Holily Unholy

V-07-TR-0N

2009-07-22T09:48:00.005+08:00

One of the most challenging and fun fights in Ulduar is that of Mimiron. This fight has four phases, meaning 4 wipefests, 1 per each phase during the learning period. We always wiped in phase 1 during our first day and it was always because of a lapse in my part :P. Tunnel vision gets to me when I keep my finger on the ready for Mimiron's Plasma Blast. I would then fail to run away on time once he starts casting his Shock Blast. Tunnel-visioned-tank + Shock Blast = dead tank = wipe = angry mob :P... It may be a case of nerves when dealing with new content (or just me trying to make excuses lol). Anyway, the next day we were all filled with energy and raid morale was pretty high. We spent the last few hours studying Mimiron videos and familiarizing ourselves with each phase of the fight. I threw my shield and started the fight.

Phase 1... Melee encircles Leviathan MKII (MKII).. MKII sprays land mines.. melee adjusts positions to search for land mine openings.. DBM warns incoming Plasma Blast.. I hit bubble wall, my life dips and rises.. MKII glows white signaling a Shock Blast.. I ran away from MKII so does the other melee members, we ran back.. same cycle happens (got Pain Suppresion on the second Plasma Blast and used glyphed Salvation + lock candy + pots on the third) then MKII retreats away.

Mimiron then deploys a robot called VX-001 (VX) and Phase 2 follows. During this phase, all melee should stay at the back of VX to avoid his gattling gun while range DPS and healers will position themselves away from VX and stack into groups. No tank is needed in this fight. Just avoid getting hit and burn away.

Phase 2... Melee stands at VX's back and moves together with VX while he slowly rotates his body. VX launches Rocket Strike, ranged DPS and healers ran away from the red dot on the floor.. VX spins and fires some Laser Barrage while DPS moved away from his front.. DPS burns down VX and phase 2 ends.

After seeing his creation burned down, Mimiron launches his other robot, the Aerial Command Unit and phase 3 begins...

Phase 3... A ranged DPS tanked the Aerial Command Unit while the rest burned down adds.. Assault bots were summoned, I picked them up and marked them as priority targets.. All DPS, except the one tanking the boss, burned down the Assault bot.. A melee DPS looted the Assault bot and picked up a Magnetic Core.. He ran towards the base of the Command Unit and used the Magnetic Core.. The Command Unit drops down to the floor and all DPS burned it down.. Command Unit flies back up.. Bomb bots emerged and some ranged DPS burned them down. With only 20k hp, the Bomb bots didn't have a chance.. Same process was repeated until the Aerial Command Unit was destroyed.

By this time, Mimiron assembles the three robot units. Form feet and legs (Leviathan MKII), form arms and body (VX-001), and I'll form the head (Aerial Command Unit)... Then there stood V-07-TR-0N (courtesy of Voltron). Apparently, the last three phases were just a test for Mimiron's ultimate creation. And Phase 4 began. The bots maintained some of their abilities from the previous phases. MKII (legs) still casts Shock Blast and still throws proximity mines. VX (body) still launches Rocket Strikes and still does Laser Barrage while the Aerial Command Unit (head) still throws some Plasma Balls.

Phase 4... I ran to the center to pick up V-07-TR-0N. Ranged DPS focused on the head while melee DPS were split between the body and legs. CD's were popped as we went all-out. We carefully checked each part's health since the only way to destroy V-07-TR-0N is to bring down its parts together.. After seeing that the head was way ahead of the other parts, the ranged DPS switched to target the one who still had the highest hp (body). Head - 12%, body - 15%, legs - 10%.. Excitement rose as the boss' hp dropped some more.. Head - 5%, body - 6%, legs - 6%.. I kept tabbing (switching targets) and pushed every button that lit up on my action bars. I used Avenging Wrath and mashed away my keyboard :P. Then Ding! an achievement window popped up "The Keepers of Ulduar".

Wohooo! We were screaming (nerd scream? :P) at vent, very happy that finally we were able to defeat Mimiron. I clicked on Mimiron to check our loot. "You received Overcharged Capacitor.", "You received Saronite Bar x 5.", "You received.. "... And there goes Mimiron's body :O. What about the screenshot? :(

Siege the front!

2009-06-09T11:32:00.014+08:00

With spirits still high from defeating Heroic Malygos (25-man), the guid decided to take on Ulduar. A short break was announced for everyone to repair, restack reagents and turn in the quest from Malygos (for those who had the quest). I was one of the lucky few who won the loot [Heroic Key to the Focusing Iris] from Sapphiron. I flew over to Wyrmrest Temple and got my shiny [Nexus War Campion Beads] :D.

Once inside Ulduar, vehicle assignments were given and vehicle abilities familiarized. Most of the raid already new the fight from the 10-man version so the explanations did not take that long. Everyone equipped their highest ilvl gears then hopped on to their respective vehicles. I drove one of the Salvaged Siege Engines.

A readycheck was made... Then it was time to siege the front...

Down the first plank we rode (I was careful not to use Steam Rush on this plank. I already fell one too many times in the 10-man version because of this bug >.<) as choppers zoomed by leaving behind some tar to slow down the approaching enemy dwarves. Demolishers lit up these tars while Siege Engines rammed down dwarf towers. With the whole area cleared and Towers destroyed, we regrouped before Flame Leviathan (Levi). This fight is all about avoiding damage by kiting the boss around the room and interrupting his channeled AOE spell (Flame Vents). We started with the Siege engines and Demolishers spread apart. While Levi is chasing one vehicle, the other Siege engines should stay close to him for Flame Vent interrupts and some dps through Rams. Five seconds before he starts to change targets (DBM announces this), all vehicles close to him should start running away. If you are being chased, immediately hit Steam Rush (if you are Siege) or Inreased Speed (when he starts catching up) if you are the passenger of a Salvaged Demolisher. Levi has a Gathering Speed buff which slowly increases his movement speed for 5% per stack up to 20 stacks. Our strategy was to launch 4 Demolisher passengers into Levi once the stacks reach 10. These passengers are responsible for destroying the turrets found on top of Levi. Once these turrets are destroyed, Levi gets stunned and takes a lot more damage. This should be the time when Demolishers go all out and hurl their Pyrite Barrels. Choppers should also be dropping tars below Levi were it gets ignited by Demolishers for more damage. After he gets out of the stun, just rinse and repeat.

We got him on our third try. On our first two tries, our Demolishers got beaten up. Bad timing I guess, Levi targeted them just after they launched their passengers. With no one to use Increased Speed, they didn't last long :(.

The raid cheered as the last of Flame Leviathan's body parts crumbled to the ground. After the dust had settled I knelt to inspect the loot. There on the ground lay the most beautiful sword I have ever seen in my entire tanking life. And I said that based on its stats, not physical appearance (this sword looked much like a giant toothpick :P). Without wasting any second I grabbed the [Titanguard] (for about 300+ GP >.<). I was lucky that I had the highest EPGP ratio, lucky that Kel didn't drop the [Last Laugh] in our Naxx25 run about an hour ago :).

"UNTHINKABLE! The mortals will destroy..."

2009-06-08T12:37:00.016+08:00

Sunday night, a night full of win.

It started with the raid finishing off Kel Thuzad in heroic mode Naxxramas (We failed to defeat him the night before due to a mix of bad luck and people falling asleep on their keyboards :P). Sadly, [Last Laugh] didn't drop (I was hoarding EP points for this weapon) which turned up to be a blessing in disguise (will be explained in the next article). While everyone was still fresh, we proceeded to the Eye of Eternity for a round 2 battle against the Aspect of the Blue Dragonflight (Malygos).

