Instances I have known
- Blackrock Depths - 3-man with Nut at 70, Kierwyn and Toffy - 20080524
- The Temple of Atal'Hakkar #2 - Vending Machine Kierwyn and Toffy - 20080522
- Zul'Farrak - 3-man with Roone, Kierwyn and Toffy- 20080517
- Maraudon - PUG with Caverous, Aelwyn and Pilgore, Toffy and two random Pallys - 20080426
- The Temple of Atal'Hakkar - Nut the Vending Machine, Aelwyn and Pilgore and Toffy - 2008
Blackrock Depths - 3-man with Nut at 70, Kierwyn and Toffy - 20080524
Blackrock Depths was an experience. Trying this instance with the skills of a newly turned level 50 with Nut at 70 and Kierwyn at 54 proved to be pretty challenging for our squishy, noob-ish (let's just admit it, shall we) teenage Resto Druid.
Walking in was awe inspiring, but I couldn't help the thought running through my head (then and for the rest of the experience): "Welcome to Hell". Blackrock Depths is intimidating in scope and general horror - walking over the bottomless lava falls as a massive (and admittedly clumsy) Tauren - over chain link no less - was terrifying; and my patient companions had lengthy waits as Toffy took shaking, tiny, wee little steps across the yawning (and instantly lethal) pits of fire.
Due to general inexperience (you really would think I've been playing long enough now to be a little more proficient), terror and level, Toffy kept grabbing massive aggro throughout (as her spectacular pull of about 20 or 30 mobs on the Dark Iron Highway just before Bael'Gar will attest) as both Kierwyn and Nut were higher levels (and the fact that she was immediately identified as a healer), which meant standing close to them attracted massive numbers of mobs in most of the encounters. Toffy died more in this instance than in all the other combined - there are many dead healer shots below and on my hard drive ;-)
Kierwyn did a great job of fighting the mobs with help from Nut, and Toffy tried her best to keep up with the often wildly vascilating health bar. Some mobs were seriously nerfed from Nut's previous experiences (wiping brow), and some were not. This gave me serious pause when I considered how I would heal 4 other people (who weren't over-leveled by 20 levels) with similarly vascilating health bars!
Let's take the Lyceum for example. Nut very carefully explained we were to stick to his furry butt like glue as we walked through the Lyceum looking for the torches. Both Kierwyn and Toffy followed his directions carefully, and Kierwyn was able to handle herself when the inevitable crowds of murderous, chained mobs descended upon us. Unfortunately Toffy (with something like 200 hit points) didn't fare so well, and by the time we got to the torch "altar" he decided to have Kierwyn and I stay there while he found the second torch. Great plan if literally waves upon waves of prescient, nasty, rending, hamstringing, demonic, evil little dwarves (new groups of ten or more literally within seconds of each other) hadn't descended upon us, of course killing the healer repeatedly. Eventually, exhausted and rather torn up, Toffy entreated Nut to leave her dead while he and a very capable Kierwyn took on the dwarves in the rest of that hellish room to find the second torch. Toffy appreciated the break.
We eventually made our somewhat tattered way to Magmus, the enormous, fiery giant, who Kierwyn and Nut made short work of, and then fought our way towards Emperor Thaurissan. Because we didn't have 'The Princess Saved' Quest we could cheerfully murder Princess Moira which meant she couldn't heal the emperor.
"Work Complete", and some nice shots of the three adventurers on the throne.
All in all, I found BRD to be enormously rewarding (some nice pieces of loot Toffy can wear in the coming levels) but terribly stressful. Toffy is still a new healer, and I am often too busy with Meteor and everything else to play more than once or twice a week at best; both of which mean I am simply not a confident or practiced enough player to take an instance of this magnitude on with great success. Were it not for the long suffering patience of our enviable Nut, and the enthusiasm and good cheer from Kierwyn, I may not even have had an opportunity to visit what I now laughingly refer to as "Welcome to Hell".
