Venturing back into Naxxramas, the brave raiders of Vanguard Class went forth into battle again.  Facing unfinished business in the Arachnid quarter with new faces among them and new duties for members they courageously met Maexxna.  Biragorn, the youngest of the band brought his newly honed DPS skills into play and Quira was enlisted to the healing ranks to support the raid.

Despite Quira’s best attempts to kill the party with her healing, they held on through a marathon fight, battling not only Maexxna, but the many spiderlings that she threw at them!  In the end, only a shrivelled mass of spider goo was left and the victorious band stood cheering!

Continuing on, the VC Raiders marched bravely into the Plague quarter.  Problems occurred with the gargoyles, but they eventually succumbed to the superior fire power of the raiders.  Then in a freak accident, the raiders stumbled upon Noth the Plaguebringer.  Caught off guard they fought desperately and to the surprise of all, brought down the first boss of the quarter in one try! 

That left them advancing with much more caution onto the next boss encounter, where Heigan the Unclean awaited them.  Multiple attempts were made to ‘dance’ with Heigan, but to no avail!  The valiant efforts led to wipe after wipe and the beleaguered raiders were forced to admit defeat on this night, but not before they vowed to return and to also bring this creature to his well deserved reckoning!

It was again a fun and adventurous evening for all!  The Vanguard Class Raid Group is truly melding together, regardless of what constellation of characters travel together.  The camaraderie and friendships being formed, be it from raiding, doing heroics together or just spending time with one another online, regardless of high level or low level, is transforming Vanguard Class from not just a social Guild, but to a close knit family, something I am sure our founding father, Prydyn,  would be proud of!  I know I, as Guild Leader am very proud to be able to lead this guild and to be a part of this family!

The Deadly Druid- Quira

It was preceded by weeks of preparations.  Heroics to build and better the gear.  Attempts at Anub Rekhen that would end shattered upon the cold stone floors of Naxxramas.  But through it all, the will to succeed and overcome never left them and last night their determination paid off!

Led by Trudi, the mad tank, they gathered at the flying citadel of Naxxramas.  Supported by the Druid tank Kandorra, who was constantly plagued by the DC curse that no amount of healing could remove, they formed their battle groups.  The group was forced to venture forth with just two healers instead of the wished for three, but the job those two (Shalev and Asullan) performed more than made up for the missing healer!  Rounding out the group were the brave and eager DPS crews; Henrietta, Deathfalcon, Airelle, Danawa, Anlyel and Quira.

Right at the first trash mobs it was evident that this attempt would be different.  With blazing speed the mob was brought to its knees, allowing all to make those last adjustments to spells and rotations before coming before Anub Rekhen.

Tactics were cleared and told to all, and Trudi marched forth to face the boss.  Kandorra as planned kept ALL other beasts that Anub Rekhen could throw at them busy as the DPS performed perfectly.  The lack of a third healer was never evident as Shalev and Asullan worked their healing wonders upon tanks and group.  In a brilliant battle and with bug parts flying they waged their war, and as the dust started to settle it became evident that the boss, Anub Rekhen had finally been beat by an all Vanguard Class raid team!  The victory cheer went up and the celebrations began.  The hard preparation work by all involved had paid off, victory was achieved.

Bravely facing the Kandorra DC curse, the group forged on.  Further mobs were battled on the way to the Widow Faerlina.  The second boss of Naxxramas waited arrogantly for the young and motivated group from Vanguard Class.  Buoyed from victory and bolstered with new tactics they surged forth to the face this new challenge.  They fought hard and bravely, but were not prepared for the ferocity that the Widow brought.  The gods though were smiling upon them and granted them new life to once again pursue their noble cause, unfortunately the gods did not see the need to lift that evil DC curse from Kandorra!

Tactics were adjusted, patients tried waiting for DC’ed bears, but then the brave group was ready again.  They surged forward, pulled the disciples of the Widow away from her and proceeded to teach the man-eating Priestess a lesson in Vanguard Class tenacity.  Disciple after disciple was sacrificed to weaken the Widow until she stood alone, frantic in her efforts as realization settled upon her, that this brave group from Vanguard Class would put an end to her existence.  

All in all, a fun and successful evening.  Lessons were learned and the Vanguard Class advanced in its raid ratings by two bosses.  Well done to everyone, not just those that were on the raid last night.  Many have been hitting the heroic instances with a motivation to succeed.  Some were unable to go with the group, but due to your support and willingness to run heroics together, those that did get the chance to go, did great!  I am sure that we can could have swapped folks out and still done just as well!  But be warned, this is just the beginning, continue to improve your gear and tactics, it just gets harder!

Well Done All!   Quira