High King Maulgar DOWN!

Yes, last night myself and 24 of my online guild buddies took down the first boss in Gruul's Lair. It was our first visit there and everyone did a great job. Once we got the timing of the pull and assignments down it was actually pretty easy. Fortunately for us we have an awesome raid leader that gets us very well prepared in very little time and can call out changes in strategy in real time to ensure our success.

We had Druids respec to Resto which helped greatly, thanks to those that excelled in the new role and kept my bear arse alive.

We only wiped I think 3-4 times with one being a Leroy wipe with one toon getting just a little to close before we were ready.... that was exciting.

No loot for me although T4 shoulders for Druid did fall. With only 200 or so SWAP points it just wasn't happening but no worries, in Wow all good things come in time.

AC Downs the High King

Finally...

The Edgewalker Longboots finally dropped when I was at Kara and I was able to pick them up using our SWAPS system.

Also, I have changed out 1 Red gem to Purple and was able to activate my Helm of the Claw meta gem slot which has a Relentless Earthstorm Diamond. The 3% added Crit damage is sweet (Thanks to Fio our Guild GM to clearing up my Meta Gem confusion).

So now self buffed in Kitty form I am sitting at 2473AP and 35% Crit which I guess is pretty good along with 33.5% dodge.

Anyway, going to start grinding away at BG's for some Epic gear to improve my bear stats while trying to do whatever Heroics I can fit in to get those last few peices of Epic gear I want.

Progress.

The latest...

I finally hit Exalted with CE and got my Earthwarden. Not necessarily a huge mitigation upgrade from the Braxxis' Staff of Slumber but does way more damage which gives more threat for tanking. It also has +27 to defense which now allows me to stay uncrittable while switching to gear like the Necklace of the Deep and Zierhut's Lost Treads which lack defense but improve dodge and strength.

I am also using Earthwarden as my DPS weapon until I upgrade from
Fleshling Simulation Staff. I get a little less to Crit... like .5% less but 110 more power. Unfortunately I also lose +hit so on bosses I will be switching out to Romulo's Poison Vial for the +Hit with the added nature damage making up for the loss in crit.

I still really need an upgrade for a DPS 2H weapon but it is hard to find people wanting to run Heroic Bot, the grouping to take on Illhoof, or stay regular in the arena. Oh well, just keep hoping.

I also finally hit exalted with both Netherwing and Skyguard so I have my Azure Drake now and my Skyguard Silver Cross which is great for solo grinding with a great proc rate. Along with my new mounts my guildmates took me on a run of Heroic Sethekk and you may also see me now flying around in my Epic Flight Form.

Lastly, I ran Kara for the umpteenth time and still no Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation or Edgewalker Longboots have dropped for me. I am seriously considering dropping Enchanting to take up leatherworking so I can get items like the Primalstrike Vest and Boots of Natural Grace.... but I probably won't... unless blizz continues to be cruel to me.