Sidekick

As you may or may not have heard Circuit City is going out of business. So I went down to the local Circuit City and picked up a new 19" Flat Screen monitor to replace my old 21" CRT. Even though the monitor was 'smaller', the screen space is much larger. I was able to increase my resolution from 1024x768 to 1440x770 (or something like that). The difference is very noticeable. The game looks 100 times better now, and I have much more screen real estate to put addons, and a much clearer view of my playing field.

I got invited to run with a bunch of friends to Naxx10 last night. This is the kind of run I have been really enjoying in this expansion. It didn't matter if we wiped 4 times, like we did to Heigan, or one-shot boss after boss, which we did as well. Everyone was having a good time, killing bosses, getting loot, and enjoying the game. I didn't manage to snag any loot because my rolling fails. My super secret plan was to get my Ret gear from 10 mans (where it wouldn't cost me any precious DKP) and my Prot gear from 25 mans. If I didn't fail at rolling, it might work out a little better, lol.

Leejenkins who organized the run decided he felt like going Ret and trying that spec out so I tanked it along with Nismo, who is a guy who likes to tank but usually goes DPS for our 25 mans. From the first boss on, he made it clear he wanted to be the 'Main Tank' for the night. I was fine with that. There was a time I would have fought for my 'right' to main tank, but it wasn't necessary.

I think just about everyone in MK knows I'm a good tank by this point. I may have finally reached that place where I don't have to prove myself to every person in our guild. I've got the reputation. I can do this.

Nismo did take to calling me his 'sidekick' which ruffled my feathers a bit, but not so much that I had to comment it about it. I tend to think of myself and my co-Tanks as equals. Maybe he didn't intend it, but calling me your 'sidekick' certainly doesn't imply you feel that way. Edit: He also seem to put Viginance on me constantly, which was a little odd. Maybe he was worried I was going to pull threat off him?

I did learn a couple of things that will help me in the future and I'll pass them along in the hopes they help you as well.

This isn't really a tip, but for Noth, I finally got down the Avenger's Shield one, and Exorcism one to pick up the Adds. I know when I do this fight on 25 man, there will be more adds, but I think I'll be okay.

For Heigan, I found that tilting my camera up and zooming all the way out, similar to what I would do for Grobbulous really helps with seeing the fire and staying on rhythm with the dance. Next time I get a shot at tanking him I'll try it and see if it helps me.

For Anub, it turns out I had the kite path wrong this whole time. I actually got a chance to watch Nismo. The path is on the very outside of the wall. You are kiting along the slime track, but you can't touch the slime at all. I thought you had to kite along in the inside edge of the slime track, but you actually have to be in the slime track. My kite path was taking Anub too close to the healers and getting them silienced, and myself killed.

All the intervene trick that Mal Katai has been using does is get the tank out of Locus Swarm faster so he doesn't eat as many ticks. I now feel completely confident I can tank this no problem.

For Gothik, I was doing the Undead side. This tip comes courtesy of Leejenkins. You set up in the left front corner, with your entire team stacked in the corner and you out in front of them. This way everything has to go through you (and your Consecrate) to get to the healers and you have plenty of time to get aggro. I actually ended up running out of mana because I wasn't taking enough damage and my Consecrate spam stopped. It cost us a mage, but we still one shot it.

The other thing I'll say after really watching Nismo is that I'm jealous of Last Stand. Ardent Defender is supposed to be our 'Last Stand' but it gets leap frogged entirely too often. What I mean by leap frogged is that the hit that kills you comes when you are out of AD range and therefore AD never reduces it. Lay On Hands is another 'Last Stand' but we have to use it reactively, instead of proactively and it won't work if we are silenced, stunned, etc. To wath Nismo be able to inflate his HP during an Enrage or Web Wrap seemed very helpful.