Weekly Round-Up

Well,

Its been a while since I've written a weekly round up of everything that's happened in-game, but its time for one of those again...

My First Rated Battleground

Last night I took part in my first ever rated battleground, and I loved it. Being in a battleground and on vent at the same time is a strange experience but it was great to co-ordinate attacks and offense/defence...certainly blew pug battlegrounds out of the water. 

Starting a Twin Peaks in the Alliance starting area on my very first one, did throw me. It took me a while to figure out where I was and then to remember which flag carrier was ours. That's something I need to get used to, but I'm glad I wasn't the only one slightly thrown.

It still feels strange for me speaking on vent, but it comes down to confidence which will grow with time. I listened to what I was being told to do, tried to speak as much on vent as possible and I hope I did a good job, for my first evening of runs - I'm very happy.

We had a very good win in Twin Peaks where we literally had a minute to kill the enemy flag carrier, we did it and our flag was capped and we won, and one Battle for Gineas which was very close, but sadly we lost - only by a few points. 

All in all, I took part in 8 battlegrounds and we won 4 and lost 4, and so for my first time, and a couple of others first times, I was really pleased with how we did overall and think that given time and more experience the guild could get a really strong team.

So the guild, are deciding to set up a PvP rank and I'm seriously considering applying seeing as PvP is my main focus in the game. I guess I'm worried about making a fool of myself in my application, but I've got nothing to lose so definitely going to go for it...watch this space for an update.

Archaeology

I have to say, I'm not a massive fan of this profession and since I started my Death Knight, my skill has sat at 1, and seeing as I'm still in the process of levelling my other professions (Mining and Jewelcrafting) I always thought it would be last on my list...but, the husband starting doing it and I hate to be left behind, so I begrudgingly started too. Its something we've been doing in between battlegrounds. 

My skill is now 140 and I got the rare Druid and Priest Statue Set, which gave me the title Assistant Professor and is a fairly cool item. 

That title is the first one I've earned on my Death Knight and given me a strange love for Archaeology, I still think its a boring and long winded profession but its also strangely addictive.

Googee

I have to take a moment to mention this character. Googee is a Troll Hunter who is played by my real life friend. Googee is at level 84, and I've been assured by my friend that she will be level 85 tomorrow...I am holding her to that! 

I had the chance to run a normal Cataclysm dungeon with her the other day. We got Throne of the Tides, I was happy to run through the dungeon, as Churel my Priestess got an outing, and I so rarely play her these days. It was nice to heal without any pressure, without any mana issues and just enjoy it for what it was. I thought I had forgotten how to play Churel but instinctively it all came back, even remembering which key my dispel was bound to, and I think Husband enjoyed dusting off his Warrior Tank.

Googee did really well in the dungeon, but occasionally she comes under fire from some unpleasant players. I'd just like to say that just because a character has reached the level cap does not mean they are an expert in the class or game. Levelling is so quick now, that it really takes more time at the cap or experience playing other characters before you know your role inside and out. I've now been playing WoW for 9 months, pretty much everyday, and I'm still nowhere near an expert, so please, take a moment to remember what it was like when you first started - and give the new people a break, and be a bit more understanding. We all play for fun and the pettiness, sniping and moaning make it an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. 

I'm really amazed at the progress my friend has made in the short time she has been playing WoW...

Real-Life

Finally taking a moment to explain why my last post was a couple of weeks ago...I was getting myself ready to take part in the Race for Life. I've never taken part in any runs before, and despite sponsoring other people who were raising money, it's been a long time since I got out there to raise money for something myself. 

I took part in the 5k race on Sunday just gone, and raised £139 for a charity close to my heart. I'll definitely be doing it again next year, the atmosphere was great with over 2500 ladies running on the day, I feel good for doing something worthwhile and I got a medal too...woohoo.

(This was taken after the Race. We are the ladies from Bootcamp, Paul is our Trainer, I'm 4th from Left with number 32376, the blonde next to me holding a jacket is my Mom and the dog is our Mascot)

I have made this blog longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter. ;) Peace. 

