Guns don't kill people, Hunters do.

Another weekend passes, another 32 or so hours are racked up in World of Warcraft. Haven't had an insanely hardocre weekend like this for a month or so, and it kinda felt good to get it out of my system.

Saturday afternoon was spent in Blackrock Depths with Gunvladh, CD's insane Warlock leader helping his guildmate with the Onyxia quest chain and also trying to get Wulf a component for a Fire Resistance enchant to go on his Black Dragonscale Leggings. The first run took hours, and didn't yield the required component, but it then dropped on a subsequent shorter run, so I was able to upgrade Wulf's FR gear.

After that, our attempt at the second boss in Blackwing Lair was cancelled due to lack of interest, and subsequent arguments led to a halfhearted attempt at the new Hakkar in Zul'Gurub. We failed, and after about 4-5 attempts, I logged and went to bed,

Sunday started better, with a zerg around a freshly-reset Zul'Gurub. We took down three of the aspect Priests, plus the Bloodlord Mandokir and Jin'do The Hexxer in the afternoon. Again BWL was cancelled, so we went back to Zul'Gurub where we proceeded to take down the remaining two priests. More importantly, the last priest dropped a component I needed for Wulf's Epic Shoulders, which was amazing!

After that, we went up against Hakkar himself again. Wulf had a somewhat stressful role in the fight, as it was his role to go and grab a patrolling Son Of Hakkar (a flying serpent) every minute and pull it back to the group where it would be killed, releasing a poisonous cloud which was then used to hurt Hakkar when he drained our health.

It took us about four attempts in the end to get him, but we finally downed him. This was Wulf's first Hakkar kill since they buffed him in patch 1.9. After the kill, I was able to visit the Zandalar tribe and collect Wulf's new shoulder armour. I think he looks rather dashing in it:

New loots.

Ok, there hasn't been much to update since my return to play, I've participated in a few raids, and spent a fair amount of time getting my Argent Dawn reputation up to Honored in order to get some nice shoulder enchants from them.

Saturday was a bit ridiculous. In a 16-hour period, I went through a ludicrous amount of instances instances: Scholomance, Dire Maul East, Blackrock Depths, Blackwing Lair and finally Stratholme (both sides).

Then yesterday, I logged in after work to find an Onyxia Scale Cloak waiting for me. This proved to be interestingly timed, as we were about to go and kill her again that night. It's a bit of a drop in my damage-dealing ability, but it looks pimp as hell, and it's vital to have one for later progress through Blackwing Lair.

The Onyxia kill was smooth, probably our best yet. And the rewards for me were excellent. First up, I spent my hard-earned DKP on Onyxia's Head, which I was able to turn in later for a really nice necklace. Then, secondly and most importantly, she dropped the Mature Black Dragon Sinew, a vital component in the Hunter's Epic Quest.

Now all I need is for Majordomo Executus to comply and drop the Leaf I require in a future Molten Core run , and then kill four pesky little Demons without the aid of my friends or my pet. The Leaf's proven to be a problem: we've killed him about nine times to date, and the (supposedly 50% droprate) Ancient Petrified Leaf has only dropped twice. In comparison, the Sinew from Onyxia is only a 15% droprate and we've now had it drop four times. This means that we have 2 Hunters with their epic Bows & Staves, and two Hunters desperately waiting for the Leaf to drop. At this rate, it'll be April at the earliest before I get a chance at it.

Another Cd Victory!

Well, I've been offline for a week because my laptop's been away being repaired (don't buy Dell folks, they lie!). Hopefully back on tonight.

In the meantime, the good folks of Chaotic Divinity have downed the first boss in Blackwing Lair, Razorgore The Untamed!

Congrats, folks!

Entering The Ruins Of Ahn'Qiraj

So last night, Wulf took his first stab at The Ruins Of Ahn'Qiraj, the newly-opened 20-man instance located in Silithus (aka: Sillyfuss, Sillyfuzz, Bug Central).

Strange instance, it's almost like they decided that Zul'Gurub was too hard on players and created a new 20-man instance for a gentler experience. At least, at first.

The surroundings are very grey as you walk through the ruins of a strange, alien city. This is an entomophobe's nighmare, as almost every enemy is a strange insectile beast with homocidal intent. That said, the trash mobs are pretty easy going. Memories of wiping before the first bridge in Zul'Gurub still haunt me, so it was pleasing to see the mobs responded politely to being pulled in groups of two or three and slaughtered with ease.

After about a dozen of these pulls, we faced the first boss, a big Scorpion who didn't present too much of a challenge to us. The main problem with the fight is the need to rotate tanks when he stacks a nasty debuff on them. Still we got him down first time without an issue.

Then, with no trash to clear in between, we had to fight the second boss. Well that is to say, we had to fight his army...

The boss comes with seven waves of troops, each with their own officer miniboss. The trick to the fight seems to be to kill all but one troop, then the miniboss, then let the healer's mana regenerate before killing the last troop and calling the next wave. It's a pretty insane and unique encounter in my experience, but a fun one. Even if it did take the best part of an hour to get through the waves.

After that though, we were tired, having already taken down Onyxia earlier in the night. We made some headway towards the third boss, fighting some interesting trash mobs along the way, but by the end of it, a combination of fatigue and PC troubles curtailed us getting any further.

Can't wait for the next go though! :D

More thoughts on the Ragnaros fight.

Last night's fight went really well. After struggling against Ragnaros 3 nights a week for the past month or so we finally managed to take him down. More importantly, we did it without wiping.

The secret, there can be said to be one, is damage. In previous fights, I concentrated too much on gear that would protect me from the fire damage he emits rather than the gear that would give me the most damage. I made up the difference in damage mitigation by buying potions that allowed me to absorb fire damage. It seems others amongst the Hunters and Mages has the same idea, as we were able to get Ragnaros down to 34% health in the all-important first three minutes with minimal casualties. This made the subsequent phases much easier, and lead to his death.

It's also caused me to rethink my gearing priorities somewhat. Previously, I'd intended to save my DKP for the next time I have a shot at the Leaf or Sinew for the Epic Bow, however, I've since decided instead to first concentrate on getting as much good Fire Resistance gear as possible. First priority is getting the rest of the Giantstalker armour set, which I'll further enhance with helm and shoulder enchants. Also, I'll hopefully get the Head of Onyxia from one of our kills so I can pick up this necklace. Combined with my existing FR gear, I should be able to reach 101 Fire Resistance before buffs whilst maintaining a decent level of DPS. It's gonna be a grind getting it all, but I'm up for it.

Also, by the time I've accumulated this lot, all the other CD hunters should have the leaf and I'll get it for next to nothing. :D