Assorted Thoughts: A Month In

We’re almost a month into Mists of Pandaria; doesn’t seem like that long, does it? We’ve tilled our farms, we’re earning our rep, we’ve stepped into some heroics or LFR or raids, and we’re starting to get a feel for this expansion.

So far, I dig it. I was never overwhelmed and blown away, but it’s like the whole expansion sneaked up behind me and surprised me with little bits of awesome. I’m enjoying the expansion as much as any other at this point, and that’s saying something, since MoP had me concerned from the get go.

Here’s a few thoughts from my experiences so far; how have yours differed? What’s going on so far with you, or what’s demanding your attention?

About Those Dailies…

I like dailies. I really, actually do. They’re a great way for me to get things accomplished without being chained to my computer for 30+ minutes at a time. I can stop in the middle, go hang out with my kids, answer the phone, chat with a friend, and when I come back, I’m right where I left off.

I will say that unlocking Shado-Pan and August Celestials made my head spin a little. Shado-Pan is probably my least favorite group of dailies, mostly because my Pandaren companion hasn’t learned to Shadowmeld and Swift Flight. We’re working on it, though.

Healer Rehab

In order to raid, my guild needed more healers. I’ve certainly healed here and there along the way for particular fights, but I haven’t been a dedicated healer since Burning Crusade. However, the biggest problem I’m having is one that I’m sure a lot of healers have had this expansion: healing as if the way we use mana hasn’t changed.

Even though I know exactly what I should be doing, I end up falling into old habits when the damage starts getting high, and pretty soon I’m watching the Innervate cooldown. I’m going to have to keep working on making new habits.

The good news is, I actually enjoy healing again (SHH, don’t tell anyone). It’s been long enough that it doesn’t feel like the same old, same old way it used to feel.

Plus, I’m a tree again. That alone is enough to make it worth it.

Guilds & Priorities

Right before and right after an expansion hits, it’s not unusual for a guild to go through some growing pains. Some people move out, other people move in. This time, though; it was a big deal for me. Several people I’ve raided with for years were unsatisfied with 25-mans and decided to leave to join a 10-man guild. It’s better that they did this in the long run than be unhappy, but I find that I miss them quite a bit.

It’s led me to think about what my priorities really are when it comes to raiding. Do I still care as much about 25-man content as I thought I did? I don’t know right now. Do I need the “epic” of 25-mans (bigger raids have always felt more epic to me; I know not everyone agrees) or could I be satisfied with a 10-man?

With that group went some of the people I consider my closest in-game friends, and perhaps just as importantly, the ones that took me seriously as a player and to whom my opinions mattered. I’ve discovered that particular aspect is more important to me than I realized. I’m interested to see what happens in the next month or so as we progress, and how I ultimately decide my priorities. Right now, it’s still unclear.

Raiding is still fun; that much hasn’t changed, at least!

Screenshots & Reactions from MoP Beta

First off, let me point you to a couple of thoughtful posts about druid beta stuff I read this week, because this will not be one of those posts:

• WoWInsider is flooded with druid-related beta news, including a recent Symbiosis breakdown and the simplification of the moonkin rotation.
• Lissanna and crew at Restokin are keeping us current with discussion of the new Level 90 talents and (wait for it…) mounting in moonkin form.
• Graylo also delved into the Level 90 talents, breaking them down one-by-one.

No, my post will be about, as the title suggests, random reactions to things I experienced in beta since it stopped crashing every two minutes. With pictures, of course.

From the Wandering Isle

Temple area from the Wandering Isle

The Arboretum in the Jade Forest

The exact words that came out of my mouth when the above screenshots were taken: “Ooh, that’s pretty!”

Astral Form using Glyph of Stars

Okay, I was all for keeping my moonkin form, but I have to admit these stars are cool. I might change my mind.  

Level 85 Mistwalker Monk casting Soothing Mists

Created a premade monk for my husband to play with. Could that guy look any cooler?

Level 85 premade Pandaren Rogue

Pandaren Rogue about to STAB THINGS…

Pandaren Rogue in the act of STABBING THINGS.

I’m asking for a race change for my rogue when it’s my birthday. I’m not kidding. 

Pet Journal – Pet Options

Wait, what? I can rename my pets?! Meet Botty, Shivers, and Chili. 

Druid Travel Form with Glyph of Stag…and a warlock.