Arena Recording against a Frost Mage/Ret Paladin and Arms Warrior/Feral Druid

Firstly, apologeis for the quality of the videos, as we were only playing around with this we only wanted to use free software. Hopefully next time we'll record a commentary too.

These recordings were taken last night, my second night in the arena as I've spent the last couple of days re-keybinding my abilities and needed to get comfortable with them before entering another arena. We had a really great run in arenas last night taking part in 18 and only losing 3 of them. My current rating is 1377 which i'm pretty pleased about considering how new it is to me.

We recorded a few videos last night, another favourite of mine was against 2 rogues but I think that hails back to my time as a Priest and Rogues would like very much to kill me. I finally got my own back :)

The videos are from my Husband's point of view, and we know we both made mistakes...myself especially but I know what to do different next time.

Anyway, enjoy the fight and leave a comment :)

Maloriak is down

This is just a really quick post to let you know that last night on the Social Raid I got down Moloriak for the first time making it 5/12.

We got down Magmaw on the second attempt and one-shotted Omnotron, and after a few attempts got down Moloriak. We moved on to Atramedes and although we got very close, we didn't manage to get him last night...I'm sure we will next week and have a go at Chimaeron too. We gave Chimaeron a shot last week but it just wasn't happening and I have to keep reminding myself not to panic with healthbars.

Anyway, we made progress on the raid and I'm happy with that.

My First Raid Experience in Bastion of Twilight and Blackwing Descent

I was hoping to put a clever title such as: 'When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on,' because raiding is all about perseverance and determination, but sampling my first raid was epic enough without having to think of a clever title. Yes, I have done Baradin Hold a few times now, which I was really excited about at the time, and then people kindly informed me it was "not a proper raid," well, although I don't agree with that comment I can now see where they were coming from when they told me that!


When I put my name down for the alt/social run of my guild, I honestly didn't think that I would get invited along, as although it's an alt run everyone else would have already experienced the instance on their main character and no what to expect. 


However, my name was down for the run in Bastion of Twilight, and I was going to make sure I knew the tactics. I had a week from putting my name down, till the raid took place to learn what to do. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I watched videos, I read blog posts and forum posts and made endless notes and then quick glance notes which I kept close at hand.  I'm glad I read up, I wouldn't have wanted to have gone into the raid unprepared, even though the raid leader did a great job at explaining tactics as we went along. It was also good to speak to other healers, because you can read the mechanics of the fight and know the names of every spell the boss will cast but it doesn't count for experience, something is always easier the second time round, once you have seen exactly how something works.


Monday night (the night before the raid) rolled round and I was thoroughly expecting not to be on the raid, but the prospect of possibly being there meant I had a really restless night, it took me ages to fall asleep, I think I dreamt about causing a wipe, over and over again. People who raid regularly, will not realise or remember what a huge thing the first raid is. I feel like since I started playing WoW my aim has been to raid, to get to the level cap and become the best player I can be. I still have a lot to learn, but to be a member of the top guild on the realm, and to have the chance to raid with these people, even if it is with their alts...is absolutely mind blowing.


Tuesday morning rolls around, I spend a bit of time going over my notes and watching the tactic videos again and then I stop with the fear of starting to over analyse stuff, yes, I felt it important to understand the basics, but its also supposed to be fun? 


Tuesday evening approaches, we discover that the raid is definitely going ahead and we get an invitation...as I flew over the Twilight Highlands and made my way up to the BoT, I grew increasing nervous. I was literally trembling, so much so that I was accidentally pressing other keys because my fingers were slipping and doing silly things like putting a HoT on someone who didn't need it, but I was just blown away by the whole thing. From the way the encounter looked, to watching 10 people work in unison, to hearing the communication, I can understand why so many people love to raid. Just before we entered the raid I had a sudden crisis of confidence, maybe I couldn't raid, I knew that gear wise sitting at 352 my gear was appropriate, so it had to come down to my abilities to get the job done - to keep everyone alive.  I have no doubt that the other healers dragged me through it, they were both druids and I feel my nerves made me slow to react. Husband said to me, you know the tactics, you know how to heal...just go for it and enjoy, you can do it. He was right.


