Your Success in Molten Core Awaits

Raiding

And now, time for something completely different.

It had been my plan last night to continue frantically leveling Piroska on the Scarlet Crusade US roleplaying server¹, but I had forgotten that I’d promised a friend and fellow raider that I would help him snag some Cenarion Expedition reputation. An issue that has arisen in my perky priestess’s raid is that not everyone has been equipping flasks or elixirs for every boss attempt, which has understandably left those who do come prepared and do make that minimal effort feeling rather put out. My friend is one of those people, citing that he can’t afford the cost of downing more elixirs when we wipe six minutes later and that he can’t justify spending the gold on flasks if we’re not making progress.

While the cantankerous bitch in me wanted to call him out and berate him publicly for this kind of conduct, I decided to take a less challenging route and help him acquire the reputation required for the flasks that can purchased using a Mark of the Illidari. So, I snagged a couple of friends, he brought his brother, and we had a merry time clearing all of the Steamvault.

Some time after the run and when the group had all but disbanded, my friend Draccos² mentioned that he was very interested in one day exploring what many of us have taken to calling the “Old World raids”: Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Onyxia’s Lair, Zul’Gurub, Ahn’Qiraj, and — of course — Naxxramas. He’s never even stepped foot into many of those raids and most likely has never done full clears of the ones he has. Unfortunately, it seems that these Old World raids are the only raids left that have attunements and he hadn’t managed to complete any of them on his main character. So, snagging more good friends, we made our way to Blackrock Depths and got him and one other gentleman Molten Core attuned.

Of course, you can’t make that kind of effort, however minimal it may be as a level 70, and fail to step foot into the Molten Core — the gate stands right in front of you just as you acquire the Core Fragment required to complete the quest Attunement to the Core. So we took the opportunity to convert the group to a raid and stepped inside. And, like you may have expected, someone³ mentioned that we could hardly enter the Core without taking on the challenge of downing some of the mobs that greet you there when you first step foot inside. Seizing on that idea, we eagerly flung ourselves at the enemies and four-manned some five or six pulls.

Now, I’m not sure how many people who play World of Warcraft track their friends through their friends lists, but it seems that many of the people I associate do. Within minutes, we four were getting whispers from friends asking what we were doing in the Core and, of course, if they could join us. And so, our meager group of four stalwart adventurers grew to six, and then nine, and then finally twelve of us.

What had started out as a small group of people who were showing a neophyte raider the once-vaunted Molten Core became a serious raid that managed to down some six bosses over the course of a couple of hours. We brutalized Gehennas, pulverized Garr, had a little bit of problem with Baron Geddon⁴, toyed with Shazzrah, cried when a bad pull ended up pulling almost the entire zone while fighting Golemag the Incinerator⁵ and ended the evening reminding Sulfuron Harbinger who brings the pain. All in all, it was awesome fun and Draccos was almost giddy as we downed boss after boss and he got to see what was new content for him.

While I absolutely enjoy the nostalgia of returning to those older raids and even acquiring some of that once highly admired gear, I found Draccos’s reactions to be the best part of the evening. And, better yet, many of us have decided that we’d like this to be a regular thing we do, meaning that Draccos can come back and see the Majordomo Executus encounter and then battle the mighty Ragnaros⁶ — and I might finally acquire what has long since been considered my white whale: the Eye of Divinity required to complete Benediction, an item I have coveted for quite some time but have never managed to get despite having leveled some four priests to 60 and beyond.

I’ll wear it with the Boots of Prophecy, Circlet of Prophecy, Gloves of Prophecy, and Robes of Prophecy that I picked up last night!

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