Alright.

Got a good makeup for the run. We should own this, let’s go ZA!

Hopefully I’ll have good news to report on later.

Update:

Ok, so went into ZA all set for three timed chests and got none. The problem? The first pull on the gaunlet went badly….very badly. Some people didn’t know what to do, and when one of those people is your second tank thats a problem for the gauntlet.^_^

After we got over that hump we did fine one shotting bosses one or two wipes mainly due to pulls while people were afk for drinks/bio and so on. Then we got to Hex Lord. I had never gotten to do Hex Lord – I’d done all the bosses before and Zul’ Jin but never him. Well the first pull had some issues, so we wiped, then I fucked the second pull by dotting my shackle target >_< – as a side note if any other priest ever makes the same mistake you can keep shackling to keep the shackles up after they come down with each tick of pain but I wouldn’t reccomend it. I was able to buy us some time but that also pulled me out of the DPS rotation meaning less DPS AND no mana/health being returned. Needless to say we wiped. Then I got a macro set up – and I discovere the beauty of focus target.

Yeah, yeah, I know – I should being using focus target seeing as how I’m in a guild breaking into T6 but I just had never thought to do it. Normally when keeping shackles up I just retarget the mob and recast. The beauty of focus target though is a) I don’t have to stop DPS on my main target and b) quartz monitors my debuffs on focus targets. The quartz monitoring alone is worth focusing because i dont have to refresh shackles really early in order to ensure he stays shackled. I can easily see how much time is left and when it breaks – yes, I know there are shackles add-ons that can keep me posted on this BUT I already have a metric shit ton of addons and more will lead to  bad lag in places like hyjal, where I REALLY can’t afford it.

We wiped again though, even after the shackling fix. Why? Because no one killed the sheep target (which was the healer) and there were issues with kiting Hex Lord when he stole consecrate and traps from our palies and hunters.

All in all I learned a lot on the run which is just as good as gear…though I would have REALLY liked to get the hex shrunken head or hood of hexing = (

Maybe I can get some peeps to help me down him tonight before our Hyjal raid – or maybe tomorrow – OR maybe we’ll get by the second boss in hyjal FINALLY and get into some leet T6 loots…..Yeah…..that sounds yummy!

I wanted to cry.

I would like to express today the importance of research and theory crafting before making decisions in near end game content. As I have been climbing higher and higher in game content I’ve noticed that my decisions cost me more and more in game. Sometimes this has been good – increased dmg, survivability, better PvP, yada, yada, yada. This post is not about one of those positive times.

So while running Kara for badges on Tuesday night I received a piece of loot – this is unusual since I had been running Kara with the assumption that I don’t need anything out of Kara. (Check out my armory to the side if you’re curious) What loot you ask? Trial Fire Trousers off of the witch bitch in the oz opera event. After receiving them I thought to myself “hmmm3 gem slots, and +49 dmg will get me more spell dmg! than my spell strike legs!”

At this point the shadow gods should have dropped an anvil on my head with Spell Hit inscribed across the front.

No such anvil dropped.

Luckily I logged off that night before doing anything rash.

Unluckily I logged on the next day with 31 badges, 210g, and an acute case of stupidity. I gemmed my pants….all three slots with Runed Crimson Spinel….only to realize: “Wait! Now I have to change my talents to make up for the loss of 22 spell hit…” I wanted to mind control children off the edge of Thunder Bluff.

There is only one other possible solution I can think of at this point to maybe remedy the situation – haste. Once your reach 1400 raid buffed dmg 1 haste becomes equal to 1 dmg and recently in Hyjal I have been sitting around 1500 buffed raid dmg. SO I am going to re-gem my new pants with Haste and spell damage gems – then fix my tree to include more spell hit. I’m thinking with the change at least I’ll get the socket bonus +5 spel damage then the added haste.

But now as I am looking more at it  this actually may continue to be an ok upgrade without regemming. After all my old pants had 2 +12s and 1 +9 runed gems. Thats one increase – but the thing that I am really noticing now is the difference in stamina and intellect – 30 more stamina and 32 more intellect…..thats a decent amount of survivability. Plus the extra life wil help alot with the AoE dmg and random target dmg I’ve been having an issue with in T6.

So tonight I will test the new trousers.

God I wish I had a personal theorycrafting assistant….

It woops your ass.
Not because it’s hard.
Not because you aren’t geared.
Just because well as IT admins say-
The problem is found between the keyboard and the chair.

So after a few weeks of languishing in T5 trying o’ so desperatly to bust through SSC we did it.

Dawn of Redemption is now flinging itself headfirst into T6 content!

After downing Tidewalker in what was a seemingly effortless fight the decision was passed down that on Sunday we would be marching into Hyjal with guns blazing. And so we did.

For those who do not the Battle of Mount Hyjal. The instance is essentially defending the tree of life against the scourge onslaught. Your raid braces itself with the help of alliance NPCs against wave after wave of increasingly difficult scourge minions: ghouls, necromancers, and abominations are just a few of the crazys you’ll be fighting against. After your eigth wave of mobs comes the first boss (which savy Warcraft 3 players will recognize as the heroes from that most excellent RTS game) – first boss? Rage Winterchill.

SO knowing what lay ahead (thanks to youtube videos) we all waited as the first wave came, and then the second, and so on and so on. Time began getting cut short as the eigth pull happened – we needed to drink so we sent out Boywonder our brave rogue to distract the incoming Lich. Distract went up and Boywonder went down. But he did buy us some time, some very needed time in order to mana up.

Then miracle of all miracles- we one shot the bastard.

Yep, our first night in T6 and we one shot our first boss.
I know there are tose out there already hemming and hawwing about oh well the first boss is easy, or bug whoop I’ve downed him a million times. To those naysayers I say this – poop on you. It’s people like that who, well, get to endgame content without any friends. SO despite what you say we are currently basking in the glow of a succesful T6 start. We even tried to push onto the next boss Anetheron and got him down to 15%.

I have a feeling that T6 might end up moving as fast as T5 did. We’ve got a great core group of raiders and I’m thinking that this is just the begining of what is to become a massive progression ass-whoppin.

I’ll keep you posted.

***side note: I am going to post a shadow priest’s view to the fight after our next bout through Hyjal which will hopefully be wednesday. I think that there aren’t enough walkthroughs by class of raids outside of the weird crazy shit like warlocks on Leo in SSC. Maybe I’m way off the mark – feel free to comment below to let me know***