Bewaare

my paladin, Darrick, now not only knows how to tank, but also how to heal.

I am still missing a piece or two. A ring, a trinket, I also want the tier 9 helmet, but I have enough to heal some stuff.

I think "once a healer, always a healer" applies. I know how to heal in general, so it just need some getting used to paladin healing. Which is a bit different to discipline priest healing, but... it's easy to learn.

Also:

I killed Professor Putricide on Heroic now, with my tank. Nevermind that I was on Abomination-Duty, which means I know almost no difference at all (aside from "oh, that's two oozes now" and "there's someone with a big black cloud around".) buut, considering I fought against Blood Prince Council and Sindragosa on heroic aand killed everything else on heroic as well, that means... 

I know 11/12 hardmodes.

Wow. It feels kinda irreal, because I imagined some fights there to be harder, to take longer for me to see but... eleven of twelve. Only Arthas missing.

I saw almost every boss in the game on all available difficulties. (10man however.)

Impressing.

Awesome awesome awesome

First:

I never have to visit a heroic instance on my priest ever again in wrath. I finally got my 2500 emblems achievement, and I couldn't care less about the frost emblems. No more Halls of Stone!

Second:

Obviously I left a good impression on the raid members of Ritter der Apocalypse. We are not counting Maraxos in that, mind you. So, I got invited to the raid on Monday, which meant some tries on Heroic Sindragosa. Let's just say that the abundant practice on normal with Caladon results in me never getting hit by any frostbomb (and, if I was about to be hit I could disperse anyway.), not blowing up anybody with the Instability Debuff and Blistering Cold is nothing more than a nuisance because I waste time with running out.

Others? Not so much. A lot of deaths to frostbombs, a few to Blistering Cold... and tank deaths in the last phase because the moron ran way to far out. I mean, I even use grid on my paladin and it is quite easy to set it up that it displays if you are out of 40 meter range of your main healer. ... But that is just me I guess.

Nonetheless, my flawless performance (and a few helpful suggestions like "put the two shadow priests in different groups" for example... yes. It should be common sense, buut...) leads to me being invited AGAIN for the raid this weekend.

Yes. I feel awesome. I am a repeatedly invited random because I know my stuff. Unfortunately for them, I don't intend to switch raids, so Ritter der Apocalypse will be on their own again after this lookout.

What a pity.

Third:

Today I was lucky to see a member of Drachensilber, the best guild on our realm searching for a Shadow Priest for their alt run. I immediately whispered him/her.

Requirements? Clear experience and an average item level of 264.

So. I made sure that clear experience (and especially hard mode experience) from the 10 man version is good enough for them (it is). I had him/her check my gear and... I passed - with an average itemlevel of 257 or something on my shadow.

And, even better: He/She asked if I would be interested in a regular spot in that particular raid.

Everything depends now on if I am confirmed for Tuesday, and am able to satisfy them in regards to my performance and especially DPS. I can pull 10k in a 25 raid occasionally and I checked - the BiS-list for shadow priests before hardmodes simulates something along the lines of 11k to 12k DPS.

Means, I am good where I stand, now to get my framerate to a reasonable amount in a 25man. Should work out. Probably have to play on lowest options again, but hey - I know every polygon on these models anyway.

I'd like to have this before Cataclysm hits...

You know this mount, don't you?

It's the reward for the 10 man Glory of the Icecrown Raider Achievement.

One out my final goals before the next expansion hits, is to get this mount while the corresponding instance is still serious business.

I got my Rusted Protodrake from Ulduar 10 man - on 06/10/10. Way way way after the instance was still hard.

This is how it looks like on my priest. Several achievements still to obtain which... are a little bit hard to get in a PuG.

Things like All You Can Eat and Been Waiting A Long Time for This or, of course the Heroic: Achievements.

Missing the boss kills for that: Heroic Blood Council, Heroic Putricide and Heroic Sindragosa.

Honestly... I know for a fact I will not call this dragon my own due to the accomplishments of Caladon. Too many bosses we still struggle with and such things. Nonoptimal raid compositions and the dependence on some people who can't really pull their weight.

The number one guild on our realm, Drachensilber offers boost raids for this achievement for 50k all inclusive.

The buyer has the opportunity to get each piece of loot he needs, the achievements for the dragon...

But... I'm not sure. I think I would still pay 30k for these achievements, but not 50k. I mean, I don't need the loot anyway, I got half the achievement already done on my own...

I think while we do not exactly know when Cataclysm will hit, I'll just try to farm more gold. IF the release date is getting closer and I am still on this stage of progress I'll probably even pay the full 50k.