This is both extremely awesome and terribly awkward. 

Celebratory tree form dancing, don’t mind me.

Tree Form Healing in Temple of the Jade Serpent

Tree Form Healing in Temple of the Jade Serpent…again.

Tree form. Tree form. I’m a TREE. OMG, I MISSED YOU TREE FORM! I missed you so much, don’t you ever leave me again. I’m going to hug you and squeeze you and name you George! I love you, George! /flail. /squee.

And Then I Healed: Observations of an Offspec Healer

Way back when Patch 3.1 dropped introducing dual spec (tell me you hadn’t totally forgotten that there was a time without dual spec!), I said that I was looking forward to being able to switch between Balance and Resto easily, and I flipped back and forth frequently throughout the expansion. Though I almost always dps’ed in our 25-mans during Wrath, I often healed 10-mans, ran heroics as resto, and cut my real PvP teeth in that spec.

Enter Cataclysm, and the whole idea of healing made me a little nauseas. I heard what all the healers were saying, and I knew there was going to be an adjustment. With that in mind, I just shuffled Resto out of the way for a while. The re-introduction to healing came slowly, starting with the last boss in a heroic run and progressing to Baradin Hold and then to filling in for our 25-man raids, mostly on non-progression bosses.

With our 25-man raid now broken into two groups of 10, hybrids once again earn their stripes by being able to fill multiple roles as needed; and boy, did I ever earn my hybrid stripes last night! Here are three of the things I realized last night while doing a fairly poor job of healing through Atramedes.

1) There’s something to be said for being thrust from your comfort zone. For years I knew nothing but healing in raids. When I switched to dps, it was almost like learning a whole new game: new things to understand and pay attention to and new people to impress. I wasn’t a great dpser for a while, and last night, I wasn’t a good healer. This was our second time seeing this boss, and I had previously dpsed with a different composition. Not only were we learning the fight with this new setup, I was 100% off-balance (ha! Unintentional, but I’m leaving it). The struggle to do everything I needed to do as well as I possibly could was a humbling reminder to stay on top of my game. Feeling complacent? Don’t be afraid to try a new spec or roll a character to fill a different role. I’m amazed by the things I learn by forcing myself into a completely different perspective.

2) Healers can’t always catch you when you…fail. I know from experience how easy it is to tell yourself: “It’s not that much damage; I can take it and the healers will heal me. It’s the healer’s job!” Sort of. It’s the healer’s job to keep you healed up through unavoidable damage. Of course we all make mistakes sometimes, and healers are awesome at covering our butts. But you should never assume that a healer can save you if you stand in something dangerous or do something that will put you in jeopardy. Thankfully, our group is awesome at both correcting mistakes and being honest and gracious about having made them, and no one was being intentionally negligent. Still, my hands were full enough with healing everyone through Sonic Breath and Searing Flame, and when raiders occasionally dropped the proverbial ball, there weren’t always enough hands open to catch it. The number one rule of raiding has always been: stay alive. You are just as responsible for your health as your healer is.

In this scenario, the couple is Atramedes and the thirsty dude is an AWESOME raider!

3) Healing is less predictable than dps. I should disclaimer this with: or at least it is when you’re not used to healing. I realized last night that I have a pretty firm grip on boss fights when I’m balance. After a few attempts, I know what to expect. I’m usually completely comfortable with my rotation and my normal way of doing things, so following my pattern of dps while dodging such-and-such that’s on a timer is pretty easy. I can glance at my NeedtoKnow bars and decide what my next step is at my convenience. Moonfire about to fall off? Starsurge coming off cooldown? About to hit an Eclipse? With a split second look, the little Tetris pieces in my head fall into place, and my next several steps are laid out for me, especially if you combine that familiarity with fight experience and DBM timers.

Not so with healing! I can make some reasonable predictions: The raid’s going to take a hit after Sonic Breath; the mage pinging gongs during Searing Flame is going to need a HoT. But just as often I’m not expecting random raider A to suddenly drop to 10% of his health, or random raider B to suddenly be out of range. In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for druids (or at least this druid) to keep HoTs up on at least the people who were expected to take damage, and sometimes this meant a whole group or practically the whole raid. I couldn’t possibly do that now, at least in my current gear, and expect my mana to last through the fight, so I feel like I’m reactive healing a lot more than the preemptive healing I was accustomed to. I have a much deeper respect for my healers after last night than I have lately. Thank you, healers; we love you!

