Tonight I partook in two very successful PUG runs.
The first run wasn’t exactly a PUG since it was with the same tank that I ran with a few nights ago but the dps was from the LFG channel. I’ve honestly never run with a luckier player than this guy. Counting tonight, I’ve been on four heroic runs with him, and three of those runs have resulted in him getting an epic tanking weapon from the last heroic boss. Granted, him getting a tanking upgrade is just as valuable to me as me getting an epic healing item, but damn it’d be nice to get that “epic” achievement for myself.
The first run I did was heroic Culling of Stratholme. We decided to try for the timed run for the mount. I had my doubts because, as well as this tank is geared, he’s not completely familiar or comfortable with this place, and to make that 25 minute timer there isn’t much margin for error or delay, especially with the tank. He whispered me when we started that he “might need some guidance”.
The group consisted of a balance druid, enhancement shaman, fury warrior, protection warrior, and myself. Our first few pulls were fine. The mobs themselves were easy and went down relatively fast. My mana was fine except for a pull or two where the shaman pulled aggro and wound up tanking the mob himself. But I noticed that there was just too much lag between the end of one fight, and the tank running directly to begin the next.
The bosses went down quickly and dropped nothing of use to the group. By the time we got done the 10 waves and were reunited with Arthas there was only 12 minutes or so left. By the time we were done with the next boss, we had just 4 minutes. So we wound up not hitting the timer, but we moved VERY fast through the instance and with no problems at all. And even though we didn’t get to the bonus boss, we got the quickest 3 badges I’ve ever gotten…part of the reason for my love of that place.
While we were in the gaunlet, right as Arthas gives his final “Let me know when you’re ready to fight the final boss” talk, the balance druid bugged and DC’ed. The warrior didn’t notice this and began the encounter.
We 4-manned heroic Mal’ganis. It really wasn’t too hard except for the fact that the tank didn’t turn him away from the party enough so we occasionally got hit with his flame breath thing.
After we killed him, we looted and the warrior nabbed the shield. While doing that the druid logged in and got snippy with us for not waiting for him, as if we did it on purpose. He was ineligible for a badge. Poor guy.
Almost immediately after leave the Caverns of Time, I saw that a group was looking for a healer for heroic Utgarde Keep. I find Utgarde Keep to be the easiest heroic, with CoS being a close second, so I figured I might as well go for it.
Our group consisted of a paladin tank, shadow priest, death knight, rogue, and myself.
Before we started, I buffed the party, threw a scroll on myself, and grabbed a food buff. I normally don’t potion up while starting an instance just in case a group sucks. I like to “feel out” the party first. But if there is a group that I have confidence in, I happily take both elixirs, a food buff, and a scroll to make sure to pull my load.
The paladin gave me kings. I asked politely to give me wisdom instead. He either ignored me or didn’t see my message. No problem. The pulls were easy, I had enough mana to spare. A few pulls in I asked again for wisdom and he threw a cheap 10-minute version on me. Ok, I guess, that’s fine. I always make sure to have enough regeants for my party, but if he wants to apply a ghetto buff every 10 minutes then that’s his choice.
We downed the first boss, and started clearing more trash. My buff expired. I asked again “Can you refresh wisdom please?” The prick shadow priest snapped back with “We have two priests…your mana bar has been full this whole time while you had kings.” I responded: “I haven’t had kings, I’ve had wisdom. Extra mana never hurts.” He said “It hurts me.” Just being a dick, basically.
Although the run was a breeze, I didn’t feel the same way about the group after that. One asshole ruined the run for me.
I could have done the run with no buff at all, but more mana back to me means quicker pulls, which means we get our loot and the hell out of Dodge quicker. I don’t understand how taking a split second to buff you healer for mana regen could be a bad thing.
Anyway, we killed Ingvar relatively easily, considering the fact that tank and death knight ate the dark smash. Again, no loot for me but I left with 3 badges and another person on my ignore list.