I know for sure I'd be absolutely capable of getting these achievements without me paying for that with a decent group, but... I like it in Caladon. The people are not exactly total pro players, but the majority is okay and fun. Which is why I am not intending to just switch raid for no other reason than my selfish ambitions of getting me another 310% drake.

If I pay them I'll only be not available for one or two lockouts. And I can still tank then, anyway. But I don't like the thought of paying the same like everyone else who needs everything although I... well got a lot of it done on my own.

Stupid pride.

Some evenings are more amusing than others.

“When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.”

I like this quote. Especially because it accurately describes my thoughts about the raid I joined yesterday.

So. I was idling in Dalaran, camping book spawns for my Higher Learning Achievement, when Eleonea, one of our more valuable raid members - an Elemental Shaman - asked me if I could heal for her guild's raid.

I said sure, because I had nothing to do and like to help out people I know.

So I got an invite.

Immediately, the teamspeak information was posted, I joined, went into their channel...

and the first thing I heard was "I am surprised he didn't leave immediately after reading my name" from Maraxos, one of our ex-hunters.

I like joining raids and be the center of conversation without doing anything. It means, I am important. Having a reputation and stuff. I don't care if he's badmouthing me. He's telling people about me. And, up to the current day I always left a positive impression on people who are made aware of my presence in the raid by others.

Thanks a lot.

Oh and Maraxos - you are not the center of the universe. I don't care if you are in the same raid. You are getting as much healing as every other person so we can finish the raid. That's... cooperating. Another concept you obviously do not understand.

Well, what I could tell after the few hours in the raid - he did not change. And I am glad that he chose to leave us. I am glad he made such a dramatic exit which led to the ban from our guild forum. Yes, I am glad he is gone. I admit that :)

Your behavior is absolutely childish. I can't really believe you are nineteen years old. You seem more like eight or ten. What do you get out of muting yourself if anyone says anything against you ONCE, actually hindering the raid's progression? 

It's funny that I - involuntarily - had to hear a discussion from your fellow guild members about your inacceptable behavior. Because I was reminded of the oh so many discussion in Caladon.

Different guild. Same Maraxos.

I don't even want to know why you wanted to show me that launcher of yours soo badly. Do you think I care?

I have news for you. I don't.

There is something similar between the two of us. And one important difference.

We both like to see ourselves as the centerpiece of the raid. The person that is the most important, the one raidmember that decides about rise and fall of the raid.

The difference between us there is - you have to tell everyone about that. You have to let them know that you think that without you, the raid would fail. 

I do not.

I know I am totally capable of doing what I am told to do, I know almost every tidbit of information and tricks there is to know about these bosses and I am not hesitating to share that. But I don't have to ruffle my feathers to oblivion and beyond.

Awful and nice raids

The summer break of my guild forces me to join random raids (exactly what I usually try to avoid) if I want to earn some badges and some things for my equipment.

Well, two raids stand out this week.

First, a Ruby Sanctum 10 man Raid I joined on my Paladin.

Oh hell no.
Bad healers.
Bad group composition.
BAD BAD BAD.

We had two healers, one of them a Flash of Light centered Holy Paladin. Now, you can convince me that FoL Pallys can pull the same weight as Holy Light centered ones. It's just... bad bad experience. He couldn't keep us up. The DK Tank went poof within a second or two during Baltharus' Blade Tempest. WE WIPED SEVEN TIMES TO GODDAMN TRASH.
Unbelievable. And the group composition was just... awful.
3 Mages, Warrior, DK Tank, Rogue, Shadow, Holy Priest, Holy Paladin and me. This... is just sooo wrong.


And the second, a ICC25 raid I joined today. I usually don't do 25 man. Primary reason is my computer, 5 fps are just not enjoyable. Especially not as a healer. So, I logged on today, a guildie immediately asked me if I want to join.
I tagged along as Shadow. It went well, we killed 9 bosses, four new kills on 25 man for me (well, I did them on 10 man, they are not actually different, yadda yadda.)

Gunship on heroic, I snatched myself the cloth headpiece, AS USUAL NO PALADIN/PRIEST/WARLOCK TOKENS WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO BLIZZ

Two nice wands dropped and I got neither of them because a roll which is random 100 seems SUPERIOR to a random 99 (which we had to roll if we already got something) even if I roll a 96 and the other one something around 80.

Why don't you just say "1 item per person" instead of turning this into some kind of sick joke? If i rolled HIGHER it is my loot, kthx.

Well. No matter. I got a new helmet. A 277 one at that. Probably the only 277 item I will ever see aside from the little ring from the Ashen Verdict.

Oh and I was doing damage with my healer ring. I will not spend around 300+ Gold every goddamn time I have to switch specs. It's only 285 spellpower anyway and I almost topped the meters anyway.

