Updates, Instances, and Raids (Oh My!)
stargrace 
Once again the moon and stars all aligned and some how Ultann, Wpus, Calreth, and myself all happened to be on at the same time (though Calreth did join us later on). In a rare attempt, I was doing quests in Lavastorm, the void quests that I’ve avoided for so long. We decided to head to the Daily Double which happened to be Halls of the Forsaken in Commonlands, a zone I had actually never done with my mystic. It went smooth – of course nothing of note dropped. We did get our shards though and that was fantastic.
Afterward we were feeling a little daring, so we decided to try out the new EA in Jarsath Wastes. This was one of three instances added not that long ago (the other two being the x2 and single group instances in Kurns tower). This zone is still difficult, and still requires some finesse. We had our usual “are you going to actually win before I waste my time joining your group” comments – which I’m starting to just get used to.
The first portion of the group experience was not that bad. We cleared fairly easily, we got to the ‘cheering’ fight, which is a LOT of lag for most of us and incredible spam – we wiped a few times as we learned the encounter (it always changes from group to group it seems) but eventually we defeated him. Finally, it was time for the last named (or four) in the zone, and this is where troubles arose.
I can understand the fascination and lure of wanting to better oneself. I can even understand the frustration in running ACT (a dps parser) during fights and looking at everyone else and maybe not having the nicest things to say about them because some how they don’t measure up to your invisible line of “uber” – but – despite all of that why on earth do people feel the need to gloat about their own dps while belittling others. Not everyone has the same amount of time to dedicate to the game, not everyone can raid, not everyone enjoys it. If someone is parsing lower (for whatever reason) it doesn’t mean necessarily that they suck but just may not have as much time or experience as someone else – instead of making a huge deal out of it why not just attempt whatever it is you’re attempting, try YOUR best, and let those others take care of themselves. If it’s such a huge deal to you, mark it off as a bad experience, and don’t group with the offending members again. Why do people feel the need to make others feel like crud because they some how don’t measure up to their invisible standards. I dislike that aspect of the game more then absolutely anything else, and I didn’t hold back in telling the illusionist exactly what I thought of them and their “I am out parsing the brigand and the conjuror” tells. I admit, I was livid. They ended up leaving the group during that final encounter, so we invited Calreth along (and low and behold, we actually for further into the fight with Calreth then we did with the lippy illusionist). Aside from that one smear, the experience was nice, the brigand and the ranger were both very nice and very friendly, and stuck it out despite the fact that we wiped so many times I was naked by the end.
I understand there are players out there who are far better then I will ever be (as the illusionist then proceeded to tell me how to play my class, and was linking heals per second, as I was the only healer) but if everyone just concentrated on playing their OWN characters, and stopped worrying so much about what every other class out there was doing, it would be so much better (personally speaking of course).
After the instance runs we (the guild) played around for a bit, but the day was pretty much done, I logged over to the other server with my troubador for a Venril Sathir raid (I need it for my mythical update) and since the nerf (this was my first time attempting it since the nerf) it went VERY smooth and very fast. I don’t think we were even there for a full five minutes. We had three groups, and since you don’t have to watch how high your power is any more, just how low and make sure you don’t have the debuffs (ie: don’t cast with them on) it was just, so incredibly easy. Mythical update achieved, we decided to head to a half cleared Shard of Hate instance – I relogged to my illusionist and decided to tag along.
All that remained was Kpul D’Vngur, also known as The Maestro and Byzola. We only had three groups, four healers, and I had never actually BEEN to SoH before so it was bound to be an interesting experience. Maestro went down with no problems at all, I kept ranged, people jousted, and everything went just fine. I was also exceptionally lucky, the coercer / illusionist robe dropped, as well as an illusionist master. I was the only one who needed them and won the rolls. Byzola was a different story, we wiped twice as we tried to get steady, get adds down (class adds spawn two at a time, fighter mage and then scout priest) cure our dots, run away from the raid when / if we got cursed. I felt glad that I had stocked up on cure potions before hand (my troub happens to be an 80 alchemist) and it was just crazy. With only four healers I didn’t think we’d be able to pull it off – but I was proven wrong, and on the third pull Byzola came crashing down.
What a rush!
A plate helm, the ill will earring (that combines into the larger one), and the cloak pictured above dropped, the cloak was a significant upgrade over the Everfrost level 40 or so one I was wearing, and no one else needed it, so I obtained another upgrade for the evening. I was starting to feel a little like a loot monger by the end of the night, but if no one needs it, no one needs it. Tonight is Ward of Elements (another zone I’ve never personally been to, even though Hamal and Ultann and Calreth have all gone) and I’m looking forward to it. It was a really great way to end the evening, and I’m glad that there are still things like this that I can experience and still have a fantastic time.
Thanks for the raids last night Paradise Lost! See you in Norrath.
