I'll write about it in my blag

Explanation of title.

Guild night last night was interesting. We weren't planning anything major because we knew that a large number of people would be absent. But because Ann and I are farming pieces from Heroic Pit of Saron (different pieces, thank goodness), when Batra suggested we do something we all grouped and queued for H PoS.

What a terrible idea.

Ann got stuck in load-screen land or some such and had to restart her computer before we even got started. Our first healer dropped because he got tired of waiting. He was a dbag anyway.

Really, is it that hard to use a name in a pug group? He could have said "You coming Ann?" instead of "you coming mage?". It even has less letters. I don't get it.

Anyway. The initial trash pulls go without much issue. We pick up an extra group at one point, but the warrior dps held them until Batra came and picked them up.

Somewhere around this point Batra asks us "How's my DPS?".

Apart from the obvious answer - terrible - why do you care when you're tanking? Takk did try to explain later about how DK tanks use direct damage to maintain aggro and stuff. Still, you should be more concerned about TPS, I would think. And even if you do care about DPS, why would you ask about it in a pug group? Recount can put it right there on your own screen and you don't have to ask anyone.

We get to the first boss: Garfrost.

I don't even remember the first wipe, it was such a clusterfuck. I do remember running around trying to avoid the huge boulders. Thanks, DBM, for the helpful hints (MOVE).

And then trying to hide behind them to get rid of permafrost. Does this even work?

But anyway, we die. I think we may have gotten hit with adds. Who knows.

Batra says: "Grr".

We run back in. Rebuff. Etc. We stand there in front of Garfrost for few minutes. Batra wonders if we can kill the large skeletons nearby so that they can't jump on us when we pull Garfrost.

For future reference: No, you can't.

Ann told him she thought they were linked, but he death grips one anyway and appears to be totally unprepared for Garfrost to coming running at him.

We die.

The healer and the warrior dps don't even try to res. They just drop group.

Batra asks us if we want to keep trying. I tell him no. I'm not particularly interested in attempting this again.

So we quit. No big.

Batra then asks us in guild chat how his tanking was. Ann takes the fall for this one. She tells him the truth. It was not fantastic. And those are pretty mild words for what I was thinking at the time.

So he whispers her about what was going wrong. She gives him the laundry list with nice and helpful comments about how he could do better. Example? "You should make sure all the targets are focused on you. DKs have a couple aoe effects that should accomplish this." These are all totally my words because I did not actually see the conversation.

His response?

"Have fun in Naxx next week. Apparently I'm too useless to go."

DRAMA.

I don't understand. He's been a level 80 for like, 5 months now. Maybe more, idk. And while I haven't leveled a tank that high, I've read its not particularly difficult to get to the defense cap. I think Takk managed it in three weeks. To be fair, Takk seems to have more time than the rest of us to play. But Batra's still had MONTHS worth of a head start on us.

I feel bad. I do. Because I know Batra irl. And I know he's been looking forward to tanking for our guild. But it's not free. You have to do your research. You have to know your class, know your fights, know how to get and keep aggro. And you have to get to the def cap, dangit!

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Playing Nice

Tuesday night guild night was even more drama filled than Sunday night. Five of our level 80s were present on time. So we signed up for a random heroic. Because that is what we do.

Takk was tanking, Militia was healing, and Sen, Ann, and I were dps'ing. We get Azjol-Nerub. It's not one of my favourites. And we don't get far.

We get down to where the first boss is with his 3 watchers. Takk is pulling the groups one at a time, pretty simple. We're not going for the achievement or anything here. And we die.

We do this several times. And I'm not sure what, exactly, is going wrong. Maybe Sen, Ann, and I just aren't cranking out enough damage. Maybe Militia is not cranking out enough heals. Maybe Takk's just taking too much of a beating. Who knows.

Takk, very discouraged after three or four attempts, suggests we pug someone else and continue. This is not the point of guild night. Guild night for learning to play together and, more specifically, learning to balance each others strengths and weaknesses.

Militia goes to check Takk's gear because he thinks theres a tanking belt that drops in Azjol-Nerub. Instead, he accidentally kicks Takk from the group. Takk logs off and we don't see him for the rest of the night.

So we pug. We finish Azjol-Nerub. Huzzah, huzzah, Emblems of Frost for everyone.

Sen decides he's not interested in doing more dungeons. Batra signs on. We make our way through Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron. Get some phat loot: Prelate's Snowshoes. All in all, a fairly lackluster night.