After we cleared the first trash pack, I started to settle in, but as we reached the first boss my stomach twisted into knots. There was Halfus Wyrmbreaker waiting to be killed. Now I was so excited at the time, that I cant remember how many attempts it took, but I think it was two. 

As he went down, I turned to my husband who was tanking throughout the raid and we gave each other a high five, and as I relaxed and laughed at getting my first ever 'proper' raid boss down, I realised that I was on a high and it was great feeling, we had worked as a team and we had defeated him. It was so much fun.

Then even more surprisingly, I received loot: an epic robe - Robes of the Burning Acolyte. I didn't expect to receive any loot, and I wanted to go and raid for the experience and the ability to say 'I'm raiding,' but receiving the loot was very welcome and also from Halfus, husband received some plate wrists. The new robe has boosted my item level to 353 and it was a very big upgrade on my heroic Halls of Origination robe. Both of us receiving loot signalled another high five, and then we both focused back on the screen to move on towards the next boss.

Getting through the trash was proving pretty straightforward and easy and before I realised it we were ready to 'get all up in' Valiona and Theralion's face. By the way, for future reference, Valiona is the girl of the two dragons, the pinkness should give it away :) I did die a few times on this encounter and I think it was because I was reacting to what was going on, and by that I mean that once something was cast I would then respond, and that made me slow, once I started to pre-empt, and watch the casting bars and turn and look at the boss, things went alot better. We did have a 1% wipe at one point and I think it was on this encounter. At no point though did I think that we wouldn't get them down, in fact the wipes made me more determined to perform more effectively and efficiently and pay more attention to what was going on around me.

After we successfully defeated the dragons, it was decided to move on to Blackwing Descent, and I nearly had a heart attack, I had started to make notes and revise BWD, but in nowhere near as much depth as BoT (I have an A4 sheet for each boss in BWD, a whole book for BoT), as we mounted up and headed in the general direction of the instance, I frantically scrabbled for my notes and husband and I were reading over them. 

We arrived, we got stuck into the trash with no problems and arrived at Magmaw.

We cleared the trash in this room without any issues either and it happens to be the only action screenshot I managed to take, and not a good one at that. I was so busy concentrating, that moving my hand to press the screenshot button was not really an option. 

I knew the basic outline of the fight and the tactics were reiterated on vent, we got in our positions and started to attack, but we did wipe. I think he was down on our second or third attempt but everyone except my husband and one other player (or two) were alive. I think at 11% we were a minute away from the berserk, but somehow they managed to beat it.

 We did then move on and have one go at Omnitron, but it was late by this point, and when we wiped, we called it a night.

What did I get from my first raid experience? Well, I loved it. I cant wait until I get to do it again, and I know that next time I'll perform better because, I wont be so nervous. It was everything I expected it to be and more. I can understand why people love raiding, and the hard work I feel I've put in to get to this point, really paid off. I loved how everyone worked as a team, and had a laugh whilst doing it. All I can say is a massive Thanks for the raid leader and members for allowing me to come along, being the massive newbie to raids that I am.

Advice for first time raiders like myself? Know the tactics till the point you are comfortable explaining them to someone else, going into a raid when the nerves and adrenalin is going and to not know the tactics would be disastrous and a massive knock to confidence. If you are unsure as to what you are supposed to do, double check and ask, there would be nothing worse than messing everything up because you didn't know where to stand. I had to double check stuff, and hearing people referred to on vent as their main character, instead of the alt in the raid, was also a little confusing at times, since I don't know them very well yet, but most importantly...have fun.

After we finished raiding for the night, husband realised that he hadn't got his valor points from his daily heroic run, so a guild group got together and we loaded Grim Batol.

