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World of Warcraft 2006 - a look back

written by CraigBeattie on December 30th, 2006 @ 01:25 AM. edit (admin only)

Thought this might be an interesting exercise to review what I did in Warcraft in 2006, get some sense of er … how much spare time I spent on it :D

Sources for this article are my screen shots taken at the time (some in my gallery ), this blog (formerly http://beattiewarcraft.blogspot.com/ ), my guild dkp site for items won and raids attended.

2 days later I finish this beast of a post, well, 2 sleeps later ;)

January 2006

Fairly busy month this one. I attended a fair few raids and picked up a few items in them too. We were starting out in BWL and still doing MC and Ony runs to help gear folks up. The big news on the horizon was the impending arrival of the AQ dungeons and the silithus quests. My posts on WoW during this time look like they were mostly links and quotes – lazy huh?

What screen shots I do have seem to be of Silithus, Onyxia and BWL. All good fun.

Point of note – this is where I got my first piece of Tier 1 cenarion gear.

There’s a nice shot here of vael dead

Posts:

Raids attended (12, 2 drops):

Date Target Drops
29/01/2006 BWL
26/01/2006 Onyxia
26/01/2006 BWL
22/01/2006 BWL
22/01/2006 Ony/Domo/Rag
19/01/2006 MC Aged Core Leather Gloves
15/01/2006 BWL
15/01/2006 MC after break
09/01/2006 BWL
08/01/2006 Molten core and Ony
05/01/2006 BWL
02/01/2006 MC-Geh to Golemagg Cenarion Spaulders, Seal of the Archmagus

February 2006

AQ seemed to kick in in this month and we our early expeditions into AQ20. Guess that one was a full guild organised even as I recall it swiftly becoming an off-target raid thing – i.e. not a primary target. Also at this time was the lunar new year and the coins quests, speculation over the role of the nozdormu rep and lots of discussions about epics and being addicted and stuff. Looks like this might be when I started reading Tobold’s blog (edit: it was last month – the hidden quests link took me there in January!).

Got some pics of hakkar dying during this month. Also the Broodlord run in bwl seems to have been the flavour of the month – but we got him right enough . I also had the good fortune of attending much of the AQ gate opening exercise . On top of all that the lunar festival had it’s good points and it’s bad points .

Posts:

Raids attended (12, 2 drops):

Date Target Drops
26/02/2006 AQ20
23/02/2006 Onyxia
22/02/2006 black Wing Lair
19/02/2006 Onyxia
16/02/2006 Onyxia Onyxia Hide Backpack
16/02/2006 BWL
13/02/2006 Black Wing Lair
12/02/2006 Onyxia + Silithus
05/02/2006 BWL
05/02/2006 MC Wristguards of Stability
03/02/2006 BWL
02/02/2006 Onyxia

March 2006

A quick look back at http://www.dawnraiders.com/ shows this is the month we first killed chromaggus and were looking at doing Nefarius. Lots more loot for craghewn this month and a fairly high raid attendence – though few blog posts…

One point of note – I do recall bidding on that scorcerous dagger on a whim, min-bid so thought I wouldn’t get it. Never really did use it to be honest apart from when I wanted to use my off-hand book.

Oh, and my first piece of Stormrage druid gear – nice. With the other two piece of cenarion gear I got my first set bonus too.

Also during this month I / we started attending going to AQ20 in earnest on non-raid days. This would be when I started the grind for the gear available in Silithus.

Posts:

* you-play-world-of-warcraft-you-re-hired

Raids attended (18, 6 drops):

Date Target Drops
30/03/2006 BWL (Razor, Vael, Broodlord and Firemaw)
27/03/2006 BWL (Chromaggus)
26/03/2006 BWL
26/03/2006 BWL Interlaced Shadow Jerkin
26/03/2006 Onyxia
23/03/2006 BWL (Razor, Vael, Broodlord)
20/03/2006 BWL
20/03/2006 Onyxia
19/03/2006 MC Stormrage Legguards, Cenarion Gloves
19/03/2006 BWL
16/03/2006 Onyxia
16/03/2006 BWL
13/03/2006 BWL Maw/Gor/Roc
12/03/2006 MC Sorcerous Dagger
09/03/2006 BWL Cenarion Bracers (from guild bank)
05/03/2006 Molten core
05/03/2006 BWL Cenarion Boots
02/03/2006 BWL Stormrage Belt

