tanking macros

At first it felt as if I was cheating, since it became so simple to keep track only of 2 buttons on my action bar rather than 5 or 6, but yesterday when I off-tanked in Naxx it gave me a better chance to be aare of other stuff going on than just the boss, like the adds coming in on anub'arak and that last spider.
I use these:
Macro #1: 6 Second CD
#showtooltip
/startattack
/castsequence [mod:alt] Divine Plea; reset=5 Hammer of the Righteous, Shield of Righteousness
Macro #2: 9 Second CD
#showtooltip
/startattack
/castsequence [mod:alt] Consecration; reset=5 Holy Shield, Judgement of Wisdom, Consecration

Will keep on evaluating them for a bit.

Naxxramas pt 2

We were 7 when we did the trash between Noth and Heigan, I lost aggro on one or two of the bats but on the whole we managed. But I do feel I need to read up on aggro management and what I can do to make my aggro better. Or if it was just the imba dps we had with us, mostly its the hunters pets or the hunters that take aggro, what I can see.

Then there was the dancing. I have healed it loads of times and just done the dancing in the teleport phases, but it was a completely different thing to try to tank. I managed to stay between cracks for some parts but to keep aggro on Heigan, manage the dancing and at the same time keep track of distance to platform became too much for my little noob tank and we died pretty instantly.

Thankfully, one of the guilds MT's logged on at that time so we hi-jacked him.

Then we did Loatheb, and since the MTs dps is better than mine in offspec, I tanked him but it was one of the easier tanking jobs ever. and I got Spaulders of the Lost Conqueror to show for it as well!

Then we had a break, and continued in Military. Me and the other tank-in-training tackled the mind controlled understudys and it took 2 tries to learn to handle the bone armor and the taunting controls, but we got him on the third try.

Naxxramas pt 1

Guild went to Naxxramas last night and had a blast, arachnid, Gluth, Grobbulus and Notw went down. Several guildies got gear upgrades, I myself got Gauntlets of the Master, and also some healing gloves, Web Cocoon Grips, that nobody wanted, took them in case I want to spec Holy at a later time.

Rest of Naxx is coming down tonight! Or at least Heigan, we're going to teach Khriga to dance! ;-)

Ding 80!

I was in Crystalsong Forest killing mobs for a quest, counting down with each mob, finally sent out a *drumroll* in gchat and DING! :) It was sometime around 9pm server time. Then I had an expensive date with my trainer, respecced 0/53/18 (have to learn what talents i'v got now), then went to AH and bought almost all the Tempered Saronite stuff there was.

There are enough tanks and healers for the gear run in Naxx tonight so maybe I can tag along as retri. :)

Had to tell the rogue off from wanting to use master loot, we've never needed that in our guild.

It seems i managed to log out in retri spec but most of my tank gear so any gear profile tools online is pretty useless to look at from work today....

6.5 bars to 80

I took help from some guildies to finish the Amphitheatre in Zul'Drak, did a load of wyrmrest and Sons of Hodir dailies, some Argent tournament but when clock struck midnight I still had 6.5 bars left, and had to go to work this morning. So the big *DING* will take place tonight instead.
A guildie has set up a Naxx gearing run for tomorrow thursday but I guess i'll be along on that with Chaya, I will not have the time to gear up enough for that on Maïa.
But maybe the next run on Tuesday. :-)

the wow-related things you can do while at work

Read forums! Today I'm checking the Tanking for dummies thread:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=10711122815&sid=1.
 A bit basic in places but useful advice none the less.

And a nice little guide to pre-raid gear:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=7120153174&sid=1

Dinged 76 last night, so a bit left before heroics, but useful to know anyway!

I ran out of Wyrmrest quests last night and had to go to Wintergarde Keep, I wonder if i missed something or if the wrathgate quests pick up again after wintergarde? Have to check wowhead when I get home.

Levelling by tanking

Besides doing the horseman, I tanked VH twice, and Utgarde Keep once yesterday. Levelled almost half a level on it, but ofc 80k xp for the 2 UK quests helped.
First time in VH (guild run) I remembered about using the right spells, but I had positioned them oddly on my keyboard, so after switching them around a bit for the UK run I was much more comfortable.
The second VH was mostly pug and the hunter and his pet was taking a lot of aggro and doing so much damage that it was hard to get it back. But all lived and the knowitall guildie didnt even comment on my tanking. So I guess I was doing ok. The other runs, fulll guild runs, we had my guild main tanks in the group on their shammy and rogue alts and they thought i was doing good. :-)

Niiiiicee...

