Oomshakalaka: Clash with the Titans

Shanalawind, a warlock who raids with the Crimson Dragon is pursuing a quest related to the Titans and the Old Gods. I don't know the details, just that it required her to face the Titans in Ulduar. And of course, one does not simply stroll through Ulduar oneself. Not even with a demonic bodyguard. What I do know is that the raid leader said, "hey, Oom, we need Starfalls." Or maybe it was more like, "Come with us, but be careful with your Starfalls." Something along those lines, anyway.

Oomshakalaka: The Molten Core

It seems a long time ago, but I also studied enchanting. Once Coccinelle transferred to Exodar it seemed superfluous to have us both continue in the profession. She was already at the maximum skill level and I had just begun work on Grand Master enchanting, so I switched profession to alchemy. While studying enchanting I worked closely with the Thorium Brotherhood to learn to enchant my weapons with +20 spirit. I would have liked to learn +22 intellect, but the Brotherhood required missions to the Molten Core before they would teach it and I wasn't raiding at the time.

Even after ending my working relation with Thorium Brotherhood, however, I have desired to explore the Molten Core. Curiosity, I suppose. When I first reached level 80, I ventured there alone, but was forced to retreat by the first two guards. They were giants with a knockback attack which prevented me from casting spells effectively.

Recently, however, Zaibas and I returned there. He was searching for an enchantment recipe, +29 spell power to a weapon, for a rogue friend of his. Coccinelle would like that one, too. We did not find the enchantment. We did find, and defeat, the hollow shell of what was once the most powerful elemental lord in Azeroth.

Oomshakalaka: Reflections on the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj

We cannot escape the War of the Shifting Sands. Rajaxx may have been defeated and C'thun cast down, yet we continually return to Silithus.

Fendral Staghelm first proved himself in that war. Whether or not you agree with his policies in Darnassus or his leadership of the Cenarion Circle, he did not come to his position by happenstance. He is an intelligent, capable, very powerful leader. And Teldrassil was his idea. Again, whether or not you agree with the decision to plant Teldrassil, it provided a badly needed rallying point for the Night Elf Nation. Our Empire, from Auberdine to Azshara, Hyjal to Feralas, had just been destroyed by raw elemental upheaval. We had, literally, sacrificed everything, our homes, our families, our immortal lives, to save the world. Yet we had no place in it. And Staghelm gave us that place.

Of course, we wanted Teldrassil to be all he promised it would be. Our new Home. Our new Nordrassil. Our new Immortality. Even while we knew it could not be, not without the Dragonflights' blessings, we still dared hope it might be. Or at least hoped that in working towards that goal, perhaps we could accomplish something good. And we have! Despite its flaws, Teldrassil is beautiful. Darnassus is a magnificent capital. Even if it has not been all Staghelm promised, it has become our home. That is no small thing.

I have to admit I find myself in the rapidly growing camp of those who do not always agree with Staghelm. But I understand, at least intuitively, the complex reasons he argued for Teldrassil. I empathize with his own personal hope to recover what he personally lost in the War of the Shifting Sands, what we lost to wars in general. I think at some level all Night Elves do. That's why we return to Silithus so often. Even if all that remains of the Silithid threat is a few weakened hives, some scattered cultist camps, we still continue to fight them. You see, the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj are not confined to a small corner of a distant desert.

Oomshakalaka: Leukemia

Heading into ICC for a progression night, Sholandria broke the news to us. Condon's 13 year old daughter had died Sunday morning to Leukemia. What do you say? Of course there was an outpouring of love and concern for Con and Shol. There was a moment of silence. Tears. Unfortunately, we know that no matter what we say or do, it doesn't change things or fix things.

There was this whole welling of emotions. Personally, I was angry. I wanted to rip through ICC, find a boss named Leukemia and kill him right there on the spot. Then come back next week and kill him again. And again the week after that, and the next week and the next and the next and when the Cataclysm comes and we've levelled on up past where raiding ICC serves any purpose, keep coming back anyway, every week, just to kill Leukemia.

Yet somehow, "let's go kill things" seemed like a hollow response to the death of a loved one.

So perhaps, in some cosmic, karmic way it was appropriate that our current progression is at Valithria Dreamwalker. We have tried the fight several times, mostly for a change of pace after beating our heads against the wall on other bosses. So we've seen it. Healers have to heal up Valithria while a continuous stream of adds come into the fight. Some are Suppressors, whose job is merely to apply debuffs to Valithria that slow down the healers' work. Most are just various types of undead come to kill us, drive us out.

Now that the other bosses are down, though, it's time we actually figure out how to save Valithria. We got into it and learned more about the fight. I learned Typhoon won't knockback the Suppressors, but it does slow them. Enough to kill them before they can begin channelling their debuff. We learned that there is an "enrage timer" equivelant. Eventually, the pace at which adds enter the fight increases dramatically. Too many swarm in for us to kill quickly enough before we are overrun. We tried switching up which healer was the primary on Valritha, how many entered her portals at a time to get the healing buff. Even, before figuring out the the acceleration of adds was actually an enrage timer equivelant, we had me try healing until the acceleration hit. My heal-fu simply is not strong enough.

Most importantly, I think we figured out that the if we let the tanks pull close to the center where it was easier to AoE all the adds together, and used ranged AoE to take down the Supressors, then the dps and tanking was not too difficult. So we tried bringing in a fourth healer. And it worked. While the rest of us kept the Undead occupied, those four healers were the night's heroes and we saved Valithria.

How I wish, I wish, I wish we could have done something like that for Condon.