As we got to the boss Dragha Shadowburner and he summoned Valiona, I couldn't help but smile to myself and think...I killed you less than an hour and half ago and it felt great...

PuG Diary: Shadowfang Keep

Tuesday 29th March 2011, 4pm


As I watched SFK load up, I felt happy, as its one of my favourite instances, but this run was downright ugly.

First few trash packs seem to be dealing a lot more damage than normal to the tank, who then announces he has got serious lag and the death knight agrees with him. Most of the time they were just standing there and getting hit and other group members were getting aggro.

We get to the first boss where interrupts are relied upon and the DPS position themselves at the bottom of the stairs waiting for the tank. Why they cant wait is beyond me because the inevitable happens, they pull the boss and the tank happens to be disconnected.

Finally we get the tank back but no one is doing any interrupting, because apparently it's taking them an age to cast anything. Eventually and I don't know how we managed it we kill the boss, everyone lives and I'm just about in mana.

nice to be acknowledged for keeping everyone alive against the odds

We get through the rest of the dungeon, with a few wipes, but the frustration just left me in a bad mood.

The group consisted of a Warrior Tank who had never tanked SFK before,  a Hunter pulling 9k DPS, a Death Knight with 8k and a paladin in full PvP gear managing about 5k.

My First Ever Raid

Ever since I started playing WoW, my husband has told me tales about raiding and it became something that I wanted to aim for, he warned me though that raiding isn't for everyone and I may not enjoy it, he told me that a raid member needs to be able to take advice and learn from it. Think hard about what you are contributing, and of course...to know the tactics.

I've been doing heroics for some time now, and pretty much all of my gear is 346 or better with the exception of a couple of 333 items, so husband and I decided that we would like to have a go at a raid.

The first raid that springs to mind when starting out in Cataclysm is  Argaloth in Baradin Hold,  now a few people have since said to me that it's not a real raid...well, you know what? I don't give a damn. Its a good enough raid for my first ever taste of raiding.

Initially we joined a PuG...

I had no idea what to expect, I was actually trembling with excitement and nerves, it felt just like the very first time I did a dungeon in WoW. I kept asking my husband silly things like "Do I just heal my group?" "Do I dispel only my group?" "Are you sure I'm ready to do this?" he kept having to reassure me that unless I was told otherwise I should just look after my group.

The Tanks and DPS were great, I was doing my job, but the other healer wasn't. On the first wipe I had done 76% of the healing and more dispels as well.  So that healer was swapped for another, and again the healing caused a wipe...it crossed my mind, should I be doing more healing, but I was successfully keeping my group alive and kicking. So once again we swapped the healer, but it was too late, the next battle for Tol Barad was about to begin, so we left it at that.

Later in the evening, my guild decided to put together group and the Guild Leader kindly allowed myself and the husband to come along, so I must say a 'thank you' to him for that. It was so much fun. We wiped once because one DPS died and we didn't get the boss down before beserk but we got it on the second attempt. I healed pretty much the same amount as the other healer, and dispelled the same, which was a great relief to me and means, I cant be going too wrong. I also bagged myself some PvP loot...Vicious Gladiator's Satin Leggings.

Husband was tanking first so I dropped a lightwell, popped a shield, prayer of mending and renew on him and we all stuck with him so the damage would spread evenly. I used chakra, mainly using heal and serenity which also refreshed the renew on Nuad, and also utilising my other group heals such as Circle of Healing (which is now lovely since the patch) and a few prayers of healing, and I also used Sanctuary, but I felt that the serenity was more useful to me on the tank, or whoever needed it at the time. When the other tank and group took over it allowed me to just top everyone off and regain a bit of mana. I did use shadowfiend to regain some mana, but I wasn't completely oom by the end of the fight. As the debuff Consuming Darkness landed on players, I removed it as soon as possible...a few weeks ago Nuad suggested that I bind dispel to a mouse key, I took his advice, and it was very useful to have such quick access to dispel during that encounter. During the Fel Firestorm, I ran around dodging the fire but keeping an eye on my tank so that I could be back with him as soon as possible after the firestorm was over, and watching the health bars of the DPS, in case they needed an extra heal. Before I knew it, the boss was dead, and it was all over. But, I was so caught up in what I was doing during the fight that I forgot to get any screenshots, even though I have a bright pink note stuck to my computer monitor saying "SCREENSHOTS." I think I need a bigger note!