Horseman epics at 75!

Really nice that you can get to do the Horseman daily in SM as early as lvl 75. I didnt tank, we had a new 80 dk in the guild that wanted to come so he tanked and I dps'd, just have to remember not to taunt when I'm retri in a group!

I got the Magic broom, The Horseman's seal, Wicked Witch's Band and the Ring of Ghoulish Glee all in one day. Going to try for the The Horsemans Baleful Blade and the Horsemans Horrific Helm in coming days. Loads of free epics even before I'm 80!

i wish i was 2 ppl

My main Chaya was recently made guild master so suddenly there is not as much time to play Maïa. We got some raids scheduled, and Hallow's End is in full bloom, so Maïa tend to stand at a mailbox next to AH and vendor gems.
But I really want her to ding 80 before Hallows end finishes so I at least have a chance of getting the horseman on her...

here's one for the books

Second time I tank, and I'm in Karazhan. And tank Malchezzar. And it works out just great.

A chaotic thrill

So, I did it!
I made my tanking premiere last night in Nexus, with a party of 3 guildies on alts, (me, a 72 mage, a 75 shammie and a 72 rogue) and a noob dk that kept asking where the next boss was.
Shammie was on his first healing job, too, so we were prepared for a tough run.

It started out chaotic enough with getting an extra trash add and lost aggro immediately. Got it back, and we lived. Phew.

Got through the pats, and the frozen trolls, and stood before the first boss, that bitchy mage that splits in 3 and tosses you around in the air. Rogue died early on, I prob lost aggro to his high damage, but the rest of us lived fine even if it was frantic at times.

After we wiped on some of the trees before iceboss, the dk left (probably his bedtime), and our own mage had to go, we got 2 other mages in, a lvl 73 and some help from our 80 mage.

Except for the wipe on the trees I lived through all boss fights, so the fresh healer was doing his job well.

There is probably som addon that can help with aggro management, but i just circled between targets to see that I had all the mobs attention, and taunted the ones thad focused on other i the party. As soon as I get that in it as routine it will probably work better.

We got each boss down on first try so, all in all, it worked out pretty good after all, I think.

Tonight I'll be in Ulduar with my priest, so there will probably not be any new tanking adventures until the weekend.

Nothing boring about Borean...?

I've been running around questing in Borean for 2 days now, and there don't seem to be any people about at all. I remember when I first hit Northrend, Borean and Howling fjord was teeming with players, to the limit of not being able to find quest mobs at all. Ok, so that was when wotlk just came out and *everyone* and their dog was starting Northrend.

These days, Dalaran is packed with 80s, but where is the regrowth? OK, on a Saturday morning there are hundreds of people in Elwynn, but they never seem to get beyond Westfall.

Finding a tanking spec

I have several tank friends, in my guild and others so I will have a lot of help from them if I need it.

I have found a tanking spec in the pala threads in the wow-europe forums that I specced yesterday (after having spent the 1000g for dual spec). I was very pleased that my hp went up to nearly 12k, with sanctuary, but appalled at the way my mana disappeared in no time.
The ret specc is still the way for questing it seems.

Plan to go to Utgarde Keep or Nexus tomorrow, with a friend who is tank on his main but will start his healing adventures with me on his shammy. Hopefully we can get more guildies in on the run.

Bye bye Outlands

I teamed up with a dwarf rogue to finish off the mastery quests in Nagrand, got all 4 beasts down on first try, but had to pop bubble and lay on hands once or twice. Had a bit of trouble keeping aggro from the high dps-ing rogue but taunt (hand of reckoning) worked fine. Then I had one and a half bar left to 68 so i went to the caravan in terokkar, got som orcs and mites down and dinged, to the chorus of my guild gratulating me. :-)

I dropped all outland quests, portaled to Sw, passed the cathedral to pick up new ranks of talents and got on the boat to Borean Tundra!

Maïas adventures in Northrend

At the moment, Maïa is still in Nagrand.  But tonight, or at the latest tomorrow, she will ding 68 and abandon all old quests and jump on the boat to Northrend.