Naxxramas bound.

I had a really good weekend.

On Friday night I was invited to go along to 25-man Naxxramas with Felony, which is one of the top Alliance raiding guilds on my server. The invite came from a mage who has an alt in my guild - she advertised in one of our OOC channels that they were going to need some non-guildies to come along. I jumped on board, offering to come as either DPS or as a tank. She whispered me back a few moments later to tell me I would be tanking. I may have been a tiny bit excited.

I have never done a 25-man anything before (no wait, I lied, I've done 25-man Vault, but that almost doesn't count). I also had only done Naxx once before, a guild run during which we cleared all of Arachnid, Plague, and up to the Horsemen in the Military Quarter. So this was going to be a learning experience.

And I learned a TON. I failed at Heigan's safety dance - again. I did a good job picking up ads but should have been more focused on taunting more mobs off of the main tank on initial trash pulls. We had three tanks - something I've never experienced before - and I wasn't used to needing to coordinate that much, especially when the main tank and the other off tank had clearly run together before.

I did a lot of things right. I made a pretty decent save on the Horsemen fight, despite seeing it for the first time. I got the Thaddius fight down immediately, and was able to practice the fight two more times since we did wipe on that one (the raid leader referred to it as the "PuG killer," but we did finally down him and move on). I survived Patchwerk and managed not to look at my health as much as possible. Other than Thaddius, it was smooth sailing - we even needed only one try for Sapphiron - until Kel'Thuzad. We tried twice, but by then it was after the point at which the raid had planned to stop, and so it was called for the night.

Regardless, I made out with some truly phat lewts:
New Tanky Ring (good thing, I only had 1)
Belt with the crazy name (why did I spend those badges?!?)
Tank pants, which aren't ideal as they have block value, but were still a huge upgrade
... and ...
My tier chest. Z.O.M.G.

At that point I stopped rolling. I mean, I had to. A few other choice tank pieces dropped, but I felt like I'd taken too much in a raid that wasn't even for my own guild. After I got out, my guild's main tank happened to be online and he helped me with some socketing and enchanting choices, all leading to my shiny new 27,875 health points. Love it.

To add copious amounts of frosting to this seven-layer cake, on Sunday night I was invited to a 10-man Naxx run that two of our guild members run. I was supposed to come as DPS, but just before the first boss our off tank started to have some serious lag and connection issues, so she dropped the group and I took her place. We cleared all the way to Patchwerk before we had to call it due to time. After our first raid leader left about halfway through the Military Quarter (was way too late for him at that point), I got to call the fights in Vent (which I was extremely dorky and excited about). The best thing, though, was that after one failure, I went through the Heigan fight twice more and I did not die! I can see the divisions now, I totally understand how to do it, and I'm confident that I will be able to consistently pull it off in the future.

I can't believe how much I learned this weekend. I've finally seen every fight in Naxx, I've heard the strategies for each of them, and I feel confident that I understand how to do each of them and that I am actually able to do what I need to do. This is so exciting for me. It means that I will be more willing to put myself in LFG, or to join PuGs when I see them forming, or to -maybe- organize my own Naxx runs during the week for those who can't attend the guild's normal runs.

Trying really hard to resist the urge to dance around the room right now.

Progress is a beautiful thing.

This past week has been slow for running dungeons due to a few of our members who are always up for Heroics having been away or absorbed in other things in-game. However, I was able to attend a portion of my guild's Sunday raid and went along to Obsidian Sanctum as the off-tank, where I picked up a helm for my DPS set. That means that my DPS set is now nearly complete; a neck piece is the only thing I'm still really missing. I haven't had a chance to experiment at all with that build, yet, due to my gear being incomplete, but I really want to. It's a Frost DPS build that I figured out on my own, but then was pleasantly surprised to find our top DPS Death Knight giving almost the same build to Dyna for her DK alt.

I did manage to get in a regular Utgarde Pinnacle run with the guild's morning crew on my day off. The bracers I was hoping for dropped, and equipping them finally gave me my Superior achievement. I'm hoping to do an Heroic UP run in another hour or two if everyone we need is online. I miss my regular, nightly 5 mans. Here's hoping that as a few new 80s emerge I'll be able to get a group going again. By then maybe a few more of my old regulars will be back around as well. *Crosses fingers.*

The bigger, more impressive movement has been on my professions. As of about an hour ago, mining has made it all the way to 320 (thanks especially to our raid coordinator who tipped me off about a particularly perfect place to farm thorium in Winterspring), and jewelcrafting is up to 275. That means they are now close enough that I can level them together from here forward, which is a huge relief. I even managed to make a few rings and pendants that were helpful for a few alts besides my own. It was good to finally feel like my professions are doing something useful.

My other bit of news is that I was made an officer of my guild this past weekend along with Dyna, everyone's favorite Holy Protadin. I'm really excited to start working with the other officers, and we're in the process of ironing out who will be filling what roles. Have I mentioned recently how much I love my guild?

RP and alt update to come.

Tanky belt!

After a completely fantastic run of Heroic CoS a few nights ago, I finally had saved up enough Emblems of Heroism to get my shiny new belt! So that means I get to cross an item off the list without even having to pray that it drops in a heroic run. YAY!

