December 14, 2009

Boy did I miss an exciting week! I was out of town when patch 3.3 hit. I'm glad that I missed the patch day rigmarole, but I do feel like I'm behind everyone. With that said...

Patch 3.3 Stuff
Not wanting to log in with any of my known toons, I chose to go on my warlock. I did a /who to see where my friends were and I saw them in places I didn't recognize. Hmmm...new instances!

I got the quest right outside the Dalaran bank and tried to find the Icecrown Citadel. On a slow flyer, it proved to be too annoying. So, I went to WoWhead and got the answer quickly. After much circling up and down the structure, I finally found the entrance...to the raid area! D'oh!

I went straight up and found the 5-man area. Then...I tried out the new LFG system. I'm not 100% sure if I like it or not -- I'll give it a chance. But, in the case of my warlock, it was a god send. I only had to wait 10 minutes for the first group invite. We went through the Forge of Souls in about 20 minutes. I could tell immediately that the people in my group had already been there (and it was later confirmed when I was the only one who got the achievement). I died a few times due to me having no clue about the fight mechanics. But, I made it through.

Next up was the Pit of Saron. This time around, I made a really stupid mistake, which I think is partly due to the fact that they put the quest giver inside the instance. :( While waiting for the group to form, I entered the Forge of Souls, thinking it was the Pit of Saron. Then I exited and tried to get into the right one. Well, the game didn't like my instance-hopping, so I got a big fat message saying I had entered too many instances. The problem was that I ended up stuck on the wrong side of the portal. So, I couldn't do anything but wait. Luckily, when my group formed, I was able to enter the instance without a problem. Phew!

I got the quests inside Pit of Saron but didn't have time to read through them before the group ran away to clear it. Stupid me...I missed the fact that I was supposed to free captives. We cleared the place before I realized this so, I went back afterward to free them. Unfortunately, the NPC was no longer there for me to turn in the quest, so I have to go back and turn it in another time.

I got a new pair of boots, though. So, it wasn't a total loss. Of course, it's on a toon that I don't play often, but that's OK.

Because of the problem with turning in the quest, I couldn't go to the third instance. So, I decided to take a break and prepare myself for raiding.

ToC 25 (Priest)
We started our raid night in ToC 25. I got an invite right away. It didn't surprise me. I assumed I wouldn't be invited to go to Icecrown Citadel since the higher ranked raiders would get those spots before me.

Nothing really to report, other than we cleared it easily. I didn't get any drops.

Icecrown Citadel 25 (Priest)
After the ToC raid, I wasn't immediately booted from the raid, so I headed over to ICC. I was glad I had found the place on my warlock earlier, so I didn't look completely stupid. I stood outside for a while, fully expecting to be booted. But, then I thought I should be more assertive. And...I was curious to see the inside of the place. So, I zoned in.

They had already cleared the first three bosses of the Lower Spire during the week. So, I was able to take the portal to the different areas. Not much to see, really, since all the trash and bosses (except the last) were cleared. But, I at least got to see what the place looked like.

I stood with everyone else in the Deathbringer Saurfang area (I can't remember what the zone was actually called, but that's the boss). Then, to my surprise and utter delight, the final raid switches were made and the EP/GP counter started. I was in!!!! Woo hoo!

We wiped once, which was fine, considering there were a couple of us who hadn't been there for the previous attempts during the week. And considering they made many attempts that first night... But, we happily defeated him on the second attempt. Woo hooo! I didn't get the achievement that most of the others got, but at least I got to see a new boss down. Yay!

The tier token for priests, paladins, etc. dropped. I didn't have a chance, but I needed it anyway. Our main tank won it. Woot! I'll get mine some day. :-)

I was really really happy that I got in. I'm very conscious of my healing numbers being so much lower than the other healers. Until I can get close to their numbers, I know I'll expect to be left out. I won't blame them. It's better for the guild to bring our best healers, dps, etc. when doing new content. So, I will enjoy my invites when I get them. Yay!

ToCG 25 (Priest)
Since the rest of ICC isn't open yet, we moved on to ToGC 25. I maintained my healing spot (yay!). We cleared Beasts and Jaraxxus. Then we gave a shot (or two?) at Faction Champs before calling it a night.

No drops for me. :\

ToGC 10 (Priest)
My regular 10-man group had done ToGC 10 during the week. They were at the Twins. We tried several attempts. I was DPSing for the first few, then I switched to heals. We didn't get them down. :\

Miscellaneous
I know I just got back from vacation yesterday, and Mondays are usually my "blues" days. So, I shouldn't take any negative thoughts too seriously. But...I am curious about my decisions lately with respect to the toons I'm playing. I've basically been avoiding my Mage and Druid. For some reason I'm very uncomfortable about changing guild with the mage, despite the fact that all my fellow officers moved to the raiding guild. Why don't I just get past this?