It took me ages to get to sleep last night, I haven't felt this excited about WoW since my very first day in the game. It was brilliant seeing everyone work together and I can't wait till I can do more raids. Even today, I'm still buzzing about it. After all, "It's easy to get good players. Getting them to play together, that is the hard part."

(Myself and the Tanks)

Weekly Round-Up

Well, it feels like a while since I have been able to do a round up of the events in WoW of the past week, and that was due to a bit of stagnation within the game. That's all changed now, and once again this blog can be a hive of activity.

Obviously the massive change of the past week was the new guild, and I can say without doubt that it was the best decision for us, but I have talked about that enough times now.

Well it's been a week of heroics, I have finally got under my belt: Lost City, Halls of Origination, Stonecore, Deadmines, Shadowfang Keep, Blackrock Caverns and the final boss of Grim Batol. I've still got to run Vortex Pinnacle and Throne of the Tides and I'm picking up heroic upgrades as I go along. I especially love being a Holy Priestess in the first boss fight of Shadowfang Keep against Baron Ashbury when everyone has their health reduced during Asphyxiate. Afterwards once his heal has ticked a couple of times I can use Prayer of Mending, Circle of Healing, Prayer of Healing and Holy Word: Sanctuary, not to mention a Lightwell and then concentrate on tank healing and as long as I'm careful can manage the fight without running out of mana.

I really need to spend some time sorting out my UI because it's a bit hectic, but I like X-Perl because I can see people's health bars etc and find it easy to assess their damage. I tried Grid recently but found it difficult to assess how much damage people were taking. If anyone has any tips/advice about clearing up my UI or a better add-on to use than Xperl, I would love to hear it.

Hold on tight I feel a rant coming on...LIGHTWELL. I now have 2 macros I use where lightwell is concerned. I have one I use at the start of a PuG which explains the virtues of lightwell which are:

• It can be clicked at range.
• It doesn't change your current target.
• It can still be used even when you are: Stunned, Sapped, Casting, Running, Feared, Falling and Eating.
• The effect is only cancelled when you receive an attack which is equal to 30% of your total health.
• It lasts for 3 minutes and since I have it glyphed, 15 charges.

Its so incredibly useful when I have to focus on tank healing, and why I have to shout at people to use it is beyond my comprehension...because yes, my second lightwell macro, is reminding people to 'PLEASE CLICK THE LIGHTWELL!'

So that macro goes out and then the DPS do something stupid, instead of staying where they are and clicking the lightwell they run over to it and practically stand on top of it and then run off again...why? I always take care to place it within reach of everyone. So I have taken it upon myself that all people playing WoW need to know exactly how a lightwell works, because it makes my life easier and helps keep 'you' alive. Got it? Good.

Now that I've got that off my chest I can get back to rounding off the week.

Last night after running a couple of instances, Nuad and I decided that we would run heroic Culling of Stratholme for the Bronze Drake mount. Between us we did it easily and Nuad let me roll for the mount, and we plan on running it again very soon so he can get it too. I'm also waiting for my 6th Oracles egg to hatch hoping to get the Green Drake mount. I've had the companion pet 3 times, but still no luck with the drake. Hoping I will get lucky soon though.

Its also been a week for raising reputations, I got exalted with Earthen Ring so I could buy Flamebloom Gloves. My next reputation grind is with Therazane in order to buy Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone.

Last but not least, thanks must be mentioned to people on Twitter and people in Drama who solved my 'haste or critical strike rating?' query. Haste it is and I've made sure that yellow gem slots contain Quick Amberjewel for +40 Haste and when I'm not reforging Spirit, I am reforging haste at the moment until I reach about 12.5% when buffed. I'd also like to get around 2500 spirit. This is how things are currently looking: Click for my Armory. 