"None but the blue dragonflight are welcome here! Perhaps this is the work of Alexstrasza? Well then, she has sent you to your deaths. "

With the taste of victory still fresh from Malygos' mouth, he proudly flies above us as we were buffing ourselves up preparing for battle. After a quick readycheck, we engaged...

Phase 1 proceeded normally, sparks stacked, Malygos kited, salving rogue, salving anyone on second threat list (except offtank), me popping bubble wall when life was threateningly low, etc... Phase 2 was quite shaky, dps went all out while tank was positioning inside a bubble, aggro lost, me popping wings, rogue down, druid b'rezzes rogue, me casting Bubble then Divine Sacrifice, me tanking the floor (forgot that I just popped my wings within the last 30secs, booo) , druid b'rezzes me (druids are OP), adds went down, raid stacking on me outside the inner circle, platform breaks, phase 2 ends.

Phase 3 was a disaster, the first two attempts failed pretty badly. Everyone was flying everywhere, like overly excited flies hovering over an overturned trash bin. Static fields were scattered and heals were out of range... We regrouped and reviewed what happened. To minimize the chaos, our raid leader told us not to move after stacking together outside the inner circle since the mounts will automatically fly to Malygos' eye level. So this we did and the result was great, heals were within range and static fields were easily avoided. We encircled Malygos in a counterclockwise direction, the raid moved as one. Fire debuffs stacked as high as 16, the poor dragon had no chance.

"UNTHINKABLE! The mortals will destroy..."

The raid erupted to cheers as Malygos went down. Vent was full of wooot's and weeee's. We lost only one member during the fight, it was epic.

Argent Tournament - Jousting 101

2009-06-01T10:05:00.020+08:00

Patch 3.1.0 gave us the new world event called Argent Tournament. In this event, players are given the right to represent each faction's major cities by completing several daily quests. Once you've completed these quests and after becoming exalted to these cities you get the title "Crusader" (which is a very fitting title for a paladin).

However, two of these new quests [The Grand Melee] and [At The Enemy's Gates] (4 including the champion quests which opens up once you become a champion in one of the cities) requires you to fight players on mounts which may be quite frustrating for beginners. I myself also had a hard time trying to joust (fighting on mounts with a lance) from the start. I kept getting owned by other players in duels as I tried to master this new way of fighting. I then tried challenging the NPC's at the Argent Tournament Grounds and found them a lot easier than dueling players. They follow a certain predictable pattern during the fight which you can use to your advantage. Below are some of the basic steps for winning a joust against NPC's:

Before starting the fight, stack up to 3 shield charges (ability 4 of the mount) by pressing ability 4, three times.
Talk to the NPC, then hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) the moment he becomes attackable. The damage may not be that huge but still every hit counts :P.
After thrusting, stay where you are and let the NPC walk a few yards. Watch your shield breaker icon (ability 2 of the mount). The number is red when you cannot use the ability (target too close or too far) and white when it can be used. Wait until the number turns white then hit him with a shield breaker.
The shield breaker knocks away one of his shields, immediately run towards him and spam thrust (ability 1 of the mount). Always stay close to him to stop him from charging or throwing a shield breaker. At this point you will be exchanging hits for a few seconds with him receiving more damage because of the missing shield charge.
The NPC will then back away from you to prepare for a charge. What you should do is run opposite his direction while watching your charge icon (ability 3 of the mount). Once the icon's number turns white, hit it and your mount will go charging towards him. Your mount will still move fast after the hit, use this momentum to position yourself back close to him and fire a shield breaker if you can. Refresh shield (ability 4 of the mount) when in melee range, there may be a chance that he will also hit you with a shield breaker or even a charge. This also prevents your shield from falling off.
Repeat step 4 until victorious.

The above steps will assure you of a win, however the fight will be a long one. After several fights, I got bored and made up a new technique for a much faster win. Below are my improvised jousting techniques for a speedy battle. The first three steps are just like the basic technique (above). The variation starts at step 4.

Before starting the fight, stack up to 3 shield charges (ability 4 of the mount) by pressing ability 4, three times.
Talk to the NPC, then hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) the moment he becomes attackable. The damage may not be that huge but still every hit counts :P.
After thrusting, stay where you are and let the NPC walk a few yards. Watch your shield breaker icon (ability 2 of the mount). The number is red when you cannot use the ability (target too close or too far) and white when it can be used. Wait until the number turns white then hit him with a shield breaker.
Run towards the NPC and hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) two times.
Strafe left (or right, depending on the area of battle. Run towards the open field.). The NPC will follow you, just keep strafing. Watch the shield breaker icon and hit it once the number turns white.
Check his shield status. If he still has some shield charges up, repeat step 5.
Once his shield is gone, strafe again but this time watch the charge icon instead. Hit it when the number turns white (make sure that you're facing him while hitting the charge button. You can do this by holding the strafe button, jump then move mouse to face him.). Immediately press thrust (spam 1 while charging) once your charge hit the NPC. You can sneak some additional damage this way.
Use the addtional momentum to go back within melee range then fire a couple of thrusts.
Repeat step 5 until victorious.

You can defeat the NPC in less than a minute using the above steps so there's no need to worry about your shield wearing off. You may also lose a few shield charges along the way, however your enemy will go down quick so there's no need to refresh your shield charges. If you haven't mastered the above steps yet, just play safe and refresh shields whenever you can :P.

Note: Your mount action bars may vary depending on the UI you are using. In this article, I am referring to Blizzard's default UI.

"Alexstrasza! Another of your brood falls! "

2009-05-25T10:27:00.015+08:00

Last night we (the guild) had our first glance of Malygos in 25-man mode Eye of Eternity. We weren't able to kill him but managed to bring him down to around 700k life. This is quite good for a first time though. There are still a lot of things we need to learn from this fight especially in phase 3.

I was assigned to main-tank the fight so I slapped on my semi-stam gear (only changed one of my trinkets [Essence of Gossamer] so that I can still maintain a high aggro during phase 1) which put my health at around 38.5k raid-buffed. This is more than enough since I trust my healers to keep me alive during the encounter :P (we have strong cadre of healers :D).

Phase 1:
While someone clicked the orb I fired up Sacred Shield, Divine Plea (glyphed), Holy Shield, popped my wings then threw my frisbee to Malygos. I changed my spell rotation a bit for maximum threat generation while always running around positioning Malygos. I skipped using Holy Shield once in a while since his melee swings are slow making the threat generated from it quite insignificant (like I said, I trust my healers :P) and instead I used Shield of Righteousness every time I could. Exorcism is also quite handy for threat generation now that it can hit non-undead creatures. Phase 1 was similar to the 10-man version, Power Sparks spawn at same intervals and Vortex duration was still the same. Their only difference would be an increase in damage dealt and Malygos now does his Arcane Breath ability right after a Vortex (I didn't notice this during the fight, maybe I was too busy trying to determine the location of the sparks). Two veteran Death Knights were assigned for spark positioning, gripping them to the center to stack the buffs. For additional threat, I sneak in a shield slam when he starts to cast vortex while standing on top of the stacked sparks.

Phase 2:
At 50% of Malygos' life, he starts to fly away and summon adds. During this phase, we had another tank help in holding the Nexus Lords while the rest burned down the marked adds. When one of the adds die they drop their hover disk. Our highest melee DPS then rides the disk to engage the flying Scions of Eternity. One by one raid members (melee) climbed over the fallen disks and attacked the Scions. After killing all the adds on the ground (Nexus Lords) I threw out some raid heals and fired Exorcism/Avenger's Shield to the nearest Scion. I managed to ride on a hover disk (all melee DPS are already on a disk) and even got the achievement Heroic: Denyin' the Scion :D.

