Sorry this post is a little dated by a week or so, but I wanted to post some our screenshots and achievements with Challenge Modes lately. I think the most interesting part about this latest string of runs is that each one involved a different lineup.
Here is a Gate of the Setting Sun run that we got bronze in. This is the original Challenge Mode Noob (CMN) group of me, Navi, Lush, Luxy and Karn.
Luxy, Arv, Lush, Karn, Navi and friends in Gate of the Setting Sun
Another bronze medal was earned in the Siege of Niuzao Temple. We didn’t have Karn this time, so I brought in Zug to join us.
Arv, Zug, Luxy, Lush and Navi in Siege of Niuzao Temple
The hardest Challenge Mode of the bunch, Shado-Pan Monastery proved to be just that. Navi invited another fellow Frostee, Souglyy, to join us for the run. We had a rough time with this CM and didn’t medal, but we pushed on and still finished it through.
Arv, Navi, Luxy, Lush and Souglyy in Shado-Pan Monastery
We wanted to do another, but Souglyy was feeling tired, so Luxy asked another friend, Ut, who came along and brought his pally, Makemebad. This time we hit up Stormstout Brewery, which I missed on a previous run that the Frostees had with Zug and Adoe. This time, we got a Bronze.
Makemebad (Ut), Arv, Luxy, Navi and Lush in Stormstout Brewery
Later that night, we had another go at a CM I missed, Scholomance. This time, Navi asked their warrior, Fallnapart, to come along. We came close to getting another Bronze, but just fell short. I did get the Challenge Conqueror achievement for completing all the Challenge Modes.
Luxy and Arv in Scholomance
We tried our hand again in Scarlet Halls, a Challenge that we didn’t medal in. Short again a dps, Navi asked one of their warlocks, Azadelta, to come. Three brezzes! This time we were successful in getting a Bronze medal.
Luxy, Arv, Lush, Aza and Navi in Scarlet Halls
Zug was feeling the CM bug one Monday night, so he got me, Adoe, Shadeey and Slice to group together for a Gate of the Setting Sun run, the first Shadow Rising CM run in a long time. We ended up running it three times in a row, each time getting faster and faster. On the last run, we were making good time for Silver and were surprised that we didn’t get it after killing Raigonn. The reason:
Yep, two freakin’ mobs, lol. We quickly ran out of the instance and ran back in and took care of a few adds that we skipped at the beginning to finally claim our prize.
Shadeey, Zug, Arv and Slice in Gate of the Setting Sun (Not Pictured: Adoe)
This past Monday, the original SR Challenge Mode team of me, Zug, Adoe, Sorak and Slice decided to go back to Gate and improve on our Silver and go for the Gold. On our best attempt, we completed the run in 16 minutes, 4 minutes shy of the Gold. We would have had more attempts at it, but with all the resetting we were doing, some of us got the “You’ve entered too many instances recently” message or were having login issues. So we left it at that for the night.
Navi mentioned on her blog that I might be getting CM burnout from running on two teams, but honestly, I’m enjoying it. Different compositions call for different strategies and you’ve really gotta think quick on your feet to adjust. With the CMN team, we’ve got at least two brezzes from Navi and Lush, so you have a little leeway if someone goes down. With the SR team, we have no brezzers, so you really have to pop CDs and blessings at the right time to keep everyone alive cause you can’t really afford to be a man down if you want to make good time.
But no matter what, I’m determined to help both teams reach their goals, whether to get all Silvers for the mount or even Golds for the transmog gear. =)
