From Attunmen to Illidan: A Raiders StoryFollow

I was coming back to WoW. After a 10+ month absence over in Everquest II killing Tarinax in Deathtoll, the Godking in the forgotten ruins under the Desert of Flames and sharpening my skills as Bodhisattva Tathagata, Assassin, devout follower of Rallos Zek the God of War, I finally chose to come back to Azeroth.

I knew one thing, that I wanted to raid.

So a new toon was started, on a new server. No gold, no guild, and no gear. By lvl 10 I had 20g, by lvl 20 I had a 100g. By 50 I had my epic land mount paid for. Before I knew it I was 70 and Kara was right in front of me.

PuG Hell

I was going to heal, but I had +500 healing, so yeah I had to do a few dungeons as ret. Then when I made the switch to Holy I had no heal ui, no healing experience, and not a fricking clue where to start. So I started doing pugs. The sheer level of suck was mind bogglingly and in the end it almost turned me off from my dream of raiding in WoW. But I persevered! Through tanks in lvl 60 blues, hunters who hadn't trained misdirect, nightmarish shattered halls, and the worst types of hell that have ever been developed outside of the Spanish Inquisition or Malebolge, the Eighth Circle of Hell.

Like an H.P. Lovecraft story, the mind is perhaps not capable of encompassing the horrors of it all, and words fail to paint the picture so its best to be left to the readers mind to try and imagine it. Nevertheless I made it, +1000 healing, Kara attuned I was ready.

Karazhan

I joined a guild, with promises of willing virgins, lands of plenty, and cold beer. What I got was the last healing slot in the guilds 3rd Kara group consisting mostly of mouthbreathers, social misfits, and a large contigent of latin speaking hate machines. After Pug's it wasn't really all that bad though.

We downed Attunmen, Moroes, Maiden (without using my cleanse button, terribad me), and before long I got called in to help on Prince for the main Kara group. The two other healers were 1 shotted by an infernal and I was all that was left at 90% but we kept going. Then at 30% we changed phases during an enfeeble and I was one shotted by the axes. We killed him the next run and I got my t4 helm!

The Transition to 25 mans, Phallic Symbols and Co-ordinated clicking of Geometric Shapes

It was time to progress, so we hit Gruuls, or more aptly Gruul hit us. I often pointed out the humour in us getting molested by a giant one eyed monster, no one found it funny at the time. I had fixed my raid UI, my healing was starting to move up and I was giving established Paladins a run for their money. I also learned to be aware of my positioning during this fight. Finally 25 men made the Richard stop growing (read into that as you will) and we started looking at Magtheridon.

It was at this point the strengths and weaknesses as a raid really started to show out. People who were only minor hindrances in Kara were plain old hurting us in 25 mans. Conflicting views arose as to how to handle it, turn over happened, progression fumbled. Finally we found people capable of clicking cubes in simple rotation and downed Magtheridon.

Neon Hell, Moist places and Coming into my Own

SSC. Simply put it was more than the guild could handle. Huge disparities in skill started to arise and those who excelled felt they were having to carry others, or were not progressing as fast as they wanted and things started to Fracture. I tried to stick it out but in the end I realized that the turn over would continually hinder progression and that the leadership had no solid plan on ending it.

So I set out on my own and quickly found myself in a SSC/TK guild. I came in and blew the other healers out of the water. Within 2 weeks I went from being an Offhealer, to a Main Raider. New bosses died, I was one of the last 2 standing the first night we killed Leotheras,times were good. I still knew that I could do more so I scoured forums, read guides, talked to fellow raiders and did everything I could to tighten my game. Learning to downrank, make macros, tweak UI, read up on boss fights and get every little ounce of juice I could out of my toon,

Then we hit the C'ock Block.

Vashj/Kael. Once again skill started to show, where it was strong where it was weak. We bashed our heads on the wall for a while and almost broke taking a 2 week break at Christmas losing 1/4 of our raid. Finally turn over happened and new replacements came in and it was like a miracle. Vashj one shots and Kael down in only 1.5 nights of attempts.

