Omg we finally did Molten Core!

Time was rapidly running out before the ramped up MC would be leaving us. The 5th was coming nearer but the group of players who hadn't completed it already was getting smaller. Throw Christmas into the mix and you get a queue time of over an hour.

Chizal had put up an event for Monday to have a last ditched attempt at getting people through MC. In the end there was four of us. Not a huge turn out but it was enough to get onto ts and have a good giggle.

We did our Apexis daily while we waited. WoW decided that it didn't like a particular rare I was trying to kill and kept crashing when I tried to shoot it.
After being kicked off the server while trying to leave a 25 man lfr I was not holding out much hope for a 40 man.

Chizal visited my Garrison and I caught sight of his gear. commenting about how his shiny stuff he had from the last patch was much more easy on the eye he went off to mog everything just for the raid. He then called me the fashion police...
"Don't take tips from me, you'll end up half naked!"
"Hahaha true!" Danue said.

Eventually the queue did pop. Right while Jolly was dead. Nervous excitement after waiting an hour transcribed itself to us telling him to hurry up and finds his corpse with "run Jolly! Run!"
The loading screen did also procure more nerd squeaks as we prepared to go in.

The tanks decided to go wall hugging rather than run through the middle. Unfortunately we managed to pull a huge group and died. Some questioned the route asking wouldn't it make more sense going the normal way? Either way, I didn't have a clue where I was going and now that the mobs were capable of one shotting you, I just wanted to follow the tanks!





We got through and eventually made our way through to the core hounds. This boss was slightly concerning as the packs needed to die in one go. With the instructions of 'AoE only!' The first pack was engaged. Until this happened...

We did kill them all and were instructed to wait until we were all out of combat before we engaged the next group. This one went down just fine.

The problem occurred when we went straight for the next pack without waiting and ended up ressing the last lot as they hadn't despawned.

We did recover and the actual boss seemed to be easier than the packs themselves.
Leaving the boss room a rogue stealthed as many as they could to sneak past the imps. Unfortunately, Jolly had an announcement to make over ts...
"That may have been my fault..."
The raids grid started to flicker as people were being attacked and the imps themselves charged out. There was a witty response to the situation which trivialise the huge amount of adds we had just gathered.


I couldnt for the life of me work out where we were heading. We seemed to just trip over bosses without being particularly prepared for them.


The big finale was what we were here for. With Jolly keeping an eye on a Warrior that had seemed to go off track and 'might know something we don't know' we ran to the inner sanctum, Raggy's lair.

On the way we somehow managed to pull a heap of adds. My name plate was red, despite not actually pulling anything I seemed to have been caught in the cross fire. I could see Jolly was slightly behind me so asked if he just had some mobs run past him as they tried to catch up with me. "Don't worry, they pulled a lot". Calming words right there!
I got punched in the back of my head and asked for a res as I was so done with running half a mile back to the group. We were super close and I couldn't quite remember the way back.

This was where all the fun began...





Blue was the tank spot. So as much as i would have loved a screen shot of Raggy's face, I didn't want to get smited either.


After being flung back a couple of times it was all over. It wasn't quite the mad scramble I thought it would be. Like the kind of raid where your screaming at your screen for the last few dps and sole healer to KILL IT!!!!
This great fire boss had singed a few of our hairs but not inflicted and grave damage (apart form that one guy who always stands in the cleave at the start)
Upon returning to our Garrisons, we picked up our mail to collect or shiny new mounts.

Danue was also had won a new pet. She had gotten Hatespark the Tiny. Which is the cutest thing ever!
While I didn't get a screenshot of it, I did look it up to see how adorable it was. The answer was 'very'


I also had a look at my shiny new helm. Trying it on in the 'dressing room' a thought occurred to me.
"You know, it kinda like like I'm in the Sims. When they get really angry and their plum-bob goes red..."
I clearly wasn't alone in the sim playing front as many "YES!" went out over ts and we had a good laugh at it.

I have to say it's not a raid I would repeat and I can understand why others who had already completed it were not enthusiastic about going back. With the queue and the raid combined it was three hours long. But to be able to say I've done it and experienced a raid of that scale it was worth every minute.

Tectus!

Last mote, nearly dead, but enrage timer, four dps alive.
It wasn't going to end well but it was a bloody good go and we all were feeling the hype for what could have been our first Tectus kill. Even though we didn't get it down we still have a lot of laughs during our escapade.



