Keepers of Time Revere Rockstar
Rockstar led another group through the Black Morass. On this occasion, the group was composed of myself (70 protection Warrior), Wymeven (70 resto Druid) of Shameless Elite, Norfax (70 Rogue) of HonorBound, Deathfabove (70 Mage) of Ascensions, and unguilded Fearlol (70 Warlock).
Progression through the Rift Lords was smooth and efficient. Chrono Lord Deja dropped the Ring of Spiritual Precision. As we cleared through the next several portal trash mobs, Norfax was able to receive the Pattern: Stylin’ Jungle Hat pattern. Temporus dropped the Laughing-Skull Battle Harness. Aeonus dropped the Helm of Desolation and the Cowl of the Guiltless.
As we slew the final boss, the reputation gain pushed Rockstar into Revered status with the Keepers of Time. This has been my goal for some time now, as it allows Rockstar to purchase the Timewarden’s Leggings and the Glyph of the Defender from the Keepers of Time quartermaster. These items are huge improvements in my tanking armor set.
I’m having some sort of issue with my Recap add-on, and wasn’t able to record damage metrics for this instance run.
Rockstar Defends the Guardian Medivh
Rockstar is really beginning to enjoy tanking in the Black Morass. Once things get kicked off, the tank simply runs, engages a Rift Lord or boss, builds threat, lets DPS bring the mob down, mounts up, rides to the next portal, and repeats. As long as DPS is good enough to intercept and bring down the adds who are trying to destroy Medivh’s shield, and the healing is good enough to keep the tank up, things should go pretty well. And so it was with this run.
This group was composed of Rockstar (70 protection Warrior), Marinatin (70 Priest) of MidKnights, Dragonshock (70 Shaman) of Citadel, Deathfabove (70 Mage) of Reckoning, and Jazmira (70 shadow Priest) of Knights of Asylum. I remember running with Deathfabove before, I can’t remember for sure, but I thought that particular Mage complained about not being able to handle the adds alone in a previous run.
As we began working through the portals, I noticed that the DPS was pretty good on the Rift Lords. I frequently have to use Taunt to keep a Rift Lord off a Shaman (hmm, I have to do that in a lot of instances)…apparently Shamans are pretty bold with their damage and steal aggro quite often. Jazmira noted that normally she can’t go full out because tanks don’t hold aggro well, but with me tanking, she said she was able to go full out and DPS. It’s nice when a shadow Priest is able to say that.
I wasn’t really able to devote enough attention to whether or not the Mage was able to DPS down the adds quickly. With some mana streaming in from Jazmira’s efforts, there should have been no problem with the Mage’s mana. I was throwing down a Thunderclap every other time mobs came out of the portal, so hopefully that helped. The bosses were as easy as the regular trash mobs.
Chrono Lord Deja dropped the Ring of Spiritual Precision (greeded by Marinatin). Temporus dropped the Millennium Blade (greeded by Rockstar). This weapon is just a toy for PvP I think, it has a bit of stamina and resilience on it. There are much better tanking weapons available. I wasn’t going to take it at all, but it was still lying on Temporus as we were about to exit the instance, so I just took it. Aeonus dropped the Primal Surge Bracers (taken by Deathfabove for disenchantment) and the Cowl of the Guiltless (also taken by Deathfabove for disenchantment).
As far as loot goes, I didn’t get the drops I was looking for, but it’s not a huge deal. The real rewards pertaining to the Black Morass (at least for tanks) comes from the reputation rewards with the Keepers of Time. As it stands, I’m about one more Black Morass run away from revered reputation…at which point, my head glyph and tanking pants become available.
Dorino Booted From Black Morass Run
Rockstar’s first run in Black Morass could have gone a bit smoother. From a staffing perspective, that is. Rockstar was invited to tank for Areos (70 holy Paladin) of Crush, and three members of Fury - Ditzlebee (70 Rogue), Gillne (70 Hunter), and Dorino (70 Hunter). Even as we were in transit to the summoning stone, Dorino was refusing to handle adds. Gillne was wanting to “share adds”. As a tank who can hold aggro on the Rift Lords and bosses, I know the only thing that can go wrong really is a DPS class who can’t handle the adds. That made the begin of this run very ominous.
We started, and I made sure to position myself to get a look at what was going on with the adds. As a Warrior tank, I have the opportunity to Thunderclap and draw freshly-arrived adds to me, at my discretion. Sometimes I elect to do this in order to buy a couple of extra seconds for the DPS class assigned to adds. These new adds can always be pulled away from me with some damage, but it’s nice to let them stick to me for a second.
I could see the Hunters were having trouble with the adds, and one of them ended up dying. A death so early in the run is pretty much no good, as Black Morass is as much of an endurance fight as it is anything else. Areos and Dorino began squabbling about Dorino’s abilities, and soon I saw “Dorino has left the group.” I thought he dropped out, but according to Fury guild chat, he claims he was booted. Just as well. We picked up Arkalas (70 Mage) who is more than capable of dealing with the adds solo.
The second attempt through was a lot smoother. Chrono Lord Deja was a pretty straight forward kill; his Arcane Blast and Time Lapse abilities aren’t of much concern to me. Chrono Lord Deja dropped the Mask of Inner Fire (greeded by Areos).
I find tanking Temporus a bit annoying because of his knockbacks. I’ve seen that if a Rift Lord or boss is moved too far away from the portal, they begin evading and it’s impossible to keep up with the flow of mobs from the portal to Medivh. It’s very important to keep the Rift Lord or mob tanked near the portal. Temporus is also apparently immune to taunts…I haven’t noticed yet, because my I usually keep up my threat rotation of revenge and devastate up during the whole fight. Temporus went down easily, and dropped Star-Heart Lamp (needed by Arkalas).
During the last phase, I think a few people ended up using their Chrono-Beacon. A lot of times, it’s difficult for the tank to tell, unless the Chrono-Beacon summon ends up tanking the Rift Lord. The fight with Aeonus is always interesting because I must keep enough threat on him to retain aggro, even through Time Stop. We didn’t have any Warlocks or shadow Priests in the group this time, so I didn’t have to concern myself with the worst DoTs. Aeonus dropped the Bloodfire Greatstaff (taken by Gillne) and the Moonglade Pants (taken by Areos).
The damage output was the following:
- Arkalas was at 33% (745 dps)
- Ditzlebee was at 30% (541 dps)
- Gillne was at 24% (528 dps)
- Rockstar was at 13% (210 dps)