April 2006

Post wise not a busy month – but not surprising as my wife’s and my birthday both appear in this month. I note that I played on my birthay and got some loot, didn’t play on my wife’s birthday too (phew!). So this month saw our first excursion over to AQ40 and also bought me 3 more pieces of stormrage gear – you’ll note that I replaced the cenarion boots a little too quickly in this month. So, 4 pieces of stormrage and 2 of cenarion – suddenly doing very well in gearing myself up for raiding. Raid wise this month was largely concerned with a little AQ40 and trying to kill the prophet, and also trying to kill nef off finally. From the screen shots I deduce I did make some time for some zul’gurub runs and a excursions into AQ20.

Posts:

Raids attended (10, 4 drops):

Date Target Drops
30/04/2006 BWL
28/04/2006 Bwl Stormrage Handguards
23/04/2006 BWL
23/04/2006 MC
20/04/2006 BWL Stormrage Boots
17/04/2006 AQ40
17/04/2006 Onyxia Stormrage Cover
13/04/2006 BWL Head of the Broodlord Lashlayer
06/04/2006 BWL
03/04/2006 Onyxia

May 2006

No blogging from me at all this month and very light on the raiding still. I guess real life got busy at this point and as I recall I was doing some projects with friends at this time, plus there was the whole wedding organising thing going on. Even so secured myself a very nice staff that served as my main weapon for a good part of the year.

Raiding wise looks like this was the month we finally downed Nefarius and finally cleared all Black Wing Lair. In AQ20 we killed the big dude Ossirian and I completed the quest to return his head. So that would have been when I got my Amulet of the Shifting Sands – sweet!

Posts:

None.

Raids attended (9, 1 drop):

Date Target Drops
29/05/2006 MC – After Maggie
28/05/2006 Onyxia
28/05/2006 AQ40
25/05/2006 BWL
22/05/2006 BWL
21/05/2006 BWL
14/05/2006 BWL (Chrom)
12/05/2006 Bwl
07/05/2006 BWL Shadow Wing Focus Staff

June 2006

This month saw the arrival of the city of naxxaramus to azeroth. There are some pictures of the naxxaramus event here . This was also the month I started using fraps for my screen captures and my videos of my warcraft fun, hence a bunch of posts with videos. Seems like I was raiding, doing a little pvp here and there and continuing the grind in silithus for the goodies available in that desert region.

Gear wise really coming along – 2 more piece of stormrage gear gives me the 5 set piece bonus along with a little nature resistance gear to boot.

Posts:

Bunch of videos posted (okay – so I’d just got hold of fraps at this point ;) )

Others:

Raids attended (14, 4 drops):

Date Target Drops
29/06/2006 BWL Taut Dragonhide Gloves , Stormrage Bracers
26/06/2006 Nax
25/06/2006 Molten Core
25/06/2006 BWL Evening
22/06/2006 BWL
19/06/2006 Bwl
18/06/2006 BWL – after break
15/06/2006 Molten Core
11/06/2006 AQ40
08/06/2006 BWL Stormrage Pauldrons
05/06/2006 Onyxia
05/06/2006 AQ40
04/06/2006 AQ40 Beetle Scaled Wristguards
01/06/2006 BWL

July 2006

Quote from here

Not actually written much about WoW in this blog of late so thought I’d get some thoughts down while the mood took me.

For those that don’t know I have a level 60 druid in the Emerald dream server. I’m largely kitted up with tier 2 gear now (except the breastplate from nef) and I’m starting to get involved in some of the pvp battlegrounds stuff.

First new is Dawnraiders (my guild) took down Razuvius, first boss in Naxx. This is an amazing achievement and we’re only the third guild on that server to achieve this. I’m proud to say I was there for the kill and must admit I was surprised when he died – easy when you know how and all that.

Second is the arrival of 1.12 – “the drums of war”. This will be simply awesome for me since I’ve been trying to get into pvp a bit more and the share battlegrounds and world pvp objectives will keep me occupied in my spare time.

Happy to say I’m still enjoying the game. Feel free to look at some of the videos I’ve recorded too.

