Karazhan? What is this madness?!

I honestly cannot recall the last time I ran Kara, which leads me to conclude that it has been at least a year since I stepped foot into Medivh's Tower. I jumped in a multi-guilded raid of friends, mainly because I still needed to complete Nightbane's quest that had been rotting in my quest log for ages. I was feeling more spontaneous than usual, and I figured I needed to get it done before Wrath anyway.

It was a night of excessive Volley usage and forgetting exactly how bosses work. Despite some death due to noobishness, I pulled my share of the weight: 20% of total damage. So I bore a little more than my share :)

There might have been some instances of pretentiousness - after all, I'm certainly not used to hanging around before a pull when everyone is alive! Seriously, could we get some chain pulls here? It spend up well enough towards the end, enough that there might have been a jab or two in my direction regarding if the speed of the clear was fast enough for me.

It was definitely obvious that I haven't run the instance in forever. Those mobs before Curator? WTF is up with those?! The pally tank yelled at me on Shade because I kept Misdirecting him - a fairly pointless action. Admittedly, it's a reflex action at this point in my raiding career, but I suppose I never really acknowledged how deep the habit ran. Hell, I MDed him on NETHERSPITE. Yes, my name is Neg, and I am a noob that knows Kael'thas and Illidan like the back of my hand.

I died within 30 seconds on Prince, mainly because I forgot the range on his shadow nova thing. Ironically, Tinea (who hit 70 during the raid! Yea for Call of the Wild!) resisted it, and I died. Go figure.

Speaking of Prince, I have a story to tell. I may have told this before, but it is a very personal story to me, and it reflects how much people use the game to be complete bastards. When I was a precious little 70 on my original server, I ran Kara every week. I was completely dedicated to getting the best gear possible. I had everything I could get, except for Legacy and Sunfury. I ran well into Gruul's and even into SSC/TK, but I never saw the bow or the axe.

The last Kara raid I went on before my guild crumpled, our GM at the time, who had leveled up a paladin with the intent of making him his main and had ran him through Kara at the same time as I did , had recently changed his mind and reverted back to his hunter. Clearing up to trash, we discussed what would happen if the bow dropped, and we agreed it would be a roll. How could I say otherwise? Our loot system in the 10-mans had always been rolls - what right did I have to say, no, he can't roll on the bow that I had spent so long trying to get? I had no rank, only time invested, and to not agree would be asking to be labeled as a bitch (oh, the wonderful world of sexism in gaming).

The bow dropped, and I lost the roll.

Nobody called him out on it in chat or over Vent, but I got many whispers of condolence from the other raid members, even some from the other officers who said that it was completely unfair, that he should have passed.

I had never been so personally frustrated over WoW in my entire gaming history. I may have even done the overly-feminine thing of crying in my frustration.

Sunfury dropped last night. I needed it (asking the only other bow user - a warrior - if he needed it first), then I hearthed out and vendored it.

Comparatively, I was a weaker player than I am now at the time of the original Sunfury drop. I grew and worked hard to make myself the hunter I am now. The guild I was in fell apart, so a trio of us transfered off server, where we joined the guild we are in now, where we eventually ascended the ranks and established ourselves a home. I would never have imagined at the time of that Kara run that I would eventually be a leader of an end-game guild. Goes to show your own potential is hidden from you.

I'm never running Kara again! Ha!