Phase 3:
After all the adds are killed, Malygos destroys the platform where the raid is standing on. Everyone falls down... fortunately the Red Dragonflight arrives and catches everyone on the raid. Each member now controls a dragon (drake) mount and phase 3 starts. Some drakes (may be 3 or 4) were assigned for healing while the rest were DPS.

The drake has the following *abilities:

Flame Spike - 10 energy (adds one combo point, costs )
Engulf in Flames - 50 energy (consumes combo points)
Revivify - 10 energy (builds combo points)
Life Burst - 50 energy (consumes combo points)
Flame shield - 25 energy (requires combo points on your target; consumes them)
Sprint (30 second cooldown)

* from stratfu

DPS drakes will be doing a 1-1-2 spell rotation while healers will target themselves and do a 3-3-3-3-3-4 rotation. During this phase, Malygos has an ability Surge of Power which targets 3 random players and deals a large amount of damage every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds. The targeted drake should then use his shield (spell 5) to minimize the damage taken. This is usually the part where most members die. Either they weren't able to accumulate enough combopoints / energy to cast the spell or they just didn't notice it. We always reach Malygos' enrage phase, the Engulf in Flames stack just wasn't high enough. They completely fall off when using the shield, especially when Malygos targets a member more than twice in a row.

I learned a few things during this fight and hopefully will be put to good use during the next encounter.

For phase2, it is much faster if the ranged DPS focus on the flying Scions right from the start while the melee DPS handle those on the ground. If no Scion is within range, ranged DPS can then help killing the ground adds.
For phase 3, DPS spell rotation should be 1, 1, 1, 2 or even 1, 1, 1, 1, 2. The debuff time for Engulf in Flames is dependent on the number of combopoints used up. The more 1's you use, the more combopoints is generated and thus the debuff will not fall off so fast giving you enough time to use your shield (when being focused with Surge of Power) and not worry about your debuff on Malygos falling off.

Even though we failed to kill Malygos, I am still quite happy about the progress we have made so far. I did not even expect we were going to reach phase 3. The guild has become stronger as members continually get gear upgrades from our Naxx25 runs. I am however quite annoyed that until today, these words still keep echoing inside my mind... "Alexstrasza! Another of your brood falls! "...

How to Grasp Wintergrasp [Alliance]

2009-05-22T14:09:00.013+08:00

I had been a tankadin my entire WoW life (started at BC era) even when I leveled from 70-80 :O. After the dual-spec option came out I finally tried the retribution tree and now... I love to clobber mobs and players on the head (inside WoW of course :P). I was surprised how fast I could kill mobs, with a swing or two they go down. Questing has been so much easier resulting in me doing about 15 dailies per day. When I run out of dailies I go to battlegrounds and bash players there. I then started joining Wintergrasp (WG) events and now I got hooked to it that I join WG every chance I get. I even installed an addon to announce if WG is starting.

Having been in a number of battles, I managed to create a list of things to DO and NOT DO in order to win a game.

Wintergrasp defense:
1. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT attack the West Workshop at the beginning of the battle. You're wondering why not? Firstly, the Horde spawns from the west and they usually come in "hordes" at the beginning of a battle. We don't want to get outnumbered now would we? Secondly, the horde will get a lot of kills at the start of the battle thus resulting in a vehicle rush. They will easily max out their rank and a LOT of siege engines will be coming our way which would surely result to a very epic FAIL.
2. Man the cannons on the west. These cannons are pretty deadly especially if aimed well.
3. Stay within the fortress or outside the fortress within cannon range. The fortress has a pretty solid defense, use this to your advantage. This would shed off a good 5 minutes or more from the counter while the horde desperately look for kills to raise their ranks and be able to purchase siege engines.
4. Assign a group (5 players will do) to destroy the horde towers and capture horde workshops. Do not waste manpower by sending a large group to destroy towers, let the rest help in defending the fortress. The most effective path to take would be from taking East workshop then attacking South-East tower, South tower then South-West tower. Destroying and capturing Horde workshops in between the towers helps as well. There is also a trick where you cut off the Hordes Vehicle supply by taking West Workshop when most hordes have already gotten in the fortress.

Wintergrasp offense:
1. Let some melee classes capture the east workshop while all ranged classes attack the fortress and start taking out the cannons. Take the cannons out as early as possible. They have low HP so this would not be much of a hassle. If you have a few ranged classes (which I doubt), get catapults early on to help destroy the cannons.
2. After maxing your rank, run back to the workshop and start creating siege engines. Don't be greedy by creating just one for yourself but create lots of siege engines so that many can benefit from it. If you do this, start announcing to the raid (or in /1) that you are creating siege engines and specify which workshop you are making them.
3. As much as possible, do not attack with siege engines when you are alone. Look for gunners or better yet, wait for the other players to get on the other siege engines then attack together. Attacking with a single vehicle is pretty much a suicide. They can easily spot you and focus fire could bring the vehicle down pretty quick.
4. When attacking with vehicles, attack the fortress from the north east side (see map here). This side has lesser cannons (if cannons were not destroyed earlier on) and as an added bonus, inside you can find a horde workshop. Destroy the workshop to help minimize the number of vehicles the horde will be creating.
5. If the fight drags on, assign people to defend the towers (or at least slow down their destruction).

[A] Zombiefest!

2009-05-22T09:49:00.016+08:00

Achievement: Zombiefest
Description: Kill 100 Risen Zombies in 1 minute in The Culling of Stratholme on Heroic Difficulty
Group Composition:
Paladin (Tank - Sarevok)
Druid (Healer - Nearwin)
Death Knight (DPS - Xzeeviera)
Rogue (DPS - Murdak)
Hunter (DPS - Buldozers)

We ran the first part of the instance normally, killing ghouls, zombies and running back and forth to each mob's spawn points. The real trick starts from the second boss Salramm the Fleshcrafter. I kited Salramm towards the Town Hall (where the rest of the group were already waiting) and brought him upstairs. We then killed the zombies that were kited along with the boss. At this point, you should keep Salramm alive for about 2 minutes or more, and hope that all the zombies from the previous path have already respawned. The dps just focused on killing the adds that Salramm keeps summoning and the healer spammed heals while I spammed different kinds of emotes to the boss (/dance, /lick, /tickle, etc.. :P). After I ran out of emotes to spam, we proceeded to kill Salramm. We waited inside the Town Hall for Arthas to arrive (it took about a minute until he got there). I then slowly went outside to talk to Arthas (careful not to pull aggro on the zombies outside) to start the next phase of the instance. Nothing special was done during this phase, just kill the mobs spawned then kill the third boss Chrono-Lord Epoch. By this time you will be led by Arthas to a secret passage through a hidden path behind one of the bookshelves. This is where the fun part begins :D.

We divided our party into two groups. Group A, consisted of Me, our healer Druid (Nearwin) and Rogue (Murdak) while the DK (Xzeeviera) and Hunter (Buldozers) made up group B. Group B's task is to go back to the first street (at the beginning of the instance) and kill all the zombies they could find. There are only about 85 zombies there (and that is if they have all successfully respawned) so we would still need 15 more zombies to successfully complete the achievement. That is where group A comes in, we are to go to the second street (next part of the instance down through the secret passage) and kill all the zombies we can manage to gather. The second street is also filled with elite mobs that is why we needed the healer.

We then went to our respective positions after everyone was prepped up, (Group A - door to second street where Arthas is standing. Remember, do NOT to talk to Arthas or else he will begin killing the mobs outside. Group B - door to first street). Remember to track this achievement (open achievement interface then check the tracking checkbox on the Zombiefest achievement) so that you will know the time left and how many more zombies needed killing. Group B signalled the start of their zombie-killing-spree then we followed suit.