We did kill him despite my shortcomings last night, and I found it refreshing to do something different. I guess the TL;DR of this would be: 1) Try something new, 2) Keep yourself alive, and 3) Appreciate your healers!

Raid well, my friends.

Icecrown Citadel, Frostwing Halls: Valithria Dreamwalker

From what I’ve seen, most raids are doing Blood Princes and Dreamwalker before their respective wing-end bosses, so I’m going to hit Dreamwalker next.

Before I do, though, a brief thought on trash, since there’s a miniboss. You’ll be joined in the Frostwing Halls by Crok Scourgebane and some Argent Crusaders (you’ll recognize them if you’ve ever done Troll Patrol). As you fight your way through the vry’kul before you (Deathbringers summon adds, Frostbinders throw ice, so choose which ones to kill first based on that info), the humongous floating val’kyr named Sister Svalna at the end of the hall will slowly kill off the Argent Crusaders (no, you cannot keep them alive, their deaths are scripted).

Once you reach her, she will raise the Crusaders back to life as scourge, and you will have to kill them in addition to the deathly angel herself. Although the scripted conversation will ask you to kill the Captains and then assist Crok in killing the Svalna, we have found it just as easy to keep a tank on the captains while we burn down Svalna (easy peasy) and then turn and kill them. You get an Emblem of Frost for killing her, so yeah, it’s cool.

Now, onto the important stuff.

The point of this fight is to take the green dragon Valithria Dreamwalker from 50% to 100% health.

How to Learn a Fight

I’m taking a vacation from pure boss strats since they are time consuming and time is a precious commodity right now.  Plus, both Bosskillers and Tankspot have strats and vids up for most encounters, and I highly recommend them.

After our Hodir kill last night (go us! – Heroic: I Have the Coolest Friends and Heroic: Staying Buffed All Winter) I realized that there is a subject of boss fights that we don’t go over in the strat:  how to learn the fight.

Okay, I know, that sounds extremely vague and wanes philosophical, but stick with me.  There is more to learning a fight than reading a strat or watching a video.  Experience plays a vital role, and as raiders, we really need to be able to take that experience, analyze it, and learn from it.

Here are my steps to learning a fight:

Step 1: Prepare.  L2Read

I did just say that there’s more to learning a fight than simply reading the strat, but that doesn’t mean reading about the fight is pointless.  I will be honest, I don’t read strats word for word ever.  I read and re-read the parts that pertain to me with a keen interest, and skim the rest.  If I had to switch to healing this coming reset, I would have to go back and re-read the boss strats with an eye for healing tips.  I don’t think this is being lazy; I think it’s streamlining for content.  If you try to memorize the entire strat, you will forget something, and it could be something important to your dps or survival.  I can say with a fair bit of certainty that our raid leaders raid with the strat printed out beside them, and I run with it pulled up in the background so I can tab out between attempts if necessary.  The strats help. Videos are also useful, but I wouldn’t use them in lieu of strats.  They work best as a team.

Step 2: Learn.  Wipe Number 1 (and 2, 3, 4, 5…)

Have we ever walked in and unexpectedly one-shotted a new boss?  Actually, yes; but I can count those experiences on one hand and have fingers to spare.  Invariably, we’ll encounter a new boss and fail profoundly (instantly, sometimes).  At these times, Ultraking and I will look at each other and one of us will say, “Wipe One–Complete”  (Note:  we cannot win a fight if we do not pronounce the first wipe.  This is law in our house.  Don’t judge us.)

We all know a wipe sucks.  In our guild, being that we don’t chain our players to their chairs, lock our kids in cages, or play on the toilet, people often use wipes to go afk (guilty as charged).  This makes for insanely, irritatingly long recovery periods.  As a reminder of common raid courtesy:  if you are going to afk (and it’s not urgent) after a wipe, for the sake of the 24 other people in your raid, please try to make it back to the pull spot before you do it.  If you can also eat and, if necessary; flask before the afk, even better.  This way you’ll be present for buffs and when you get done (please remember to flush), the raid can proceed. But wipes are also a big part of the learning experience.  There are lots of questions that need to be asked after a wipe to decide how to improve, and not all of them are up to the raid leader.