Once again, any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated. I am still learning having only played a few months but I'm using this as my friend.

So that is my week in-game folks, as usual would love to hear your comments.

I'm Feeling Fine

So I'm pinching the idea for this post from here, and as the writer suggests, a month into cataclysm is the perfect time to look at how we feel.

This video used the REM song It's The End Of The World As We Know It and until very recently I wasn't enjoying Cataclysm.

Anyone who knows me can confirm, me and the prospect of change don't go hand in hand.

• I hated the fact that abilities and talents changed - WTF Chakra? (I actually cried about chakra! yes I am 23 years old and I cried, and now its my go-to all the time) 
• I was frustrated with the changes in Orgrimmar
• Found all dungeons too hard, 
• Dismayed at the fact that I had 24 hours at level 80 before the grind to level to the cap started again but...

I soon grew to love the changes, the new places: Mount Hyjal, Vashj'ir, Uldum, Deepholm and Twilight Highlands are fantastic. Uldum is my favourite, and surprisingly, although I didnt like the Twilight Highlands at first, I actually think its my second favourite now, although that is probably due to the cut scenes with Deathwing.

Within a couple of weeks I grew comfortable with the new abilities of my class, and having fun with Leap of Faith (although I think my husband would disagree) There is a great comic here!

SHANNON: Man thats going to be the most abused spell ever

AMUL: I know right? That's why they are giving it to us Holy Priests. You know, for safe keeping.

As I levelled and gear got better the dungeons became easier, I can now get through most of the normal 85 dungeons without loosing all my mana, even managing some bosses without falling below 85% and now that I have changed guilds and feeling happier and more confident - heroics don't seem out of reach, they feel challenging and difficult but that's how they should be according to Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street on his blog entry Wow, Dungeons are Hard!

It's taken literally weeks, but I finally know my way around Orgrimmar - just about, and conclude that it looks so much better than before.

So one month into Cataclysm and I certainly am feeling fine I just hope it continues!

Which changes do you like/dislike? please comment below :)

2011 brings a lack of love for WoW

Firstly, I'll apologise for the lack of posts recently. I have been AFK during the Christmas period due to family commitments and in-game not much has been done, and the guild has been quiet - most likely for the same reasons there has been missing posts on this blog.

So what have I been doing in game? well, running normal level 85 dungeons for reputation. I've recently managed to get my rep up with Guardians of Hyjal in order to get a new epic belt Cord of the Raven Queen which is lovely, and I've added a belt buckle to give me an extra gem socket. and I'm currently working on Earthen Ring for Cloak of Ancient Wisdom (it has no spirit but not come across anything better?) and Flamebloom Gloves. Ideally I'd like to earn exalted with every Cataclysm faction. Now I've got decent blues, and reforged and enchanted, I'm finding normal 85's great fun.

Trouble is, I'm finding not a lot of cloth healer items - not many items on quartermasters have spirit, am I missing something very obvious? I am reforging spirit, but still a little disappointed!

I've also discovered a new found love for battlegrounds. When I first started playing WoW I was very much against PvP, honestly, it scared me but I've found them to be fun and relaxed and my battleground tactics are to try and hide behind something or stay far enough away that alliance players don't try to beat me up but I can still heal. I've found Prayer of Mending is my favourite spell in the battleground as is Holy Word: Sanctuary and Mass Dispel, if people are particularly annoying I stick my Shadowfiend on them. I even got the courage to carry the flag in Eye of the Storm, which was a massive thing for me, I picked it up, put my shield on me and ran and prayed that I wouldn't get attacked en route. I didn't. I earned the achievement Storm Capper and we also won... I'm not saying that  won the battleground for everyone...but I definitely feel like I played my part, and since I'm not concerned about PvP gear (because its just a bit of fun for me) I've spent my points on mounts :) I've even managed to get a few killing blows using Shadow Word: Death and all we need is to kill a Human Hunter for the guild achievement, Alliance Slayer.

