While I was off strutting my stuff with the Stormwind City Guards and keeping up the elven fashion trends, my Elf Priestess was still raiding like a hardcore boss. I had joined Blood Bound, my new raiding guild. After too much elven RP, I needed a break, and Blood Bound was a perfect escape. No drama, no poetry nights, just raiding and keeping people alive.
Honestly, being an officer in a huge RP guild can wear you out. Between dealing with bickering members, organizing events, and trying to keep the peace, it’s easy to forget what Warcraft is really about: being a priest, casting heals, and watching other people stand in fire.
Blood Bound? Different story. I was just one of the healers, not the guild therapist. And with that freedom came something I hadn’t experienced in a while: raids. Real, wipe-filled, chaotic, wipes again raids. First up on the menu? Karazhan.
Welcome to Karazhan. Population: Wipes.
Karazhan, that lovely haunted tower. It looks so innocent from the outside, but the moment you set foot inside, you realize that it’s actually an endless pit of frustration, filled with ghosts and bosses who seem way too eager to watch you die.
Our raid group was hyped. Our main tank was ready, the DPS was on point, and I was stocked with mana potions like I was going to need them (I did). But then we met our first challenge: Attumen the Huntsman and his nightmare horse, Midnight. The fight seemed simple enough—until it wasn’t.
Main Tank: “Okay, just don’t pull the horse too early.”
Raid Leader: “Who pulled the horse? Who pulled the horse?!”
Me: “I’m dead. The horse stepped on me.”
And that pretty much set the tone for the rest of Karazhan.
Opera Event: Romeo and Juliet, WoW Edition
Now, the Opera Event is infamous for giving you a random mini-boss encounter. That night, we got the “Romeo and Juliet” version. You’d think after centuries of literature, these two would’ve figured it out by now. But no. Instead of sipping poison or tragic declarations of love, we were treated to Romulo and Julianne trying to murder us.
The fun part? They healed each other. Constantly.
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Me: “Juliet, girl, stop healing your man and take the L.”
Main Tank: “Interrupt her! Interrupt! Why is she still healing?!”
Raid Leader: “Focus Romulo first! Stop chasing Juliet!”
The battle was chaos. At one point, Romulo had our DPS pinned down, and Juliet was spamming heals like she was competing for MVP. After what felt like an eternity, they finally collapsed in a heap.
Raid Member: “Pretty sure this isn’t how Shakespeare wrote it…”
Gruul’s Lair: The ‘Easy’ Raid
After Karazhan, we headed to Gruul’s Lair. Simple raid, right? Just an angry ogre and his minions. Except no one told us how Gruul the Dragonkiller loved tossing people around like ragdolls.
The main problem? Gruul’s signature move: Shatter. Everyone had to spread out or you’d get smacked halfway across the room. Guess how many times we wiped because no one spread out?
Main Tank: “Guys, seriously. SPREAD OUT.”
Random Raid Member: “There’s no space left, I’m cornered!”
Me: “I’m literally flying through the air—again.”
It took a few (okay, more than a few) tries, but we eventually brought down the big guy. Not before a handful of “why are you standing next to me” moments, though.
Serpentshrine Cavern: Welcome to Waterworld
After Gruul’s Lair, we tackled Serpentshrine Cavern. Picture this: an underwater nightmare filled with eels, water elementals, and bosses who just loved to ruin your day. The worst part? Lady Vashj. A snake lady with an attitude problem and an army of angry elementals.
The fight started off normal, but once she hit her second phase, she called in elementals from every direction. We were scrambling to deal with them while avoiding toxic puddles and not getting swarmed by her army of angry little minions.
Raid Leader: “Get the elementals! Someone grab that one! No, not that one, the OTHER one!”
Main Tank: “Why is there always so much water in here?”
Me: “We’re literally in an aquarium.”
Needless to say, the fight took a while. But we eventually sent Vashj slithering back to wherever snake people go when they die.
Black Temple: Enter Illidan, the Big Bad
After all those warm-ups, we finally made it to Black Temple, the crown jewel of The Burning Crusade raiding. This was it. The big leagues. And at the top of the Black Temple? None other than Illidan Stormrage himself.
Now, if there’s one thing everyone remembers about Illidan, it’s his iconic line: “You are not prepared!” Turns out, we were definitely not prepared.
The fight was long. It had phases. It had fire. It had demonic ghosts. Illidan had everything. And we wiped—a lot.
Illidan: “You are not prepared!”
Main Tank: “You don’t have to keep reminding us.”
After what felt like an eternity of dodging fire, managing ghosts, and desperately trying to stay alive, we finally took Illidan down. The moment he fell, the raid exploded in cheers. Someone shouted about how we finally showed him who’s boss, and there were loot rolls flying everywhere.
The raids of The Burning Crusade were no joke. From Karazhan’s haunted halls to Gruul’s stomping grounds, from the aquatic nightmare of Serpentshrine to the fire-filled gauntlet of Black Temple, we died, laughed, and wiped our way through the expansion.
And by the end of it all, maybe—just maybe—we were a little bit more prepared than when we started.