The run in was eventful, there was a whole army of Horde waiting outside the entrance to bludgeon any poor Alliance trying to get in. I was hit on the first set of steps going up and went to find my corpse. Running back I found it with two Hordies stood around it, waiting for me. I wandered up the second set of stairs closer to the entrance waiting for the 'resurrect now?' button to disappear, signalling I had gone too far away. I slunk up through the Horde, the button still there, was I going to be this lucky? I was up at the entrance, the button still in the middle of my screen. I clicked it, looking forward to just taking one step and being out of their way. "You are too far away" what? the button is still there! I backed up slowly and kept spam clicking it. My character announcing to me everytime that I was not in range... My last click ressed me right in front of a Hordie who was looking down the stairs. Mounting up and bolting for it I got in with only a scrape.

Izzet however wasn't so lucky. He got killed and found his corpse but couldn't res at all. No matter where he stood he couldn't get the button to show up. After lamenting over ts about it Blunnerz decided to kill himself and then go find him to res him manually. Blunnerz got out and when he released his spirit, he found himself quite some way from where he should have been.
"I'm back at my Garrison. What the shit?... I'm now flying back to Nagrand..."
Xerath decided to go find him instead although Blunnerz did reassure Izzet that he was on his way to res him.

When Fenrir logged on, he was aware of our running in woes and out discussion about going in the back entrance to avoid the Horde.
"Maybe they will grow some balls and go in and actually do some raiding?" I said, getting fed up with them just hanging around and being annoying.
"You could run in like a boss" Fenrir said as he landed from his flight path and started running towards Highmaul. "Oh there is a lot of Horde... And I'm in! Like a baawwwwsssss!"

 



While waiting for Ant to get in, I had a gallop around to see what there was in the arena. I found a throne. Announcing it over ts I was soon joined by Gio and Fenrir. I moved up a bit so Gio, in Kitty form, could squeeze in next to me and Fenrir stood on the arm of the throne. In the mean time, Ant had got in and a ready check went up, which resulted in us all running out of the hut and hurtling to our positions like naughty children who were somewhere they shouldn't have been and trying to scramble back before their parents notice.

 

From my Alchemy Lab and my worker, I had acquired some Transmorphic Tincture potions. We had joked about Rawls being in his new mog and that he was wearing a dress again. "It's not a dress... It's a robe..." Many people disagreed. "how can you be a big strong tank when youre wearing a dress?" Fenrir asked. "I look more like a Monk in this, before people kept thinking I was a rogue!" Rawls declared.
We wondered what he would look like as a female, especially in his dress robe. He took the potion and the results were quite magical.


"You look like a princess!" Ant cooed. There were several 'awww' noises floating over ts. A ready check went up, and everyone was good to go.
"When you're ready, Princess..." Fenrir joked
*Pull in 10* - The Princess was ready to kick ass!

 

Every pull we did, we got closer and closer to a kill. People were still getting confused about left and right so we settled for going Green or going Blue.
A Crystalline Barrage had me somewhat trapped up against a wall but before I could negotiate my way around it I was pulled forwards and then found myself flying through the air backwards and landing into the shit left on the floor.
"Oh..." Blunnerz said
"What the fuck is going on?" I laughed, totally confused by what just happened. "Did you just pull me into a piller?"
"Erm, yeah!"

We were running back after another attempt and all of these mobs appeared.


"Where did these all come from? Did we pull all of these?"
"Yes we did"
We kind of got the mobs under control when something else crashed the party.
"Where did this Void Walker come from?!? Showing up late to the party!"
The tanks got destroyed and it was left to Jesse to tank it, which he was mighty proud of, and It did eventually die. Then something magical happened.
"WE GOT A CLOAK!" Blunnerz announced to cheering over ts.
"Heres to our first cloak!" I said to more cheering.
While waiting for everyone to eat and flask up after this Blunnerz had a little brain fart moment.
"Which way is everyone looking? Oh never mind" He said, secretly answering his own question.
"Are we having issues with left and right again?" I asked.
"...Yes."

 

Blunnerz also found yet another hole to jump in and somehow managed to find himself trapped between two walls. All you could see was his marker bouncing around as he tried to get out again.

We all ran around on the wall to find him. You could just make him out through the crack. Who knows how he managed to get in there but he did. I suddenly backed away.
"Aww. You're not in my line of sight" he lamented.
"I knew that was coming so I started to back off!"


Somehow, he did manage to escape but curiosity had gotten the better off him as he was sure that he could get somewhere between the walls. So after our final try he went back while we all stood on our mounts to see where he ended up.
"Has anyone got a two person mount so I can get back out?" He asked.
"I do" I said wondering how this was all going to work.
"Mount up"
Xérath put up a portal right in front of me.
"Damn you Xérath and your portals! Now I can't click Ella!"
Luckily for us, the portal went to Stormshield... And not Theramore!

So not ready for raiding...

We killed Brakenspore! Yay!
Jolly managed to sleep through it due to being knocked out by some hideous bug that's going around, so we decided to give the 'Fake Tank' a try.

