I killed my mount

"Have you kept your first mount"?

A guildie put the question to me the other day, in response to another whining outbreak from my side, where I was cursing my constant lack of bag space. From the tone in his voice I could tell that there was only one acceptable answer: "yes, of course!".

Blushing I had to admit that I not only kept it, I even carried it around everywhere in the world where Larísa is going for her adventures. For what reason? I have absolutely no idea. Out of old habit or nostagia I guess. Now, taken off guard, I tried to invent a good cause right away, to be able to say something.

"Yeah. It's nice to have if you're boosting a low level alt in the guild with a slow mount. It's easier to be in company then".

The excuse was lame and I knew it. And so did my guildie.

"That's no problem. Walk a short way. Then stop and wait. Then walk again. There's no reason to keep it. You must clear bag space if you want to get gold easier (we had been discussing why I don't yet have any epic flying mount)".

He was dead right. It was time to take farewell of my old companion, the Blue mechanostrider. I felt it in my heart and I decided to do it right away before I grew soft and changed my mind.
So I went where I always go in Stormwind when I want to vendor something quickly, to the closest inn right beside the bank.

I was wondering how much I would get from it. This mount that had cost me such a fortune at level 40. What would it be worth now? One gold? 50 silver?

Believe my surprise when I found out what everybody else probably already know: the inn keeper just frowned upon me! No matter how I begged, no matter how experienced this bird was, knowing his way in every corner of the Old World. No matter how sweet he was (in comparison with the epic version, which in my opinion is rather ugly, to be honest).

She didn't want it.

So with a tear in my eye corner I decided to give my old companion killing blow. I trashed him right away, and on the question "are you sure" my answer was DELETE. For once I had taken a rational decision. I just hope it was the right one.

Still I want to send a little plea to Blizzard, if someone from them one day happens to stumble upon my blog:

Couldn't you please invent some kind of mausoleum for outdated mounts and pets? Somewhere to keep those creatures who have served us so well, just for nostalgic reasons? I would even be willing to pay 1 gold instead of getting one, just to know that my mount got a better ending than now, this heartless deleting.

We may need to kill our mounts, but at least we want to give them a decent funeral.

Just a cry for joy

Oh this isn't any real blog post. Just a little outcry to share my pure joy after the progress we did tonight!


First we downed Void Reaver - a first kill for my guild as well as for me. He didn't drop any mage shoulders at all - but who cared? A dead boss is a dead boss!


And then we went to Zul Aman and had some really good tries on Jan'alai. The last one he was way below 30 percent, all eggs gone since long. We learned the drill with the eggs and the bombs (putting the camera so you see it from above and zooming out really helps a lot there - first time I've seen myself as an ant in the game) and I know for sure we'll get him next time we pay him a visit. We've really gotten to know that gentleman.


All my stores are empty after yesterday. Potions, buffood, elixirs - you name it. I ate mad alchemist potions like mad, giving away all my mana pots to the poor healers. And the repair bill was huge, armor down to 4 percent after Jan'alai. But who cares? To me this is was raiding is about. The learning process. Nothing in the world can beat it. I'd rather have 2 badges from Void Reaver and a huge repairbill as my only reward from 5 hours of raiding than 22 badges from the hundredth run through Kara.


I already long for next time.

The Times They Are A-Changing

"Oh you should have been around in the old days... Naxx...bla bla... much better in BG...bla bla... When epics ware really exclusive and the game wasn't populated by noobs...."

Have you heard it before? Being a late starter I can't help getting a bit fed up with that kind of talk. I can take some of it, but after a while I just want to shout:
"Congrats for having so much fun in the old days, but if you think the game has become spoiled, why don't you just leave it and leave us, who still are enchanted and thrilled, alone? WE still enjoy WoW in the TBC shape, don't ruin it with your whining!"

I wonder what will happen to me with the expansion? Will I become one of those grumpy old self-pitying players? I see myself talking about how good the game was in The Burning Crusade Era, when raiding instances actually took some commitment and you had to get through endless attunement procedures, sorting out the weed, before you could enter. I'll probably tell new players about how excited I was, even to just enter the doors of Karazhan, since it had taken us so much of work to do it. Now with The Wrath of the Lich King, just anybody will be able to go into a raid instance without further preparations. What has become of the world? Oh dear, oh dear...

Yeah. I've been reading the glimpses of information about the expansion that went official the other day. Actually I think what I've heard so far seems pretty promising.

