Damn you, Ciderhelm!!!

If you're not aware of Ciderhelm, his site Tankspot.com, and the community found there, and you are a tank in World of Warcraft, you must be living under a rock. That said, check it out!

The Project Marmot videos are great. They cover raid boss strategy as well as certain Heroic Achievement walkthroughs. The video and sound quality is superb.

I had watched the one about Utgarde Pinnacle, and although I don't feel ready for Heroic UP, I did feel prepared for regular. I had my guild buddies with me, an 80 Enh Shammy and 80 Holy Priest. We pugged a 78 rogue and a 79 shaman. It was a cake-walk up until the gauntlet and Skadi fight. Then we wiped repeatedly. I was really frustrated.

There were several contributing factors to our failure. One was the rogue who said he could pull 2500 dps. At 77, that seemed high, but he seemed pretty sure of himself. Recount had him in the 580 range most of the instance. The pugged Shammy was putting out around 890. My buddy shaman started over 1150, but was having to backup heal, so he dropped to around 950. I think I ended up around 1200.

Another problem was how fast the harpoons would despawn after dropping. We couldn't even pick up the stupid things. When we did get them, Skadi would wipe us with his whirlwind. It was brutal.

The majority of the blame for our wipeage I attribute to my lack of skill. My gear is getting pretty decent for just starting heroics, but I lack the reflexes and experience. The gauntlet was brutal to try to get aggro and hold it, especially when getting netted, and the casters staying back drilling my healer. At least I have a few awesome friends in my guild that like to learn instances, class particulars, mechanics, etc. So I'm sure this weekend will find us back in UP seeking redemption.

This brings me to the title of the post. Damn Cider for making it look so freaking easy! I say that facetiously. He's good, really good. He's also been doing it a lot longer than I have, and while I doubt I will ever be as good as him, I have to hope I will get decent with more experience. I mean, I didn't even really start tanking until WOTLK came out, so I'm still a noob.

While I singled out Cider in the title, I have to say (and you'll probably see me write this a lot) that there is an incredible tanking community! It has been so easy to find information about how to be better, get better gear, get feedback, etc. I see a lot of links to each other's blogs and references to podcasts. I love how tight-knit this group is.

So thank you all, and I hope one day, Billy can exhibit a shadow of your skill and knowledge!