Slackers.

And I actually had to remind the raidleader shadows are not in need of spores at festergut. And I hate being reminded to reshackle. Trust me - I know what I am doing. I have a wachful eye on the timer of shackle on the mob I am supposed to shackle and recast 10 seconds before it falls off. You will never ever see a mob I am supposed to CC running about happily. 

Enough complaining. It was kinda nice. 

I am thinking maybe I should look for a raid group that is in need of a good shadow priest. Healing is a bit out of question in 25man, but doing damage works out, I did my 10-12k on DPS-Fights, 8-9k on more gimmicky, add-heavy or movement fights.

Especially add-heavy.

I hate Valithria Dreamwalker on Shadow... everything dies before I got all my dots on it... (aside from abominations)

Warrior Tanking.

Slowly, very slowly, Xerian, the warrior, is creeping up his way to Level 80.

I try to get the triumph emblems I can each day, which means: one dungeon.

Several things.

I hate people who leave for no apparent reason.
Why do you buff the group and disappear right afterwards?
Why do you leave IF NOTHING HAS HAPPENED?

I hate moonkins.
Don't complain if you blow your cooldowns and starfall and hurricane and aoe everything down and then draw aggro. I'm a warrior! Unexperienced warrior tank, nonetheless! I CANNOT KEEP YOUR AOE-AGGRO.

I love mages who use counterspell.
That makes me a happy tank.

And, after a successful run, I like the words "nice tanking"
Well. I know the basics, I play a protpally.

But the change in tanking is nice. It's a little harder, because you don't have consecrate. And no holy shield, which passively builds up aggro. I actually have to switch targets to keep reasonable threat on each of them.
It's fun.

At least for now.
I probably won't tank in heros. "OLOL not even XXk HP! NUUB!" or something like that awaits me.
Nope. Not needing that. It's sad, the community complains that there are not enough tanks for heroics, but they themselves encourage this problem.

Successful Business is good business.

Bankelfs second day finishes.

And, the guild bank already has 1000 Gold in deposit.
I started with 150 Gold on the character.

I now have 304 Gold on the character + 1000 Gold on the bank. Quite a profit.

And, I have also begun to not only sell things, but searching for items below vendor price (for example, I found some pristine monarch topazes - if I bid successful, I can sell the item to a vendor for a small profit (bid is 3g, vendor price is 4g 50s. that's 1g 50 profit per item.).

And, buying out things that are below are certain price, really cheap (the seller probably wants to get rid of it or has no clue about the real value) and reselling them.

Of course I could also lose some gold about the course of that. However, I continue to sell flasks and similar stuff, which almost always gets sold. If I lose the bids, I get my money back. If I win and cannot sell the stuff again right now, I can store it and sell it later.

Apart from happily auctioning, I joined a group for some icc hardmodes today.
We did eight of them, everything Caladon did until now and Valithria Dreamwalker additionally. After that we cleared the rest.

I have never ever seen such a chaotic Lich King fight.
Over the course of the third phase (Vile Spirit Phase) he did four harvest souls.
And mini-enraged four times.
Due to the overuse of druids in this raid (a moonkin, a tree and a cat) we had enough rebirths to rez our tanks and one of the DPS after they died in there.
Well, no matter. Arthas died, I got the full amount of emblems this lockout (30), one achievement (Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion) and two items (Bracers of Dark Blessings and Lockjaw)
Profitable evening altogether :)

Oh and the guy that wanted to stay did leave after all.
Not that it really matters :)

In preparation for...

the new addon, I decided to raise some little funds, so that the almost certainly really expensive items at the start of Cataclysm become affordable.

So I created a new character who will be responsible for my Auction House shenanigans.
His name is "Bankelf", Night Elf Druid (who will forever stay Level 1, poor fellow) and I also created the guild "Darnassian Tradecompany" to store everything I farm and aquire for later sale.

I must say, I never before really got into the big business that is to be found in the Auction House.
Sure, I sold one thing or the other from time to time, actually got some gold on my first alliance char I rolled on my main server (before switching my current characters from horde) with mining/herbalism.

But now?
I have access to every gathering profession - Herbalism on my Priest, Mining on my Paladin and Skinning on my Level 66 Druid. The latter I will level soon, so I can get skinning to 450.
I farmed half an hour on my priest in Storm Peaks and half an hour on my Paladin in Wintergrasp.
Adding to that Blacksmithing (Eternal Belt Buckle), Alchemy (transmuting epic gems and selling flasks) and in the future Leatherworking (leg armor enhancements).
I smell a fortune here.

I earned around 700 gold +- a few silver and copper on my first day.
For my first serious day trading that's really much. I still have several unsold auctions, including an Orb of Deception and Saronite Swordbreakers.

