"Randolph! Randolph!"

"We're back."

I logged in earlier tonight and did a Heroic VH. Turns out that during peak time at least, the responders to my last post were right; it's not so difficult for Hunters to get into Heroics.

Anyway, wonder of wonders, I was still somehow the member of a guild that I'd joined back in March, and when I'd finished the VH run, I suddenly got a whisper asking if I'd like to do 25 man Ulduar!

So I said yes, and went.

Me:- "I have to warn you guys; my gear sucks. I haven't really played since January, and I just got 2.2k dps in VH."

Someone else:- "Np."
Someone else:- "Welcome."

I found those responses encouraging. In the end, because it was already 10 pm local time, we only downed one boss (the XT-002_Deconstructor) after a couple of wipes, but it still was cool to be in there.

Once raid buffed, my DPS average was around 2.8k, peaking once at 2,898, which left me very surprised. I'm aware that that is terrible by contemporary standards, but given that my gear mostly dates from January, (with the exception of two rings; the Signet of Edward the Odd, and a Titanium Impact Band with a Delicate Cardinal Ruby) 2.2k was about the most I expected to get, especially considering that I was only ever at around 2.1 during the few times I went to Naxxramas.

I'm unsure about my current spec as well, since it was thrown together in a hurry, and was actually intended for battleground PvP; if anyone could offer any suggestions for tightening it up a little here or there, I'd appreciate it.

For eight months away though, that is an outcome which I'm not feeling too bad about. I badly need more current gear, obviously, but if my guild is willing to let me into Uld raids, that will be a decent way to get some. I might have to see if there are some Uld 10 runs going as well, because apparently Deliverance drops from 10 man Normal Yogg'Saron.

A slow, sleepy comeback

So I logged in with my old (ancient) main, a level 42 Mage, earlier, and am going to do some questing with him in Tanaris. I'm not really trying to level; the plan is actually to earn the 10 or so (hopefully) gold I need in order to respec, as every so often I feel like playing with Frost for a while. I'm in the process of updating my addons as I type, as well, since I haven't done that since January.

Seeing as I was in LFG for the Scarlet Monastery however, and saw LFGs for some heroics flick by, I asked a tentative question.

Me:- "Anyone ever want Hunters for Heroics?"
Lightslayer:- "DPS is a dime a dozen."
Someone else:- "@$%# Hunters."
Me:- "Ok, I thought so. Thanks, guys. Just checking."
Lightslayer:- "Go PVP."

I'm considering taking his advice, as I still want to eventually get Conqueror with Mirsh. I've also grabbed an Addon called Overachiever; I want to get at least Nagrand Slam in order to get the old Horde cutscene-type achievement from TBC.

I spent 2k on gear during my last login, as well; though my Armory profile still no doubt sucks rocks by contemporary standards. My motivations for gear are battlegrounds and soloing, but it is going to be difficult, given that apparently I still need to raid if I want decent stuff, and the attitude towards Hunters in PvE is apparently what I mentioned above. ;)

The BGs still don't seem to be too demanding for gear, although with Blizzard's new rated battlegrounds in Cataclysm, that will change, I'm expecting. Still, it'd be good to do rated matches in a form of PvP that, all false modesty aside, I'm actually reasonably good at, for a change. ;)

Two years, and still here...just barely.

I know it's been a month since my last post.

A lot of real life stuff has happened in that time; which I won't go into.

In six days, the Lair will hit its' second anniversary. I had thought I might already be past that, but apparently I'm not. So I'll blog about it now, because I can't guarantee where I'll be then.

I can't actually remember the experience of making the first post now; if it wasn't there, I wouldn't remember it at all. I can remember how much WoW has changed in these two years, though; and how much my own life has. I've been in and out of my sole romantic relationship, have had a complete religious change, and have moved house three (it could have been four) times within that period.

I'm possibly going to log into WoW after I've finished writing this. I bought a timecard last month, and this will be, to my knowledge, the second time I've logged in while it has been active. What I'm not sure about is what I'm going to do in the game this time.

I think it's going to have to be play some alts, although I'm still somehow pretty hooked on the concept that playing WoW means playing Mirsh, if I play WoW at all. I think that's the main reason why I've almost given up. The Hunter was all it was really about for me.

I've realised that truthfully, the forum ban was actually one of the major things which caused me to stop playing, as well. I've actually considered getting an entirely new account purely because of that. Of course, I'd probably just get perm banned again in very short order, but I'd have some time back at least. General at times was fun.

It may only be by the skin of my teeth, but as I vowed to do with my forum (and other) trolls, I have fulfilled the proverb that I used to quote from Vampire: The Masquerade.

"The greatest way to deal with an enemy is to outlast them." ;)