So, still videoing stuff. Looks like I was still hitting ZG a fair bit and we were taking our first tentative steps into Naxx. Found some videos showing me using the groupbuttons addon, man that was soooo slow. It was better than nothing but my current User Interface set up is so much cleaner. Still, we live and learn. Got plenty of videos of us dying to Raz here but as stated, we got him in the end. very nice.

It was just at the end of this month that I hit exalted with the Zandalar tribe and got my healer bonus on my shoulders. Sweet moment.

Posts:

Raids attended (12, 1 drop):

Date Target Drops
24/07/2006 Naxx
23/07/2006 BWL – after break
23/07/2006 Naxx
20/07/2006 BWL Ring of Blackrock
17/07/2006 Naxx
16/07/2006 Naxx – After break
13/07/2006 BWL
09/07/2006 Naxx
06/07/2006 BWL
02/07/2006 BWL – after break
02/07/2006 Naxx
02/07/2006 MC

August 2006

Big month for me this, lots fo raids which I’m a little surprised at given it was a month before my wedding but guess I had time. Maybe it was a fear of not be able to play after that drove me, still, think I over did this month considering.

This post highlighted some of my key goals and was really the start of me driving for a high +heal and getting some stats up. As stated I’d targetted AV and the reputation rewards as primary goals with some secondry ones around the other battle grounds. By this stage I’d got exalted with the Cenarion Hold faction and picked up the bits of the unending life set including the Mace of unending life which was so worth the effort.

As noted towards the end of this month I’d picked up an even better mace for healing and so the burn was on to get a suitable off-hand. As it stands I’m still using the Lok’amir il Romathis and the Lei of the Lifegiver .

Thanks to Zirze and Akarr in the guild for helping me out getting my Idol of Rejuvenation from Lower Blackrock Spire in the early part of this month. Again – still using that.

Aha, it was also at the end of this month that I started to tweak my UI some and get ClickHeal working. It no longer functions now though since the 2.x patches but I think this provided a marked improvement in my effectiveness. (I now use Clique which is awesome!)

Oh – and got another boss in Naxx down and started work on the widow boss in the spider wing!

Doh! how could I forget – got my first bit of Tier 3 gear! woot! Dreamwalker Boots

Posts:

Raids attended (22, 4 drops):

Date Target Drops
31/08/2006 NAX
31/08/2006 BWL
28/08/2006 NAX
27/08/2006 BWL Lok’amir il Romathis
27/08/2006 BWL
24/08/2006 ONY
24/08/2006 BWL
24/08/2006 NAX
21/08/2006 NAX
20/08/2006 BWL
20/08/2006 NAX
14/08/2006 Naxx
13/08/2006 Naxx – After break Desecrated Boots
13/08/2006 BWL Malfurion’s Blessed Bulwark
13/08/2006 Naxx
10/08/2006 BWL
07/08/2006 Naxx
06/08/2006 Naxx
06/08/2006 BWL
03/08/2006 Naxx
03/08/2006 Onyxia Head of Onyxia
03/08/2006 BWL

September 2006

Wedding month – not much WoW here ;) There was plenty of speculation about what the expansion would bring though as the link to the talents preview suggests. Not sure if tree form had been announced at this point. Seem to recall that popped up a little later.

I’m fairly sure the guild downed the Widow this month but I wasn’t around for any of those runs, it wasn’t till early October that I saw her dead.

Posts:

Raids attended (6):

Date Target Drops
21/09/2006 BWL
14/09/2006 NAX
14/09/2006 BWL
10/09/2006 BWL
10/09/2006 BWL
04/09/2006 NAX

October 2006

Big month kill wise this – saw the two final bosses in the Naxxaramus Spider wing killed. Both are fun manic fights that require alot of co-ordination and team work. Good fun.

Also this month we ventured back to AQ40 and killed a boss we hadn’t done before – Sartura. That was the source of one of my two upgrades this month. By October with the gear I’d amassed it was getting pretty hard to find upgrades. This month I picked up the Naxx healing ring (which I regretted – wanted another piece of dreamwalker gear more and missed out as a result) and also the helm from sartura. Actually, I was very lucky with that – and a little cheeky. With hitting exalted status with zandalar and having burnt out doing runs in there for over 6 months I’d not joined any of the ZG groups in a while. Now the best enchant for a head piece is available in ZG. So off I trot with my shiny new Creeping vine helm to ZG and I roll for the item for the enchant and get it first go. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve not been back since either – lack of time really. Still, all for the good fo the guild and my quest for huge healing skill!