Though I have some mixed feelings about the lack of attunements, there are other things that sound really good to me. 10 man versions of the 25 man raids, yay! Still you keep the best rewards for the 25 man ones - that's only fair. This change should make the transition easier for a small guild trying to go from 10 to 25.

Another great thing is making the 5 man instances a bit shorter. It will be more friendly for people with families and other RL commitments. And the ones who are free to play as long as they want - well nothing stops them for running several instances in a row.

What about the Death Knight class then? Well, I don't know yet. I guess it will increase the tank supply, which is a good thing. And I see no reason not to start one for myself, it seems like a bonus for anyone of us that have a char past level 55. So why not use it? If I'll level it is an entirely different question. To be honest I think my first priority will be to get Larísa to 80. Only after I've done that I'll want to try out the new class and see if I fall in love with it, if I'll feel the urge to bring it up.

Oh those new pictures and glimpses from the new world, they're really tasty samples that make me want more of it. (Exactly what they want to achieve I guess). I can just imagine the feeling of leaving the well-known grounds of Outlands, setting course for an entire new world to explore. Yummy!

Still... as I've said before there's no rush to me. Please, please, Blizzard. Keep working on WotLK for a while... Give me time to see a few more of the bosses in SSC, TK or even beyond!

The Times They Are A-Changing. And there's nothing we can do about it. Just pray and hope it will take some time.

Projects - a matter of choice

We all have them - to greater or lesser extent. Our Game Projects. Like if they were small plants or babies, we care for them, nourish them, give them their daily fertilizer. But there are different ways to handle them.

Some of us prefer to dive deep into one project at a time. We call it The Project, The One and Only, and we give it every single moment we can spare (outside of raiding, pvp-ing or whatever is the main purpose of our playing).

Nothing can pull us away from it, once we've started. We become like rabid dogs, refusing to let go of our pray. It could be levelling the fastest possible in order to join some friends at a higher level. It could be collecting mats for our spellfire set that will make us ready for some decent raiding. It could be the god grinding for an epic mount or reputation grinding for a pattern or recipe we desperately need. As a reward for our commitment we'll reach our goal pretty fast. On the other hand it's only ONE goal we'll reach. In every other aspect of the game our progress will be minimal, everybody else will seem too rush ahead of us when it comes to other tasks - badge collecting, honour point grabbing and such.

Then there are others who won't put all their savings into just one single bet. We'll spread our efforts between not only one or two, but up to ten or twenty different projects. A little now, a little then. In one single evening we'll finish two quests levelling our alt, get up our fishing skill one point, run one Eye of the Storm to get a few honour points for that PvP piece we want, gather one primal mana to that thing we're crafting, collect a few Marks of Sargeras for that Aldor rep and finally do three daily quests to gather a little more gold for that mount of our dreams. With this approach we'll be rewarded by getting a character that is improved in an allround way. Eventually we'll achieve a lot. And we'll get a lot of variety while doing it, the game will never become repetitive and boring. On the other hand it will take us ages to go there, for a long time we'll feel like not progressing at all, just standing at the same spot.

So - what approach is best then? And what about me? Am I single focused or do I do a little of everything, tasting every single dish on the buffet? Well, if I have to choose I actually believe more in the former strategy - to try to focus on a few things rather than to split your attention into dozens of projects that never seem to come to an end. My main reason is that I think you really need to complete projects every now and then in order to get some energy to proceed. You need the reward, the feeling of achievement, to manage to continue doing things that can become a bit monotonous after a while. And if you reach one goal it can often help you to reach other goals more easily, at least when the goal is about gear upgrades.

Knowing this, I still tend to end up having too many projects. Whenever I manage to finish a project there seem to pop up at least two new ones. It's a never ending story, though I guess it's the way the game works. If you haven't got any projects it's probably a sign that you're losing interest in it altogether. Still I think I should try to focus a bit more on one or to projects at a time - if I only could chose. I'm really angry with myself from time to time, finding it so hard to make decisions and stick to them.

Last week I managed to get end two of my projects and I'm happy about that:
One was the achievement of the Champion of the Naaru title, where I ran quite a few instances in a brief time - which was quite easy to do since there were a few more guildies striving for the same title. If I hadn't had that help it would definitely had taken me longer. I also got the badge dagger that I had been collecting for for a while - something that certainly was helped by my instance running for the title.

So what's up next then?

• The never ending collecting of gold for my epic flying mount. I'm halfway now.


• Collecting gear for the Sorcerer's Alchemist stone. One more primal might needed, a diamond and a bunch of primal fires, but I'm not too far from it.


