It started out with a very fast run through regular Halls of Lightning (HoL). I got two very good dps upgrades, hands (Fists of Loken) and shoulders (Pauldrons of the Lightning Revenant).

The tank asked if we’d like to get some easy Emblems of Heroism. He said it was one of the simplest heroic instances in the game. I figured why not, I’ve gotten some decent gear and I’m dps is pretty high (IMO). Since my two new items had gem slots, I asked if they would summon me after I went to Orgrimmar to get some gems for them and they agreed, so off I went! Since the items were only blues, I didn’t want to put any really good gems in them, so I settled for some uncommon (green) gems, Perfect Inscribed Huge Citrine for the gloves and Bold Bloodstone for the shoulders.

We finally zone into heroic Utgarde Keep and the entire instance ran was very smooth (and simple). We finished in about 30 or 40 minutes, which is fantastic for a heroic. I remember heroics from the last expansion taking between 60 and 90 minutes. We downed the final boss in UK (Ingvar the Plunderer)  and he drops some epic plate legs, the Staggering Legplates! There are three plate wearers in the group (me, the tank and a dps death knight) who all rolled need on them and I won them! My first heroic and I’m walking out of here with some badass pants!! Woot! I went back to the auction house in Org and bought an epic leg armor kit, Icescale Leg Armor and a couple of new gems for them, Perfect Bold Bloodstone and Perfect Inscribed Huge Citrine.

I got achievements for my first Emblem of Heroism and also for completing Heroic Utgarde Keep.

I also ran Heroic Violet Hold with another group and got a couple more achievements, Defenseless and Heroic: The Violet Hold. That run went very smooth, despite my low weapon skill in maces, but I had to keep using my new Titansteel Destroyer. I believe I started the instance doing 1200 dps (weapon skill was 350/400). By the end of the instance, my weapon skill only rose to 385!

Last night, I ran the same two heroics again, both with different groups. I didn’t receive any new gear upgrades but I was gaining rep and getting some more Emblems. Now that I’m comfortable doing heroics (and now am farming Emblems of Heroism), I need to update my gear wish list to include heroic instances!

© petewood for my everything else blog..., 2008. | Permalink
Post tags: drop, heroic, pally, ret, utgarde keep, violet hold

I logged out as a ghost. I logged back in as a ghost and since I didn’t want to spirit rez, I ran around looking for the entrance to the instance. I couldn’t find it but I did see a well with an instance portal down it! So I thought I would be smart and jump in.

Dumb idea! Now I’m stuck in the well and the auto-unstuck isn’t doing anything useful. I can’t hearth because I’m dead. There is no response time on my GM ticket. /sigh…

© petewood for my everything else blog..., 2008. | Permalink
Post tags: dalaran, stuck, violet hold, well