We saw the zombie-counter rise as group B started gathering and killing the zombies they saw. Our group (group A) then slowly pushed our way down the second street being careful not to pull too many elite mobs. A few seconds elpased and the time-limit was almost over but yet we only killed around 85 zombies. I then ran forward to get more zombies not minding the elite ghouls and arachnids being pulled with the mobs. I held all the aggro for a few seconds then the rogue did his aoe thingy which got most of the zombies' attention. Sadly, the zombies made quick work of him (/mourn). However his death was not in vain because the aoe move took out enough zombies to beat the zombie-counter. "Woooooooooooooooot!" we wooted.

I then told group A to retreat upon seeing a large mob of undead creatures coming our way. But as luck would have it, one of the spiders entangled me with its webs... [Hand of Freedom] was on CD so I hit [Every Man for Himself] (yey humans!) instantly freeing me from the deadly webs. Alas the spider once again caught me. Feeling a bit helpless, I decided to just hold them until group B arrives. I raised my Holy Shield, put Sacred Shield up and even used Bubble Wall but my life just kept waning. A few seconds have gone by and still no heals came my way, "The druid must've died too." I thought to myself. When I looked back however I found that our dear tree friend was running away for his dear life >.> then darkness came...

Achievements!

2009-05-18T11:28:00.006+08:00

One of the few things that makes life inside Azeroth exciting are the achievements. They either measure how good your current gear is, how good the player is or how smart you play the game. Some even require a good 5-man team composition in order to achieve, one achievement that comes in to mind is Less-Rabi where you need to prevent Moorabi (a boss in Gundrak) from transforming into a mammoth. For this achievement, classes with lots of short-cd interrupts are very much needed (think rogues). An elemental shaman with 5 of 5 reverberation spec is usually very helpful as well since his cooldown for earth shock would coincide with Moorabi's recast time for transformation which is 5 seconds after each interrupt (I think at below 50% of his life). Many would surely agree that this is currently the hardest heroic-dungeon achievement, actually I myself haven't completed this achievement yet >.>. From hereon, I will be showing you some of the achievements that we have completed and how we managed to pull it off. :)

Dee Pee Ess

2009-05-13T10:51:00.013+08:00

Lately I have been trying to build my retribution set by rolling on offspec pieces in our Naxx runs and buying BOE items in the auction house (AH). Everytime a plate dps item drops I cross my fingers hoping that my fellow plate-wearing DPSer's will pass on the main roll so that I may have a chance in the offspec roll. On our last visit to heroic Naxx I managed to snag a T7.5 shoulder for my offspec retribution set :D. And now with 64 emblems of valor, I can now buy a new bracer ([Wristbands of the Sentinel Huntress]) to replace my trusted [Vengeance Bindings].

However, not all my dps-gear-hunting adventures went according to plan. I failed to get the best DPS trinket [Darkmoon Card: Greatness] (which has a whopping 114.00 DPS value according to MaxDPS). This trinket is acquired by turning in a [Nobles Deck] to a certain NPC during the Darkmoon Faire event. Unluckily for me, I failed to assemble the deck on time since I lack 4 more cards. These cards were sold in AH for about 1000 gold each (expensive due to the fact that it was the last day for Darkmoon Faire) and buying them would result in me living on scraps in the next few weeks T~T. Guess I'll just wait for the next faire then >.>.

Kel ' zu"Thud"

2009-03-30T09:19:00.013+08:00

Giant turtles, giant trees and rampaging hunters and rogues. That was the scene we witnessed as we (me with fellow guildies and a pug) engaged Kel'Thuzad (one of the principal agents of the Lich King) in one of the most exciting battles that have ever been fought within the walls of Naxxramas.

The fight started with us bunching up together in the middle of Kel's room, surrounded by hundreds of scourge, trying to fend them off as much as we could. Waves and waves of skeletons, banshees and abominations march their way towards us as Kel stood by his throne waiting for the perfect time to strike.

The scourge ranks slowly thinned, slaughtered by deadly spells and strikes. Then, Kel'Thuzad struck...

A fellow Paladin engaged Kel at the center of the room as the rest of the raid settled to their respective positions trying to find the perfect spot to cast their spells or assist others through healing. I found a good spot at the lower left part of the room far enough for my ranged spells to hit Kel (not that the damage I did mattered anyway >.>) and far enough to be at a safe distance form other raid members. Realizing the ineffectivity of my damage (loldps is lol), I switched to my healing spells and threw a couple of heals here and there.

When Kel realized he was losing, he called upon the Lich King to send for help.

Kel'Thuzad: Master! I require aid!
The Lich King: Very well... warriors of the frozen wastes, rise up! I command you to fight, kill, and die for your master. Let none survive...

Four Nerubian Crypt Lords joined the battle and started attacking our healers. I grabbed the first two while the other tanks grabbed the remaining two. The two gigantic Crypt Lords blocked most of my field of vision, all I could see now is the blue chitin armor on the underbelly of the Crypt Lord and the ground below me. My life waxed and waned, lifesaving cooldowns were used and trinkets popped to avoid getting clobbered by these gigantic abominations. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours as my body screamed in pain trying to dodge the Crypt Lord's powerful attacks.

Then everything just faded... Blood... Sweet, tasty blood... I hungered for blood...

I regained consciousness in the middle of Kel's room, bodies of fallen comrades littered the floor. There at my side lay the body of Kel'Thuzad. One comrade asked me if I was ok, then I remembered what happened. Memories started gushing in, memories of me striking down my comrades, memories of how the remaining raid members valiantly stood their ground while I was controlled by Kel, how they continued attacking Kel while the Crypt Lords decimated our ranks, memories of Kel falling to the floor, memories of Crypt Lords scampering away from battle after seeing their master fall down...

We did it! We killed Kel'Thuzad! The group erupted into cheers as healing and resurrection spells where cast all around the room.

The Lost Tale

2009-03-19T12:05:00.009+08:00

Taken from one of Injunjoe's lost scrolls describing an epic battle fought deep within the Nerubian lair "Azjol-Nerub".

---------------------------------------------------------------------

One night, 5 dreary Bisdak members went to hunt spiders in the cave at AN
.. and Lo! Hordes of horde were waiting in ambush!!!

Sarevok broke the tooth off the orc shaman...
.. Sygbine bit the leg of the tauren cow warrior
...Murdak death-kissed their female elf paladin
....Ascorbate ripped the skull off the undead priest
...and Cephas stripped the Knight out of their troll Death Knight.

It was a long terrible fight. The cave echoed with the awful noises of painful screams and battlecries. All around people stopped and wonder if the titans themselves have descended and laid a terrible war against the dragons. Only to find out it was the terrible screams of these valiant heroes as they tipped their glasses on their pcs, ram their keyboards hard, kicked their desks and shook their fists at the latency rate.

In the end...after several thousands of milliseconds of that awful battle..silence came. And when the dust cleared.. a lone unflagged alliance gnome came out from the corner and shouted in testament to the scene of glory depicted before him: "FTW Alliance rules!"

And there 5 men...of the clan Bisdak valiantly stood...with their shining swords and golden armors bloodied and soaked with the blood of the enemy. And all around them lie the bodies of 8 hordes. The rest flew away, terrified..never again will they try their will against our young heroes.

At last...one of the 5 spoke.

"Naa na tanan? Tara na. Sayang oras." "Ok, let's go!" "Unsa to sila?" "Ambot nag tira man so tira lang pud ko.." "ah...looya oi." "Bitaw... " "pa bap pls.... "

And our heroes walked into the lair of the spider.

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As depicted in a painting by an anonymous artist:

Upgrades

2009-03-17T16:43:00.002+08:00

After a few gear upgrades, here is how I look like now.

Bubble-Hearth Denied!

