Group 1 + Kara + 4 Hours = 19 Badges

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of running with Group 1 through Karazhan. I logged on a bit late and I was worried they would have started without me, which they had. I asked if I could get subbed in for Moroes because I really really want his trinket.

Not only did I get a spot for Moroes but I was able to stay for the entire run.

This was my first time as an Offtank on Moroes and not Main Tank. I pulled the mob I was going to be tanking and then feared him, and started working on Moroes. As soon as I started working on him he would blind me. It's really tough to get your mob under control and still get 2nd threat on Moroes when you are constantly being blinded. Normally I'd Stoneform out but I wanted to save it for if I got Garrotee, which I did.

And of course, Moroes kept his Pocketwatch firmly in his pants pocket. Instead he dropped a Mail healing belt which goes into my Healing Kit.

Group 1 moves fast. Very fast. I barely had a moment to drink between pulls, and I was using my Mana Pots rather liberally.

I didn't run with Group 1 back when it was running Kara regularly, and everyone kind of fell into their familiar roles with Brindall and Trelic tanking. Both of those guys are awesome tanks. I wasn't going to be rude and taunt mobs away from them, but perhaps I should have said something. As soon as Trelic remembered I was in the Raid he backed off and let me tank some. With my threat still acting a bit weird, I actually liked the idea of having him as a backup.

We cleared Maiden, and Opera and were making great time.

Since we were in the area, Brindall came back and we smacked down Nightbane. He dropped his shield, but the wrong shield. He dropped the Dragonheart Flameshield.

This shield is nice and replaces my blue Netherwing Shield for 5 Mans, Offtanking and Soloing. It actually has more Armor than my Crest of the Sha'tar, but less stamina and no defensive stats. It's more of a Shaman shield to be honest.

It does look wicked cool. Periodically, the dragon head on hit will spew out fire. Wichita had a shield like this for a while and I thought it looked cool. It looks cool on old Hammer too.

So with Nightbane a smoking pile of bones, we move onto Curator. We just kept on trucking and took down Curator. I got to Main tank for this one because Brindall wanted to bring his Rogue. Curator refused to drop the Legs I need, but I'd get my revenge later.

We convinced Dora to continue on to Aran, whom we killed with maximum aggression.

We were pretty close so we decided to push on to Chess. As we got there someone in the Raid asked if we could do Netherspite for a drop.

No problemo. Brindall and I took the Red Beam and it was a flawless attempt. I did get hit by Netherbreath a couple of times even though I was behind him, or so I thought.

At this point I started doing some calculations in my head. When we got done with Chess I would be sitting at 74 badges. 74!

Dora was getting tired, so I asked if a couple of the guys would mind staying on to do the first boss in Heroic Ramps for that last badge.

Instead, they said, it's only a couple of pulls to Prince, lets just do him.

So we did.

This was the first time I had ever done Prince and not been tanking. My contribution was not dying and keeping Brindall free from Shadow Word:Pain.

Prince goes down with only 8 Infernals dropped. He drops the Champion token.

0 Shamans, 0 Rogues, 1 Paladin.

I have passed on every T4 Helm because I've got my Engineering Helm. Well, now I've got my T4 Helm. I can use it on fights where I need max aggro and I'm not getting hit very much, like Void Reaver or Gruul.

Not only did I get my T4 Helm, but I got 3 more badges to put me to 77. I rushed to Ger'as in Shattrath to buy: Curator can kiss my big fat dwarf cheeks. He can keep his Wyrnn Dynasty Greaves in that rusting bucket of bolts. I never saw them drop 1 time.

Big thanks to Devona for cutting the Dodge Gem.

I loved my Timewarden's Leggings. They served me well.

So where does this leave ole Hammer. Walking around Shattrah with nothing but my Aura, I'm sitting at 14.8k Hit points and nearly 5k mana. Here's the paper doll.

If I wasn't concerned about the odd threat anomalies, I'd make a bigger push to have me start doing more Main Tanking in our Raids. I've got the gear and the skills to do it. Unless the boss is a "gimick" fight that requires Spell Reflect, there is really no reason not to use me.

We have an awesome group of Tanks in Mal Katai, and I think any of us can get the job done. I'm more expressing I want a "turn" at the big uglies, the Raid bosses.