Adventures of a Dwarf Priest

Well tomorrow brings the Shattering upon us!  I totally thought they would do it on the anniversary but I guess they went with the normal patch day   This is such a huge change that will change the game forever.  We are not strangers to change of course with the 4.x updates dramatically changing our classes, items and game play aspects of the game.  Now come the major physical changes to the world as Deathwing reeks his havoc upon the world.

I think about the only thing I’m really going to miss and maybe a bit peeved about is the portals are going away   It is a small thing but I’ve got used to a world in which I was bound by no mage to have  speedy travel.  As a man with limited play time these days I am totally going to miss these portals.  They have served me well for sure.  I removed my bind from Shattrath before logging and stuck myself in IF for now.  I still have my ring that will return me to Dalaran, not that it will be terribly useful now

I took a visit to Loch Modan for some reflection on my life in WoW.  I’ve been playing this game for 6 years now, the longest I’ve played anything now surpassing EQ.  Especially since I never really stopped playing WoW like I would do with EQ.   Some of my earliest memories of WoW center around Loch Modan.  I remember the first time I walked through the mountains as I transitioned from Dun Morogh’s snowy mountains to the lush green areas in Loch Modan.  I remember the first time I walked into Thelsamar.  I love the Dwarves, and I love this zone.  I would have to say it is my favorite zone in all of WoW.

I went over the Grim Batol in the wetlands to grab a shot before the changes.  I know this becomes one of the first raid areas so I just figured I’d take one last peep.  I remember Inien and I fought our way over here just to see it one time knowing that there was nothing actually here

Inien popped on and we ended up taking one last visit to ZG to see if we couldn’t snag the Tiger/Raptor mounts.  We were not successful as always of course but we gave it a shot   We also ran Sethekk Halls for the birdie mount for me, and ran over to MGT to see if we couldn’t get the chicken mount

Inien and I decided to drop by Auberdine to say good bye as this zone gets totally trashed I know.  I’ve done all the quests here a few times, I found it a very painful area and it probably needed to be smashed   We’ll see how it turns out now after things tomorrow

I settled in over at the inn in IF with Inien for our last supper   I log now and await for what tomorrow will bring.  WoW will be for ever changed, which means a lot to someone who has played WoW as long as I have.  I will miss my game but look forward to a bright future. While the Shattering, and Cataclysm in general will be quite the negative impact on the world perhaps it is just the shake up we all need?  I hope you all survive the coming of Deathwing, may we all survive the shattering and come out stronger in the end!

Let me close out with a few more photos I took of Loch Modan after dark

Not getting much play time lately has been hard on my stress levels I think.  I jumped on a bit this afternoon after work while my son was asleep.  Shalalala had just got the Lil’ Game Hunter achievement when I logged in (Grats to him again BTW!).  He has a bit more time than me and farms his own farmable pets. I just prefer to buy them, I can’t stand mindless killing   Anyways we got to talking about pets and he doesn’t have the MGT phoenix either so we decided to do a quick guild run of MGT.  I never did MGT that much, certainly not as much as Inien did.  In fact I didn’t even have the achievement still.  So some of us went, we had 3 Priests for some great beam action   When we first got their someone realized they hadn’t opened up heroic yet so we did it twice once regular and once heroic.  It took about 10-15 minutes each, it was stupidly easy because we were all well geared and awesome

Of course the pet didn’t drop though a enchant that Shalalala didn’t have did.  I had it but there are some that drop in MGT I still don’t have.  Shalalala is a complest like me as well   We decided we would try to run it when ever we could to get the pets   I guess there is a mount there too for the mount collectors.

When I got on later I decided to throw myself in for a Heroic Vault.  I was invited almost immeadietly and off we went.  We wiped on Emalon once at the very end just like on my last 10 man run of it.  This was probably the most chaotic Emalon I’ve ever seen though.  For some reason they didn’t control the adds very well.  When we started they were running around everywhere attacking people.  Then during the fight we would get an add running around.    We lost 1 person on both attempts to a rouge add, but we defeated him on the second try.  He dropped 4 pieces of PvP gear, 3 of which was cloth caster gear and I lost all 3 rolls quite horribly.  I didn’t roll a double digit on any of them!  I wouldn’t mind picking up more PvP gear to go with my survivability spec, it would make me even more sturdy   After that we finished Archavon and went on our merry way.  I did a few more dailies but decided to turn in early because I was so worn out.

Waiting for 3.2 to end up on the PTR’s to see what kind of undocumented nerfs they have in store for us   We also have the summer festival starting on Sunday, and there are alot of achievements to do for that one as well.  I’m least looking forward to the torch tossing one…  We are almost done though, I think this one and the beer fest and I will have completed the holiday achievements

I was on a little late, and Inian had already started without me in a Heroic Magisters’ Terrace group that just needed a tank. It was the daily so I thought I’d try to do it too. I thought what a perfect opportunity to give Circle of Healing a run for its money.

I got in a group that then fell apart waiting for the tank. Then the hunter I was left with knew of a druid tank that had a MGT instance that had the first boss down in it. I thought why not it was getting late and I doubt I’d get anything else.

So we started and filled the other 2 spots quickly. One of the guild warlocks came a long in fact. So we had a very geared rogue, the druid tank, hunter, warlock and me. We basically just walked up to the second boss. He was definitely mean, and without much experience to draw on this fight I must say I didn’t perform at my best. We won at the end with only the tank up. In fact we only won because of Improved death! Which I’ve always been against but gave it a try anyways. Which reminds me I’m going to have to harass that guildie I never got a SS during that run.

We did ok on the 3rd boss, a bit better than the second. I did die again but that is because the adds overwhelmed me, hot much I can do with that many mobs after me. It was ok though because the druid had his battle rez up again. The boss went down so fast I didn’t even see it, the rest of the mobs took a little effort. No one else died but me during the fight. She dropped the Vial of the Sunwell and the Steelweave enchant for me

Onward to Kael’thas whom I had only faced once before. Again I don’t think Impressed anyone on this fight. It was only the second time doing it and I think I did horrible however we did win. Again thanks to Improved Death. I think no mater what I end up doing I’ll probably keep that now. He dropped the damage mace but I am not really interested in having 3 sets of gear anymore. I’m down to just wanting my PvP and Healing set. I still have all my old damage gear I haven’t got rid of it yet.

It was a good run and not as horrible as it could have been. Inian’s run turned out to be successful as well though he never gets anything he wants to drop. I think I will consider HMGT more in the future One thing I found though is CoH isn’t as awesome as I thought it would be, however Improved Death is. Who would have thought I’m still a firm believer in Prayer of Healing