Soloing Old Raid Content

   Let it first be said that I never once claimed to be an epic player. I'm a very very bad player, in fact. I still occasionally keyboard turn, I get lost on quests that I've done a hundred times, I don't always look at quest rewards, forgetting that heirlooms don't fill every socket, and I'm also not great with people.

   And so it's not surprising when I tell you I read very little of patch notes.

   I've wanted to go onto old raids for ages. I just love them - particularly Karazhan, since it's so story-rich - but I don't like to pester people. I'm high ranking in my guild, but that's more through having been there for ages than anything else, and I don't really talk to people much except for a few key individuals if they're speaking openly about something I know a bit about. Even then, though, I feel like I'm interrupting. So I've never been inclined to party with someone to get into the raids. Once I did, and as soon as I got through the raid portal, not wanting to prevent them from signing up for dungeons and other stuff as they levelled, I left group. I was ported out of the raid in seconds, and I never asked again.

   Imagine my surprise when I found out that you no longer need a party of any kind to get into pre-MoP raids. And imagine my shame when I found out that this had been in effect since 5.1.

   Well I ran the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj yesterday, and completed it. I'd never done this before because in Cata I could never get past the first boss (I told you already: bad player). The two Emperors were trouble, but after looking it up briefly and discovering that, at 90, your damage outweighs their healing, I got through it just fine. Sadly, none of the pets dropped. But it was so much fun to do it! And whilte the fight may not be anything close to a challenge (anymore, I'm sure), actually killing an Old God was a pretty big deal for me.

   I ran Karazhan afterwards, but I didn't manage to complete it. I'd read that, with the Chess Game, you need a hefty amount of luck. I tried it twice, got stressed out, gave up and went to the post office. And as much as I hate that chess event, I actually do think that it is pretty awesome. One of my favourite WoW books is the short story in the Archives, The Last Guardian. After reading that I fell in love with Karazhan.

   Unfortunately, Metzen himself said that he wanted Medivh's story to be over once Warcraft III ended, but I really hope they go back on that. I'd LOVE to see more of Medivh. I'm not sure he's even dead.

   I've also never done a single raid while it was relevant. I almost did the Bastion of Twilight but half of the group didn't show. Otherwise, my greatest achievement was killing the Lich King half way through Cata. It's in part because I'm a bad player, but being a carer for my mother, I'm unable to do anything that I can't drop at a second's notice, and I'm sure most of you raiders know that you can't just walk away from the game in a situation like that. So I don't even bother. I barely touch dungeons as it is!
   In the end, soloing old content is the only taste I have of these raids. I really hope to kill Deathwing eventually, but given the difficulty of Cata dungeons (compared to the previous expansions'), I think I'm safe in assuming that The Dragon Soul won't be easy. And added factor to the ease of soloing old content is also the massive jump we made in Cata in regards to health and damage. For me, Deathwing is still a way off in the future. I'd like to participate in killing Garrosh, too, but I can let that one slide.