Raid Talk: The Maze That Is Karazhan

To start off, I apologize that my other ‘Raid Talk’ post was also about Karazhan but I have to say… my God it’s massive. I remember the first time I went like it was yesterday….

I had very recently hit level 70, changed spec to Holy and had a mere +600 heal. A real life mate got me into ‘Hellfire Heroes’, in hindsight they’re not that great but I can’t exactly criticize them as they got me my first epics. It was a rather large guild, so 3 raid groups were going. It was all very exciting, 30 men on Vent whilst the raid leaders were in their private channel, discussing what was going to happen. I was put into the best geared group, a bit of a carry for me.

It was absolutely awesome. I got two epics going up to Curator, and was having a great time. However, the guild had a set path which they took. Attumen > Moroes > Maiden > Opera > Backdoor > Curator. But there are so many little nooks and passageways which I wanted to explore. Of course, I could go back in once we clear, but I always forget and I end up doing different things. From all the different raiding guilds I’ve been in, it seems they all have pretty much the same route, so there are still some places I have yet to discover.

Raid Talk: Getting To Go To Karazhan

Welcome to Raid Talk, a genre of posts specifically about raiding… funnily enough.

I’m going talk about what I feel to be something.. really tough. How does one get from his/her blue and green quest rewards to getting ready for his/her’s first raid? Unless you feel like grinding hours in PvP or running dungeons and then onto heroics everyday or havn’t maxed your tailoring, it’s kinda tough.

For me, I half followed a nifty little guide written by the wowhead community which showed some easy pieces of gear to get from easy heroics and the good old Auction House. Over at WoWInsider they have some great guides for getting Kara ready, unfortunatly they seemed to have missed out Holy Paladins but I guess they have a lot to do. [Link].

My Paladin is in a guild called Thanatos, a cool guild who are currently running SSC. Anyway, I am currently leveling a Warlock, level 61 almost 62 at this time. He joined the alt guild ‘Little Thanatos’ and I asked wether he would be allowed into Thanatos and raid with them as soon as he hit 70. (Get easy gear). After all, I have a main with good gear who attends most raids. It would be almost like a favour. Locuna (the lock) was, ultimately rejected until he gets Kara ready gear. Fortunately for me, Im a clothie and will be making myself the frozen shadoweave set, (although looking at the mats needed I may pass!) but it dawned on me, damn that was kinda harsh, imagine if I didn’t have a geared char in the first place!

Now, you may be wondering how I got my Paladin into a guild? Friends. My real life mate was in Hellfire Heroes. They gracefully accepted me into their warm, protecting arms and took me through Karazhan with a mere +600 bonus heal. I geared quickly, needing something off pretty much every boss. Thanatos seem to be a little more strict on this, which sucks, but is understandable.

Now, enough about me, this post is supposed to be helping you. Depending on your class/spec, I would read up on the WoWInsider guides, and see what they can help you with. Then, I’d possibly grind some BG’s/Arena to get some epics, start running Slave Pens/Underbog heroic and get some decent blues. Then head over to the AH and grab anything that’s better than what you already have. Maybe use your profession to craft some items for you.

Then, try and get into an intermediate raiding guild, not some crappy guild that has 8 members that run Kara every month. You want to be in a guild that has lots of well geared members, run Kara regularly and is organised enough to find you a spot in a raid group with the better geared chars, that way, you won’t be needed as much. (Don’t take that the wrong way!)

Good luck on gearing your char, and please post any comments on your suggestions!