French and Latin for Beginners: Faux Pas and Mea Culpa

by Osprey 

The other day Kestrel posted an article chronicling our adventures of the preceding weekend. At the beginning of the third paragraph, he said:

Earlier in the weekend, Osprey did his second consecutive full clear of Karazhan. Picked up an off-hand item, but it’s not as good as the Voodoo Shaker, which is (or was; more on that shortly) taking up space in my bank. [Italics added]

Had the article been posted on WoW Insider, no doubt many sharp-eyed readers would have caught the faux pas. When pressed, your erstwhile blogger simply said, "Mea culpa." Therefore, I’m here to correct the oversight, and follow up from the preceding events.

As Kestrel related, Tuesday a week ago, The Oroborus took down Hydross in grand fashion for a guild first kill. While I received naught but two badges, they took me to 147 total. After the raid ended, I managed to gather some guildies for a trip to "any heroic; I just need three badges!"

We ended up doing Heroic Mana Tombs—not my favorite, but certainly not my least favorite. A bit over an hour later, I had my badges, and a brand-spanking-new [item]Gavel of Naaru Blessings[/item] which, together with the aforementioned [item]Voodoo Shaker[/item], replaced my [item]Nightstaff of the Everliving[/item].

I also enhanced the Gavel with [spell]Enchant Weapon – Spellsurge[/spell], to help make up some of the Mp5 loss due to the reduction in Spirit. With two Priests having that enchant, we figure it’s the equivalent of a third [spell]Shadowfiend[/spell] per boss fight, between the two of us.

So with Hydross down, Lurker was in our sights. On Wednesday and Thursday we went after Lurker. We had some good efforts, but we just couldn’t get the phase 2 adds down quickly enough. I think the closest we came was around 20 percent.

Friday and Saturday are non-raiding days, although I got Osprey in on another almost-full clear of Karazhan. We failed on Illhoof, who is usually an easy target for us, but we simply could not free those in Demon Chains. However, Prince did part with the [item]Stainless Cloak of the Pure Hearted[/item]. For the time being, I’m wearing it in favor of the [item]Shadowvine Cloak of Infusion[/item], although I still need [spell]Enchant Cloak – Subtlety[/spell] on it.

The badges from Kara and another successful twin-killing of High King Mulgaur and Gruul on Sunday, together with a few heroics, gave me enough badges to obtain the Essence of the Martyr, replacing my second Lower City Prayerbook, and I’m finally "full o’ purples"! Major milestone? You betcha!

Monday, we went after Lurker again. It took a few tries and couple strategy adjustments, but we finally beached that damn fish. It takes us some practice, but we eventually figure out the fights, and I can really feel it when we’re jelling. Halfway through our successful battle, I just knew we were on the right track, even when the mage on my island disconnected, seriously impinging our ability to quickly kill adds. But the others around me adapted quickly (I even got off a few Mind Blasts and Smites!), and we persevered. A guild first is a beautiful thing, and I’m proud of being part of a couple of those now.

That takes us up to last night. For me, Patch Day was pure hell. I was disconnecting almost immediately upon entering the game, if I was in a capital city. Same thing happened on every character, with and without add-ons enabled. Somehow, I managed to drag myself to Coilfang Reservoir for our attempt to get two, and possibly three, SSC bosses down in one night.

While I managed to stay connected during fights, I did have a couple DC’s. We got to Hydross in short order, but wiped two times at 1 percent. ONE FREAKING PERCENT!! Third time was uglier: We got a triple or quadruple shift on the second phase change, and wiped around 50 percent. But the fourth try was a thing of beauty: 7 minutes and 40 seconds to take Hydross out. Unfortunately, the earlier wipes came back to haunt us, with people needing to leave. So we didn’t move on to Lurker again.

However, I’ve a feeling both Lurker and Tidewalker will be toast tonight! The Guild is gaining confidence with every kill; in fact, with almost every attempt. I think a one-shot kill of Lurker is a distinct possibility, and Morogrim should go down in one or two tries. Stay tuned…and I’ll try to stay away from language lessons.