The run was really one of the best heroic runs I've been a part of so far. Great group - three of our top DPS in the guild and one of our best healers - and we were able to pull off the timed run, too, so that I got the achievement for that and another guildie was able to get the bronze drake he'd been wanting. It stands out in my mind along with a heroic Nexus and a heroic HoL run as the most efficient time I've spent on WoW since I hit 80. I couldn't have asked for much more.

Gosh, I love my guild. I love that I don't have to worry about PuGs anymore, hopefully ever (except on Hordeside with my poor priest, but that's another story). I love that everyone knows their role and does their best to play it well. It makes so everything so much less stressful and, therefore, more fun.

Gear wish list (Tanky style)

These are the pieces that really should be upgraded if I'm going to take raiding seriously and be more consistent in heroics. (... I think. Granted I'm sort of making this up as I go along, but I'm pretty sure I'm not totally devoid of common sense.)

Bracers:
Bracers of the Herald
Herald Volazj
Old Kingdom (Her)
17%

Bindings of Dark Will
Salramm the Fleshcrafter
Culling of Stratholme (Her)
22%

Svala's Bloodied Schakles
Svala Sorrowgrave
Utgarde Pinnacle (Reg)
23%

Waist:
Ancient Aligned Girdle
Azjol'Nerub (Her)
Anub'arak
18%

Girdle of Obscuring
Occulus
Mage-Lord Urom
17%

Trinket:
Seal of the Pantheon
Halls of Lightning
Loken
19%

Essence of Gossamer
Azjol'Nerub (Her)
Hadronox
20%

Ring:
Gal'darah's Signet
Gundrak (Reg)
Gal'darah
29%

I have to say that seeing it laid out like that actually makes me feel much better. It's only four pieces, and I had it in my head that it would be much more than that. Yay!

Dead People are People, too.

Meet Wendy.

Level 80 Frost Death Knight tank on the Sisters of Elune Roleplaying server.

Former student of necromancy for the Cult of the Damned.

Fiercely loyal seventeen-year-old with social anxiety.

Quite possibly the love of my life thus far.

Wendy is my first 80, my first tank, and my first character to raid - ever.  She scares me a lot sometimes, which makes her all the more fun to play.

I've found myself getting a bit aimless recently in my gameplay, though, which is fairly inexcusable given that I have so much left to do.  I'm hoping that doing the blogging thing will help me, most importantly, remember all the things I still need to do, and also may just motivated me to tick some items off the list.

So without further ado, here is that depressingly long list:

• Level my professions!
  

It is so embarrassing that I haven't done this yet, especially given that it's something I always keep up on.  It's important for my tanking, too, as getting mining up all the way will give me that cushy stamina boost I'd like.  Plus it would be nice to help some guildies with mats for a change.  I've actually wondered, as well, if I should drop engineering in favor of jewelcrafting.  Engineering is fun and there are plenty of helpful pieces I can use from it, but from an RP standpoint it's never quite fit for Wendy.  I could see her being interested in something like jewelcrafting - it's not something I've fit into her RP much yet, but she draws (she spends a lot of time thinking about the runes for her gear and weapons) and I could see her enjoying the intricacy of it.  More importantly, I wonder if it wouldn't be a more helpful profession for my guild.  I need to get some opinions on this.

• Sons of Hodir rep

Another embarrassment.  I haven't even finished the questline to open the faction yet.  I have a PvP enchant on my shoulders right now that's good, but not as good as the Hodir one will be.  I must get over my hatred of dailies.

• Upgrade my pre-raid gear

My gear is a little all over the place right now.  I was lucky enough to go on my guild's Naxxramas run a little over a month ago and I got several good pieces out of it.  However, I also still have two trinkets that are not tanky by any stretch of the imagination, and several blues that need to be upgraded.  I've been doing some work on Armory this morning and I think I've found some simple upgrades, but that will probably be a separate post.

• Make gold!

For so many good reasons!  I need an epic flyer.  I'll need gems and enchants and possibly mats for crafted gear as I work on my DPS set.  So if one of the goals is making gold, that means I need to get off my butt and start questing again - goodness knows I have enough I can still do in Northrend.

• Level my beloved Forsaken holy priest to 80.

Nadezhda is Wendy's mother, and almost as fun to play.  I love healing, and I'm excited to learn more about it now that I've gotten her to Outland and she'll hopefully be in demand (assuming everyone on SoE hasn't already leveled their DK to 80).  Her professions are perfect; her gear is awful, but that will change with just a few dungeon runs.  Mostly, she needs an epic mount right now and I believe she's still about 150 gold shy.

• RP!

I've sat back recently and let Wendy participate in the storylines of the other characters in the guild, and I've enjoyed that very much.  However, there are a few major things I have in mind for her that I would like to set the groundwork for and begin to put into action.  This means being more active in /g chat and taking the opportunities when I see them.  It means being outgoing sometimes, zomg!

• Raid again

I had such a blast when I went, and I curse my stupid retail job for not allowing me to ever be off when I need to be to help the guild's primary raiding group.  Curse curse curse!  But, if all goes well, I should have some alternatives soon and I'll be able to get in the practice that I need.  *Crosses fingers.*

Plenty to work on, there.  Which means I have plenty of reasons not to just log on and stand in one place while I chat in vent, OOC channels, or the guild channel.  I can multitask, dammit!