Weekend adventures continued
After that somewhat disheartening AQ40 visit, I had a much more successful Sunday, when we blazed through ZA in record-time, scoring all chests for a change. The third chest got us one of the strangest rings I ever expected to see in a raid, Signet of Eternal Life. Lots of stamina, but resilience? Our paladin took it for arena, but still, buh?
I actually did not tank this time, as I was still sick and felt like facerolling again. Besides, I wanted to see how well my moonkin does now. In a fit of sickness, I actually didn’t wear any hit gear, or I would have done better, but I broke 1k DPS on Nalorakk, which is very nice.
That was the first guild raid where I wasn’t main-tanking. I feel like I am maybe hogging the spotlight too much. The tanks did just fine without me. The only real difference that I saw was the other warrior not being anywhere near my damage output. She was at the bottom of the charts, where I usually end up being 3rd in ZA. This inspired me to another post about prot warrior DPS, sometime later this week. 
Loot-wise everyone but the druid tank scored something. The warrior tank got Ancient Aqir Artifact, which is pretty neat but not high on my priority list. The only thing I really still want from there is the shield off Dragonhawk. Which he’s never dropped for us. We got Arrow-fail Chestguard for the third ID in a row. One more chance for me to get the shield, then I think we’re done with TBC raiding.
After Zul’Aman, I had the tank itch that DPSing can never fulfil, and as H OHB was the daily, I grabbed a guild group and off we went. Besides, I needed to give my new Executioner enchant a spin. Zomg, it’s so bright, it burns! Looks very cool though. Only two of us had ever been to H OHB, the pockethealer and I, and I never managed to complete it. It went very well, though we had one wipe. The last wave of dragonkin hit me with 2 mortal strikes for 4k each, and then I was done with fairly quickly. The second time I used Intimidating Shout and all was well. Best part about the heroic? I was number one DPS and did 31% of the damage, haha. Glyph of Revenge, how I love thee.
I need to mention that at the beginning we killed Don Carlos, and I won Don Carlos’ Famous Hat. So fashionable that I need to add a screenshot. Oh Model Viewer, why dost thou forsake me still!
Two heroics left to go that I have never done, Crypts and Mana-Tombs. Shouldn’t be any problem whatsoever. I will definitely get my heroic dungeon achievement done before the expansion. I know that a lot of you are raid tanks by passion and do little else, but for me, the heart of the game is 5-mans still. Everything I know about tanking and pulling and responding when the going gets tough I have learned from 5-mans.
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
The signet is very good for becoming uncrittable making it especially good for resist sets where you struggle to strike a balance between 365 resistance, Stamina and uncrittable.
Veneretio´s last blog post..The New Warning signs of a Bad level 80 Spec
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November 3rd, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Ahh Yas looks so cute there as a human. Definitely looking forward to finishing up heroics. I’ve been able to do Mana Tombs on Heroic without too much difficulty pre-patch but I’m wondering if nowadays I can bribe more tanks to see Crypts with me.
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November 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 pm
“Two heroics left to go that I have never done, Crypts and Mana-Tombs.”
Just last night I found myself with those two as my final heroic achievements to pick up. Did Crypts (had done it before 3.0, still hate it!) and will probably pick up Mana Tombs tonight.
As I’ve talked to several others who have left those two undone as well, it seems that those two are near universally near the bottom of the list for most..
not coding´s last blog post..Auchenai Crypts - we hates them
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admin Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I once saw a poll about favorite instances, and all Auchenai instances were rock-bottom, with Crypts last. I think the most popular one was Shadow Labs as fifth or so overall. Whatever Blizzard did, their instance design failed them in Auchenai.
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November 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Don’t forget that Zul’Jin drops a really nice tanking axe, which is even better for you since you’re an Orc!
Durnic´s last blog post..Tanking Etiquette, Taunting off of Other Tanks
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admin Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I’ve given up hope on ever seeing that one. ZJ drops hunter gear for us, and that’s about it. Hmph.
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November 4th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Hey thanks for the update, nice to know you’re zerging through ZA. I’m also looking forward to the 10 man path, its going to make a lot of players a lot happier. I’m sure I’ll continue the 25 man progression, but I care much more about the game as a whole than my own personal preferences.
Raid-wise, we had a second crack at BT and cleared it again after a few wipes on Illy. One of them was my fault - noob tank forgets a key piece of the strat that didnt come up for a while. Just shows you cant get casual and it teaches you to be humble in the face of your own (imagined) leetness
And now we’re playing around in sunwell, which is a lot of fun. The tanks have a great time - the first 2 bosses we have to rotate in/out of tanking spots, so the whole MT/OT thing is no longer the model. Its great to be doing something new as a tank in raids.
I too love heroics and always will. Not doing so many achievements (idc) but will continue to do them many times in wrath, I’m sure.
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November 4th, 2008 at 1:15 am
You guys should farm that hat. If nothing else, it gives you something to do
I have it on my Orc warrior. If only they made a poncho to wear I’d be set. It looks very authentic on him when he sits down cross-legged.
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November 4th, 2008 at 5:59 am
I’m sorry your still sick! Get better =D
I enjoy tanking raids… Every chance I get I go into one. However, where raid fails I pull in a pug. A pug gives me lots of time to fine tune my tanking with DPS who dont pay attention (or have omen) and go nuts when I charge in or shoot them. I enjoy my time tanking PUGs, however, with some hard turn of events I never leave an instance that I have started. Its not fair to the group I’ve been running with.
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November 4th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I think those are my last two heroic instances as well.
And as for that ring - Don’t get me started on PvP gear in a PvE instance. It almost gets me as agitated as my PvP-only friends. =P
Yakra´s last blog post..Tomorrow’s News, Today!
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November 4th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I wouldn’t discount the Artifact - although parry is clearly the least effective avoidance rating point-for-point, now that we have diminishing returns a balance of avoidance stats may prove useful. At some point of diminishing returns perhaps parry will be more effective than dodge . . .
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November 5th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Just found your site and love it! Look forward to keeping up with your adventures in the expansion…
Gothyelk´s last blog post..A Night in the Black Temple
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admin Reply:
November 5th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Glad to have you over, and I am so excited about the expansion! There will be many tales to tell.
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November 6th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Crypts is my last heroic to do … and trust me … it sucks big time. i 3 maned HC BOT and cleared it like a baby… yest we wiped 5 times in crypts and we gave up before we reached 1st boss. now our healer was not that good, but still… im a T5 tank ….. we stil wiped…
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