I Need Cataclysm

Man I need Cataclysm. I do. I caught myself double checking my account status just the other night. Apparently my six-month subscription terminates at the end of May. I found myself considering letting it expire.

So Cataclysm apparently is going to be released this year. Well, not to be pessimistic, but I’ll believe it when I see it. But I sure hope it does. I need it.

Why?

‘Cuz Cataclysm is gonna save the world by destroying the world!

Yeah OK, again I’ll believe it when I see it, but I do need some change.

I’m burned out. Recent guild drama drained me emotionally. It isn’t anyone’s fault, it’s just part of the job we do. I signed up for it when I agreed to be an officer. I knew this would happen at times. But unfortunately it is not helping the burnout I’m feeling with raiding.

For me right now, raiding is about signing up, showing up, and downing bosses or pounding my head against a brick wall. I don’t read strats. I don’t read up on the latest glyphs, specs, enchants, gear, etc. I haven’t done a gear plan since Naxx.

In Burning Crusade I was all about reading boss strats, gear strategies, stat priorities, talents, etc. That was fun! I remember looking at Atlasloot and WoWHead on a daily basis trying to figure out the best way to plan my gear progression. I analyzed my gear constantly on websites. It was fun!

Why can’t I plan gear now? Well, I can but there isn’t any point to do so.

First, you can farm heroics for gear in the matter of a couple of days. In BC it took me weeks to farm one piece. Three hour heroics for three badges didn’t allow for quick gearing.

Second, because of limited time buying a piece of gear was a real investment. Sort of like how Frost Emblems are now to a certain extent. You were nearly guaranteed to get the drop you wanted the day after you spent your badges. And when you just spent 2-3 weeks farming the badges you really had to think about your choices.

But there was the fun! At least for me. Maybe not for everyone.

You can argue whatever position you want about gear progression in Wrath. Emblems are great! Emblems suck! Most of you know my position. It doesn’t mean that I disagree with those on the other side, it just means this is how the current gear system has affected my game.

Working my ass off to get one piece of badge gear was a feat! And no one can argue that I didn’t earn it! I remember that people were upset with badge gear when it came out. Supposedly it was just as good as T5 or better, although based on my own experiences I really didn’t think most of it was and still had to farm Kara for stuff.

The point is I had to research my gear. Plan the best course. Was it better to buy that badge gear or wait for the boss to drop loot? So researching and planning was an important part of the process. But even more importantly it was half the fun!

Gear in my opinion is messed up in more ways than I can count. It occurred to me that although I can reconcile my issue with quick gearing, what I can’t reconcile is my lack of interest.

Wednesday night I was bored out of my mind. I had no mana issues whatsoever and for you GearScore fanatics, I think my GS is around 5200. I don’t even have the best gear available to me.

So why bother? Why bother to do all that research in gear, talents, glyphs, gems, etc. to eek out a couple more points in spellpower, mp5, intellect, etc. when I’m just gonna faceroll my way through the content anyway?

Oh sure, there’s the argument that on the progression fights it’s important to get every last bit out of everyone and it is. Problem is our progression is never really an issue about gear, talents, gems, enchants, buffs, etc. It’s always about skill, paying attention, and fighting the lag boss. So again, why bother?

I miss the need to research boss fights. I miss the need to research specs. I miss the need to research gear. Maybe you don’t feel the same and think the way things are in end-game right now are great! Everyone’s seeing the content! And I agree that it’s great. I just disagree with how it’s been handled.

For light’s sake this is Casual Hardcore! Casual in play, but a hardcore attitude towards raiding and the endgame. I lost the drive that pushed me towards the hardcore. The game got too easy. And that’s why I need Cataclysm.  If for no other reason to have a solid breaking point where I can say I’m done with the endgame and just play to hang out.

Naxx 25 Is SRS BZNZ!!!

So our ICC25 continuation didn’t happen because well…we’re BoO and people don’t show.

Since we had potential recruits listening in we decided we should probably not completely fail so why not do the weekly with the 14 people we did have? Anub’Rekhan is gonna die!

So we have 14 people and don’t want to sit 4 of us so let’s just 25 man it. What’s the worst that could happen? …

In true BoO fashion we run in and wipe to the first two groups of spiders because…well we’re BoO. What other reason could there be?

Because not only are we BoO, but we have potential recruits listening in on vent.

So we run back in and get to the boss. Last minute buffs and mana. Then the pull…

With the confidence of a million Lich Kings we decided to ignore the adds and dps the boss not remembering that the debuff stacks. Our add tank starts taking massive spike damage and almost dies, but our epic heals keep him alive as we readjust our strategy to down the adds.

At this point I have to admit that I failed to get out of Locust Swarm completely forgetting how bad that is. As I stand there unable to cast I calmly await my demise when I finally instantly die along with four others. It’s not long after that the rest of the raid dies only getting the boss down to…yes, roughly 600k…

At this point several of us are laughing hysterically as we regroup, run back in, and then Hunt decides he needs to repair.

Amber, in true leadership fashion, points out to Hunt that “It’s customary to repair before a raid” and chastises him in front of everyone.

After a couple of minutes she announces that she will “Berb (BRB)! Since it’s not a good thing to do the chair peepee dance.” And if I’m not mistaken this is almost a direct quote!

As she gets up to leave, I calmly announce that “It’s customary to go to the bathroom before a raid” at which point everyone dies laughing. Unfortunately no demotions because I believe she missed the comment, but you gotta love karma!

Anyway, an ICC10 formed and a real raid actually happened, but those aren’t as much fun.

I’m Back; And I Carry My Guild

So last week apparently was really bad for our guild’s first attempt at ICC25. Apparently we didn’t down a single boss. Oh and I wasn’t there.

Last night’s attempt saw us succeed in downing two bosses plus Gunship which doesn’t count. Apparently I carry my guild.

Even though we wiped several times on Marrowgar it went quite well and I had a ton of fun. Cuz of crap like this.

How Much Is That Doggy In The ICC?

Priceless! (Best in show apparently as well.)

So last night we blow through the first four bosses and worm our way towards Festergut (who we didn’t down btw, in part due to time and in part due to HE F”ING KICKED OUR PATOOTIES!!!) I actually think my new favorite pulls are the two dogs, the mini-Gluths. Let’s face it they’re cute, right?

OK it’s more because they can actually cause a wipe. Seriously, I’ve missed hard trash.

So we pull Precious first because she’s supposedly the harder of the two. As she heads down the stairs she drops her first Decimate. So the healers are spamming their heals to get everyone up, but instantly 4 people die. There’s a groan for the impending wipe.

As we get the tanks up, future decimates and incoming damage takes out one of the tanks and the other healer. The frustration ramps up as the impending wipe turns to the guaranteed wipe.

But no! With determined arrogance, and a little humor I might add, the trusty shaman pops Heroism as a few people laugh while the lone tank, healer, and two dps tough it out. But with great skill comes great responsibility as the epic shaman spams Riptides and Healing Waves on the tank! And Precious goes down!!!

It was epic!

OK, maybe it wasn’t so much about the healer’s skill because let’s face it, madly punching hotkeys is not skill. But the tank popping cooldowns at the right time to keep himself alive as my heals heal him for a whopping 10 health due to a health debuff? Now that was skill!

One of our tanks hates those pulls because he feels Blizzard’s way of making encounters harder is to increase the RNG factor. Forget skill, forget gear, just make an encounter randomly do something so devastating that a group will die regardless.

I however love those pulls because they make me work. I have to pay attention. They’re exciting!

And besides, I had to use Heroism on what’s technically a trash pull. Heroism!!!