I intend to hit character gold cap on this little guy. Sooner or later, of course. Probably later. However, the 25k per character I intend to get before Cataclysm hits seem rather possibly, assuming I can continue to sell stuff that well.

Funny thing to conclude this post:

One of the guys from whom I got a signature for my guild wants to stay. Reason: "just to have a guild beneath his name"
I'm fine with that. I'm even more pleased that he said he wants to deposit items on the bank (I granted him enough access to see and deposit items, he can neither withdraw money nor items at all - I am not stupid, after all).
With a little luck he deposits some good things there which I can sell for lots of gold. Example: what if he stumbles upon "Recipe: Savory Deviate Delight" and does not realize its value?
In return, I assured him my help in the game.
And that's not really much.

First: as long as he contributes nothing to the guild bank, I am equally free to refuse helping him.
Second: currently he is like level 11 or 12 or something. Probably asking me for a boost now and then. Sure, fine with me. How long does it take to run through Deadmines/Shadowfang Keep and so on and just aoeing everything donw? Besides, that does not mean I'll pass on BoEs or thrash drops. Some of these things still sell for a fortune.
In regards to the fact he had no clue what a bankguild is about, I assume he is fairly new to this game.
Third: I am doing the same thing (helping people, instance runs etc) to people I know, people from the guild/raid. In return, I get the same help - which I rarely ever use anyway.
There's nothing wrong with asking payment for helping, that's what our whole society builds upon. You pay me - I help you.

So, what do I get?
A -possible- newbie, with probably almost no clue about the auction house, item values and stuff like that.

What does he get?
Help from a fairly experienced player, in regards to raiding, leveling, quests, classes and their specs (not every last one, but the majority) for the little prize of depositing a few items to my guild bank.

I think that's a good deal for both of us.

A little progress.

So, Caladon is shortly before its "official" summer break, meaning that two healers and a DPS/Tank are going on vacation for ~two weeks.

Yesterday, we had one of the last two official raids before that. The other one is today.
And wow.

That was a great evening, literally. We stomped our way through the usual bosses, everything wipeless which - especially on Saurfang Heroic - is quite a feat for us.

Bloodprince Council on normal because we had only one range DPS (a moonkin), Bloodqueen Lana'thel was obliterated on heroic with even some spare seconds until her enrage.
Well, after two canceled tries, because our first vampire (who had to bite our rogue) had problems actually biting Nuka - he had to run out, he had Swarming Shadows. Every. Frickin'. Time.
After we managed the first bite it was a piece of cake :)

After that we quickly did Valithria Dreamwalker and snatched the Achievement there, Portal Jockey, on the way.

Had a lot of fun there. And with nobody below 8k DPS (actually, no one below 8,5k DPS) on the fights were DPS really matters.

Today we will put Sindragosa and Arthas to rest to finish that lockout, after that we'll see.
Well, if we manage to defeat them, especially Arthas, again.

With that, Caladon now sits at 7/12 heroic. Quite honestly, I personally do not expect anymore. Maybe Bloodprince Council will fall sooner or later, for now it proves to be quite difficult for us, for whatever reason.
Professor Putricide will probably not fall. First, he is one of the most difficult encounters on heroic. Second, we did not even try him yet.
Valithria Dreamwalker... well, I'm not sure. A few of our people sometimes do not manage the adds that well and the healing on the boss is a bit lacking as well.
Sindragosa and Arthas do not even need to be mentioned. In regards to the HORRIBLE problems we had with Sindragosa on normal mode, I'd actually be surprised if we kill her before Tier 12 or something.

On a sidenote, Blizzard, it'd be really nice if we could maybe get another kind of token and not ALWAYS Warrior/Hunter/Shaman >_<
It is actually surprising, but our raid does not consist of only these three classes, I repeat, it does not consist of only these three classes.
Give me my Tier10 tokens, goddamnit.

If you persist on dropping Warrior/Hunter/Shaman, a soon Cataclysm release or alternatively a beta invitation could satisfy me as well

Silly Paladin.

Xerian, the Warrior speaking.

Attacking me just after I left combat with a mob in Un'Goro Crater and am about half dead isn't very nice of you, little blood elf.

/lol'ing at me while we fight, you heal yourself and occasionally do some damage to me isn't very nice of you, either.

However.
Actually dying to my horrible warrior pvp skills merely seconds after you /lol and try to get off a heal, only to be shieldbashed, silenced and then killed by a 1k revenge crit is quite hilarious.

Should be an achievement, I think. Dying to my hands if I play a melee class.

Except if I am a heirloomed rogue. Insane killing machines these guys.