So last night I had the priviledge and the pleasure of leading ZeGuild’s second foray into Icecrown Citadel, and our first partial clear.

What started out as a reputation farm for Ashen Verdict rep quickly became a full-blown raid when after four runs through trash, we decided to give Marrowgar a shot. A one-shot, as it turned out. We were then able to conquer Lady Deathwhisper and the Gunship Battle before calling it a night for sleep.

I walked away from the raid satisfied, and excited. It was some of the most enjoyable raid content I’d ever experienced in World of Warcraft, and there are still three more wings to be unlocked in ICC. The Gunship Battle in particular may be my favorite fight in all of WoW. It really was the feather in the cap that was Patch 3.3, a recent content patch that practically nailed everything it set out to do. Lots of big changes, and I love very one of them.

I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with WoW over the past five years. There have been times I’ve been totally invested in it, and times I’ve kicked it to the curb, crying out for something new, something fresh. And while that feeling is still lying beneath the surface (WoW desperately needs some updated player models), lately they’ve been doing a pretty good job of keeping me excited about playing.

There are contenders on the horizon… Guild Wars 2 and The Old Republic, to name my top two. Final Fantasy 14, maaaaaybe… if they manage to take the Final Fantasy combat system out of it and proceed with a more traditional MMO action-bar setup. And you know what, if one of these comes along and sweeps me away from WoW forever, I doubt I’ll be too broken up about it… but if not, at least the juggernaut is still working to keep things fresh and interesting.