The first question probably will come from your raid leader, and everyone else, for that matter:  Why did we die?  Figuring that out is the first step to figuring out what to do next.  Tank died?  You can be sure that the tanks and healers will be going crazy trying to figure that out if they’re not busy passing the blame.  Enraged?  The healers and we dpsers need to find out what’s killing us or keeping us from doing the dps we should be doing, and so forth.

There are questions you need to ask of yourself, because if you don’t, someone will ask you.  And it might not be nicely.  How did I die?  Was it something I could have prevented?  What am I missing here?  Don’t be afraid to ask for help, it may just be that you need something explained differently. As an example of that, let me offer last night’s Hodir experience:

Attempt number 1: Ambermist dies. (about 3 seconds in). The raid dies not long after. Wipe.
Attempt number 2: Ambermist dies. (about 1 minute in). The raid dies about 2 minutes later. Wipe.
Attempt number 3: Ambermist dies. (about 1 minute in). The raid lasts until half health. Wipe.
Attempt number 4: Ambermist dies. The raid lasts until 1/4 health. Wipe.
[Raid][Ambermist]: This fight is my nemesis.
Attempt number 5: Ambermist dies. At 3/4 health, over half the raid is dead. Wipe.
[Guild Master] whispers: what’s killing you?
[Ambermist] whispers: It seems like something different every time. I don’t know why this fight’s not clicking.
[Guild Master] whispers: talk to ——- and find out what he’s doing. (We don’t really have a druid class lead right now, and even if we did, there are too many different druid roles. I tend to fall back with the mages).
[Ambermist] whispers: okay, I will
***Vent: Okay, we’re taking a four minute break, since people have already decided to anyway***
[Ambermist] whispers: any suggestions on how I can not die so much?
[Mage Lead] whispers: well…

What ensued was a two minute conversation on the importance of moving and really actually watching for icicles and fire buffs.  He didn’t give me a strat, because I didn’t ask for one.  He told me what he was doing to keep himself alive.  That’s what I needed to know.  If I had not been poked in the ass or asked for help, I would have spent the entire night dead and a lot of people would have been frustrated with me, including me.

Step 3:  Execute.  Because Everyone Loves Dead Bosses

Reading the concepts of the fight for whatever reason had not solidified it in my brain as making the moving part of this fight as vital as it was. After that, I literally moved after every single cast. I turned on projected textures, danced around circles, raced to snow mounds, and sat next to toasty fires. We wiped many more times after that, but the times that I died were either to speed up a wipe or when half the raid was already dead anyway. I submit the following as evidence:

Once you’ve figured out what you need to be doing differently, do it.  Focus on what you need to fix, but don’t neglect the big picture.  You still need to be prepared to battle rez the healer who just croaked, and you need to know when the next phase is coming.  Incorporate your own improvements into the already moving raid-wide learning curve.  That’s when you succeed.

Winston Churchill did not raid.  But he did know a thing or two about experience.  We’ve all heard some form of this quote before:  “All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.”

Prepare + Learn + Execute = Win.

Good luck out there.

From Noobkin to Boomkin

If you are looking to prepare your Moonkin for 4.0.1,

see Noobkin to Boomkin: Pre-Cataclysm.

This post was updated on 5/13/2010 for patch 3.3.3

I’m going to try to keep this pretty concise, because we are WoW players, and our short attention spans make Wall-o-Text the inconquerable boss.  I realized that I had gotten a bunch of new tips and tricks for myself without passing them on.  Granted, most of you probably already know this stuff, but just in case there’s a hapless, uninformed chump like me, I’m going to share.

The Basics

All of the tips I was going to pass on assume you already know a few things, so just in case, let’s review.

The Spec When I originally wrote this section, I usually looked up someone else’s spec and then tweaked it as needed (and that’s still a completely viable option–you can’t go wrong if you copy a spec from a good boomkin assuming you know how to play to its strengths), but now I understand things more and can share with you my preferred spec and how I would tweak it:

Balance
Starlight Wrath – 5/5
Moonglow – 1/3
Nature’s Majesty – 2/2
Improved Moonfire – 2/2
Nature’s Grace – 3/3
Nature’s Splendor – 1/1
Nature’s Reach – 2/2
Vegeance – 5/5
Celestial Focus – 3/3
Lunar Guidance – 3/3
Insect Swarm – 1/1
Improved Insect Swarm – 3/3
Moonfury – 3/3
Balance of Power – 2/2
Moonkin Form – 1/1
Improved Moonkin Form – 3/3
Improved Faerie Fire – 3/3
Wrath of Cenarius – 5/5
Eclipse – 3/3
Force of Nature – 1/1
Earth and Moon – 3/3
Starfall – 1/1