• Getting mats to have someone make Belt of Blasting for me. I've already got a great belt, but that one is awesome since you can gem it. It will be the next gear gathering project after I've got the trinket.


• Getting exalted with Keepers of Time. I was just pointed out from a guildie that Flask of Supreme Power would be a much better choice for me currently being arcane/frost, since it will boost both frost and arcane spells. Until today I've been using Flask of Pure death. Mats are a bit less expensive for that flask as well. But to get the recipe I have to get rep with KoT unless I want to run Scholomance numerous times to see if it drops. I gather doing a few BMs is quite a lot quicker.


• Getting exalted with Consortium. Currently I get crap gems in my monthly bag.


• Gathering some Eye of the Storm marks and honour points to get that PvP neck with spell haste rating that seems pretty nice.


• Start out working on the Black Temple attunement quest line. I'm still stuck on Tablets of Baa'ri. Though there's no logical reason for me to do it, attunement requests removed since the last major patch, it still feels nice to do it the original way. And it will probably give me some gold and fun while doing it. Even though I may never ever see BT from inside before the expansion.


• Levelling Arisal, my rogue alt. I love her. How can I let her stay at 23? She hasn't even done any instance yet (unless boosted, which doesn't count). I want to learn how to play a rogue!

Oh dear. What a list. Eight projects that I come to think of instantly, probably there are even more of them that just slipped my mind and others I have never dared to look closer at (like collecting cards for a Darkmoon faire trinket). Eight projects are at least five to many. Every one of them has its rightful place on the list. Yet some of them will have to wait. If I could only make up my mind! Too many projects. Too little time. It's the constant state of my World of Warcraft gaming.

Things I've yet to learn at level 70

The other day I wrote a blog post about things that I've learned since level 1. Now I'll tell you about the things that I still haven't learned, no matter how stupid it will make me in the eyes of the readers. Yes, it's time for some more confessions from Larísa. Here we go!

How to win a duel
I've got a full epic mage, still I'm a disaster when it comes to duelling. Nowadays I challenge my guildies frequently since I really want to improve. And some of them are polite enough to give me a few seconds advantage to begin with. They let me sheep them for a little while since they know it makes me so happy. But if we're duelling seriously it always ends up with them sapping me, making me completely incapacitated for a while. And then before I know it I'm dead. Could someone please start a summer course of duelling? I'd definitely volunteer as a pupil. Oh, wouldn't it be sweet if I one day could own a guildie of mine in a duel, in a honest fight. Just once!

How to find my way in Karazhan
This one is embarrassing, but it's quite evident that my bad sense of orientation in RL breaks through in Azeroth as well. Though I've been there every week the last six months, I still fail to find my way and sort out what ramp leads to Netherspite and where to go to find Aran. I can orient in the lower parts, but the higher are just confusing. (Thanks god for warlock summonings).

How to handle DKP
Though I've been raiding for a while now I've never played in a guild using DKP. Which is good for me, since I'm pretty scared of it. I'm just such a lousy poker player, I know I'd be a loser at all times, I just wouldn't know when to bid and when to save. It's the same thing as in AH, I'm never the one that make bargains, I'm the one that other can make good affairs from.

How to act in Alterac Valley
I still haven't got a clue what to do when I'm there. If I'm not with guildies I just tend to follow the stream, though I instinctively think it must be wrong. Should we really be like flies, going for the sugar, everybody at the same spot? Wouldn't it be wiser to spread out a bit?
If I'm with guildies I do as they say and try to follow them, they seem to know what they're doing. The only problem is when I die at a different spot to them. Sometimes I manage to connect to them again, sometimes not. Oh, will I ever get out the complete noob stadium when it comes to Battleground? I guess 900 lifetime kills isn't enough?

How to mark and lead an instance run
One day I'll do it. It's one of those mountains that begs me to be climbed. Will I ever be ready? I guess the first step is to actually try to memorize how others mark up the mobs (not only executing the orders without thinking about them further). And to do some homework, looking up tactics on wowwiki. Although I've done all of the instances by now, it definitely takes more of knowledge if you're supposed to lead it than if you just follow.

How to do the bombing in Blade's Edge without getting shot down
I hate the bombing quest in Blade's Edge. I guess it's because it really sorts out the skilled players from the... well... less talented, like me. In theory I know I should fly in, shoot, and then quickly dive or turn either way. Just not hang around close to the cannon. Still I've never succeeded in completing that quest without getting shot down once or twice. Some people say it's easier if you've got an epic flying mount. Which I haven't. But I think it's a lame excuse. However I've given up that quest altogether now, with all the new dailies at the Island. Bombing Pit Lords and Sourcerers is a hell lot easier and less time consuming.