2009-03-17T12:43:00.010+08:00

It was a bright and sunny afternoon. We just finished defending Wintergrasp from the evil horde and there I was, browsing the goods sold by Knight Dameron, minding my own business when out of nowhere a Blood Elf Paladin started firing judgements on me. Angered by this sneak attack, I quickly put my Seal up and started firing judgements myself. With one quick cast he stunned me as he tried to get around me. Panic struck me since getting hit at the back is not something you would want to experience...ever. Using all my might I freed myself from his stun and quickly turned to face him raising my shield altogether. He struck, I blocked, and he got hit by the reactive spell that I had already placed on my shield. My arm ached from the strength of his blow while he staggered back arms and head bloodied. I took advantage of this lapse by lurching forward and hammering him with a stun. I then consecrated the ground below him, fired a powerful judgement and finished with a powerful slam using my shield. His life waned, slowly eaten away by my judgements. He then cast a bubble to protect himself from more attacks then started to use his hearthstone to teleport away to safety. Unfortunately for him I am a Paladin myself and I know the weakness of such a technique... In the end, he lay there bloodied and lifeless.

EDIT: Since patch 3.1, players are now immune to this spell's damage making this trick no longer work. I have mixed emotions about this change though, happy that it is now safe to use bubble-hearth when I encounter hordes of horde (not that I use this everytime) and sad that I can no longer deny Paladin Hordes their bubble-hearth...

Thy Face Revealed

2009-03-05T14:38:00.005+08:00

Lo and behold! Sarevok, Argent Champion, Champion of the Frozen Wastes!

A New Beginning

2009-01-13T13:44:00.006+08:00

I felt the temperature slowly drop as the boat neared Northrend. A crowd of humans, dwarves and elves have gathered by the wharf to welcome us new arrivals. I checked my gear, sword and shield, getting ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Valiance Keep is a major Alliance settlement in Northrend (Borean Tundra). Within these walls, an expeditionary force to reach Icecrown and defeat Arthas is beig prepared. Because of this, the Scourge sends a constant stream of undead creatures to hinder such preparations.

The anchor was dropped, decks sreeching as the boat came to a halt. I hopped on to my charger and galloped towards the Keep, carefully maneuvering myself away from piles of crates and children running around. The Keep has long been home to some people especially to the armored knights assigned to guard its walls.

I stood by the gates trying to assess the Keep's defenses. Hordes of Alliance warriors, spellcasters and knights passed by me charging towards the enemy Scourge who were lurching their way towards the Keep. By then I knew it has begun.

Retribution

2008-11-13T10:43:00.005+08:00

The bright orange rays of the setting sun gleamed over my tank-specced goggles as I stood there in Stormwind Harbor, waiting for the steam-powered icebreaker (The Kraken) to transport me to Northrend, a frozen wasteland which is home to the evil Scourge. To my left stood a Death Knight projecting some dark aura giving me chills, making the light within me flicker. They were once the mighty Champions of the Lich King. It still amazes me how they managed to break free of the Lich's control. The mere thought of joining forces with these beings of the dark greatly unsettles the light within me. Thoughts of being a zombie began rushing back... the bloodlust, the excitement... I fired up my devotion aura, recast righteous fury and replaced my blessing of sanctuary. I felt better, much better. Today is not the time to be affected by these things for today we bring the war to the Lich King's lands. Death Knight's are our allies and powerful ones to be exact. It is time for Dark and Light to blend, fight side-by-side and focus on one goal. The downfall of the Lich King.

The steam-powered boat arrived at the port, we mounted up and climbed on. I looked at the Death Knight and raised my hammer, he did the same with his runesword and together we shouted "For the Light/Dark!". The boat started to move... it is time for retribution...

Divine Intervention 101

2008-11-06T09:42:00.006+08:00

"No sacrifice goes unrewarded. The ultimate sacrifice has great rewards indeed." -wowwiki

To cast Divine Intervention (DI) successfully, the following requirements should be met:

1. Make sure you have learned the spell Divine Intervention from your local paladin trainer.
2. Buy the spell reagent Symbol of Divinity from friendly reagent vendors.
3. Place the Divine Intervention spell from your spellbook to any spell slots available. We don't want to lose a few seconds browsing our spellbook for the spell during battle now would we?
4. Target (click) the player you want to DI then cast (click) the Divine Intervention spell. This is known to fail sometimes so just to be sure, just cast the spell first then target it to the player.
5. Better yet, just create a macro like below:

/target Sealtiel
/y Casting Divine Intervention on psycho priest!
/y It is a good day to die!
/cast Divine Intervention

Well, to be safe, just use the macro below. (The psycho priest may already be long dead before you can cast the spell. >:) )

/y Casting Divine Intervention on %t!
/cast [target=target, help, nodead] Divine Intervention

(Just be sure to click the player to be DI-ed before using the macro.)

---

Some tips:
- Make sure that the target for the spell will be far away from any mobs.
- Make sure that you are in range of your target.
- Make sure that the target is in your line of sight.
- Make sure that you are alive during casting.

Salvation

2008-11-01T19:43:00.001+08:00

From the Eastern Plaguelands to Tanaris, I trampled through the remaining scourge armies. I have burned down scourge after scourge until the shards powering their gigantic necropolis got destroyed. I have collected hundreds of necrotic runes and asked the Argent Dawn Quartermasters as to what I can do with it. He looked at me with awe, he smiled and made me kneel. He unsheathed his holy sword and patted me by the shoulders. "Mighty Sarevok, you have shown loyalty and courage beyond our expectations. You helped us drive out the cursed scourge from our lands. You have proven yourself to be a righteous knight and a formidable ally to the Argent Dawn. You have earned our trust and so I present to thee our holy tabard. Wear this as a sign of our brotherhood. Wear this proudly and may the Light be with you always!"

I rose to my feet, head feeling light. I have found salvation, and I have once again become a mighty beacon for the Light.

Repentance

2008-10-31T11:36:00.002+08:00

A bright light flashed through the skies driving away the Scourge army back to the dark abyss where they came from. White smoke covered the entire battlefield. Slowly, men in shiny armor emerged from the smoke. Bringing with them a certain aura which lifted the dark presence away from those near them.

"What's this I see?"
"What happened to me?"

The last thing I remember was that I was releasing Holy Wrath as the undead started charging towards me... What have I done? My hammer's been stained and shield broken... I have failed the Light... Is there still salvation for me?

Brainsssssssss.....

2008-10-28T10:09:00.003+08:00

I... feel... different...... I.... hungry... ... must... eat... brainsss... sweet... tasty...brains... ... Let... us.. march... forward.... LUUUUUUURCH!!!!!!.... brainsss....

Into the darkness

2008-10-24T10:22:00.002+08:00

Dark clouds circled the sanctuary as strange creatures slowly marched their way in. People started screaming as the stench of the undead draws near. I hopped on my charger and charged into the dark mist. What I saw made me cower, a thousand zombies lurching towards me. I looked around for help, alas, everyone has been turned. There I stood in the middle, surrounded by these vile creatures. The last beacon of light in this blasted sanctuary. I knelt on one knee, said my prayers to thee, "For the light!", I yelled, as I popped my wings, consecrated the ground and released my Holy Wrath. Slowly the light has faded, overrun by death... .. .... .. ... brainsssss...

Paladin Reborn (WotLK)

2008-10-16T14:41:00.005+08:00

Voices... People mumbling, people talking. I opened my eyes, looked around, slowly taking in the intense bright light beaming over me. I felt something strange, I sensed something different. My body seemed lighter even in full plate gear. I took a step forward... Power overflowing... Power overwhelming...

