Bronze Flavored Victory!

So, it's weird how things happen. We spent 15 or so hours in Naxxramas (10), took down all of the bosses and literally zero feral leather dropped. I picked up a dagger called Anarchy and as cool as that is, it really doesn't upgrade my tanking set. Not bad for kitty dps I suppose, but I so rarely dps that it's not entirely worth hanging onto. I also picked up some cloth leg armor for my healing set, but I think my Earthgiving legs have slightly better stats. I was seriously starting to wonder what I had done to upset the loot gods. Regardless of drops, I was having fun. So it wasn't a huge issue. I'd rather enjoy the game and actually raid than to whine about no drops and take my druid out of the game.

Having said that, Heroic: Culling of Stratholme was the daily dungeon yesterday. I've gone through "timed runs" to catch the boss that drops the drake a BUNCH of times and there's always some strange thing that happens that causes us not to beat the timer. Up until last night, I'd not even SEEN the Infinite Corruptor. I went in with my dearest resto druid friend, two guild hunters (who, btw, can lay down some SERIOUS dps), and a DK we picked up.

I know this sounds bad, but I'm so used to not making it to the Infinite Corruptor, that I really wasn't expecting this group to be able to get there. Not because the group was bad, but because I tend to be HORRIBLE luck for groups trying to complete the timed run. Just a lot of strange things have happened, preventing my groups from getting the timed run achievement.

One time, I was with an amazing group of guildies and we were making amazing time...then we hit an enormous lag spike and wiped. The healer had gotten DC'd, and we all froze in place. It was awful. There's just no way to recover from that. On yet another amazing run where we were powering through everything and making excellent time, Arthas glitched. We talked to him to get him to run to town hall, and he just stood there. We ran back to start him again, but by the time he got to us we only had 6 minutes to get through town hall and run the gauntlet to get to the Infinite Corruptor. Needless to say, we didn't make it. On yet another run, I ended up getting out of LoS of the healer on one of the scourge spawns on the second wave and he couldn't keep me up. I mean, obviously there are times when it's the group. I once healed for a timed run, and the warrior we were with just kept pulling aggro CONSTANTLY. I couldn't keep the warrior (dps) plus the tank going through the gauntlet and we ended up missing the timed run because I had to stop to rez the warrior a few times.

I mean, there's a million different reasons why I hadn't seen this Infinite Corruptor. I knew the group I was with last night would have no problems doing it. We had more than enough DPS, the healer is amazing, I just didn't have a bunch of faith in my own abilities. And quite frankly, I just assumed I was bad luck.

But lo and behold, friends, we made the timed run. We blasted the Infinite Corruptor with almost 4 minutes to spare. I was so excited to FINALLY get to see this boss...I had completely forgotten that he drops an amazing prize. When it popped up at the bottom of my screen, I was pretty excited!

Then came the moment of truth...The rolls...

Hunter1 has passed on: [Reins of the Bronze Drake].
Restodruid has passed on: [Reins of the Bronze Drake].
Deathknight has selected Need for: [Reins of the Bronze Drake].
Hunter2 has passed on: [Reins of the Bronze Drake].
You have selected Need for: [Reins of the Bronze Drake].
Need roll - 15 for: [Reins of the Bronze Drake] by Deathknight.
Need roll - 71 for: [Reins of the Bronze Drake] by Dessybear.
You have won: [Reins of the Bronze Drake].
You receive loot: [Reins of the Bronze Drake].

I nearly fainted. Normally if I need roll on something, I usually roll a 1 or a 2. I was so excited and sort of awe-struck that I misse the whole guild saying "Grats" about the Culling of Time achievement.

The resto druid and one of the hunters posted in guild that I'd won the drake...I was in a state of stupor almost but thanked everyone. Whispered my eternal and infinite gratitude to the guild hunters and resto druid who'd just made that possible. They also taught me the best strategy to do it. So now I can run guided tours with friends who want the drake also. It'll be pretty cool.

We easily downed Mal'Ganis after that and moved on to final rolls. We didn't roll greed in box because the Death Knight was an enchanter, so he disenchanted the boss drops. I passed on them...but the rolls were hilarious. The highest roll for shards I think was a 5, maybe it was 15. But two folks rolled a 1, the next highest roll was a 2. It was awesome and had us all giggling at the end of the run.

Oh, and by the way...this is one of only TWO mounts that I possess that Balzeem doesn't have yet. I have this now, and the Reins of the Winterspring Frostsaber. Yes, that was an EPIC rep grind. I'm not one who will just kill everything in sight and screw other people, so it took longer for me than it probably would for most folks. I also got my Timbermaw Hold rep to exalted by doing the Winterspring Frostsaber trainer rep. Two birds with one stone. Can't go wrong with that, ever!

I also managed to get my hands on yet ANOTHER sexy little toy last night. I figured since it seemed I was on a streak of good luck, I'd try again for the ever elusive (and often ninja'd) Staff of Trickery. So, I grabbed a group for Heroic: Violet Hold, and sure enough, it dropped. In group was a hunter (who was geared beyond needing this staff), another hunter (who didn't really want it), a death knight (who couldn't use it), my paper towel priest (who couldn't use it) and myself. Ah yes, strategic group member selection, no?

At any rate, it was a solid group. We burned through and sure enough, the staff dropped. I was the only one rolling on it, so I now have a nicer staff than the blue junk I had been dragging around with me.


What an awesome night for my little bear, hmm? A new ride. A new weapon. Maybe the staff isn't the best in slot, but you know, it's an upgrade, so I'm satisfied.
<== A pic of my new staff (no, that is not my druid)

And the drake...

Okay so maybe not the "best" picture of it, but that's my druid's new ride. =)