But, honestly, I'm not enjoying the game at the moment. I'm finding heroics just too hard, and I don't know what I can do about it. I'm trying my best to heal effectively, I'm looking up the stats I should have and feeling pretty comfortable with my haste and spirit and other stats, getting a good amount of critical hits resulting in free heals, but people seem to take so much damage that I cant heal as quick as their damage and then we wipe, and wipe and wipe. Don't get me wrong, I expect to go into a heroic and wipe a few times, but its stressful and not fun anymore and that's why I am spending more time in a battleground than a dungeon. I have even re-learnt my talents in order to get Lightwell. Ive made two macros and I will be using it, and those who don't click it shall be feeling my wrath, never mind the Lich King's!

I hope beyond hope that when we start running guild heroics, which we are planning now Christmas is over that they will be more bearable and hopefully more entertaining with a bit a banter and chat and not so much pressure. Until then, I'm not sure how much activity this blog will see. My new year resolution is to fall back in love with the game, because at the moment I'd rather be experimenting with baking different kinds of  bread in my new bread maker (a Christmas present from the in-laws) than healing in a dungeon...and that is just seriously wrong!

Level 85 baby, yeah!

Where do I even begin?

Cataclysm hit us on the 7th December and as of 10.30pm on the 12th December I dinged 85:

Now I can release a sigh of relief and breathe...finally since I started playing in October 2010, I have finally reached the level cap...and what a journey it has been! Highs, lows, laughter and even tears...and now the hard work truly begins...getting myself at a high enough standard to do raids and enjoy them. 

So the round up of the first week of Cataclysm week is as follows:

First dungeon I completed was the Blackrock Caverns, found it difficult at first, but on my subsequent runs managed to prevent anyone from dying. Of course, the very nice trinket Witching Hourglass drops on our first run and I roll need, and a mage rolls need, and I lost, but I got it on our third run which made me a very happy Priestess indeed.

Second dungeon we did was Throne of the Tides, I think its not only the prettiest instance, but one of the prettiest places in the game, in fact the whole of Vashj'ir is beautiful. I've done it a couple of times now and find it to be very hectic healing wise, and quite draining on of the old mana...but its so stunning, I forgive it.

(and yep I got the needy achievement whilst in there too) 

Third dungeon I did was Vortex Pinnacle, and goodness me...damage taken was shocking...Unfortunately I hadn't got my 85 ability leap of faith (which I adore...and I'm annoying the husband very muchly by constantly pulling him towards me...I try and time it just so he's doing something like choosing a quest reward...such a bad wife! ) and so we lost a death knight when we have to run into the grounding field. However, jumping into the whirlwinds to get from one platform to another was super fun:

Fourth dungeon was Stonecore, strangely enough, I can barely remember the instance and its probably because I don't think there was anything particular special about it unlike the vortex pinnacle with the whirlwinds, or the beauty of Throne of the Tides, the only thing I remember about it is thousands upon thousands of mobs, in fact the quest was to kill 101 of them...but they didn't hit hard. The dungeon went without any problems and I think, the reason I don't remember it is because it was so uneventful, and so I'm unsure as to whether or not this a good thing?

Finally this week we did our first run in Grim Batol....my least favourite dungeon so far. We wiped 5 or 6 times, and this is on normal mode...I cant imagine how hard it would be on heroic. It didn't help much that one of our guildies on the run with us, has very low DPS. He was originally specced as a tank and he is now in the process of respeccing to damage, he's also had a long break from the game and so is learning the new rotations etc, but it does make my life harder as he takes so much damage, and it makes life harder for the other DPS, who get annoyed, try and kick him out and then quit when the vote fails. Forgive me, but wasn't everyone new once? How are you supposed to learn how to play if more experienced players have no patience...why is it that dungeons are such a rush, why cant I take in what is going on? What gives a person the right to be so conceited and arrogant...are we not all on the same playing field now that cataclysm is here? It's the one thing that annoys the hell out of me, and lessens my enjoyment of the game (rant over, phew!) I'm sure on my second run through the instance it will go much better because I will know what to expect, and so will the tank and everyone else.

