What can I say about Kael'Thalas that hasn't been said in the many WOOHOOOs that graced our raid chat last week? It truly is an epic encounter - and after getting every guild member their Vashj vial and ditching SSC, we had plenty of time to experience the fight in all its glory. The fight has basic retard check phases - arguably the hardest for a guild like Quartz, and an insane AE spam phase - arguably the easiest for a guild like Quartz. We've always been blessed with an uncanny ability to find the best ways to AE pretty much any raid content, and Blizzard actually rewarded us for our AEing with legendary weapons this time. I think that's proof enough that AE is ALWAYS the right answer.

Kael is an encounter that you learn step by step, and once completed it almost felt easy - and everything fell into place. This after wiping in phase 5 far too many times the week before patch, of course - but I blame Gashrak for being squishy.

The hardest part for any guild is probably keeping up morale while you go through your wipe weeks to learn this highly scripted encounter. I can only express my deepest thanks to all the guild members for ensuring every raid was filled to the max - I think it says a lot about where we are as a group that wipe nights are more popular than epic runs on farm content. More than Vashj, this felt like a true benchmark, and I can honestly say we deserved that kill completely.

I'd like to give special mention to Miniboss for leeching more healer mana than the MT, and to myself for once more proving that frost mages CAN do competitive dps and have the same crappy survival rate as fire mages. But hey, what are you bringing druids for if not for combat ressing trolls?

After another Kael trashing we will be taking our first steps into Hyjal and Black Temple so expect updates on the loot piñatas soon