While AQ20 is by far not an "uber" raid it is actually the first raid instance I've ever stepped foot into outside of doing the Molten Core attunement quest. It was spur of the moment and was a multi-guild effort. Fortunately the raid leaders were all experienced with the content and that means everything in organized raiding.
Some people that read my blog may believe I'm just a mad casual gamer. Well I am, but I know how it is to be a raid or die type player. That is all I did in DAoC. If I wasn't doing Realm vs. Realm then I was off doing a dungeon crawl in Darkness Falls or any number of Shrouded Isles dungeons. I broke that habit shortly before Trials of Atlantis launched and have not looked back since. I'm better for it.
I don't see myself becoming a raider in WoW terms, but when the opportunities arise I will take advantage of them. I plan to report on all them also because I know it can be soothing to read about other people's raids and the ph4t l00tz they obtain. So let us discuss my AQ20 raid today.
The group formed within 30 minutes which I think is pretty good for a pick up raid. We were short on priests (one to be exact), but decided to head out anyways. We had four shamans and a couple of druids to pick up the slack. We didn't have any crazy ideas of clearing the entire dungeon... just the first couple of bosses.
The start was disastrous when a rogue thought he could stealth up towards the first trash pull and aggroed a three pull forcing us to zone out and back in. Once we were ready we pulled the trash and made it to the first boss, Kurinnaxx, just fine. First attempt and he was down.
Kurinnaxx LootThen we initiated the second boss fight and it went smooth as butter also. It involved seven waves of monsters which we handled very well. We held the last wave so we could regenerate a good bit of mana/health before General Rajaxx came barreling down upon us. Our General Rajaxx strategy proved to be perfect and we didn't suffer a single death.
[Vestments of the Shifting Sands]
Plus some minor quest related loot.
General Rajaxx LootYou could imagine my surprise when the tablet dropped. Even more my surprise when I rolled a 95 on the first roll! Of course with my luck 95 is never good enough and the last shaman to roll hit a 97.
Once again a slew of quest related drops.
[Tablet of Strength of Earth Totem V]
After the Rajaxx loot was split the only priest had to leave. Of course that started the flood and the raid ended. It was a good raid and only took a couple hours of my time. This is what raiding should be about, but I can't expect every pick up raid to go so smooth. Even without winning any loot I was happy about spending a couple hours in AQ20. I am quite surprised about the whole situation and I may just be going back sometime soon.
Grats on enjoying your first raid. On Illidan, as it is a mature server, there are many PUG raids happening. My son does them quite often and has gotten several epics in this way. I think it's a good thing and I expect to see even more of it when the 25-man raids coming in BC.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like best about the increase is that it allows so called casuals or members of non-raiding guilds to partake when they can, and choose to do so. I wish that raids took less time in general. I could commit 2-3 hours on a regular basis - say, 2 to 3 nights a week. It's the 6+ for several days that just don't wash for me personally.
Hope you try it again and the next time, actually net some loot. :-)
Off Topic Comment: I like the new look. The colors are very pleasing. I must say that it makes me smile everytime I come to the home page. The idea of "Heartless Gamer" with peach hues and a panda bear banner crack me up. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks :) I was originally going to use the colors found in the "heartless" image on the bottom right, but then I found the picture of the Pandarans (sp?) and it fit right in with my colomn headers just fine.
ReplyDeleteHeartless Gaming isn't just a title or graphic... it's a set of ideas :)
The group formed within 30 minutes
ReplyDeleteNice. This is one of my biggest problems with Raids. They take so long to form and run. I know that there is a lot to do and plan for Raids as they can be complicated to pull off. But I simply do not have time to set aside to do this. Best I have ever done is slightly less than 2 hours for our run around and die clan night.