When questioned about his understanding about tactics, 'Fake Tank' Fenrir had them spot on.
"Swap when you have stacks...? To be honest I've never tanked this before so I just wing it"

Before placing our lives and repair bills in Fenrir's hands we were waiting to see if Jolly was logging on. The appointed people had picked up Flamethrowers and were testing them out on the team. I had itchy feet and went exploring.
I had already unsuccessfully tried jumping on some mushrooms behind the group so I went off to the other side.
There were some rocks in the water that I would be able to land on and then a mushroom at just the right height next to it. The temptation was too much and I went for it. I landed on the rock, I wasn't in the water but I was still dying... I almost got to the mushroom when I shuffled off the mortal coil. Dropping my Flamethrower out to sea.

I laughed. People questioned why I was dead. Narlos and Blunnerz ran over to have a look at where I was. Explaining what happened I clicked release much to the displeasure of Narlos. "I was ressing you!"
There was then questioning by others who did not know what was going on as to why a Flamethrower was in the sea.
"I died!" I announced as I ran up to get it. It was just out of reach, I'd have to go in to get it. Although this meant I'd died again! Nevertheless, I ran back and this time got it.

Finding that the sea was bad. I turned my attention to some rocks near the entrance to the beach. They looked so jump worthy, I spent a coupe of minutes trying before Blunnerz charged in and took it at a slightly different angle and was on them.
"God damn it Blunnerz!" I said as I changed my approach angle and jumped up.
Blunnerz was busy trying to get onto a higher rock when he fell in a hole.
"Oh! I can't get out!" Blunnerz said as the troops started to make their way over to see what was going on.
"Haha that's what you get for showing off"






Blunnerz wasn't going to let this rest and I found myself in the hole as well.
During the commotion of people laughing and gloating Blunnerz manage to get Fenrir in and as a bonus, got him stuck under a rock. Fenrir couldn't move and we were thinking about writing tickets to say we were stuck.






I tried to use my sacrificial dagger that I still had on me. Apparently though I was now too intelligent to stab myself with it. I stopped for a moment to think about what to do.
At this point Blunnerz somehow managed to get out and shouted "I'm free!" Over ts and then laughed as he scampered over the rocks and ran away down the beach. It was at this point that someone had the brainwave of getting Treehouse to summon us a full 20 get up the beach in order to get us out.

Finally we got around to killing things. There were several wipes as we worked out the best way to burn things and trying out different people to get the dps balance right. Eventually he did fall and we stood around for a few seconds as the realisation that he was dead sank in.



We moved on to Tectus.
Coming across three different coloured adds we took one of them out and just as it was asked which one we should switch to now, Rawls was hit in the face and dropped like a stone.
"The one that just killed Rawls!" I yelled. "Yeah! Take that you bastard!" Rawls added.
We had managed to congregate in the middle of the arena while killing the adds and all of a sudden Tectus appeared. Several cries of fear went out over ts and a mass scramble to the edge of the arena. Here we were faced with... His arse.


"He looks like a monkey..."
"Is that his bum?"
"Errr... Does this mean we should have come in a different door?"

While Tectus was busy glaring at an empty staircase, we formulated a plan.
"Barrage go left and the other one go right" Blunnerz said, clicking through the journal.
"The other one?"
"I can't remember the name..."
Eventually working it out, the tanks punched Tectus in the butt cheek and away we went. It was going well. Until everyone got their left and right confused and we cut the arena into two...
"wrong way"
"I got confused!"
"Stop running in a circle!"
"I couldn't remember which way to go!"
I however had decided to go with written confirmation on what way was for what ability...

We did some HC dungeons and this happened

We didn't have enough people to raid so we got a group of five together and went for HC dungeons to snag the last bits of gear we needed.
Fenrir offered to tank.
"You're going to tank?"
"Have some faith!"
"That's great! You can tank Bladefist!"
"Hold on. I said have faith. Don't expect a miracle"

This meant that Rawls could go dps. This 'life choice' was ultimately his undoing as we went through the dungeons.



I'd accidentally managed to queue us on normals to begin with and it was only made apparent when we pulled to groups and a bunch of flowers and no one died.
"Ella you've put it on Normal!"
"I was wondering why they weren't hitting for much"
"We have to wait 10 minutes until we can queue again..."
With nothing to do but carry on we got to the point where you can scramble up the cliff face if you jump in the right spot. A millimeter out either side and you're just left jumping at the rocks. Blunnerz made it up seemingly on the first try.
"Blunnerz can't you leap of faith us up?"
"It's a two minute cooldown!"
As I have failed at every attempt to get up this cliff I reminded them off the hill just a few feet down that you can just walk up.
"Guys! If we just kill this one mob you can just run up the hill"
Fenrir was off and pulled everything around him.
We strolled up the hill and went behind the first boss.
"Did we do all of that to miss two mobs? "
"Yes"
"Ok then"
I was on a mission to kill all the flowers we could so I could 'skin' them for herbs. Every time I was lagging behind the group people knew what I was up to. I'd sneakily multi shoot them near other mobs so that they had to be killed.
As we made our way around there was an abundance of flowers.
"Can we kill these?" I asked. Standing there looking at them.
"No." Blunnerz said.
I still stood there.
"Aw I can't pull you..." he said as Fenrir charged out and ran over them all.
"Yay!"

