Played Lately: World of Warcraft

• It was just recently (Sunday, in fact) that I mentioned that I was no longer raiding in WoW. My, how time flies. Monday night, as I was winging my way across the Storm Peaks, polishing off the last few available quests, then I saw a notice in the Looking For Group channel: "lfm dps for 25 man OS."


• At first, I ignored it because, well, I wouldn't take me to a raid. Why would I force myself on someone else? But when the request came up a couple more times, I wondered if this might be the opportunity to play tourist on a raid I wouldn't have an opportunity to see again. I sent a whisper to the recruiter asking how well geared they wanted their recruits? His response was to send an invite to the raid. I quickly joined and flew out to the Wrymrest Temple before they could change their minds.


• Upon arriving in the Obsidian Sanctum, I was greeted with a mostly full group and large dragon standing in the middle of a lava field. I was immediately struck by how similar this seemed to Onyxia's Lair, which I first visited only recently. The three attendant drakes had already been killed, so I was here only for the main event, but that didn't matter much to me. I was just lucky to get the invite.


• The main event was actually really cool. There isn't a lot to the fight. Without the drakes up, it's a simple tank-and-spank with the occasional flame wave you have to watch out for and dodge. I made it through the whole fight without getting hit with a wave, though I did take one Tail Swipe from Sartharion. I also noticed that a bunch of fire elementals jumped into the fight at various times. Sometimes I'd drop a Blizzard on them and sometimes I just kept on the main target. Only a couple people died during the fight and no one complained, so I didn't feel too bad that I wasn't one hundred percent sure what I was doing.


• Sartharion went down on the first try. I didn't win any loot, but I got the Heroic: Besting the Black Dragonflight achievement, an Emblem of Valor, and a couple screenshots to commemorate the evening. It wasn't a bad way to spend a half hour. Especially for a non-raider.