I've put this post off a week for numerous reasons. Lack of sleep and drive being the top reasons as I have been doing nothing else except babysitting this week. Anyway last week I had my ups and downs (not that this week has been any better for my raiding but thems the breaks sometimes) and I got my first crack at doing Ulduar 10 man with my extended family. Did we get far? No, mostly a wipe fest but it was a damn fun wipe fest. Ulduar is a feeling completely new to me so i do just see the wipes as a fail but more like a stepping stone. As I have only been playing a little over a year now Ulduar is really the first time I have ever been in a challanging raid atmosphere with people that knew little more or exactly nill about what we were walking into other than it was gonna hurt and that feeling is something I wouldn't trade for the world. Since I started playing I have always had a feeling of playing catch up with everybody else and honestly I think this is the first time I haven't felt that. I'm not speaking guildwise with this emotion. As far as it stands with them I am in general one of the few that have done what others are trying to get to but still its not quite the same. When I ran Karazhan at 70 for the first time it was in a pug with people farming the instance. I was the odd one out the one worried anything I did with my lack of knowledge would kill us by some off chance, that my dps wasn't good enough, or my mere being there was going to kill us all. It didn't, but thats the anxiety i constantly battle with things I have never done before when I go with people who have. Its not rational but its part of who the real Ed is. With Ulduar for the first time since I started in Azeroth instancing I didn't feel that not once. I was analizing our situations as they came just like everybody else was and having to flex hunter muscles I haven't had to use since Blizz decided to tone for more casual players.
Will I have that feeling again? Maybe, I mean we only downed Flame Laviathan and tried razorscale and Ignis and if we do it again chances are the majority of us wont have a clue whats going on but its not gonna be quite the same. I know 2 of the guys are doing the 25 mans when they can (one with his guild the other in pugs as heals) so they know or at least have an idea of whats going on so that kinda taints the purity of that WTF emotion and glee of seeing a boss as one for the first time. And thats cool. They aren't the kinds of folks to get panties in a bunch cause people never been before or seen something before or just cant figure out how to get of something right of the back. Its part of the fun. Just like its fun to show people this stuff for the first time in its own way. I like not feeling like a screw up waiting to happen and I look forward to more moments like that as I continue my journey in Azeroth.
On a side note today I also got my first down of Emalon on my second raid group and I have to say he was alot easier than I was expecting with all the trouble the first group I tried with had (tank was not so bright and dropped like a brick every pull) and all the chatter and demands of the achievement in trade. I mean I understand it to a point with all the social idiots that play this game and pug but its really not a hard fight to figure out at all. If you have a working brain you can do it. Yes I had the anxiety I usually have my first time in but 3rd in dps quickly helped me get over that after I saw I was doing everything right. Anyway thats all for now. Happy Raiding.
I think the feeling is different depending on your role in the group. I can't really speak for DPS since I've never really DPS'd current content (being tank spec with a "real" tank doing the heavy lifting doesnt count). I can say, I constantly have that feeling when tanking. If I screw up, group dies. It's not always that black and white, but it's exilerating.
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