For those of you who play world of warcraft, most of you already know the endless complaints about the most recent expansion, Cataclysm.  Personally, I never really figured out what all of the complaining was about, as I found nothing that really broke my trust in Blizzard Entertainment’s long line of quality work.  I guess what it really stems from is I’m a casual player.  I do not enjoy dedicating 165 hours a week to raids.  I prefer to see the content in all its glory (and pick up a few mounts along the way). 

 
That being said, Blizzard has introduced a brand new feature for all of us casuals out there:  The Raid Finder.  Now originally on the Public Test Realm, all cataclysm raids were available on the raid finder.  However, when patch 4.3 went live, only the latest raid was made available.  Originally I was outraged and annoyed, as I was looking forward to seeing the raids that I had not gotten to see.  But once I got my item level high enough, I decided to check out for myself if it was really worth the wait.
 
First off, before being able to use the raid finder, I needed to get my item level up a little bit.  Now if you had completed the Firelands raid, and had full tier 12 gear or an equivalent (with an item level of 372), then you could just skip out on the dungeons and go right to the raid.  But I was only at 365.  So I hit my dungeon finder button, and low and behold, the queue times were down, and I was about to see something I didn’t expect:  A truly fun, mildly challenging, short dungeon.  This was a sigh of relief after the troll dungeons, which took about an hour and a half, with the queue included.  Instead, it was taking me 15-30 minutes per dungeon.  Because of this, I was able to accomplish something I had not done in a long time:  hitting my weekly cap of valor points.
 
At first, I had a little difficulty getting any loot, and most loot that I could use was an upgrade for the tank.  Since tanking is my off-spec, I decided to be a nice guy and pass on it.  But sure enough, after a week, I was sitting there with a 373 item level.
 
I was a bit tired, so I decided to wait until morning to check out the Raid Finder.  Well worth the wait.  The first part of the raid finder, Siege of Wyrmrest, only took me an hour to complete (I even scored some tier 13 shoulders).  The second part was a bit rougher, and took me almost 2 hours to complete.  But seeing Deathwing sinking into the maelstrom by my hand was so worth the wait.  The cinematics, the boss mechanics, and the feeling of accomplishment all blended together to create a truly epic, memorable experience, and made me say something that I never thought I would say.
 
I’m a casual, and I just downed Deathwing within the first week of release.
 
So please, all you casuals, and anyone who plays world of warcraft, get out there and slay yourself that twisted Aspect of death!