Gratuitous kill shots (+ rambling!)

It's no secret that I love taking screen shots; they're the WoW equivalency of a photograph, capturing a moment for you to relive. Kill shots are amongst my absolute favourite things to "snap" -- being able to savour that accomplishment all over again and to see how you've grown as a player are wonderful feelings. This is Aesadonna's raiding journey through the Cataclysm.

Technically, this doesn't count since T10 is Wrath content, but killing the Lich King on heroic to obtain my Bane of the Fallen King title was one of the last things I did with Aureus Sol before the guild fell apart, so I feel that it warrants mentioning.

Accomplished Cataclysm Dungeon Hero, part of the meta toward getting Defender of a Shattered World. This... was actually quite a feat; at the time, I was a very self-concious DK who rarely ventured into the Random Dungeon Finder in fear of people mocking my performance.

Downed Cho'Gall with my bros from Aureus Sol! In typical AS fashion, 80% of the raid was dead on the ground along with Cho. *cough* This was the guild that I spent most of T11 with, although we dissolved before getting our first Nefarian kill. I was also stubbornly playing as Unholy at this point in time, clinging to the Wrath glory days.

My first Nefarian kill (and gaining of the Shattered World title) was experienced with my new guild, Undying Resolution. I was still incredibly green at this point in time and only signifigant contribution to the guild was me speccing into Anti-Magic Zone to soak up Nef's Electrocutes. My damage and survivability were both terribad, to say the least.

Ahh, Throne of the Four Winds, I still feeling nothing but abhorrence toward you! This place caused my anxiety to flare because I wanted to prove to my guildies that I'm capable, but I was so scared of doing things incorrectly that I only contributed a whopping 9k overall DPS because I kept my Ghoul on passive. (Oh, and let's not talk about the damn Squall Lines that I couldn't seem to dodge correctly. There's just something about me and tornadoes... *sigh*)

Firelands was the tier that I finally started to come into my own as a Death Knight. Early on, I switched to Frost and began the process of learning how to play a new spec. I clung to Unholy because it was what I knew; I snubbed Frost because it was new to me and "scary", though I hid under the guise of "Psh, Frost is far too simple, I like a challenge!"

Switching from Unholy to Frost was probably the best WoW decision I've made. With what little T11 I experienced with Undying Resolution, I constantly grazed the bottom of the DPS meters. Coupled with my poor survivability, I was totally a candidate for bench warming instead of experiencing content, which frustrated me into wanting to improve in whatever way I could.

I ran countless amounts of dungeons with Amowrath; he's a Blacksmith, so while he'd collect Orbs for crafting, I was honing my skills. Little by little, I was dying less. I learned how to get the fuck out of the ick, when to pop my survivability cooldowns, and how not to pull aggro from tanks whom I outgeared. I went from pulling 16k DPS on a GOOD day to averaging around 22k. I'll always be grateful to him for being up for running with me whenever, those runs were a valuable learning experience.

Then, came the actual raiding process. I spent the entire tier anxious to prove my worth. There were times where I wanted to throw my hands up in frustration and bow out due to stupid mistakes I made -- "Derp Kn00b" moments such as Death Gripping the wrong Elemental(s) on a Rag progression night which caused us to wipe during every attempt I was in, dying repeatedly to the Fiery Tornadoes on Alysrazor pre-nerf because of my shaky nerves, and of course the bane of every melee DPS' existence... standing in it.

I picked up PvPing to help with my survivability (aka more "get the fuck out of the ick" training), made a focus macro to follow around a talented guildie during the Alysrazor tornado dance (ain't no shame!), and learned a tough lesson from my embarrassing Rag fail -- from that day on, I made sure my positioning was precise and I never let another Elemental I was responsible for touch the hammer.

As I learned what I was capable of, my survivability rose from around 60-70% (yikes, right?!), to the high 80s... and onward to 90+ by the end of the content. I was finally an asset to the raid, instead of a friendly liability.

We didn't play around with too many Hardmodes during T12, but we had Heroic Shannox on farm.

Not a kill shot, but rather the most amazing accomplishment of T12; getting Ponerya her Legendary! It was the first legendary crafted in UR's history, so that made it all the sweeter. Pon finished it up a day before 4.3 hit; we had another lock and a boomkin start the staff and then quit playing, delaying her process.

All together now! This is the first guild that I've ever really felt at "home" in. I love my guildies. :-)

We killed "Loot Rock" for the first time on the PTR.

This fight usually provokes some good natured teasing toward Naarind, our colour-blind Warlock.

Zonozz is another gimmicky fight, but I'd much rather kill him any day of the week over someone like Rhyolith! *gag*

The second easiest fight of the Siege of Wyrmrest Temple, next to Loot Rock. We'll ignore the fact that I derped it up and smacked the moving Ice Wall tonight, hurrrr. MY POINT STILL STANDS!

Ultraxion was a booger bear initally, we had all sorts of issues beating his enrage timer.

Our first Warmaster kill was anything but clean... but, it was totally memorable! The last two standing was our Hunter raid leader, Zweibel, and our Resto Shammy, Effraeti. He kited the boss until his death, which then she pulled out her Greater Earth Elemental, who "tanked" the last itty bit of health Warmaster had left. Our 26th raid member really showed its worth that night. ;-)

<Insert Spine Kill Image Here>

We killed the big bad, you guys! *runs around, flailing*