The Battle for Mount Hyjal, More like the Battle for Self Respect

We didn't even look at Hyjal until 2 weeks after we beat Kael. Which was a mistake and put us behind on progression. Despite having 2 weeks to study and read up we went in blind for the most part and we only downed 2 bosses. It took us another 2 weeks to see Azgalor down. Even then they wouldnt take us into BT. So we continually slipped down the progression charts as people slipped past us.

Leadership was a problem, certain key players were not performing and were not being removed because they were "friends", top dps were getting switched out to gear out "friends". Preferential treatment and cliques started to form. We moved slowly and resentment started to build. We lost focus, respect for each other and made things twice as hard as they had to be.

Black Temple

The Pinnacle of everything we had worked for was happening. I was a core healer in a BT/Hyjal guild. I was rocking the charts, counted on for hard jobs, and an integral part of progression. Yet, more and more I was dissatisifed with the raid as a whole. I could see multiple problems that could be fixed easily but the leadership was unwilling, we butted heads. The core raiders who didn't want to speak up started using me as their spokesman (something I swore at the time wouldnt happen).

Finally one night on RoS we clashed. Harsh words were said, and the next day I was on a different server raiding with a new guild. We clicked. I came into Illidari Council, Archimonde and Illidan and not only did I live, I excelled and made 4/4 Tier 6 pallies cry.


Sunwell, ZA and Beyond

While my old guild was still failing as a whole on BB and RoS and now bleeding raiders so fast that they will be back 1-2 months on progression, I got pulled into 1 shot Kalecgos the first attempt. I was there for the server first Zul'jin kill, and led many successful timed runs of ZA, but I did it last night and got someone their bear mount with 6 minutes to spare, throwing off BoP's, cleanses and clutch heals that I simply could not have hoped to do when I first started Karazhan but through the trials of raiding I have learned to do without second thought. Am I the besterest raider ever, hells motherf'ucking no, but at every single step along he way I have pushed to get the most out of myself and my character.

gg nub.

Don't hate yourself too much, though.

I'm going to stalk you

Surely going from the attunement to Illidan just involves killing all the bosses in Black Temple?

Should've been "From Rend to Illidan."

Or whoever the first raid boss was. Rend stands out to me, but I'm sure there were a couple of bosses in LBRS as well.

The fire boss where you needed a few people to summon him from some box and also kill the few trash mobs before him. Then it was Rend, or a rare boss that dropped a blue BS plans. (Why do I know this, yet after 4 years doing German I can't even talk for 90 seconds about a fictional best friend?)

ftfy

Great post, Bodhi, I always love to read past->present posts like these.

No, Bodhi just seems to have forgotten that he's posted all of this as he went along - this is like his very own "Bored of the Things" or "Guild Ruiner's Guide to the Galaxy" box set.

You know, the thing that's usually released when someone fears that the world has lost interest in the usual works...

Or, more briefly:

Bodhi's just an attention *****.

I hear their casting paris hilton for the lead

Normally I would allow hating for the sake of hating, as its obvious I am open to presenting drama or rambling at the expense of taking a shot. This time I might fire back.

I think it is fair to say that when I started raiding I had a lot to learn. But at every step of the way I have worked to get the most out of my toon. I earned my way and then some through BT/Hyjal.

Even when I xferred and joined a guild that had Sharaz, Council and Illidan on farm I came in and not only did I have **** locked down on my first attempt I was making 5/8 t6 Holy pallies who had done the content a dozen times work to keep up. Ditto with Kalecgos, walked in knocked it out without the slightest ***** up and not only that I excelled.

I have a strong understanding of the stats, healing strats, situational awareness, content and everything else and I represent very strongly not just in terms of healing but being a person who can be relied upon for extra duty. Think that showed with the new guild. There is that sense of elitism there even though they are a easy going bunch of guys and they were wary of an Xfer. I came in and not only did I maintain I held **** down to the point that I am had pretty much the entire guild really enjoying having me around.

/cry