If I get a chance to hone my skills and up my playtime a little, Toffy and I may just be ambitious enough to give the majesty that is Blackrock Depths another go one of these days. In the meantime I'm sure glad it's over ;-)
The Temple of Atal'Hakkar #2 - Vending Machine Kierwyn and Toffy - 20080522
Going back through the Sunken Temple with Kierwyn and Nut was great fun. Toffy was a little braver this time, consequently getting some cool close ups of the drakes Hazzas and Morphaz just before Nut went in and ate the Shade of Eranikus's pointy face. Toffy was braver here too (not quite as brave) and got some slightly better shots. Perhaps next time she'll be brave enough to run up and smack him on the nose...
There wasn't much that could go wrong here with Nut walking us through, but poor Toffy still mananged to get distracted and heal the air when a shade decided to start beating on her - landing a nice big heal... in the air. As Nut said in exasperation "Don't wait until you're at 85 HP to self heal!" Yup - that F1 key can come in handy every now and again ;-)
Our intrepid tank-in-training (bold and curious as all good tanks should be) was dying (heh) to know what would happen if we all jumped down the Pit of Sacrifice, and plaintively begged Nut to let us try. Nut did just fine, of course; unfortunately Toffy was a little too low level, and what was left of her already addled brain merely got splattered all over the stone stairs at the bottom; and an ecstatic (but also too low level) Kierwyn jumped to a glorious death with a gleeful shout. Nut was kind enough to rez them both for a lovely group shot at the end.
Zul'Farrak - 3-man with Roone, Kierwyn and Toffy- 20080517
Three-manning Zul'Farrak with Kierwyn and Roone was great fun. This was the first time out with Kierwyn as tank and me as healer, and boy did I learn a lot. First rule of thumb: when the bad guys turn your tank into a frog, the next person scheduled to die is the healer... Next time I won't forget Nature's Swiftness... twice (embarassed look).
We wiped a couple of times and spirits were low at some points, but Kerwyn fought like a tiger when everything seemed lost - and still fought like a tiger as she went down with a bunch of nasty mobs atop her and the healer laying dead at her feet. Roone managed to contain himself from yelling too much, and his strong leadership skills were much in evidence throughout our many battles - he won a nice new helm for his efforts along with our enduring respect.
All in all this was a great instance for the three adventurers, and I know Toffy is looking forward to more challenges and more learning.
The Temple of Atal'Hakkar - Nut the Vending Machine, Aelwyn and Pilgore and Toffy - 2008
Toffy's first introduction to the Sunken Temple was in the comforting presence of Nut at Level 70. He walked Aelyndal and Pilgore and Toffy through - Aelyndal for her dragon scales and Toffy for the experience both in XP and in learning.
The dragonkin were pretty scary for poor Toff, so the shots below are from very far away as she hid behind various walls and columns to avoid making eye contact with the fearsome beasts.
Aelyndal and Pilgore, of course, had no such cowardice and happily charged forth to take part in as much of the excitement as they could.
Maraudon - PUG with Caverous, Aelwyn and Pilgore, Toffy and two random Pallys - 20080426
The Maraudon PUG was a great learning experience for Toffy - her very first healing gig. Caverous, Aelyndal and Pilgore found a couple of eager Pallys and in we went for my first glimpse of the magnificence contained within Maraudon.
The Pallys were a little unsteady on their feet, the tank leaving us mid-instance after he got what he came for and decided teamwork just wasn't for him. The other comported himself with a little more dignity - but not a lot. I really wonder how people manage to find their way around without using coordinates - many of whom seem proud of the fact they don't know how to use them!
The healing went well for a first time as Toffy learned about healing multiple targets, the joy of a great off-tank in brave Pilgore and the hazards of charging into poisonous clouds of gas after the leader has admonished everyone NOT TO GO INTO THE CLOUDS OF POISON. (sigh)
The instance itself was beautiful with the falls and bower (not necessarily the famed princess) and the nasty carniverous plants (doing their level best to annihilate everything in their path) - even the massive Primordial Behemoths were awe-inspiring. Unfortuntately, after our tank abandoned us and the second Pally charged into the final fight with Tinkerer Gizlock (before our leader had finished the instructions which would almost certainly have contained a warning about the the damned pat at the ready even the Dungeon guide cautions against) our final memory was a wipe as waves of elementals (I'm pretty sure some Diemetradons joined the party) beat us to a bloody pulp....
The remaining Pally left us with his immortal, never-to-be-forgotten words "I never been in a wipe before... evar (sic)".