To Fel a Reaver

2008-10-10T09:09:00.006+08:00

Boredom has spread like wildfire in the Bisdak guild. Fewer and fewer people have been online in the past few days. Life outside Azeroth, coupled with the anticipation for the opening of a new world (Northrend) made people realize the futility of the things that they are to be doing today, for when the gates and portals to Northrend will open, new gears will appear, where some measely "green" (normal) pieces will be far more powerful than our current epic (purple) gears. To cope with this epidemic (boredom), we (together with some guild members) decided to try and do "crazy" things that could help spice up this monotonic way of life.

First stop, kiting Fel Reaver into Shattrath City :D.

Our first few attempts have failed miserably. At first we chose the wrong path, then in our second attempt (a 2-man group, I was tanking and Zinghyi, the crazy warrior, was healing me.yep he's a healing warrior lol bandage heals ftw! haha) we managed to get to Shattrath but I didn't know the exact location of the stairs leading to Adal so we lost Fel Reaver in the process.

So we went back to find this oversized mechanical machine once more. This time we managed to invite more bored guild members including a proper healer :D (I still love bandage heals btw :P). To do as little damage as possible to the poor Reaver, I used my ever loyal mining pick to kite him.

Yep we were that bored :P. Watch out for more crazy stuff that we will be doing in the following days to come. :D

AV (not what you're thinking :P)

2008-09-29T10:57:00.006+08:00

Recently, I started joining battlegrounds as a way to get rid of boredom ( dailies have become quite boring... I needed the gold though :| ). One of my favorites ( due to the fact that Alliance are always winning :D ) is Alterac Valley (AV). I usually just rush Relief Hut (RH) and setup a defense from there. If lucky, only one or two Hordes will be there trying to defend the hut. Since right now I am wearing pve gear, I usually am the one who tries to hold Drek while the others just dps him down.

Hordes usually hate it when we rush RH. To avoid this, they usually do a turtle then just defend RH. When this happens, I bathe in Horde blood >:). I can usually take a couple of melee players (with LoH) without healers. However, spellcasters are quite a pain. I usually just turn them to a chicken then runaway (unless they turn me to a sheep first <.<).

Death by stampede?

2008-09-18T11:01:00.004+08:00

Finally we faced Magtheridon. A creature so powerful that 5 channelers were required in order to banish it. While we were busy discussing about what to do when engaging Magtheridon, someone from the raid accidentally disturbed one of the channelers holding him. As a result, all 5 channelers started attacking us and the gates suddenly closed. All hell broke loose as everyone started dashing towards the closed gates... One by one the raid members fell, bodies piling up by the gate. After the dust had settled, what remained were corpses lined up, an eerily familiar scene resulted from the image that I saw that night...

How to leave a raid (with style)

2008-09-12T08:44:00.003+08:00

We were raiding Karazhan when we encountered a lot of anomalies, i.e. enemies suddenly respawning, not getting damaged and having a very large aggro range. After millions of wipeouts, we decided to regroup. Everyone started leaving the raid group when a certain hunter told us that "this" is the best way to do it. See picture below :P

All-around fighter part 3 (Murmur)

2008-09-05T13:58:00.011+08:00

Shadow Labyrinth is a place occupied almost entirely by orcs and demons. Together with 4 others, Mayotta the crazy warlock, Yujin the tanking cat, Edencelestia the tiny, threat-grabbing mage, and last but not the least, Quago the uber healer, we sieged this place to try and destroy Murmur, the essence of sound.

There we stood before Murmur, a hulking elemental wielding a gigantic sword. Discussions took place on what each of us were to do and not to do during the encounter. Everyone is supposed to be inside the raised, inner ring in which Murmur is standing in order to avoid being hit by his spell Thundering Storm and everytime he is about to cast Sonic Boom everyone should run outside the ring to avoid getting hit. After all the planning, weapons were sharpened and buffed, we were ready.

Our first few attempts were disastrous, plans were not executed accordingly and Murmur totally owned us. Our dpsers always die early on, getting hit by sonic boom or Resonance, probably my fault for not going back to Murmur early enough after each sonic boom :|.

Anyway, we brought Murmur down to around 6% when again the dpsers got owned. Only two of us were left fighting, Quago the healer and me the tank. We continued fighting on amid the yells of our teammates to use Divine Intervention :P. A minute went buy, 2, 3 minutes, we were still alive and Murmur is getting some ass kicking. At around 2% of Murmur's health, Quago has gone out of mana. I was now relying on my survivability and praying that I wont get hit with sonic boom. Then it happened, I was busy looking at Quago's mana pool that I didn't notice Murmur casting sonic boom. It was too late to run now, so I did what every good paladin would do in situations like this. I bubbled (Divine shield). At around 1% health of Murmur's health, Quago went down, leaving me alone with the enraged Murmur.

Murmur started casting sonic boom, I ran outside the ring then went back inside. I stopped out of melee range then fired my hammer of wraths (my only long ranged attack which is usable when enemies are below 20% health). The spell critted which caught Murmur offguard, sending him back to the dark abyss from which he came. The battle was over and all that remained was a gigantic sword plunged on the ground where Murmur once stood.

All-around fighter part 2 (Prince)

2008-09-05T10:17:00.006+08:00

We were raiding Karazhan and were now attempting to bring down the Master of Karazhan, Prince Malchezaar (widely known as the Prince). At first, the fight went on flawlessly, Infernal drops were far away and I was generating a decent amount of threat to hold the Prince as the other raid members tried to burn down him down. But as luck would have it (thanks to murphy's law <_<), Infernals rained down on the other raid members and near the place where I was holding off the Prince. The group scattered about trying to stay alive as the Infernal were slowly eating away their health. As I was trying to maneuver away from the Infernals, I lost the Prince's threat and he then made his way to our poor healers and ranged dps. He killed most of the raid members before I got his attention back. I was taking a lot of hits from him since I wasn't able to raise my shield most of the time while trying to stay away from the Infernals. My health waned as Prince continued to bash me with his fists and since the healers were busy trying to stay alive. Only two of us remained then, the other was a healer, a fellow paladin.

When the Prince's life was around 1%, I had to use my Divine Shield to avoid death (healer was still dodging Infernals). Upon seeing that I was immune to most of his attacks, the Prince turned around and his attention now focused on the healer. I quickly healed myself back to good health before canceling my Divine Shield. Unfortunately, I was too late, my fellow paladin didn't make it...

So there we were, standing on the rooftops of Karazhan, the Prince (around 1% health) and the great paladin (yours truly), the two of us alone, trying to duel it out. It was a sudden-death match, winner takes all. I made the first move, grabbed my shield and threw it as hard as I can to the diabolic Prince. I tried to pop my wings but could not do it, forbearance holding it back. I then opened my libram and searched for the page containing the Exorcism spell. I chanted the words and boom the Prince screamed, life draining away. However, this didn't stop him from charging towards me. Without wasting any second, I did another chant, calling upon the powerful holy magic, I then threw my charged weapon at the Prince, further cutting down his life.

With the Prince now on melee range, we engaged in "hand-to-hand" combat (me using sword and shield). I raised my shield everytime I had the chance, blocking his attacks and him receiving reflected damage. The fight dragged for about 30 seconds, both of us nearing death, my life held by the holy power of ardent defender. Swing, hit, block, cast a seal, release a seal, the fight went on until the last of the Prince's life was taken away by an exorcism spell. The Prince then crumpled down to the floor as I stood there gazing triumphantly at his lifeless body.

All-around fighter part 1 (Introduction)

2008-09-05T06:46:00.005+08:00

"The paladins are the virtuous defenders of the weak and tireless enemies of the undead. Mixing elements of the warrior and the priests of the Holy Light, the paladin is a tough melee fighter." -wowwiki

Being a hybrid class however, also makes us the least preferred choice in pugs (pickup groups) especially as a retribution build. Why settle for hybrid when you can have pure dps classes? A nice argument... But then again, have you considered survivability? I have been part of great battles and have found out that there's always a chance that an encounter can go catastrophically wrong and cause heart-breaking wipes. In most of these situations, I found that the last classes standing are always paladins.

