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We had attempted to run Naxx 10-man and it was a colossal failure. I was so keyed up the entire time and didn't have any fun at all. We made it through the Arachnid Quarter with some difficulty and then proceeded on to the Military Quarter. We (miraculously) made it through to The Four Horsemen. This is when things fell apart for me. David kept trying to explain to me exactly what was going to be going on in this boss segment and I was completely intimidated. Not only that but he put me in the back to DPS with only me and a healer. Now, from what David told me this is the normal set up. For those of you who haven't done it this way, there are 4 bosses (thus the FOUR horsemen) two in the back and two in the front. The back person (me in this case) is responsible for TWO of the four bosses with only a healer to basically be there to keep them alive. You have to run back and forth between the two bosses but you have to stay within a certain distance between the two of them so that you are in range. David told me I was supposed to switch when the boss had three stacks on it. That's all fine and dandy when I know what the hell stacks are. Apparently this is one of those things that he "forgot" to explain to me. When I asked him to explain he couldn't and our raid group was waiting so we just went for it. And we wiped. And we wiped some more. And we kept wiping. Not so fun trying to kill the same boss over and over again when you're not having much fun to begin with. Especially because the main reason we were running Naxx was to get better gear for my husband's warrior, Skyru, who had just hit lvl 80 with me; our good friend Averlexis (Drooooo) who had just hit lvl 80 with us as well; and...Auroradawn. I got 2 rings out of the thing. TWO RINGS. bleh. Granted they were better than what I had, but still was a disappointment. (Band of Neglected Pleas and Signet of the Malevolent) After several tries David was down to the "we'll try one more time and if we don't beat it we'll call it." I told him I was done. I'm done. So we called it there. I swore I wasn't going to raid again. Was too much stress and chaos and my poor little panic meter was getting close to red-lining.
And then ... the raid group that my husband raids with was down a DPS so he asked if I could tag along for Emalon. I was nervous about going in but I said "sure". After all this was a 25-man raid... and they said they could carry me. After the Naxx misadventure I was nervous about running even the ONE boss with Saravid's (hubby's shaman/ current main) raid group. What if I failed? Would I ever be invited back again? Would it reflect badly on Saravid? Well... I thoroughly enjoyed it! And while I was the lowest DPS, it was expected due to being supremely undergeared. I mean seriously...I was still wearing mostly lvl 70-75 gear with the exception of a few things. (Like my Hat of Wintry Doom and my Frostsavage Bracers) and the two rings I had gotten from naxxramas.
The next week during a 10-man in Ulduar I was invited back. Luckily I had made enough Ebonweave to create my Ebonweave Gloves. Was still majorly undergeared though. My mana bar was hanging somewhere between 17000 and 19000 completely raid buffed. Which was about 6000-7000 less than the next lowest caster. I somehow managed to make it through. I died more often than the others and was almost always the first one to go down. But I must not be so terrible as I have been invited back a few times since then. Mostly because they are down a person, and it would be better to go with an undergeared warlock than have an empty spot, or because someone else is supposed to be coming in and they just need someone to fill in for a little while (although the two times I have done this I ended up going through the whole session because the person didn't show up) Regardless of the reason I actually enjoy the parts of Ulduar that I have gone through. Even the vehicle parts on The Gauntlet preceding Flame Leviathan. This was probably mostly due to the fact that I didn't have to operate the vehicle while trying to fire on the enemy.
I went on with the group through Auriaya (Or the Crazy Cat Lady as David refers to her). After that the person I was filling in for was able to come in so I went back to being normal ol' me.
All in all I have to say that I never thought I would be raiding Ulduar. I had watched Saravid and Kobeck raid before in 25 man and it looked like WAY too much chaos and flashy-ness on screen that I said there is NO way I am going to be able to do that. At least not without throwing myself into a panic attack. But I seem to be getting semi-used to it. At least on the "easier" bosses and mobs. We'll see how I do once I finally get geared up and am ready to compete with the other DPSers. I am hoping someday (hopefully soon) to be able to claim the acheivement EPIC!
Below are some of the screenshots I have taken in game for various acheivements and special events.
Lokan falls! Normal Halls of Lightning:
Lokan falls harder! Heroic HOL:
Bjarngrim Defeated! Heroic HOL:
Volkhan defeated! Heroic 5-man Halls of Lightning
Skylu went from lvl 5 to lvl 20 in about 30 seconds due to Refer-A-Friend bonus... I was able to grant him up to half of the amount of levels that I was.
Archavon the Stone Watcher defeated! Heroic
Yeah, you better run! Emalon defeated!!!:
Me HUGE on my tiny pwny... haha.
Anyone who really wants to raid -CAN- raid. Raiding can be a fun, rewarding, and entertaining deal. Bring a sense of humor, a willingness to learn, desire to do your best, and a willingness to ask others for help and it's likely others will be more than happy to help you and have you along.
ReplyDeleteDon't feel bad if you die. It looks like you're fairly new to the raid game. You probably haven't learned all of the basic mechanics that those of us who've been raiding forever know.
From the spells you mentioned you like to cast, it looks like you're headed in the right direction.
You can help yourself understand the fights you're about to do by going and watching some strategy videos.
I recommend Tankspot videos to show the basics of most fights. You can see a list of videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Ciderhelm
Good luck.
Thanks for the suggestions. I know that I CAN raid... I guess it's just not something that I want to do all the time and so is not something that I aspire to have all the best gear for (which I understand is part of the problem). I have a lot of anxiety issues, so sometimes if I am invited it is fine and I enjoy myself..and others... not so much. I get frustrated and discouraged easily, especially when things aren't going well.
ReplyDeleteThe group that we raid with raids 2-4 times a week depending on who's available etc. So, they are way better geared than me, plus have a much greater understanding/experience with the different bosses, etc.
It's not that I can't. It's just that it's not that important to me. And it really only bothers me when I join the raid, only to do at least 1.5k dps lower than the lowest DPS next to me.
And also when Hubby complains about people that they pick up out of LFG to join them in raids and then don't meet the "standards" of the group and I hear him and Kobeck talking about how terrible the person is.
It is a bit disconcerting because he will complain about someone bringing the raid down and only doing x amount of DPS and I am like "that's what I do!" but yet, he always tells me that I am ok and that I am doing good, etc etc. And most of the time that is all I hear.. is that I am ok to do that...but not this other person. So what am I to believe?
Of course, the usual explanation is that Mr./Ms. X is usually better geared than I am and SHOULD be doing more DPS.
It really is a catch 22. If I don't do great DPS because I am undergeared, then i don't get invited. If I don't get invited I don't have the opportunity to get better gear, so my DPS doesn't improve. And... although they don't really have a scoring system for loot because the group is pretty much a glorified pug with the same core group from a few different small guilds, and then some friends...and from there possibly someone picked up from LFG, or a friend of a friend, etc. I have a guilty conscience. I hate getting gear in a roll against someone who did greater DPS than I did. But I do enjoy getting the gear.
Bleh... whatever.