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Week 2

Second official week of Guild Night and Social Night. Equally uninspiring.

We are having some attendance issues. Truthfully, attendance is not mandatory. But I thought that everyone was on board with creating an actual raid night. Thus far, attendance has been better on Tuesdays so maybe we'll have to return to that being our raid night. I guess this is just one of those things we'll have to tweak and retweak until we arrive at a solution that actually works for everyone.

There's also some drama happening over at Memento. Batra and Senach are really talented at getting on each others nerves. So much so that Batra /ignored Sen during a random heroic last night.

Allow me to tell the whole story. Sen, Ann, Batra, and I randomed our way into Heroic Trial of the Champion. We died a lot. The jousting part I expected to die in. Frankly, I'm terrible at it. But then its time to face Runok Wildmane, Zul'tore, and some other guy.

Lets be perfectly honest here. We're still noobs when it comes to ToC and ICC. Dungeon or Raid, it doesn't matter. But we know a few basics. We know to interrupt the healer. We know to keep the hunter occupied and away from the clothies. We know to stay out of the piles of green crap.

So, to start off I send my felguard after the hunter. I figure, the felguard can keep him occupied until Batra has enough aggro on Runok and whatshisface to spare a second to grab Zul'tore. I'm dps'ing my warlocky heart out on Runok. Several things happen at the same time. My felguard dies. I start to overtake Batra in threat. And an angry hunter starts firing his arrows of doom at me. We die.

At this point, our healer helpfully points out that Batra should be in frost presence. I also point out, as nicely as I can, that he also needs to remember to pick up the hunter. Because having my face peppered with arrows does nothing for our DPS.

Attempt number two goes marginally better. It drags on and on because Runok keeps healing himself. We die.

As we fly back on our spectral gryphons I have a brief discussion with Ann and Sen about interrupting the heals. This is also about the time when I take a few moments to apologize to our healer. I explain that we're all from the same guild and that we're trying to get our tank some experience. Said healer says 'No problem. I'm a GM, I handle this stuff all the time.'

Healer of Awesome, I salute you. This is my shoutout to Otic on Nazgrel. You were amazing. Thank you for your patience with our group.

Otic also points out that Batra is not defense capped. We are aware of this. Painfully and unfortunately aware of this. This time Batra drops the group to the shock and irritation of the rest of us. He cites Sen for always being on his case. I hope this was actually an instance of Sen giving constructive criticism. Sen is the GM, its his job, etc. etc. I don't know.

But, it's a random. We requeue, get another tank, and finish without much trouble. I did get zerged by one of the trash packs that comes with Paletres. That was totally my fault.

So, moral of the story: make sure your tank is defense capped. The random dungeon finder does not care about your stats when it picks a dungeon for you. While we're in the process of recruiting healers and a few more dps we will also be focusing on getting gear for our tanks.

Speaking of gear: I finally got Mark of the War Prisoner! Also picked up the T9 gloves, completing the T94pc bonus I was looking for. Huzzah, huzzah. Finally, picked up a Sword for my main hand. I'm out of greens in my gear, now working on getting rid of blues. A few small upgrades from the heroics. Nothing too exciting.

I can't speak too much about Batra and Takk not being def capped. I'm not hit capped yet. But I'm still working on it. Promise.

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Firsts

To start I want to say: I love being 80! I thought I would miss leveling. Sounds silly, I know, but I thought I would. But I sure don't so far.

Last night, Sen and I queued for a random heroic dungeon and got Culling of Stratholme. It was:
A - The first time I had done any heroic Wrath dungeon.
B - The first time I had done CoS.

It was also totally awesome. We finished quickly enough for the mount to drop (I didn't win. Maybe next time?), even after our first healer left because our rogue was skinning everything in sight.

I made a list of gear that I need to get in order to be raid-ready. (Yes, I'm that much of a nerd.) And by 'I made a list', I mean 'I relied heavily on the suggestions made by the Warlock's Den'. It's pretty basic at this point. First priority is to get to the hit cap. Then, stack as much spellpower as possible. Because, if you're going to raid Meta/Ruin and not take crap from your leader or companions, you better be able to deliver Demonic Pact in a big way.

Anyway, last night I got my first two pieces off the list. One of them I bought (30g is so freaking cheap at this point, I bought two of them), the other I made (Shadoweave Tailoring ftw). I still have a long way to go, of course, but its a start!

Finally, I think the guildies have settled on Tuesdays, 9-12. It's a decent compromise for everyone involved.

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