Plate armor, defensive spells, healing spells, healing seals and judgements, these are just a few of the advantages that we paladins have in terms of survivability.

I survived an encounter

2008-09-01T13:05:00.006+08:00

Helm, check. Armor, check. Gloves, check. Boots, check. Weapon, check.

All dressed up and good to go. Checking myself from head to toe. All buffed up and natural. I'm feeling beautiful.

There we were again, standing inside Gruul's lair for another attempt to bring down the highly feared gronn overlord. Twenty (20) eager guild members were present in the raid. Armed with knowledge and experience from the past encounters, we marched forward.

Today, I am a damage dealer. With my great two-handed mace, I engaged Gruul, hammering his two large feet. I have successfully maneuvered myself away from other players in each ground slam that Gruul did. I smiled with satisfaction, I have avoided death in the first few minutes of the fight.

As the fight dragged on, Gruul grew to a total of 13 and with one powerful swing, he totally obliterated the powerful warrior who was occupying his attention. Luckily there were 2 backup warriors ready to take over for this kind of situation. However, with about 1% health remaining, Gruul easily disposed off the two backup warriors. With death in mind, I continued to swing my mace, throwing a few hammer of wraths everytime I got the chance. Gruul didn't make it that long, with spells and bullets hitting him from every direction, he fell to the ground headfirst, screaming in pain.

The guild erupted to a series of cheers and shouts. Drinks were tossed around as the sexy fighters danced away the victory. We have defeated Gruul once again. And this time we did it with just 20 people and in only 1 try. The best part of it is that, I survived the encounter...

Next stop, Magtheridon.

The art of fleeing (paladin style)

2008-08-29T09:14:00.009+08:00

There are battles which you know right from the start that you have no chance of winning but still you engage it just for fun or you have nothing else to do :P. I myself have engaged in such battles and have miraculously lived to boast about it. Do you want to know how I did it? Before I tell you though, I'll list down some memorable battles where such technique owns :P. Enjoy!

1. I was merrily flying over the Hellfire Peninsula searching for mining nodes when I noticed a level 69 rogue Horde player (undead) trying to capture The Stadium (for the pvp daily quest Hellfire Fortifications). Upon seeing that he is a level below me, I immediately maneuvered my gryphon to land near this Horde player. The rogue backed up a bit after seeing the powerful gryphon land in front of him. He then just stood there looking at me, unable to move, unable to flee. "RAWRRRR!", the gryphon rawred (lol), it became restless, I had a hard time unmounting from it. Then at that moment I smelled something fishy (was it coming from the undead rogue? :P)... I closed my eyes and concentrated on what the eye could not normally see. After a second my mind cleared, perception activated. There standing behind me was another Horde rogue (this time a bloodelf), level 70 and is under stealth. It was an ambush! They were waiting for me to strike first and get flagged :O. I then turned around and /slap the stealthed rogue. After he noticed that I saw him, he unstealthed and laughed. Three other Horde players then landed and I was surrounded. 2 mages, 2 rogues, and a druid vs a paladin. One of the mages challenged me to a duel. I laughed, I'm not falling for that one :P. He then performed a chicken dance (/chicken) to taunt me. "KEK", the rest of the Horde players laughed. I stood there helplessly watching the mage do the chicken dance... then... a smile spread across my face, I grinned an evil grin >:). "You want chicken?" I thought to myself, "Then take this!". I grabbed my Gnomish Poultryizer from my bag and aimed it at the dancing mage. "Pewpewpew!" I fired, he turned into a chicken, I laughed, laughed some more, laughed so hard that I didn't notice the other Horde players charging towards me. Want to know what happened next? Read on... :P

2. We were in Karazhan, trying to kill the final boss Nightbane. We wiped out so many times that we gave up trying (also since it's already way past bedtime for some of us, 3AM :P). Anyway, most of the raid members had already hearthed back to their respective inns and only three were left. A crazy, addict warlock named Mayotta (:P), a noisy, addict priest named Sealtiel :P and of course yours truly, a great paladin :P (though I forgot if another member was also there...). These crazy people then had some crazy idea of trying to kill Nightbane with only 3 people. Since I was always craving for great challenges, I agreed (crazy I say :D). The noisy priest then summoned the enormous flying beast. Little did I know that they were planning to run outside right from the start (lol), and little did they know that the doors leading outside will close once the great beast is summoned (double lol, no make that triple, lol :P). The sky darkened as Nightbane, king of the skies, flew overhead. The two crazy people then started running towards the exit leaving me behind. The beast landed and I ran... I sprinted as fast as I can towards the door. After the two crazy people realized that the doors were closed, they stopped and prayed lol. Nightbane flew past me and cleaved the crazy people to death (lol again). I laughed while saying "I see dead people!" lol. Did I survive the encounter? Read on...

3. We were in Gruul's lair, we just killed HKM and decided to have 1 attempt on Gruul just for the experience (after all we were only 18-strong). After we got wiped, we called it a day and some of the members ported back to their respective cities leaving behind the usual addicts, a crazed warrior named Zinghyi, a warfreak, addict rogue named Adik, the usual crazy fellows Mayotta and Sealtiel (see number 2 :P), the innocently addict druid Naerwen (innocent since she had no idea what's about to happen :P) and of course yours truly, the adventurous paladin (see 2 for another great description :P). As usual, we were planning to take on Gruul ourselves. While we were laying out our plans, an imp suddenly dashed towards Gruul (it was the crazy warlock's pet :D). I saw this and slowly backpedaled towards the door knowing that it's going to close once Gruul is disturbed. The imp fired, Gruul lurched forward instantly killing the poor imp. The door closed and luckily I made it outside, "whew" I sighed thinking it was over. It was when I saw an enormous hand reaching out from the door that I realized that we are done for. Gruul CAN get out of the door even when it is closed :O. 3000 hit points gone, 7000, my health was slowly thinning away. Gruul then struck the druid which was just standing by the door minding her own business :P. The warfreak rogue was on the other side of the door, luckily he stealthed just as Gruul was about to get him. Running for their dear lives, the crazy warlock, priest and warrior, raced towards the cave's exit, with Gruul right on their tail wildly bashing anything on his way. Sadly though, the poor crazy fellows didn't make it to the exit, Gruul had decimated their bodies :P. Meanwhile deep inside the lair, the lone rogue happily announced that he was alive and Gruul wasn't able to get him. This however was short-lived for when Gruul returned inside... need I say more? So why did Gruul not finish me off? or did he? Read on...

---

Now here's what happened on each of the three encounters above:
1. When the Horde players started firing at me, Divine Shield fired up (I was immune from all forms of damage for 12 seconds :D) then I hearthed back to my inn :P. Yes I survived and was laughing so hard.

2. When Nightbane was about to strike me, Divine Shield fired up and I hearthed back to my inn leaving the crazy fellows behind, dead :P.

3. When my health was very low, Divine Shield fired up and I hearthed back to my inn making Gruul change target and hit the innocent druid instead :P.

So in all three deadly encounters, I survived :D. The technique I used is widely known as Bubble Hearth. Something that all paladins should learn... and enjoy to the fullest. :P

Warning: Do not do this at home, unless if you're a paladin of course.

High King's revenge... or not

2008-08-28T09:58:00.008+08:00

High King Maulgar (HKM), the lord of the ogres in Blade's Edge Mountain, serve's as Gruul's right hand and is the guardian of his lair. Every week we (the guild) raid Gruul's lair and have to face this oversized ogre before we could reach Gruul himself. This week was not an exception. With an 18-strong raid, we seiged Gruul's lair.