Of course halloween kicked in at the end of this month which is always fun in Azeroth.

Oh – and by this stage I’d got the reputation I needed with the Stormpike lot and was able to get my Stormpike Battle Charger . I picked that up sometime after getting my Lei of the Lifegiver so I must have got that by now – fulfilling part of my goals from back in August.

Posts:

Raids attended (14, 2 drops):

Date Target Drops
30/10/2006 aq40
30/10/2006 nax
29/10/2006 bwl
29/10/2006 nax
23/10/2006 NAX
22/10/2006 BWL
19/10/2006 NAX Band of Unanswered Prayers
16/10/2006 aq40 Creeping vine helm
15/10/2006 NAX
15/10/2006 BWL
09/10/2006 NAX
08/10/2006 NAX
05/10/2006 NAX
02/10/2006 NAX

November 2006

This month saw a couple more visits to aq40, but mostly farming in BWL and continuing escapades in Naxx. I finally got the last piece of the stormrage set, which replaced my Zandalar one – er, the Zandalar Haruspex’s Tunic .

Also got my second bit of tier 2 gear so finally got that tier 3 bonus. (see Dreamwalker Handguards )

In other news the 2.x patch was announced so I hopped on the test realms to give it a crack. Generally very pleased with how it played and stuff – really considering a moonkin build for levelling but we’ll see.

Posts:

Raids attended (15, 2 drops):

Date Target Drops
26/11/2006 bwl Stormrage Chestguard
26/11/2006 nax
26/11/2006 bwl
20/11/2006 nax
19/11/2006 bwl
19/11/2006 aq40
16/11/2006 Naxx
13/11/2006 nax
12/11/2006 nax
12/11/2006 bwl
09/11/2006 nax
06/11/2006 nax Desecrated Handguards
05/11/2006 bwl
05/11/2006 aq40
02/11/2006 nax

December 2006

And here we are. The new patch and associated issues with addons not working, december, christmas, new expansion out soon – all meant raiding was a little light. As it turned out my efforts to become a good raid healer paid off, with the help from the patch 2.x tree form I was able to do some very effective healing – most pleased. Also the recent break between christmas and new year meant that some of the outdoor encounters we typically didn’t get a look in on were up and we were able to down the 4 green dragons that hang around in Azeroth.

finally – there’s this post which has taken more time than I’d care to admit to stick together.

Oh – and one bit of loot for my spell dps in case I do go all feathery come the expansion

Oo – how could I forget – we killed Noth in Naxxaramus this month too … :D

Posts:

Raids attended:

Date Target Drops
18/12/2006 bwl
14/12/2006 AQ40 Leggings of Immersion
11/12/2006 nax
10/12/2006 nax
10/12/2006 bwl
10/12/2006 bwl
03/12/2006 nax

Summary and the future

Well, been a big year. Seems like I played alot more than I thought, had considered myself quite softcore and I am less present online than some of my guildmates but seems I played alot all the same.

Achieved a fair bit though with the help of my guild. Started out the year without any of the raid dungeon sets and finished with bits of Tier 3, Tier 2 and some AQ40 odds and sods. Started the year just out of MC and starting BWL and at the end making good progress into Naxxaramus. I’ve seen most of the end game content now apart from some wings of Naxx which I’d still like to see but we’ll see what the expansion does to that. I’ve also grinded (spelling?) out faction with some of the key folks in Azeroth and got lots of shiny gear that way.

I managed to achieve most things I wanted apart from some of the PvP stuff – simply didn’t have the time or the will to put in what was needed on some of that but I think thats fine, I’m glad there was a line I didn’t cross ;)

Looking forward to 2007 now, I started the game levelling up and discovering things a fresh back in 2004/2005 and the expansion will bring back some of that fun for me, except I’ll now have 60+ friends to do with rather than the 6 friends I started out with back then .

I think for the first time I may roll another character and play them semi-seriously. I’m an oddity in my guild in that I have 1 character I focus on, no time for another – but a female draenei shaman character appeals to me so we will see what time I get.

I must admit, without dawnraiders I would likely have stopped playing a while ago and wouldn’t have had as much fun in the game, so ta to the guild and looking forward to more warcraft fun in 2007.

Edit: In case your wondering here’s my profile: Craghewn [Emerald Dream]

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