Kicked.

There's a first time for everything, and once it's happened, it's usually not the last.

Yesterday was such a mixed bag of events. For some reason, probably just a bug, Mat's Valor Points' offerings didn't reset. Sign of things to come? 

She met up with a friend in Uldum, when suddenly, the sky banged black and red...mystified, and then a flash, an epiphany: Deathwing approached! Excitedly, and impulsively (there's that word again), she flew off in a direction she thought she could find him. In literally seconds, her friend, who had wisely stay put, reports his achievement of being killed by Deathwing. Mat was still very much alive, and achievement-less. Okay. Chalk that up to just bad luck. No big deal. Sometimes the dice just get a little cool. 

But being Mat, and quite the little goal-setter achiever, (that is a title in her guild by the way, Achiever), she set her horns in place to gain an exalted rep with the Ramkahen in order to purchase a camel or two. (Another twist: she should have been more concerned with the Earthern Ring who actually has quartermaster items she can use.) Seeing that it wouldn't matter because her Valor Points weren't working anyway, she did dungeon after dungeon on normal mode; there were many fun groups, met up with a very friendly Worgen mage, and all was well, but it did require the better part of the day to get to exalted, but now exalted she is. Camels procured, without the spit option. (Wouldn't that be cool? If you're in PvP mode you could have your camel spit on enemies.)

But she digresses. 

The climax of the day is...Stonecore.

Partying up with her best friend Kay, whose peerless hunter skills, DPS rankings, (consistently over 13k-15k per encounter), their first random heroic is Stonecore. Mat is MORE than hopeful, excited, eager and ready to go. With Kay by her side, and her own DPS skills, there is every chance in the world they will get past Ozruk. All was going well. Healer levitated on the ground shakes, and even pulled Mat away from an incoming boulder with leap of faith (although unnecessary - after running that gauntlet many times, Mat has never once been hit by an incoming boulder; the shadows give away all). Tank seemed fine. After a successful bout with Slabhide, the mood shifted though, when in the corridor the tank seemed to be taking unnecessary mob risks. 

And this is the moment when Mat probably should have kept her big yap shut. 

She made a request, an exceedingly polite request, to perhaps go through this corridor a bit more slowly. 

Oh.

Duh.

It just didn't make sense to plow through mobs without a plan, even a small one. There was no marking, no call for cc, no consideration or care. Every NPC in that corridor was pulled, usually in huge packs. They were burnt down, but it just seemed like overkill of resources, mana, and cool downs. 

The moment of truth: They all faced Ozruk, and without a ready check or kiss my tail, the tank moved in. We wipe.

Again. No warning.

We wipe.

There is a word used for the "oh, s-----" moment, when the heroes realize they are in over their heads. That word is anagnorisis. It is truly a spectacular word: "[the character] discovers the true nature of his or her own situation..."

Repeat. (And for the record, Mat and Kay were the last girls standing, more than once. Tank wiped. Healer. Other DPS.)

Barely catching her wolf breath, she politely asks to wait so she can wrap a bandage around herself and get back in the ring; however, the tank was already halway down to the boss. After every fight, the tank did this, never waiting for DPS to be ready. Not a word, not a thought, nothing. (Healer was doing most of the talking anyway: offered these pieces of advice: stand out of the shatter, and for the ranged DPS, Kay, to stand next to her during the fight.)

After the fourth wipe or so, while Mat recovers her body, (she wasn't the only one), and a transition screen pops up and she finds herself back on the grassy knoll outside in Old Town where she had been talking to Kay about the JP vendor. 

Kay was there, too.

Mat asks: "Did I just get kicked out?" (She didn't even know what this looked like, she was that innocent  to this process...)

Kay: "Yes, and I decided to leave too."

Mat has never, ever, been kicked from a dungeon before. 

Vanity, thy name is Mat. Humiliation, anger, and frustration overcome an otherwise lady-like player.

Now at this point, feel sorry for Kay. In a gypsy-esque Eastern European accent, Mat lets loose a string of curses, swears, and a whole lot of bad karma blessings upon the dungeon group. For every yin there is a yang. When a Draenei sweetly says "Blessings upon your family," they can also counter it with "May your loot sour in your bags and your repair bills starve you..." 

Kay listens patiently, and calmly, ever so calmly, as only a survivor hunter can, reminding Mat that they were never going to be successful with that group, she has seen many a tank take on Ozruk just fine, and they would live to fight another day. 

Here is what Mat is now left with: grass stains on her tail, but the loyalty and honor of having an excellent friend, and a little humbling lesson in knowing she cannot fight these battles alone, nor should she want to. She will keep her own council in PUGs, and fight above rebuke. That way, if for some reason she finds herself slammed to the curb again, she will have her dignity intact.

And Kay -- thank you.

And Ozruk: Mat has some choice words for you, too.