I was assigned to hold off Blindeye the Seer, one of HKM's merry men (there were 4 of them). Blindeye hits slow so my threat generation was not so high which made the task of holding him quite challenging. I popped my wings from the start in order to deal more damage and thus more threat. I also had to use full level consecration to keep the threat coming. After minutes of pounding and slashing, Blindeye went down, dead, I heaved a sigh of relief. We then proceeded to the next target. While we were hammering the poor fellow, one of our great mages tanking the enemy mage Krosh (only a mage can hold him off), drained all his mana which cost him his life. The whole raid panicked since without someone occupying Krosh's attention, he could easily kill us off with his deadly fireballs and blast waves. Out of nowhere, a brave druid ran towards our mage's corpse and resurrected him. This desperate act caught Krosh's attention, filled with rage he burned down the hapless druid.

Healers went down one after another, upon seeing this, I ran towards the mage tank and the warrior tanking HKM. I reached for my libram and read the lines which activated my healing ability. I threw a couple of heals to our mage bringing his health back up to about 90%. Our hunters, shamans and druids (moonkin form) then threw everything they got on Krosh and he went down in just a second (or two).

Now there's only HKM left, every surviving raid member turned and charged at him. At 50% health he started his intimidating shouts which sent chills down my spines that in pure instinct, made me run away from him. He then suddenly charged towards the other raid members. Our main tank had a hard time catching up to him (I believe HKM stunned him for a few seconds), to prevent HKM from killing more of our raid members (especially the healers), I taunted him (I didn't exactly know how, shouted profanities perhaps? :P). He saw me standing right there in the middle of his lair then came charging right at me. I fired my holy shield then tried my best to hold him off until our main tank can recover. He was slowly whacking away my health until my armor and shield gave way. The next thing I know, I was lying face down eating dirt :P. "HKM finally got his revenge.", I thought to myself, thinking that HKM had also killed the rest of the raid. After about a minute I felt a familiar tug on my spirit, someone is trying to resurrect me. "Someone made it? Then this must mean... we won!". I then heard the cheers and laughter as my spirit slowly returned to my lifeless body.

Ritual of death

2008-08-28T09:05:00.001+08:00

I have fought in hundreds of battles and I found that casualties are unavoidable. In war we expect death and in death we expect redemption. But do you know what events take place in between death and redemption? Watch this :P

Rock on!

2008-08-24T23:56:00.000+08:00

After getting wiped a couple of times, the party's morale got so low and I felt that something should be done. Fortunately, someone brought along a boombox and here's what happened. :D

Gruul... no more

2008-08-24T10:44:00.000+08:00

I was in Ironforge bidding on auctions when I heard a summon from our guild. I then remebered that we were supposed to raid Gruul's Lair today. I headed to the bank to withdraw my equipment, potions, food and reagents then answered the summons. I felt the familiar tingling sensation as my body was transported from Ironforge to Blade's Edge Mountains where Gruul's Lair is found. Wow, a lot of people are already there. This is the first time that we totalled 25 in a single raid. I felt confident, tonight we'll dine in Gruul's blood.

We started the preparations, weapons were dipped in poison, sharpened and enchanted with magic. Magical buffs were casted, auras fired up, scrolls read. I adjusted my gear, today I deal damage and not take it.

Our main tank then charged towards Gruul. "Come... and die!", Gruul's voice echoed through his lair. We proceeded to our designated positions and then engaged the Gronn overlord (Gruul). Bam! Gruul hit the ground so hard that we were thrown all over the place. At this point, I remembered that we were supposed to stay away from each other since Gruul has a "shatter" ability where you will receive damage which is inversely proportional to the distance between you and your teammates. I ran towards the outer wall to avoid getting too close to the others. As luck would have it, one of my teammates landed right beside me. I fired up my Divine Shield in order to dispel the movement-reducing debuff. Alas, for some reason the spell failed (silence perhaps?). I saw a brief flash of light... then darkness... When I woke up (someone resurrected me), I saw Gruul lying on the floor, mouth open and saliva flowing out of his mouth. It was over, we have killed Gruul! Wooooooot!!!! (I was dead in most of the encounter though lol).

The art of war

2008-08-23T12:03:00.001+08:00

Yesterday we sieged Botanica. Our run was filled with bloopers such as accidental pulls, wipes and someone even had a hard time traversing a certain terrain :P. Before facing the final boss Warp Splinter, we have to clear up two groups of Frayer Wildlings. We then decided to pull both groups at once in order to make the fight a lot more fun (tanking multiple targets is after all something which I love to do :P). So I grabbed my shield and threw it to one of the cute walking flowers (frayers hehe). I then backpedaled towards the other group. Unfortunately, the other group got scared and didn't attack me (or so I thought lol). Anyway, I brought the attacking frayers up back the bridge where my group was waiting, raised my holy shield, then fired consecration. After the last of the frayers fell, I ran to the remaining group of frayers and pulled them in to the same spot I pulled the last group (lol that was confusing). I then proceeded with my tanking cycle (holy shield, consecrate, ...) and we finished the last of those cute critters. What remained were the wilted corpses of the poor frayers. Amazingly, their bodies lined up in a form of a moon. You may call it a pile of dead bodies, but I call it art :D. (yeah I know, screenshot or it didn't happen :P)

Reach for the sky!

2008-08-22T15:04:00.000+08:00

I've recently leveled my engineering skill to a full 375 (at the cost of tons of gold T_T). Now I'm trying to build myself a Turbo-Charged Flying Machine. Excitedly I took out my schematics, gathered all materials needed then took the portal to Ironforge. Slowly I built the gyrocopter parts, bolts, frames and all. Little by little the gyrocopter took form. Finally, I've done it! There in front of me stood a Flying Machine! "Wooooot!", I woooted.

I then grabbed the machine and started to activate my hearthstone back to Shattrath City (the flying machine only works in the Outlands and I don't know why <.<). I felt a tingling sensation as the hearthstone disassembled my molecules and reassembled it to the Scryers Inn in Shattrath City (yes I'm a Scryer). After a brief period of dizziness, I ran outside and took out the flying machine from one of my bags (I don't know exactly how it got in there :|). I hopped on to the drivers seat and happily flew away. But wait, somethings wrong... The machine seems to be running pretty slow. I then looked for someone with an epic mount and asked him to race. I activated my crusader aura (increased mount speed wooot) then raced away. The result, I lost... How could this be? I thought this flying machine would at least have the same speed as those epic mounts. I grabbed the schematics from my bag. There printed in large blue ink was the name Flying Machine Control. I built the wrong mount... How sad... I searched my bag for the right schematics. I read it and found out that I'll have to spend more gold for the materials (i.e. Hula Girl Doll for 100 gold :O /wrists lol). Oh well, back to doing dailies...

And so it came to pass...

2008-08-22T12:36:00.000+08:00

I am a Paladin, a holy knight in plate, I roam the planes of Azeroth in search of quests to help people in need. They call me Sarevok, and this is my story...

I was born in a jungle just outside of a great city called "Stormwind". I really didn't remember much of my past, but they say it was filled with pain and suffering. I am about 6 feet tall, has long blonde hair and fair skin. I eat bread, drink wine, sleep at night and work in the morning. I am human... I earn a living by doing errands for people I meet be it killing boars, delivering messages, or helping people in love. I've been in this job for 70 long months and throughout this journey I have gathered enough gear and equipment to help me perform my job a lot faster and safer. Through these months however, my quests have become a lot harder, boars turned to hellboars, messages became more confidential and people just turned on each other. One day, I saw a guild of people fighting for a cause. Thinking that it would make my quests a lot easier, I joined this guild and up until now, I'm a proud member of this guild called Bisdak.