Naxxramas 10 Cleared: Tales of an Excited Retadin

Once upon a nearly-forgotten time I was a Gnome Mage amidst a guild of overachievers.  We were a top 100 world guild – I had the dark circles beneath my eyes to prove it.  We marched with only twenty six undergeared, ragtag members to our first raid into the depths of the Molten Core and put ourselves on the digital map by laying Lucifron to waste while our competition slaved over attempts with forty.  Although we would soon fall short on Magmadar and the remainder of the MC “crazy eight”, we had already appropriately introduced ourselves to the server and reclaimed our spot in front by defeating both Majordomo Executus and Ragnaros before any other guild had even made an attempt.

That was merely a beginning to what would lead us through guild sponsorship, a free ventrilo server and world recognition as of one of WoW the raiding “elite”.  We trudged onward and slowed for no encounter even beyond C’thun upon his dungeon’s grand opening to the deserts of Silithus.  As time passed and the epics became anything but “epic” Naxxramas was released to the public.  Feeling the rejuvination of fresh content laid before us, we mustered up one final push for what would prove to be our guild’s last collective effort.

A few weeks passed and we found ourselves staring at Gothik the Harvester high upon his ledge.  We had bested every other encounter available to us and now were left with this option alone.  Were we to progress, it would have to be through him and onward to the Four Horsemen, Sapphiron and ultimately Kel’thuzad.  A few half-hearted attempts later backed by the realization of upcoming farming for endless frost resistance gear and we finally broke at the seams.

With The Burning Crusade looming on the horizon, we went our seperate ways and brought closure upon an incredible bit of personal history.  Some stayed on the server and leveled alts.  Others transfered off of Dark Iron or even created a fresh character elsewhere.  Still others took a hiatus from WoW altogether.

I did none of the above.

For weeks I farmed gold from the Twilight mobs scattered broadly across Silithus.  For days upon end I worked to perfect my AoE grinding techniques.  For what seemed an eternity, I experimented with one new talent spec after another.  In the back of my proud yet seemingly defeated mind, I couldn’t help but consider I might never actually see Kel’thuzad in person.  I might never get to watch the icy vortex of bones that materializes into Sappiron up close.  I may never experience the sense of accomplishment of besting that which was considered to be one of the most challenging encounters in the history of MMORPGs in the Four Horsemen.

It was time for a new chapter within my World of Warcraft story and how better to do so than to create a character of a brand new race, as part of a faction I had never played, on a server I had never visited, as a class I knew little about.

Last night, myself and nine comrades entered Naxxramas to put an end to Thaddius thus completing three of the four wings.  Last night, myself and nine comrades left Naxxramas with Kel’thuzad’s frozen blood caked against our blades.  Although not as originally intended, I had arrived nonetheless to a seemingly forgotten destination upon level ground.  The sheer challenge of Naxxramas’s 10-man version surely pails in comparison to that which we faced at level 60, but I am grateful for the opportunity to experience it in entirety nonetheless.  The environment was just as gloomy.  The encounters were just as entertaining.  The stone was just as cold.

So what now?  Certainly the 25-man version of the dungeon awaits as does Malygos and the 25-man version of Sartharion.  Granted these tests are sure to follow in upcoming days I’d like to take a moment to reflect upon a bit of the specifics regarding my involvement in what has already passed and my “personal” achievements along the cobbled way.

First and foremost, I’d bring to everyone’s attention a bug (yes bug) that has long since been reported on the official Paladin forums.  I assumed this particular situation would prove as obvious yet in a recent post of mine I was persuaded otherwise by an individual who attempted to blame my complaint upon a lack of hit rating (I’m hit-capped in raid gear).  The bug is simply that Judgment often fails to work.  Allow me to repeat that:  Judgement often fails to work.  To be clear, I am not referring to a “miss” or “dodge” or “parry” or any other form of mitigation possible.  I simply mean “fails”.  Not only does Judgment often fail but it seems to still consume the mana and perform the animation yet provide no Judgments of the Wise proc, no Replenishment buff and does no damage.  This is a serious issue for raiding Retadins.  I have brought this bug to Blizzard’s attention (and I am by no means the first or the last) repeatedly via the forums and in-game petitions.  I will continue to do so until it is fixed.  There is no excuse for a core class mechanic to be so badly broken for so long.  Could you imagine the flood of posts and tickets were an Arms Warrior’s Mortal Strike to consume the rage and perform the animation yet fail to do any damage or apply its debuff without any visible sign of mitigation?  Not a chance.  Can you fathom the rampant crying were a Holy Paladin’s Holy Shock to cast and consume the mana to do so but then provide no healing or damage on random occasions?  Certainly not.  Yet here I sit drafting this post…

QQ aside, here is a link to the official post on the bug report forums.  If you have a spare moment, and have not done so already, please stop on by and show your support for this bug fix cause!

https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12357686852&sid=1

Moving along a differing course of discussion, I can’t adequately put into words just how excited I am about my progression as a character.  Granted the progression of my guild comes before my own, part of that progression is the continuous improvement of my contribution to our raids.  Whether it’s 10 more DPS or the ability to throw a more powerful heal on the tank thanks to Art of War, every little bit counts.

Now I would note ahead of time that I am, at the time of this writing, specced Holy.  This is a result of one of our healers having to duck out late last night and my willingness to strap on the spell power and step into my former role as a Healadin so we could drop the Four Horsemen.  However, I have logged out in my raiding Retribution gear in the interest of demonstration:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Stormreaver&n=Synovia

Among the most recent additions to my gearset are the following two pieces:

 

The cloak dropped for us last night from Instructor Razuvious.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic to finally be rid of my Shadowmoon Destroyer’s Drape.  Although I lose the 17 hit rating that item provides, I certainly inherit a nice chunk of additional DPS potential by means of haste, armor penetration and additional attack power.

UPDATE:  As I am taking an unusually long time to draft this post, I have since inherited a new weapon compliments of Kel’thuzad this evening (thanks KT):

Per Murphy’s unavoildable law, the moment I spent a ridiculous amount of gold on enchanting my Titansteel Destroyer this solid improvement found its way into my bags.  Bitterness aside, I’m one happy Retadin.  I’ll see a 20 DPS upgrade (on the low side) from use of this weapon and the fact that it provides even more hit rating than my previous is a little something wonderful to me.  Having seen the hit cap against raid bosses more than double as a result of hitting level 80, every point of hit I’m able to muster is a small victory.

Speaking of hit rating, however, I’d like to bring to your attention some interesting finding from over at the Elitist Jerks forums.  Apparantly there is very compelling evidence that suggests the hit cap against raid bossese at 80 is not actually 9% but rather 8%.  You can find the thread here:

http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t37856-melee_hit_cap_really_9_a/

As it stands I’ll be aiming for 8% hit until someone can show me a screenshot of a “miss” at a minimum of this percentage.