Resto
Improved Mark of the Wild – 2/2
Furor – 5/5
Natural Shapeshifter – 3/3
Master Shapeshifter – 2/2
Omen of Clarity – 1/1

There are 2 points left over from this spec.  If you have mana issues, spec into Intensity in the Resto tree.  If you don’t have mana issues, then choose from Brambles (increased Treant/Roots/Thorns damage) or the AoE talents (Typhoon and Gale Winds).

Glyphs:  Glyph of Starfall, Glyph of Moonfire, and Glyph of Starfire.  Prior to 3.3.3, Glyph of Insect Swarm took precedence over Starfall, but the Starfall buff we received in 3.3.3 makes the Starfall Glyph a better choice. You may still find that you prefer to glyph IS for some fights, and that’s fine.  The minors are pretty much optional, but I think every raiding druid should use Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth, and if you choose to spec Typhoon and DON’T want the knockback,  make sure one of them is Glyph of Typhoon.

The Rotation hasn’t changed too much since the last time I wrote this, but it’s just enough that I want to write it again. The basic idea is still FF/IS/MF>Wrath until Lunar Eclipse procs>Starfire until Wrath Eclipse procs. There are two things in particular, though, to think about:

• DoTs: Apparently there’s been a bunch of discussion on whether or not DoTs are worth casting. The folks I trust believe that they are, and so do I. That said, I think it’s best to keep prioritizing Eclipses over DoTs. If either Eclipse is up, I let IS/MF fall and I don’t refresh them until the Eclipse completes. Even the damage bonus from DoTs seems to pale in comparison to getting in that extra cast or two of the Eclipsed spell.
• Starfall: In general, you should plan to use Starfall on a boss fight every time it’s up. Don’t be dumb, though. Starfall during Blood Princes is still not a good idea. It won’t ever be a good idea when there are any mobs within its range from whom you should never get aggro (careful using Starfall in heroics!). There may also be fights where it’s beneficial to hold onto it for just a few more seconds past its cooldown (for instance, I usually don’t hit it as soon as we enter phase 2 Lich King; I wait for the Valks).

Squawk and Awe really, really helps.  Really.  Helps.  (It’s no longer mandatory, but it honestly is a great tool to keep you focused on the fight instead of babysitting Eclipse procs).

Boomkin AoE. Moonkin have three AoE spells: Hurricane, Typhoon, and Starfall. You can certainly just hurricane your way through heroic dungeon trash, and no one will care, as long as you’re being appropriate about your aggro. But if you want to know my personal strategery behind AoE pulls, here’s what I do:

When I’m not specced into Typhoon, I always do AoE pulls the exact same way, mostly because it’s reflex: moonfire the tank’s target, then Hurricane. I think I get about 2 or 3 Hurricane cycles completed before Moonfire wears off. If there are still more than 2 targets up, I Moonfire whichever one is highest on health (ctrl+v will show your enemy health bars above their heads) and then continue to Hurricane. Apart from trash pulls in ICC, this usually takes care of whatever’s left. If there’s still a straggler left standing, I’ll just Wrath him to death, as he’s usually under 50% by that point anyway.

If I am specced into Typhoon, then I throw a Typhoon in there before Hurricane the first time (except when I’m with guild tanks, in which case I’m not at all worried about threat and skip Moonfire altogether for the heck of it).

The Particulars

When I respecced moonkin, I had never raid dpsed.  Ever.  Sure, I leveled 70-80 moonkin, and I had dps alts, but I had always healed.  There were a lot of things I didn’t realize I needed to consider.  I received a lot of advice, and I’ve tweaked it along the way. Here are some bits and pieces:

It Takes Time As contrary as it is to our nature, don’t overanticipate keeping your DOTs refreshed.  MF and IS only tick for so long, and if you refresh them before they’ve ticked out, you’re losing dps.  Let them fall off before you refresh.