How to run, jump and hit a spot of my own choice
It isn't often, but every now and then in the game, you're required to make some precision jumping. Like a quest in Searing Gorge, where you're supposed to kill a bunch of elites standing around a pool of lava. Then you must jump exactly to a small step stone in the middle of that pool. If you miss it you'll die. And you can't just jump from a spot, you need to do it on the run to have the right speed to land right. Oh, what a pain it was. I remember ending up using some fire protection potion in order to complete it... In Slave Pens there's a shortcut you can use that also takes some precision jumping onto an ever so narrow shelf. I hate it when parties suggest you take the shortcut. Sometimes I reach it, sometimes I just have to deliberately drown in the water (where you land if you fail in your jumping) and get ressed so we can proceed. It's humiliating. I really need to improve my jumping skills.

How to make the best out of the addons I have
I'm just so lazy when it comes to addons. If I only could put in a little more time and showed ever so little patience I'm convinced they'd offer me so much more support than they do today. Take Scrolling Combat Text for instance... It looks just ... so messy. I'm sure it could be much cleaner, less distracting, without losing information value. The same with X-pearls that has a ton of settings I haven't bothered to check out. Or Arkinventory. I have just done a little basic sorting, keeping herbs, food, questitem and gear apart from each other, but I could surely do much better sorting than that. It's really stupid, why do I overload my memory with a lot of finesses I never ever take benefit from?

How to perform World PvPing
Being on a PvE server, there still seems to be some world PvP-ing going on. From time to time there's warnings coming in the chat. "The Horde has taken over...XXX!". That doesn't tell me a thing and even if I bothered I actually have no idea at all of what I should do. The question is: am I absolutely right in neglecting that stuff? Or am I really missing something?

How to survive as Little Red Hood
I hate that boss. I just hate him. Enough said.

Things I've learned since level 1

Matticus had a nice blog post the other day 20 Things I Know at Level 70 that I Didn't Know at Level 1, about things he would like to tell someone who was just about to pick up the game, to save them learning it by themselves the hard way.

I love that kind of list posts. Just making a list out of an idea gives you some kind of authority, doesn't it? It seems so well thought over. Here's someone that has dived deeply into a subject, systematically, if he's made a list of it he must have covered it all. Is there really anything I would like to add out of a Larísa perspective? I doubt it, but I'll give it a go.

