses, but it would have been nice if they would have done a ready check. That’s how it goes when you don’t normally run with each other, I guess. One of the other tanks picked up my mob to avoid the wipe.

Next was Gruul. It was my pull. I was the first up and the first to die. First pull was a mistake. I inadvertently body pulled Gruul before everyone was ready. He’s got a ridiculous aggro range. We make the best of it, and get him down to about 50%. Not bad for a first attempt when people weren’t ready. I lasted until he was down to 70-something %. Second time, I lasted until he was down to 50-something % and we got him down to 46%. On our third and final attempt, we managed to get Gruul down to 34%. I managed to survive until he was at 46%.

Now, I realize that Gruul hits a lot harder as the fight goes on, so I knew the other tanks would have a harder time then I would, but I felt somewhat vindicated that I lasted as long as I did. I hope my ability to survive for more then half of each Gruul fight shows that I am a viable tank in Gruul’s Lair. I’m not looking to tank it all of anything. I’ve always been a team player, but I do want to be viewed as valuable in raid and recognized as a good & viable tank.

Last night, New Moon ran its usual Karazhan run to work our way up to Curator. After Opera, Arzen, one of our Guild Masters, paused the raid and made an announcement to the entire guild. He let everyone know that two individuals were getting a promotion that day. Both Donarus and I were granted the title of Officer of New Moon.

As an officer, we help with a number of administrative and leadership tasks for the guild, including extending invites to the guild, helping and mentoring new members, scheduling and leading raids, and enforcing our guild rules.

For me, it’s truly an honor to be asked and to be thought of so highly by the friends I have made at New Moon. I can only hope that I execute my responsibilities to the level they deserve. New Moon is a great place to be!

Additionally, they made an excellent choice in promoting Donarus and I extend my heartfelt congratulations to him.

So, as I mentioned on my last and much overdue post, New Moon continues to work on Karazhan, with the occasional visit to Zul’Aman. As I think through what has happened during the last couple of months, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve managed to get more comfortable with Aran. I wouldn’t say he’s on farm status or anything like that, but we are more likely to beat him down nowadays.

Aran challenges the worst of our skills in New Moon. The fight requires coordination, focus and quick reflexes. Of everything we do, those are where we are most lacking. That may explain some of our troubles in Zul’Aman, but more on that some other time.

On an up note, New Moon downed Nightbane a couple of weeks ago for the first time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there to see it, but kudos to the team nonetheless. It’s a big accomplishment to down him.

The only boss left for New Moon to kill is Netherspite. We’ve only hit him once, and didn’t get very far. I hope that we will have time to focus on him in the near future. I’d love to be able to say that we’ve beaten every boss in Karazhan, plus I really need some new shoulders. I’m still using Kaylaan’s Spaulders and they are looking a bit beat up these days.

Speaking of loot, I’ve picked up Ribbon of Sacrifice for my healing set, the King’s Defender as an additional option for a tanking weapon and Gilded Thorium Cloak from Aran for my tanking set. I’ve also purchased the Inscribed Legplates of the Aldor. (Boy, those are some sweet pants!!) Lastly, Moroes still refuses to drop his dodge trinket for me. I think it’s personal now.

New Moon has made some new friends on the Scarlet Crusade server. The Red Shirts is a guild that is similar to New Moon in make up, personality and size. The hope is that by working together, our two guilds can run some 25-man raids. We’ve had a couple of false starts over that last couple of weeks, but if the stars align, we may hit Gruul’s Lair this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed because I’d love to see that content.

Okay. That’s enough for now. I’ll post more soon. Thanks again for sticking with me!

Yes, I still exist. I haven’t left the game. I haven’t died. Well, I guess I’ve died plenty of times, but not permanently. I’ve just been taking it easy the last few weeks. I’m embarrassed though that I haven’t posted here in a couple of months.

New Moon continues to battle Karazhan. Serrot has been just focusing on raiding lately, so not much going on in daily quests from my standpoint. I’ll post a bit more of an update this weekend on what’s been going on during the last few weeks, but wanted to make sure everyone knew I was still here.

Stay tuned. More details coming shortly.