I tried as much as possible whilst levelling to visit the new areas, Vashjir is a lot of fun, Uldum is definitely my favourite. Deepholm has some interesting graphics but I find it a bit bleak, and we also saw the Twilight Highlands, at first I found it my least favourite of all the areas, and then somewhere in the middle is the cut scenes with Deathwing and that made up for it completely! That is one thing I'm loving with cataclysm - the cut scenes, they are really enjoyable to watch and give you a reason for doing the things you are doing, if like me, you are not fully aware of the lore and of course, the references to pop culture always make me smile...

and of course, I had to complete the Crucible of Carnage...its terribly bugged and wiped a fair few times, and I was fairly disappointed with the reward, but never mind - we did it!

and so to conclude...I leave you with a few of my favourite shots of cataclysm so far - spoiler alert...they contain a big dragon like thing...

No doubt I'll be seeing you again Deathy...

Bye-bye old world, hello 'The Shattering'

The 4.0.3a patch that has brought 'The Shattering' to Azeroth happened yesterday on the European servers. For a few days prior to 4.0.3a people were talking about saying good bye to Azeroth and how, after spending many years in the game - highlights and low points, they would miss it. I found it difficult to be moved in any way, for me the world was brand new as it was and although I've seen a lot of the zones in the month its taken me to get to level 73, they were just areas, just places to quest for the ultimate goal which was to level up. Perhaps I didn't take in the world that surrounded me.

Last night however, I logged in, with great anticipation and excitement. The new log in screen, loading screen, and music all helped build my anticipation of what was coming, and as the new world loaded, I was not disappointed.

It looks amazing, with so much attention to detail. Orgrimmar is simply mind blowing. I spent the whole of my time in the game last night just going from place to place to take in the new changes. Brill just outside Undercity has also had a major make over and I couldn't believe Thousand Needles and what is left of the great lift. One change that caught my eye was in Stanglethorn Vale, little swinging signposts directed me to Hardwrench Hideaway, a new Horde area with fairy lights strung against the backdrop of the sea and a barbeque on the go!

There are still lots of places left to explore, and one thing I was looking forward to was the arrival of the new companion pet the Singling Sunflower. I've spent many hours completing the Plants vs. Zombies game on my iPhone and so heading to Hillsbrad seemed very appealing. After completing the quest 'Peacebloom vs. Ghouls' I finally got my sunflower pet:

and yet, despite loving all the new changes and thinking they are all definitely for the better, when I watched this video for the second time (the first after the Shattering) I did have a tear in my eye, because I suddenly realised that the places I had obtained certain achievements that I'm proud of, and have spent hours questing in, will never, ever look the same again.

“On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined”

Well the powers to be have finally decided on the female Worgen dance for Cataclysm and whilst a number of people aren't keen...I love it!

It's based on Lady Gaga...okay, so it's not the exact dance moves, but none of the dances the WoW characters do are the exact steps to their corresponding dance - so no more hate, take it for what it is meant to be - lighthearted, and learn to love!

Here it is:



In fact I think all the dances for the new races are great.

The male Worgen dance:


Here is the male Goblin dance:


Here is the female Goblin dance:



I do think the female Goblin and the male Worgen are my favourites!

The twilight hour approaches...

"Soon, Deathwing the Destroyer will return to Azeroth, and his eruption from Deepholm will sunder the world, leaving a festering wound across the continents. As the Horde and Alliance race to the epicenter of the cataclysm, the kingdoms of Azeroth will witness seismic shifts in power, the kindling of a war of the elements, and the emergence of unlikely heroes who will rise up to protect their scarred and broken world from utter devastation."

I can't wait for the release its going to be amazing!