What Socket Bonus? Once you’re hit capped and your meta gem requirements are met, focus on accumulating spellpower.  Runed Cardinal Ruby is the one you really want, but if moonkin is not your primary raider or if you’re just into heroics and don’t want to put that much money into it, Runed Scarlet Ruby will do for a while.  Put aside your OCD and let those socket bonuses ride; stick those rubies in all your extra gem slots, regardless of color.

*Note:* If this is your main character or you really want to focus on itemizing as well as you possibly can, you should read part 3 of this guide before gemming to make sure you’re meeting all of your stat requirements, as you might occasionally have to gem for other stats.

For your meta gem, I highly recommend Chaotic Skyflare Diamond.  Use two Purified Dreadstones to achieve its requirements,  preferably in slots where they will help you get a bonus, since you have to do them anyway.

I <3 TreesThere are two ways to go with trees. IF you’re going to have enough time to get the trees up twice, then pop them at the very beginning as you pull and again when the cooldown is up. If you DON’T have enough time to get them up twice, save them for Heroism/Bloodlust. Trees will be affected by Heroism if they are already up before the Heroism is popped (it’s nice if you can get someone to call it before they do it).

For instance, When we fight Marrowgar, I know that we are going to finish that fight well before my CD is up (I usually have at least 30 seconds to a minute left), so I try to wait until I know heroism is coming. Since we pop it right after the first Bone Storm, it’s pretty easy for me to predict.

On Putricide, however, I can get my trees up at least 3 times very easily, so waiting for Heroism (which we don’t pop until the second tank rotation in the third phase) would leave me missing out on some of their available dps.

It’s Dancy Dance Time There are LOTS of boss fights that require movement, and that’s tough on caster dps in general, and definitely on Moonkin. Try to plan carefully: if you know that Bone Storm is coming, go ahead and let your DoTs fall off while you get that last Wrath or Starfire cast in, and then you’ll have something to do while you’re moving. Refresh DoTs on the run, and if you’re specced into Typhoon, throw it at the boss while you’re on the move. The buff to Starfall also really helps with movement impairments.

Even if you’re not number one, do everything you can to stick your feathers up the butts of a few of your chart-topping dpsers and make them think twice about messing with the pure pwnage of their local Boomkin.  Go forth and noob no more!

For more Noobkin to Boomkin fun, parts 2 and 3 to this guide are available at Noobkin to Boomkin: Macros and Noobkin to Boomkin: Stats.

Sartharion 3D & My Wake Up Call

Last Tuesday, I did not get a raid invite.  In the past year, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have been unexpectedly excluded from a raid, and each time, I got a whisper from officer explaining why.  But Tuesday, I didn’t get an invite, and I didn’t get a whisper.  Or an in game mail.  Or a guildportal mail.  I felt irritated and abandoned.

On Wednesday, I considered not logging in at all.  Or declining my Naxx farming invite (if I can’t progress, why should I farm?!).  But like a trained seal I logged on and accepted the invite, and boy, am I glad I did.  One of our inconsistent raiders was on, someone who knows a lot about the classes he plays but still plays one too many, and he was playing a moonkin.  And this guy was kicking my ass on the meter.

Finally (with a lot of encouragement from my mageboy fiance), I whispered him and asked him how the hell he was beating me on the meter.  We started discussing spell rotation and I realized I was way off.  Then he told me that he had recently sucked on a 10-man 3D Sarth PuG and done some research.  Research?  When I respecced, there was nothing on LK moonkin.  I decided to investigate.

I started with a guide on the druid class forums.  I changed my spell rotation, I switched out some gems here and there and updated my enchants.  I downloaded Squawk and Awe; I’m still not sure how I completely missed an addon that important.  I’m not kidding, my base DPS went up at least 1000 the next day.

I sent a guildportal message to one of our officers, and reminded him that I’m a consistent raider, and that if there’s a problem, I deserve to know about it so I can fix it.  He agreed, and I told him about my increase in DPS.  I got an invite to the next Sarth 3D raid.

We’re still beating our head against it a little.  Last night we tried a DK tank, which seemed to work really well once they got a rotation going with his abilities and his healers.  However, by the time they got that worked out, the DPS was worn out and unfocused, and people started dying to blue circles and fire walls again.  We finally finished it off with two drakes, and we’re going back to Sarth 3D tonight. I’m not putting a picture on this post because I hope by my next post I’ll have a kill shot for you.

I hovered around 10th in damage.  It’s a start.