We got Tribute to Insanity tonight, a week after getting "Mad Skill", and two weeks after our first kill.  As I ranted about in our first kill news write-up, we had our share of struggles going into the tail end of this zone.  We're over it, we dealt with it, we recovered.  This puts us back in the US Top-35 going into Icecrown, which will lead to nothing but good things for this team.  We've got our swagger back.  

We also bagged a realm first "Feat of Strength" for being the first guild to complete a raid zone on "hard mode" without wiping.   The kill itself was nothing short of exhilerating, one of the moments that make you glad you put up with the bullshit of hardcore raiding.  We got to the boss with 50 attempts left on our Tribute (obviously) so the nerves were starting break down a bit.  Having come back from last week where we lost our possible Insanity Tribute to a ~10% wipe on Anub, we were more than a little nervous and anxious to get this done.  We pulled the boss, and about 10 seconds in Talifey went link-dead - our single hunter who has more than one important role in that encounter, and his internet cuts out on the pull.  I won't lie, my heart sank a bit, but we came so far and you can't give up at that point, you can only hope for a quick recovery. Well, recovery wasn't quick.  He didn't get back in the fight until late in P2 or early P3, I can't remember exactly.  In any event, the window of time when we essentially had to 24-man this encounter was large.  I'd be doing a disservice to the team if I didn't tip my hat to everyone and tell them, "We earned this kill".  The fight length was ~9:30 - which is a helluva long time to keep the wheels on the bus in this fight.  The kind of pressure going on in P3 will psych you out after a while, and it's only a matter of time before mistakes start to compound and you're looking at a raid wipe.  Great job to everyone involved - inside the zone and out. See you in Icecrown Citadel.