Reflections on Gruul
Progression kills are like oxygen to raiding guilds. If you don't get some from to time to time you die. You could almost feel a palatal change in Mal Katai last night when Gruul went down. Everyone was buddy buddy, everybody was happy, all was right and well with the world.
That tell was better than any epic I couldn't have gotten off of Gruul last night. People's eyes are being opened.
It seems there is a movement in the guild to go to Void Reaver next. I wonder though, if we shouldn't do Magtheridon. Mag is something of a Raid Coordination check, and we'll need that kind of coordination if we hope to make headway in Serpentshrine and Tempest Keep. It could also highlight some of the issues of the lack of a steady raid roster. Also, since everyone thinks he's "easy", they might not be as prepared as they should be.
I'm still sitting around 2500g for my epic mount. Halfway there.
I'm even more sure of my decision to go Engineering with everything I learn about the next patch. Blizzard is really making it a nice profession. My buddy Raist has been super helpful in gathering mats. I've got most of the stone I need, just need a bit of dense. I've got all the Mithril. Now comes the rough part, Thorium, Fel Iron, and Adamantite.
I'm going to have to clean house on my bank to get some more space to hold all this stuff.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who voted in my alt poll. You people are just as undecided as I am. Ironically, Origami from Heroes Inc made almost the exact same post in his blog today.
I am very appreciative of the opportunity I got last night to be one of the two tanks on Gruul. I owe a big thanks to Trey (Tralic) and to Drew (Brindall/Valdrin). Either of them has the pull within the guild to take over either of those tanking spots without an issue. So to a certain extent, they along with Dora (our GM and Raid Leader), let me be the Hurtful tank.
Most guilds that I have talked two have about 4 solid tanks (2 Warriors, a Feral Druid, and a Prot Paladin). I think last night went a long way in establishing myself as one of the core tanks of this guild.
I think my purchase of the Merciless Gladiator's Gavel was key to being able to do the job well. 
Prior to the purchase, I had to swap in a bunch of spell damage gear to reach 350 spell damage. Last night I was in full tanking gear (uncritable, uncrushable) and reached 404 spell damage. This allowed me to have more avoidance (parry, dodge) and more hitpoints and armor to be able to 
take the hits. Speaking of my hit points, Raid buffed I was sitting at 17.5k hit points. Not bad. 2.3 can't get here fast enough with the new stamina talent.
Prior to the purchase, I had to swap in a bunch of spell damage gear to reach 350 spell damage. Last night I was in full tanking gear (uncritable, uncrushable) and reached 404 spell damage. This allowed me to have more avoidance (parry, dodge) and more hitpoints and armor to be able to 
take the hits. Speaking of my hit points, Raid buffed I was sitting at 17.5k hit points. Not bad. 2.3 can't get here fast enough with the new stamina talent.
I didn't manage to get any loot from Gruul, but honestly I didn't care. There will be other nights for that. I just hope our guild doesn't fall into the trap of thinking that since we got him down last night, now he's easy. It will in all likelihood be a different group of characters next time we face him so the results could be good or could be bad. We don't have an established group of raiders (or if we do, I don't know about it, lol).
After the raid last night, I got a tell from one of the guys who had been in the raid with me. No, this wasn't from the healer who I've had the issue with. He wasn't in the raid last night for whatever reason. It came from someone else.
That tell was better than any epic I couldn't have gotten off of Gruul last night. People's eyes are being opened.
It seems there is a movement in the guild to go to Void Reaver next. I wonder though, if we shouldn't do Magtheridon. Mag is something of a Raid Coordination check, and we'll need that kind of coordination if we hope to make headway in Serpentshrine and Tempest Keep. It could also highlight some of the issues of the lack of a steady raid roster. Also, since everyone thinks he's "easy", they might not be as prepared as they should be.
I'm still sitting around 2500g for my epic mount. Halfway there.
I'm even more sure of my decision to go Engineering with everything I learn about the next patch. Blizzard is really making it a nice profession. My buddy Raist has been super helpful in gathering mats. I've got most of the stone I need, just need a bit of dense. I've got all the Mithril. Now comes the rough part, Thorium, Fel Iron, and Adamantite.
I'm going to have to clean house on my bank to get some more space to hold all this stuff.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who voted in my alt poll. You people are just as undecided as I am. Ironically, Origami from Heroes Inc made almost the exact same post in his blog today.
Comments
Grats again on Gruul!
If one can analyze your reflections it would make a good blog post. Yet i think for the more than few Paladins that try really hard to improve their gear, improve their skills, ponder over that 1% increase in stats where it counts, gem their gear with the best gems its something to be said about those Paladins. Its why we have the Maintankadin Forums to help. Because those Paladins that agonize and put forth a lot of effort to get themselves where they need to be to perform do stand out. The rest is up to the full raid group support and total committed effort. I know just how much effort i put forth getting my own gear and what i do to get it or work on skill.
Paladins do get a bad rep from the people that don't always understand the problems of our class or some other Paladin that they see that acts subpar for some reason. Such can be said of every class. Somehow Paladins do stand out. But the Protec Paladins that do seem to stand out the most and in the places you hear about it seem to put forth the exceptional effort, maybe more so than everyone else around them and possibly in their raid group. Its never to discredit anyone else effort, its that the Paladin have to try 125% to earn his good name. Its never to take anything from anyone else in the raid. Its that the good ones that do try damn hard.
Thus if i had to reflect on that it makes me think just how well is any group if every single person was pulling all their wait +10% without any unbais to anyone else or class in a raid or group at any encounter. Any chain will only alway's be as strong as its weakest link. That includes any group member that doubt or questions the performance of his/her peers when their peers are indeed pulling their share of the link load.
Regarding Engineering, trust me, it's worth it. Tankatronic Goggles are huge, and the teleporters are very useful for getting around.
I'm a little annoyed about the injectors being made non-engineering, but yeah, I'll get over it.
2.3 is going to do a lot for our image as MTs. The first number people see is your HP, and having it suddenly get 10% bigger is a huge boon.
Grats again, and fingers crossed for an Aldori Legacy Defender for you :)
- Everlight @ Proudmoore