I've talked before about playing with insomnia, and how my current schedule has caused me to play at odd hours with my Alliance toons instead of my Horde ones. I miss playing Horde, but the late shift and my new guild means that I have found myself with almost a guaranteed group for whatever the daily heroic happens to be, and I know I can rely on those players to not stun the mobs before I hit them, fail to cast heals on me while I'm tanking three mobs, set sheeped mobs on fire while I'm looking at the two mobs I was planning to tank, or what have you. So far the guild groups I've run with have been so smooth it's like I'm playing an entirely different game from when I run PuG's, and the new game is fun. We make smart recoveries from bad pulls, kill bosses, get loot and badges, and even handle the occasional wipe with aplomb rather than sniping at each other. It's been delightful.

Last night, however, heroic Mechanar made it magical.


The downside to random loot tables, as any warrior who has, like me, run Mechanar over and over and over and over and over and over again can tell you, is that sometimes (in my case, 33 times or so) you don't get that item you want. Sometimes a PuG folds before you get to the boss you need. Sometimes you get there fine and the Handguards of the Steady drop again. These are things that are out of your control and you just have to learn to deal with your disappointment.

But when the item you crave drops and finds its way into your possession, be it the Raging Berserker's Helm or the Ancient Sin'Dorei Longbow, I find that I often experience a strange mixture of exultation and gratitude. After all, it's not like I could have gotten that drop without everyone else in the run pulling together to get me there. While it's true that every piece of gear is ultimately a team effort, special pieces that you've long sought can feel even more so, as they represent a culmination of sorts, an end to your need to ever plead in your head with the random loot spirits to finally bless your group.

So share with us, what is your most sought-after drop? Has it dropped yet? If it has, what was it like to finally see it pop up in a loot window or to hear the master looter say 'Look what dropped'? If it hasn't, have you found an alternative yet or are you stubbornly grinding away at 2 am yet again trying for it like some crazy writers you may have heard of?

Tags: Gear, Insomnia, Random-Loot

Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Instances