The spider cave was a necessary evil apparently.  We got the spider to come down quickly enough but there was so much crap everywhere that it was hard finding the Orc before it found the spider.
"I'm being punched by an Orc!" I yelled.
"I'm so glad I have tidy plates" Fenrir mused "I can't see anything in here so you'd be surrounded in Orcs if it wasn't on"

On the last boss I took forever loading in.
"Run over the flowers!" Was yelled over ts.
"I've only just got in hang on!"
"We're here trying to save Stormwind and you've only just arrived?!" Fenrir said as the flowers we missed took aim at him.

 

Skyreach was next.
"I hate this place! In fact I hate this whole zone!" I said with venom as there was much groaning about the dungeon we had been given.
It was this dungeon where we spectacularly started to fall apart.
"Do you like the bird boss?" Rawls asked.
"Err which one?" Both Fenrir and Blunnerz asked.
"The one with quills. Do you know what your doing on that?"
"To be honest I just wing it..." Fenrir laughed at his own joke "wing it!"
"And there's the wind boss..." Blunnerz added.
"The wind boss. Much like the lift boss in ICC" I added, remembering a fateful time in there.
"And there was a lift boss in Siege" Blunnerz reminded us. This 'boss' Had claimed many lives...
We made our way around. On the boss with the wind spirals I somehow managed to block myself in as I cut the podium completely in half while kiting the pools of yellow goo around the outside. The boss was down before I panicked and I was left laughing hysterically over ts.

The wind boss was very aggravating. More so for Rawls who had manage to roll quickly to the top and then found himself half way round again after being pulled back by Blunnerz. I also managed to die at the top of the stairs due to being stood in shit I couldn't see. With that and Fenrir falling off the platform with the quills bird, it was going well.

On the last boss the random pally we had with us had the laser thing following him and he managed to make a circle of crap around me. Blunnerz decided that it was the perfect time to leap of faith the pally into the circle so he was trapped.

After the last boss was down, Fenrir said to jump down. I questioned it as it was quite high up.
"You have a buff, jump" He said.
"Are you sure?" I questioned, there didn't seem to be a buff. I teetered off the edge and dropped. I landed in a messy and very dead heap at their feet.
"OH" Fenrir said as everyone started laughing.
"Yeah, Now I have the buff!"

 

Shadowmoon Burial Grounds was our last one. We ended up with a rogue who announced his woes of the last group he was in to us.
"The tank left after a wipe. The healer sucked so he left and then the dps left too. Please don't be like the last group!"
"Cant promise soz" Blunnerz replied. It did seem to subdue any fears that the rogue may have had as we went onwards to the bosses.

The first boss with the crystal things that get dropped on the floor was 'intense'. instead of one crystal coming down to do the aoe stuff we had two at a time, which meant that we were rapidly running out of room. There were at least 12 of them by the time the thing died. A constant stream of 'move the boss' was going out over ts as we tried to negotiate the crystals and not run over the runes at the edge. The rogue died due to not standing on the white runes during the eclipse phase but didn't seem to mind, I guess he was just happy to be in a group that wasn't going to leave.

It was time to announce that my bow was yellow, to which I got the stream of replies stating that my weapon is always broken. I also ran over a crate on the way into the cavern we were heading to.
"I ran over something! Add!"
"You know your winning at the game when you can pull and add out of thin air" Fenrir joked.

After the second boss I got a little kamikaze and opened up with Barrage as I was wanting to get on.
"What the... Where did all of these come from?"
"Barrage! I wanted to get a move on! Suck it up and lets go!"
I died almost instantly, luckily you spawn right inside the room when you release so the run back is, well, not a run at all. As we got through I'd taken enough of a beating for my bow to go red.
"My bow is broken!"
" Oh my god... Ella!"
"It's ok! I've got my loom!"
Equipping that we carried on. It's at this point that I informed everyone of why I had my loom taking up valuable bag space.
"You know that dungeon in ICC where you have to run away from the Lich King?"
"Oh yeah"
"Well I was doing that and my bow broke, so all I could do was send my pet in and hit the mobs with my stave. After that I was so worried about being seen as an idiot, I carried seven bows with me so I always had something else to equip..."
"Seven!?"
"Oh dear..." Rawls said, as the others were laughing."