Icecrown Citadel, 10-player, 16th June

Another Wednesday, another raid! Let me start with an apology - our ISP had an outage at the end, and we lost all internet connectivity. We didn't abandon you just for the giggles, honest. Anyway, back to the start. The usual slow ramp-up, and a few people not on. We shuffled stuff around, but we still only had one healer. Then Legga logged on. Hah. Poor chap. No match for Sapph's skills of persuasion, he swapped over to his priest to fill a gap. Vanilla, who is almost a member now, filled a DPS spot, and my nefarious plan was almost complete. Get a raid together, and no-one will ever leave. "Anyone want to do the weekly while we wait for another healer?" Off to Naxx we go. The big bug gets squishier every week, I swear. Zorcrof bails, assuming we'll want another healer to make a three-pack. "Oh no you don't, Sunshine. Back in the raid. We're two-healing the lower spire." This may have come as a small surprise to the actual healers, but no-one left in a huff. Quest handed in, and we're off to Icecrown.

The trash clearance was mostly smooth. A few minor cases of death, but nothing serious. We pulled all four big skellies sequentially, with some excellent work by Asisia, and on to Marrowgar. This week I would like it recorded that I did not taunt the boss while people were still buffing. Clean pull, and the extra DPS had him rattling down in no time.

I did screw up the next trash pulls a bit, but I always do. Difference was, this time someone commented. See, I know *how* to do a LoS pull. I just never have the patience. Outstanding AoE tanking and the day was saved. With our frankly brutal DPS Deathwhisper's adds died so fast we had about 30 seconds on the boss between waves. Leggaspriest and Acuity were healing their hearts out, and alll went swimmingly. The shield went down, and the frostbolts started flying. Legga ate the flagstones about five seconds in, and Acuity picked it up. High-stress, and looking good to about 800k on the boss, when Acuity copped a ghost and karked it too. Would have been a heartbreaking wipe, but this is why we always pack a Shaman. Up with an ankh, the boss went down, and there was much rejoicing. As I was handing out the loot, certain other tanks decided to take a long ride up and a short ride down the elavator. Rez for the paladin please! Could happen to anyone, mate.

The weekly raid quest materialized at the top. Frost Giant! An easy five badges! If you have three heals! Oh dear. First, we (when I say 'we', I'm not actually including myself this time) tanks mis-positioned a trash pull, prox-pulled the miniboss and wiped. Second time the tanks (and this time I do not include any paladins) pulled miles from the healers, caught a nasty case of Extreme Certain Death Plague, got frozen, died and wiped the raid. Next pull we positioned the boss, tanked him, and started on the pewpew before both healers caught the Fatal Ice Sniffles, got frozen and died, wiping the raid. Next pull we saw the boss walking miles away and gave up. There is a limit.

The gunships were amusing. Asisia wanted to try the boarding job, so I stayed on our side. Portal appears, mis-time bloodrage, never mind, pull the adds off the healers, stabbity-stab stab. Bash. Slam. Etcetera. Oops. More adds. Ouch. Eating the DPS this time. Hey, ho, taunt, smash. The Away Team did a spiffing job on the other side. Then the deaths started. Much anguished raid chat "What did I die of?" Feeling bad, I look at the logs. Yes, yes, not best use of fingers during a fight, but this was looking wipe-shaped. Axe-throwers. So, not my fault. Phew. Onwards. Oops - another dead one. A healer this time. Gulp. I have learned that you should never call a wipe on the gunships before the fight ends. Amazing things can happen. And so it was today, with DPS dropping like squishy things being hit by axes and a second judicious use of an ankh, we ground them down to the, er, ground, I suppose, and the hat didn't drop for the 23rd straight time (yes we are counting).

We spent a little while planning for Saurfang. I think it's jolly nice of him to stay indoors listening to us plan his demise, waiting until we're all quite ready. With more ranged DPS than usual, and Legga being a Discipline priest today, the plan was really quite simple. Whack the hell out of the boss unless there are any bloodbeasts, in which case, whack them first. Asisia had some new ideas, and I was still reasonably sober at the pull. DPS was astonishing, and the beasts were getting targetted and burned on cue. One or two taunts may have been a little on the relaxed side, but hey - if you wanted consistency you wouldn't have hired me. Some of Asisia's tricks seem to work. Some of them may need some fine-tuning. The first mark fell at around 35%, heroism was popped a few seconds later and two more badges were in the bag.

With only two healers, we didn't really feel up to Fester, but we were running well and it was still early, so we went back to the Frost Giant. No trash was mis-pulled. I didn't embark on a solo epic trip to the Howling Fjord this time. We positioned the boss, passed the disease around in a sharing, caring way and only killed a few DPS, who all ran back before the end. It is a long, tough fight, and the healers deserve much credit for the five badges and handful of cash. Even if all the cash went on repairs.

Performing nicely and still with time in hand, we went back to have a go at Valithria's gatekeeper for the free badge. Someone (who shall remain nameless) explained Ice Frogger to those unfamilar, stepped through the door an died. Another DPS, keen to demonstrate, stepped through the door into a wall of ice and died. To prevent anyone feeling excluded, the healers went back to help, just in time to witness the next experienced raider .... oh well. Only four down. The first-timer made it through without a scratch, of course. Pewpew on the Valkyr, round to see Crok and his chums, and we start clearing. Asisia demonstrates his outrageous AoE threat by pulling aggro on everything, getting clobbered and dying. All is going well, we're on the last trash pull, one of the adds starts a whirlwind which goes on a bit. And on. And on. Oh dear - disconnected. I have no idea if a heroic group of intrepid adventurers conquered all, leaving their internet-challenged comrades looking dumb, or if they all sensibly called it a day after a bloody good run. Logging on to find out now...