Risen - Proudmoore

Just for the record, Amnerys is mean. But you'd have to admit she has a wicked sense of humor. Unfortunately, Bishuk's left hand did have to wait another week.



Honestly speaking, Lich King 10 Heroic took a bit longer than we expected. We were used to 10 man content being a few pulls deal to beat for the first time, and while more challenging than normal, heroic 10 man in general had not been a huge roadblock to our progression.

We had started playing with some strategy and early attemps at the 5% buff, if I recall correctly. Back then, the fight felt impossible. 10% made it hopeful. 15% made this fight achievable with the limitations we had.

What were these limitations? Well.... This is Risen. We always make a point to make boss fights more difficult, and then overcome it for more satisfaction.

We did it with a resto druid and disc priest when people cried out "Don't even try LK heroic without a pally/disc combo!". We had to replace one of our tanks very close to a kill due to certain work commitments (replaced with a off spec prot pally). We did it without the ability to stack our raids with any conceivably "optimal" make up.

But that's what we do. We're Risen. We don't drop our philosophies just because an encounter is tough. Through 5% to 15%, we grinded our way through to a server 2nd LK10H kill.

The Wrath of the Lich Stacking? I think not!!

Pest Control Has Never Been Harder

You know that bug infestation that you just can't seem to get rid of? Well, we had one under the Coliseum of the Argent Tournament Grounds. Apparently Anub'arak arose out of one of these beetles, because we thought we were done with him when we squashed him in Azjol-Nerub, yet he's back from the dead.

And talk about a fall from stardom. Anub'arak in Azjol-Nerub was the boss holding people back from their Red Protodrakes by making "Gotta Go!" (Defeat Anub'arak in Azjol-Nerub on Heroic Difficulty in 2 minutes or less) pretty darn hard to accomplish. This was said to be THE hardest achievement at the launch of WotLK, and rightfully so. After the nerf of this achievement to allow 4 minutes instead of 2, Anub'arak suddenly became the laughing stock of the boss club (which meets weekly at the World's End Tavern during server maintenance for cigars, lounging in their leather chairs), giving out achievements to 5 man groups made of freshly 80 alts. The trauma caused by the humiliation he had to endure week to week finally made him snap. He swore the world had not seen the end of him.

His chance to redeem himself had come, at the Trial of the Grand Crusader. 10 man heroic version was a challenge, but something regularly defeated by most. But if you haven't tried Anub'arak in the 25 man heroic version, or don't plan on trying it, you are missing out. After the disappointment that is Normal Trial of the Crusader, it was very refreshing to see that the final encounter of Trial of the Grand Crusader had a good amount of special effort in order to accomplish this at the current point in time.

On a personal note, I was able to make use of the block gear I had been storing in the bank for a long time and not used aside from some pvp shield slamming fun. It was very gratifying, giving me a feeling that all this time of maintaining 6-7 different sets of gear was well worth it. You never know when it'll come to be heavily utilized.

As a whole guild, we pitched in our eternal transmutes and/or farmed for eternal fires to make ourselves frost protection potions. Isidara and Because were literally potion factories for us during our raids. Avendesora made flasks after flasks of resistance. DPS classes researched and shared their general DPS spec and strategy for this specific fight. Healers set strats on how to maximize survivability while minimizing Anub's self healing from Leeching Swarm. Personal extreme contributions were made, such as Helcion getting on the internet from a hotel room to make sure there were enough healers online.

The fight itself involved many coordinated roles that required consistent execution, every single time. Gathering of the adds by the add tank, rogue and hunter; Kiting Anub'arak around just right to keep from using up permafrosts; AoEing the adds while damaging Anub'arak enough; Lightning fast reaction to penetrating cold to get that quick heal in.

The result? A formidable foe. Epic battle. A squashed giant bug.



Would we have had an easier time if we aimed to, and had the resources to stack Deathknights and Rogues, all the passive healing we wanted, and rotated all the warlocks we have in the guild? Sure. Probably. But it's always been Risen's way to make things harder than it needs to be, and then beating the encounter anyways. Could we have brought in alts and pulled strings to get in the classes, and pushed out some of our members? Sure. But that's just not our way. We very much prefer taking the team that has worked long and hard to get here to begin with to get the job done.

Not everyone was able to make it for the actual raid we finally got him in, but as usual, let me take some time to congratulate the whole guild, present or not, as we would not be where we are without every single one of you. The commitment, dedication, and efforts will take us through many more of these moments of accomplishments, as well as the comical Nahid and Because joke moments. I might even bring out more educational veterinary stories.
Icecrown Citadel is next! Look out Arthas!

And Now for Our Favorite Segment...

Funny chat screen shots galore!
-Parn