• Be honest. You could be secret about your private life for whatever reason, shyness, lack of self confidence, the wish to hide from the world... but don't lie. Don't pretend to be a girl when you're not, trying to get some favours out of it. (Maybe you will to begin with but you'll also easily enough tangle yourself into a web of lies that will be harder and harder to get out of. ) Don't say that you've got more experience than you've had, that you've "done Karazhan" when you've only been there twice. People don't hate you for being new to the game. But they hate you for lying. I've been honest about myself from the very first day - not pretending to be anything but a 40 year old female newbie (though a pretty serious newbie). It hasn't hurt at all - it has given me a tonnage of game friends and wonderful gaming memories.
• Do your homework. There's a wealth of knowledge out there, things that will help you to become a better player, to level smoother, to perform better in Arena, instances or whatever you prefer. Theorycrafting isn't only for hardcore players in top rated guilds - it's even more useful for us casuals that can benefit from the research of others without having to figuring out everything for ourselves. It will take a few hours from your gaming time to actually read up a bit about an instance before pugging it for the first time, or picking your spec out of some kind of idea rather than by hazard. But it's well invested time that will pay off in the long run.
• Don't be shy. Don't just play safe. Overcome your prejudices and barriers and try out aspects of the game that you thought wasn't for you. Take challenges that are offered to you - leave your comfort zone. You can surprise yourself and you'll definitely learn a lot from it. I waited way to long before doing instances in a systematic way. I guess I thought I knew too little about what I was doing in order to dare playing with complete strangers, making a fool out of myself. If I'd known by then what I know now I wouldn't have hesitated doing Deadmines at the right level. I really regret that I've only done it boosting others or being boosted myself. If I had had the guts I would have improved in the game much faster than I did.
• Think ahead and put up long term plans and goals. There's no reason you shouldn't think about the future while levelling. If you intend to enjoy end game with your char, raiding for instance, plan for it right from the beginning, when picking professions, when thinking about what instances to run, what drops to try to get, what reputation to focus on. I had no idea about those things, just randomly making my way through the levels. If I'd known then what I know now I would have made Larísa a tailor, making a spellfire and spellstrike set to put on as soon as she dinged 70.
• Don't settle with mediocrity. Try to level a bit not only when it comes to your char and your gear, but also when it comes to guilds. This doesn't mean that you should constantly be guild shopping. You could perfectly well be so lucky that you find The Guild of Your Heart early in your gaming career. Then stay there, but don't settle with it - try to participate in developing the guild, making progress one way or another (not necessary in downing bosses, there are other ways to progress). A guild can always become better. What I'm trying to point out is that there are so many really good guilds out there. Don't settle with a mediocre guild just because you randomly got into it when you were ninja invited to it when you didn't have much clue about the game at all. Give yourself the decent guild that you deserve.
• Gear will get outdated at the next expansion or even the next patch. Friends won't. The most precious that your character has is not in the bank slot, your bag or something she wears. It's the friends list. Take good care about it. This game is as much about socializing as about skill. Your friends will be your best teachers. They'll laugh with you when you make a stupid error in an instance, causing everyone to die. They'll cheer for you when you win the roll - and cry with you when you lose it. They'll help you to see things clearly, when it's time to move on to another guild, when it's time for a change (that will inevitably come sooner or later in your gaming career). Fiends are epic. Gear is not, at least not for long.
• Use your gaming time wisely. You'll soon enough find out you haven't got the time you need to do everything you want to in the game. Why waste it on nothing? This doesn't mean that you should treat the game as a work, only doing "useful" things all the time. But it means that you should spend time on things that will give you pleasure and entertainment in one way or another - for the time being - or later on, if you're for instance grinding mats for some resistance gear you just have to obtain before a certain raid encounter or trying to get the gold you need for your epic flying mount. Using the time means that while you're waiting for a party to assemble you could as well organize your bags, pick some flowers in the surroundings or train yourself to become a better player by duelling your friend. Do whatever that suits with your current goals and plans. But don't just aimlessly stroll around, telling the world that you're bored with the game or spamming crap in general out of pure frustration. If you can't focus on doing something fun or useful, then you should just turn of the PC imo.

That was my philosophical kind of list. Then I can't refrain myself from giving some more hands-on kind of advice for people who are completely new to the game just as I was myself in the beginning of 2007. Those players probably won't find my blog to read those ramblings, but what the hell:

• Repair your gear. It took myself quite a few levels to understand the meaning of the red guy that appeared on the screen, the concept of repairing the gear.


• There are several tabs where to put your talents. Not only the top one. Explore them all! (I think I'm not alone in that error).


• Get used to visit AH early in the game - but concentrate on selling rather than buying while levelling. You would be surprised if you knew how well just some copper ore will be payed. (I didn't dare go into AH until at least after level 30).


• Don't ever buy gear from the vendors, trying to tempt you with staffs, daggers, cloth gear and so on. It's just crap and expensive if you compare it to quest rewards, drops and whatever you'll find at AH. (Isn't it kind of mean of Blizzard putting up all those vendors, just in order to fool new players?)


• Get yourself some basic addons. It will make your playing so much easier. And it's not only for pro gamers. From my point of view Blizzard hasn't really completed the game UI, they have left the last finish to the gaming community. You should get that part to.


• Learn first aid right from the beginning. It will save you loads of time and pain.


• Take up cooking as well. It will save you a lot of money and boost you in the long run.


• Use whatever money you can spare to buy bags. It will save you sooo many trips to vendors for clearing bags or even the saddening process of destroying things just because there isn't room.


• Talk to other players! Don't be shy. Ask people in the same area that obviously are doing the same quest if you could join the party. You'll make the quest twice as fast and have twice as fun. At least. (It took myself ages before I realized that.)


• There's a subway between Stormwind and Ironforge. Use it. Don't try to invent any other way by swimming or running through hostile areas.

So this was what I've learned since level 1. One day or another I'll write a post about things that I haven't yet learned. They are numberous. Luckily enough. Because when you've learned everything about the game, what is there really left to do?

To press under pressure

In theory everyone in a raid is equally important. There's no room for slackers, if you mess up and just don't do your job the raid will fail. To raid is to be under a certain pressure, that's a part of the deal, what makes it so fun if you're that kind of person. It's the tension and the adrenaline rush that gives us the kick.

