WOW, What a Weekend!

This weekend was quite possibly one of the biggest in my WOW gaming career.  Okay, so it’s not a career, but you get the idea.  I’ll open up with the big news, albeit only slightly bigger than the other news.  (To me!)

Kered the Kingslayer

That’s right, my ragtag band of merry men (and women) the Dinner Goat crew finally killed the Lich King.  We started raiding as a group in Wrath with Naxxramas and followed through all the way to the Lich King.  We certainly had some bumps and bruises along the way, but the bottom line is we did it!

Grats go out to Jamason, Waspblood, Hoofz, Lissik, Emalie, Koffka, Kalisen, Gruffee, Tolzer and, of course, Kered for owning the Lich King in the face!

The true beauty of the moment was that we did it ourselves.  We didn’t recruit anyone to the guild for the purpose of successful raids.  No one left to go find a raid group that was more skilled.  A group of friends managed to achieve our ultimate goal for the expansion.

While it was a great moment, it was bittersweet as well, for a few reasons.

1. My wife, Beatris, did not get in on the kill.  She’s been having a very hard time raiding lately, as our son is rarely asleep by the time the raids start.  So my happiness was mixed with sadness for her missing the event.
2. I didn’t even know what was happening!  I was in Frostmourne when we hit 10% and thought we had wiped.  I knew what was going to happen, but without actually seeing the LK’s lifebar I really thought something had gone south.
3. Not that this is the most important thing to me, far from it, but there was not even the possibility of loot for me.  You see, I am a Dual Wield Death Knight, and that’s the ONLY spec that 10-man Lich King doesn’t have a weapon for.  Stupid?  I agree.  Of course, the 2-hander dropped, but I didn’t even roll against our Retadin for it.  That would have been quite douchy.

So now our goal is to get all the folks in the guild who missed the kill, but are geared and experienced enough to go in, their Kingslayer title.

Calduin hits 80!

A little background on this will explain why it is pretty monumental in it’s own right.  Calduin was my second WOW character, and first Alliance character.  My first character was a Troll named Kakascha, but I quickly migrated to the Alliance side and created Calduin.

I leveled Calduin to about 30 before I even created another Alliance character, but he was pretty much backburnered at that point.  Not one, not two, but three characters who were all created after Calduin hit 80 before he did.

Poor Calduin sat unfinished at the end of TBC.  A lowly level 67 when 70 was the cap.  /frown  Finally, however, he is at his level cap.  Finally, he has seen some endgame.  (He was in a 10-man ToC last night)  Finally…Calduin has his day.  This is completely true, as he is the character I am playing most, and plan on playing the most right now.

So congratulations to Calduin, my Night Elf Hunter.  You truly got me interested in this game, but over the months and years I had forgotten you.  I ask now, that you serve me well as you did so long ago.  In return, I promise to acquire phat lewtz for you and get you achievements.  I cannot promise you the coveted Kingslayer title, as you are just too poorly geared, but I will work hard to make sure you are ready come Cataclysm.

Having said that, there’s no way Calduin will be my first or even second player to level in Cataclysm.  Those spots are already taken by characters that bring DPS AND utility, such as the Warrior, DK or Shaman.  I will level you though, Calduin, and you will see 85 before the next-next expansion comes out!