Good trooper

The Christmas time went by playing WoW. Levelled Laiskajaakko up to lv58 (Outlands, here we come), and I tried to group as much as possible. But it seems that there is no real interest for people to group in the level range of 45-60, and that the dungeons at that range are mainly populated with soloing 80s getting their Achievements up to date.

As it happens, I spent the better part of one day doing the same. First went through Wailing Caverns: I've been there several times with several Horde toons and only once before this I had experienced the final boss. It was great, really, as a story and lore. What kind of bugged me, though, was the fact that I got the whole Set of the Fang as drops. Too bad there were no-one with me to enjoy the reaps. Out to Ratchet and empty the bags. Then, as I was in the neighbourhood, I decided to do the corpse running Achievement... I mean, Ragefire Chasm.

Boy what fun that was. Stripped, ran and died. Ran and died. Rinse and repeat 13 times to get inside the dungeon. In which I just gathered all the mobs around me and thunderclap-cleaved them down. No loot necessary, and the main 'boss' was gone.

Then it was Blackfathom Deeps, in which I passed all the bosses till the Aku'Mai dragon. What a nice surprise: I didn't know there is a guy offering free teleport to Darnassus in there! 

Anyhow, three dungeons and a couple of areas as Achievements. Ok, granted, kind of acted against my own rules, but then again, I had no problems with PUGs.

I know. I recently blogged about -and somewhat badmouthed- about certain classes being unable to perform in a group. As Karma law states, you get what you give and good deeds bring good karma. So in a way I wasn't expecting a lot when I responded to LFG announcement for ZF asking for tank. Yup, that's me, and yes, I was way too high. But I got accepted. With one warrior (lv44), two pallies and a hunter.

When I saw this composition, I cried silently. How it turned out to be showed that my fears were not all true.

First of all, the pally healing was top notch. All the time up to the point, only failing when the others in the group started to gung ho. The hunter obviously had played a bit, as he kept his aggro way below mine according to Omen. The only ones that were the epitomes of their poor class grouping were the... warrior and the other pally.

I was taken in as the tank, so the other warrior was dps. Two handed mace and 'I know the game, I've played since the beginning' attitude problem. Caused the only wipe we suffered. Well, not singlehandedly, as the paladin performed similarily.

You see, everything went nicely up till a point. The basilisk trainer, the voodoo priest, the stairs and the 'Main Boss', all cleared without a real problem. Most probably with a big help of my extra levels. But when we entered the pool side of Gah'Zilla... I, as tank, called the shot. The warrior, over confident about his abilities, took another mob, and with the help of the other pally taking third, caused a havoc which no-one could control!

I tried all the tricks I knew to gather all the mobs on me, but failed miserably. No, I succeeded, but too late, as the mobs were spread so widely that I couldn't run and keep aggro on me efficiently enough. First fell the warrior, for certain, as the healer was most concerned about the tank, casting off heals to the other two. Then the other paladin for some reason, most probably as the healadin got aggro. And soon after that the healer. At that point I was still dealing with three mobs, and taking care of the Priestess boss. And got the rest of the mobs that were freed from the dead compadres. Popped a potion, started anew and was down to two mobs when I noticed an alarming fact. I was down to one fifth of my health, losing badly.

Was I surprised to notice the hunter come to me and start bandaging! He really saved the day, as I was able to down the last two of the mobs, waiting for the dead to come back. That, I say, is the act of a Good Trooper: clear understanding of the situation and acting accordingly, not only saving his own butt but also the progress of the group!

Gah'Zilla was a pushover, as we then progressed the rest of the instance. Thankfully I had just completed the Mace with which the summoning happens, and was able to help the group to get the job done... others didn't have the mace to sound the cong!

So, got 5 quests done in one run, got my Carrot on a Stick and I was a happy camper.

Thanks to the best pally healer I have met so far, and the best hunter PUGger I have ever had pleasure to adventure with.

Thank you guys!