In practice though, the pressure varies. There are always those roles in a fight that are more exposed. It's those tasks that have the effect that if one single player fails in doing his job the whole raid will wipe. There's no pardon. For instance there's the mage tanking task in Gruuls lair. You have to manage to do a good pull and just cant mess around with the spellsteal hot key. People will notice. Trust me.

I've got mixed feelings for those tasks, being aware of the limits of my skill as a player. Am I really reliable? I ask myself. And once you start asking yourself those questions there's an increasing risk that the answer will be "no". On the other hand you can't just chicken out of it. Everyone has got to do what the raid leader tells us to. If not - what are you there for? Pushing your limits, acting under pressure, that's what's raiding is all about. And above all - if you actually perform those highlighted assignments you feel pretty good about yourself afterwards.

Yesterday I suddenly found myself in that situation, without planning for it at all. We were in Magtheridon for the third or fourth time or so. In this fight, for you that haven't done it, there's a thing about some cubes that need to be clicked at a certain point in order to prevent huge damage. They must be clicked at the same time - not to early, not to late - by five players. If you fail - the raid dies. So just to be sure the normal procedure is to assign not only clickers, but standby-clickers, that can step forward if the first one dies. It sounds pretty easy and I guess it would be if it wasn't for the fact that there's something in the fight that makes you bounce around every now and then, which makes at least me pretty disoriented. It can be a bit tricky to actually know you're position in the cave and move over to your spot in time to click. So until now I hadn't volunteered as cube clicker, I was pretty happy that others did.

But the raid leader yesterday wasn't asking for volunteers. He just assigned us. And suddenly I found myself being second clicker on one of the cubes, in case the first one would die. OK I thought, I had to try this out at some point in my raiding career and being number second seemed a good way to start. But I asked another guildie to be third back up clicker, in case I would fail. Just to be sure.

The encounter started and everything went on as planned. The dps was good, channelers went down fast and soon enough the raid leader called out that we should move over to the cubes. So I did - and found that there was no one there except for me. Were the heck was the first clicker? Had he died? No - everyone was up and healthy. Had he gone invisible? Probably not, being a warrior. What would happen if he was somewhere around and I just didn't see him - if we doubleclicked it, two players at one time? Would it work? I had no idea, but I knew someone just had to click the cube, so when the raid leader called it out I pressed it. "Well done", the raid leader called out. Apparently it had worked. The five-man clicking team had done their job. And I was a part of it! The fight continued and we did the same procedure again a couple of times. Towards the end things went a bit more difficult, the roof falling down when Magtheridon's down at 30 percent. But I iceblocked it and then made it to the cube again. Still no first clicker in sight. As a matter of a fact I clicked that cube for the whole encounter, since I managed to survive, despite falling stones and other obstacles. Actually most of us did, we just had a few dead players and we nailed the boss in the first try.

Oh, happiness! I found myself way down on the dmg list, which sucks, but being a clicker I spent a little too much time out of range of nuking him. But what did that matter, really? I had been under pressure and I had pressed the button exactly in the right moment for the whole fight. The raid leader had trusted me and I hadn't failed.

I know that for some of you that are reading this blog, this fight is so easy that it's boring, no challenge at all. But at my level it is, believe me. Most of all I was happy that I actually had noticed the absence of the first clicker and that I had taken action. Sometimes I get just to busy watching bars of different addons or listening to the raid leader that I actually miss to see what's really going on on the screen. This time I hadn't and I had thought for myself, made my own decision to jump in. This really boosted my self confidence. (It turned out afterwards that there had been some misunderstanding about who really was the number one clicker. Two guys were thinking the other one was.)

It only felt appropriate that I also got my first title ever in this game the very same evening: Larísa nowadays is a Champion of the Naaru, since downing Magtheridon was the last step in a huge quest chain that I've spent the last week doing.

Then we went to The Eye and got Void Reaver to 15 percent, which wasn't bad since it was our first time there - next time I'm sure we'll get him. And as a dessert of this lovely evening we had a quick trip to Kara, taking down Prince and Netherspite, which gave me the last few badges I needed to buy my 150 badges dagger that I instantly got enchanted and equipped before calling it night. This was a wonderful ending of a wonderful night that I'll try to keep now as a treasure in my collection of raiding night memories.

There will be times in the future when I'll be put under pressure and fail it. Those things happen when you raid. But then I can always recall this night when I did my job, faultlessly. If I did it now I can do it again. Larísa is growing up. Who knows, one day I'll even have the guts to volonteer?