End of Year - Start of Raids

So it’s now two days out from Christmas. I guess the WoW Cataclysm launch frenzy has somewhat died down now, but there is still a lot of activity going on out there. My guild, Labyrinth of Lost Souls (Saurfang) has seen a big increase in not only new recruits, but active members; I guess an expansion will do that.

Working on all the new content with guildies, especially the new heroics has been great so far. In many ways it has felt a little like 5-man raiding. Wiping many times on some of the harder bosses was a learning process, having to remember all those skills from Vanilla and BC (how not to break CC!) and all that. I have to say though that I have enjoyed not steamrolling everything for a change. The joy in finally getting that tricky boss down (hello Ozruk) is akin to dropping the troublesome ICC bosses (I’m looking at you PP).

It has also been great playing with some truly competent players – I gave up on pugs a long time ago. Makes the whole process a lot better when you are working though it with people who are a) prepared to stick it out till we get it right and b) have the skill to get it right. Check out this great guide from one of my guildies, Glowberry, on resto druid healing and CC; find it here.

Back at LoLS and we have scheduled our first raid for 5 January. Should be interesting to see how that goes, so look out for some thoughts after the event. Tackling the raid content right from the start with this group will be good. We managed to reach guild server rank 19 after only forming in December 2009, so we should be up there or higher this time round now that we will be raiding content from release.

Until then however I am heading off to the New South Wales wine country with the wife for some R&R– and just a touch of yummy tastings (wine, cheese and chocolate oh my!). A week without WoW or computer will be a nice break and should leave me refreshed and ready to tackle the new raids.

Till then – have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all! See you on the other side.

Voros

Warbringer O’mrogg:
Left head: Me hungry!
Right head: You always hungry. That why we so fat!

Arsenal 2, Fulham 1

I have a friend at work who is an Englishman. Not only is he English, but he was a Fulham season ticket holder. He even drinks his work coffee from a Fulham mug.

He also came pretty close to having bragging rights tomorrow at work.

Arsenal are a team that know how to provide edge of your seat stuff whilst really not trying nor meaning to. One side of the coin yesterday was Samir Nasri who scored two sublime goals with some outrageous footwork leaving numerous men in white behind, and on the other, a fragile defence and prolifigacy in front of the net from the other nine outfielders.

Arsene Wenger is rightly praising Nasri in the press, as it was he that pulled our proverbial bacon from the proverbial fire last night. Hopefully he can continue his form into the new year. I can't wait to see how a fully fit Fabregas and an in-form Nasri combine. Potentially one of the best midfield pairings on the planet.

Top of table Arsenal, but please help me lower my blood pressure just a little.

Voros

Ok I just have to post this, because it is many kinds of awesome!

A foray into Blogs

Well,

Here we are.  Never thought I would be doing this but I guess there is a first time for everything.

My plan for the blog at this stage is to put down thoughts, opinions and rambles (maybe some waffles; mmm waffles) about two things: 

1) Gaming; especially World of Warcraft.
2) Arsenal FC.

Gaming is a hobby of mine dating back to my first Commodore 64.  Ahh, playing games that came on tapes, fun times indeed. 5th Gear was my favourite game back then.  These days I prefer to build my own PCs from parts, much more satisfaction that way.  Currently I primarily play World of Warcraft, Civ V and Black Ops.  More on gaming to come I'm sure.

Arsenal Football Club.  Never has a sporting team given me such highs and lows.  I started following the team around 2002.  It was one of the very first teams I saw when watching the English Premier League for the first time, and I couldn't help but admire there exciting style of play.  Now I know that 8 years is not the longest stretch to follow a team - but that's my entire EPL watching career.  From the high's of the Invincibles and the incredible unbeaten season to the current 5 year trophy drought - Arsenal are my other passion.

World of Warcraft.  My main is Voros, a frost DK on Saurfang.  I have been playing WoW since release, raiding through MC, BWL and AQ40 on Althor (my first real character; a Paladin).  In BC I briefly ventured in Black Temple and Mt Hyjal but never really went much further; this was not a heavy raiding expansion for me.  In Wrath I have downed the LK with my current guild - Labyrinth of Lost Souls. 

Looking forward to Cata, I think we have a fantastic group of people who not only simply enjoy playing the game for what it is, but also relish the challenge of meeting new content head on.  I have met some great people and look forward to meeting many more.  Shared experience is probably the greatest builder of friendships and WoW provides many opportunites for that to happen.  Plus it's just great fun!

I'll be interested to see how often I blog, let's treat this as an experiment; and see where it goes.

"Hmm. I don't feel a thing. Whaa...? Where'd those come from? "

Voros